Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound: a Simple and Effective Tool in Defining a Rapid Diagnostic Work-up for Small Nodules Detected in Cirrhotic Patients during Surveillance

Disappearance of portal blood flow and arterial vascularization is the hallmark of hepatocarcinogenesis. The capability of a dynamic imaging modality detecting arterial hypervascularization of small nodules is crucial to promote a rapid diagnostic and therapeutic work-up improving survival. We aimed to evaluate the capability of CEUS to detect arterial vascularization of ≤ 2 cm HCC nodules arising during surveillance so as to shorten the diagnostic and therapeutic work-up

Microwave Ablation in Intermediate Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Cirrhosis: An Italian Multicenter Prospective Study

Background and Aims: To report long-term results in treatment of intermediate hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in cirrhotics using new high-powered microwaves (MWS) ablation alone. Methods: This multicenter study included 215 cirrhotics (age range: 67-84 years; 137 males; 149 Child A, 66 Child B) who underwent percutaneous ultrasound-guided high-powered MWS ablation instead of transarterial chemoembolization. Among the patient population, 109 had a single nodule (Ø 5.3-8 cm) [group A], 70 had 2 nodules (Ø 3-6 cm) [group B] and 36 had 3-5 nodules (Ø 1.5-6.8 cm) [group C]. MWS ablation efficacy was evaluated using enhanced-computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging. Primary end-point was 5-year cumulative overall survival (OS). Results: On enhanced-computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging, complete ablation rates were 100% for 1.5-3.5 cm nodules. In nodules >3.5-5 cm, it was 89% for the first ablation and 100% for the second. For lesions >5-8 cm, ablation was up to 92%. Overall, 1-, 3- and 5-year survival rates were 89, 60, and 21%, respectively. The cumulative OS rate of group A was 89%, 66% and 34% at 1, 3 and 5 years. The cumulative OS rate of group B was 88%, 60% and 11% at 1, 3 and 5 years. The cumulative OS rate of group C was 86%, 55% and 0%. The 5-year survival rate was significantly different among the groups (p <0.001). One patient died from rupture of HCC. Upon multivariate analysis, preablation total bilirubin >1.5 mg/dL was an independent factor for predicting lower survival. Conclusions: Percutaneous MWS ablation of intermediate HCC is safe and effective in inducing large volume of necrosis in intermediate HCC nodules, providing long-term survival rates similar to transarterial chemoembolization. Preablation total bilirubin >1.5 mg/dL as expression of liver function reserve is the main factor predicting a worse outcome

Diagnosis of Imported Dengue and Zika Virus Infections in Italy from November 2015 to November 2022: Laboratory Surveillance Data from a National Reference Laboratory

Dengue (DENV) and Zika (ZIKV) viruses are mosquito-borne human pathogens. In Italy, the presence of the competent vector Aedes albopictus increases the risk of autochthonous transmission, and a national plan for arboviruses prevention, surveillance, and response (PNA 2020–2025) is in place. The results of laboratory diagnosis of both viruses by the National Reference Laboratory for arboviruses (NRLA) from November 2015 to November 2022 are presented. Samples from 655 suspected cases were tested by both molecular and serological assays. Virus and antibody kinetics, cross-reactivity, and diagnostic performance of IgM ELISA systems were analysed. Of 524 cases tested for DENV, 146 were classified as confirmed, 7 as probable, while 371 were excluded. Of 619 cases tested for ZIKV, 44 were classified as confirmed, while 492 were excluded. All cases were imported. Overall, 75.3% (110/146) of DENV and 50% (22/44) of ZIKV cases were confirmed through direct virus detection methods. High percentages of cross reactivity were observed between the two viruses. The median lag time from symptoms onset to sample collection was 7 days for both DENV molecular (range 0–20) and NS1 ELISA (range 0–48) tests, with high percentages of positivity also after 7 days (39% and 67%, respectively). For ZIKV, the median lag time was 5 days (range 0–22), with 16% positivity after 7 days. Diagnostic performance was assessed with negative predictive values ranging from 92% to 95% for the anti-DENV systems, and of 97% for the ZIKV one. Lower positive predictive values were seen in the tested population (DENV: 55% to 91%, ZIKV: 50%). DENV and ZIKV diagnosis by molecular test is the gold standard, but sample collection time is a limitation. Serological tests, including Plaque Reduction Neutralization Test, are thus necessary. Co-circulation and cross-reactivity between the two viruses increase diagnostic difficulty. Continuous evaluation of diagnostic strategies is essential to improve laboratory testing

Euclid preparation. XXIV. Calibration of the halo mass function in Λ(ν)\Lambda(\nu)CDM cosmologies

Euclid's photometric galaxy cluster survey has the potential to be a very competitive cosmological probe. The main cosmological probe with observations of clusters is their number count, within which the halo mass function (HMF) is a key theoretical quantity. We present a new calibration of the analytic HMF, at the level of accuracy and precision required for the uncertainty in this quantity to be subdominant with respect to other sources of uncertainty in recovering cosmological parameters from Euclid cluster counts. Our model is calibrated against a suite of N-body simulations using a Bayesian approach taking into account systematic errors arising from numerical effects in the simulation. First, we test the convergence of HMF predictions from different N-body codes, by using initial conditions generated with different orders of Lagrangian Perturbation theory, and adopting different simulation box sizes and mass resolution. Then, we quantify the effect of using different halo-finder algorithms, and how the resulting differences propagate to the cosmological constraints. In order to trace the violation of universality in the HMF, we also analyse simulations based on initial conditions characterised by scale-free power spectra with different spectral indexes, assuming both Einstein--de Sitter and standard $\Lambda$CDM expansion histories. Based on these results, we construct a fitting function for the HMF that we demonstrate to be sub-percent accurate in reproducing results from 9 different variants of the $\Lambda$CDM model including massive neutrinos cosmologies. The calibration systematic uncertainty is largely sub-dominant with respect to the expected precision of future mass-observation relations; with the only notable exception of the effect due to the halo finder, that could lead to biased cosmological inference.Comment: 24 pages, 21 figures, 5 tables, 3 appendixes

Euclid preparation: XXXIII. Characterization of convolutional neural networks for the identification of galaxy-galaxy strong-lensing events

Forthcoming imaging surveys will increase the number of known galaxy-scale strong lenses by several orders of magnitude. For this to happen, images of billions of galaxies will have to be inspected to identify potential candidates. In this context, deep-learning techniques are particularly suitable for finding patterns in large data sets, and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in particular can efficiently process large volumes of images. We assess and compare the performance of three network architectures in the classification of strong-lensing systems on the basis of their morphological characteristics. In particular, we implemented a classical CNN architecture, an inception network, and a residual network. We trained and tested our networks on different subsamples of a data set of 40 000 mock images whose characteristics were similar to those expected in the wide survey planned with the ESA mission Euclid, gradually including larger fractions of faint lenses. We also evaluated the importance of adding information about the color difference between the lens and source galaxies by repeating the same training on single- and multiband images. Our models find samples of clear lenses with ≳90% precision and completeness. Nevertheless, when lenses with fainter arcs are included in the training set, the performance of the three models deteriorates with accuracy values of ~0.87 to ~0.75, depending on the model. Specifically, the classical CNN and the inception network perform similarly in most of our tests, while the residual network generally produces worse results. Our analysis focuses on the application of CNNs to high-resolution space-like images, such as those that the Euclid telescope will deliver. Moreover, we investigated the optimal training strategy for this specific survey to fully exploit the scientific potential of the upcoming observations. We suggest that training the networks separately on lenses with different morphology might be needed to identify the faint arcs. We also tested the relevance of the color information for the detection of these systems, and we find that it does not yield a significant improvement. The accuracy ranges from ~0.89 to ~0.78 for the different models. The reason might be that the resolution of the Euclid telescope in the infrared bands is lower than that of the images in the visual band

Euclid preparation. XXV. The Euclid Morphology Challenge -- Towards model-fitting photometry for billions of galaxies

The ESA Euclid mission will provide high-quality imaging for about 1.5 billion galaxies. A software pipeline to automatically process and analyse such a huge amount of data in real time is being developed by the Science Ground Segment of the Euclid Consortium; this pipeline will include a model-fitting algorithm, which will provide photometric and morphological estimates of paramount importance for the core science goals of the mission and for legacy science. The Euclid Morphology Challenge is a comparative investigation of the performance of five model-fitting software packages on simulated Euclid data, aimed at providing the baseline to identify the best suited algorithm to be implemented in the pipeline. In this paper we describe the simulated data set, and we discuss the photometry results. A companion paper (Euclid Collaboration: Bretonni\`ere et al. 2022) is focused on the structural and morphological estimates. We created mock Euclid images simulating five fields of view of 0.48 deg2 each in the $I_E$ band of the VIS instrument, each with three realisations of galaxy profiles (single and double S\'ersic, and 'realistic' profiles obtained with a neural network); for one of the fields in the double S\'ersic realisation, we also simulated images for the three near-infrared $Y_E$, $J_E$ and $H_E$ bands of the NISP-P instrument, and five Rubin/LSST optical complementary bands ($u$, $g$, $r$, $i$, and $z$). To analyse the results we created diagnostic plots and defined ad-hoc metrics. Five model-fitting software packages (DeepLeGATo, Galapagos-2, Morfometryka, ProFit, and SourceXtractor++) were compared, all typically providing good results. (cut)Comment: 29 pages, 33 figures. Euclid pre-launch key paper. Companion paper: Bretonniere et al. 202

Euclid Preparation TBD. Characterization of convolutional neural networks for the identification of galaxy-galaxy strong lensing events

Forthcoming imaging surveys will potentially increase the number of known galaxy-scale strong lenses by several orders of magnitude. For this to happen, images of tens of millions of galaxies will have to be inspected to identify potential candidates. In this context, deep learning techniques are particularly suitable for the finding patterns in large data sets, and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in particular can efficiently process large volumes of images. We assess and compare the performance of three network architectures in the classification of strong lensing systems on the basis of their morphological characteristics. We train and test our models on different subsamples of a data set of forty thousand mock images, having characteristics similar to those expected in the wide survey planned with the ESA mission \Euclid, gradually including larger fractions of faint lenses. We also evaluate the importance of adding information about the colour difference between the lens and source galaxies by repeating the same training on single-band and multi-band images. Our models find samples of clear lenses with $\gtrsim 90\%$ precision and completeness, without significant differences in the performance of the three architectures. Nevertheless, when including lenses with fainter arcs in the training set, the three models' performance deteriorates with accuracy values of $\sim 0.87$ to $\sim 0.75$ depending on the model. Our analysis confirms the potential of the application of CNNs to the identification of galaxy-scale strong lenses. We suggest that specific training with separate classes of lenses might be needed for detecting the faint lenses since the addition of the colour information does not yield a significant improvement in the current analysis, with the accuracy ranging from $\sim 0.89$ to $\sim 0.78$ for the different models

Measurement of the Splitting Function in &ITpp &ITand Pb-Pb Collisions at root&ITsNN&IT=5.02 TeV

Data from heavy ion collisions suggest that the evolution of a parton shower is modified by interactions with the color charges in the dense partonic medium created in these collisions, but it is not known where in the shower evolution the modifications occur. The momentum ratio of the two leading partons, resolved as subjets, provides information about the parton shower evolution. This substructure observable, known as the splitting function, reflects the process of a parton splitting into two other partons and has been measured for jets with transverse momentum between 140 and 500 GeV, in pp and PbPb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair. In central PbPb collisions, the splitting function indicates a more unbalanced momentum ratio, compared to peripheral PbPb and pp collisions.. The measurements are compared to various predictions from event generators and analytical calculations.Peer reviewe

Measurement of nuclear modification factors of gamma(1S)), gamma(2S), and gamma(3S) mesons in PbPb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV

The cross sections for ϒ(1S), ϒ(2S), and ϒ(3S) production in lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV have been measured using the CMS detector at the LHC. The nuclear modification factors, RAA, derived from the PbPb-to-pp ratio of yields for each state, are studied as functions of meson rapidity and transverse momentum, as well as PbPb collision centrality. The yields of all three states are found to be significantly suppressed, and compatible with a sequential ordering of the suppression, RAA(ϒ(1S)) > RAA(ϒ(2S)) > RAA(ϒ(3S)). The suppression of ϒ(1S) is larger than that seen at √sNN = 2.76 TeV, although the two are compatible within uncertainties. The upper limit on the RAA of ϒ(3S) integrated over pT, rapidity and centrality is 0.096 at 95% confidence level, which is the strongest suppression observed for a quarkonium state in heavy ion collisions to date. © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Funded by SCOAP3.Peer reviewe

Electroweak production of two jets in association with a Z boson in proton-proton collisions root s =13 TeV

A measurement of the electroweak (EW) production of two jets in association with a Z boson in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV is presented, based on data recorded in 2016 by the CMS experiment at the LHC corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1). The measurement is performed in the lljj final state with l including electrons and muons, and the jets j corresponding to the quarks produced in the hard interaction. The measured cross section in a kinematic region defined by invariant masses m(ll) > 50 GeV, m(jj) > 120 GeV, and transverse momenta P-Tj > 25 GeV is sigma(EW) (lljj) = 534 +/- 20 (stat) fb (syst) fb, in agreement with leading-order standard model predictions. The final state is also used to perform a search for anomalous trilinear gauge couplings. No evidence is found and limits on anomalous trilinear gauge couplings associated with dimension-six operators are given in the framework of an effective field theory. The corresponding 95% confidence level intervals are -2.6 <cwww/Lambda(2) <2.6 TeV-2 and -8.4 <cw/Lambda(2) <10.1 TeV-2. The additional jet activity of events in a signal-enriched region is also studied, and the measurements are in agreement with predictions.Peer reviewe