Saturation properties of nuclear matter in a relativistic mean field model constrained by quark dynamics

We have built an effective Walecka-type hadronic Lagrangian in which the hadron masses and the density dependence of the coupling constants are deduced from the quark dynamics using a Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. The parameters of this Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model have been determined using the meson properties in the vacuum but also in the medium through the omega meson mass in nuclei measured by the TAPS collaboration. Realistic properties of nuclear matter have been obtained.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the Proceedings of "Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum VII

Birds from sima del elefante, atapuerca, spain: Palaeoecological implications in the oldest human bearing levels of the iberian peninsula

Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of Early Pleistocene sites has a particular interest as it sheds light on how the arriving of the first Europeans occurred, as well as on the nature of the relation between these humans and the ecosystems. Bird remains are useful tools for this purpose, because they are commonly represented in the assemblages and most taxa still exist, allowing a direct comparison between past and extant birds associations. Here we analyse the bird remains from the Early Pleistocene levels of the Sima del Elefante site (1.1 to 1.5 million years old). Almost 10.000 remains belonging to at least 26 different taxa have been included. The assemblage is dominated by corvids and has a mixed origin, with cave-dwelling taxa dying in the cave and other taxa being accumulated by predators. The Sima del Elefante avian assemblage provides the oldest record of several taxa in the Iberian Peninsula (Haliaeetus albicilla, Corvus pliocaenus). Besides, here we report the oldest evidence of Imperial Eagle in the Iberian Peninsula, prior to the separation of the oriental and Iberian populations. The assemblage composition suggests that open environmental conditions were dominant, with minor presence of woodlands and water bodies, which is congruent with some previous approaches by other proxies. The first humans occupying the Iberian Peninsula inhabited under Mediterranean climate conditions, which gradually deteriorated, as reflected by the avian turnover recorded at the middle Pleistocene Atapuerca assemblages. © 2021 Universita degli Studi di Milano. All rights reserved

Genetic and Functional Analyses of SHANK2 Mutations Suggest a Multiple Hit Model of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a heterogeneous group of neurodevelopmental disorders with a complex inheritance pattern. While many rare variants in synaptic proteins have been identified in patients with ASD, little is known about their effects at the synapse and their interactions with other genetic variations. Here, following the discovery of two de novo SHANK2 deletions by the Autism Genome Project, we identified a novel 421 kb de novo SHANK2 deletion in a patient with autism. We then sequenced SHANK2 in 455 patients with ASD and 431 controls and integrated these results with those reported by Berkel et al. 2010 (n = 396 patients and n = 659 controls). We observed a significant enrichment of variants affecting conserved amino acids in 29 of 851 (3.4%) patients and in 16 of 1,090 (1.5%) controls (P = 0.004, OR = 2.37, 95% CI = 1.23-4.70). In neuronal cell cultures, the variants identified in patients were associated with a reduced synaptic density at dendrites compared to the variants only detected in controls (P = 0.0013). Interestingly, the three patients with de novo SHANK2 deletions also carried inherited CNVs at 15q11-q13 previously associated with neuropsychiatric disorders. In two cases, the nicotinic receptor CHRNA7 was duplicated and in one case the synaptic translation repressor CYFIP1 was deleted. These results strengthen the role of synaptic gene dysfunction in ASD but also highlight the presence of putative modifier genes, which is in keeping with the "multiple hit model" for ASD. A better knowledge of these genetic interactions will be necessary to understand the complex inheritance pattern of ASD

Ion source developments for stable and radioactive ion beams at GANIL

Since now many years, the Ganil ion source team has in charge to develop ion sources with three main purposes. The first one concerns the radioactive ion production that implies high efficiency ion sources as the amount of created exotic atoms is very low (between 10 to 108 particle per second). The second one deals with high intensities of stable metallic ion beams for the injectors of the accelerator while the last one tries to increase the intensities of very high charge state ion beams for atomic physic. Concerning radioactive ion production, the recent results obtained, in collaboration with the ISN Grenoble group, with the 1+/n+ method drove us to develop a new concept of ecr ion source for monocharged ion production. The results of the first tests of this source will be given. This new idea for the construction of ecr ion source can be applied to multicharged ion production. Concerning the high charge state ion beam production, a new source called SUPERSHYPIE has been built that allow to increase by a factor 2 the length of the plasma of an ECR4M source. This new concept has just been started and has produced arround 50 nAe of Ar17+ . The first results of this new source will be presented. Concerning the developments of metallic ion beams, a separated poster will be presented at this workshop

New Integrable Sectors in Skyrme and 4-dimensional CP^n Model

The application of a weak integrability concept to the Skyrme and $CP^n$ models in 4 dimensions is investigated. A new integrable subsystem of the Skyrme model, allowing also for non-holomorphic solutions, is derived. This procedure can be applied to the massive Skyrme model, as well. Moreover, an example of a family of chiral Lagrangians providing exact, finite energy Skyrme-like solitons with arbitrary value of the topological charge, is given. In the case of $CP^n$ models a tower of integrable subsystems is obtained. In particular, in (2+1) dimensions a one-to-one correspondence between the standard integrable submodel and the BPS sector is proved. Additionally, it is shown that weak integrable submodels allow also for non-BPS solutions. Geometric as well as algebraic interpretations of the integrability conditions are also given.Comment: 23 page

Adhesive Contact to a Coated Elastic Substrate

We show how the quasi-analytic method developed to solve linear elastic contacts to coated substrates (Perriot A. and Barthel E. {\em J. Mat. Res.}, {\bf 2004}, {\em 19}, 600) may be extended to adhesive contacts. Substrate inhomogeneity lifts accidental degeneracies and highlights the general structure of the adhesive contact theory. We explicit the variation of the contact variables due to substrate inhomogeneity. The relation to other approaches based on Finite Element analysis is discussed

Correction to: Human behavior and Homo-mammal interactions at the first European peopling: new evidence from the Pirro Nord site (Apricena, Southern Italy)

In the original publication of this article, one of the author names was incorrectly captured. The first name should be Razika, then family name should be Chelli–Cheheb

Long-term results and recurrence patterns from SCALOP: a phase II randomised trial of gemcitabine- or capecitabine-based chemoradiation for locally advanced pancreatic cancer

background: SCALOP, a randomised, phase II trial, tested the activity and safety of gemcitabine (GEM)-based and capecitabine (CAP)-based chemoradiation (CRT) for locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC). Here we present the long-term outcomes. methods: Eligibility: histologically proven LAPC less than or equal to7 cm. Following 12 weeks of induction GEMCAP chemotherapy (three cycles: GEM 1000 mg m−2 days 1, 8, 15; CAP 830 mg m−2 days 1–21 q28 days) patients with stable/responding disease, tumour less than or equal to6 cm, and WHO Performance Status 0–1 were randomised to receive one cycle GEMCAP followed by CAP (830 mg m−2 b.d. on weekdays only) or GEM (300 mg m−2 weekly) with radiation (50.4 Gy per 28 fractions). results: One-hundred fourteen patients (28 UK centres) were registered between 24 December 2009 and 25 October 2011, and 74 were randomised (CAP-RT=36; GEM-RT=38). At the time of this analysis, 105 of the 114 patients had died and the surviving 9 patients had been followed up for a median of 10.9 months (IQR: 2.9–18.7). Updated median OS was 17.6 months (95% CI: 14.6–22.7) in the CAP-CRT arm and 14.6 months (95% CI: 11.1–16.0) in the GEM-CRT arm (intention-to-treat adjusted hazard ratio (HR): 0.68 (95% CI: 0.38–1.21, P=0.185)); median progression-free survival (PFS) was 12.0 months (95% CI: 10.0–15.2) in the CAP-CRT arm and 10.4 months (95% CI: 8.8–12.7) in the GEM-CRT arm (intention-to-treat adjusted HR: 0.60 (95% CI: 0.32–1.14, P=0.120)). In baseline multivariable model, age greater than or equal to65 years, better performance status, CA19.9<613 IU l−1, and shorter tumour diameter predicted improved OS. CAP-CRT, age greater than or equal to65 years, better performance status, CA19.9 <46 IU ml−1 predicted improved OS and PFS in the pre-radiotherapy model. Nine-month PFS was highly predictive of OS. conclusions: CAP-CRT remains the superior regimen. SCALOP showed that patients with CA19.9 <46 IU ml−1 after induction chemotherapy are more likely to benefit from CRT