DETECTION OF STREPTOCOCCUS EQUI DNA IN RHIPICEPHALUS BURSA TICKS FROM SOUTHERN ITALY

Ticks are obligated ecto-parasites of wild and domestic animals and occasionally humans. They have veterinary interest because vectors of different viruses, bacteria and protozoa. Among the most common species in Italy and Europe there are Ixodes ricinus and Rhipicephalus spp. The tick-borne diseases epidemiologically relevant in our country are: Lyme disease, rickettsiosis, relapsing fever, tularemia, meningoencephalitis and ehrlichiosis. Recently, the extensive characterization of the tick-associated microbiome faces the possible role of ticks in the transmission of additional pathogens, which are known to be transmitted by other arthropod vectors. Through the Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE), we analysed the bacterial community of seven ticks belonging to three species from different areas of Italy: no. 2 Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Lombardia), no. 2 Rhipicephalus bursa (Campania) and no. 3 Ixodes ricinus (Marche). The samples were analysed selecting the highly variable V3 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene as target. The dominant DGGE bands were purified and sequenced allowing the identification of the bacteria present in each samples. Burkholderia sp., Coxiella-like endosymbiont, unc. Clostridium, Rickettsia peacockii, unc. Staphylococcus and Xanthomonas sp. were detected, as already described in ticks. Moreover, Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus/ruminatorum was identified in R. bursa collected from buffalos living in rural areas of Southern Italy (the high genetic identity does not allow the distinction of these subspecies, that is usually achieved by biochemical tests on cultured bacteria). The DGGE outcome was confirmed by multiplex-PCR in other R. bursa samples collected from buffalos, ponies and goats from the same area. In particular, no. 6 positive samples over no. 15 analyzed were detected (no. 2 from buffalos and no. 4 from ponies). S. equi is a complex-species including S. e. equi, S. e. zooepidemicus and S. e. ruminatorum: S. e. equi is the ethological agent of strangles, a highly contagious and serious infection of horses, whereas S. e. zooepidemicus and S. e. ruminatorum can cause several infections in both animals and humans. All these pathogens are known to be transmitted through direct contact. The DNA detection of S. e. zooepidemicus/ruminatorum in R. bursa is particularly interesting since to our knowledge this pathogen was not previously detected in any tick species. Thus, in-depth studies are worthy to assess an effective competence of ticks as vectors of S. equi subspecies, since if a potential role of R. bursa in their transmission will be confirmed, new perspectives in the control of these zoonoses will be opened

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

The effect of mission duration on LISA science objectives

The science objectives of the LISA mission have been defined under the implicit assumption of a 4-years continuous data stream. Based on the performance of LISA Pathfinder, it is now expected that LISA will have a duty cycle of ≈0.75 , which would reduce the effective span of usable data to 3 years. This paper reports the results of a study by the LISA Science Group, which was charged with assessing the additional science return of increasing the mission lifetime. We explore various observational scenarios to assess the impact of mission duration on the main science objectives of the mission. We find that the science investigations most affected by mission duration concern the search for seed black holes at cosmic dawn, as well as the study of stellar-origin black holes and of their formation channels via multi-band and multi-messenger observations. We conclude that an extension to 6 years of mission operations is recommended.publishedVersio

Guidance for the Management of Patients with Vascular Disease or Cardiovascular Risk Factors and COVID-19: Position Paper from VAS-European Independent Foundation in Angiology/Vascular Medicine .

COVID-19 is also manifested with hypercoagulability, pulmonary intravascular coagulation, microangiopathy, and venous thromboembolism (VTE) or arterial thrombosis. Predisposing risk factors to severe COVID-19 are male sex, underlying cardiovascular disease, or cardiovascular risk factors including noncontrolled diabetes mellitus or arterial hypertension, obesity, and advanced age. The VAS-European Independent Foundation in Angiology/Vascular Medicine draws attention to patients with vascular disease (VD) and presents an integral strategy for the management of patients with VD or cardiovascular risk factors (VD-CVR) and COVID-19. VAS recommends (1) a COVID-19-oriented primary health care network for patients with VD-CVR for identification of patients with VD-CVR in the community and patients' education for disease symptoms, use of eHealth technology, adherence to the antithrombotic and vascular regulating treatments, and (2) close medical follow-up for efficacious control of VD progression and prompt application of physical and social distancing measures in case of new epidemic waves. For patients with VD-CVR who receive home treatment for COVID-19, VAS recommends assessment for (1) disease worsening risk and prioritized hospitalization of those at high risk and (2) VTE risk assessment and thromboprophylaxis with rivaroxaban, betrixaban, or low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) for those at high risk. For hospitalized patients with VD-CVR and COVID-19, VAS recommends (1) routine thromboprophylaxis with weight-adjusted intermediate doses of LMWH (unless contraindication); (2) LMWH as the drug of choice over unfractionated heparin or direct oral anticoagulants for the treatment of VTE or hypercoagulability; (3) careful evaluation of the risk for disease worsening and prompt application of targeted antiviral or convalescence treatments; (4) monitoring of D-dimer for optimization of the antithrombotic treatment; and (5) evaluation of the risk of VTE before hospital discharge using the IMPROVE-D-dimer score and prolonged post-discharge thromboprophylaxis with rivaroxaban, betrixaban, or LMWH

Measurement of hadronic event shapes in high-p T multijet final states at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of event-shape variables in proton-proton collisions at large momentum transfer is presented using data collected at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Six event-shape variables calculated using hadronic jets are studied in inclusive multijet events using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1. Measurements are performed in bins of jet multiplicity and in different ranges of the scalar sum of the transverse momenta of the two leading jets, reaching scales beyond 2 TeV. These measurements are compared with predictions from Monte Carlo event generators containing leading-order or next-to-leading order matrix elements matched to parton showers simulated to leading-logarithm accuracy. At low jet multiplicities, shape discrepancies between the measurements and the Monte Carlo predictions are observed. At high jet multiplicities, the shapes are better described but discrepancies in the normalisation are observed. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Measurement of angular and momentum distributions of charged particles within and around jets in Pb+Pb and pp collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Studies of the fragmentation of jets into charged particles in heavy-ion collisions can provide information about the mechanism of jet quenching by the hot and dense QCD matter created in such collisions, the quark-gluon plasma. This paper presents a measurement of the angular distribution of charged particles around the jet axis in √ s N N = 5.02 TeV Pb + Pb and pp collisions, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The Pb + Pb and p p data sets have integrated luminosities of 0.49 nb − 1 and 25 pb − 1 , respectively. The measurement is performed for jets reconstructed with the anti- k t algorithm with radius parameter R = 0.4 and is extended to an angular distance of r = 0.8 from the jet axis. Results are presented as a function of Pb + Pb collision centrality and distance from the jet axis for charged particles with transverse momenta in the 1- to 63-GeV range, matched to jets with transverse momenta in the 126- to 316-GeV range and an absolute value of jet rapidity of less than 1.7. Modifications to the measured distributions are quantified by taking a ratio to the measurements in p p collisions. Yields of charged particles with transverse momenta below 4 GeV are observed to be increasingly enhanced as a function of angular distance from the jet axis, reaching a maximum at r = 0.6 . Charged particles with transverse momenta above 4 GeV have an enhanced yield in Pb + Pb collisions in the jet core for angular distances up to r = 0.05 from the jet axis, with a suppression at larger distances

A search for the dimuon decay of the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector

A search for the dimuon decay of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson is performed using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1) collected with the ATLAS detector in Run 2 pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The observed (expected) significance over the background-only hypothesis for a Higgs boson with a mass of 125.09 GeV is 2.0 sigma (1.7 sigma). The observed upper limit on the cross section times branching ratio for pp -> H -> mu mu is 2.2 times the SM prediction at 95% confidence level, while the expected limit on a H -> mu mu signal assuming the absence (presence) of a SM signal is 1.1(2.0). The best-fit value of the signal strength parameter, defined as the ratio of the observed signal yield to the one expected in the SM, is mu = 1.2 +/- 0.6. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V

Measurement of the azimuthal anisotropy of charged-particle production in Xe+Xe collisions at sNN =5.44 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper describes the measurements of flow harmonics v2-v6 in 3μb-1 of Xe+Xe collisions at sNN=5.44 TeV performed using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Measurements of the centrality, multiplicity, and pT dependence of the vn obtained using two-particle correlations and the scalar product technique are presented. The measurements are also performed using a template-fit procedure, which was developed to remove nonflow correlations in small collision systems. This nonflow removal is shown to have a significant influence on the measured vn at high pT, especially in peripheral events. Comparisons of the measured vn with measurements in Pb+Pb collisions and p+Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV are also presented. The vn values in Xe+Xe collisions are observed to be larger than those in Pb+Pb collisions for n=2, 3, and 4 in the most central events. However, with decreasing centrality or increasing harmonic order n, the vn values in Xe+Xe collisions become smaller than those in Pb+Pb collisions. The vn in Xe+Xe and Pb+Pb collisions are also compared as a function of the mean number of participating nucleons, (Npart), and the measured charged-particle multiplicity in the detector. The v3 values in Xe+Xe and Pb+Pb collisions are observed to be similar at the same (Npart) or multiplicity, but the other harmonics are significantly different. The ratios of the measured vn in Xe+Xe and Pb+Pb collisions, as a function of centrality, are also compared to theoretical calculations