Small x Behavior of Parton Distributions from the Observed Froissart Energy Dependence of the Deep Inelastic Scattering Cross Section

We fit the reduced cross section for deep-inelastic electron scattering data to a three parameter ln^2 s fit, A + beta ln^2 (s/s_0), where s= [Q^2/x] (1-x) + m^2, and Q^2 is the virtuality of the exchanged photon. Over a wide range in Q^2 (0.11 < Q^2 < 1200 GeV^2) all of the fits satisfy the logarithmic energy dependence of the Froissart bound. We can use these results to extrapolate to very large energies and hence to very small values of Bjorken x -- well beyond the range accessible experimentally. As Q^2 --> infinity, the structure function F_2^p(x, Q^2) exhibits Bjorken scaling, within experimental errors. We obtain new constraints on the behavior of quark and antiquark distribution functions at small x.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Non-singlet QCD analysis of F_2(x,Q^2) up to NNLO

The significance of NNLO (3-loop) QCD contributions to the flavor non-singlet sector of F_2^ep and F_2^ed has been studied as compared to uncertainties (different factorization schemes, higher twist and QED contributions) of standard NLO (and LO) QCD analyses. The latter effects turn out to be comparable in size to the NNLO contributions. Therefore the minute NNLO effects are not observable with presently available data on non-singlet structure functions.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure

Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in canine inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a multifactorial chronic inflammatory disorder leading to structural changes in the intestinal wall. In humans, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been proposed as a promising marker of IBD. This study evaluated the possible clinical and prognostic significance of the NLR in dogs with IBD. This retrospective study enrolled 41 dogs diagnosed with IBD presented to University of Pisa from January 2017 to January 2018. For each dog, age, sex, canine chronic enteropathy clinical activity index (CCECAI), endoscopic and histopathological grading were recorded. Complete blood count, serum total protein, albumin, cholesterol, and C-reactive protein at the time of endoscopy were recorded. A control group (CG) of healthy dogs from a blood donor database was built. NLR was calculated for both IBD and CG as the ratio between absolute neutrophils and lymphocytes. Presence of crypt distension, lacteal dilation (LD), mucosal fibrosis, intraepithelial lymphocytes was recorded. Follow-up information was obtained from electronic medical records and dogs were classified as responders and non-responders based on CCECAI variation between admission and the first recheck. IRE dogs showed higher NLR compared to healthy dogs. NLR correlated negatively with total protein, albumin, and cholesterol and correlated positively with CCECAI. Dogs with LD showed higher NLR than dogs without LD. Non-responders showed higher NLR compared to responders. In conclusion, as in IBD human patients, the NLR acts as an inflammatory marker providing further information on severity of the disease and could be useful in predicting treatment response

New parton distributions from large-x and low-Q^2 data

We report results of a new global next-to-leading order fit of parton distribution functions in which cuts on W and Q are relaxed, thereby including more data at high values of x. Effects of target mass corrections (TMCs), higher twist contributions, and nuclear corrections for deuterium data are significant in the large-x region. The leading twist parton distributions are found to be stable to TMC model variations as long as higher twist contributions are also included. The behavior of the d quark as x-->1 is particularly sensitive to the deuterium corrections, and using realistic nuclear smearing models the d-quark distribution at large x is found to be softer than in previous fits performed with more restrictive cuts.Comment: 31 pages, 8 figures. Minor corrections. References added. To appear in Phys.Rev.

Protein kinase CK2 is widely expressed in follicular, Burkitt and diffuse large B-cell lymphomas and propels malignant B-cell growth.

Serine-threonine kinase CK2 is highly expressed and pivotal for survival and proliferation in multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and mantle cell lymphoma. Here, we investigated the expression of \u3b1 catalytic and \u3b2 regulatory CK2 subunits by immunohistochemistry in 57 follicular (FL), 18 Burkitt (BL), 52 diffuse large B-cell (DLBCL) non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) and in normal reactive follicles. In silico evaluation of available Gene Expression Profile (GEP) data sets from patients and Western blot (WB) analysis in NHL cell-lines were also performed. Moreover, the novel, clinical-grade, ATP-competitive CK2-inhibitor CX-4945 (Silmitasertib) was assayed on lymphoma cells. CK2 was detected in 98.4% of cases with a trend towards a stronger CK2\u3b1 immunostain in BL compared to FL and DLBCL. No significant differences were observed between Germinal Center B (GCB) and non-GCB DLBCL types. GEP data and WB confirmed elevated CK2 mRNA and protein levels as well as active phosphorylation of specific targets in NHL cells. CX-4945 caused a dose-dependent growth-arresting effect on GCB, non-GCB DLBCL and BL cell-lines and it efficiently shut off phosphorylation of NF-\u3baB RelA and CDC37 on CK2 target sites. Thus, CK2 is highly expressed and could represent a suitable therapeutic target in BL, FL and DLBCL NHL

The curvature of F2p(x,Q2)F_2^p(x,Q^2) as a probe of the range of validity of perturbative QCD evolutions in the small-xx region

Perturbative NLO and NNLO QCD evolutions of parton distributions are studied, in particular in the (very) small-$x$ region, where they are in very good agreement with all recent precision measurements of $F_2^p(x,Q^2)$. These predictions turn out to be also rather insensitive to the specific choice of the factorization scheme ($\bar{\rm MS}$ or DIS). A characteristic feature of perturbative QCD evolutions is a {\em{positive}} curvature of $F_2^p$ which increases as $x$ decreases. This perturbatively stable prediction provides a sensitive test of the range of validity of perturbative QCD.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables; minor corrections, to appear in EPJ

Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) in Canine Patients with Immunosuppressant-Responsive Enteropathy (IRE)

In human IBD, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was associated with active bowel inflammation and correlated with clinical and laboratory indices. So far, NLR in dogs has been only evaluated in oncologic patients and in septic peritonitis. The aim of the study was to evaluate the NLR in canine immunosuppressant-responsive enteropathy (IRE). Forty-one dogs presented to two veterinary facilities (Veterinary Teaching Hospital and Private Veterinary Center) with a final diagnosis of IRE were retrospectively included. The Canine Chronic Enteropathy Clinical Activity Index (CCECAI) score was assessed for each dog at presentation. The diagnosis of IRE was set on histopathology performed on endoscopic biopsies and classified using the current WSAVA guidelines. Lacteal dilatation (LD) and crypts abscesses (CD) were also recorded. NLR was calculated for each dog. Serum total protein, albumin, cholesterol and C-reactive protein (CRP) were also recorded. Kruskal-Wallis test was performed to evaluate NLR between different CCECAI category (0–3, 4–5, 6–8, 9– 11 and &gt;12) and different histological grading. Spearman’s correlation tests were performed between NLR and total protein, albumin, cholesterol and CRP. Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare NLR in dogs with or without LD and CD. A receiving operator characteristic curve (ROC) was built to obtain an optimal cut-off value of NLR to differentiate dogs with or without LD. A Fisher’s exact test was then performed between the presence of LD and NLR groups. NLR was significantly different between CCECAI score categories (p=0.004). NLR was negatively correlated with total protein (p=0.022, r=-0.35), albumin (p=0.007, r=-0.41) and cholesterol (p=0.03, r=-0.33). No significant correlation between CRP and NLR was found. NLR was not different between histological grading and dogs with or without CD. Contrarily, NLR was higher in dogs with LD (p=0.004). The cut-off value of NLR for the detection of LD was 3.96 (sensitivity 82.4% and specificity 58.3%). So far, this is the first report evaluating the NLR in IRE dogs. Our results suggest that NLR could be an easy, feasible and economic additional tool to evaluate the disease severity in IRE dogs. Moreover, NLR seem to have a good correlation with other essential biochemistry parameters in the evaluation of dogs with protein-losing enteropathy. Furthermore, the most interesting data was the association between NLR and histologic lymphangectasia

Strings on the deformed T^{1,1}: giant magnon and single spike solutions

In this paper we find giant magnon and single spike string solutions in a sector of the gamma-deformed conifold. We examine the dispersion relations and find a behavior analogous to the undeformed case. The transcendental functional relations between the conserved charges are shifted by certain gamma-dependent term. The latter is proportional to the total momentum and thus qualitatively different from known cases.Comment: 35 pages, no figure

On semiclassical calculation of three-point functions in AdS_5 \times T^(1,1)

Recently there has been progress on the computation of two- and three-point correlation functions with two "heavy" states via semiclassical methods. We extend this analysis to the case of AdS_5 \times T^(1,1), and examine the suggested procedure for the case of several simple string solutions. By making use of AdS/CFT duality, we derive the relevant correlation functions of operators belonging to the dual gauge theory.Comment: 18 pages, added referenc