A new paper has added diagnostic capability to an earlier study of heartbeat analysis among congestive heart failure patients. The original 2002 paper, also published in Physical Review E, suggested that the heartbeat patterns of healthy patients were significantly different from those of patients with congestive heart failure, but the study lacked the relevant clinical data needed to give it diagnostic importance. Clinical data has since been made available to the researchers, who have published an addendum to the original paper, giving it a firmer theoretical basis and claiming that the heartbeat patterns of patients with congestive heart failure can be used to determine their mortality risk.

Brief Report: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRE/v67/e062901
Original paper: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRE/v65/e041926

2) New type of superconductor
H.J. Niu and D.P. Hampshire
Physical Review Letters (to appear)

By taking conventional superconducting materials, smashing them into little pieces, gluing them back together and then cooking them, researchers have found a new type of superconductor that carries more current and remains superconducting in a much higher magnetic field than conventional superconductors. The researchers speculate the new superconducting materials can be used to make magnets that produce higher magnetic fields and MRI scanners will be able to use them to produce a sharper picture.

Journal article: Available to journalists on request

3) From nanobubbles to clouds
M. Moody and P. Attard
Physical Review Letters (to appear)

The growth of water droplets to form clouds belongs to the same clas
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Contact: David Harris
harris@aps.org
301-209-3238
American Physical Society
11-Jul-2003