Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe

Design and baseline characteristics of the finerenone in reducing cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in diabetic kidney disease trial

Background: Among people with diabetes, those with kidney disease have exceptionally high rates of cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality and progression of their underlying kidney disease. Finerenone is a novel, nonsteroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist that has shown to reduce albuminuria in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) while revealing only a low risk of hyperkalemia. However, the effect of finerenone on CV and renal outcomes has not yet been investigated in long-term trials. Patients and Methods: The Finerenone in Reducing CV Mortality and Morbidity in Diabetic Kidney Disease (FIGARO-DKD) trial aims to assess the efficacy and safety of finerenone compared to placebo at reducing clinically important CV and renal outcomes in T2D patients with CKD. FIGARO-DKD is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, event-driven trial running in 47 countries with an expected duration of approximately 6 years. FIGARO-DKD randomized 7,437 patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate >= 25 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and albuminuria (urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio >= 30 to <= 5,000 mg/g). The study has at least 90% power to detect a 20% reduction in the risk of the primary outcome (overall two-sided significance level alpha = 0.05), the composite of time to first occurrence of CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure. Conclusions: FIGARO-DKD will determine whether an optimally treated cohort of T2D patients with CKD at high risk of CV and renal events will experience cardiorenal benefits with the addition of finerenone to their treatment regimen. Trial Registration: EudraCT number: 2015-000950-39; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02545049

Theoretical Evaluation of Bortezomib and Other Boron-Containing Compounds as Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease

The aim of the present docking study was to explore the putative role of boronic moieties in molecules interacting on the binding site of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease. The methodology was based on the conventional docking procedure by means of AutoDock software by assaying boron-free and boron-containing compounds on the recent reported crystal structure of SARS-CoV-2 main protease (PDB code: 6LU7). The most of tested compounds share contact with key residues and poses on the cleavage pocket. Those compounds with a boron atom in its structure often were estimated with higher affinity than boron-free analogues. Interactions and affinity of boron-containing peptidomimetics on the binding site let us to propose the potent inhibition of these compounds on targeted protease. These advances may be relevant for drug designing, but also to suggest the testing of available boron-containing drugs in patients with severe symptoms of COVID19 infection

Constraints on the spin-parity and anomalous HVV couplings of the Higgs boson in proton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV

The study of the spin-parity and tensor structure of the interactions of the recently discovered Higgs boson is performed using the $\mathrm{H} \rightarrow \mathrm{Z} \mathrm{Z}$, $\mathrm{Z}\gamma^*$, $\gamma^*\gamma^* \rightarrow 4\ell$, $\mathrm{H} \rightarrow \mathrm{W} \mathrm{W} \rightarrow \ell\nu\ell\nu$, and $\mathrm{H} \rightarrow \gamma\gamma$ decay modes. The full dataset recorded by the CMS experiment during the LHC Run 1 is used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to $5.1~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and up to $19.7~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ at 8 TeV. A wide range of spin-two models is excluded at a 99% confidence level or higher, or at a 99.87% confidence level for the minimal gravity-like couplings, regardless of whether assumptions are made on the production mechanism. Any mixed-parity spin-one state is excluded in the $\mathrm{ZZ}$ and $\mathrm{WW }$ modes at a greater than 99.999% confidence level. Under the hypothesis that the resonance is a spin-zero boson, the tensor structure of the interactions of the Higgs boson with two vector bosons $\mathrm{Z} \mathrm{Z}$, $\mathrm{Z}\gamma$, $\gamma\gamma$, and $\mathrm{W} \mathrm{W}$ is investigated and limits on eleven anomalous contributions are set. Tighter constraints on anomalous $\mathrm{HVV}$ interactions are obtained by combining the $\mathrm{HZZ}$ and $\mathrm{HWW}$ measurements. All observations are consistent with the expectations for the standard model Higgs boson with the quantum numbers $J^{\mathrm{PC}}=0^{++}$

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortiu (INICC) report, data summary of 43 countries for 2007-2012. Device-associated module

We report the results of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2007-December 2012 in 503 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. During the 6-year study using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions for device-associated health care–associated infection (DA-HAI), we collected prospective data from 605,310 patients hospitalized in the INICC's ICUs for an aggregate of 3,338,396 days. Although device utilization in the INICC's ICUs was similar to that reported from ICUs in the U.S. in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals: the pooled rate of central line–associated bloodstream infection in the INICC's ICUs, 4.9 per 1,000 central line days, is nearly 5-fold higher than the 0.9 per 1,000 central line days reported from comparable U.S. ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was also higher (16.8 vs 1.1 per 1,000 ventilator days) as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (5.5 vs 1.3 per 1,000 catheter days). Frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas isolates to amikacin (42.8% vs 10%) and imipenem (42.4% vs 26.1%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (71.2% vs 28.8%) and imipenem (19.6% vs 12.8%) were also higher in the INICC's ICUs compared with the ICUs of the CDC's NHSN

Constraints on the spin-parity and anomalous HVV couplings of the Higgs boson in proton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV

The study of the spin-parity and tensor structure of the interactions of the recently discovered Higgs boson is performed using the $\mathrm{H} \rightarrow \mathrm{Z} \mathrm{Z}$, $\mathrm{Z}\gamma^*$, $\gamma^*\gamma^* \rightarrow 4\ell$, $\mathrm{H} \rightarrow \mathrm{W} \mathrm{W} \rightarrow \ell\nu\ell\nu$, and $\mathrm{H} \rightarrow \gamma\gamma$ decay modes. The full dataset recorded by the CMS experiment during the LHC Run 1 is used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to $5.1~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and up to $19.7~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ at 8 TeV. A wide range of spin-two models is excluded at a 99% confidence level or higher, or at a 99.87% confidence level for the minimal gravity-like couplings, regardless of whether assumptions are made on the production mechanism. Any mixed-parity spin-one state is excluded in the $\mathrm{ZZ}$ and $\mathrm{WW }$ modes at a greater than 99.999% confidence level. Under the hypothesis that the resonance is a spin-zero boson, the tensor structure of the interactions of the Higgs boson with two vector bosons $\mathrm{Z} \mathrm{Z}$, $\mathrm{Z}\gamma$, $\gamma\gamma$, and $\mathrm{W} \mathrm{W}$ is investigated and limits on eleven anomalous contributions are set. Tighter constraints on anomalous $\mathrm{HVV}$ interactions are obtained by combining the $\mathrm{HZZ}$ and $\mathrm{HWW}$ measurements. All observations are consistent with the expectations for the standard model Higgs boson with the quantum numbers $J^{\mathrm{PC}}=0^{++}$

Nonresonant central exclusive production of charged-hadron pairs in proton-proton collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

International audienceThe central exclusive production of charged-hadron pairs in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13\TeV is examined, based on data collected in a special high-$\beta^*$ run of the LHC. The nonresonant continuum processes are studied with the invariant mass of the centrally produced two-pion system in the resonance-free region, $m_{\pi^+\pi^-}$$\lt$ 0.7 GeV or $m_{\pi^+\pi^-}$$\gt$ 1.8 GeV. Differential cross sections as functions of the azimuthal angle between the surviving protons, squared exchanged four-momenta, and $m_{\pi^+\pi^-}$ are measured in a wide region of scattered proton transverse momenta, between 0.2 and 0.8 GeV, and for pion rapidities $\lvert y\rvert$$\lt$ 2. A rich structure of interactions related to double-pomeron exchange is observed. A parabolic minimum in the distribution of the two-proton azimuthal angle is observed for the first time. It can be interpreted as an effect of additional pomeron exchanges between the protons from the interference between the bare and the rescattered amplitudes. After model tuning, various physical quantities are determined that are related to the pomeron cross section, proton-pomeron and meson-pomeron form factors, pomeron trajectory and intercept, and coefficients of diffractive eigenstates of the proton

Nonresonant central exclusive production of charged-hadron pairs in proton-proton collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

International audienceThe central exclusive production of charged-hadron pairs in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13\TeV is examined, based on data collected in a special high-$\beta^*$ run of the LHC. The nonresonant continuum processes are studied with the invariant mass of the centrally produced two-pion system in the resonance-free region, $m_{\pi^+\pi^-}$$\lt$ 0.7 GeV or $m_{\pi^+\pi^-}$$\gt$ 1.8 GeV. Differential cross sections as functions of the azimuthal angle between the surviving protons, squared exchanged four-momenta, and $m_{\pi^+\pi^-}$ are measured in a wide region of scattered proton transverse momenta, between 0.2 and 0.8 GeV, and for pion rapidities $\lvert y\rvert$$\lt$ 2. A rich structure of interactions related to double-pomeron exchange is observed. A parabolic minimum in the distribution of the two-proton azimuthal angle is observed for the first time. It can be interpreted as an effect of additional pomeron exchanges between the protons from the interference between the bare and the rescattered amplitudes. After model tuning, various physical quantities are determined that are related to the pomeron cross section, proton-pomeron and meson-pomeron form factors, pomeron trajectory and intercept, and coefficients of diffractive eigenstates of the proton