28 research outputs found
Low mass dimuons within a hybrid approach
We analyse dilepton emission from hot and dense hadronic matter using a
hybrid approach based on the Ultrarelativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics
(UrQMD) transport model with an intermediate hydrodynamic stage for the
description of heavy-ion collisions at relativistic energies. Focusing on the
enhancement with respect to the contribution from long-lived hadron decays
after freeze-out observed at the SPS in the low mass region of the dilepton
spectra (often referred to as "the excess"), the relative importance of the
emission from the equilibrium and the non-equilibrium stages is discussed.Comment: Proceedings of Hot Quarks 2010, 21-26 June 2010 Las Londe Les Maures;
v2: Corrected typos and added a commen
Are public health professionals prepared for public health genomics? A cross-sectional survey in Italy
Background: Public health genomics is an emerging multidisciplinary approach, which aims to integrate genome-based knowledge in a responsible and effective way into public health. Despite several surveys performed to evaluate knowledge, attitudes and professional behaviors of physicians towards predictive genetic testing, similar surveys have not been carried out for public health practitioners. This study is the first to assess knowledge, attitudes and training needs of public health professionals in the field of predictive genetic testing for chronic diseases. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was used to carry out a cross-sectional survey of a random sample of Italian public health professionals. Results: A response rate of 67.4% (797 questionnaires) was achieved. Italian public health professionals have the necessary attitudinal background to contribute to the proper use of predictive genetic testing for chronic diseases, but they need additional training to increase their methodological knowledge. Knowledge significantly increases with exposure to predictive genetic testing during postgraduate training (odds ratio (OR) = 1.74, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.05-2.88), time dedicated to continuing medical education (OR = 1.53, 95% CI = 1.14-2.04) and level of English language knowledge (OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.07-1.72). Adequate knowledge is the strongest predictor of positive attitudes from a public health perspective (OR = 3.98, 95% CI = 2.44-6.50). Physicians show a lower level of knowledge and more public health attitudes than other public health professionals do. About 80% of public health professionals considered their knowledge inadequate and 86.0% believed that it should be improved through specific postgraduate training courses. Conclusions: Specific and targeted training initiatives are needed to develop a skilled public health workforce competent in identifying genomic technology that is ready for use in population health and in modeling public health genomic programs and primary care services that need to be developed, implemented and evaluated
Vektormesonen in Dichter Materie und Dileptonenproduktion in Schwerionenstößen bei mittleren Energien
The vector meson spectral functions are calculated to the first order in the nuclear matter density assuming the dominant contribution comes from the couplings of the vector mesons to nucleons and nucleon resonances. An attempt is made to reproduce the HADES dilepton production data with the in-medium spectral functions of the vector mesons using the Relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (RQMD) transport model developed earlier for modelling heavy-ion collisions. The results are sensitive to the in-medium broadening of nucleon resonances. A generally good agreement with the HADES data is achieved for selfconsistent treatment of the nucleon resonance broadening and the vector meson spectral functions.Die Spektralfunktionen der Vektormesonen werden in erster Ordnung in der Kernmateriedichte unter der Annahme berechnet, dass der dominante Beitrag von der Ankopplung der Vektormesonen an Nukleonen und Nukleonresonanzen kommt. Mithilfe des Relativistischen Quanten-Molekular-Dynamik-Transportmodells (RQMD), das zur Modellierung von Schwerionenstößen entwickelt worden war, wird versucht, die Daten der HADES-Kollaboration zur Dileptonproduktion zu reproduzieren, indem man die Mediumspektralfunktionen der Vektormesonen berücksichtigt. Die Ergebnisse sind empfindlich auf die Verbreiterung der Nukleonresonanzen im Medium. Eine gute Übereinstimmung mit den HADES-Daten wird für die selbstkonsistente Behandlung der Verbreiterung der Nukleonresonanzen und der Vektormesonenspektralfunktionen erreicht
The Knotted Sign: poetics of illegibility
One might argue that legibility precedes any concern about poetics, because:
What are the poetics of something we cannot understand? However, our
interaction with digital technology constantly exposes us to the illegibility
intrinsic to its operations. The aim of this essay is to reflect on illegibility from
three perspectives: the definition of readability as a Eurocentric cultural
regime, the exploration of the poetics of the machine-readable as opposed to
the human-readable, and the proposition that we are facing an increasingly
ubiquitous regime of illegibility that is not limited to writing. After this
vaguely chronological review of the modern history of illegibility, I will
attempt to answer: What can the unreadable mean as an expressive resource?Se podrĂa argumentar que la legibilidad precede a cualquier preocupaciĂłn por
la poética, porque: ¿cuáles son las poéticas de algo que no podemos entender?
Sin embargo, nuestra interacciĂłn con la tecnologĂa digital nos expone
constantemente a la ilegibilidad intrĂnseca a sus operaciones. El objetivo de
este ensayo es reflexionar sobre la ilegibilidad desde tres perspectivas: la
definición de la legibilidad como un régimen cultural eurocéntrico, la
exploración de la poética de lo legible por máquina frente a lo legible por el
hombre y la proposición de que estamos ante un régimen cada vez más ubicuo
de ilegibilidad, que no se limita a la escritura. Después de esta revisión
vagamente cronológica de la historia moderna de la ilegibilidad, intentaré
responder: ¿Qué puede significar lo ilegible como recurso expresivo
Knowledge, attitudes and educational needs of Italian physicians about predictive genetic tests for breast and colo-rectal cancer, a cross-sectional survey in Italy
An EBMT registry matched study of allogeneic stem cell transplants for lymphoma: allogeneic transplantation is associated with a lower relapse rate but a higher procedure-related mortality rate than autologous transplantation.
Item does not contain fulltextThe role of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in lymphoma remains uncertain. We have analyzed 1185 allogeneic transplants for lymphoma reported to the EBMT registry between 1982 and 1998 and compared the results with those of 14687 autologous procedures performed over the same period. Patients receiving allogeneic transplants were subdivided according to histology: low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) 231 patients; intermediate-grade NHL 147 patients; high-grade NHL 255 patients; lymphoblastic NHL 314 patients; Burkitt's lymphoma 71 patients; and Hodgkin's disease 167 patients. These patients received allogeneic transplants as their first transplant procedure. Actuarial overall survival (OS) at 4 years from transplantation was: low-grade NHL 51.1%; intermediate-grade NHL 38.3%; high-grade NHL 41.2%; lymphoblastic lymphoma 42.0% years; Burkitt's lymphoma 37.1%; and Hodgkin's disease 24.7% years. These outcomes are relatively poor because of the high procedure-related mortality associated with these procedures, particularly in patients with Hodgkin's disease (51.7% actuarial procedure-related mortality at 4 years). Multivariate analysis showed that for all lymphomas apart from Hodgkin's disease, status at transplantation significantly affected outcome. A matched analysis was performed: for all categories of lymphoma, OS was better for autologous than for allogeneic transplantation. Relapse rate was better in the allogeneic group for low-, intermediate- and high-grade, and lymphoblastic NHL. It was equivalent for Burkitt's lymphoma and worse in the allogeneic group for Hodgkin's disease. Allogeneic transplantation appears to be superior to autologous procedures in terms of producing a lower relapse rate. The toxicity of allogeneic procedures must however be reduced before this translates into an improvement in OS
Role of cytochrome P4502D6 functional polymorphisms in the efficacy of donepezil in patients with Alzheimer's disease
A KO mouse model for the lncRNA Lhx1os produces motor neuron alterations and locomotor impairment
Summary: Here, we describe a conserved motor neuron-specific long non-coding RNA, Lhx1os, whose knockout in mice produces motor impairment and postnatal reduction of mature motor neurons (MNs). The ER stress-response pathway result specifically altered with the downregulation of factors involved in the unfolded protein response (UPR). Lhx1os was found to bind the ER-associated PDIA3 disulfide isomerase and to affect the expression of the same set of genes controlled by this protein, indicating that the two factors act in conjunction to modulate the UPR. Altogether, the observed phenotype and function of Lhx1os indicate its important role in the control of MN homeostasis and function
Cardiac and skeletal muscle expression of mutant β-myosin heavy chains, degree of functional impairment and phenotypic heterogeneity in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Several mutations in distinct genes, all coding for sarcomeric proteins, have been reported in unrelated kindreds with familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (FHC). We have identified 9 individuals from 3 families harbouring 2 distinct mutations in one copy of the β-myosin heavy chain (β-MHC) gene. In this study, the expression of the mutant β-myosin protein isoform, isolated from slow-twitch fibres of skeletal muscle, was demonstrated by Northern and Western blot analysis; this myosin showed a decreased in vitro motility activity and produced a lower actin-activated ATPase activity. Isometric tension, measured in single slow-twitch fibres isolated from the affected individuals, also showed a significant decrease. The degree of impairment of β-myosin function, as well as the loss in isometric tension development, were strictly dependent on the amount of the isoform transcribed from the mutated allele. Interestingly, a strong correlation was also demonstrated between mutant β-myosin content and clinical features of FHC. On the other hand, we were unable to detect any correlation between mutant β-myosin expression and degree of cardiac hypertrophy, thereby strengthening the hypothesis that hypertrophy, one of the hallmarks of FHC, might not necessarily be related to the clinical evolution of this disease. These findings lend support to the notion that additional factors rather than the mutated gene may play a pathogenetic role in cardiac wall thickening, whereas the prognosis appears to be strongly related to the amount of mutant protein. J. Cell. Physiol. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Abstract
Several mutations in distinct genes, all coding for sarcomeric proteins, have been reported in unrelated kindreds with familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (FHC). We have identified nine individuals from three families harboring two distinct mutations in one copy of the β-myosin heavy chain (β-MHC) gene. In this study, the expression of the mutant β-myosin protein isoform, isolated from slow-twitch fibers of skeletal muscle, was demonstrated by Northern and Western blot analysis; this myosin showed a decreased in vitro motility activity and produced a lower actin-activated ATPase activity. Isometric tension, measured in single slow-twitch fibers isolated from the affected individuals, also showed a significant decrease. The degree of impairment of β-myosin function, as well as the loss in isometric tension development, were strictly dependent on the amount of the isoform transcribed from the mutated allele. Interestingly, a strong correlation was also demonstrated between mutant β-myosin content and clinical features of FHC. On the other hand, we were unable to detect any correlation between mutant β-myosin expression and degree of cardiac hypertrophy, thereby strengthening the hypothesis that hypertrophy, one of the hallmarks of FHC, might not necessarily be related to the clinical evolution of this disease. These findings lend support to the notion that additional factors rather than the mutated gene may play a pathogenetic role in cardiac wall thickening, whereas the prognosis appears to be strongly related to the amount of mutant protei