Interplay of Chiral Transitions in the Standard Model

We investigate nonperturbative aspects of the interplay of chiral transitions in the standard model in the course of the renormalization flow. We focus on the chiral symmetry breaking mechanisms provided by the QCD and the electroweak sectors, the latter of which we model by a Higgs-top-bottom Yukawa theory. The interplay becomes quantitatively accessible by accounting for the fluctuation-induced mixing of the electroweak Higgs field with the mesonic composite fields of QCD. In fact, our approach uses dynamical bosonization and treats these scalar fields on the same footing. Varying the QCD scale relative to the Fermi scale we quantify the mutual impact of the symmetry-breaking mechanisms, specifically the departure from the second order quantum phase transition of the pure Yukawa sector in favor of a crossover upon the inclusion of the gauge interactions. This allows to discuss the ``naturalness'' of the standard model in terms of a pseudo-critical exponent which we determine as a function of the ratio of the QCD and the Fermi scale. We also estimate the minimum value of the $W$ boson mass in absence of the Higgs mechanism.Comment: 25 pages, 13 figure

New associations in sport and health protection in the dimension of modern welfare services

Lo studio mira ad individuare i passaggi salienti dell’evoluzione dello sport inteso come strumento di salute e benessere preventivo, per rinvenire le manifestazioni di questo concetto, con l’obiettivo precipuo di fare emergere l’ossatura legislativa in evoluzione su cui impostare la transizione del sistema delle attività motorie. Partendo dallo studio del dato normativo e giurisprudenziale e con un’ampia analisi dottrinale sullo sfondo, lo studio descrive l’evoluzione legislativa sul tema poggiandosi su considerazioni e risultati di indagini sociologiche e farmacologiche. La creazione della Società Sport e Salute S.p.a. e di un Dipartimento per lo sport ha permesso un’azione diretta al sostegno delle organizzazioni sportive di base e mirata alla promozione di piani per l’implementazione dei corretti stili di vita. Il d.lgs. 38/2021 contiene una serie di norme volte alla valorizzazione dell’importanza anche territoriale degli enti sportivi, che possono favorire questi e i loro partners privati nell’affidamento degli impianti. La nuova figura professionale del chinesiologo rappresenta lo strumento centrale per il rilancio degli enti sportivi, in quanto capace di organizzare nuovi servizi paralleli allo sport e fondamentali in ottica educativa preventiva. L’accresciuta rilevanza del concetto di work-life balance spinge le imprese alla creazione di nuove politiche di welfare per i lavoratori attraverso investimenti per la riqualificazione dell’impiantistica, in modo da favorire gli enti che li gestiscono collaborando per offrire maggiori servizi anche al territorio. Il legislatore ha creato uno strato normativo volto a permettere un’azione diretta dello Stato nella promozione dello sport sociale e volto all’implementazione dei corretti stili di vita. È ora possibile teorizzare un modello di ente che offra una nuova tipologia di servizi da erogare all’interno di moderni impianti, riqualificati grazie al supporto di imprese che vedono le associazioni sportive come presidi per la salute dei lavoratori, favorendo il benessere collettivo oltre che la propria immagine.The study aims to identify the steps in the evolution of sport as an instrument of preventive health and well-being, with the main purpose of highlight the evolving legislative framework on which to set the transition of the system of motor activities. Starting from the study of the regulatory and jurisprudential data and with a deep doctrinal analysis in the background, the study describes the legislative evolution on the subject based on considerations and results of sociological and pharmacological investigations. The creation of Sport e Salute S.p.a. and a Sports Department in the government has allowed direct action to support grassroots sports organizations and aimed at promoting plans for the implementation of correct lifestyles. The Legislative Decree 38/2021 contains rules aimed at enhancing the territorial importance of sports organizations, which can facilitate these and their private partners in the assignment of facilities. The new professional figure of the kinesiologist represents the central tool for the revitalization of sports, as he is able to structure new services in parallel to sport and fundamental in a preventive educational perspective. The increased relevance of work-life balance pushes companies to create new welfare policies for workers through investments for the redevelopment of sport facilities, in order to help the bodies that manage them by collaborating with them to offer more services also to the territory. The legislator has created a regulatory layer aimed at allowing direct action by the state in the promotion of social sport and aimed at the implementation of correct lifestyles. It is now possible to theorize a model of company that offers a new type of services to be provided within modern facilities, restructured thanks to the support of companies that see sports associations as safeguards for the health of workers, promoting collective well-being as well as their own image

A male patient with acromegaly and breast cancer: treating acromegaly to control tumor progression

BACKGROUND: Acromegaly is a rare disease associated with an increased risk of developing cancer. CASE PRESENTATION: We report the case of a 72-year-old man who was diagnosed with acromegaly (IGF-1 770 ng/ml) and breast cancer. Four years before he suffered from a colon-rectal cancer. Pituitary surgery and octreotide-LAR treatment failed to control acromegaly. Normalization of IGF-1 (97 ng/ml) was obtained with pegvisomant therapy. Four years after breast cancer surgery, 2 pulmonary metastases were detected at chest CT. The patient was started on anastrozole, but, contrary to medical advice, he stopped pegvisomant treatment (IGF-I 453 ng/ml). Four months later, chest CT revealed an increase in size of the metastatic lesion of the left lung. The patient was shifted from anastrozole to tamoxifen and was restarted on pegvisomant, with normalization of serum IGF-1 levels (90 ng/ml). Four months later, a reduction in size of the metastatic lesion of the left lung was detected by CT. Subsequent CT scans throughout a 24-month follow-up showed a further reduction in size and then a stabilization of the metastasis. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of a male patient with acromegaly and breast cancer. The clinical course of breast cancer was closely related to the metabolic control of acromegaly. The rapid progression of metastatic lesion was temporally related to stopping pegvisomant treatment and paralleled a rise in serum IGF-1 levels. Normalization of IGF-1 after re-starting pegvisomant impressively reduced the progression of metastatic breast lesions. Control of acromegaly is mandatory in acromegalic patients with cancer

The spectral element method as an effective tool for solving large scale dynamic soil-structure interaction problems

The spectral element method (SEM) is a powerful numerical technique naturally suited for wave propagation and dynamic soil-structure interaction (DSSI) analyses. A class of SEM has been widely used in the seismological field (local or global seismology) thanks to its capability of providing high accuracy and allowing the implementation of optimized parallel algorithms. We illustrate inthis contribution how the SEM can be effectively used also for the numerical analysis of DSSI problems, with reference to the 3D seismic response of a railway viaduct in Italy. This numerical analysis includes the combined effect of: a) strong lateral variations of soil properties; b) topographic amplification; c) DSSI; d) spatial variation of earthquake ground motion in the structural response. Some hints on the work in progress to effectively handle nonlinear problems with SEM are also given

Local surface modification via confined electrochemical deposition with FluidFM †

International audienceWe show how the association of AFM with microfluidics, namely FluidFM, is a valuable approach for the versatile electrochemical creation of patterns having diverse shapes and topologies. Localization of the electrochemical reactions was obtained by confining the electroactive species in the microchannel and dispensing them at a precise position through the aperture of FluidFM probes. The force feedback enabled a gentle approach onto the electrode as well as a gentle contact during both the lithography procedure as well as in situ topographical AFM imaging just before or after deposition. As model systems, we demonstrate electroplating of copper and electrografting of organic moieties by reduction of aryldiazonium salts