Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pT≥20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}η{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60≤pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2≤{pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration

Differential Responses of Calcifying and Non-Calcifying Epibionts of a Brown Macroalga to Present-Day and Future Upwelling pCO2

Seaweeds are key species of the Baltic Sea benthic ecosystems. They are the substratum of numerous fouling epibionts like bryozoans and tubeworms. Several of these epibionts bear calcified structures and could be impacted by the high pCO2 events of the late summer upwellings in the Baltic nearshores. Those events are expected to increase in strength and duration with global change and ocean acidification. If calcifying epibionts are impacted by transient acidification as driven by upwelling events, their increasing prevalence could cause a shift of the fouling communities toward fleshy species. The aim of the present study was to test the sensitivity of selected seaweed macrofoulers to transient elevation of pCO2 in their natural microenvironment, i.e. the boundary layer covering the thallus surface of brown seaweeds. Fragments of the macroalga Fucus serratus bearing an epibiotic community composed of the calcifiers Spirorbis spirorbis (Annelida) and Electra pilosa (Bryozoa) and the non-calcifier Alcyonidium hirsutum (Bryozoa) were maintained for 30 days under three pCO2 conditions: natural 460±59 µatm, present-day upwelling1193±166 µatm and future upwelling 3150±446 µatm. Only the highest pCO2 caused a significant reduction of growth rates and settlement of S. spirorbis individuals. Additionally, S. spirorbis settled juveniles exhibited enhanced calcification of 40% during daylight hours compared to dark hours, possibly reflecting a day-night alternation of an acidification-modulating effect by algal photosynthesis as opposed to an acidification-enhancing effect of algal respiration. E. pilosa colonies showed significantly increased growth rates at intermediate pCO2 (1193 µatm) but no response to higher pCO2. No effect of acidification on A. hirsutum colonies growth rates was observed. The results suggest a remarkable resistance of the algal macro-epibionts to levels of acidification occurring at present day upwellings in the Baltic. Only extreme future upwelling conditions impacted the tubeworm S. spirorbis, but not the bryozoans

A quantitative synthesis of the medicinal ethnobotany of the Malinké of Mali and the Asháninka of Peru, with a new theoretical framework

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although ethnomedically and taxonomically guided searches for new medicinal plants can improve the percentage of plants found containing active compounds when compared to random sampling, ethnobotany has fulfilled little of its promise in the last few decades to deliver a bounty of new, laboratory-proven medicinal plants and compounds. It is quite difficult to test, isolate, and elucidate the structure and mechanism of compounds from the plethora of new medicinal plant uses described each year with limited laboratory time and resources and the high cost of clinical trials of new drug candidates.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A new quantitative theoretical framework of mathematical formulas called "relational efficacy" is proposed that should narrow down this search for new plant-derived medicines based on the hypothesis that closely related plants used to treat closely related diseases in distantly related cultures have a higher probability of being effective because they are more likely to be independent discoveries of similar plant compounds and disease mechanisms. A prerequisite to this hypothesis, the idea that empirical testing in traditional medicine will lead to choosing similar medicinal plants and therefore the medicinal flora of two distant cultures will prove to be more similar than their general flora, is tested using resampling statistics on cross-cultural field data of the plants used by the Malinké of Mali and the Asháninka of Peru to treat the diseases malaria, African sleeping sickness, Chagas' disease, leishmaniasis, diabetes, eczema, asthma, and uterine fibroids.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this case, the similarity of the medicinal floras is found to be significantly greater than the similarity of the general floras, but only when the diseases in question are grouped into the categories of parasitic and autoimmune diseases.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>If the central theoretical framework of this hypothesis is shown to be true, it will allow the synthesis of medicinal plant information from around the world to pinpoint the species with the highest potential efficacy to take into the laboratory and analyze further, ultimately saving much field and laboratory time and resources.</p> <p><b>Spanish abstract</b></p> <p>Las búsquedas que utilizan la etnomedicina y la taxonomía para descubrir nuevas plantas medicinales, pueden aumentar la probabilidad de éxito de encontrar compuestos químicos activos en plantas, en comparación con las búsquedas aleatorias. A pesar de lo anterior, en las últimas décadas, la etnobotánica no ha cumplido con las expectativas de proveer numerosas plantas medicinales y químicos nuevos una vez examinados en el laboratorio. Cada año se describen una plétora de plantas medicinales y sus usos, sin embargo las limitaciones de tiempo y recursos en los laboratorios, unidos al alto coste de los ensayos clínicos de las drogas potenciales, hacen muy difícil probar, aislar, y elucidar la estructura y el mecanismo de los compuestos de estas plantas. Se propone un nuevo marco teórico cuantitativo cuyo fin es focalizar la búsqueda de nueva plantas medicinales. Este marco teórico está basado en la hipótesis que las plantas cercanamente relacionadas, usadas para tratar enfermedades cercanamente relacionadas en culturas distantemente relacionadas, tienen una eficacia potencial más alta, debido a que es más probable que estos hallazgos sean descubrimientos independientes de compuestos químicos similares. Parte de esta hipótesis, que las escogencias racionales se hacen para elegir plantas medicinales similares y que la flora medicinal de dos culturas distantes es más similar que su flora general, se probó usando métodos estadísticos de remuestreo con datos de campo de la comunidad Malinké de Malí y de la Asháninka de Perú, y las enfermedades de paludismo, enfermedad africana del sueño, enfermedad de Chagas, leishmania, diabetes, eczema, asma, y fibromas uterinos. Se encontró, en este caso, que la similitud de las floras medicinales es significativamente mayor a la similitud de las floras generales, solamente cuando las enfermedades analizadas se agruparon en las categorías de enfermedades parasitarias y enfermedades autoinmunes. Si se demostrara que las otras partes de esta hipótesis son ciertas, se podría sintetizar la información sobre plantas medicinales alrededor del mundo, para establecer así las plantas potencialmente más eficaces para llevarlas al laboratorio y analizarlas más profundamente.</p> <p><b>French abstract</b></p> <p>Par rapport aux recherches menées de façon aléatoire, les recherches effectuées par des critères ethnobotaniques et taxonomiques ont de meilleures chances à découvrir de nouvelles plantes médicinales à produit chimique actifs. Pendant les dernières décennies pourtant, l'ethnobotanique a réalisé peu de ces promesses à révéler un grand nombre de plantes médicinales et de nouveaux produits chimiques, testés au laboratoire. Avec les ressources limitées pour la recherche au laboratoire et le coût élevé des épreuves cliniques pour trouver de nouveaux candidats aux médicaments, il est difficile d'étudier, d'isoler et d'élucider la structure et le mécanisme des produits chimiques de chacune des nombreuses plantes médicinales (et les utilisations de ces plantes) décrites chaque année. Nous proposons une nouvelle technique théorique et quantitative pour préciser la recherche de nouvelles plantes médicinales; elle est basée sur l'hypothèse que les plantes étroitement apparentées, employées pour traiter les maladies étroitement apparentées dans les cultures très éloignées les unes des autres, ont une potentialité d'efficacité supérieure parce qu'elles représentent la découverte indépendante des propriétés chimiques semblables des plantes. Une partie de cette hypothèse-qui démontre que la sélection des plantes médicinales semblables est un choix rationnel et qu'il y a davantage de ressemblance dans la flore médicinale de deux cultures éloignées que dans leur flore générale-est examinée par un re-échantillonnage des données de recherches effectuées parmi les Malinké au Mali et les Asháninka au Pérou, en particulier sur la malaria, la maladie africaine du sommeil, la maladie de Chagas, la leishmania, le diabète, l'eczéma, l'asthme et les fibromes utérins. Dans ces cas précis, la similitude de la flore médicinale s'avère sensiblement plus grande que la similitude de la flore générale, mais seulement quand les maladies en question sont regroupées ensemble comme maladies parasitaires et auto-immunitaires. Si cette hypothèse est prouvée, elle permettra la synthèse des informations recueillies sur les plantes médicinales du monde entier pour en sélectionner de façon plus précise celles qui sont les plus efficaces et qui méritent analyse plus approfondie au laboratoire.</p> <p><b>Asháninka abstract</b></p> <p>Aayiantyarori iròpero aavintane, ontzimatye ancovacovatero ayotero ovaqueraripaye incashi iyoyetziri ashaninka, ayotzityaro aajatzi iyotane viracocha paitachari "quimica" ancantero aaca oshintsinka inchashipaye. Atziri yotacotzirori cametsa, ishtoriajacotzirori iyotane ashaninkapaye te iroñàrantero maaroni ocaratzi yamenacotaqueri laboratorioki. Aaviantyarori cametsa, ayotacotero aavintarontsiyetatsiri osamani antzimaventero ishtoriatacotaro, aajatzi osheki opinata ampinaventero aparopaye inchashi, acoviriqui ayotacotero, osaretsikipaye. Tzimatsi ovaquerari quenquishiriantsitatsiri ero opinata osheki ashitoriatacotero aparopaye inchashi, asampiyetatyrey pashinipaye atziri saicatsiri intaina puitarika inchasshi yavintari, ajatzirica oshiyaro ayotzi aaca, quemetachari atziri saikatsiri nampitsiki malinke aajatzi ishiyari ashaninka saicatsiri peruki, tzimatsi inchashi aajatzi yaavintari osheki okamètsatzi aririka anteri mantsiyarentsi icantaitziri ompetarentsi catsirentsi, pochokirentsi, patsarontsi(matatsi) ashipetate maaroni, ampochavathate, ancainikentsite, oncatsithakite tsinani. Aririka añaker aajatzi ahiyaro inchashi yaavintayetari pashinipaye atziri intainasatzi irdotake ahitoriatacoperoteri anàashityard aavintarontsi ovamairiri shithanentsi, onàshitaavintarontsi tzicaacoventairi ero antane mantsiyarentsi. Omanperotatyarica iròperotzi avintarontsi, oshitovake laboratorioki aritaque iyoitanaquero maaroni quipatsiki iroperori avintarontsi.</p

Illuminating the life of GPCRs

The investigation of biological systems highly depends on the possibilities that allow scientists to visualize and quantify biomolecules and their related activities in real-time and non-invasively. G-protein coupled receptors represent a family of very dynamic and highly regulated transmembrane proteins that are involved in various important physiological processes. Since their localization is not confined to the cell surface they have been a very attractive "moving target" and the understanding of their intracellular pathways as well as the identified protein-protein-interactions has had implications for therapeutic interventions. Recent and ongoing advances in both the establishment of a variety of labeling methods and the improvement of measuring and analyzing instrumentation, have made fluorescence techniques to an indispensable tool for GPCR imaging. The illumination of their complex life cycle, which includes receptor biosynthesis, membrane targeting, ligand binding, signaling, internalization, recycling and degradation, will provide new insights into the relationship between spatial receptor distribution and function. This review covers the existing technologies to track GPCRs in living cells. Fluorescent ligands, antibodies, auto-fluorescent proteins as well as the evolving technologies for chemical labeling with peptide- and protein-tags are described and their major applications concerning the GPCR life cycle are presented

Monitoring of microbial hydrocarbon remediation in the soil

Bioremediation of hydrocarbon pollutants is advantageous owing to the cost-effectiveness of the technology and the ubiquity of hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms in the soil. Soil microbial diversity is affected by hydrocarbon perturbation, thus selective enrichment of hydrocarbon utilizers occurs. Hydrocarbons interact with the soil matrix and soil microorganisms determining the fate of the contaminants relative to their chemical nature and microbial degradative capabilities, respectively. Provided the polluted soil has requisite values for environmental factors that influence microbial activities and there are no inhibitors of microbial metabolism, there is a good chance that there will be a viable and active population of hydrocarbon-utilizing microorganisms in the soil. Microbial methods for monitoring bioremediation of hydrocarbons include chemical, biochemical and microbiological molecular indices that measure rates of microbial activities to show that in the end the target goal of pollutant reduction to a safe and permissible level has been achieved. Enumeration and characterization of hydrocarbon degraders, use of micro titer plate-based most probable number technique, community level physiological profiling, phospholipid fatty acid analysis, 16S rRNA- and other nucleic acid-based molecular fingerprinting techniques, metagenomics, microarray analysis, respirometry and gas chromatography are some of the methods employed in bio-monitoring of hydrocarbon remediation as presented in this review

The impact of surgical delay on resectability of colorectal cancer: An international prospective cohort study

AIM: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to explore the impact of surgical delays on cancer resectability. This study aimed to compare resectability for colorectal cancer patients undergoing delayed versus non-delayed surgery. METHODS: This was an international prospective cohort study of consecutive colorectal cancer patients with a decision for curative surgery (January-April 2020). Surgical delay was defined as an operation taking place more than 4 weeks after treatment decision, in a patient who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy. A subgroup analysis explored the effects of delay in elective patients only. The impact of longer delays was explored in a sensitivity analysis. The primary outcome was complete resection, defined as curative resection with an R0 margin. RESULTS: Overall, 5453 patients from 304 hospitals in 47 countries were included, of whom 6.6% (358/5453) did not receive their planned operation. Of the 4304 operated patients without neoadjuvant therapy, 40.5% (1744/4304) were delayed beyond 4 weeks. Delayed patients were more likely to be older, men, more comorbid, have higher body mass index and have rectal cancer and early stage disease. Delayed patients had higher unadjusted rates of complete resection (93.7% vs. 91.9%, P = 0.032) and lower rates of emergency surgery (4.5% vs. 22.5%, P < 0.001). After adjustment, delay was not associated with a lower rate of complete resection (OR 1.18, 95% CI 0.90-1.55, P = 0.224), which was consistent in elective patients only (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.69-1.27, P = 0.672). Longer delays were not associated with poorer outcomes. CONCLUSION: One in 15 colorectal cancer patients did not receive their planned operation during the first wave of COVID-19. Surgical delay did not appear to compromise resectability, raising the hypothesis that any reduction in long-term survival attributable to delays is likely to be due to micro-metastatic disease