Mass spectrum of the axial-vector hidden charmed and hidden bottom tetraquark states

In this article, we perform a systematic study of the mass spectrum of the axial-vector hidden charmed and hidden bottom tetraquark states using the QCD sum rules, and identify the $Z^+(4430)$ as an axial-vector tetraquark state tentatively.Comment: 24 pages, 38 figures, slight revisio

Susceptibility of SARS-CoV2 infection in children

Coronavirus disease 2019 in children presents with distinct phenotype in comparison to adults. Overall, the pediatric infection with a generally milder clinical course of the acute infection compared to adults still faces several unknown aspects. Specifically, the presence of a wide range of inflammatory manifestations, including multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), myocarditis, and long COVID in the period after infection suggests a particular susceptibility of some children upon severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Albeit peculiar complications such as long covid are less frequent in children compared to adults, research on the relationship between inflammatory syndromes and SARS-CoV-2 is rapidly evolving. Conclusions: new studies and findings continue to emerge, providing further insights into the underlying mechanisms and potential therapeutic strategies. In the present work, we revised current knowledge of the main factors accounting for such variability upon SARS-CoV-2 infection over the pediatric age group.What is Known:& BULL; COVID19 in children overall showed a milder course compared to adults during the acute phase of the infection.& BULL; Children showed to be susceptible to a wide range of post infectious complications including multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), myocarditis, neuroinflammation, and long COVID.What is New:& BULL; Mechanisms underlying susceptibility to a severe course of the infection were recently shown to pertain to the host.& BULL; A specific combination of HLA was recently shown to be associated to higher susceptibility to MIS-C in children

Monocytes across life span in hiv infection: Lights and shadows

Purpose of reviewThis review highlights the role of monocytes in the pathogenesis of HIV-1 infection, focusing on their involvement in the inflammatory response and their function as viral targets and long-term reservoirs.Recent findingsMonocytes have been categorized into three subsets: classical, intermediate, and nonclassical, each with distinct functional characteristics. Advances in genetic sequencing technologies have enabled a more in-depth exploration of the phenotypic and functional variations among these subsets, particularly in the context of HIV. These findings underscore their role as crucial components of the immune response and as reservoirs for the virus.SummaryPrevious studies on the role of monocytes have demonstrated their contribution to persistent infection and chronic immune activation, especially in adults living with HIV. The lessons learned from these studies should now be harnessed to design studies focused on newborns and children with vertically acquired HIV

Shielding the immunocompromised: COVID-19 prevention strategies for patients with primary and secondary immunodeficiencies

: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted immunocompromised patients, particularly those with inborn errors of immunity (IEI), transplant recipients, hematologic malignancies, and those undergoing treatment with immunosuppressive biologics and medications. These patients face an elevated risk of experiencing severe or even fatal consequences following SARS-CoV-2 infections. Vaccination is the primary defense against COVID-19; however, immune responses following immunization are often suboptimal in these patients, with variable specific humoral response rates. Despite the expedited regulatory approval and the widespread implementation of COVID-19 vaccines, the efficacy and safety for immunocompromised populations require thorough investigation. In future pandemics, including vulnerable populations (VPs) in vaccine and monoclonal antibody (mAb) trials is crucial to develop safe, effective immunization strategies, address gaps in vaccine efficacy and safety data, and create tailored guidelines for at-risk groups. This review provides a comprehensive examination of the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and mAbs in patients with primary and secondary immunodeficiency, with a specific focus on individuals with IEI, considering previous regulatory aspects and the necessity of including VPs in vaccine trials to enhance the quality of patient care and promote equitable health outcomes in future pandemics

Heavy quarkonium: progress, puzzles, and opportunities

A golden age for heavy quarkonium physics dawned a decade ago, initiated by the confluence of exciting advances in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and an explosion of related experimental activity. The early years of this period were chronicled in the Quarkonium Working Group (QWG) CERN Yellow Report (YR) in 2004, which presented a comprehensive review of the status of the field at that time and provided specific recommendations for further progress. However, the broad spectrum of subsequent breakthroughs, surprises, and continuing puzzles could only be partially anticipated. Since the release of the YR, the BESII program concluded only to give birth to BESIII; the $B$-factories and CLEO-c flourished; quarkonium production and polarization measurements at HERA and the Tevatron matured; and heavy-ion collisions at RHIC have opened a window on the deconfinement regime. All these experiments leave legacies of quality, precision, and unsolved mysteries for quarkonium physics, and therefore beg for continuing investigations. The plethora of newly-found quarkonium-like states unleashed a flood of theoretical investigations into new forms of matter such as quark-gluon hybrids, mesonic molecules, and tetraquarks. Measurements of the spectroscopy, decays, production, and in-medium behavior of c\bar{c}, b\bar{b}, and b\bar{c} bound states have been shown to validate some theoretical approaches to QCD and highlight lack of quantitative success for others. The intriguing details of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions that have emerged from RHIC have elevated the importance of separating hot- and cold-nuclear-matter effects in quark-gluon plasma studies. This review systematically addresses all these matters and concludes by prioritizing directions for ongoing and future efforts.Comment: 182 pages, 112 figures. Editors: N. Brambilla, S. Eidelman, B. K. Heltsley, R. Vogt. Section Coordinators: G. T. Bodwin, E. Eichten, A. D. Frawley, A. B. Meyer, R. E. Mitchell, V. Papadimitriou, P. Petreczky, A. A. Petrov, P. Robbe, A. Vair

Optical Properties of a Vibrationally Modulated Solid State Mott Insulator

Optical pulses at THz and mid-infrared frequencies tuned to specific vibrational resonances modulate the lattice along chosen normal mode coordinates. In this way, solids can be switched between competing electronic phases and new states are created. Here, we use vibrational modulation to make electronic interactions (Hubbard-U) in Mott-insulator time dependent. Mid-infrared optical pulses excite localized molecular vibrations in ET-F(2)TCNQ, a prototypical one-dimensional Mott-insulator. A broadband ultrafast probe interrogates the resulting optical spectrum between THz and visible frequencies. A red-shifted charge-transfer resonance is observed, consistent with a time-averaged reduction of the electronic correlation strength U. Secondly, a sideband manifold inside of the Mott-gap appears, resulting from a periodically modulated U. The response is compared to computations based on a quantum-modulated dynamic Hubbard model. Heuristic fitting suggests asymmetric holon-doublon coupling to the molecules and that electron double-occupancies strongly squeeze the vibrational mode.</p

Relapsing myocarditis following initial recovery of post COVID-19 vaccination in two adolescent males – Case reports

Whilst there has been significant public health benefits associated with global use of COVID-19 spike protein vaccines, potential serious adverse events following immunization have been reported. Acute myocarditis is a rare complication of COVID19 vaccines and often it is self-limiting. We describe two cases experiencing recurrent myocarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccine despite a prior episode with full clinical recovery. Between September 2021-September 2022 we observed two male adolescents with recurrent myocarditis related to mRNA-based-COVID19 vaccine. During the first episode both patients presented with fever and chest pain few days after their second dose of BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine (Comirnaty &amp; REG;). The blood exams showed increased cardiac enzymes. In addition, complete viral panel was run, showing HHV7 positivity in a single case. The left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was normal at echocardiogram but cardiac magnetic resonance scanning (CMR) was consistent with myocarditis. They were treated with supportive treatment with full recovery. The 6 months follow-up demonstrated good clinical conditions with normal cardiological findings. The CMR showed persistent lesions in left ventricle 's wall with LGE. After some months the patients presented at emergency department with fever and chest pain and increased cardiac enzymes. No decreased LVEF was observed. The CMR showed new focal areas of edema in the first case report and stable lesions in the second one. They reached full recovery with normalization of cardiac enzymes after few days. These case reports outline the need of strict follow-up in patients with CMR consistent with myocarditis after mRNA-basedCOVID19 vaccine. More efforts are necessary to depict the underlying mechanisms of myocarditis after SARS-CoV2 vaccination to understand the risk of relapsing and the long-term sequelae. &amp; COPY; 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Clinical trajectories of individuals with severe mental illness continuing and discontinuing long-acting antipsychotics: a one-year mirror-image analysis from the STAR Network Depot study

Evidence on long-acting antipsychotics (LAIs) in unselected populations with severe mental illness is scant. In this mirror-image study, we compared multiple clinical outcomes 1 year before and after a first LAI prescription in adults with severe mental illness, describing clinical trajectories of LAI continuers and discontinuers. We compared LAI continuers and discontinuers through Mann–Whitney U test, Kaplan–Meier survival curves, regression for interval-censored data, and a maximum-likelihood mixed-model with individual random-effect and time as predictor. Of the 261 participants analyzed, 71.3% had schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, and 29.5% discontinued the LAI before 1 year. At baseline, LAI discontinuers had a shorter illness duration, lower attitude and adherence scores. The mirror-image analysis showed reduced hospital admissions only for LAI continuers. Over time, continuers spent less days hospitalized, but had more adverse events and more antipsychotics prescribed, with higher overall doses. In conclusion, this study shows that LAIs might be beneficial in unselected patient populations, provided that adherence is maintained. LAI continuers spent less time hospitalized, but received more antipsychotics and suffered from more cumulative adverse events over time. Therefore, the choice of initiating and maintaining a LAI should be carefully weighed on a case-by-case basis