Haplotype of prostaglandin synthase 2/cyclooxygenase 2 is involved in the susceptibility to inflammatory bowel disease

AIM: Prostaglandin G/H synthase 2 (PTGS2 or COX2) is one of the key factors in the cellular response to inflammation. PTGS2 is expressed in the affected intestinal segments of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). In IBD patients, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which have been shown to reduce both the production and activity of PTGS2, may activate IBD and aggravate the symptoms. We aimed at examining genetic variants of PTGS2 that may be risk factors for IBD. METHODS: We genotyped 291 individuals diagnosed with IBD and 367 controls from the Dutch population for the five most frequent polymorphisms of the PTGS2 gene. Clinical data were collected on all patients. DNA was extracted via normal laboratory methods. Genotyping was carried out using multiplex PCR followed by the Invader Assay and the 5 exonuclease assay (TaqMan). New polymorphism screening was performed by pre-screening with denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography, followed by fluorescent sequencing. RESULTS: Allele 5209G was weakly associated with Crohn's disease (odds ratio [OR] 1.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03-2.57), and allele 8473T with ulcerative colitis (OR 1.50, 95%CI 1.00-2.27). The haplotype including both alleles showed a strong association with IBD (OR 13.15, 95%CI 3.17-116.15). This haplotype, while rare (-0.3%) in the general population, is found more frequently in patients (3.5%). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that this haplotype of PTGS2 contributes to the susceptibility of IBD

Paraoxonase (PON1) and the risk for coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction in a general population of Dutch women.

Contains fulltext : 71536.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)There is strong evidence from both animal- and in vitro-models that paraoxonase (PON1) is involved in the onset of cardiovascular disease. In humans there is no consensus on this issue and therefore we investigated the effect of PON1 genotype and activity on the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in a large prospective cohort of 17,357 middle-aged women. We applied a case-cohort design using the CHD (n=211) and AMI cases (n=71) and a random sample from the baseline cohort (n=1527). A weighted Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate age- and multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios (HR) for the PON1 genetic variants (192Q > R and -107C > T) and tertiles of the PON1 arylesterase- and paraoxonase activities. Neither the PON1 genetic variants, nor the PON1 activities affected the incidence of CHD in general, but, an increased paraoxonase activity was associated with a higher risk of AMI: the second and third tertile HR were 1.31 and 2.07, respectively (P-trend=0.029, multivariate model). In the subgroup of never-smokers, paraoxonase activity was associated with an increased risk for AMI: the second and third tertile HR were 4.1 and 4.7, respectively (P-trend=0.009, multivariate model). Additionally, when compared to the lowest paraoxonase tertile in never-smokers, the highest paraoxonase tertile in current-smokers showed a 19.2-fold higher risk for AMI (95%CI: 5.3-69.5, P < 0.0001, multivariate model). In conclusion, this study shows that in middle-aged women paraoxonase activity was associated with an increased risk for AMI and that the risk was modified by the effects of smoking

Anisotropic scattering and quantum magnetoresistivities of a periodically modulated 2D electron gas

We calculate the longitudinal conductivities of a two-dimensional noninteracting electron gas in a uniform magnetic field and a lateral electric or magnetic periodic modulation in one spatial direction, in the quantum regime. We consider the effects of the electron-impurity scattering anisotropy through the vertex corrections on the Kubo formula, which are calculated with the Bethe-Salpeter equation, in the self-consistent Born approximation. We find that due to the scattering anisotropy the band conductivity increases, and the scattering conductivities decrease and become anisotropic. Our results are in qualitative agreement with recent experiments.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, Revtex, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Weak Localization and Integer Quantum Hall Effect in a Periodic Potential

We consider magnetotransport in a disordered two-dimensional electron gas in the presence of a periodic modulation in one direction. Existing quasiclassical and quantum approaches to this problem account for Weiss oscillations in the resistivity tensor at moderate magnetic fields, as well as a strong modulation-induced modification of the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations at higher magnetic fields. They do not account, however, for the operation at even higher magnetic fields of the integer quantum Hall effect, for which quantum interference processes are responsible. We then introduce a field-theory approach, based on a nonlinear sigma model, which encompasses naturally both the quasiclassical and quantum-mechanical approaches, as well as providing a consistent means of extending them to include quantum interference corrections. A perturbative renormalization-group analysis of the field theory shows how weak localization corrections to the conductivity tensor may be described by a modification of the usual one-parameter scaling, such as to accommodate the anisotropy of the bare conductivity tensor. We also show how the two-parameter scaling, conjectured as a model for the quantum Hall effect in unmodulated systems, may be generalized similarly for the modulated system. Within this model we illustrate the operation of the quantum Hall effect in modulated systems for parameters that are realistic for current experiments.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, ReVTeX; revised version with condensed introduction; two figures taken out; reference adde

Aula d'Ecologia : cicle de conferències 2004 /

Descripció del recurs: 13 juny 200

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Measurement of the top quark-pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at \sqrt{s}=7\TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs(\ttbar) in $pp$ collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 \TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron $e$ or muon $\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton ($ee$, $\mu\mu$ or $e\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb-1, 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-\ttbar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be $12.2 \pm 3.9$ events and $2.5 \pm 0.6$ events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM \ttbar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be \sigmattbar=145 \pm 31 ^{+42}_{-27} pb where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 30 pages plus author list (50 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, CERN-PH number and final journal adde

Measurement of the top quark pair cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV using final states with an electron or a muon and a hadronically decaying τ lepton

A measurement of the cross section of top quark pair production in proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is reported. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.05 fb -1. Events with an isolated electron or muon and a τ lepton decaying hadronically are used. In addition, a large missing transverse momentum and two or more energetic jets are required. At least one of the jets must be identified as originating from a b quark. The measured cross section, σtt-=186±13(stat.)±20(syst.)±7(lumi.) pb, is in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio