46 research outputs found
Music benefits on postoperative distress and pain in pediatric day care surgery
Postoperative effect of music listening has not been established in pediatric age. Response on postoperative distress and pain in pediatric day care surgery has been evaluated. Forty-two children were enrolled. Patients were randomly assigned to the music-group (music intervention during awakening period) or the non-music group (standard postoperative care). Slow and fast classical music and pauses were recorded and played via ambient speakers. Heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, glucose and cortisol levels, faces pain scale and Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability (FLACC) Pain Scale were considered as indicators of response to stress and pain experience. Music during awakening induced lower increase of systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels. The non-music group showed progressive increasing values of glycemia; in music-group the curve of glycemia presented a plateau pattern (P<0.001). Positive impact on reactions to pain was noted using the FLACC scale. Music improves cardiovascular parameters, stress-induced hyperglycemia. Amelioration on pain perception is more evident in older children. Positive effects seems to be achieved by the alternation of fast, slow rhythms and pauses even in pediatric age
Reference gene validation for quantitative RT-PCR during biotic and abiotic stresses in Vitis vinifera
Grapevine is one of the most cultivated fruit crop worldwide with Vitis vinifera being the species with the highest
economical importance. Being highly susceptible to fungal pathogens and increasingly affected by environmental factors, it
has become an important agricultural research area, where gene expression analysis plays a fundamental role. Quantitative
reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) is currently amongst the most powerful techniques to perform
gene expression studies. Nevertheless, accurate gene expression quantification strongly relies on appropriate reference
gene selection for sample normalization. Concerning V. vinifera, limited information still exists as for which genes are the
most suitable to be used as reference under particular experimental conditions. In this work, seven candidate genes were
investigated for their stability in grapevine samples referring to four distinct stresses (Erysiphe necator, wounding and UV-C
irradiation in leaves and Phaeomoniella chlamydospora colonization in wood). The expression stability was evaluated using
geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper. In all cases, full agreement was not observed for the three methods. To provide
comprehensive rankings integrating the three different programs, for each treatment, a consensus ranking was created
using a non-weighted unsupervised rank aggregation method. According to the last, the three most suitable reference
genes to be used in grapevine leaves, regardless of the stress, are UBC, VAG and PEP. For the P. chlamydospora treatment,
EF1, CYP and UBC were the best scoring genes. Acquaintance of the most suitable reference genes to be used in grapevine
samples can contribute for accurate gene expression quantification in forthcoming studiesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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Azimuthal correlations of high transverse momentum jets at next-to-leading order in the parton branching method
AbstractThe azimuthal correlation,
Δ
ϕ
12
, of high transverse momentum jets in pp collisions at
s
=
13
TeV is studied by applying PB-TMD distributions to NLO calculations via MCatNLO together with the PB-TMD parton shower. A very good description of the cross section as a function of
Δ
ϕ
12
is observed. In the back-to-back region of
Δ
ϕ
12
→
π
, a very good agreement is observed with the PB-TMD Set 2 distributions while significant deviations are obtained with the PB-TMD Set 1 distributions. Set 1 uses the evolution scale while Set 2 uses transverse momentum as an argument in
α
s
, and the above observation therefore confirms the importance of an appropriate soft-gluon coupling in angular ordered parton evolution. The total uncertainties of the predictions are dominated by the scale uncertainties of the matrix element, while the uncertainties coming from the PB-TMDs and the corresponding PB-TMD shower are very small. The
Δ
ϕ
12
measurements are also compared with predictions using MCatNLO together Pythia8, illustrating the importance of details of the parton shower evolution.</jats:p
Azimuthal correlations of high transverse momentum jets at next-to-leading order in the parton branching method
AbstractThe azimuthal correlation,
Δ
ϕ
12
, of high transverse momentum jets in pp collisions at
s
=
13
TeV is studied by applying PB-TMD distributions to NLO calculations via MCatNLO together with the PB-TMD parton shower. A very good description of the cross section as a function of
Δ
ϕ
12
is observed. In the back-to-back region of
Δ
ϕ
12
→
π
, a very good agreement is observed with the PB-TMD Set 2 distributions while significant deviations are obtained with the PB-TMD Set 1 distributions. Set 1 uses the evolution scale while Set 2 uses transverse momentum as an argument in
α
s
, and the above observation therefore confirms the importance of an appropriate soft-gluon coupling in angular ordered parton evolution. The total uncertainties of the predictions are dominated by the scale uncertainties of the matrix element, while the uncertainties coming from the PB-TMDs and the corresponding PB-TMD shower are very small. The
Δ
ϕ
12
measurements are also compared with predictions using MCatNLO together Pythia8, illustrating the importance of details of the parton shower evolution.</jats:p
Allosteric Modulation of the HIV-1 gp120-gp41 Association Site by Adjacent gp120 Variable Region 1 (V1) N-Glycans Linked to Neutralization Sensitivity
The HIV-1 gp120-gp41 complex, which mediates viral fusion and cellular entry, undergoes rapid evolution within its external glycan shield to enable escape from neutralizing antibody (NAb). Understanding how conserved protein determinants retain functionality in the context of such evolution is important for their evaluation and exploitation as potential drug and/ or vaccine targets. In this study, we examined how the conserved gp120-gp41 association site, formed by the N- and Cterminal segments of gp120 and the disulfide-bonded region (DSR) of gp41, adapts to glycan changes that are linked to neutralization sensitivity. To this end, a DSR mutant virus (K601D) with defective gp120-association was sequentially passaged in peripheral blood mononuclear cells to select suppressor mutations. We reasoned that the locations of suppressors point to structural elements that are functionally linked to the gp120-gp41 association site. In culture 1, gp120 association and viral replication was restored by loss of the conserved glycan at Asn136 in V1 (T138N mutation) inconjunction with the L494I substitution in C5 within the association site. In culture 2, replication was restored with deletion of the N139INN sequence, which ablates the overlapping Asn141-Asn142-Ser-Ser potential N-linked glycosylation sequons inV1, in conjunction with D601N in the DSR. The 136 and 142 glycan mutations appeared to exert their suppressive effects by altering the dependence of gp120-gp41 interactions on the DSR residues, Leu593, Trp596 and Lys601. The 136 and/or 142glycan mutations increased the sensitivity of HIV-1 pseudovirions to the glycan-dependent NAbs 2G12 and PG16, and also pooled IgG obtained from HIV-1-infected individuals. Thus adjacent V1 glycans allosterically modulate the distal gp120-gp41 association site. We propose that this represents a mechanism for functional adaptation of the gp120-gp41 association site to an evolving glycan shield in a setting of NAb selection
Test beam performance of a CBC3-based mini-module for the Phase-2 CMS Outer Tracker before and after neutron irradiation
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN will undergo major upgrades to increase the instantaneous luminosity up to 5–7.5×10 cms. This High Luminosity upgrade of the LHC (HL-LHC) will deliver a total of 3000–4000 fb-1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13–14 TeV. To cope with these challenging environmental conditions, the strip tracker of the CMS experiment will be upgraded using modules with two closely-spaced silicon sensors to provide information to include tracking in the Level-1 trigger selection. This paper describes the performance, in a test beam experiment, of the first prototype module based on the final version of the CMS Binary Chip front-end ASIC before and after the module was irradiated with neutrons. Results demonstrate that the prototype module satisfies the requirements, providing efficient tracking information, after being irradiated with a total fluence comparable to the one expected through the lifetime of the experiment
Prime-boost immunization of rabbits with HIV-1 gp120 elicits potent neutralization activity against a primary viral isolate
<div><p>Development of a vaccine for HIV-1 requires a detailed understanding of the neutralizing antibody responses that can be experimentally elicited to difficult-to-neutralize primary isolates. Rabbits were immunized with the gp120 subunit of HIV-1 JR-CSF envelope (Env) using a DNA-prime protein-boost regimen. We analyzed five sera that showed potent autologous neutralizing activity (IC50s at ∼10<sup>3</sup> to 10<sup>4</sup> serum dilution) against pseudoviruses containing Env from the primary isolate JR-CSF but not from the related isolate JR-FL. Pseudoviruses were created by exchanging each variable and constant domain of JR-CSF gp120 with that of JR-FL or with mutations in putative N-glycosylation sites. The sera contained different neutralizing activities dependent on C3 and V5, C3 and V4, or V4 regions located on the glycan-rich outer domain of gp120. All sera showed enhanced neutralizing activity toward an Env variant that lacked a glycosylation site in V4. The JR-CSF gp120 epitopes recognized by the sera are generally distinct from those of several well characterized mAbs (targeting conserved sites on Env) or other type-specific responses (targeting V1, V2, or V3 variable regions). The activity of one serum requires specific glycans that are also important for 2G12 neutralization and this serum blocked the binding of 2G12 to gp120. Our findings show that different fine specificities can achieve potent neutralization of HIV-1, yet this strong activity does not result in improved breadth.</p> </div