Discriminating active from latent tuberculosis in patients presenting to community clinics.

BACKGROUND: Because of the high global prevalence of latent TB infection (LTBI), a key challenge in endemic settings is distinguishing patients with active TB from patients with overlapping clinical symptoms without active TB but with co-existing LTBI. Current methods are insufficiently accurate. Plasma proteomic fingerprinting can resolve this difficulty by providing a molecular snapshot defining disease state that can be used to develop point-of-care diagnostics. METHODS: Plasma and clinical data were obtained prospectively from patients attending community TB clinics in Peru and from household contacts. Plasma was subjected to high-throughput proteomic profiling by mass spectrometry. Statistical pattern recognition methods were used to define mass spectral patterns that distinguished patients with active TB from symptomatic controls with or without LTBI. RESULTS: 156 patients with active TB and 110 symptomatic controls (patients with respiratory symptoms without active TB) were investigated. Active TB patients were distinguishable from undifferentiated symptomatic controls with accuracy of 87% (sensitivity 84%, specificity 90%), from symptomatic controls with LTBI (accuracy of 87%, sensitivity 89%, specificity 82%) and from symptomatic controls without LTBI (accuracy 90%, sensitivity 90%, specificity 92%). CONCLUSIONS: We show that active TB can be distinguished accurately from LTBI in symptomatic clinic attenders using a plasma proteomic fingerprint. Translation of biomarkers derived from this study into a robust and affordable point-of-care format will have significant implications for recognition and control of active TB in high prevalence settings

PRESENCE OF CHLORITOID IN THE CRETACEOUS ROCKS OF THE WESTERN EMERALD BELT (CORDILLERA ORIENTAL, COLOMBIA): GENETIC IMPLICATIONS

  The Cretaceous rocks that crop out in the Muzo-Quípama area, which belong to the Capotes, Tablazo and Pacho Formations (with late Aptian and late Albian ages), contain pyrophyllite and chloritoid microporphyroblasts (indicators of low-grade or very low-grade metamorphism). The Muzo and Rosablanca Formations (with Hauterivian-Barremian and Valangianian ages, respectively), show more deformations and a wide hydrothermal veins profusion, wich are considered evidences of the hot migrating fluids flow. To these two units the emerald deposits in the west emerald belt of the Cordillera Oriental of Colombia are confined. The temperatures reported for chloritoids and emeralds formations, surprisingly are similar. The participation of hydrothermal fluids in both cases, could be another common feature for these both phenomena. However, there are not overwhelming evidences that allow to relate these with the same thermal (hydrothermal) event. Key Words: Chloritoid, pyrophyllite, Cordillera Oriental, Western Emerald Belt.Las rocas Cretácicas aflorantes en el sector Muzo-Quípama, las cuales hacen parte de las Formaciones Capotes, Tablazo y Pacho (con edades del Aptiano Superior-Albiano Superior), contienen pirofilita y microporfiroblastos de Cloritoide (indicadores de un metamorfismo de grado bajo o muy bajo). Las formaciones infrayacentes Muzo y Rosablanca (de edad Hauteriviano-Barremiano y Valangianiano, respectivamente), presentan una mayor deformación y una gran profusión de venas hidrotermales, por lo que se considera evidencias del paso de fluidos calientes migratorios. A estas dos unidades se confinan los depósitos esmeraldíferos en el cinturón esmeraldífero occidental de la Cordillera Oriental de Colombia. Las temperaturas reportadas para la formación del cloritoide y las esmeraldas, curiosamente resultan ser similares. La participación de fluidos hidrotermales en ambos casos, podría ser igualmente otro rasgo en común para ambos fenómenos. Sin embargo, aún no existen evidencias contundentes que permitan relacionarlos con un único evento termal (hidrotermal). Palabras Clave: Cloritoide, Pirofilita, Cordillera Oriental, Cinturón Esmeraldífero Occidental. &nbsp

PRESENCE OF CHLORITOID IN THE CRETACEOUS ROCKS OF THE WESTERN EMERALD BELT (CORDILLERA ORIENTAL, COLOMBIA): GENETIC IMPLICATIONS

  The Cretaceous rocks that crop out in the Muzo-Quípama area, which belong to the Capotes, Tablazo and Pacho Formations (with late Aptian and late Albian ages), contain pyrophyllite and chloritoid microporphyroblasts (indicators of low-grade or very low-grade metamorphism). The Muzo and Rosablanca Formations (with Hauterivian-Barremian and Valangianian ages, respectively), show more deformations and a wide hydrothermal veins profusion, wich are considered evidences of the hot migrating fluids flow. To these two units the emerald deposits in the west emerald belt of the Cordillera Oriental of Colombia are confined. The temperatures reported for chloritoids and emeralds formations, surprisingly are similar. The participation of hydrothermal fluids in both cases, could be another common feature for these both phenomena. However, there are not overwhelming evidences that allow to relate these with the same thermal (hydrothermal) event. Key Words: Chloritoid, pyrophyllite, Cordillera Oriental, Western Emerald Belt.Las rocas Cretácicas aflorantes en el sector Muzo-Quípama, las cuales hacen parte de las Formaciones Capotes, Tablazo y Pacho (con edades del Aptiano Superior-Albiano Superior), contienen pirofilita y microporfiroblastos de Cloritoide (indicadores de un metamorfismo de grado bajo o muy bajo). Las formaciones infrayacentes Muzo y Rosablanca (de edad Hauteriviano-Barremiano y Valangianiano, respectivamente), presentan una mayor deformación y una gran profusión de venas hidrotermales, por lo que se considera evidencias del paso de fluidos calientes migratorios. A estas dos unidades se confinan los depósitos esmeraldíferos en el cinturón esmeraldífero occidental de la Cordillera Oriental de Colombia. Las temperaturas reportadas para la formación del cloritoide y las esmeraldas, curiosamente resultan ser similares. La participación de fluidos hidrotermales en ambos casos, podría ser igualmente otro rasgo en común para ambos fenómenos. Sin embargo, aún no existen evidencias contundentes que permitan relacionarlos con un único evento termal (hidrotermal). Palabras Clave: Cloritoide, Pirofilita, Cordillera Oriental, Cinturón Esmeraldífero Occidental. &nbsp

Simultaneous expression of Oct4 and genes of three germ layers in single cell-derived multipotent adult progenitor cells

Future application of adult stem cells in clinical therapies largely depends on the successful isolation of homogeneous stem cells with high plasticity. Multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPCs) are thought to be a more primitive stem cell population capable of extensive in vitro proliferation with no senescence or loss of differentiation capability. The present study was aimed to find a less complicated and more economical protocol for obtaining single cell-derived MAPCs and understand the molecule mechanism of multi-lineage differentiation of MAPCs. We successfully obtained a comparatively homogeneous population of MAPCs and confirmed that single cell-derived MAPCs were able to transcribe Oct4 and genes of three germ layers simultaneously, and differentiate into multiple lineages. Our observations suggest that single cell-derived MAPCs under appropriate circumstances could maintain not only characteristics of stem cells but multi-lineage differentiation potential through quantitative modulation of corresponding regulating gene expression, rather than switching on expression of specific genes

Search for New Physics with Jets and Missing Transverse Momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for new physics is presented based on an event signature of at least three jets accompanied by large missing transverse momentum, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns collected in proton--proton collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. No excess of events is observed above the expected standard model backgrounds, which are all estimated from the data. Exclusion limits are presented for the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Cross section limits are also presented using simplified models with new particles decaying to an undetected particle and one or two jets

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

X-ray emission from the Sombrero galaxy: discrete sources

We present a study of discrete X-ray sources in and around the bulge-dominated, massive Sa galaxy, Sombrero (M104), based on new and archival Chandra observations with a total exposure of ~200 ks. With a detection limit of L_X = 1E37 erg/s and a field of view covering a galactocentric radius of ~30 kpc (11.5 arcminute), 383 sources are detected. Cross-correlation with Spitler et al.'s catalogue of Sombrero globular clusters (GCs) identified from HST/ACS observations reveals 41 X-rays sources in GCs, presumably low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We quantify the differential luminosity functions (LFs) for both the detected GC and field LMXBs, whose power-low indices (~1.1 for the GC-LF and ~1.6 for field-LF) are consistent with previous studies for elliptical galaxies. With precise sky positions of the GCs without a detected X-ray source, we further quantify, through a fluctuation analysis, the GC LF at fainter luminosities down to 1E35 erg/s. The derived index rules out a faint-end slope flatter than 1.1 at a 2 sigma significance, contrary to recent findings in several elliptical galaxies and the bulge of M31. On the other hand, the 2-6 keV unresolved emission places a tight constraint on the field LF, implying a flattened index of ~1.0 below 1E37 erg/s. We also detect 101 sources in the halo of Sombrero. The presence of these sources cannot be interpreted as galactic LMXBs whose spatial distribution empirically follows the starlight. Their number is also higher than the expected number of cosmic AGNs (52+/-11 [1 sigma]) whose surface density is constrained by deep X-ray surveys. We suggest that either the cosmic X-ray background is unusually high in the direction of Sombrero, or a distinct population of X-ray sources is present in the halo of Sombrero.Comment: 11 figures, 5 tables, ApJ in pres

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Search for anomalous t t-bar production in the highly-boosted all-hadronic final state

A search is presented for a massive particle, generically referred to as a Z', decaying into a t t-bar pair. The search focuses on Z' resonances that are sufficiently massive to produce highly Lorentz-boosted top quarks, which yield collimated decay products that are partially or fully merged into single jets. The analysis uses new methods to analyze jet substructure, providing suppression of the non-top multijet backgrounds. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns. Upper limits in the range of 1 pb are set on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction for a topcolor Z' modeled for several widths, as well as for a Randall--Sundrum Kaluza--Klein gluon. In addition, the results constrain any enhancement in t t-bar production beyond expectations of the standard model for t t-bar invariant masses larger than 1 TeV.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physics; this version includes a minor typo correction that will be submitted as an erratu

Measurement of the t t-bar production cross section in the dilepton channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The t t-bar production cross section (sigma[t t-bar]) is measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV in data collected by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 inverse femtobarns. The measurement is performed in events with two leptons (electrons or muons) in the final state, at least two jets identified as jets originating from b quarks, and the presence of an imbalance in transverse momentum. The measured value of sigma[t t-bar] for a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV is 161.9 +/- 2.5 (stat.) +5.1/-5.0 (syst.) +/- 3.6(lumi.) pb, consistent with the prediction of the standard model.Comment: Replaced with published version. Included journal reference and DO