b \bar b b\bar b production in proton-nucleus collisions at the LHC

A sizable rate of events, with several pairs of $b$-quarks produced contemporarily by multiple parton interactions, may be expected at very high energies as a consequence of the large parton luminosities. The production rates are further enhanced in hadron-nucleus reactions, which may represent a convenient tool to study the phenomenon. We compare the different contributions to $b{\bar b}b{\bar b}$ production, due to single and double parton scatterings, in collisions of protons with nuclei at the CERN-LHC.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Synthetic blocks for bone regeneration : A systematic review and meta-analysis

This systematic review is aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of synthetic block materials for bone augmentation in preclinical in vivo studies. An electronic search was performed on Pubmed, Scopus, EMBASE. Articles selected underwent risk-of-bias assessment. The outcomes were: new bone formation and residual graft with histomorphometry, radiographic bone density, soft tissue parameters, complications. Meta-analysis was performed to compare new bone formation in test (synthetic blocks) vs. control group (autogenous blocks or spontaneous healing). The search yielded 214 articles. After screening, 39 studies were included, all performed on animal models: rabbits (n = 18 studies), dogs (n = 4), rats (n = 7), minipigs (n = 4), goats (n = 4), and sheep (n = 2). The meta-analysis on rabbit studies showed significantly higher new bone formation for synthetic blocks with respect to autogenous blocks both at four-week (mean difference (MD): 5.91%, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.04, 10.79%, p = 0.02) and at eight-week healing (MD: 4.44%, 95% CI: 0.71, 8.17%, p = 0.02). Other animal models evidenced a trend for better outcomes with synthetic blocks, though only based on qualitative analysis. Synthetic blocks may represent a viable resource in bone regenerative surgery for achieving new bone formation. Differences in the animal models, the design of included studies, and the bone defects treated should be considered when generalizing the results. Clinical studies are needed to confirm the effectiveness of synthetic blocks in bone augmentation procedures

Adjunctive Use of Plasma Rich in Growth Factors for Improving Alveolar Socket Healing: A Systematic Review

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if the adjunctive use of plasma rich in growth factors in post-extraction sites could be beneficial in terms of hard/soft tissue healing and patient\u2019s comfort. Materials and Methods: An electronic search was performed on MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, and CENTRAL. Only controlled clinical trials or randomized clinical trials that used plasma rich in growth factors in the test group were included. The primary outcomes were: pain assessment, complications and adverse events; secondary outcomes were hard tissue healing, bone remodelling, soft tissue healing. Results: Eight comparative studies (5 RCTs) were included. Four studies had a split-mouth design. 614 teeth were extracted in 338 patients. Only qualitative analysis could be done. Postoperative pain and the incidence of complications like alveolar osteitis was consistently lower in the test group. Hard tissue healing, evaluated by clinical, radiographic, histological and histomorphometric technique showed results significantly better for the test group in almost all studies. Better epithelization, keratinized tissue thickness and healing score were also reported. Conclusion: Plasma rich in growth factors may bring advantages in some relevant clinical and radiographic outcomes following tooth extraction, such as bone density and soft tissue healing. It could also represent a useful tool for reducing adverse events, complications and patients\u2019 discomfort, however still not quantifiable

Scale Factor in Double Parton Collisions and Parton Densities in Transverse Space

The scale factor $\sigma_{eff}$, which characterizes double parton collisions in high energy hadron interactions, is a direct manifestation of the distribution of the interacting partons in transverse space, in such a way that different distributions give rise to different values of $\sigma_{eff}$ in different double parton collision processes. We work out the value of the scale factor in a few reactions of interest, in a correlated model of the multi-parton density of the proton recently proposed.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Photometry of supernovae in an image series : methods and application to the Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS)

We present a technique to measure lightcurves of time-variable point sources on a spatially structured background from imaging data. The technique was developed to measure light curves of SNLS supernovae in order to infer their distances. This photometry technique performs simultaneous PSF photometry at the same sky position on an image series. We describe two implementations of the method: one that resamples images before measuring fluxes, and one which does not. In both instances, we sketch the key algorithms involved and present the validation using semi-artificial sources introduced in real images in order to assess the accuracy of the supernova flux measurements relative to that of surrounding stars. We describe the methods required to anchor these PSF fluxes to calibrated aperture catalogs, in order to derive SN magnitudes. We find a marginally significant bias of 2 mmag of the after-resampling method, and no bias at the mmag accuracy for the non-resampling method. Given surrounding star magnitudes, we determine the systematic uncertainty of SN magnitudes to be less than 1.5 mmag, which represents about one third of the current photometric calibration uncertainty affecting SN measurements. The SN photometry delivers several by-products: bright star PSF flux mea- surements which have a repeatability of about 0.6%, as for aperture measurements; we measure relative astrometric positions with a noise floor of 2.4 mas for a single-image bright star measurement; we show that in all bands of the MegaCam instrument, stars exhibit a profile linearly broadening with flux by about 0.5% over the whole brightness range.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 20 page

Understanding Body Language Does Not Require Matching the Body's Egocentric Map to Body Posture: A Brain Activation fMRI Study

Body language (BL) is a type of nonverbal communication in which the body communicates the message. We contrasted participants' cognitive processing of body representations or meanings versus body positions. Participants (N\u2009=\u200920) were shown pictures depicting body postures and were instructed to focus on their meaning (BL) or on the position of a body part relative to the position of another part (body structural description [BSD]). We examined activation in brain areas related to the two types of body representation\u2014body schema and BSD\u2014as modulated by the two tasks. We presumed that if understanding BL triggers embodiment of body posture, a matching procedure between the egocentric map coding the position of one's body segments in space and time should occur. We found that BL (vs. BSD) differentially activated the angular gyrus bilaterally, the anterior middle temporal gyrus, the temporal pole, and the right superior temporal gyrus, the inferior frontal gyrus, the superior medial gyrus, and the left superior frontal gyrus. BSD (vs. BL) differentially activated the superior parietal lobule (Area 7A) bilaterally, the posterior inferior temporal gyrus, the middle frontal gyrus, and the left precentral gyrus. Sensorimotor areas were differentially activated by BSD when compared with BL. Inclusive masking showed significant voxels in the superior colliculus and pulvinar, fusiform gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, the intraparietal sulcus bilaterally, inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally, and precentral gyrus. These results indicate common brain networks for processing BL and BSD, for which some areas show differentially stronger or weaker processing of one task or the other, with the precuneus and the superior parietal lobule, the intraparietal sulcus, and sensorimotor areas most related to the BSD as activated by the BSD task. In contrast, the parietal operculum, an area related to the body schema, a representation crucial during embodiment of body postures, was not activated for implicit masking or for the differential contrasts

Production and detection of doubly charmed tetraquarks

The feasibility of tetraquark detection is studied. For the cc\bar{u}\bar{d} tetraquark we show that in present (SELEX, Tevatron, RHIC) and future facilities (LHCb, ALICE) the production rate is promising and we propose some detectable decay channels.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Self-assessed neurological disturbances after surgical removal of impacted lower third molar: a pragmatic prospective study on 423 surgical extractions in 247 consecutive patients

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the combined role of current radiographic risk indicators and patient age in predicting lower lip sensitivity disturbances after surgical removal of impacted lower third molars. The question was which combinations indicate low or high risk. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective study was implemented involving 247 consecutive outpatients who underwent 423 surgical extractions. The predictor variables were patient age and risk indicators observed on panoramic radiographs. The outcome variable was the incidence of self-assessed lip sensitivity alterations. The extractions were subdivided into four groups according to the predictors. RESULTS: Two hundred forty-five teeth were extracted in patients younger than 25 years and 178 in patients 25 years old or older; radiographic risk indicators were associated with 226 out of 423 teeth (53.43%). No permanent neurological damage was observed. Transient lip sensitivity alterations were observed in five cases (1.18%; 95% confidence interval\u2009=\u20090.4 to 2.7%), all in the older group with radiographic risk indicators. CONCLUSIONS: The data indicate a low overall incidence of transient lip sensitivity impairment that occurred only in the presence of radiographic risk indicators in patients aged 65\u200925 years. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Informed consent should include the possibility of inferior alveolar nerve injury in mature patients with radiographic risk indicators. Prophylactic removal of impacted teeth with radiographic signs of risk may be indicated when the patient is not yet aged 25 years

Cone-beam computed tomography accuracy in pulp chamber size evaluation: An ex vivo study

This study aimed to assess ex vivo the accuracy of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), as compared to operative microscope, for evaluating pulp chamber size. A total of forty teeth were extracted for periodontal reasons and a horizontal section was done at the most apical level of the cement-enamel junction. The pulp chamber was photographed using a digital camera connected to an optical microscope. Then, the tooth was scanned with CBCT and the horizontal slide matching the anatomical section of pulp chamber was digitally stored. The pulp chamber section area was measured through image analysis software. The two methods provided similar results, either for monoradicular (P = 0.14) or multiradicular teeth (P = 0.93). Correlation was statistically significant (P < 0.0001), being the coefficient r = 0.89 and 0.94 for monoradicular and multiradicular teeth, respectively. Conclusively, CBCT is suitable for pulp chamber morphology evaluation. However, it has limitations in detecting the anatomical variability of small branches in root canal system

Carbon based substrates for interfacing neurons: Comparing pristine with functionalized carbon nanotubes effects on cultured neuronal networks

Pristine (as prepared) carbon nanotube (CNT) based substrates have been widely used to grow and interface neurons in culture. Nerve cells normally differentiate on CNTs and the synaptic networks, newly formed at the interface with this material, usually show an improved robustness in signal transfer. However manipulation of pristine CNTs is often prevented by their low dispersibility and tendency to aggregate in most solvents. This issue can be at least partially solved by adding solubilizing groups to the surface of CNT, which also helps improving their biocompatibility. It becomes therefore of crucial importance to determine whether chemically manipulated CNTs may maintain their performance in improving nerve signaling. Here we study and compare the impact in vitro on neuronal signaling of two classes of chemically modified multiwalled CNTs in reference to pristine CNTs, which are known to be a substrate able to boost neuronal growth and communication. We found that the extent of functionalization and the nature of the functional groups on MWNT sidewalls affect the conductivity and the biological effects of the final derivatives. This information is important for the future design of biointegrated devices