Measurement of the t(t)over-bar production cross section in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV with lepton plus jets final states

This is the pre-print version of the Article. The official published can be accessed from the link below. Copyright @ 2013 ElsevierA measurement of the tt¯ production cross section in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV is presented. The results are based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 fb−1 collected by the CMS detector at the LHC. Selected events are required to have one isolated, high transverse momentum electron or muon, large missing transverse energy, and hadronic jets, at least one of which must be consistent with having originated from a b quark. The measured cross section is 158.1 ± 2.1 (stat.) ± 10.2(syst.) ± 3.5 (lum.) pb, in agreement with standard model predictions.This study is funded by the: BMWF and FWF (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq, CAPES, FAPERJ, and FAPESP (Brazil); MEYS (Bulgaria); CERN; CAS, MoST, and NSFC (China); COLCIENCIAS (Colombia); MSES (Croatia); RPF (Cyprus); MoER, SF0690030s09 and ERDF (Estonia); Academy of Finland, MEC, and HIP (Finland); CEA and CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF, DFG, and HGF (Germany); GSRT (Greece); OTKA and NKTH (Hungary); DAE and DST (India); IPM (Iran); SFI (Ireland); INFN (Italy); NRF and WCU (Republic of Korea); LAS (Lithuania); CINVESTAV, CONACYT, SEP, and UASLP-FAI (Mexico); MSI (New Zealand); PAEC (Pakistan); MSHE and NSC (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan); MON, RosAtom, RAS and RFBR (Russia); MSTD (Serbia); SEIDI and CPAN (Spain); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); NSC (Taipei); ThEPCenter, IPST and NSTDA (Thailand); TUBITAK and TAEK (Turkey); NASU (Ukraine); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (USA)

Herpes simplex encephalitis is linked with selective mitochondrial damage; a post-mortem and in vitro study

Herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) encephalitis (HSE) is the most commonly diagnosed cause of viral encephalitis in western countries. Despite antiviral treatment, HSE remains a devastating disease with high morbidity and mortality. Improved understanding of pathogenesis may lead to more effective therapies. Mitochondrial damage has been reported during HSV infection in vitro. However, whether it occurs in the human brain and whether this contributes to the pathogenesis has not been fully explored. Minocycline, an antibiotic, has been reported to protect mitochondria and limit brain damage. Minocycline has not been studied in HSV infection. In the first genome-wide transcriptomic study of post-mortem human HSE brain tissue, we demonstrated a highly preferential reduction in mitochondrial genome (MtDNA) encoded transcripts in HSE cases (n = 3) compared to controls (n = 5). Brain tissue exhibited a significant inverse correlation for immunostaining between cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1), a MtDNA encoded enzyme subunit, and HSV-1; with lower abundance for mitochondrial protein in regions where HSV-1 was abundant. Preferential loss of mitochondrial function, among MtDNA encoded components, was confirmed using an in vitro primary human astrocyte HSV-1 infection model. Dysfunction of cytochrome c oxidase (CO), a mitochondrial enzyme composed predominantly of MtDNA encoded subunits, preceded that of succinate dehydrogenase (composed entirely of nuclear encoded subunits). Minocycline treated astrocytes exhibited higher CO1 transcript abundance, sustained CO activity and cell viability compared to non-treated astrocytes. Based on observations from HSE patient tissue, this study highlights mitochondrial damage as a critical and early event during HSV-1 infection. We demonstrate minocycline preserves mitochondrial function and cell viability during HSV-1 infection. Minocycline, and mitochondrial protection, offers a novel adjunctive therapeutic approach for limiting brain cell damage and potentially improving outcome among HSE patients

Measurement of prompt ψ(2S) production cross sections in proton–lead and proton–proton collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

Measurements of prompt ψ(2S) meson production cross sections in proton–lead (pPb) and proton–proton (pp) collisions at a nucleon–nucleon center-of-mass energy of √sNN = 5.02 TeV are reported. The results are based on pPb and pp data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 34.6 nb−1 and 28.0 pb−1, respectively. The nuclear modification factor RpPb is measured for prompt ψ(2S) in the transverse momentum range 4 < pT < 30 GeV/c and the center-of-mass rapidity range −2.4 < yCM < 1.93. The results on ψ(2S) RpPb are compared to the corresponding modification factor for prompt J/ψ mesons. The results point to different nuclear effects at play in the production of the excited charmonium state compared to the ground state, in the region of backward rapidity and for pT < 10 GeV/c

Search for neutral resonances decaying into a Z boson and a pair of b jets or tau leptons

Peer reviewe

Inclusive and differential measurements of the t(t)over-bar charge asymmetry in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

The charge asymmetry is measured in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of . The data, collected with the CMS experiment at the LHC, correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb−1. Selected events contain an electron or a muon and four or more jets, where at least one jet is identified as originating from b-quark hadronization. The inclusive charge asymmetry is found to be . In addition, differential charge asymmetries as a function of rapidity, transverse momentum, and invariant mass of the system are studied. For the first time at the LHC, the measurements are also performed in a reduced fiducial phase space of top quark pair production, with an integrated result of . All measurements are consistent within two standard deviations with zero asymmetry as well as with the predictions of the standard model