197 research outputs found
Effective Lagrangian description of the lepton flavor violating decays Z-->li lj
A comprehensive analysis of the lepton flavor violating (LFV) decays Z-->li
lj is presented within the effective Lagrangian approach. Both the decoupling
and nondecoupling scenarios are explored. The experimental constraints from li
--> lj lk \bar{lk} and li -->lj gamma as well as some relationships arising
from the gauge invariance of the effective Lagrangian are used to put
constraints on Z-->li lj. It is found that while current experimental data
impose very strong constraints on Z-->mu e, the channel Z --> tau mu (e)still
may be at the reach of the planned TESLA collider.Comment: References added, final version to appear in Physical Review
Cytokine Storm in COVID-19: Immunopathogenesis and Therapy
A cytokine storm is a hyperinflammatory state secondary to the excessive production of cytokines by a deregulated immune system. It manifests clinically as an influenza-like syndrome, which can be complicated by multi-organ failure and coagulopathy, leading, in the most severe cases, even to death. The term cytokine storm was first used in 1993 to describe the graft-versus-host disease following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. It was then reused to define the adverse syndromes secondary to the administration of immunostimulating agents, such as anti-CD28 antibodies or bioengineered immune cells, i.e., CAR T-cell therapy. Currently, the concept of cytokine storm has been better elucidated and extended to the pathogenesis of many other conditions, such as sepsis, autoinflammatory disease, primary and secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, and multicentric Castleman disease. Moreover, cytokine storm has recently emerged as a key aspect in the novel Coronavirus disease 2019, as affected patients show high levels of several key pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IP-10, GM-CSF, MCP-1, and IL-10, some of which also correlate with disease severity. Therefore, since the onset of the pandemic, numerous agents have been tested in the effort to mitigate the cytokine storm in COVID-19 patients, some of which are effective in reducing mortality, especially in critically ill patients, and are now becoming standards of care, such as glucocorticoids or some cytokine inhibitors. However, the challenge is still far from being met, and other therapeutic strategies are being tested in the hope that we can eventually overcome the disease
Phenomenology of non-standard Z couplings in exclusive semileptonic b -> s transitions
The rare decays , and
are analyzed in a generic scenario where New Physics effects
enter predominantly via penguin contributions. We show that this
possibility is well motivated on theoretical grounds, as the vertex
is particularly susceptible to non-standard dynamics. In addition, such a
framework is also interesting phenomenologically since the coupling
is rather poorly constrained by present data. The characteristic features of
this scenario for the relevant decay rates and distributions are investigated.
We emphasize that both sign and magnitude of the forward-backward asymmetry of
the decay leptons in , , carry sensitive information on New Physics. The observable is proposed as a useful probe of
non-standard CP violation in couplings.Comment: Minor modifications; version to appear in Phys. Rev.
The Effective Lagrangian of the Two Higgs Doublet Model
We consider the two Higgs doublet model extension of the Standard Model in
the limit where all physical scalar particles are very heavy; too heavy, in
fact, to be experimentally produced in forthcoming experiments. The symmetry
breaking sector can thus be described by an effective chiral Lagrangian. We
obtain the values of the coefficients of the O(p^4) operators relevant to the
oblique corrections and investigate to what extent some non-decoupling effects
may remain at low energies.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, 2 figure
Venous thromboembolism in critically ill patients affected by ARDS related to COVID-19 in Northern-West Italy
OBJECTIVE: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease that was first reported in Wuhan,
China, and has subsequently spread worldwide. An association between increased venous thromboembolism in patients with pneumonia-related to COVID-19 has not yet been
well described.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: We aimed to illustrate cases of pulmonary thromboembolism
in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome related to COVID-19 treated in our intensive care unit. The medical records of patients
affected by COVID-19 with acute respiratory distress syndrome in our institute from 1/3/2020 to
31/3/2020 were retrospectively reviewed.
RESULTS: Our center registered a high prevalence of thromboembolic events among 62 patients affected by acute respiratory distress
syndrome related to COVID-19 despite a regular
antithrombotic prophylaxis. Out of these, 32 patients were transferred to other hospitals, and
30 were treated in our center. Venous thromboembolism was registered in 12 (19.3%) cases. In
particular, 11 diagnoses of pulmonary embolism
and 1 diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis were
formulated. We described a case series of venous thromboembolism in nine patients treated
in our Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Main pulmonary
arteries were always involved in these patients.
None of them died.
CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, critically ill patients with ARDS related to COVID-19 may have
an increased risk of VTE that could be a leading
cause of mortality. These patients require a high
index of clinical suspicion and an accurate diagnostic approach, in order to immediately start
an appropriate anticoagulant treatment
The Effective Electroweak Chiral Lagrangian: The Matter Sector
We parametrize in a model-independent way possible departures from the
minimal Standard Model predictions in the matter sector. We only assume the
symmetry breaking pattern of the Standard Model and that new particles are
sufficiently heavy so that the symmetry is non-linearly realized. Models with
dynamical symmetry breaking are generically of this type. We review in the
effective theory language to what extent the simplest models of dynamical
breaking are actually constrained and the assumptions going into the comparison
with experiment. Dynamical symmetry breaking models can be approximated at
intermediate energies by four-fermion operators. We present a complete
classification of the latter when new particles appear in the usual
representations of the group as well as a partial
classification in the general case. We discuss the accuracy of the four-fermion
description by matching to a simple `fundamental' theory. The coefficients of
the effective lagrangian in the matter sector for dynamical symmetry breaking
models (expressed in terms of the coefficients of the four-quark operators) are
then compared to those of models with elementary scalars (such as the minimal
Standard Model). Contrary to a somewhat widespread belief, we see that the sign
of the vertex corrections is not fixed in dynamical symmetry breaking models.
This work provides the theoretical tools required to analyze, in a rather
general setting, constraints on the matter sector of the Standard Model.Comment: Latex, 45 pages, 8 eps figures. Sections 5, 6 and 9 have been
rewritten to clarify the contents. Some mistakes and typos have been
corrected. Two references have been added. Figures 7 and 8 have been modifie
Radiative Corrections to in the Electroweak Standard Model
The cross-section for with arbitrary polarized
photons is calculated within the electroweak Standard Model including the
complete virtual and soft-photonic corrections. We present a
detailed numerical discussion of the radiative corrections with particular
emphasis on the purely weak corrections. These are usually of the order of
1--10\% for energies up to 1 TeV. For unpolarized or equally polarized photons
they reach almost 10\% close to threshold. The large corrections cannot be
traced back to a universal origin like the running of or the
-parameter. Apart from the energy region around the Higgs resonance
the weak corrections are widely independent
of the Higgs-boson mass.Comment: 22 pages, LaTeX (compressed, uuencoded), 20 figures as compressed
uuencoded ps-files, complete ps-file available via anonymous ftp from
ftp://ftp.physik.uni-wuerzburg.de/pub/preprint/WUE-ITP-95-017.p
The Higgs resonance in vector boson scattering
A heavy Higgs resonance is described in a representation-independent way
which is valid for the whole energy range of 2 -> 2 scattering processes,
including the asymptotic behavior at low and high energies. The low-energy
theorems which follow from to the custodial SU_2 symmetry of the Higgs sector
restrict the possible parameterizations of the lineshape that are consistent in
perturbation theory. Matching conditions are specified which are necessary and
sufficient to relate the parameters arising in different expansions. The
construction is performed explicitly up to next-to-leading order.Comment: 25 pages, revtex, uses epsf, amssym
Spectrum-doubled heavy vector bosons at the LHC
We study a simple effective field theory incorporating six heavy vector bosons together with the standard-model field content. The new particles preserve custodial symmetry as well as an approximate left-right parity symmetry. The enhanced symmetry of the model allows it to satisfy precision electroweak constraints and bounds from Higgs physics in a regime where all the couplings are perturbative and where the amount of fine-tuning is comparable to that in the standard model itself. We find that the model could explain the recently observed excesses in di-boson processes at invariant mass close to 2 TeV from LHC Run 1 for a range of allowed parameter space. The masses of all the particles differ by no more than roughly 10%. In a portion of the allowed parameter space only one of the new particles has a production cross section large enough to be detectable with the energy and luminosity of Run 1, both via its decay to WZ and to Wh, while the others have suppressed production rates. The model can be tested at the higher-energy and higher-luminosity run of the LHC even for an overall scale of the new particles higher than 3 TeV
Rapid clinical management of leishmaniasis in emergency department: A case report with clinical review of recent literature
Systemic or localized lympho-adenomegaly is a common cause of access to the emergency department (ED), and differential diagnosis is often complicated. The combination of anamnesis, physical examination, laboratory tests, and instrumental diagnosis are extremely important to orientate toward a rapid and correct therapy, even if a prompt discrimination of the etiology of this lymphadenomegaly is not often possible. Our aim with this review is to improve the management of a differential diagnosis between hematological and infective diseases as leishmaniasis in ED and suggest quick diagnostic techniques that might be useful for early identification. Together in the review, we describe a case report of a young man affected from visceral leishmaniasis who presented to our ED and was incorrectly addressed to the wrong ward for the study of his condition. Subsequently, we focus on the clinical presentation of visceral leishmaniasis and compare it to the most common differential diagnoses that are usually taken into account in the management of such patients
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