Recent results of the Unitarity Triangle from B-factories and perspectives for a superB

This paper reports a selection of results obtained at the B-factories, focusing on the measurements of the sides and the angles of the Unitarity Triangle. The high luminosity achieved at these machines allowed to perform high-precision measurements, and verify the Standard Model (SM). Projects to build a superB factory have been presented: with even higher precision, new physics scenarios can be explored and constrained

Project-based Temporary Organizing and Routine Dynamics

Projects are forms of organizing that have become increasingly common in the past decades. The ad-hoc and temporary nature of projects seemingly poses significant challenges to the patterning of activities into organizational routines. Yet, considerable research in routine dynamics has been carried out in project contexts. In this chapter, we show that projects and routines share some common characteristics and that acknowledging the project nature of routines as well as the organizational routine nature of projects offers significant opportunities for the advancement of routine dynamics research

Complement system network in cell physiology and in human diseases

The complement system is a multi-functional system representing the first line host defense against pathogens in innate immune response, through three different pathways. Impairment of its function, consisting in deficiency or excessive deregulated activation, may lead to severe systemic infections or autoimmune disorders. These diseases may be inherited or acquired. Despite many diagnostic tools are currently available, ranging from traditional, such as hemolytic or ELISA based assays, to innovative ones, like next generation sequencing techniques, these diseases are often not recognized. As for therapeutic aspects, strategies based on the use of targeted drugs are now widespread. The aim of this review is to present an updated overview of complement system pathophysiology, clinical implications of its dysfunction and to summarize diagnostic and therapeutic approaches

FRI0499 ACROMEGALY ARTROPATHY: IS THERE SOMETHING MORE BEHIND THE PAIN? A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY TO EVALUATE RHEUMATIC DISEASE IN GROWTH HORMONE SECRETING TUMOR PATIENTS

Background:Acromegaly is a rare disease with a remarkable impact on patients, both in terms of life expectancy and quality of life. Osteo-articular complications are one of the most frequently reported bothers. The "acromegaly artropathy" characterizes more than 70% of patients at diagnosis. Artropathy affects both spine and peripheral joints. A recent prospective study documented progression of acromegalic arthropathy identified as a worsening of osteophytes and joint space narrowing in 72–74% of patients despite long-term biochemical control. In addiction the Literature has occasionally reported cases of simultaneous presence of rheumatic diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, polymyalgia rheumatica, undifferentiated connective tissue diseases) and acromegaly and in all these cases the treatment has been delayed, because of wrong symptoms attribution to acromegaly artropathy.Objectives:The primary goal of the study is to better characterize joint pain in acromegaly patients and to evaluate the prevalence of rheumatic disease in growth hormone (GH) secreting pituitary tumor patients.Methods:We enrolled 20 acromegaly subjects (AS) and 20 control subjects (CS). In each subject immunological pattern (rheumatoid factor – RF; antinuclear antibodies - ANA, ENA; anti-citrullinated protein antibodies - ACPA; erythrocyte sedimentation rate – ESR) has been evaluated; they, also, underwent bilateral joint ultrasound of hands and wrists and nail capillaroscopy. The Chi square test and the Fisher's exact test were used to evaluate the association between binary variables, while the Spearman's test to evaluate the correlation of continuous ones. A multiple or logistic regression model was calculated in order to define the association between the capillaroscopic alterations and other detected variables.Results:Articular pain emerged as significantly more frequent in AS (p = 0.0269). No statistically significant differences are detected regarding immunological pattern. ANA and ENA screening resulted positive in 10% in AS and in 5% in CS. No IgA ACPA were detected in AS or CS, while IgG ACPA were positive only in one AS subject. No significant differences were detected between IgM and IgG RFin the two groups (AS 5% and CS 0%). Three fold higher IgG FR in AS compared to CS were detected. ESR levels were significantly higher than CS (p = 0.0405), as well as increased power doppler (PWD) articular uptake (AS 30% vs CS 5% p 0.081). The capillaroscopic evaluation showed a significant difference in almost each parameter that has been evaluated (logistic regression: number of enlargement p 0.004, hemorragies p 0.01 and capillaries p 0.001), showing a moderate-severe microangiopathy in AS. Interestingly, analyzing only the acromegaly cohort, we noticed higher GH levels at the enrollment in patients which developed capillary enlargements (GH: 0.95 ng/ml IQ 0,6-1,6) compared to other ones (GH: 0.55 ng/ml IQ 0.4-0.7; p = 0.08) and a significant lower number of hemorrhages (p = 0.02) in patients treated with GH antagonist pegvisomant.Conclusion:Our results demonstrated that joint damage in acromegaly does not seem to have an autoimmune etiology. Therefore, articular damage is mechanical and increased ESR and PWD alterations seems to confirm the presence of an inflammatory component. In addition, acromegaly is characterized by a microvascular pattern of moderate-severe microangiopathy, without correlation to IGF-I, but GH levels. Although requiring further confirmatory studies, our preliminary results seem to indicate how the capillaroscopic examination could be useful to detect earlier microangiopathy and to identify patients with a greater risk of macroangiopathy development..References:[1]Claessen KMJA et al. Bone and joint disorders in acromegaly. Neuroendocrinology. 2016;103(1):86-95.[2]Örük G et al. Is every joint symptom related to acromegaly? Endocrine. 2013 Apr;43(2):404-11.Disclosure of Interests:None declare

Interface of the general fitting tool GENFIT2 in PandaRoot

ANDA is a planned experiment at FAIR (Darmstadt) with a cooled antiproton beam in a range [1.5; 15] GeV/c, allowing a wide physics program in nuclear and particle physics. It is the only experiment worldwide, which combines a solenoid field (B=2T) and a dipole field (B=2Tm) in a spectrometer with a fixed target topology, in that energy regime. The tracking system of ANDA involves the presence of a high performance silicon vertex detector, a GEM detector, a straw-tubes central tracker, a forward tracking system, and a luminosity monitor. The offline tracking algorithm is developed within the PandaRoot framework, which is a part of the FairRoot project. The tool here presented is based on algorithms containing the Kalman Filter equations and a deterministic annealing filter. This general fitting tool (GENFIT2) offers to users also a Runge-Kutta track representation, and interfaces with Millepede II (useful for alignment) and RAVE (vertex finder). It is independent on the detector geometry and the magnetic field map, and written in C++ object-oriented modular code. Several fitting algorithms are available with GENFIT2, with user-adjustable parameters; therefore the tool is of friendly usage. A check on the fit convergence is done by GENFIT2 as well. The Kalman-Filter-based algorithms have a wide range of applications; among those in particle physics they can perform extrapolations of track parameters and covariance matrices. The adoptions of the PandaRoot framework to connect to Genfit2 are described, and the impact of GENFIT2 on the physics simulations of ANDA are shown: significant improvement is reported for those channels where a good low momentum tracking is required (pT < 400 MeV/c)

Observation of the Decay B^-→D_s^((*)+)K^-ℓ^-ν̅ _ℓ

We report the observation of the decay B^- → D_s^((*)+)K^-ℓ^-ν̅ _ℓ based on 342  fb^(-1) of data collected at the Υ(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e^+e^- storage rings at SLAC. A simultaneous fit to three D_s^+ decay chains is performed to extract the signal yield from measurements of the squared missing mass in the B meson decay. We observe the decay B^- → D_s^((*)+)K^-ℓ^-ν̅ _ℓ with a significance greater than 5 standard deviations (including systematic uncertainties) and measure its branching fraction to be B(B^- → D_s^((*)+)K^-ℓ^-ν̅ _ℓ)=[6.13_(-1.03)^(+1.04)(stat)±0.43(syst)±0.51(B(D_s))]×10^(-4), where the last error reflects the limited knowledge of the D_s branching fractions

Ground state properties of heavy alkali halides

We extend previous work on alkali halides by calculations for the heavy-atom species RbF, RbCl, LiBr, NaBr, KBr, RbBr, LiI, NaI, KI, and RbI. Relativistic effects are included by means of energy-consistent pseudopotentials, correlations are treated at the coupled-cluster level. A striking deficiency of the Hartree-Fock approach are lattice constants deviating by up to 7.5 % from experimental values which is reduced to a maximum error of 2.4 % by taking into account electron correlation. Besides, we provide ab-initio data for in-crystal polarizabilities and van der Waals coefficients.Comment: accepted by Phys. Rev.

Increased prevalence of impulse control disorder symptoms in endocrine diseases treated with dopamine agonists: a cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: Impulse control disorders (ICDs) have been described as a side effect of dopamine agonists (DAs) in neurological as well as endocrine conditions. Few studies have evaluated the neuropsychological effect of DAs in hyperprolactinemic patients, and these have reported a relationship between DAs and ICDs. Our objective was to screen for ICD symptoms in individuals with DA-treated endocrine conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted on 132 patients with pituitary disorders treated with DAs (DA exposed), as well as 58 patients with pituitary disorders and no history of DA exposure (non-DA exposed). Participants responded to the full version of the Questionnaire for Impulsive-Compulsive Disorders in Parkinson’s disease (QUIP). RESULTS: Compared with the non-DA-exposed group, a higher prevalence of DA-exposed patients tested positive for symptoms of any ICD or related behavior (52% vs. 31%, p < 0.01), any ICD (46% vs. 24%, p < 0.01), any related behavior (31% vs. 17%, p < 0.05), compulsive sexual behavior (27% vs. 14%, p < 0.04), and punding (20% vs. 7%, p < 0.02) by QUIP. On univariate analysis, DA treatment was associated with a two- to threefold increased risk of any ICD or related behavior [odds ratio (OR) 2.43] and any ICD (OR 2.70). In a multivariate analysis, independent risk factors for any ICD or related behavior were DA use (adjusted OR 2.22) and age (adjusted OR 6.76). Male gender was predictive of the risk of hypersexuality (adjusted OR 3.82). DISCUSSION: Despite the QUIP limitations, a clear sign of increased risk of ICDs emerges in individuals with DA-treated pituitary disorders. Our data contribute to the growing evidence of DA-induced ICDs in endocrine conditions