Search for jet extinction in the inclusive jet-pT spectrum from proton-proton collisions at s=8 TeV

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published articles title, journal citation, and DOI.The first search at the LHC for the extinction of QCD jet production is presented, using data collected with the CMS detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.7  fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The extinction model studied in this analysis is motivated by the search for signatures of strong gravity at the TeV scale (terascale gravity) and assumes the existence of string couplings in the strong-coupling limit. In this limit, the string model predicts the suppression of all high-transverse-momentum standard model processes, including jet production, beyond a certain energy scale. To test this prediction, the measured transverse-momentum spectrum is compared to the theoretical prediction of the standard model. No significant deficit of events is found at high transverse momentum. A 95% confidence level lower limit of 3.3 TeV is set on the extinction mass scale

A global research priority agenda to advance public health responses to fatty liver disease

Background & aims An estimated 38% of adults worldwide have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). From individual impacts to widespread public health and economic consequences, the implications of this disease are profound. This study aimed to develop an aligned, prioritised fatty liver disease research agenda for the global health community. Methods Nine co-chairs drafted initial research priorities, subsequently reviewed by 40 core authors and debated during a three-day in-person meeting. Following a Delphi methodology, over two rounds, a large panel (R1 n = 344, R2 n = 288) reviewed the priorities, via Qualtrics XM, indicating agreement using a four-point Likert-scale and providing written feedback. The core group revised the draft priorities between rounds. In R2, panellists also ranked the priorities within six domains: epidemiology, models of care, treatment and care, education and awareness, patient and community perspectives, and leadership and public health policy. Results The consensus-built fatty liver disease research agenda encompasses 28 priorities. The mean percentage of ‘agree’ responses increased from 78.3 in R1 to 81.1 in R2. Five priorities received unanimous combined agreement (‘agree’ + ‘somewhat agree’); the remaining 23 priorities had >90% combined agreement. While all but one of the priorities exhibited at least a super-majority of agreement (>66.7% ‘agree’), 13 priorities had 90% combined agreement. Conclusions Adopting this multidisciplinary consensus-built research priorities agenda can deliver a step-change in addressing fatty liver disease, mitigating against its individual and societal harms and proactively altering its natural history through prevention, identification, treatment, and care. This agenda should catalyse the global health community’s efforts to advance and accelerate responses to this widespread and fast-growing public health threat. Impact and implications An estimated 38% of adults and 13% of children and adolescents worldwide have fatty liver disease, making it the most prevalent liver disease in history. Despite substantial scientific progress in the past three decades, the burden continues to grow, with an urgent need to advance understanding of how to prevent, manage, and treat the disease. Through a global consensus process, a multidisciplinary group agreed on 28 research priorities covering a broad range of themes, from disease burden, treatment, and health system responses to awareness and policy. The findings have relevance for clinical and non-clinical researchers as well as funders working on fatty liver disease and non-communicable diseases more broadly, setting out a prioritised, ranked research agenda for turning the tide on this fast-growing public health threat

Searches for electroweak neutralino and chargino production in channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV

Searches for supersymmetry (SUSY) are presented based on the electroweak pair production of neutralinos and charginos, leading to decay channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons and undetected lightest SUSY particles (LSPs). The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of about 19.5 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected in 2012 with the CMS detector at the LHC. The main emphasis is neutralino pair production in which each neutralino decays either to a Higgs boson (h) and an LSP or to a Z boson and an LSP, leading to hh, hZ, and ZZ states with missing transverse energy (E-T(miss)). A second aspect is chargino-neutralino pair production, leading to hW states with E-T(miss). The decays of a Higgs boson to a bottom-quark pair, to a photon pair, and to final states with leptons are considered in conjunction with hadronic and leptonic decay modes of the Z and W bosons. No evidence is found for supersymmetric particles, and 95% confidence level upper limits are evaluated for the respective pair production cross sections and for neutralino and chargino mass values

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities 1,2 . This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity 3�6 . Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55 of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017�and more than 80 in some low- and middle-income regions�was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing�and in some countries reversal�of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories. © 2019, The Author(s)

Life and Works of Charles Edwin Weaver (1880-1958) and his tenure in the Neuquen Basin in the 20s

Fil:Lazo, D.G. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina

Integrated biostratigraphy of the Agrio Formation in its type locality, Early Cretaceous of the Neuquén Basin

The Lower Cretaceous of the Neuquén Basin represents one of the most complete series in the Andes of South America. Highly fossiliferous exposures make correlation easy among different localities and allow to perform detailed studies of the fossil content. This paper presents, for the first time, an integrated biostratigraphic zonation for the Agrio Formation in its type section, based on ammonoids, bivalves, nannofossils and palynomorphs. A detailed section from base to top of the Agrio Formation was measured in the Bajada del Agrio region near the junction of Salado and Agrio Rivers in Central Neuquén. Our focus centred on the two marine members. In the field 39 ammonoid levels were identified and 74 samples of black and grey shales were collected to search calcareous nannofossils and palynomorphs. In addition, 41 Steinmanella Crickmay bearing levels and four levels containing Neocomiceramus curacoensis (Weaver) were identified. Four ammonoids zones, eight ammonoids subzones and two bivalve zones were recognized in the Pilmatué Member encompassing the late Valanginian to the early Hauterivian. Four ammonoids zones and two bivalve zones were recognized in the Agua de la Mula Member encompassing the late Hauterivian and reaching the basal Barremian. Another bivalve zone was identified in the Spitidiscus riccardii Zone, but left undefined due to unsolved taxonomy. The analyzed fossil groups have mainly tethyan affinities. Correlations to the European standard zonations are possible due to the presence of some index ammonoids, but also due to some nannofossil bioevents. Palynomorphs resulted not very useful in biostratigraphy. Continental palynomorphs have affinities to Gondwana while marine palynomorphs have clear tethyan affinities. Bivalves have proved locally useful in biostratigraphy, but index species are endemic to the basin and thus difficult to correlate to other regions or continents.Fil:Lazo, D.G. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil:Concheyro, G.A. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil:Ottone, E.G. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil:Aguirre-Urreta, B. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina

Synthesis and biological activity of a focused library of mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase inhibitors

Mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase 1 is a tyrosine phosphatase superfamily member that dephosphorylates and inactivates mitogen-activated protein kinase substrates, such as p38, c-Jun-N-terminal kinase, and extracellular signal-related kinase. These mitogen-activated protein kinase substrates regulate many cellular processes associated with human diseases. In spite of this potential as a molecular target for chemotherapy, however, pharmacologically tractable inhibitors of mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1 have yet to be developed. Based on the results from a high-throughput screen for small molecule inhibitors of mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1, we designed, synthesized, and evaluated a focused library in an effort to further understand the structural requirements for mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1 inhibitory activity. © 2007 The Authors