What did Constantine learn in 325? Constantine’s theological declarations before, at and after Nicaea

The analysis of the corpus of letters of the emperor Constantine, in particular, the one he addressed to the synod of Arles in 314, the one he addressed to the Church of Nicomedia in 325 and the one he addressed to Arius in 333, and of Eusebius of Caesarea’s account of the Synod of Nicaea in 325, allows to evaluate the evolution of the theological representations of the first Christian emperor. Constantine’s interest was not only political, but he also was able to listen to and understand the theological milestones of the controversy.El análisis del corpus de las cartas del emperador Constantino, en particular la que dirigió al sínodo de Arles en 314, la que dirigió a la Iglesia de Nicomedia en 325, y la que dirigió a Arrio en 333, y del relato de Eusebio de Cesarea acerca del concilio de Nicea de 325, permiten evaluar la evolución de las representaciones teológicas del primer emperador cristiano. El interés de Constantino no fue sólo político sino que él supo también escuchar y entender cuáles eran los hitos teológicos de la controversia

Flavor Techniques for LFV Processes: Higgs Decays in a General Seesaw Model

Lepton flavor violating processes are optimal observables to test new physics, since they are forbidden in the Standard Model while they may be generated in new theories. The usual approach to these processes is to perform the computations in the physical basis; nevertheless this may lose track of the dependence on some of the fundamental parameters, in particular on those at the origin of the flavor violation. Consequently, in order to obtain analytical expressions directly in terms of these parameters, flavor techniques are often preferred. In this work, we focus on the mass insertion approximation technique, which works with the interaction states instead of the physical ones, and provides diagrammatic expansions of the observables. After reviewing the basics of this technique with two simple examples, we apply it to the lepton flavor violating Higgs decays in the framework of a general type-I seesaw model with an arbitrary number of right-handed neutrinos. We derive an effective vertex valid to compute these observables when the right-handed neutrino masses are above the electroweak scale and show that we recover previous results obtained for low scale seesaws. Finally, we apply current constraints on the model to conclude on maximum Higgs decay rates, which unfortunately are far from current experimental sensitivitiesThis work was supported by the European Union through the ITN ELUSIVES H2020-MSCA-ITN-2015//674896 and the RISE INVISIBLESPLUS H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015//690575, by the CICYT through the project FPA2016-78645-P, and by the Spanish MINECO's Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa Programme under grant SEV-2016-059

Model-independent search strategy for the lepton-flavor-violating heavy Higgs boson decay to τμ at the LHC

In this work we present a model-independent search strategy at the LHC for heavy Higgs bosons decaying into a tau and a muon, H/ A→ τμ, showing a plausible tendency to improve the sensitivity obtained by the present experimental limits. This search strategy is performed for the Higgs boson mass range 1–5 TeV and uses as the most relevant kinematical variables, in order to discriminate signal against background, the transverse momenta of the muon and the tau together with the missing transverse energy. We estimate the exclusion limits at 95% CL and the significances for evidence and discovery at s = 14 TeV with L = 300 fb- 1, observing a growth in the sensitivities for high Higgs boson masses. Moreover, since the Higgs boson decay into a tau-lepton pair may mimic our LFV signal, we also study the impact of the ditau channel on the exclusion limits and the significances for evidence and discovery. In particular, the impact on the exclusion limits of LFV heavy Higgs boson decays is significant when the ditau rate begins to compete with the corresponding to the H/ A→ τμ decayThis work has been partially supported by CONICET and ANPCyT under projects PICT 2016-0164 (E. A., N. M., A. S.), PICT 2017-2751 (E. A., N. M., A. S.) and PICT 2017-2765 (E. A.). This work is supported by the European Union through the ITN ELUSIVES H2020-MSCA-ITN-2015//674896 and the RISE INVISIBLE-SPLUS H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015//690575, by the CICYT through the project FPA2016-78645-P, and by the Spanish MINECOs “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa” Programme under Grant SEV-2016-059

Life Cycle Assessment of various biorefinery approaches for the valorisation of almond shells

In the near future, sustainable and efficient biorefineries would be essential for the production of commodity chemicals and high-added value compounds. Therefore, in this work, six scenarios differing on the delignification steps and cellulose conversion routes were assessed via Life Cycle Assessment methodology in order to study the environmental impacts derived from the conversion of an abundant agricultural residue (almond shells) into high added-value products and select the most suitable one for large-scale valorisation. The assessments were conducted employing experimental results and processing them by SimaPro software. The main conclusion achieved suggested that the enzymatic hydrolysis of the solid from any delignification step entailed the highest environmental impacts and had the highest relative contribution in all the studied impact categories with a maximum of 74%, which was ascribed to Scenario 5. It was also concluded that the organosolv delignification process affected overall more negatively than the alkaline treatment having bigger impacts especially in abiotic depletion (ADP) and photochemical oxidation (POP) categories. Finally, it can be stated that the best route for valorising the almond shell in a biorefinery facility is composed of autohydrolysis (common for every scenario), alkaline delignification, bleaching and acid hydrolysis steps for the obtaining of oligosaccharides, lignin and nanocrystals as products.Authors want to acknowledge the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, as well as the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CTQ2016-78689-R) for supporting financially this research. L.S. and R.F. would like to acknowledge the Departmentof Economic Development and Infrastructures of the Basque Government (scholarship of young researchers training) . A.M. and I.D, would like to thank the University of the Basque Country (Training of Researcher Staff, PIF17/207 and grant reference DOCREC19/47, respectively)

Assessment of CD-105 as an Angiogenic Modulator in Odontogenic Myxomas and Dental Follicles

Aim. Odontogenic myxoma is a benign intraosseous neoplasm of the jaws, with a locally aggressive behavior and a high recurrence rate. CD-105 is a homodimeric cell membrane glycoprotein and is a component of the TGF-β1 growth factor receptor complex that modulates angiogenesis by regulating the proliferation, differentiation and cellular migration. The aim of this study is to quantify the microvascular density of the odontogenic myxoma based on the expression of CD-105. Materials and Methods. The analysis included 18 odontogenic myxoma and 18 dental follicles as controls. A standard immunohistochemical procedure was performed with the CD-105 antibody. Five representative fields (40×) of the odontogenic myxoma and the dental follicles were selected to determine the microvascular density, which was then followed by a descriptive and comparative statistical analysis. Results. Dental follicles presented a significantly higher microvascular density compared with odontogenic myxoma (P = .001). The odontogenic myxoma smaller than 3 cm showed a greater microvascular density than those larger than 3 cm in size (P > .05), and the microvascular density was lower in large odontogenic myxomas as compared with the dental follicles (P = .003). Conclusion. A weaker expression of CD-105 in odontogenic myxoma might indicate a lower angiogenic activity, suggesting that vascular proliferation has a limited role in the growth mechanisms and in the aggressive behavior of this neoplasm.peer-reviewe

Model-independent search strategy for the lepton-flavor-violating heavy Higgs boson decay to τμ at the LHC

In this work we present a model-independent search strategy at the LHC for heavy Higgs bosons decaying into a tau and a muon, H/A→τμ, showing a plausible tendency to improve the sensitivity obtained by the present experimental limits. This search strategy is performed for the Higgs boson mass range 1–5 TeV and uses as the most relevant kinematical variables, in order to discriminate signal against background, the transverse momenta of the muon and the tau together with the missing transverse energy. We estimate the exclusion limits at 95% CL and the significances for evidence and discovery at s√ = 14 TeV with L = 300 fb−1, observing a growth in the sensitivities for high Higgs boson masses. Moreover, since the Higgs boson decay into a tau-lepton pair may mimic our LFV signal, we also study the impact of the ditau channel on the exclusion limits and the significances for evidence and discovery. In particular, the impact on the exclusion limits of LFV heavy Higgs boson decays is significant when the ditau rate begins to compete with the corresponding to the H/A→τμ decay.Instituto de Física La Plat

Assessment of CD-105 as an angiogenic modulator in odontogenic myxomas and dental follicles

Aim. Odontogenic myxoma is a benign intraosseous neoplasm of the jaws, with a locally aggressive behavior and a high recurrence rate. CD-105 is a homodimeric cell membrane glycoprotein and is a component of the TGF-β1 growth factor receptor complex that modulates angiogenesis by regulating the proliferation, differentiation and cellular migration. The aim of this study is to quantify the microvascular density of the odontogenic myxoma based on the expression of CD-105. Materials and Methods. The analysis included 18 odontogenic myxoma and 18 dental follicles as controls. A standard immunohistochemical procedure was performed with the CD-105 antibody. Five representative fields (40×) of the odontogenic myxoma and the dental follicles were selected to determine the microvascular density, which was then followed by a descriptive and comparative statistical analysis. Results. Dental follicles presented a significantly higher microvascular density compared with odontogenic myxoma (P = .001). The odontogenic myxoma smaller than 3 cm showed a greater microvascular density than those larger than 3 cm in size (P > .05), and the microvascular density was lower in large odontogenic myxomas as compared with the dental follicles (P = .003). Conclusion. A weaker expression of CD-105 in odontogenic myxoma might indicate a lower angiogenic activity, suggesting that vascular proliferation has a limited role in the growth mechanisms and in the aggressive behavior of this neoplasm.Aim. Odontogenic myxoma is a benign intraosseous neoplasm of the jaws, with a locally aggressive behavior and a high recurrence rate. CD-105 is a homodimeric cell membrane glycoprotein and is a component of the TGF-β1 growth factor receptor complex that modulates angiogenesis by regulating the proliferation, differentiation and cellular migration. The aim of this study is to quantify the microvascular density of the odontogenic myxoma based on the expression of CD-105. Materials and Methods. The analysis included 18 odontogenic myxoma and 18 dental follicles as controls. A standard immunohistochemical procedure was performed with the CD-105 antibody. Five representative fields (40×) of the odontogenic myxoma and the dental follicles were selected to determine the microvascular density, which was then followed by a descriptive and comparative statistical analysis. Results. Dental follicles presented a significantly higher microvascular density compared with odontogenic myxoma (P = .001). The odontogenic myxoma smaller than 3 cm showed a greater microvascular density than those larger than 3 cm in size (P > .05), and the microvascular density was lower in large odontogenic myxomas as compared with the dental follicles (P = .003). Conclusion. A weaker expression of CD-105 in odontogenic myxoma might indicate a lower angiogenic activity, suggesting that vascular proliferation has a limited role in the growth mechanisms and in the aggressive behavior of this neoplasm

Targeting aberrant DNA methylation in mesenchymal stromal cells as a treatment for myeloma bone disease

Multiple myeloma (MM) progression and myeloma-associated bone disease (MBD) are highly dependent on bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). MM-MSCs exhibit abnormal transcriptomes, suggesting the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms governing their tumor-promoting functions and prolonged osteoblast suppression. Here, we identify widespread DNA methylation alterations of bone marrow-isolated MSCs from distinct MM stages, particularly in Homeobox genes involved in osteogenic differentiation that associate with their aberrant expression. Moreover, these DNA methylation changes are recapitulated in vitro by exposing MSCs from healthy individuals to MM cells. Pharmacological targeting of DNMTs and G9a with dual inhibitor CM-272 reverts the expression of hypermethylated osteogenic regulators and promotes osteoblast differentiation of myeloma MSCs. Most importantly, CM-272 treatment prevents tumor-associated bone loss and reduces tumor burden in a murine myeloma model. Our results demonstrate that epigenetic aberrancies mediate the impairment of bone formation in MM, and its targeting by CM-272 is able to reverse MBD. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have been shown to support multiple myeloma (MM) development. Here, MSCs isolated from the bone marrow of MM patients are shown to have altered DNA methylation patterns and a methyltransferase inhibitor reverts MM-associated bone loss and reduces tumour burden in MM murine models