Combined Search for a Lorentz-Violating Force in Short-Range Gravity Varying as the Inverse Sixth Power of Distance.

Precision measurements of the inverse-square law via experiments on short-range gravity provide sensitive tests of Lorentz symmetry. A combined analysis of data from experiments at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Indiana University sets simultaneous limits on all 22 coefficients for Lorentz violation correcting the Newton force law as the inverse sixth power of distance. Results are consistent with no effect at the level of 10^{-12} m^{4}.

Combined Search for Lorentz Violation in Short-Range Gravity.

Short-range experiments testing the gravitational inverse-square law at the submillimeter scale offer uniquely sensitive probes of Lorentz invariance. A combined analysis of results from the short-range gravity experiments HUST-2015, HUST-2011, IU-2012, and IU-2002 permits the first independent measurements of the 14 nonrelativistic coefficients for Lorentz violation in the pure-gravity sector at the level of 10^{-9} m^{2}, improving by an order of magnitude the sensitivity to numerous types of Lorentz violation involving quadratic curvature derivatives and curvature couplings.

Fewer women than men have positive SPECT and PET cardiac findings among patients with no history of heart disease.

UNLABELLED: A lower detection rate of coronary artery disease (CAD) has been reported for SPECT imaging in women, despite the fact that similar numbers of women and men die each year of heart disease. Ruling out instrumentation as a possible source of this low detection rate for CAD in women could be important in determining the root cause of this difference. METHODS: Patients were referred by cardiologists and randomized to PET or SPECT by the imaging center. A total of 210 patients (106 women, 104 men) were enrolled in this study, with 105 imaged by dual-isotope SPECT and 105 imaged by 82Rb PET. Rest/stress scanning was performed using dipyridamole. The effects of sex, prior history of CAD, and instrumentation on the detection of positive scans were determined using multiple logistic regression analysis with positive scans as the endpoint. RESULTS: For the total study population, sex and prior history of CAD are significantly associated with positive scans, whereas imaging modality and age are not. There was no significant interaction between sex and prior history of CAD. Men have 4.1-fold greater odds of having a positive nuclear scan than women, and patients with prior history of CAD have 5.2-fold greater odds of a positive scan after controlling for the confounding effects of age and imaging modality. In the subgroup of patients with no prior history of heart disease, men have 3.9-fold greater odds of a positive scan than women, and the odds ratio of a positive scan is 2.5-fold greater for PET than for SPECT. There was no statistical difference in the number of positive scans by SPECT or PET, or positive scans by sex in patients with documented history of CAD. CONCLUSION: Fewer women than men have positive nuclear cardiology scans by both PET and SPECT, despite similar symptoms. Instrumentation characteristics alone do not account for this sex-based difference and suggest the possibility that early CAD may present differently in women than in men.

Built-in care. One hospital sees the future in patient-centered design.

In Connecticut, an entire hospital has been rebuilt from the ground up according to patient-centered principles. The innovations of the new Griffin Hospital, Derby, CT, reflect its core values, the CEO says.