A detailed study of the gate/drain voltage dependence of RTN in bulk pMOS transistors

Random Telegraph Noise (RTN)has attracted increasing interest in the last years. This phenomenon introduces variability in the electrical properties of transistors, in particular in deeply-scaled CMOS technologies, which can cause performance degradation in circuits. In this work, the dependence of RTN parameters, namely current jump amplitude and emission and capture time constants, on the bias conditions, both VG and VD, has been studied on a set of devices, with a high granularity in a broad voltage range. The results obtained for the VG dependences corroborate previous works, but suggest a unique trend for all the devices in a VG range that goes from the near-threshold region up to voltages over the nominal operation bias. However, different trends have been observed in the parameters dependence for the case of VD. From the experimental data, the probabilities of occupation of the associated defects have been evaluated, pointing out large device-to-device dispersion in the VD dependences.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades TEC2016-75151-C3-R, BES-2017-08016

Lung cancer in Spain: information from the Thoracic Tumors Registry (TTR study)

[Background] Lung cancer remains a leading cause of cancer incidence and mortality worldwide. Although Spain contributes to global statistics related to cancer, it is difficult to discern aspects linked to clinical presentation of the disease or molecular testing. The Thoracic Tumor Registry (TTR) was created with the aim of filling this gap.[Methods] Observational cohort multicenter study performed in Spain, including patients with lung cancer or other types of thoracic tumors undergoing active treatment or palliative care only. Enrollment took place between August 2016 and December 2018. The evaluation included a review of demographic, epidemiological, clinical and molecular data.[Results] A total of 6,600 patients diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were recruited at 56 Spanish hospitals. The mean age at diagnosis was 64 years. The majority of patients (80%) presented with advanced disease, being adenocarcinoma the most frequent histological type. Up to 86% of patients were current- or ex-smokers, with men starting to smoke earlier than women (average age 17.9 vs. 19.2 years). Sixty-seven percent of patients underwent some type of molecular testing. Mutations in EGFR and KRAS genes were found in 18% and 28% of patients, respectively.[Conclusions] Our findings suggest that the TTR study accurately describes the clinical reality of lung cancer in Spain, including useful information on smoking status as well as molecular profiling and tumor histology, and can therefore be used to drive improvements in health care. Social and political pressure to reduce tobacco consumption among the population should be reinforced, particularly among youth.This work was supported by Grupo Español de Cáncer de Pulmón (GECP), Novartis, Lilly and Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD)

Search for supersymmetry in electroweak production with photons and large missing transverse energy in pp collisions at √s=8TeV

Open Access funded by SCOAP³ - Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics.-- et al.Results are reported from a search for supersymmetry with gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking in electroweak production. Final states with photons and large missing transverse energy ( EmissT ) were examined. The data sample was collected in pp collisions at √s=8TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to 7.4fb. The analysis focuses on scenarios in which the lightest neutralino has bino- or wino-like components, resulting in decays to photons and gravitinos, where the gravitinos escape undetected. The data were obtained using a specially designed trigger with dedicated low thresholds, providing good sensitivity to signatures with photons, EmissT , and low hadronic energy. No excess of events over the standard model expectation is observed. The results are interpreted using the model of general gauge mediation. With the wino mass fixed at 10GeV above that of the bino, wino masses below 710GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level. Constraints are also set in the context of two simplified models, for which the analysis sets the lowest cross section limits on the electroweak production of supersymmetric particles.Funded by SCOAP3.Peer Reviewe

Search for narrow resonances decaying to dijets in proton-proton collisions at √s=13 TeV

et al.A search for narrow resonances in proton-proton collisions at √s=13  TeV is presented. The invariant mass distribution of the two leading jets is measured with the CMS detector using a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.4  fb−1. The highest observed dijet mass is 6.1 TeV. The distribution is smooth and no evidence for resonant particles is observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the production cross section for narrow resonances with masses above 1.5 TeV. When interpreted in the context of specific models, the limits exclude string resonances with masses below 7.0 TeV, scalar diquarks below 6.0 TeV, axigluons and colorons below 5.1 TeV, excited quarks below 5.0 TeV, color-octet scalars below 3.1 TeV, and W′ bosons below 2.6 TeV. These results significantly extend previously published limits.Peer Reviewe

Measurements of tt¯ spin correlations and top quark polarization using dilepton final states in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV

et al.Measurements of the top quark-antiquark (tt¯) spin correlations and the top quark polarization are presented for tt¯ pairs produced in pp collisions at √s=8  TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.5  fb−1 collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using events with two oppositely charged leptons (electrons or muons) and two or more jets, where at least one of the jets is identified as originating from a bottom quark. The spin correlations and polarization are measured from the angular distributions of the two selected leptons, both inclusively and differentially, with respect to the invariant mass, rapidity, and transverse momentum of the tt¯ system. The measurements are unfolded to the parton level and found to be in agreement with predictions of the standard model. A search for new physics in the form of anomalous top quark chromo moments is performed. No evidence of new physics is observed, and exclusion limits on the real part of the chromo-magnetic dipole moment and the imaginary part of the chromo-electric dipole moment are evaluated.Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie programme and the European Research Council and EPLANET (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the A. P. Sloan Foundation; the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office; the Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l’Industrie et dans l’Agriculture (FRIA-Belgium); the Agentschap voor Innovatie door Wetenschap en Technologie (IWTBelgium); the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) of the Czech Republic; the Council of Science and Industrial Research, India; the HOMING PLUS programme of the Foundation for Polish Science, cofinanced from European Union, Regional Development Fund; the OPUS programme of the National Science Center (Poland); the Compagnia di San Paolo (Torino); MIUR project 20108T4XTM (Italy); the Thalis and Aristeia programmes cofinanced by EU-ESF and the Greek NSRF; the National Priorities Research Program by Qatar National Research Fund; the Rachadapisek Sompot Fund for Postdoctoral Fellowship, Chulalongkorn University (Thailand); the Chulalongkorn Academic into Its 2nd Century Project Advancement Project (Thailand); and the Welch Foundation, Contract No. C-1845.Peer Reviewe

Development of a New largely scalable in vitro prion propagation method for the production of infectious recombinant prions for high resolution structural studies.

The resolution of the three-dimensional structure of infectious prions at the atomic level is pivotal to understand the pathobiology of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE), but has been long hindered due to certain particularities of these proteinaceous pathogens. Difficulties related to their purification from brain homogenates of disease-affected animals were resolved almost a decade ago by the development of in vitro recombinant prion propagation systems giving rise to highly infectious recombinant prions. However, lack of knowledge about the molecular mechanisms of the misfolding event and the complexity of systems such as the Protein Misfolding Cyclic Amplification (PMCA), have limited generating the large amounts of homogeneous recombinant prion preparations required for high-resolution techniques such as solid state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (ssNMR) imaging. Herein, we present a novel recombinant prion propagation system based on PMCA that substitutes sonication with shaking thereby allowing the production of unprecedented amounts of multi-labeled, infectious recombinant prions. The use of specific cofactors, such as dextran sulfate, limit the structural heterogeneity of the in vitro propagated prions and makes possible, for the first time, the generation of infectious and likely homogeneous samples in sufficient quantities for studies with high-resolution structural techniques as demonstrated by the preliminary ssNMR spectrum presented here. Overall, we consider that this new method named Protein Misfolding Shaking Amplification (PMSA), opens new avenues to finally elucidate the three-dimensional structure of infectious prions

Bona fide atypical scrapie faithfully reproduced for the first time in a rodent model

Atypical Scrapie, which is not linked to epidemics, is assumed to be an idiopathic spontaneous prion disease in small ruminants. Therefore, its occurrence is unlikely to be controlled through selective breeding or other strategies as it is done for classical scrapie outbreaks. Its spontaneous nature and its sporadic incidence worldwide is reminiscent of the incidence of idiopathic spontaneous prion diseases in humans, which account for more than 85% of the cases in humans. Hence, developing animal models that consistently reproduce this phenomenon of spontaneous PrP misfolding, is of importance to study the pathobiology of idiopathic spontaneous prion disorders. Transgenic mice overexpressing sheep PrPC with I112 polymorphism (TgShI112, 1–2 × PrP levels compared to sheep brain) manifest clinical signs of a spongiform encephalopathy spontaneously as early as 380 days of age. The brains of these animals show the neuropathological hallmarks of prion disease and biochemical analyses of the misfolded prion protein show a ladder-like PrPres pattern with a predominant 7–10 kDa band. Brain homogenates from spontaneously diseased transgenic mice were inoculated in several models to assess their transmissibility and characterize the prion strain generated: TgShI112 (ovine I112 ARQ PrPC), Tg338 (ovine VRQ PrPC), Tg501 (ovine ARQ PrPC), Tg340 (human M129 PrPC), Tg361 (human V129 PrPC), TgVole (bank vole I109 PrPC), bank vole (I109I PrPC), and sheep (AHQ/ARR and AHQ/AHQ churra-tensina breeds). Our analysis of the results of these bioassays concludes that the strain generated in this model is indistinguishable to that causing atypical scrapie (Nor98). Thus, we present the first faithful model for a bona fide, transmissible, ovine, atypical scrapie prion disease.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Bona fide atypical scrapie faithfully reproduced for the first time in a rodent model

Atypical Scrapie, which is not linked to epidemics, is assumed to be an idiopathic spontaneous prion disease in small ruminants. Therefore, its occurrence is unlikely to be controlled through selective breeding or other strategies as it is done for classical scrapie outbreaks. Its spontaneous nature and its sporadic incidence worldwide is reminiscent of the incidence of idiopathic spontaneous prion diseases in humans, which account for more than 85% of the cases in humans. Hence, developing animal models that consistently reproduce this phenomenon of spontaneous PrP misfolding, is of importance to study the pathobiology of idiopathic spontaneous prion disorders. Transgenic mice overexpressing sheep PrPC with I112 polymorphism (TgShI112, 1–2 × PrP levels compared to sheep brain) manifest clinical signs of a spongiform encephalopathy spontaneously as early as 380 days of age. The brains of these animals show the neuropathological hallmarks of prion disease and biochemical analyses of the misfolded prion protein show a ladder-like PrPres pattern with a predominant 7–10 kDa band. Brain homogenates from spontaneously diseased transgenic mice were inoculated in several models to assess their transmissibility and characterize the prion strain generated: TgShI112 (ovine I112 ARQ PrPC), Tg338 (ovine VRQ PrPC), Tg501 (ovine ARQ PrPC), Tg340 (human M129 PrPC), Tg361 (human V129 PrPC), TgVole (bank vole I109 PrPC), bank vole (I109I PrPC), and sheep (AHQ/ARR and AHQ/AHQ churra-tensina breeds). Our analysis of the results of these bioassays concludes that the strain generated in this model is indistinguishable to that causing atypical scrapie (Nor98). Thus, we present the first faithful model for a bona fide, transmissible, ovine, atypical scrapie prion disease.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sexual Relationships in Hispanic Countries: a Literature Review

This is a pre-print of an article published in Current Sexual Health Reports. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11930-020-00272-6Purpose of Review: Sexuality is a complex dimension for which culture seems to play an important role, particularly in countries that are more traditional. This review summarizes the knowledge about sexual relationships in Hispanic countries, considering sexual debut, attitudes, behaviors, and satisfaction. Recent Findings: In line with the literature reviewed, the sexual double standard seems to be continuing to influence sexual relationships. Some countries show more open expressions of sexuality based on the level of gender inequality or sexualized context, and within countries, variables such as religious commitment, family characteristics, and access to resources may play important roles in sexuality. Summary: Future research, policies, and interventions should consider these specific characteristics, including these forms of expression of sexuality, in the adjustment of cross-cultural and cross-national strategies

Psychometric properties of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) across cross-cultural subgroups, genders, and sexual orientations: Findings from the International Sex Survey (ISS)

© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/).INTRODUCTION: Despite being a widely used screening questionnaire, there is no consensus on the most appropriate measurement model for the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Furthermore, there have been limited studies on its measurement invariance across cross-cultural subgroups, genders, and sexual orientations. AIMS: The present study aimed to examine the fit of different measurement models for the AUDIT and its measurement invariance across a wide range of subgroups by country, language, gender, and sexual orientation. METHODS: Responses concerning past-year alcohol use from the participants of the cross-sectional International Sex Survey were considered (N = 62,943; M age: 32.73; SD = 12.59). Confirmatory factor analysis, as well as measurement invariance tests were performed for 21 countries, 14 languages, three genders, and four sexual-orientation subgroups that met the minimum sample size requirement for inclusion in these analyses. RESULTS: A two-factor model with factors describing 'alcohol use' (items 1-3) and 'alcohol problems' (items 4-10) showed the best model fit across countries, languages, genders, and sexual orientations. For the former two, scalar and latent mean levels of invariance were reached considering different criteria. For gender and sexual orientation, a latent mean level of invariance was reached. CONCLUSIONS: In line with the two-factor model, the calculation of separate alcohol-use and alcohol-problem scores is recommended when using the AUDIT. The high levels of measurement invariance achieved for the AUDIT support its use in cross-cultural research, capable also of meaningful comparisons among genders and sexual orientations.Peer reviewe