Human Endogenous Retrovirus and Neuroinflammation in Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy.

Human endogenous retroviruses HERV-W encode a pro-inflammatory protein, named MSRV-Env from its original identification in Multiple Sclerosis. Though not detected in various neurological controls, MSRV-Env was found in patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathies (CIDPs). This study investigated the expression of MSRV in CIDP and evaluated relevant MSRV-Env pathogenic effects. 50 CIDP patients, 19 other neurological controls (ONDs) and 65 healthy blood donors (HBDs) were recruited from two different countries. MSRV-env and -pol transcripts, IL6 and CXCL10 levels were quantified from blood samples. MSRV-Env immunohistology was performed in distal sensory nerves from CIDP and neurological controls biopsies. MSRV-Env pathogenic effects and mode of action were assayed in cultured primary human Schwann cells (HSCs). In both cohorts, MSRV-env and -pol transcripts, IL6 positivity prevalence and CXCL10 levels were significantly elevated in CIDP patients when compared to HBDs and ONDs (statistically significant in all comparisons). MSRV-Env protein was detected in Schwann cells in 5/7 CIDP biopsies. HSC exposed to or transfected with MSRV-env presented a strong increase of IL6 and CXCL10 transcripts and protein secretion. These pathogenic effects on HSC were inhibited by GNbAC1, a highly specific and neutralizing humanized monoclonal antibody targeting MSRV-Env. The present study showed that MSRV-Env may trigger the release of critical immune mediators proposed as instrumental factors involved in the pathophysiology of CIDP. Significant MSRV-Env expression was detected in a significant proportion of patients with CIDP, in which it may play a role according to its presently observed effects on Schwann cells along with previously known effects on immune cells. Experimental results also suggest that a biomarker-driven therapeutic strategy targeting this protein with a neutralizing antibody such as GNbAC1 may offer new perspectives for treating CIDP patients with positive detection of MSRV-Env expression. Geneuro-Innovation, France

The genome of the white-rot fungus Pycnoporus cinnabarinus : a basidiomycete model with a versatile arsenal for lignocellulosic biomass breakdown

Background: Saprophytic filamentous fungi are ubiquitous micro-organisms that play an essential role in photosynthetic carbon recycling. The wood-decayer Pycnoporus cinnabarinus is a model fungus for the study of plant cell wall decomposition and is used for a number of applications in green and white biotechnology.Results: The 33.6 megabase genome of P. cinnabarinus was sequenced and assembled, and the 10,442predicted genes were functionally annotated using a phylogenomic procedure. In-depth analyses were carried out for the numerous enzyme families involved in lignocellulosic biomass breakdown, for protein secretion and glycosylation pathways, and for mating type. The P. cinnabarinus genome sequence revealed a consistent repertoire of genes shared with wood-decaying basidiomycetes. P. cinnabarinus is thus fully equipped with the classical families involved in cellulose and hemicellulose degradation, whereas its pectinolytic repertoire appears relatively limited. In addition, P. cinnabarinus possesses a complete versatile enzymatic arsenal for lignin breakdown. We identified several genes encoding members of the three ligninolytic peroxidase types, namely lignin peroxidase, manganese peroxidase and versatile peroxidase. Comparative genome analyses were performed in fungi displaying different nutritional strategies (white-rot and brown-rot modes of decay). P. cinnabarinus presents a typical distribution of all thespecific families found in the white-rot life style. Growth profiling of P. cinnabarinus was performed on 35 carbon sources including simple and complex substrates to study substrate utilization and preferences. P. cinnabarinus grew faster on crude plant substrates than on pure, mono- or polysaccharide substrates. Finally, proteomic analyses were conducted from liquid and solid-state fermentation to analyze the composition of the secretomes corresponding to growth on different substrates. The distribution of lignocellulolytic enzymes in the secretomes was strongly dependent on growth conditions, especially for lytic polysaccharide mono-oxygenases.Conclusions: With its available genome sequence, P. cinnabarinus is now an outstanding model system for the study of the enzyme machinery involved in the degradation or transformation of lignocellulosic biomass.Microbial Biotechnolog

Measurement of the View the tt production cross-section using eμ events with b-tagged jets in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper describes a measurement of the inclusive top quark pair production cross-section (σtt¯) with a data sample of 3.2 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV, collected in 2015 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This measurement uses events with an opposite-charge electron–muon pair in the final state. Jets containing b-quarks are tagged using an algorithm based on track impact parameters and reconstructed secondary vertices. The numbers of events with exactly one and exactly two b-tagged jets are counted and used to determine simultaneously σtt¯ and the efficiency to reconstruct and b-tag a jet from a top quark decay, thereby minimising the associated systematic uncertainties. The cross-section is measured to be: σtt¯ = 818 ± 8 (stat) ± 27 (syst) ± 19 (lumi) ± 12 (beam) pb, where the four uncertainties arise from data statistics, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, the integrated luminosity and the LHC beam energy, giving a total relative uncertainty of 4.4%. The result is consistent with theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. A fiducial measurement corresponding to the experimental acceptance of the leptons is also presented

Search for TeV-scale gravity signatures in high-mass final states with leptons and jets with the ATLAS detector at sqrt [ s ] = 13TeV

A search for physics beyond the Standard Model, in final states with at least one high transverse momentum charged lepton (electron or muon) and two additional high transverse momentum leptons or jets, is performed using 3.2 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015 at √s = 13 TeV. The upper end of the distribution of the scalar sum of the transverse momenta of leptons and jets is sensitive to the production of high-mass objects. No excess of events beyond Standard Model predictions is observed. Exclusion limits are set for models of microscopic black holes with two to six extra dimensions

Search for dark matter produced in association with a hadronically decaying vector boson in pp collisions at sqrt (s) = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is presented for dark matter produced in association with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson using 3.2 fb−1 of pp collisions at View the MathML sources=13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with a hadronic jet compatible with a W or Z boson and with large missing transverse momentum are analysed. The data are consistent with the Standard Model predictions and are interpreted in terms of both an effective field theory and a simplified model containing dark matter

Measurement of the double-differential high-mass Drell-Yan cross section in pp collisions at √s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the double-differential cross section for the Drell-Yan Z/γ∗ → ℓ+ℓ− and photon-induced γγ → ℓ+ℓ− processes where ℓ is an electron or muon. The measurement is performed for invariant masses of the lepton pairs, mℓℓ, between 116 GeV and 1500 GeV using a sample of 20.3 fb−1 of pp collisions data at centre-of-mass energy of √s = 8 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2012. The data are presented double differentially in invariant mass and absolute dilepton rapidity as well as in invariant mass and absolute pseudorapidity separation of the lepton pair. The single-differential cross section as a function of mℓℓ is also reported. The electron and muon channel measurements are combined and a total experimental precision of better than 1% is achieved at low mℓℓ. A comparison to next-to-next-to-leading order perturbative QCD predictions using several recent parton distribution functions and including next-to-leading order electroweak effects indicates the potential of the data to constrain parton distribution functions. In particular, a large impact of the data on the photon PDF is demonstrated

Measurement of the cross section for isolated-photon plus jet production in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector

The dynamics of isolated-photon production in association with a jet in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a dataset with an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb−1. Photons are required to have transverse energies above 125 GeV. Jets are identified using the anti- algorithm with radius parameter and required to have transverse momenta above 100 GeV. Measurements of isolated-photon plus jet cross sections are presented as functions of the leading-photon transverse energy, the leading-jet transverse momentum, the azimuthal angular separation between the photon and the jet, the photon–jet invariant mass and the scattering angle in the photon–jet centre-of-mass system. Tree-level plus parton-shower predictions from Sherpa and Pythia as well as next-to-leading-order QCD predictions from Jetphox and Sherpa are compared to the measurements

Search for resonances in the mass distribution of jet pairs with one or two jets identified as b-jets in proton–proton collisions at √s=13TeV with the ATLAS detector

Searches for high-mass resonances in the dijet invariant mass spectrum with one or two jets identi-fied as b-jets are performed using an integrated luminosity of 3.2fb−1of proton–proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of √s=13TeVrecorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Noevidence of anomalous phenomena is observed in the data, which are used to exclude, at 95%credibility level, excited b∗quarks with masses from 1.1TeVto 2.1TeVand leptophobic Z bosons with masses from 1.1TeVto 1.5TeV. Contributions of a Gaussian signal shape with effective cross sections ranging from approximately 0.4 to 0.001pb are also excluded in the mass range 1.5–5.0TeV

Charged-particle distributions in √s=13 TeV pp interactions measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Charged-particle distributions are measured in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, using a data sample of nearly 9 million events, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 170 μb−1170 μb−1, recorded by the ATLAS detector during a special Large Hadron Collider fill. The charged-particle multiplicity, its dependence on transverse momentum and pseudorapidity and the dependence of the mean transverse momentum on the charged-particle multiplicity are presented. The measurements are performed with charged particles with transverse momentum greater than 500 MeV and absolute pseudorapidity less than 2.5, in events with at least one charged particle satisfying these kinematic requirements. Additional measurements in a reduced phase space with absolute pseudorapidity less than 0.8 are also presented, in order to compare with other experiments. The results are corrected for detector effects, presented as particle-level distributions and are compared to the predictions of various Monte Carlo event generators

Measurement of W± and Z-boson production cross sections in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

See paper for full list of authors - 17 pages plus author list + cover pages (34 pages total), 5 figures, 3 tables, submitted to Phys. Lett. B, All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2015-03/International audienceMeasurements of the $W^{\pm} \rightarrow \ell^{\pm} \nu$ and $Z \rightarrow \ell^+ \ell^-$ production cross sections (where $\ell^{\pm}=e^{\pm},\mu^{\pm}$) in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV are presented using data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 81 pb$^{-1}$. The total inclusive $W^{\pm}$-boson production cross sections times the single-lepton-flavour branching ratios are $\sigma_{W^+}^{tot}= 11.78 \pm 0.02 (stat) \pm 0.32 (sys) \pm 0.59 (lumi)$ nb and $\sigma_{W^-}^{tot} = 8.75 \pm 0.02 (stat) \pm 0.24 (sys) \pm 0.44 (lumi)$ nb for $W^+$ and $W^-$, respectively. The total inclusive $Z$-boson production cross section times leptonic branching ratio, within the invariant mass window $66 < m_{\ell\ell} < 116$ GeV, is $\sigma_{Z}^{tot} = 1.97 \pm 0.01 (stat) \pm 0.04 (sys) \pm 0.10 (lumi)$ nb. The $W^+$, $W^-$, and $Z$-boson production cross sections and cross-section ratios within a fiducial region defined by the detector acceptance are also measured. The cross-section ratios benefit from significant cancellation of experimental uncertainties, resulting in $\sigma_{W^+}^{fid}/\sigma_{W^-}^{fid} = 1.295 \pm 0.003 (stat) \pm 0.010 (sys)$ and $\sigma_{W^{\pm}}^{fid}/\sigma_{Z}^{fid} = 10.31 \pm 0.04 (stat) \pm 0.20 (sys)$. Theoretical predictions, based on calculations accurate to next-to-next-to-leading order for quantum chromodynamics and next-to-leading order for electroweak processes and which employ different parton distribution function sets, are compared to these measurements