Ab-initio based analytical evaluation of entropy in magnetocaloric materials with first order phase transitions

We combine spin polarised density functional theory and thermodynamic mean field theory to describe the phase transitions of antiperovskite manganese nitrides. We find that the inclusion of the localized spin contribution to the entropy, evaluated through mean field theory, lowers the transition temperatures. Furthermore, we show that the electronic entropy leads to first order phase transitions in agreement with experiments whereas the localized spin contribution adds second order character to the transition. We compare our predictions to available experimental data to assess the validity of the assumptions underpinning our multilevel modelling.Comment: PDFLaTeX, 10 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Physics Procedia as ICM 2015 Conference Proceedin

Charged-Higgs production in the Two-Higgs-Doublet Model --- the \tau\nu channel

We update the allowed parameter space of the CP-violating 2HDM with Type II Yukawa couplings, that survives the current experimental and theoretical constraints on the model. For a representative set of allowed parameter points, we study the production of charged Higgs bosons, both at the LHC at 14 TeV and at a possible future hadronic collider at 30 TeV. Two classes of production mechanisms are considered, "bosonic" (pp\to H^\pm W^\mp X) and "fermionic" (pp \to H^+ \bar t (b) X). After commenting on our previous H^\pm\to W^\pm H_1 investigation, we focus on the tauonic decay mode, H^\pm \to \tau\nu, performing a detailed signal-over-background analysis at the parton level. The increased features provided when considering CP violation, i.e., the extension of the parameter space and the mixing of the would-be CP-odd scalar boson, only marginally increase the discovery prospects, which remain very challenging both when increased luminosities and higher energies are considered.Comment: 26 pages, 13 figures. v2 Version published in JHE

Editorial: Management and Treatment of Pilonidal Disease: 189 Years After Mayo

...Pilonidal Disease (PD) was first scientifically reported 189 years ago by Herbert Mayo, back in 1833, as a sinus containing hair follicles located in the sacrococcygeal region of a female patien

Prognostic Value of Plasma and Urine Glycosaminoglycan Scores in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

The prognosis of metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) vastly improved since the introduction of antiangiogenic targeted therapy. However, it is still unclear which biological processes underlie ccRCC aggressiveness and affect prognosis. Here, we checked whether a recently discovered systems biomarker based on plasmatic or urinary measurements of glycosaminoglycans aggregated into diagnostic scores correlated with ccRCC prognosis.Thirty-one patients with a diagnosis of ccRCC (23 metastatic) were prospectively enrolled and their urine and plasma biomarker scores were correlated to progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) as either a dichotomous (Low vs. High) or a continuous variable in a multivariate survival analysis.The survival difference between High vs. Low-scored patients was significant in the case of urine scores (2-year PFS rate = 53.3% vs. 100%, p = 310-4 and 2-year OS rate = 73.3% vs. 100%, p = 0.0078) and in the case of OS for plasma scores (2-year PFS rate = 60% vs. 84%, p = 0.0591 and 2-year OS rate = 66.7% vs. 90%, p = 0.0206). In multivariate analysis, the urine biomarker score was an independent predictor of PFS (HR: 4.62, 95% CI: 1.66 to 12.83, p = 0.003) and OS (HR: 10.13, 95% CI: 1.80 to 57.04, p = 0.009).This is the first report on an association between plasma or urine GAG scores and the prognosis of ccRCC patients. Prospective trials validating the prognostic and predictive role of this novel systems biomarker are warranted