MHz gravitational wave constraints with decameter Michelson interferometers

Chou, Aaron S.,Gustafson, Richard,Hogan, Craig,Kamai, Brittany,Kwon, Ohkyung,Lanza, Robert,Larson, Shane L.,McCuller, Lee,Meyer, Stephan S.,Richardson, Jonathan,Stoughton, Chris,Tomlin, Raymond,Weiss, American Physical Society 2017 Physical Review D Vol.95 No.6

<P>A new detector, the Fermilab Holometer, consists of separate yet identical 39-meter Michelson interferometers. Strain sensitivity achieved is better than 10(-21) / root Hz between 1 to 13 MHz from a 130-h data set. This measurement exceeds the sensitivity and frequency range made from previous high frequency gravitational wave experiments by many orders of magnitude. Constraints are placed on a stochastic background at 382 Hz resolution. The 3 sigma upper limit on Omega(GW), the gravitational wave energy density normalized to the closure density, ranges from 5.6 x 10(12) at 1 MHz to 8.4 x 10(15) at 13 MHz. Another result from the same data set is a search for nearby primordial black hole binaries (PBHB). There are no detectable monochromatic PBHBs in the mass range 0.83-3.5 x 10(21) g between the Earth and the Moon. Projections for a chirp search with the same data set increase the mass range to 0.59 - 2.5 x 10(25) g and distances out to Jupiter. This result presents a new method for placing limits on a poorly constrained mass range of primordial black holes. Additionally, solar system searches for PBHBs place limits on their contribution to the total dark matter fraction.</P>

Seasonal Changes in Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Japanese Men With Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Treated With α1-Blockers

Minoru Kobayashi,Akinori Nukui,Takao Kamai 대한배뇨장애요실금학회 2017 International Neurourology Journal Vol.21 No.3

Purpose: To investigate whether seasonal changes occurred in lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Methods: Patients aged 50 years and older with BPH treated with α1-blockers were enrolled. The International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), quality of life (QoL) score, maximum and average flow rate, voided volume, and postvoid residual volume were measured in summer and winter. Results: A total of 164 patients were enrolled. The total IPSS and QoL index did not show a significant difference between the 2 seasons. When the IPSS was divided into storage symptoms and voiding symptoms, storage symptoms in winter were substantially but nonsignificantly higher than those in summer (P=0.056). Of the 7 individual symptoms in the IPSS, a significant seasonal difference was observed only for nocturia, with a higher score in winter. Moreover, none of the uroflowmetric parameters showed a seasonal change. Voided volume had significant correlations with each symptom (urgency and nocturia) and overall subjective scores (storage, total IPSS, and QoL) exclusively in summer, while this correlation remained only for nocturia in winter. Conclusions: As it has generally been assumed that LUTS deteriorate in winter, the present study corroborated that the severity of storage symptoms was higher in winter than in summer, even in patients treated with α1-blockers. In contrast, a seasonal difference was not observed in the uroflowmetric parameters, which may be partly due to the loss of the correlation between subjective and objective measurements of storage symptoms in winter.

The Holometer: an instrument to probe Planckian quantum geometry

Chou, Aaron,Glass, Henry,Gustafson, H Richard,Hogan, Craig,Kamai, Brittany L,Kwon, Ohkyung,Lanza, Robert,McCuller, Lee,Meyer, Stephan S,Richardson, Jonathan,Stoughton, Chris,Tomlin, Ray,Weiss, Rainer Institute of Physics 2017 Classical and quantum gravity Vol.34 No.6

<P>This paper describes the Fermilab Holometer, an instrument for measuring correlations of position variations over a four-dimensional volume of space-time. The apparatus consists of two co-located, but independent and isolated, 40 m power-recycled Michelson interferometers, whose outputs are cross-correlated to 25 MHz. The data are sensitive to correlations of differential position across the apparatus over a broad band of frequencies up to and exceeding the inverse light crossing time, 7.6 MHz. A noise model constrained by diagnostic and environmental data distinguishes among physical origins of measured correlations, and is used to verify shot-noise-limited performance. These features allow searches for exotic quantum correlations that depart from classical trajectories at spacelike separations, with a strain noise power spectral density sensitivity smaller than the Planck time. The Holometer in current and future configurations is projected to provide precision tests of a wide class of models of quantum geometry at the Planck scale, beyond those already constrained by currently operating gravitational wave observatories.</P>

Interferometric constraints on quantum geometrical shear noise correlations

Chou, Aaron,Glass, Henry,Richard Gustafson, H,Hogan, Craig J,Kamai, Brittany L,Kwon, Ohkyung,Lanza, Robert,McCuller, Lee,Meyer, Stephan S,Richardson, Jonathan W,Stoughton, Chris,Tomlin, Ray,Weiss, Rai IOP 2017 Classical and quantum gravity Vol.34 No.16

<P>Final measurements and analysis are reported from the first-generation Holometer, the first instrument capable of measuring correlated variations in space-time position at strain noise power spectral densities smaller than a Planck time. The apparatus consists of two co-located, but independent and isolated, 40 m power-recycled Michelson interferometers, whose outputs are cross-correlated to 25 MHz. The data are sensitive to correlations of differential position across the apparatus over a broad band of frequencies up to and exceeding the inverse light crossing time, 7.6 MHz. By measuring with Planck precision the correlation of position variations at spacelike separations, the Holometer searches for faint, irreducible correlated position noise backgrounds predicted by some models of quantum space-time geometry. The first-generation optical layout is sensitive to quantum geometrical noise correlations with shear symmetry—those that can be interpreted as a fundamental noncommutativity of space-time position in orthogonal directions. General experimental constraints are placed on parameters of a set of models of spatial shear noise correlations, with a sensitivity that exceeds the Planck-scale holographic information bound on position states by a large factor. This result significantly extends the upper limits placed on models of directional noncommutativity by currently operating gravitational wave observatories.</P>

The Predictive Value of Glycated Hemoglobin and Albumin for the Clinical Course Following Hospitalization of Patients with Febrile Urinary Tract Infection

Minoru Kobayashi,Toshitaka Uematsu,Gaku Nakamura,Hidetoshi Kokubun,Tomoya Mizuno,Hironori Betsunoh,Takao Kamai 대한감염학회 2018 Infection and Chemotherapy Vol.50 No.3

Background Diabetes is considered a risk factor for acquisition of febrile urinary tract infection (f-UTI), but information on the association of diabetes with subsequent course of the disease is lacking. Thus, we investigated the clinical variables including diabetic status which determined the clinical course in patients with community-acquired f-UTI. Materials and Methods Patients hospitalized consecutively for f-UTI between February 2016 and January 2018 were used for this single center study. The routine laboratory tests including blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were done and empiric treatment with parenteral antibiotics was commenced on admission. The clinical course such as duration of fever (DOF) and length of hospital stay (LOS) were compared among groups classified by the clinical variables. Results Among the101 patients admitted for f-UTI, 15 patients with diabetes (14.9%) experienced significantly longer febrile period and hospitalization compared to those with hyperglycemia (n = 18, 17.8%) or those without diabetes and hyperglycemia (n = 68, 67.3%). Of the laboratory parameters tested on admission and several clinical factors, the presence of diabetes and risk factors for severe complicated infection (hydronephrosis, urosepsis, and disseminated intravascular coagulopathy) as well as HbA1c and albumin were identified as predictors for LOS by univariate analysis, whereas none of the variables failed to predict DOF. In the subsequent multivariate analysis, HbA1c levels and albumin levels were isolated as independent predictors of LOS. Conclusion Patients with higher HbA1c and lower albumin levels required the longest period of hospitalization. Thus, an evaluation of diabetic and nutritional status on admission will be feasible to foretell the clinical course and better manage the subset of patients at risk of prolonged hospitalization.