Recent Results in Bottomonium

Great strides have been made in the understanding of bound states of a bottom quark $b$ and its antiquark $\bar b$ since the discovery of the first $\Upsilon$ resonances in 1977. These {\it bottomonium} bound states have a rich spectrum whose masses and transition amplitudes shed valuable light on the strong interactions. The present article reviews some recent developments in bottomonium physics. These include the discovery of the spin-singlet states $\eta_b$ and $h_b$, the first D-wave states, one or more candidates for spin-triplet $\chi_b(3P)$ excitations, and above-threshold states with strong transitions to states below threshold. Information on transitions, production, and signatures of new physics is also presented.Comment: 47 pages, 2 figures, to be submitted to Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Scienc

Risk management profile of etoricoxib: an example of personalized medicine

The development of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) selective for cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 (named coxibs) has been driven by the aim of reducing the incidence of serious gastrointestinal (GI) adverse events associated with the administration of traditional (t) NSAIDs – mainly dependent on the inhibition of COX-1 in GI tract and platelets. However, their use has unravelled the important protective role of COX-2 for the cardiovascular (CV) system, mainly through the generation of prostacyclin. In a recent nested-case control study, we found that patients taking NSAIDs (both coxibs and tNSAIDs) had a 35% increase risk of myocardial infarction. The increased incidence of thrombotic events associated with profound inhibition of COX-2-dependent prostacyclin by coxibs and tNSAIDs can be mitigated, even if not obliterated, by a complete suppression of platelet COX-1 activity. However, most tNSAIDs and coxibs are functional COX-2 selective for the platelet (ie, they cause a profound suppression of COX-2 associated with insufficient inhibition of platelet COX-1 to translate into inhibition of platelet function), which explains their shared CV toxicity. The development of genetic and biochemical markers will help to identify the responders to NSAIDs or who are uniquely susceptible at developing thrombotic or GI events by COX inhibition. We will describe possible strategies to reduce the side effects of etoricoxib by using biochemical markers of COX inhibition, such as whole blood COX-2 and the assessment of prostacyclin biosynthesis in vivo

Exploitation of an olive oil industry by-product: olive pomace as a source of food aroma compounds

Italy is the second largest producer in the world of olive oil, preceded only by Spain. Although olive oil can be considered as a “green gold” all over the world, the treatment of its by-products is a critical aspect to cope with. Indeed, the polluting character of such by-product together with its high costs for an effective disposal strongly penalize the olive oil industry. In particular, 50 % of oil production costs depend on its waste disposal. In this context, the aim of this work was to evaluate a potential exploitation of olive pomace as a feedstock for the production of flavours of interest for the food industry

Lactobacillus paracasei A13 and high-pressure homogenization stress response

Sub-lethal high-pressure homogenization treatments applied to Lactobacillus paracasei A13 demonstrated to be a useful strategy to enhance technological and functional properties without detrimental effects on the viability of this strain. Modification of membrane fatty acid composition is reported to be the main regulatory mechanisms adopted by probiotic lactobacilli to counteract high-pressure stress. This work is aimed to clarify and understand the relationship between the modification of membrane fatty acid composition and the expression of genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis in Lactobacillus paracasei A13, before and after the application of different sub-lethal hyperbaric treatments. Our results showed that Lactobacillus paracasei A13 activated a series of reactions aimed to control and stabilize membrane fluidity in response to high-pressure homogenization treatments. In fact, the production of cyclic fatty acids was counterbalanced by the unsaturation and elongation of fatty acids. The gene expression data indicate an up-regulation of the genes accA, accC, fabD, fabH and fabZ after high-pressure homogenization treatment at 150 and 200 MPa, and of fabK and fabZ after a treatment at 200 MPa suggesting this regulation of the genes involved in fatty acids biosynthesis as an immediate response mechanism adopted by Lactobacillus paracasei A13 to high-pressure homogenization treatments to balance the membrane fluidity. Although further studies should be performed to clarify the modulation of phospholipids and glycoproteins biosynthesis since they play a crucial role in the functional properties of the probiotic strains, this study represents an important step towards understanding the response mechanisms of Lactobacillus paracasei A13 to sub-lethal high-pressure homogenization treatments

Suitability of the nisin Z-producer lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis CBM 21 to be used as an adjunct culture for squacquerone cheese production

This research investigated the technological and safety effects of the nisin Z producer Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis CBM 21, tested as an adjunct culture for the making of Squacquerone cheese in a pilot-scale plant. The biocontrol agent remained at a high level throughout the cheese refrigerated storage, without having a negative influence on the viability of the conventional Streptococcus thermophilus starter. The inclusion of CBM 21 in Squacquerone cheesemaking proved to be more effective compared to the traditional one, to reduce total coliforms and Pseudomonas spp. Moreover, the novel/innovative adjunct culture tested did not negatively modify the proteolytic patterns of Squacquerone cheese, but it gave rise to products with specific volatile and texture profiles. The cheese produced with CBM 21 was more appreciated by the panelists with respect to the traditional one

Planar Drawings of Fixed-Mobile Bigraphs

A fixed-mobile bigraph G is a bipartite graph such that the vertices of one partition set are given with fixed positions in the plane and the mobile vertices of the other part, together with the edges, must be added to the drawing. We assume that G is planar and study the problem of finding, for a given k >= 0, a planar poly-line drawing of G with at most k bends per edge. In the most general case, we show NP-hardness. For k=0 and under additional constraints on the positions of the fixed or mobile vertices, we either prove that the problem is polynomial-time solvable or prove that it belongs to NP. Finally, we present a polynomial-time testing algorithm for a certain type of "layered" 1-bend drawings

Axial Vector JPC=1++J^{PC}=1^{++} Charmonium and Bottomonium Hybrid Mass Predictions with QCD Sum-Rules

Axial vector $(J^{PC}=1^{++})$ charmonium and bottomonium hybrid masses are determined via QCD Laplace sum-rules. Previous sum-rule studies in this channel did not incorporate the dimension-six gluon condensate, which has been shown to be important for $1^{--}$ and $0^{-+}$ heavy quark hybrids. An updated analysis of axial vector charmonium and bottomonium hybrids is presented, including the effects of the dimension-six gluon condensate. The axial vector charmonium and bottomonium hybrid masses are predicted to be 5.13 GeV and 11.32 GeV, respectively. We discuss the implications of this result for the charmonium-like XYZ states and the charmonium hybrid multiplet structure observed in recent lattice calculations.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. Updated to match published versio

The gluonic condensate from the hyperfine splitting Mcog(χcJ)−M(hc)M_{\rm cog}(\chi_{cJ})-M(h_c) in charmonium

The precision measurement of the hyperfine splitting $\Delta_{\rm HF} (1P, c\bar c)=M_{\rm cog} (\chi_{cJ}) - M(h_c) = -0.5 \pm 0.4$ MeV in the Fermilab--E835 experiment allows to determine the gluonic condensate $G_2$ with high accuracy if the gluonic correlation length $T_g$ is fixed. In our calculations the negative value of $\Delta_{\rm HF} = -0.3 \pm 0.4$ MeV is obtained only if the relatively small $T_g = 0.16$ fm and $G_2 = 0.065 (3)$ GeV${}^4$ are taken. These values correspond to the ``physical'' string tension $(\sigma \approx 0.18$ GeV$^2$). For $T_g \ge 0.2$ fm the hyperfine splitting is positive and grows for increasing $T_g$. In particular for $T_g = 0.2$ fm and $G_2 = 0.041 (2)$ GeV${}^4$ the splitting $\Delta_{\rm HF} = 1.4 (2)$ MeV is obtained, which is in accord with the recent CLEO result.Comment: 9 pages revtex 4, no figure

A class of pyrrole derivatives endowed with analgesic/anti-inflammatory activity

We report the synthesis and bio-pharmacological evaluation of a class of pyrrole derivatives featuring a small appendage fragment (carbaldehyde, oxime, nitrile) on the central core. Compound 1c proved to be extremely effective in vivo, showing an interesting anti-nociceptic profile that is comparable to reference compounds already marketed, hence representing a great stimulus for a further improvement of this class of molecules