2,531 research outputs found
Role of hormonal risk factors in HER2-positive breast carcinomas
Examination of parity, age at menarche and at menopause by HER2 status in a large series of breast carcinomas showed a statistically significant increased-frequency of HER2-positive tumours in lower risk subgroups. The findings suggest a difference in the protective role of hormone-related risk factors between HER2-positive and -negative tumour
Distributed Leadership Agency and Work Outcomes: Validation of the Italian DLA and Its Relations With Commitment, Trust, and Satisfaction
Forms of collective leadership, such as distributed leadership, have become increasingly important. The need for measurement of the variables involved in the delegation processes represents a new challenge for organizations that want to ensure high-level working. The present study aimed to validate the Italian version of the distributed leadership agency (DLA). The study was carried out on 704 employees (doctors, nurses, clerks, staff workers, healthcare assistants, consultants, management) of an Italian public hospital, who were selected to complete a survey on organizational perceptions. Multiple confirmatory factor analyses (maximum likelihood) have been computed to explore the factorial structure of the DLA, along with associations with other work outcomes. Results about the Italian DLA confirmed the original trifactorial structure of the construct, suggested by Yukl (2002), through good fit indexes and reliability scores; moreover, consistent with the literature, DLA was strongly related to satisfaction, commitment, and trust. Results contribute to underline the robustness of the construct of DLA in different cultural sectors and provide a useful tool to be adopted in the Italian context
Myofibroblasts in the stroma of oral cancer promote tumorigenesis via secretion of activin A
SummaryMyofibroblasts are essential during wound healing and are often found in the stroma of oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC). Although the molecular mechanisms by which myofibroblasts influence OSCC remain largely unknown, previous studies demonstrated that presence of myofibroblast in OSCC stroma is an important risk factor of patient’s shortened survival. Here we showed that some growth factors are produced in higher levels by tumor-associated myofibroblasts compared to tumor-associated fibroblasts, including activin A. Myofibroblast-conditioned media containing activin A significantly increased OSCC cell proliferation and tumor volume, whereas down-regulation of activin A in the conditioned media decreased proliferation. In addition, myofibroblasts induced in vitro invasion of OSCC cells, which was accompanied by an increased production of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP). In vivo, a significant correlation between presence of myofibroblasts and activities of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was observed in OSCC samples. However, blockage of activin A synthesis by myofibroblasts did not affect invasion and MMP production by OSCC cells. Together, our data demonstrate that activin A is required for the proliferative effects of myofibroblasts on OSCC cells. We conclude that myofibroblasts in the stroma of OSCC may influence proliferation and invasion, resulting in more aggressive tumor
Status of cosmic-ray antideuteron searches
The precise measurement of cosmic-ray antiparticles serves as important means
for identifying the nature of dark matter. Recent years showed that identifying
the nature of dark matter with cosmic-ray positrons and higher energy
antiprotons is difficult, and has lead to a significantly increased interest in
cosmic-ray antideuteron searches. Antideuterons may also be generated in dark
matter annihilations or decays, offering a potential breakthrough in unexplored
phase space for dark matter. Low-energy antideuterons are an important approach
because the flux from dark matter interactions exceeds the background flux by
more than two orders of magnitude in the low-energy range for a wide variety of
models. This review is based on the "dbar14 - dedicated cosmic-ray antideuteron
workshop", which brought together theorists and experimentalists in the field
to discuss the current status, perspectives, and challenges for cosmic-ray
antideuteron searches and discusses the motivation for antideuteron searches,
the theoretical and experimental uncertainties of antideuteron production and
propagation in our Galaxy, as well as give an experimental cosmic-ray
antideuteron search status update. This report is a condensed summary of the
article "Review of the theoretical and experimental status of dark matter
identification with cosmic-ray antideuteron" (arXiv:1505.07785).Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, ICRC 2015 proceeding
Identification of HER2-positive breast carcinomas as a particular subset with peculiar clinical behaviours
First determination of the one-proton induced Non-Mesonic Weak Decay width of p-shell {\Lambda}-Hypernuclei
Previous studies of proton and neutron spectra from Non-Mesonic Weak Decay of
eight Lambda-Hypernuclei (A = 5-16) have been revisited. New values of the
ratio of the two-nucleon and the one-proton induced decay widths,
Gamma_2N/Gamma_p, are obtained from single proton spectra, Gamma_2N/Gamma_p =
0.50 +/- 0.24, and from neutron and proton coincidence spectra,
Gamma_2N/Gamma_p = 0.36 +/- 0.14stat +0.05sys -0.04sys , in full agreement with
previously published ones. With these values, a method is developed to extract
the one-proton induced decay width in units of the free Lambda decay width,
Gamma_p/Gamma_Lambda, without resorting to Intra Nuclear Cascade models but by
exploiting only experimental data, under the assumption of a linear dependence
on A of the Final State Interaction contribution. This is the first systematic
determination ever done and it agrees within the errors with recent theoretical
calculations.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, 2 table
Suppression of high transverse momentum D mesons in central Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN= 2.76 TeV
The production of the prompt charm mesons D0, D+, D∗+, and their antiparticles,
was measured with the ALICE detector in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC, at a
centre-of-mass energy √sNN = 2.76 TeV per nucleon-nucleon collision. The pt-differential
production yields in the range 2 < pt < 16 GeV/c at central rapidity, |y| < 0.5, were used
to calculate the nuclear modification factor RAA with respect to a proton-proton reference
obtained from the cross section measured at √s = 7 TeV and scaled to √s = 2.76 TeV. For
the three meson species, RAA shows a suppression by a factor 3–4, for transverse momenta
larger than 5 GeV/c in the 20% most central collisions. The suppression is reduced for
peripheral collisions
emission rates in absorptions at rest on Li, Li, Be, C and O
An experimental study of the reaction
on Li, Li, Be, C and O -shell nuclei is
presented. The data were collected by the FINUDA spectrometer operating at the
DANE -factory (LNF-INFN, Italy). Emission rates for the reaction in
the mentioned nuclei are measured and compared with the few existing data. The
spectra of several observables are discussed; indications of Quasi-Free
absorptions by a pair embedded in the nucleus can be obtained from
the study of the missing mass distributions.Comment: Version accepted by PR
- …