The awareness of chronic fatigue syndrome: A comparative study in Brazil and the United Kingdom

Objective: While in many Western affluent countries there is widespread awareness of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), little is known about the awareness of CFS/ME in low- and middle-income countries. We compared the awareness of CFS in Brazil and the United Kingdom. Methods: Recognition and knowledge of CFS were assessed among 120 Brazilian specialist doctors in two major university hospitals using a typical case vignette of CFS. We also surveyed 3914 and 2435 consecutive attenders in Brazilian and British primary care clinics, respectively, concerning their awareness of CFS. Results: When given a typical case vignette of CFS, only 30.8% [95% confidence interval (CI), 22.7-39.9%] of Brazilian specialist doctors mentioned chronic fatigue or CFS as a possible diagnosis, a proportion substantially lower than that observed in Western affluent countries. Similarly, only 16.2% (95% CI, 15.1-17.4%) of Brazilian primary care attenders were aware of CFS, in contrast to 55.1% (95% CI, 53.1-57.1%) of their British counterparts (P <.001). This difference remained highly significant after controlling for patients` sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics (P <.001). Conclusions: The awareness of CFS was substantially lower in Brazil than the United Kingdom. The observed difference may influence patients` help-seeking behavior and both doctors` and patients` beliefs and attitudes in relation to fatigue-related syndromes. Attempts to promote the awareness of CFS should be considered in Brazil, but careful plans are required to ensure the delivery of sound evidence-based information. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Beam-energy and system-size dependence of dynamical net charge fluctuations

We present measurements of net charge fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at s(NN)=19.6, 62.4, 130, and 200 GeV, Cu+Cu collisions at s(NN)=62.4 and 200 GeV, and p+p collisions at s=200 GeV using the dynamical net charge fluctuations measure nu(+-,dyn). We observe that the dynamical fluctuations are nonzero at all energies and exhibit a modest dependence on beam energy. A weak system size dependence is also observed. We examine the collision centrality dependence of the net charge fluctuations and find that dynamical net charge fluctuations violate 1/N(ch) scaling but display approximate 1/N(part) scaling. We also study the azimuthal and rapidity dependence of the net charge correlation strength and observe strong dependence on the azimuthal angular range and pseudorapidity widths integrated to measure the correlation.

System-Size Independence of Directed Flow Measured at the BNL Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider

We measure directed flow (v(1)) for charged particles in Au + Au and Cu + Cu collisions at root s(NN) = 200 and 62.4 GeV, as a function of pseudorapidity (eta), transverse momentum (p(t)), and collision centrality, based on data from the STAR experiment. We find that the directed flow depends on the incident energy but, contrary to all available model implementations, not on the size of the colliding system at a given centrality. We extend the validity of the limiting fragmentation concept to v(1) in different collision systems, and investigate possible explanations for the observed sign change in v(1)(p(t)).

Regulation of type 17 helper T-cell function by nitric oxide during inflammation

Type 17 helper T (Th17) cells are implicated in the pathogenesis many of human autoimmune diseases. Development of Th17 can be enhanced by the activation of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) whose ligands include the environmental pollutant dioxin, potentially linking environmental factors to the increased prevalence of autoimmune disease. We report here that nitric oxide (NO) can suppress the proliferation and function of polarized murine and human Th17 cells. NO also inhibits AHR expression in Th17 cells and the downstream events of AHR activation, including IL-22, IL-23 receptor, and Cyp1a1. Conversely, NO did not affect the polarization of Th17 cells from mice deficient in AHR. Furthermore, mice lacking inducible nitric oxide synthase (Nos2(-/-)) developed more severe experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis than WT mice, with elevated AHR expression, increased IL-17A, and IL-22 synthesis. NO may therefore represent an important endogenous regulator to prevent overexpansion of Th17 cells and control of autoimmune diseases caused by environmental pollutants.

System size dependence of associated yields in hadron-triggered jets STAR Collaboration

We present results on the system size dependence of high transverse momentum di-hadron correlations at root s(NN) = 200 GeV as measured by STAR at RHIC. Measurements in d + Au, Cu + Cu and Au + Au collisions reveal similar jet-like near-side correlation yields (correlations at small angular separation Delta phi similar to 0, Delta eta similar to 0) for all systems and centralities. Previous measurements have shown Chat the away-side (Delta phi similar to pi) yield is suppressed in heavy-ion collisions. We present measurements of the away-side Suppression as a function of transverse momentum and centrality in Cu + Cu and Au + Au collisions. The suppression is found to be similar in Cu + Cu and An + An collisions at a similar number of participants. The results are compared to theoretical calculations based on the patron quenching model and the modified fragmentation model. The observed differences between data and theory indicate that the correlated yields presented here will further constrain dynamic energy loss models and provide information about the dynamic density profile in heavy-ion collisions. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Center of mass energy and system-size dependence of photon production at forward rapidity at RHIC

We present the multiplicity and pseudorapidity distributions of photons produced in Au + Au and Cu + Cu collisions at root(s)NN = 62.4 and 200 GeV. The photons are measured in the region -3.7 < eta < -2.3 using the photon Multiplicity detector in the STAR experiment at RHIC. The number of photons produced per average number of participating nucleon pairs increases with the beam energy and is independent of (lie collision centrality. For collisions with similar average numbers of participating nucleons the photon multiplicities are observed to be similar for An + Au and Cu + Cu collisions at a given beam energy. The ratios of the number of charged particles to photons in the measured pseudorapidity range are found to be 1.4 +/- 0.1 and 1.2 +/- 0.1 for root(s)NN = 62.4 and 200 GeV, respectively. The energy dependence of this ratio could reflect varying contributions from baryons to charged particles, while mesons are the dominant contributors to photon production in the given kinematic region. The photon pseudorapidity distributions normalized by average number of participating nucleon pairs, when plotted as a function of eta-Y(beam), are found to follow a longitudinal scaling independent of centrality and colliding ion species at both beam energies. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Energy and system size dependence of phi meson production in Cu plus Cu and Au plus Au collisions

We study the beam-energy and system-size dependence of phi meson production (using the hadronic decay mode phi -> K(+) K(-)) by comparing the new results from Cu + Cu collisions and previously reported Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV measured in the STAR experiment at RHIC. Data presented in this Letter are from mid-rapidity (vertical bar y vertical bar < 0.5) for 0.4 < p(T) < 5 GeV/c. At a given beam energy, the transverse momentum distributions for phi mesons are observed to be similar in yield and shape for Cu + Cu and Au + Au colliding systems with similar average numbers of participating nucleons. The phi meson yields in nucleus-nucleus collisions, normalized by the average number of participating nucleons, are found to be enhanced relative to those from p + p collisions. The enhancement for phi mesons lies between strange hadrons having net strangeness = 1 (K(-) and <(A)over bar>) and net strangeness = 2 (Xi). The enhancement for phi mesons is observed to be higher at root s(NN) = 200 GeV compared to 62.4 GeV. These observations for the produced phi(s (s) over bar) mesons clearly suggest that, at these collision energies, the source of enhancement of strange hadrons is related to the formation of a dense partonic medium in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions and cannot be alone due to canonical suppression of their production in smaller systems. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.