Histopathological study of JNK in venous wall of patients with chronic venous insufficiency related to osteogenesis process

Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) is one of the most common vascular pathologies worldwide. One of the risk factors for the development of CVI is aging, which is why it is related to senile changes. The main trigger of the changes that occur in the venous walls in CVI is blood flow reflux, which produces increased hydrostatic pressure, leading to valve incompetence. The cellular response is one of the fundamental processes in vascular diseases, causing the activation of cell signalling pathways such as c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). Metabolic changes and calcifications occur in vascular pathology as a result of pathophysiological processes. The aim of this study was to determine the expression of JNK in venous disease and its relationship with the role played by the molecules involved in the osteogenic processes in venous tissue calcification. This was a cross-sectional study that analyzed the greater saphenous vein wall in 110 patients with (R) and without venous reflux (NR), classified according to age. Histopathological techniques were used and protein expression was analysed using immunohistochemistry techniques for JNK and markers of osteogenesis (RUNX2, osteocalcin (OCN), osteopontin (OPN)). Significantly increased JNK, RUNX2, OCN, OPN and pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) protein expression and the presence of osseous metaplasia and amorphous calcification were observed in younger patients (<50 years) with venous reflux. This study shows for the first time the existence of an osteogenesis process related to the expression of JNK in the venous wall.This study (FIS-PI18/00912) was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Plan Estatal de I+D+i 2013-2016) and cofinanced by the European Development Regional Fund ‘‘A way to achieve Europe’’ (ERDF) and B2017/BMD-3804 MITIC-C

Unusual cause of severe toxic methemoglobinemia in an infant: a case report

Toxic methemoglobinemia is an uncommon blood disorder induced by exposure to certain oxidizing agents and drugs. In severe cases, this condition may rapidly lead to major cardiopulmonary compromise and constitutes an emergency requiring prompt recognition and early management. We report an unusual case of severe toxic methemoglobinemia following wide cutaneous application of a pomade containing benzocaine, resorcin, and oxyquinoline (Nestosyl®) in an infant

ECFA Detector R&D Panel, Review Report

Two special calorimeters are foreseen for the instrumentation of the very forward region of an ILC or CLIC detector; a luminometer (LumiCal) designed to measure the rate of low angle Bhabha scattering events with a precision better than 10$^{-3}$ at the ILC and 10$^{-2}$ at CLIC, and a low polar-angle calorimeter (BeamCal). The latter will be hit by a large amount of beamstrahlung remnants. The intensity and the spatial shape of these depositions will provide a fast luminosity estimate, as well as determination of beam parameters. The sensors of this calorimeter must be radiation-hard. Both devices will improve the e.m. hermeticity of the detector in the search for new particles. Finely segmented and very compact electromagnetic calorimeters will match these requirements. Due to the high occupancy, fast front-end electronics will be needed. Monte Carlo studies were performed to investigate the impact of beam-beam interactions and physics background processes on the luminosity measurement, and of beamstrahlung on the performance of BeamCal, as well as to optimise the design of both calorimeters. Dedicated sensors, front-end and ADC ASICs have been designed for the ILC and prototypes are available. Prototypes of sensor planes fully assembled with readout electronics have been studied in electron beams.Comment: 61 pages, 51 figure

Performance of fully instrumented detector planes of the forward calorimeter of a Linear Collider detector

Detector-plane prototypes of the very forward calorimetry of a future detector at an e+e- collider have been built and their performance was measured in an electron beam. The detector plane comprises silicon or GaAs pad sensors, dedicated front-end and ADC ASICs, and an FPGA for data concentration. Measurements of the signal-to-noise ratio and the response as a function of the position of the sensor are presented. A deconvolution method is successfully applied, and a comparison of the measured shower shape as a function of the absorber depth with a Monte-Carlo simulation is given.Comment: 25 pages, 32 figures, revised version following comments from referee

Search for CP violation in D+→K−K+π+D^{+} \to K^{-}K^{+}\pi^{+} decays

A model-independent search for direct CP violation in the Cabibbo suppressed decay $D^+ \to K^- K^+\pi^+$ in a sample of approximately 370,000 decays is carried out. The data were collected by the LHCb experiment in 2010 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35 pb$^{-1}$. The normalized Dalitz plot distributions for $D^+$ and $D^-$ are compared using four different binning schemes that are sensitive to different manifestations of CP violation. No evidence for CP asymmetry is found.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Opposite-side flavour tagging of B mesons at the LHCb experiment

The calibration and performance of the oppositeside flavour tagging algorithms used for the measurements of time-dependent asymmetries at the LHCb experiment are described. The algorithms have been developed using simulated events and optimized and calibrated with B + →J/ψK +, B0 →J/ψK ∗0 and B0 →D ∗− μ + νμ decay modes with 0.37 fb−1 of data collected in pp collisions at √ s = 7 TeV during the 2011 physics run. The oppositeside tagging power is determined in the B + → J/ψK + channel to be (2.10 ± 0.08 ± 0.24) %, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic

Observation of excited Lambda_b0 baryons

Using pp collision data corresponding to 1.0 fb-1 integrated luminosity collected by the LHCb detector, two narrow states are observed in the Lambda_b0pi+pi- spectrum with masses 5911.97 +- 0.12(stat) +- 0.02(syst) +- 0.66(Lambda_b0 mass) MeV/c^2 and 5919.77 +- 0.08(stat) +- 0.02(syst) +- 0.66(Lambda_b0 mass) MeV/c^2. The significances of the observations are 5.2 and 10.2 standard deviations, respectively. These states are interpreted as the orbitally-excited Lambda_b0 baryons, Lambda_b*0(5912) and Lambda_b*0(5920).Comment: Replaced by version published in Phys. Rev. Lett, modified fit with better mass resolution treatmen

Measurement of the CP-violating phase phi_s in the decay Bs->J/psi phi

We present a measurement of the time-dependent CP-violating asymmetry in B_s -> J/psi phi decays, using data collected with the LHCb detector at the LHC. The decay time distribution of B_s -> J/psi phi is characterized by the decay widths Gamma_H and Gamma_L of the heavy and light mass eigenstates of the B_s-B_s-bar system and by a CP-violating phase phi_s. In a sample of about 8500 B_s -> J/psi phi events isolated from 0.37 fb^-1 of pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV we measure phi_s = 0.15 +/- 0.18 (stat) +/- 0.06 (syst) rad. We also find an average B_s decay width Gamma_s == (Gamma_L + Gamma_H)/2 = 0.657 +/- 0.009 (stat) +/- 0.008 (syst) ps^-1 and a decay width difference Delta Gamma_s == Gamma_L - Gamma_H} = 0.123 +/- 0.029 (stat) +/- 0.011 (syst) ps^-1. Our measurement is insensitive to the transformation (phi_s,DeltaGamma_s --> pi - phi_s, - Delta Gamma_s.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Strong constraints on the rare decays Bs -> mu+ mu- and B0 -> mu+ mu-

A search for Bs -> mu+ mu- and B0 -> mu+ mu- decays is performed using 1.0 fb^-1 of pp collision data collected at \sqrt{s}=7 TeV with the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. For both decays the number of observed events is consistent with expectation from background and Standard Model signal predictions. Upper limits on the branching fractions are determined to be BR(Bs -> mu+ mu-) mu+ mu-) < 1.0 (0.81) x 10^-9 at 95% (90%) confidence level.Comment: 2+6 pages; 4 figures; Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Measurements of the branching fractions of the decays B°s → D∓s K± and B°s → D¯sπ+

The decay mode B°s → D∓s K± allows for one of the theoretically cleanest measurements of the CKM angle γ through the study of time-dependent CP violation. This paper reports a measurement of its branching fraction relative to the Cabibbo-favoured mode B°s → D¯sπ+ based on a data sample corresponding to 0.37 fb¯¹ of proton-proton collisions at √s = 7TeV collected in 2011 with the LHCb detector. In addition, the ratio of B meson production fractions fs/fd, determined from semileptonic decays, together with the known branching fraction of the control channel B°s → D¯sπ+ is used to perform an absolute measurement of the branching fractions: B(B°s → D¯sπ+) = (2.95 ± 0.05 ± 0.17 -0.22 +0.18) × 10¯³ ; B(B°s → D∓s K±) = (1.90 ± 0.12 ± 0.13 -0.14 +0.12) × 10¯4 ; where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second the experimental systematic uncertainty, and the third the uncertainty due to f s/f