Search for dark photons produced in 13 TeV pppp collisions

Searches are performed for both promptlike and long-lived dark photons, A 0 , produced in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, using A 0 → μ þ μ − decays and a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1 . 6 fb − 1 collected with the LHCb detector. The promptlike A 0 search covers the mass range from near the dimuon threshold up to 70 GeV, while the long-lived A 0 search is restricted to the low-mass region 214 <m ð A 0 Þ < 350 MeV. No evidence for a signal is found, and 90% confidence level exclusion limits are placed on the γ – A 0 kinetic-mixing strength. The constraints placed on promptlike dark photons are the most stringent to date for the mass range 10 . 6 <m ð A 0 Þ < 70 GeV, and are comparable to the best existing limits for m ð A 0 Þ < 0 . 5 GeV. The search for long-lived dark photons is the first to achieve sensitivity using a displaced-vertex signature

Urinary incontinence in pregnant women and its relation with socio-demographic variables and quality of life

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the occurrence of urinary incontinency (UI) in pregnantwomen and its relationship with socio-demographic variables and quality of life. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional multicenter study was conducted to investigate 495 women using the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire - Short Form (ICIQ-SF). The survey was conducted on the same day of delivery, with the volunteers still in the maternity ward. Statistical analysis of the comparison between groups 1 (incontinence) and 2 (continent) was done using chi-square test for comparison of proportions of women with and without urinary incontinency and logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: From the total of 495 women studied, 352 (71%) reported having had UI during the last four weeks of pregnancy. Group 1 presented the ICIQ-SF median score of 11 (range 3- 21), considered as severe impact in quality of life. Logistic regression analysis showed that there was a closer relation between the self-report of UI with the following variables: level of education below 8 years (OR: 2.99; p < 0.001), black women (OR: 2.32; p= 0.005), women with more than 3 children (OR: 4.93; p < 0.001), obese (OR: 4.22; p < 0.001) and normal vaginal delivery (OR: 2.59; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The majority of pregnantwomen have UI, negatively affecting the quality of their lives

Tropical tree growth driven by dry-season climate variability

Interannual variability in the global land carbon sink is strongly related to variations in tropical temperature and rainfall. This association suggests an important role for moisture-driven fluctuations in tropical vegetation productivity, but empirical evidence to quantify the responsible ecological processes is missing. Such evidence can be obtained from tree-ring data that quantify variability in a major vegetation productivity component: woody biomass growth. Here we compile a pantropical tree-ring network to show that annual woody biomass growth increases primarily with dry-season precipitation and decreases with dry-season maximum temperature. The strength of these dry-season climate responses varies among sites, as reflected in four robust and distinct climate response groups of tropical tree growth derived from clustering. Using cluster and regression analyses, we find that dry-season climate responses are amplified in regions that are drier, hotter and more climatically variable. These amplification patterns suggest that projected global warming will probably aggravate drought-induced declines in annual tropical vegetation productivity. Our study reveals a previously underappreciated role of dry-season climate variability in driving the dynamics of tropical vegetation productivity and consequently in influencing the land carbon sink

Measurement of the CKM angle γ using B± → DK± with D → K S 0 π+π−, K S 0 K+K− decays

A binned Dalitz plot analysis of B ± → DK ± decays, with D→K0Sπ+π− and D→K0SK+K−, is performed to measure the CP-violating observables x ± and y ±, which are sensitive to the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa angle γ. The analysis exploits a sample of proton-proton collision data corresponding to 3.0 fb−1 collected by the LHCb experiment. Measurements from CLEO-c of the variation of the strong-interaction phase of the D decay over the Dalitz plot are used as inputs. The values of the parameters are found to be x + = (−7.7 ± 2.4 ± 1.0 ± 0.4) × 10− 2, x − = (2.5 ± 2.5 ± 1.0 ± 0.5) × 10− 2, y + = (−2.2 ± 2.5 ± 0.4 ± 1.0) × 10− 2 and y − = (7.5 ± 2.9 ± 0.5 ± 1.4) × 10− 2. The first, second, and third uncertainties are the statistical, the experimental systematic, and that associated with the precision of the strong-phase parameters. These are the most precise measurements of these observables and correspond to γ = (62 − 14 + 15) ° , with a second solution at γ → γ + 180°, and r B  = 0.080 − 0.021 + 0.019, where r B is the ratio between the suppressed and favoured B decay amplitudes