The Sigma-trial protocol: a prospective double-blind multi-centre comparison of laparoscopic versus open elective sigmoid resection in patients with symptomatic diverticulitis

BACKGROUND: Diverticulosis is a common disease in the western society with an incidence of 33-66%. 10-25% of these patients will develop diverticulitis. In order to prevent a high-risk acute operation it is advised to perform elective sigmoid resection after two episodes of diverticulitis in the elderly patient or after one episode in the younger ( 50 years or in case of progressive abdominal complaints due to strictures caused by a previous episode of diverticulits. The diagnosis is confirmed by CT-scan, barium enema and/or coloscopy.It is required that the participating surgeons have performed at least 15 laparoscopic and open sigmoid resections. Open resection is performed by median laparotomy, laparoscopic resection is approached by 4 or 5 cannula. Sigmoid and colon which contain serosal changes or induration are removed and a tension free anastomosis is created. After completion of either surgical procedure an opaque dressing will be used, covering from 10 cm above the umbilicus to the pubic bone. Surgery details will be kept separate from the patient's notes.Primary endpoints are the postoperative morbidity and mortality. We divided morbidity in minor (e.g. wound infection), major (e.g. anastomotic leakage) and late (e.g. incisional hernias) complications, data will be collected during hospital stay and after six weeks and six months postoperative. Secondary endpoints are the operative and the postoperative recovery data. Operative data include duration of the operation, blood loss and conversion to laparotomy. Post operative recovery consists of return to normal diet, pain, analgesics, general health (SF-36 questionnaire) and duration of hospital stay. DISCUSSION: The Sigma-trial is a prospective, multi-center, double-blind, randomized study to define the role of laparoscopic sigmoid resection in patients with symptomatic diverticuliti

Operation and performance of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter in Run 1

The Tile Calorimeter is the hadron calorimeter covering the central region of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Approximately 10,000 photomultipliers collect light from scintillating tiles acting as the active material sandwiched between slabs of steel absorber. This paper gives an overview of the calorimeter’s performance during the years 2008–2012 using cosmic-ray muon events and proton–proton collision data at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8TeV with a total integrated luminosity of nearly 30 fb−1. The signal reconstruction methods, calibration systems as well as the detector operation status are presented. The energy and time calibration methods performed excellently, resulting in good stability of the calorimeter response under varying conditions during the LHC Run 1. Finally, the Tile Calorimeter response to isolated muons and hadrons as well as to jets from proton–proton collisions is presented. The results demonstrate excellent performance in accord with specifications mentioned in the Technical Design Report

Search for light top squark pair production in final states with leptons and b -jets with the ATLAS detector in s=7\sqrt{s}=7 TeV proton-proton collisions

The results of a search for pair production of light top squarks are presented, using 4.7 fb^-1 of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV proton-proton collisions collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. This search targets top squarks with masses similar to, or lighter than, the top quark mass. Final states containing exclusively one or two leptons (e, mu), large missing transverse momentum, light-jets and b-jets are used to reconstruct the top squark pair system. Global mass scale variables are used to separate the signal from a large ttbar background. No excess over the Standard Model expectations is found. The results are interpreted in the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, assuming the top squark decays exclusively to a chargino and a b-quark. Light top squarks with masses between 123-167 GeV are excluded for neutralino masses around 55 GeV

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Search for Higgs and Z Boson Decays to J/ψγ and ϒ(nS)γ with the ATLAS Detector.

A search for the decays of the Higgs and Z bosons to J/ψγ and ϒ(nS)γ (n=1,2,3) is performed with pp collision data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of up to 20.3  fb^{-1} collected at sqrt[s]=8  TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess of events is observed above expected backgrounds and 95% C.L. upper limits are placed on the branching fractions. In the J/ψγ final state the limits are 1.5×10^{-3} and 2.6×10^{-6} for the Higgs and Z boson decays, respectively, while in the ϒ(1S,2S,3S)γ final states the limits are (1.3,1.9,1.3)×10^{-3} and (3.4,6.5,5.4)×10^{-6}, respectively.We acknowledge the support of ANPCyT, Argentina; YerPhI, Armenia; ARC, Australia; BMWFW and FWF, Austria; ANAS, Azerbaijan; SSTC, Belarus; CNPq and FAPESP, Brazil; NSERC, NRC and CFI, Canada; CERN; CONICYT, Chile; CAS, MOST and NSFC, China; COLCIENCIAS, Colombia; MSMT CR,MPO CR and VSC CR, Czech Republic; DNRF, DNSRC and Lundbeck Foundation, Denmark; EPLANET, ERC and NSRF, European Union; IN2P3-CNRS, CEA-DSM/ IRFU, France; GNSF, Georgia; BMBF, DFG, HGF, MPG and AvH Foundation, Germany; GSRT and NSRF, Greece; ISF, MINERVA, GIF, I-CORE and Benoziyo Center, Israel; INFN, Italy; MEXT and JSPS, Japan; CNRST, Morocco; FOM and NWO, Netherlands;BRF and RCN, Norway; MNiSW and NCN, Poland;GRICES and FCT, Portugal; MNE/IFA, Romania; MES of Russia and ROSATOM, Russian Federation; JINR;MSTD, Serbia; MSSR, Slovakia; ARRS and MIZŠ, Slovenia; DST/NRF, South Africa; MINECO, Spain;SRC and Wallenberg Foundation, Sweden; SER, SNSF and Cantons of Bern and Geneva, Switzerland; NSC,Taiwan; TAEK, Turkey; STFC, the Royal Society and Leverhulme Trust, United Kingdom; DOE and NSF, United States of America

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the diphoton decay channel with 4.9fb -1 of pp collision data at √s=7TeV with atlas

A search for the standard model Higgs boson is performed in the diphoton decay channel. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.9  fb-1 collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of √s=7  TeV. In the diphoton mass range 110–150 GeV, the largest excess with respect to the background-only hypothesis is observed at 126.5 GeV, with a local significance of 2.8 standard deviations. Taking the look-elsewhere effect into account in the range 110–150 GeV, this significance becomes 1.5 standard deviations. The standard model Higgs boson is excluded at 95% confidence level in the mass ranges of 113–115 GeV and 134.5–136 GeV

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the diphoton decay channel with 4.9fb -1 of pp collision data at √s=7TeV with atlas

A search for the standard model Higgs boson is performed in the diphoton decay channel. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.9  fb-1 collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of √s=7  TeV. In the diphoton mass range 110–150 GeV, the largest excess with respect to the background-only hypothesis is observed at 126.5 GeV, with a local significance of 2.8 standard deviations. Taking the look-elsewhere effect into account in the range 110–150 GeV, this significance becomes 1.5 standard deviations. The standard model Higgs boson is excluded at 95% confidence level in the mass ranges of 113–115 GeV and 134.5–136 GeV

Search for W′→tb→qqbbW' \rightarrow tb \rightarrow qqbb W ′ → t b → q q b b decays in pppp p p collisions at s\sqrt{s} s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for a massive W′ gauge boson decaying to a top quark and a bottom quark is performed with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at the LHC. The dataset was taken at a centre-of-mass energy of s√=8 TeVs=8 TeV and corresponds to 20.3 fb −120.3 fb −1 of integrated luminosity. This analysis is done in the hadronic decay mode of the top quark, where novel jet substructure techniques are used to identify jets from high-momentum top quarks. This allows for a search for high-mass W′ bosons in the range 1.5–3.0 TeV TeV. bb-tagging is used to identify jets originating from bb-quarks. The data are consistent with Standard Model background-only expectations, and upper limits at 95 % confidence level are set on the W′→tbW′→tb cross section times branching ratio ranging from 0.16pb0.16pb to 0.33pb0.33pb for left-handed W′W′ bosons, and ranging from 0.10pb0.10pb to 0.21pb0.21pb for W′ bosons with purely right-handed couplings. Upper limits at 95 % confidence level are set on the W′-boson coupling to tb as a function of the W′ mass using an effective field theory approach, which is independent of details of particular models predicting a W′ boson

Search for pair and single production of new heavy quarks that decay to a Z boson and a third-generation quark in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits any use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited

Centrality, rapidity, and transverse momentum dependence of isolated prompt photon production in lead-lead collisions at TeV measured with the ATLAS detector

Prompt photon production in $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} = 2.76$ TeV Pb+Pb collisions has been measured by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider using data collected in 2011 with an integrated luminosity of 0.14 nb$^{-1}$. Inclusive photon yields, scaled by the mean nuclear thickness function, are presented as a function of collision centrality and transverse momentum in two pseudorapidity intervals, $|\eta| < 1.37$ and $1.52 < |\eta| < 2.37$. The scaled yields in the two pseudorapidity intervals, as well as the ratios of the forward yields to those at midrapidity, are compared to the expectations from next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations from JETPHOX. The measured cross sections agree well with the predictions for proton-proton collisions within statistical and systematic uncertainties. Both the yields and ratios are also compared to two other pQCD calculations, one which uses the isospin content appropriate to colliding lead nuclei, and another which includes the EPS09 nuclear modifications to the nucleon parton distribution functions.Comment: 28 pages plus author list (45 pages total), 8 figures, 8 tables, Submitted to Phys. Rev. C., all figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2012-02