2,142 research outputs found
Inclusive distributions of charged hadrons in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 0.9 and 2.36 TeV
Measurements of inclusive charged-hadron transverse-momentum (pT) and
pseudorapidity (eta) distributions are presented for proton-proton collisions
at sqrt(s)=0.9 and 2.36 TeV. For non-single-diffractive interactions, the
average pT of charged hadrons is measured to be 0.46+-0.01(stat.)+-0.01(syst.)
GeV/c at 0.9 TeV and 0.50+-0.01(stat.)+-0.01(syst.) GeV/c at 2.36 TeV, for
|eta|<2.4. At these energies, the measured pseudorapidity densities in the
central region, dNch/deta(|eta|<0.5), are 3.48+-0.02(stat.)+-0.13(syst.) and
4.47+-0.04(stat.)+-0.16(syst.), respectively. The results at 2.36 TeV represent
the highest-energy measurements ever published at a particle collider at the
time of the presentation at the Lake Louise Winter Institute.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures (2 panels each). Presented at the Lake Louise
Winter Institute 2010; added acknowledgmen
Heavy Ion Physics at the LHC with CMS
The CMS detector is an excellent tool for measuring high mass and low-x phenomena in heavy-ion collisions. Its exceptional acceptance and resolution combined with a fast and sophisticated trigger offer the potential for unexpected discoveries
Network strategies to understand the aging process and help age-related drug design
Recent studies have demonstrated that network approaches are highly
appropriate tools to understand the extreme complexity of the aging process.
The generality of the network concept helps to define and study the aging of
technological, social networks and ecosystems, which may give novel concepts to
cure age-related diseases. The current review focuses on the role of
protein-protein interaction networks (interactomes) in aging. Hubs and
inter-modular elements of both interactomes and signaling networks are key
regulators of the aging process. Aging induces an increase in the permeability
of several cellular compartments, such as the cell nucleus, introducing gross
changes in the representation of network structures. The large overlap between
aging genes and genes of age-related major diseases makes drugs which aid
healthy aging promising candidates for the prevention and treatment of
age-related diseases, such as cancer, atherosclerosis, diabetes and
neurodegenerative disorders. We also discuss a number of possible research
options to further explore the potential of the network concept in this
important field, and show that multi-target drugs (representing
"magic-buckshots" instead of the traditional "magic bullets") may become an
especially useful class of age-related future drugs.Comment: an invited paper to Genome Medicine with 8 pages, 2 figures, 1 table
and 46 reference
Prevalence, significance and predictive value of antiphospholipid antibodies in Crohn's disease
AIM
To assess the prevalence and stability of different antiphospholipid antibodies (APLAs) and their association with disease phenotype and progression in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) patients.
METHODS
About 458 consecutive patients [Crohn's disease (CD): 271 and ulcerative colitis (UC): 187] were enrolled into a follow-up cohort study in a tertiary IBD referral center in Hungary. Detailed clinical phenotypes were determined at enrollment by reviewing the patients' medical charts. Disease activity, medical treatment and data about evolvement of complications or surgical interventions were determined prospectively during the follow-up. Disease course (development f complicated disease phenotype and need for surgery), occurrence of thrombotic events, actual state of disease activity according to clinical, laboratory and endoscopic scores and accurate treatment regime were recorded during the follow-up, (median, 57.4 and 61.6 mo for CD and UC). Sera of IBD patients and 103 healthy controls (HC) were tested on individual anti-β2-Glycoprotein-I (anti-β2-GPI IgA/M/G), anti-cardiolipin (ACA IgA/M/G) and anti-phosphatidylserine/prothrombin (anti-PS/PT IgA/M/G) antibodies and also anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies (ASCA IgA/G) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In a subgroup of CD (n = 198) and UC patients (n = 103), obtaining consecutive samples over various arbitrary time-points during the disease course, we evaluated the intraindividual stability of the APLA status. Additionally, we provide an overview of studies, performed so far, in which significance of APLAs in IBD were assessed.
RESULTS
Patients with CD had significantly higher prevalence of both ACA (23.4%) and anti-PS/PT (20.4%) antibodies than UC (4.8%, P < 0.0001 and 10.2%, P = 0.004) and HC (2.9%, P < 0.0001 and 15.5%, P = NS). No difference was found for the prevalence of anti-β2-GPI between different groups (7.2%-9.7%). In CD, no association was found between APLA and ASCA status of the patients. Occurrence of anti-β2-GPI, ACA and anti-PS/PT was not different between the group of patients with active vs inactive disease state according to appropriate clinical, laboratory and endoscopic scores in CD as well as in UC patients. All subtypes of anti-β2-GPI and ACA IgM status were found to be very stable over time, in contrast ACA IgG and even more ACA IgA status showed significant intraindividual changes. Changes in antibody status were more remarkable in CD than UC (ACA IgA: 49.9% vs 23.3% and ACA IgG: 21.2% vs 5.8%). Interestingly, 59.1% and 30.1% of CD patients who received anti-TNF therapy showed significant negative to positive changes in ACA IgA and IgG antibody status respectively. APLA status was not associated with the clinical phenotype at diagnosis or during follow-up, medical therapy, or thrombotic events and it was not associated with the probability of developing complicated disease phenotype or surgery in a Kaplan-Meier analysis.
CONCLUSION
The present study demonstrated enhanced formation of APLAs in CD patients. However, presence of different APLAs were not associated with the clinical phenotype or disease course
Rediscovery of the Anti-Pancreatic Antibodies and Evaluation of their Prognostic Value in a Prospective Clinical Cohort of Crohn's Patients: The Importance of Specific Target Antigens [GP2 and CUZD1].
BACKGROUNDS
Glycoprotein 2[GP2] and CUB zona pellucida-like domain 1[CUZD1] belong to protein families involved in gut innate immunity processes and have recently been identified as specific targets of anti-pancreatic autoantibodies [PAbs] in Crohn's disease[CD]. We aimed to determine the prognostic potential of novel target-specific PAbs regarding long-term disease course of an adult CD patient cohort.
METHODS
Sera of 458 consecutive well-characterised IBD patients from a single referral IBD centre were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] with isoform 4 of recombinant GP2 [anti-MZGP2 and anti-GP2 IgA/IgG] and indirect immunofluorescence test [IIFT] system with GP2 and CUZD1 expressing transfected HEK 293 cells [anti-rPAg2 and rPAg1 IgA/IgG]. Clinical data were available on complicated disease or surgical interventions as well as disease activity and medical treatment during the prospective follow-up [median, 108 months].
RESULTS
Totals of 12.4% and 20.8% of CD patients were positive for IgA/IgG type of anti-GP2 and anti-CUZD1, respectively, with a significant difference compared with UC [p < 0.01]. Antibody status was stable over time. Agreement among three different anti-GP2 assays was good. Positivity for PAbs, mainly IgA subtypes, predicted a faster progression towards complicated disease course. In Kaplan-Meier analysis, time to surgery or development of perianal disease was associated with anti-GP2 IgA [pLogRank < 0.01] or anti-CUZD1 IgA [pLogRank < 0.001] positivity, respectively. Anti-CUZD1 IgA remained an independent predictor in the multivariate Cox-regression model (hazard ratio [HR]: 3.43, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.68-7.02, p < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
The present study has shown that specific PAbs [especially IgA subtype] predict complicated disease course including the development of perianal disease in CD
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OSL-dating of the Pleistocene-Holocene climatic transition in loess from China, Europe and North America, and evidence for accretionary pedogenesis
Loess deposits intercalated by paleosols are detailed terrestrial archives of Quaternary climate variability providing information on the global dust cycle and landscape dynamics. Their paleoclimatic significance is often explored by quantifying their mineral magnetic properties due to their sensitivity to local/regional hydroclimate variability. Detailed chronological assessment of such regional proxy records around the climatic transitions allow a better understanding of how regional records react to major global climatic transitions such as the Pleistocene-Holocene climatic transition.
Logs of high-resolution magnetic susceptibility and its frequency dependence were used as paleoclimatic proxies to define the environmental transition from the last glacial loess to the current interglacial soil as reflected in nine loess-paleosol sequences across the northern hemisphere, from the Chinese Loess Plateau, the southeastern European loess belt and the central Great Plains, USA. The onset of increase in magnetic susceptibility above typical loess values was used to assess the onset of, and developments during, the Pleistocene-Holocene climatic transition.
High-resolution luminescence dating was applied on multiple grain-sizes (4–11 μm, 63–90 μm, 90–125 μm) of quartz extracts from the same sample in order to investigate the timing of Pleistocene-Holocene climatic transition in the investigated sites.
The magnetic susceptibility signal shows a smooth and gradual increase for the majority of the sites from the typical low loess values to the interglacial ones. The initiation of this increase, interpreted as recording the initiation of the Pleistocene-Holocene climatic transition at each site, was dated to 14–17.5 ka or even earlier. Our chronological results highlight the need of combining paleoclimatic proxies (magnetic susceptibility) with absolute dating when investigating the Pleistocene-Holocene climatic transition as reflected by the evolution of this proxy in order to avoid chronostratigraphic misinterpretations in loess-paleosol records caused by simple pattern correlation.
The detailed luminescence chronologies evidence the continuity of eolian mineral dust accumulation regardless of glacial or interglacial global climatic regimes. Coupled with magnetic susceptibility records this indicates that dust sedimentation and pedogenesis act simultaneously and result in a non-negligible accretional component in the formation of Holocene soils in loess regions across the Northern Hemisphere. The luminescence ages allowed the modeling of accumulation rates for the Holocene soil which are similar for European, Chinese and U.S.A. loess sites investigated and vary from 2 cm ka−1 to 9 cm ka−1. While accretional pedogenesis has often been implicitly or explicitly assumed in paleoclimatic interpretation of loess-paleosol sequences, especially in the Chinese Loess Plateau, our luminescence data add direct evidence for ongoing sedimentation as interglacial soils formed
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