Search for jet extinction in the inclusive jet-pT spectrum from proton-proton collisions at s=8 TeV

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published articles title, journal citation, and DOI.The first search at the LHC for the extinction of QCD jet production is presented, using data collected with the CMS detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.7  fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The extinction model studied in this analysis is motivated by the search for signatures of strong gravity at the TeV scale (terascale gravity) and assumes the existence of string couplings in the strong-coupling limit. In this limit, the string model predicts the suppression of all high-transverse-momentum standard model processes, including jet production, beyond a certain energy scale. To test this prediction, the measured transverse-momentum spectrum is compared to the theoretical prediction of the standard model. No significant deficit of events is found at high transverse momentum. A 95% confidence level lower limit of 3.3 TeV is set on the extinction mass scale

Searches for electroweak neutralino and chargino production in channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV

Searches for supersymmetry (SUSY) are presented based on the electroweak pair production of neutralinos and charginos, leading to decay channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons and undetected lightest SUSY particles (LSPs). The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of about 19.5 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected in 2012 with the CMS detector at the LHC. The main emphasis is neutralino pair production in which each neutralino decays either to a Higgs boson (h) and an LSP or to a Z boson and an LSP, leading to hh, hZ, and ZZ states with missing transverse energy (E-T(miss)). A second aspect is chargino-neutralino pair production, leading to hW states with E-T(miss). The decays of a Higgs boson to a bottom-quark pair, to a photon pair, and to final states with leptons are considered in conjunction with hadronic and leptonic decay modes of the Z and W bosons. No evidence is found for supersymmetric particles, and 95% confidence level upper limits are evaluated for the respective pair production cross sections and for neutralino and chargino mass values

Effects of complete androgen blockade for 12 and 24 weeks on the pathological stage and resection margin status of prostate cancer.

AIMS: To compare the pathological stage and surgical margin status in patients undergoing either immediate radical prostatectomy or 12 and 24 weeks of neoadjuvant hormonal treatment (NHT) in a prospective, randomised study. METHODS: Whole mount sections of 393 radical prostatectomy specimens were evaluated: 128 patients had immediate surgery, 143 were treated for 12 weeks and 122 for 24 weeks with complete androgen blockade. RESULTS: Histopathology revealed organ confined tumours in 40.4% of patients with clinical stage B disease in the immediate surgery group, whereas 12 and 24 weeks of NHT increased the number of organ confined tumours to 54.6% and 64.8%, respectively. Among patients with clinical stage C tumours, pathological staging found organ confined disease in 10.4%, 31.4%, and 61.2% in the immediate surgery, 12 weeks of NHT, and 24 weeks of NHT groups, respectively. Preoperative NHT caused a significant decrease in positive margins both in patients with clinical stage B and C disease. The extent of margin involvement was not influenced by preoperative treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Neoadjuvant androgenic suppression is effective in reducing both the pathological stage and the positive margin rate in patients with stage B and C prostatic cancer undergoing radical surgery. Some beneficial effects are evident in those patients treated for 24 weeks, and it is reasonable to assume that the optimal duration of NHT is longer than three months

Determinants of Erectile Dysfunction Risk in a Large Series of Italian Men Attending Andrology Clinics

Objective: To assess determinants of ED in men who asked for a free of charge andrologic consultation during a week focused on andrologic prevention in Italy. Methods: Men were invited to attend 178 participating andrology centers for a free of charge visit for counselling about urologic or andrologic conditions. Data were recorded with a simple questionnaire used by all centers. Results: 2499 (19.9%) were diagnosed having ED. The frequency of ED increased with age, ranging from 4.6% in men under 25 years, to 37.6% in men over 74. In comparison with men with primary education the OR of ED was 0.8 (95% CI 0.7-0.9) in men with secondary education and 0.7 (95% CI 0.6-0.9) in those with university degree. After adjusting for age, the risk of ED was significantly higher in men consuming more than 3 glasses/day of alcoholic drinking (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1-2.0), in subjects smoking more than 10 cigarettes/day (OR 1.2, CI 95% 1.1-1.4) and in former smokers (OR 1.2, CI 95% 1.1-1.4). Men performing at least two hours per week of physical activity had a decreased risk of ED (OR 0.8, CI 95% 0.7-0.9). We found an increased risk of ED in men with diabetes (OR 1.2, 95% CI 1.1-1.4), hypertension (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1-1.4), cardiopathy (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.3-1.8) and hypercholesterolemia (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.2-1.6). Conclusions: This study provides further data on determinants of ED risk in a large data set and underlines the relationship between ED and cardiovascular diseases. \ua9 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved