52 research outputs found
Successful Treatment of Novel H1N1 Influenza related Fulminant Myocarditis with Extracorporeal Life Support
The prevalence of myocardial involvement in influenza infection ranges from 0% to 12%. The 2009 pH1N1 influenza virus, formerly known as swine flu, first appeared in Mexico and the United States of America in March and April 2009 and has swept the globe with unprecedented speed. We report a case of fulminant myocarditis associated with this virus treated successfully using extra-corporal membrane oxygenator
Colored Resonant Signals at the LHC: Largest Rate and Simplest Topology
We study the colored resonance production at the LHC in a most general
approach. We classify the possible colored resonances based on group theory
decomposition, and construct their effective interactions with light partons.
The production cross section from annihilation of valence quarks or gluons may
be on the order of 400 - 1000 pb at LHC energies for a mass of 1 TeV with
nominal couplings, leading to the largest production rates for new physics at
the TeV scale, and simplest event topology with dijet final states. We apply
the new dijet data from the LHC experiments to put bounds on various possible
colored resonant states. The current bounds range from 0.9 to 2.7 TeV. The
formulation is readily applicable for future searches including other decay
modes.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures. References updated and additional K-factors
include
Transcriptome Analysis of the Model Protozoan, Tetrahymena thermophila, Using Deep RNA Sequencing
Background: The ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila is a well-studied single-celled eukaryote model organism for cellular and molecular biology. However, the lack of extensive T. thermophila cDNA libraries or a large expressed sequence tag (EST) database limited the quality of the original genome annotation. Methodology/Principal Findings: This RNA-seq study describes the first deep sequencing analysis of the T. thermophila transcriptome during the three major stages of the life cycle: growth, starvation and conjugation. Uniquely mapped reads covered more than 96 % of the 24,725 predicted gene models in the somatic genome. More than 1,000 new transcribed regions were identified. The great dynamic range of RNA-seq allowed detection of a nearly six order-of-magnitude range of measurable gene expression orchestrated by this cell. RNA-seq also allowed the first prediction of transcript untranslated regions (UTRs) and an updated (larger) size estimate of the T. thermophila transcriptome: 57 Mb, or about 55 % of the somatic genome. Our study identified nearly 1,500 alternative splicing (AS) events distributed over 5.2 % of T. thermophila genes. This percentage represents a two order-of-magnitude increase over previous EST-based estimates in Tetrahymena. Evidence of stage-specific regulation of alternative splicing was also obtained. Finally, our study allowed us to completely confirm about 26.8 % of the genes originally predicted by the gene finder, to correct coding sequence boundaries an
Oblique S and T Constraints on Electroweak Strongly-Coupled Models with a Light Higgs
Using a general effective Lagrangian implementing the chiral symmetry breaking SU(2)L x SU(2)R -> SU(2){L+R}, we present a one-loop calculation of the oblique S and T parameters within electroweak strongly-coupled models with a light scalar. Imposing a proper ultraviolet behaviour, we determine S and T at next-to-leading order in terms of a few resonance parameters. The constraints from the global fit to electroweak precision data force the massive vector and axial-vector states to be heavy, with masses above the TeV scale, and suggest that the W+W- and ZZ couplings of the Higgs-like scalar should be close to the Standard Model value. Our findings are generic, since they only rely on soft requirements on the short-distance properties of the underlying strongly-coupled theory, which are widely satisfied in more specific scenarios
Mesenchymal stem cells: from experiment to clinic
There is currently much interest in adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their ability to differentiate into other cell types, and to partake in the anatomy and physiology of remote organs. It is now clear these cells may be purified from several organs in the body besides bone marrow. MSCs take part in wound healing by contributing to myofibroblast and possibly fibroblast populations, and may be involved in epithelial tissue regeneration in certain organs, although this remains more controversial. In this review, we examine the ability of MSCs to modulate liver, kidney, heart and intestinal repair, and we update their opposing qualities of being less immunogenic and therefore tolerated in a transplant situation, yet being able to contribute to xenograft models of human tumour formation in other contexts. However, such observations have not been replicated in the clinic. Recent studies showing the clinical safety of MSC in several pathologies are discussed. The possible opposing powers of MSC need careful understanding and control if their clinical potential is to be realised with long-term safety for patients
18-Fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography scan for monitoring the therapeutic response in experimental Staphylococcus aureus foreign-body osteomyelitis
QCD and strongly coupled gauge theories : challenges and perspectives
We highlight the progress, current status, and open challenges of QCD-driven physics, in theory and in experiment. We discuss how the strong interaction is intimately connected to a broad sweep of physical problems, in settings ranging from astrophysics and cosmology to strongly coupled, complex systems in particle and condensed-matter physics, as well as to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. We also discuss how success in describing the strong interaction impacts other fields, and, in turn, how such subjects can impact studies of the strong interaction. In the course of the work we offer a perspective on the many research streams which flow into and out of QCD, as well as a vision for future developments.Peer reviewe
Varying constants, Gravitation and Cosmology
Fundamental constants are a cornerstone of our physical laws. Any constant
varying in space and/or time would reflect the existence of an almost massless
field that couples to matter. This will induce a violation of the universality
of free fall. It is thus of utmost importance for our understanding of gravity
and of the domain of validity of general relativity to test for their
constancy. We thus detail the relations between the constants, the tests of the
local position invariance and of the universality of free fall. We then review
the main experimental and observational constraints that have been obtained
from atomic clocks, the Oklo phenomenon, Solar system observations, meteorites
dating, quasar absorption spectra, stellar physics, pulsar timing, the cosmic
microwave background and big bang nucleosynthesis. At each step we describe the
basics of each system, its dependence with respect to the constants, the known
systematic effects and the most recent constraints that have been obtained. We
then describe the main theoretical frameworks in which the low-energy constants
may actually be varying and we focus on the unification mechanisms and the
relations between the variation of different constants. To finish, we discuss
the more speculative possibility of understanding their numerical values and
the apparent fine-tuning that they confront us with.Comment: 145 pages, 10 figures, Review for Living Reviews in Relativit
Synthesis and optoelectronic investigation of triarylamines based on imidazoanthraquinone as donor–acceptors for n-type materials
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