73 research outputs found
Probing the Higgs self coupling via single Higgs production at the LHC
We propose a method to determine the trilinear Higgs self coupling that is
alternative to the direct measurement of Higgs pair production total cross
sections and differential distributions. The method relies on the effects that
electroweak loops featuring an anomalous trilinear coupling would imprint on
single Higgs production at the LHC. We first calculate these contributions to
all the phenomenologically relevant Higgs production (, VBF, ,
, ) and decay (, , ,
) modes at the LHC and then estimate the sensitivity to the
trilinear coupling via a one-parameter fit to the single Higgs measurements at
the LHC 8 TeV. We find that the bounds on the self coupling are already
competitive with those from Higgs pair production and will be further improved
in the current and next LHC runs.Comment: 34 pages, 13 figures, 5 tables; V2: New appendix A added on the
comparison with the Effective Field Theory approach; V3: Journal versio
Attitude of Italian medical oncologists toward palliative care for patients with advanced cancer: results of the SIO project.
The aim of this survey was to describe the attitude of Italian oncologists towards palliative care. A survey on palliative care was carried out among 400 Italian oncologists. Seventy-two percent indicated that the management of patients with advanced stage cancer represents the majority of their practice. They are often involved in the management of pain (78%) and complications of chemotherapy (61%), and frequently, in the treatment of terminal patients (60%). Only 8.5% reported having frequent collaboration with psychiatrists in support of emotional and psychological patients' disturbances. About 40% are often directly involved in the management of existential or spiritual distress. Discussions on euthanasia and assisted suicide, which are illegal in Italy, took place never (68%) or occasionally (27%). Respondents agreed that all oncology centres should have access to palliative care service. These results are in line with those of the European Society of Medical Oncology survey and may be usefully employed to improve the organisation of palliative care
Prognostic role of serum concentrations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer: Results from the ITACa trial
Serum levels of C-reactive protein are (CRP) higher in patients with neoplastic conditions and numerous studies have been performed to clarify the etiologic and prognostic role of the high-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) in cancer. Our study was conducted on patients enrolled in the prospective randomized "Italian Trial in Advanced Colorectal Cancer (ITACa)" to assess hs-CRP levels and their impact on overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Serum samples from 132 ITACa patients were collected at baseline and 2 months after starting first-line chemotherapy. The supernatant was immediately transferred to cryovials and stored at -80°C. After thawing, hs-CRP was measured with the Cobas c501 analyzer. High levels of hs-CRP (℠13.1 mg/L) were associated with poorer median PFS (p < 0.0001) and OS (p < 0.0001) than low hs-CRP levels (< 13.1 mg/L). hs-CRP values in 107 patients were evaluated again after 2 months of therapy, revealing that patients with low hs-CRP levels in both baseline and second serum samples had the best median PFS and OS. Our study confirms the prognostic value of hs-CRP in patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma
Four-lepton production at hadron colliders: aMC@NLO predictions with theoretical uncertainties
We use aMC@NLO to study the production of four charged leptons at the LHC,
performing parton showers with both HERWIG and Pythia6. Our underlying matrix
element calculation features the full next-to-leading order
result and the contribution of the channel, and it
includes all off-shell, spin-correlation, virtual-photon-exchange, and
interference effects. We present several key distributions together with the
corresponding theoretical uncertainties. These are obtained through a
process-independent technique that allows aMC@NLO to compute scale and PDF
uncertainties in a fully automated way and at no extra CPU-time costComment: 24 pages, 6 figure
Deadwood in forest stands close to old-growthness under Mediterranean conditions in the Italian Peninsula
Considering that indicators of old-growth features can vary across the European ecoregions, this paper provides some results to identify the distinctive traits of old-growth forests in the Mediterranean ecoregion. Deadwood occurrence as indicator of naturalness is investigated in some remote forest areas that have developed in absence of anthropogenic disturbance over the past few decades. Eleven study sites across the Italian peninsula were elected and records of deadwood were carried out in 1-ha size plots. Deadwood volume, deadwood types and decay stages were inventoried in the selected sites. The amounts of deadwood indicate a large variability among the investigated forest stands: the total volume ranged between 2 and 143 m3ha-1, with an average of 60 m3ha-1. Lying deadwood is the most abundant component of deadwood in the investigated forests, due to the natural mortality occurring in the stands in relation to the processes established in the last decades. On the contrary, stumps are the less represented type of deadwood in almost all the study areas. All the decay classes are present in each study site. The amount of deadwood in Southern Europe, even if lower than that reported for North and Central European countries, could have a different meaning due to the faster decay occurring in Mediterranean forest ecosystems. For this reason, old-growth features and the characteristics of each indicator should be framed and referred to well-defined climatic and biogeographic contexts. Distinctively, under the conditions here investigated, three main deadwood features prove to characterize forest stands close to old-growthness: a ratio of dead to living wood not lower than 10%; lying deadwood much more abundant than the standing one; large range of deadwood size and decay classes across all the deadwood components
Single-top t-channel hadroproduction in the four-flavour scheme with POWHEG and aMC@NLO
We present results for the QCD next-to-leading order (NLO) calculation of
single-top t-channel production in the 4-flavour scheme, interfaced to Parton
Shower (PS) Monte Carlo programs according to the POWHEG and MC@NLO methods.
Comparisons between the two methods, as well as with the corresponding process
in the 5-flavour scheme are presented. For the first time results for typical
kinematic distributions of the spectator-b jet are presented in an NLO+PS
approach.Comment: 16+1 pages, 8 figures, matches version accepted for publication in
JHE
W and Z/gamma* boson production in association with a bottom-antibottom pair
We present a study of l\nu b\bar{b} and l+ l- b\bar{b} production at hadron
colliders. Our results, accurate to the next-to-leading order in QCD, are based
on automatic matrix-element calculations performed by MadLoop and MadFKS, and
are given at both the parton level, and after the matching with the Herwig
event generator, achieved with aMC@NLO. We retain the complete dependence on
the bottom-quark mass, and include exactly all spin correlations of final-state
leptons. We discuss the cases of several observables at the LHC which highlight
the importance of accurate simulations.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures. References updated, minor changes to the tex
International consensus on the management of metastatic gastric cancer:step by step in the foggy landscape: Bertinoro Workshop, November 2022
Background: Many gastric cancer patients in Western countries are diagnosed as metastatic with a median overall survival of less than twelve months using standard chemotherapy. Innovative treatments, like targeted therapy or immunotherapy, have recently proved to ameliorate prognosis, but a general agreement on managing oligometastatic disease has yet to be achieved. An international multi-disciplinary workshop was held in Bertinoro, Italy, in November 2022 to verify whether achieving a consensus on at least some topics was possible. Methods: A two-round Delphi process was carried out, where participants were asked to answer 32 multiple-choice questions about CT, laparoscopic staging and biomarkers, systemic treatment for different localization, role and indication of palliative care. Consensus was established with at least a 67% agreement. Results: The assembly agreed to define oligometastases as a âdynamicâ disease which either regresses or remains stable in response to systemic treatment. In addition, the definition of oligometastases was restricted to the following sites: para-aortic nodal stations, liver, lung, and peritoneum, excluding bones. In detail, the following conditions should be considered as oligometastases: involvement of para-aortic stations, in particular 16a2 or 16b1; up to three technically resectable liver metastases; three unilateral or two bilateral lung metastases; peritoneal carcinomatosis with PCI †6. No consensus was achieved on how to classify positive cytology, which was considered as oligometastatic by 55% of participants only if converted to negative after chemotherapy. Conclusion: As assessed at the time of diagnosis, surgical treatment of oligometastases should aim at R0 curativity on the entire disease volume, including both the primary tumor and its metastases. Conversion surgery was defined as surgery on the residual volume of disease, which was initially not resectable for technical and/or oncological reasons but nevertheless responded to first-line treatment.</p
International consensus on the management of metastatic gastric cancer:step by step in the foggy landscape: Bertinoro Workshop, November 2022
Background: Many gastric cancer patients in Western countries are diagnosed as metastatic with a median overall survival of less than twelve months using standard chemotherapy. Innovative treatments, like targeted therapy or immunotherapy, have recently proved to ameliorate prognosis, but a general agreement on managing oligometastatic disease has yet to be achieved. An international multi-disciplinary workshop was held in Bertinoro, Italy, in November 2022 to verify whether achieving a consensus on at least some topics was possible. Methods: A two-round Delphi process was carried out, where participants were asked to answer 32 multiple-choice questions about CT, laparoscopic staging and biomarkers, systemic treatment for different localization, role and indication of palliative care. Consensus was established with at least a 67% agreement. Results: The assembly agreed to define oligometastases as a âdynamicâ disease which either regresses or remains stable in response to systemic treatment. In addition, the definition of oligometastases was restricted to the following sites: para-aortic nodal stations, liver, lung, and peritoneum, excluding bones. In detail, the following conditions should be considered as oligometastases: involvement of para-aortic stations, in particular 16a2 or 16b1; up to three technically resectable liver metastases; three unilateral or two bilateral lung metastases; peritoneal carcinomatosis with PCI †6. No consensus was achieved on how to classify positive cytology, which was considered as oligometastatic by 55% of participants only if converted to negative after chemotherapy. Conclusion: As assessed at the time of diagnosis, surgical treatment of oligometastases should aim at R0 curativity on the entire disease volume, including both the primary tumor and its metastases. Conversion surgery was defined as surgery on the residual volume of disease, which was initially not resectable for technical and/or oncological reasons but nevertheless responded to first-line treatment.</p
- âŠ