Hidden AGNs in Early-Type Galaxies

We present a stacking analysis of the complete sample of Early Type Galaxies (ETGs) in the \textit{Chandra} COSMOS (C-COSMOS) survey, to explore the nature of the X-ray luminosity in the redshift and stellar luminosity ranges $0<z<1.5$ and {10}^{9}. Using established scaling relations, we subtract the contribution of X-ray binary populations, to estimate the combined emission of hot ISM and AGN. To discriminate between the relative importance of these two components, we (1) compare our results with the relation observed in the local universe $L_{X,gas}\propto L_K^{4.5}$ for hot gaseous halos emission in ETGs, and (2) evaluate the spectral signature of each stacked bin. We find two regimes where the non-stellar X-ray emission is hard, consisten t with AGN emission. First, there is evidence of hard, absorbed X-ray emission in stacked bins including relatively high z ($\sim 1.2$) ETGs with average high X-ray luminosity (L_{X-LMXB}\gtrsim 6\times{10}^{42}\mbox{ erg}/\mbox{s}). These luminosities are consistent with the presence ofhighly absorbed "hidden" AGNs in these ETGs, which are not visible in their optical-IR spectra and spectral energy distributions. Second, confirming the early indication from our C-COSMOS study of X-ray detected ETGs, we find significantly enhanced X-ray luminoaity in lower stellar mass ETGs (L_K\lesssim{10}^{11}L_{\astrosun}), relative to the local $L_{X,gas}\propto L_K^{4.5}$ relation. The stacked spectra of these ETGs also suggest X-ray emission harder than expected from gaseous hot halos. This emission is consistent with inefficient accretion ${10}^{-5}-{10}^{-4}\dot{M}_{Edd}$ onto M_{BH}\sim {10}^{6}-{10}^{8}\,M_{\astrosun}.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publications on Ap

Impressive long-term response with pertuzumab and trastuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer with brain metastasis

This is a case report of a 40-year-old woman who, after conservative breast cancer treatment, developed a HER2 positive solitary brain metastasis in the left temporal lobe, without extracranial disease. She underwent surgery resection followed by stereotactic radiotherapy and, because of early brain progression, she was submitted to the first line therapy with pertuzumab, trastuzumab and weekly paclitaxel. After six months of treatment, a brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed a complete disappearance of brain recurrence, which persisted for more than 24 months

Early-type galaxies in the Chandra COSMOS Survey

We study a sample of 69 X-ray detected Early Type Galaxies (ETGs), selected from the Chandra COSMOS survey, to explore the relation between the X-ray luminosity of hot gaseous halos (L_X, gas) and the integrated stellar luminosity (L_K) of the galaxies, in a range of redshift extending out to z=1.5. In the local universe a tight steep relationship has been stablished between these two quantities (L_X,gas~ L_K^4.5) suggesting the presence of largely virialized halos in X-ray luminous systems. We use well established relations from the study of local universe ETGs, together with the expected evolution of the X-ray emission, to subtract the contribution of low mass X-ray binary populations (LMXBs) from the X-ray luminosity of our sample. Our selection minimizes the presence of active galactic nuclei (AGN), yielding a sample representative of normal passive COSMOS ETGs; therefore the resulting luminosity should be representative of gaseous halos, although we cannot exclude other sources such as obscured AGN, or enhanced X-ray emission connected with embedded star formation in the higher z galaxies. We find that most of the galaxies with estimated L_X<10^42 erg/s and z<0.55 follow the L_X,gas- L_K relation of local universe ETGs. For these galaxies, the gravitational mass can be estimated with a certain degree of confidence from the local virial relation. However, the more luminous (10^42<L_X<10^43.5 erg/s) and distant galaxies present significantly larger scatter; these galaxies also tend to have younger stellar ages. The divergence from the local L_X,gas - L_K relation in these galaxies implies significantly enhanced X-ray emission, up to a factor of 100 larger than predicted from the local relation. We discuss the implications of this result for the presence of hidden AGN, and the evolution of hot halos, in the presence of nuclear and star formation feedback.Comment: 29 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication on ApJ on May 27 201

A critical review on the role of food and nutrition in the energy balance

The mass media has increasingly frequently suggested to the general population that specific foods or nutritional schemes are able to affect both human metabolism and energy expenditure, thus facilitating weight loss. This critical review is aimed at assessing available evidence on the roles of nutrients, food and dietary regimens in energy intake and energy expenditure. We queried the National Library of Medicine, the Cochrane Library, Excerpta Medica dataBASEand the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature database, and a search strategy was performed by using database-specific subject headings and keywords. We found that available scientific evidence on these topics is scarce, and that the limited number of available studies often have poor methodological quality. Only a few foods show beneficial effects on metabolism and energy expenditure, as the human energy balance is complex and multifactorial. Finally, microbiota may interfere with the intake, use and expenditure of energy in the human body. Conclusive evidence is still lacking, and, at present, it is not possible to identify a food or a diet with a significant impact on human energy expenditure

Radiation hardness of small-pitch 3D pixel sensors up to HL-LHC fluences

A new generation of 3D silicon pixel detectors with a small pixel size of 50$\times$50 and 25$\times$100 $\mu$m$^{2}$ is being developed for the HL-LHC tracker upgrades. The radiation hardness of such detectors was studied in beam tests after irradiation to HL-LHC fluences up to $1.4\times10^{16}$ n$_{\mathrm{eq}}$/cm$^2$. At this fluence, an operation voltage of only 100 V is needed to achieve 97% hit efficiency, with a power dissipation of 13 mW/cm$^2$ at -25$^{\circ}$C, considerably lower than for previous 3D sensor generations and planar sensors.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, Proceedings of TIPP 2017, Beijing (International Conference on The Technology and Instrumentation in Particle Physics 2017

AGN activity and the misaligned hot ISM in the compact radio elliptical NGC4278

The analysis of a deep (579 ks) Chandra ACIS pointing of the elliptical galaxy NGC4278, which hosts a low luminosity AGN and compact radio emission, allowed us to detect extended emission from hot gas out to a radius of \sim 5 kpc, with a 0.5--8 keV luminosity of 2.4x10^{39} erg/s. The emission is elongated in the NE-SW direction, misaligned with respect to the stellar body, and aligned with the ionized gas, and with the Spitzer IRAC 8\mum non-stellar emission. The nuclear X-ray luminosity decreased by a factor of \sim 18 since the first Chandra observation in 2005, a dimming that enabled the detection of hot gas even at the position of the nucleus. Both in the projected and deprojected profiles, the gas shows a significantly larger temperature (kT=0.75 keV) in the inner \sim 300 pc than in the surrounding region, where it stays at \sim 0.3 keV, a value lower than expected from standard gas heating assumptions. The nuclear X-ray emission is consistent with that of a low radiative efficiency accretion flow, accreting mass at a rate close to the Bondi one; estimates of the power of the nuclear jets require that the accretion rate is not largely reduced with respect to the Bondi rate. Among possibile origins for the central large hot gas temperature, such as gravitational heating from the central massive black hole and a recent AGN outburst, the interaction with the nuclear jets seems more likely, especially if the latter remain confined, and heat the nuclear region frequently. The unusual hot gas distribution on the galactic scale could be due to the accreting cold gas triggering the cooling of the hot phase, a process also contributing to the observed line emission from ionize gas, and to the hot gas temperature being lower than expected; alternatively, the latter could be due to an efficiency of the type Ia supernova energy mixing lower than usually adopted.Comment: 48 pages, submitted to Ap

3D sensors for the HL-LHC

In order to increase its discovery potential, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) accelerator will be upgraded in the next decade. The high luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) period demands new sensor technologies to cope with increasing radiation fluences and particle rates. The ATLAS experiment will replace the entire inner tracking detector with a completely new silicon-only system. 3D pixel sensors are promising candidates for the innermost layers of the Pixel detector due to their excellent radiation hardness at low operation voltages and low power dissipation at moderate temperatures. Recent developments of 3D sensors for the HL-LHC are presented.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, International Workshops on Radiation Imaging Detectors 201

Electrical plasmon detection in graphene waveguides

We present a simple device architecture that allows all-electrical detection of plasmons in a graphene waveguide. The key principle of our electrical plasmon detection scheme is the non-linear nature of the hydrodynamic equations of motion that describe transport in graphene at room temperature and in a wide range of carrier densities. These non-linearities yield a dc voltage in response to the oscillating field of a propagating plasmon. For illustrative purposes, we calculate the dc voltage arising from the propagation of the lowest-energy modes in a fully analytical fashion. Our device architecture for all-electrical plasmon detection paves the way for the integration of graphene plasmonic waveguides in electronic circuits.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure