Novel genetic loci associated with hippocampal volume

The hippocampal formation is a brain structure integrally involved in episodic memory, spatial navigation, cognition and stress responsiveness. Structural abnormalities in hippocampal volume and shape are found in several common neuropsychiatric disorders. To identify the genetic underpinnings of hippocampal structure here we perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 33,536 individuals and discover six independent loci significantly associated with hippocampal volume, four of them novel. Of the novel loci, three lie within genes (ASTN2, DPP4 and MAST4) and one is found 200 kb upstream of SHH. A hippocampal subfield analysis shows that a locus within the MSRB3 gene shows evidence of a localized effect along the dentate gyrus, subiculum, CA1 and fissure. Further, we show that genetic variants associated with decreased hippocampal volume are also associated with increased risk for Alzheimer's disease (rg =-0.155). Our findings suggest novel biological pathways through which human genetic variation influences hippocampal volume and risk for neuropsychiatric illness

Intracardiac leiomyomatosis: Diagnosis and treatment

Intracardiac leiomyomatosis is the presence of a benign smooth muscle tumor within a cardiac chamber reaching the heart by direct intravenous extension from an extracardiac source. After a case report and a review of the 13 previously reported cases, the clinical features, diagnostic considerations, differential diagnosis and treatment modalities of intracardiac leiomyomatosis are discussed

Measurement of electrons from semileptonic heavy-flavour hadron decays at midrapidity in pp and Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

The differential invariant yield as a function of transverse momentum (pT) of electrons from semileptonic heavy-flavour hadron decays was measured at midrapidity in central (0–10%), semi-central (30–50%) and peripheral (60–80%) lead–lead (Pb–Pb) collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV in the pT intervals 0.5–26 GeV/c (0–10% and 30–50%) and 0.5–10 GeV/c (60–80%). The production cross section in proton–proton (pp) collisions at √s = 5.02 TeV was measured as well in 0.5 < pT < 10 GeV/c and it lies close to the upper band of perturbative QCD calculation uncertainties up to pT = 5 GeV/c and close to the mean value for larger pT. The modification of the electron yield with respect to what is expected for an incoherent superposition of nucleon–nucleon collisions is evaluated by measuring the nuclear modification factor RAA. The measurement of the RAA in different centrality classes allows in-medium energy loss of charm and beauty quarks to be investigated. The RAA shows a suppression with respect to unity at intermediate pT, which increases while moving towards more central collisions. Moreover, the measured RAA is sensitive to the modification of the parton distribution functions (PDF) in nuclei, like nuclear shadowing, which causes a suppression of the heavy-quark production at low pT in heavy-ion collisions at LHC

Production of charged pions, kaons and protons at large transverse momenta in pp and Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV

Transverse momentum spectra of π±, K± and p(p¯) up to pT = 20 GeV/c at mid-rapidity in pp, peripheral (60–80%) and central (0–5%) Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV have been measured using the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The proton-to-pion and the kaon-to-pion ratios both show a distinct peak at pT ≈ 3 GeV/c in central Pb–Pb collisions. Below the peak, pT 10 GeV/c particle ratios in pp and Pb–Pb collisions are in agreement and the nuclear modification factors for π±, K± and p(p¯) indicate that, within the systematic and statistical uncertainties, the suppression is the same. This suggests that the chemical composition of leading particles from jets in the medium is similar to that of vacuum jets

Freeze-out radii extracted from three-pion cumulants in pp, p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions at the LHC

In high-energy collisions, the spatio-temporal size of the particle production region can be measured using the Bose–Einstein correlations of identical bosons at low relative momentum. The source radii are typically extracted using two-pion correlations, and characterize the system at the last stage of interaction, called kinetic freeze-out. In low-multiplicity collisions, unlike in high-multiplicity collisions, two-pion correlations are substantially altered by background correlations, e.g. mini-jets. Such correlations can be suppressed using three-pion cumulant correlations. We present the first measurements of the size of the system at freeze-out extracted from three-pion cumulant correlations in pp, p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions at the LHC with ALICE. At similar multiplicity, the invariant radii extracted in p–Pb collisions are found to be 5–15% larger than those in pp, while those in Pb–Pb are 35–55% larger than those in p–Pb. Our measurements disfavor models which incorporate substantially stronger collective expansion in p–Pb as compared to pp collisions at similar multiplicity

Multiplicity dependence of jet-like two-particle correlation structures in p–Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV

Two-particle angular correlations between unidentified charged trigger and associated particles are measured by the ALICE detector in p–Pb collisions at a nucleon–nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The transverse-momentum range 0.7 < pT,assoc < pT,trig < 5.0 GeV/c is examined, to include correlations induced by jets originating from low momentum-transfer scatterings (minijets). The correlations expressed as associated yield per trigger particle are obtained in the pseudorapidity range |η| < 0.9. The near-side long-range pseudorapidity correlations observed in high-multiplicity p–Pb collisions are subtracted from both near-side short-range and away-side correlations in order to remove the non-jet-like components. The yields in the jet-like peaks are found to be invariant with event multiplicity with the exception of events with low multiplicity. This invariance is consistent with the particles being produced via the incoherent fragmentation of multiple parton–parton scatterings, while the yield related to the previously observed ridge structures is not jet-related. The number of uncorrelated sources of particle production is found to increase linearly with multiplicity, suggesting no saturation of the number of multi-parton interactions even in the highest multiplicity p–Pb collisions. Further, the number scales only in the intermediate multiplicity region with the number of binary nucleon–nucleon collisions estimated with a Glauber Monte-Carlo simulation

Beauty production in pp collisions at √s=2.76 TeV measured via semi-electronic decays

The ALICE Collaboration at the LHC reports measurement of the inclusive production cross section of electrons from semi-leptonic decays of beauty hadrons with rapidity |y| < 0.8 and transverse momentum 1 < pT < 10 GeV/c, in pp collisions at √s = 2.76 TeV. Electrons not originating from semi-electronic decay of beauty hadrons are suppressed using the impact parameter of the corresponding tracks. The production cross section of beauty decay electrons is compared to the result obtained with an alternative method which uses the distribution of the azimuthal angle between heavy-flavour decay electrons and charged hadrons. Perturbative QCD predictions agree with the measured cross section within the experimental and theoretical uncertainties. The integrated visible cross section, σb→e = 3.47 ± 0.40(stat) +1.12 −1.33(sys) ± 0.07(norm) μb, was extrapolated to full phase space using Fixed Order plus Next-to-Leading Log (FONLL) calculations to obtain the total bb production ¯ cross section, σbb¯ = 130 ± 15.1(stat) +42.1 −49.8(sys) +3.4 −3.1(extr) ± 2.5(norm) ± 4.4(BR) μb

Underlying-event properties in pp and p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

We report about the properties of the underlying event measured with ALICE at the LHC in pp and p−Pb collisions at sNN−−−√=5.02 TeV. The event activity, quantified by charged-particle number and summed-pT densities, is measured as a function of the leading-particle transverse momentum (ptrigT). These quantities are studied in three azimuthal-angle regions relative to the leading particle in the event: toward, away, and transverse. Results are presented for three different pT thresholds (0.15, 0.5, and 1 GeV/c) at mid-pseudorapidity (|η|10 GeV/c, whereas for lower ptrigT values the event activity is slightly higher in p−Pb than in pp collisions. The measurements are compared with predictions from the PYTHIA 8 and EPOS LHC Monte Carlo event generators

Underlying-event properties in pp and p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

We report about the properties of the underlying event measured with ALICE at the LHC in pp and p−Pb collisions at sNN−−−√=5.02 TeV. The event activity, quantified by charged-particle number and summed-pT densities, is measured as a function of the leading-particle transverse momentum (ptrigT). These quantities are studied in three azimuthal-angle regions relative to the leading particle in the event: toward, away, and transverse. Results are presented for three different pT thresholds (0.15, 0.5, and 1 GeV/c) at mid-pseudorapidity (|η|10 GeV/c, whereas for lower ptrigT values the event activity is slightly higher in p−Pb than in pp collisions. The measurements are compared with predictions from the PYTHIA 8 and EPOS LHC Monte Carlo event generators