Glassy gravity

Euclidean quantum gravity is reconsidered, in the conformal mode approximation. Applying techniques from glass theory, we argue that the Euclidean partition function hides metastable states, which can be counted. This may reconcile conflicting results on the uniqueness of the de Sitter vacuum, and may be relevant to the cosmological constant problem.Comment: 5 pages + 4 pages S

A Copula-VAR-X Approach for Industrial Production Modelling and Forecasting

World economies, and especially European ones, have become strongly interconnected in the last decades and a joint modelling is required. We propose here the use of Copulas to build flexible multivariate distributions, since they allow for a rich dependence structure and more flexible marginal distributions that better fit the features of empirical data, such as leptokurtosis. We use our approach to forecast industrial production series in the core EMU countries and we provide evidence that the copula-VAR model outperforms or at worst compares similarly to normal VAR models, keeping the same computational tractability of the latter approach.Forecasting, Industrial Production, Copulas, VAR models.

Abiraterone acetate in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer after chemotherapy. A retrospective “Real Life” analysis of activity and safety

Abiraterone acetate (AA) is a potent, selective androge (CYP17) biosynthesis inhibitor, which showed to improve overall survival (HR = 0.646) in mCRPC patients progressing after docetaxel. In this retrospective analysis we assessed the safety and efficacy of AA in patients affected with mCRPC progressing after chemotherapy, treated in the normal clinical practice, in several Italian Oncologic Units, after the approval of the drug from the Italian Drug Agency (AIFA)

Immunoproteasomes largely replace constitutive proteasomes during an antiviral and antibacterial immune response in the liver

The proteasome is critically involved in the production of MHC class I-restricted T cell epitopes. Proteasome activity and epitope production are altered by IFN-gamma treatment, which leads to a gradual replacement of constitutive proteasomes by immunoproteasomes in vitro. However, a quantitative analysis of changes in the steady state subunit composition of proteasomes during an immune response against viruses or bacteria in vivo has not been reported. Here we show that the infection of mice with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus or Listeria monocytogenes leads to an almost complete replacement of constitutive proteasomes by immunoproteasomes in the liver within 7 days. Proteasome replacements were markedly reduced in IFN-gamma(-/-) mice, but were only slightly affected in IFN-alphaR(-/-) and perforin(-/-) mice. The proteasome regulator PA28alpha/beta was up-regulated, whereas PA28gamma was reduced in the liver of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus-infected mice. Proteasome replacements in the liver strongly altered proteasome activity and were unexpected to this extent, since an in vivo half-life of 12 days had been previously assigned to constitutive proteasomes in the liver. Our results suggest that during the peak phase of viral and bacterial elimination the antiviral cytotoxic T lymphocyte response is directed mainly to immunoproteasome-dependent T cell epitopes, which would be a novel parameter for the design of vaccines

Comparative Evaluation of the Collection Efficiency of Seven Different Air Samplers to Monitor Airborne Viable Microorganisms

The study describes the results of a series of comparative experiments aimed at determining the differences in the ability to collect bacteria and fungi colonies by seven different impaction air samplers. The tests were performed simultaneously under identical environmental conditions in a \u201cclean\u201d room routinely used for cell culture or in a biochemistry room generally used for chemical experiments in the microbiological research laboratory of the University of Milan. The air flow in the rooms was switched-off for all the time of the experiments. The seven different air samplers were positioned on a cart, side by side, and operated simultaneously to collect 1m3 of atmosphere each. The results demonstrated that the numbers of airborne microorganisms impacted on TSA-containing Petri dishes, and grown as single colonies (CFU/m3), were different for each air sampler, although the difference was not statistically significant. Head to head tests were also performed with two identical TRIO.BAS apparatuses calibrated to 100 or 200 litres of aspirated air per minute. This test aimed at determining if a shorter aspiration time could negatively influence the cell viability and/or the bacterial concentration in the bioaerosol, as determined by counting the number of CFU/m3. The data ruled out this possibility and suggest that an aspiration time of 200 litres per minute might save time, especially when a repeated air sampling is mandatory for the control of sterility in virology laboratory \u201cclean rooms\u201d, pharmaceutical manufacturing areas and surgical rooms in the hospitals

Report on the activity of the GILDA-CRG beamline 2009-2013

Index Technical description of the beamline..................................................................................................3 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................3 Optics..............................................................................................................................................3 The XAS end station........................................................................................................................6 Standard data collection setup.....................................................................................................6 Surface XAS apparata.................................................................................................................8 Recent sample environment and Instrumentation developments................................................9 The x-ray diffraction (XRD) end-station.......................................................................................13 Beamline control...........................................................................................................................14 Administrative aspects........................................................................................................................16 Organisation..................................................................................................................................16 Beamline Staff Situation................................................................................................................17 Statistical data on Users and scientific production.............................................................................21 Future perspectives and plans for upgrade.........................................................................................25 Aim of the project.........................................................................................................................25 Design...........................................................................................................................................26 Timetable......................................................................................................................................31 Overview of the overall scientific activity.........................................................................................33 Selection of five publications........................................................................................................33 Highlights of the scientific activity................................................................................................34 Local order in semiconductors..................................................................................................34 Nanotechnology.......................................................................................................................44 Cements and porous systems....................................................................................................48 Chemistry.................................................................................................................................56 Earth Science............................................................................................................................61 Environment.............................................................................................................................67 Cultural Heritage.......................................................................................................................72 Health, medicine and life science .............................................................................................77 Acknowledgements...........................................................................................................................84 References.........................................................................................................................................85 Generic References.......................................................................................................................85 GILDA 2009-2013 Publications....................................................................................................8

Removal of enteric viruses and Escherichia coli from municipal treated effluent by zebra mussels

Dreissena polymorpha is a widespread filter-feeder species, resistant to a broad range of environmental conditions and different types of pollutants, which has recently colonized Italian freshwaters. Although widely used to monitor pollution in freshwater environments, this species is also an important food source for some fish and water birds. It can also be used to concentrate or remove particulate organic matter to interrupt avian-to-human transmission of pollutants and control health risks for animals and humans. In this study, the accumulation/inactivation in D. polymorpha of human health-related spiked enteric viruses was described. The removal of endogenous Escherichia coli, the classical indicator of fecal contamination, was tested as well. Our preliminary lab-scale results demonstrate that zebra mussels can reduce significantly poliovirus titer after 24 h and rotavirus titer after 8 h. E. coli counts were also reduced in the presence of zebra mussels by about 1.5 log after 4 h and nearly completely after 24 h. The fate of the two enteric viruses after concentration by zebra mussels was also investigated after mechanical disruption of the tissues. To our knowledge, the accumulation from water and inactivation of human health-related enteric viruses by zebra mussels has never been reported

Abiraterone acetate in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer after chemotherapy. A retrospective analysis of progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in the “Real Life”

Background: Abiraterone acetate (AA) is a potent, selective androgen (CYP17) biosynthesis inhibitor, which showed to improve overall survival (HR = 0.646) in mCRPC patients progressing after docetaxel. In this retrospective analysis we assessed the PFS and OS safety in patients affected with mCRPC progressing after chemotherapy, treated in the normal clinical practice, in several Italian Oncologic Units