QCD corrections to e+e−→u dˉ s cˉe^+ e^- \to u~\bar d~s~\bar c at Lep 2 and the Next Linear Collider: CC11 at O(\alpha_s)

QCD one-loop corrections to the full gauge invariant set of electroweak diagrams describing the hadronic process $e^+ e^- \to u~\bar d~s~\bar c$ are computed. Four-jet shape variables for $WW$ events are studied at next-to-leading order and the effects of QCD corrections on the determination of the $W$--mass in the hadronic channel at Lep 2 and NLC is discussed. We compare the exact calculation with a ``naive''approach to strong radiative corrections which has been widely used in the literature.Comment: 10 pages, 4 ps figures, requires axodra

Epidemiology and genetic characterization of <i>Border Disease Virus</i> circulating in Sardinia

Border Disease Virus (BDV), a pestivirus from the Flaviviridae family, is an important pathogen of sheep and goats responsible for significant losses in farms around the world. In spite of the relevance of this pathogen there are only a few epidemiological studies on BDV infection and, as a consequence, the economic impact on small ruminant productions is probably under-estimated. The aims of this study are i) to determine the distribution of BDV in small ruminant farms in Sardinia and genetically characterize circulating strains ii) analyze the relation between seroprevalence, Somatic Cells Count (SCC) an milk yeld. ELISA was performed using “BVDV/MD/BDV p80 Protein Antibody Test Kit” (IDEXX) on serum of bulk tank milk (BTM) samples collected from Sardinian sheep flocks and goat herds between spring 2014 and 2015. The number of sampled farms corresponded to 8.5% of all registered farms in Sardinia. RNA was isolated using Qiamp Viral RNA mini kit from the cellular fraction of each ELISA positive BTV sample and amplified by rt-PCR using complementary primers to a highly conserved region in the untranslated regions (UTRs) of the viral genome. The amplicons were sequenced for phylogenetic analysis. Geographic distribution of collected specimen, seroprevalence and virological positive samples were analyzed via GIS (ESRI ARCGIS 10.3). ELISA screening shows a seroprevalence of 8.3% among goat farms and 10.5% among ovine farms. Ten from the ELISA positive samples were found rt-PCR positive. The sequence analysis indicates that all the amplified samples match with BDV genomes and the phylogenetic analysis revealed that all the viruses clustered in the same group classified as BDV-7. BDV-7 is the only group isolated in Sardinia so far

The liposoluble proteome of Mycoplasma agalactiae: an insight into the minimal protein complement of a bacterial membrane

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mycoplasmas are the simplest bacteria capable of autonomous replication. Their evolution proceeded from gram-positive bacteria, with the loss of many biosynthetic pathways and of the cell wall. In this work, the liposoluble protein complement of <it>Mycoplasma agalactiae</it>, a minimal bacterial pathogen causing mastitis, polyarthritis, keratoconjunctivitis, and abortion in small ruminants, was subjected to systematic characterization in order to gain insights into its membrane proteome composition.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The selective enrichment for <it>M. agalactiae </it>PG2^Tliposoluble proteins was accomplished by means of Triton X-114 fractionation. Liposoluble proteins were subjected to 2-D PAGE-MS, leading to the identification of 40 unique proteins and to the generation of a reference 2D map of the <it>M. agalactiae </it>liposoluble proteome. Liposoluble proteins from the type strain PG2 and two field isolates were then compared by means of 2D DIGE, revealing reproducible differences in protein expression among isolates. An in-depth analysis was then performed by GeLC-MS/MS in order to achieve a higher coverage of the liposoluble proteome. Using this approach, a total of 194 unique proteins were identified, corresponding to 26% of all <it>M. agalactiae </it>PG2^Tgenes. A gene ontology analysis and classification for localization and function was also carried out on all protein identifications. Interestingly, the 11.5% of expressed membrane proteins derived from putative horizontal gene transfer events.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study led to the in-depth systematic characterization of the <it>M. agalactiae </it>liposoluble protein component, providing useful insights into its membrane organization.</p

CC10 at O(αs){\cal O}(\alpha_s ): QCD corrections to e+e−→μ−νˉμudˉe^+ e^- \to \mu^- \bar \nu_\mu u \bar d at LEP2 and the Next Linear Collider

QCD one-loop corrections to the semileptonic process $e^+ e^- \to \mu^- \bar \nu_\mu u \bar d$ are computed. We compare the exact calculation with a ``naive'' approach to strong radiative corrections which has been widely used in the literature and discuss the phenomenological relevance of QCD contributions for LEP2 and NLC physics.Comment: 10 LaTex pages, 3 figs using Axodraw.sty, 3 ps figure

Characterization of the interaction of African swine fever virus with monocytes and derived macrophage subsets.

Abstract African swine fever (ASF) is a devastating disease for which there is no vaccine available. The ASF virus (ASFV) primarily infects cells of the myeloid lineage and this tropism is thought to be crucial for disease pathogenesis. A detailed in vitro characterization of the interactions of a virulent Sardinian isolate (22653/14) and a tissue culture adapted avirulent strain (BA71V) of ASFV with porcine monocytes, un-activated (moMΦ), classically (moM1) and alternatively (moM2) activated monocyte-derived macrophages was conducted in an attempt to better understand this relationship. Using a multiplicity-of-infection (MOI) of 1, both viruses were able to infect monocytes and macrophage subsets, but BA71V presented a reduced ability to infect moM1 compared to 22653/14, with higher expression of early compared to late proteins. Using an MOI of 0.01, only 22653/14 was able to replicate in all the macrophage subsets, with initially lowest in moM1 and moM2. No differences were observed in the expression of CD163 between ASFV infected and uninfected bystander cells. ASFV down-regulated CD16 expression but did not modulate MHC class II levels in monocytes and macrophage subsets. BA71V-infected but not 22653/14-infected moMΦ and moM2 presented with a reduced expression of MHC class I compared to the mock-infected controls. Higher levels of IL-18, IL1-β and IL-1α were released from moM1 after infection with BA71V compared to 22653/14 or mock-infected control. These results revealed differences between these ASFV strains, suggesting that virulent isolates have evolved mechanisms to counteract activated macrophages responses, promoting their survival, dissemination in the host and so ASF pathogenesis

<i>Mycoplasma agalactiae</i> MAG_5040 is a Mg²⁺-dependent, sugar-nonspecific SNase recognised by the host humoral response during natural infection

In this study the enzymatic activity of Mycoplasma agalactiae MAG_5040, a magnesium-dependent nuclease homologue to the staphylococcal SNase was characterized and its antigenicity during natural infections was established. A UGA corrected version of MAG_5040, lacking the region encoding the signal peptide, was expressed in Escherichia coli as a GST fusion protein. Recombinant GST-MAG_5040 exhibits nuclease activity similar to typical sugar-nonspecific endo- and exonucleases, with DNA as the preferred substrate and optimal activity in the presence of 20 mM MgCl2 at temperatures ranging from 37 to 45uC. According to in silico analyses, the position of the gene encoding MAG_5040 is consistently located upstream an ABC transporter, in most sequenced mycoplasmas belonging to the Mycoplasma hominis group. In M. agalactiae, MAG_5040 is transcribed in a polycistronic RNA together with the ABC transporter components and with MAG_5030, which is predicted to be a sugar solute binding protein by 3D modeling and homology search. In a natural model of sheep and goats infection, anti-MAG_5040 antibodies were detected up to 9 months post infection. Taking into account its enzymatic activity, MAG_5040 could play a key role in Mycoplasma agalactiae survival into the host, contributing to host pathogenicity. The identification of MAG_5040 opens new perspectives for the development of suitable tools for the control of contagious agalactia in small ruminants

Thermal Balancing Policy for Streaming Computing on Multiprocessor Architectures

As feature sizes decrease, power dissipation and heat generation density exponentially increase. Thus, temperature gradients in Multiprocessor Systems on Chip (MPSoCs) can seriously impact system performance and reliability. Thermal balancing policies based on task migration have been proposed to modulate power distribution between processing cores to achieve temperature flattening. However, in the context of MPSoC for multimedia streaming computing, where timeliness is critical, the impact of migration on quality of service must be carefully analyzed. In this paper we present the design and implementation of a lightweight thermal balancing policy that reduces on-chip temperature gradients via task migration. This policy exploits run-time temperature and load information to balance the chip temperature. Moreover, we assess the effectiveness of the proposed policy for streaming computing architectures by analyzing deadlines misses and architectural thermal effects of task migration using a cycle-accurate thermal-aware emulation infrastructure. Our results using a real-life software defined radio multitask benchmark show that our policy achieves thermal balancing while keeping migration costs bounded

Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Sardinia, Italy

Anaplasma phagocytophilum (formerly Ehrlichia phagocytophila), a tick-transmitted pathogen that infects several animal species, including humans (involved as accidental "dead-end" hosts), is the causative agent of human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA). It is a pathogen of veterinary importance responsible for tickborne fever of ruminants and for granulocytic anaplasmosis of horses and dogs). HGA was first described in the United States in 1994 and is emerging in Europe. Although only 2 human cases have been reported in Italy, serologic and molecular findings have shown A. phagocytophilum infections in dogs and Ixodes ricinus ticks. Incidence, prevalence, and public impact of HGA and horse granulocytic anaplasmosis are, therefore, unknown for this geographic area. From 1992 to 1996, an average rate of 13.4 cases/year/100,000 inhabitants of tick bite–related fever of unknown etiology has been reported on the island of Sardinia, Italy, which is considerably higher than the corresponding national average value of 2.1 cases/year/100,000 inhabitants. Moreover, 117 cases of tick bite–related fever, whose etiology remains obscure, have been reported from 1995 to 2002 in the central west coast area of the island. Local newspapers occasionally report deaths as a result of tick bites, although no HGA-associated deaths have been documented in Europe.This study investigated A. phagocytophilum in Sardinia