Effect of wood aging on wine mineral composition and 87Sr/86Sr isotopic ratio

The evolution of mineral composition and wine strontium isotopic ratio 87Sr/86Sr (Sr IR) during wood aging were investigated. A red wine was aged in stainless steel tanks with French oak staves (Quercus sessiliflora Salisb.), with three industrial scale replicates. Sampling was carried out after 30, 60, and 90 days of aging, and the wines were evaluated in terms of general analysis, phenolic composition, total polysaccharides, multielement composition, and Sr IR. Li, Be, Mg, Al, Sc, Ti, V, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, As, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Mo, Sb, Cs, Ba, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Dy, Ho, Er, Yb, Lu, Tl, and Pb elements and 87Sr/86Sr were determined by quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (Q-ICP-MS) and Na, K, Ca, and Fe by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). Two-way ANOVA was applied to assess wood aging and time effect on Sr IR and mineral composition. Wood aging resulted in significantly higher concentrations of Mg, V, Co, Ni, and Sr. At the end of the aging period, wine exhibited statistically identical Sr IR compared to control. Study suggests that wood aging does not affect 87Sr/86Sr, not precluding the use of this parameter for wine traceability purposesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Confirmation of the Double Charm Baryon Xi_cc+ via its Decay to p D+ K-

We observes a signal for the double charm baryon Xi_cc+ in the charged decay mode Xi_cc+ -> p D+ K- to complement the previously reported decay Xi_cc+ -> Lambda_c K- pi+ in data from SELEX, the charm hadro-production experiment (E781) at Fermilab. In this new decay mode we observe an excess of 5.62 events over an expected background estimated by event mixing to be 1.38+/-0.13 events. The Poisson probability that a background fluctuation can produce the apparent signal is less than 6.4E-4. The observed mass of this state is (3518+/-3)MeV/c^2, consistent with the published result. Averaging the two results gives a mass of (3518.7+/-1.7)MeV/c^2. The observation of this new weak decay mode confirms the previous SELEX suggestion that this state is a double charm baryon. The relative branching ratio Gamma(Xi_cc+ -> pD+K-)/Gamma(Xi_cc+ -> Lambda_c K- pi+) = 0.36+/-0.21.Comment: 11 pages, 6 included eps figures. v2 includes improved statistical method to determine significance of observation. Submitted to PL

La cryptococcose neuro-méningée au Mali

Cryptococcal meningitis is the most common fatal central nervous system infection in AIDS patients in Sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this prospective study conducted from March 2003 to February 2004 in the internal medicine and infectious diseases departments of the Point G University Hospital Center was to investigate the clinical, prognostic and epidemiological profile of Cryptococcus neoformans infection in patients hospitalized for brain and meningeale infection (BMI). Diagnosis of neuromeningeal cryptococcosis (NMC) was based on positive identification of Cryptococcus by direct exam of the cebrospinal fluid (CSF) after India ink staining and/or culture on Sabouraud medium without actidione. During the study period, a total of 569 patients were hospitalized including 235 (41.3%) with HIV infection. Overall C. neoformans was identified in 14 patients. Median patient age was 39 ± 8 years. There was a male preponderance with a sex ratio of 1.8 (9 men/5 women). Patients with BMI were HIV positive in 85.7% of cases (n=12) and HIV-negative in 14.3% (n=2). The overall and HIV-specific prevalence of BMI was 2.5% and 5.1% respectively. The CD4 lymphocyte count was between 1 and 49 cells/mm3 in 64.3% of cases. The main clinical symptoms were cephalea in 85.7% of cases, altered consciousness in 50% and nausea/vomiting in 35.7%. Neurological manifestations (hemiparesis and cranial nerve deficit) were noted in 14.3%. HIV infection is the main purveyor of NMC in Mali. The actual incidence of cryptococcosis is unclear due to the poor sensitivity of diagnostic techniques. This study highlights diagnostic difficulties related to clinical polymorphism and poor technical facilities. Agglutination testing of blood and CSF is recommended, but mortality remains

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Measurement of the Lambda(b) cross section and the anti-Lambda(b) to Lambda(b) ratio with Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda decays in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The Lambda(b) differential production cross section and the cross section ratio anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) are measured as functions of transverse momentum pt(Lambda(b)) and rapidity abs(y(Lambda(b))) in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are based on Lambda(b) decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi Lambda, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to an opposite-sign muon pair and Lambda to proton pion, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.9 inverse femtobarns. The product of the cross section times the branching ratio for Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda versus pt(Lambda(b)) falls faster than that of b mesons. The measured value of the cross section times the branching ratio for pt(Lambda(b)) > 10 GeV and abs(y(Lambda(b))) < 2.0 is 1.06 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.12 nb, and the integrated cross section ratio for anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) is 1.02 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.09, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femtobarns. Two complementary search strategies are employed. The first probes models with a specific dilepton production mechanism that leads to a characteristic kinematic edge in the dilepton mass distribution. The second strategy probes models of dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM physics not considered in this paper.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of isolated photon production in pp and PbPb collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 2.76 TeV

Isolated photon production is measured in proton-proton and lead-lead collisions at nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energies of 2.76 TeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta|<1.44 and transverse energies ET between 20 and 80 GeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measured ET spectra are found to be in good agreement with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD predictions. The ratio of PbPb to pp isolated photon ET-differential yields, scaled by the number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions, is consistent with unity for all PbPb reaction centralities.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

First Observation of the Cabibbo-suppressed Decays Xi_c+ -> Sigma+ pi- pi+ and Xi_c+ -> Sigma- pi+ pi+ and Measurement of their Branching Ratios

We report the first observation of two Cabibbo-suppressed decay modes, Xi_c+ -> Sigma+ pi- pi+ and Xi_c+ -> Sigma- pi+ pi+. We observe 59+/-14 over a background of 87, and 22+/-8 over a background of 13 events, respectively, for the signals. The data were accumulated using the SELEX spectrometer during the 1996-1997 fixed target run at Fermilab, chiefly from a 600GeV/c Sigma- beam. The branching ratios of the decays relative to the Cabibbo--favored Xi_c+ -> Xi- pi+ pi+ are measured to be B(Xi_c+ -> Sigma+ pi- pi+)/B(Xi_c+ -> Xi- pi+ pi+) = 0.48+/-0.20, and B(Xi_c+ -> Sigma- pi+ pi+)/B(Xi_c+ -> Xi- pi+ pi+) = 0.18+/-0.09, respectively. We also report branching ratios for the same decay modes of the Lambda_c+ relative to Lambda_c+ -> p K- pi+.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, version 2 as accepted in PL