Role of ventricular tachycardia ablation in arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is characterized by progressive fibro-fatty replacement of the myocardium that represents the substrate for recurrent sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT). These arrhythmias characterize the clinical course of a sizeable proportion of patients and have significant implications for their quality of life and long-term prognosis. Antiarrhythmic drugs are often poorly tolerated and usually provide incomplete control of arrhythmia relapses. Catheter ablation is a potentially effective strategy to treat frequent VT episodes and ICD shocks in ARVC patients. The aims of this review are to discuss the electrophysiological and electroanatomic substrates of ventricular tachycardia in patients with ARVC and to analyze the role of catheter ablation in their management with particular reference to selection of patients, technical issues, potential complications and outcomes

An embedding technique to determine ττ backgrounds in proton-proton collision data

An embedding technique is presented to estimate standard model tau tau backgrounds from data with minimal simulation input. In the data, the muons are removed from reconstructed mu mu events and replaced with simulated tau leptons with the same kinematic properties. In this way, a set of hybrid events is obtained that does not rely on simulation except for the decay of the tau leptons. The challenges in describing the underlying event or the production of associated jets in the simulation are avoided. The technique described in this paper was developed for CMS. Its validation and the inherent uncertainties are also discussed. The demonstration of the performance of the technique is based on a sample of proton-proton collisions collected by CMS in 2017 at root s = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 41.5 fb(-1).Peer reviewe

Performance of missing transverse momentum reconstruction in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV using the CMS detector

The performance of missing transverse momentum ((p) over right arrow (miss)(T)) reconstruction algorithms for the CMS experiment is presented, using proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected at the CERN LHC in 2016. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1). The results include measurements of the scale and resolution of (p) over right arrow (miss)(T), and detailed studies of events identified with anomalous (p) over right arrow (miss)(T). The performance is presented of a (p) over right arrow (miss)(T) reconstruction algorithm that mitigates the effects of multiple proton-proton interactions, using the "pileup per particle identification" method. The performance is shown of an algorithm used to estimate the compatibility of the reconstructed (p) over right arrow (miss)(T) with the hypothesis that it originates from resolution effects.Peer reviewe

Preserving and comunicating unique depositional geometries through photogrammetric techniques: the Agolla case study (Umbria-Marche Apennines)

Conserving geological heritage is pivotal in improving the fruition of geological resources. Preserving significant geological outcrops is even compelling when the site concerned quickly undergoes natural processes of geological and environmental evolution. An efficient and not expensive tool to ward and communicate geological features is represented by photogrammetry and 3D models, with the possibility to create large-shared database. A paradigmatic case is represented by the Jurassic Agolla outcrop (Umbria-Marche Apennines, Italy). The Umbria-Marche Basin displays a well-known Jurassic stratigraphy, controlled by an Early Jurassic extensional phase, which caused the fragmentation of a huge carbonate platform (“Calcare Massiccio”, Hettangian). Tectonics produced the drowning of the benthic factory and a complex submarine paleo-topography characterized by structural highs and lows (with consequent thickness and facies variations of the syn- and post-rift deposits). The pre-rift “Calcare Massiccio” was exposed along the horst-block margins forming morphological escarpments affected by episodic failures. The resulting rock-fall deposits (paleobreccia), topographically higher with respect to the basin floor, could represent preferential sites to host condensed facies (epi-breccia deposits) before being definitively sealed by the basin-fill deposits. The studied outcrop is a paleobreccia made of markedly angular “Calcare Massiccio” blocks (> 1 m longer axis). The boulders are draped by fossil-rich epi-breccia pelagites belonging to the “Bugarone” Group (late Kimmeridgian in age), in turn covered by the “Calcari a Saccocoma e Aptici” Fm. passing upward to the “Maiolica” Fm (late Tithonian). Taking into account the uniqueness of such outcrops and their importance in reconstructing the basin architecture, 3D models were performed. In these models, the sedimentological and paleontological details are faithfully reproduced, as well as the stratigraphic relationships between different litostratigraphic units are emphasized. The obtained model can be used to objectively convey to the scientific community raw data used for inferences and geological reconstructions. A shared database (in which to upload the obtained interactive models) could represents a fundamental tool for communication and exchange of punctual geological information, providing to all users the possibility to analyse the ‘digital outcrop’ from any perspective or angulation in a three-dimensional space. In conclusion, 3D photogrammetry proved to be an effective and powerful tool in preserving, fairly and over time, information with regional or global significance

Oceanization starts from below during continental rupturing in the Red Sea

The role of magmatism in continental rupturing and in the birth of a new ocean are not well understood. Continental rupture can take place with intense and voluminous volcanism, as in the Southern Red Sea/Afar Rift or in a relatively amagmatic mode, as in the Northern Red Sea rift. Within the Red Sea system, magnetic anomalies show a south to north time progression of the initial emplacement of oceanic crust. Mantle upwelling and melting may be affected by the south-north decreasing opening rate of the Red Sea and by the influence of the Afar plume, also decreasing from south to north. The tholeiitic basalts of the Red Sea spreading system contrast with the extensive Cenozoic basaltic lava fields occurring in the western part of the Arabian peninsula and forming one of the largest alkali basalt provinces in the world. In order to establish possible relationship between the Red Sea rift evolution and the widespread intraplate alkali volcanism of the western Saudi Arabia, field work was carried out on lava fields lying along the 25°N parallel, for over 150 km far from the shoreline. Samples from the Lunayyir, Ishara, al Kura and Khaybar volcanic fields, covering the full range of chemical diversity (olivine basalt, hawaiite, mugearite, benmoreite and trachyte) and spanning over a 20 Ma interval, were selected for chemical analyses. We attempt a comparison of the geochemistry of igneous rocks from western Arabia dykes and volcanic fields with those from the Red Sea axis and from the islands of Zabargad and Brothers in the northern Red Sea, that represent basaltic melts injected into the thinned continental crust before continental rupturing and initiation of seafloor spreading. The origin of the western Arabia igneous rocks and their relationship with rifting processes in the Red Sea have been assessed. Gabbros from the Brothers and Zabargad islands suggest that continental break up in the northern Red Sea, a relatively non-volcanic rift, is preceded by intrusion of oceanic-type basaltic melts that crystallize at progressively shallower crustal depths as rifting progresses towards continental break-up. A seismic reflection profile running across the central part of the southern Thetis basin shows a ~5 km wide reflector below the axial neovolcanic zone that marks the roof of a magma chamber or melt lens located ~3.5 km below the seafloor. The presence of a few kilometers deep subrift magma chamber soon after the initiation of oceanic spreading implies the crystallization of lower oceanic crust intrusives as a last step in a sequence of basaltic melt intrusion from pre-oceanic continental rifting to oceanic spreading. Thus oceanic crust accretion in the Red Sea rift starts at depth before continental break up, emplacement of oceanic basalt at the sea floor, and development of Vine- Matthews magnetic anomalies, pointing to a rift model, where the lower continental lithosphere has been replaced by upwelling asthenosphere before continental rupturing

Search for charged Higgs bosons in the H±^{\pm} →\to τ±ντ\tau^{\pm}\nu_\tau decay channel in proton-proton collisions at s=\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

A search is presented for charged Higgs bosons in the $\mathrm{H}^{\pm} \to \tau^{\pm}\nu_\tau$ decay mode in the hadronic final state and in final states with an electron or muon. The search is based on proton-proton collision data recorded by the CMS experiment in 2016 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. The results agree with the background expectation from the standard model. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the production cross section times branching fraction to $\tau^{\pm}\nu_\tau$ for an $\mathrm{H}^{\pm}$ in the mass range of 80 GeV to 3 TeV, including the region near the top quark mass. The observed limit ranges from 6 pb at 80 GeV to 5 fb at 3 TeV. The limits are interpreted in the context of the minimal supersymmetric standard model ${m_{\mathrm{h}}^\text{mod-}}$ scenario.A search is presented for charged Higgs bosons in the H$^{±}$ → τ$^{±}$ν$_{τ}$ decay mode in the hadronic final state and in final states with an electron or a muon. The search is based on proton-proton collision data recorded by the CMS experiment in 2016 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{−1}$. The results agree with the background expectation from the standard model. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the production cross section times branching fraction to τ$^{±}$ν$_{τ}$ for an H$^{±}$ in the mass range of 80GeV to 3TeV, including the region near the top quark mass. The observed limit ranges from 6 pb at 80 GeV to 5 fb at 3 TeV. The limits are interpreted in the context of the minimal supersymmetric standard model m$_{h}^{hod −}$ scenario.A search is presented for charged Higgs bosons in the H$^{\pm}$ $\to$ $\tau^{\pm}\nu_\tau$ decay mode in the hadronic final state and in final states with an electron or muon. The search is based on proton-proton collision data recorded by the CMS experiment in 2016 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. The results agree with the background expectation from the standard model. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the production cross section times branching fraction to $\tau^{\pm}\nu_\tau$ for an H$^{\pm}$ in the mass range of 80 GeV to 3 TeV, including the region near the top quark mass. The observed limit ranges from 6 pb at 80 GeV to 5 fb at 3 TeV. The limits are interpreted in the context of the minimal supersymmetric standard model $m_\mathrm{h}^\mathrm{mod-}$ scenario