Study the effect of beam energy spread and detector resolution on the search for Higgs boson decays to invisible particles at a future e+^+e−^- circular collider

We study the expected sensitivity to measure the branching ratio of Higgs boson decays to invisible particles at a future circular \epem collider (FCC-ee) in the process $e^+e^-\to HZ$ with $Z\to \ell^+\ell^-$ ($\ell=e$ or $\mu$) using an integrated luminosity of 3.5 ab$^{-1}$ at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=240$ GeV. The impact of the energy spread of the FCC-ee beam and of the resolution in the reconstruction of the leptons is discussed. %Two different detector concepts are considered: a detector corresponding to the CMS reconstruction performances and the expected design of the ILC detector. The minimum branching ratio for a $5\sigma$ observation after 3.5ab$^{-1}$ of data taking is $1.7\pm 0.1\%(stat+syst)$. The branching ratio exclusion limit at 95\% CL is $0.63 \pm 0.22\%((stat+syst))$.Comment: 17 pages, submitted to EPJ

Inter-laboratory measurement comparison between INRIM and ESA on electrical quantities

Inter-laboratory comparisons (ILCs) are an effective mean to establish the compatibility of the measurements among laboratories. As consequence they are a mean to assure confidence in the competence and in the correctness of the dissemination processes from national Standards in different countries. This paper refers on a ILC between the National Institute of Metrological Research (INRIM-Italy) and the European space research and technology Centre (ESA- ESTEC), belonging to two different countries, on DC Voltage, DC Resistance and Electrical Capacitance carried out in 2016. The comparison showed a satisfactory agreement between the results of the two Laboratories

Levels of circulating endothelial cells are low in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and are further reduced by anti-fibrotic treatments

Background: It has been suggested that circulating fibrocytes and endothelial cells actively participate in the intense remodelling of the pulmonary vasculature in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Indeed, fibrotic areas exist that have fewer blood vessels, whereas adjacent non-fibrotic tissue is highly vascularized. The number of circulating endothelial cells (CEC) and endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) might reflect the balance between vascular injury and repair. Thus, fibrocytes as well as endothelial cells could potentially be used as biomarkers of disease progression and treatment outcome. Methods: Peripheral blood samples were collected from 67 patients with a multidisciplinary diagnosis of IPF and from 45 age-matched and sex-matched healthy volunteers. Buffy coat was isolated according to standard procedures and at least 20 million cells were stained with different monoclonal antibodies for the detection of CEC, EPC and circulating fibrocytes. For the detection of CEC and EPC, cells were stained with anti-CD45, anti-CD34, anti-CD133, anti-CD14, anti-CD309 and with the viability probe Far-Red LIVE/DEAD. For the detection of circulating fibrocytes, cells were first stained with LIVE/DEAD and the following monoclonal antibodies: anti-CD3, anti-CD19, anti-CD45, anti-CD34 and anti-CD14, then cells were fixed, permeabilized and stained with fluorochrome-conjugated anti-collagen I monoclonal antibodies. Results: Patients with IPF displayed almost undetectable levels of circulating fibrocytes, low levels of CEC, and normal levels of EPC. Patients treated with nintedanib displayed higher levels of CEC, but lower levels of endothelial cells expressing CD309 (the type II receptor for vascular endothelial growth factor). Treatment with both nintedanib and pirfenidone reduced the percentage of CEC and circulating fibrocytes. Conclusions: Levels of CEC were reduced in patients with IPF as compared to healthy individuals. The anti-fibrotic treatments nintedanib and pirfenidone further reduced CEC levels. These findings might help explain the mechanism of action of these drugs and should be explored as predictive biomarkers in IPF

PowerPlex® Fusion 6C System: evaluation study for analysis of casework and database samples

Aim To report on the successful analysis of amplicons obtained with PowerPlex® Fusion 6C System, a highly robust 27-plex genotyping kit developed for human identification laboratories, on the Applied Biosystems® 3500 Genetic Analyzer. Method We performed characterization and evaluation studies following the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM) validation guidelines, examining several critical areas of kit performance. We report the results of sensitivity, robustness, heterozygous peak height ratio, precision, concordance, caseworks, and mixture interpretations. We tested sensitivity, using serial dilutions of control DNA. Results The minimum amount of input DNA resulting in a full profile was 125 pg. Inhibition, inducted by urea, showsed a progressively fragmentation of DNA and a full profile was obtained until 1M of inhibitor factor. To test the profile quality, casework samples were extracted with different extraction methods: Chelex®100, QIAmp DNA Micro Kit and Phenol-Chloroform extraction. The results demonstrated that extraction chemistries do not have affect on amplification performance. Concordance check was performed by typing some casework samples and comparing the typing results with those obtained with other available kits. Thus, concordance was expected and supported by the data. Conclusion Reliable DNA typing results can be obtained using this new kit, demonstrating its effectiveness and utility in forensic analysis

Divergent effects of Nitric oxide on airway epithelial cell activation

Nitric oxide (NO*) is a gaseous mediator synthesized by Nitric oxide sinthases. NO* is involved in the modulation of inflammation, but its role in airway inflammation remains controversial. We investigated the role of NO* in the synthesis of the chemok Nes Interleukin-8 and Monocyte Chemotactic Protein-1, and of Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 by human airway epithelial cells. normal human bronchial epithelial cells and the bronchial epithelial cell line BEAS-2B were used. Neterleukin-8 (IL-8) and Monocyte Chemotactic Protein-1 (MCP-1) secretion and Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expression were measured by ELISA. mRNA was assessed by semiquantitative RTI-PCR. Neterleukin-8 secretion was significantly reduced after 24h incubation with the NO* donor, sodium nitroprusside. The effect was dose-dependent. Similar results were obta Ned with S-Nitroso-N-D,L-penicillam Ne and S-Nitroso-L-glutathione. Inhibition of endogenous NO* with the Nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N-Nitro-L-arg N Ne-methyl-esther caused an increase in IL-8 secretion by lypopolisaccharide- and cytok Ne-stimulated BEAS-2B cells. Sodium nitroprusside also caused a reduction in Monocyte Chemotactic Protein-1 secretion by both cell types. In contrast, Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 expression was upregulated by sodium NItroprusside. RTI-PCR results indícate that the modulation of protein levels was paralleled by modification in mRNA levels. NO* has divergent effects on the synthesis of different inflammatory mediators in human bronchial epithelial cells

ENSINO DE HISTÓRIA E AVALIAÇÃO: REFLEXÕES SOBRE O ENEM E O VESTIBULAR UEPG

Este texto tem por objeto de estudo o conhecimento histórico encontrado em questões de História em avaliações de larga escala. A base empírica da pesquisa foi constituída em torno das questões de história do Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio e do vestibular da Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa. O recorte temporal para a análise de ambas as provas é de 2009 a 2015. Um primeiro resultado está na compreensão de que as questões do vestibular trazem características gerais e detalhadas que fazem predominar a competência central de memorização para que o candidato possa ter um bom desempenho. As questões do ENEM, por sua vez, além de uma cobrança de conteúdo, também exigem mais frequentemente as capacidades de interpretação de texto, de imagem e de fontes, compondo um panorama mais amplo de avaliação da aprendizagem do candidato

ENSINO DE HISTÓRIA E AVALIAÇÃO: REFLEXÕES SOBRE O ENEM E O VESTIBULAR UEPG

Este texto tem por objeto de estudo o conhecimento histórico encontrado em questões de História em avaliações de larga escala. A base empírica da pesquisa foi constituída em torno das questões de história do Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio e do vestibular da Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa. O recorte temporal para a análise de ambas as provas é de 2009 a 2015. Um primeiro resultado está na compreensão de que as questões do vestibular trazem características gerais e detalhadas que fazem predominar a competência central de memorização para que o candidato possa ter um bom desempenho. As questões do ENEM, por sua vez, além de uma cobrança de conteúdo, também exigem mais frequentemente as capacidades de interpretação de texto, de imagem e de fontes, compondo um panorama mais amplo de avaliação da aprendizagem do candidato

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011