Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array to a dark matter signal from the Galactic centre

We provide an updated assessment of the power of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) to search for thermally produced dark matter at the TeV scale, via the associated gamma-ray signal from pair-annihilating dark matter particles in the region around the Galactic centre. We find that CTA will open a new window of discovery potential, significantly extending the range of robustly testable models given a standard cuspy profile of the dark matter density distribution. Importantly, even for a cored profile, the projected sensitivity of CTA will be sufficient to probe various well-motivated models of thermally produced dark matter at the TeV scale. This is due to CTA's unprecedented sensitivity, angular and energy resolutions, and the planned observational strategy. The survey of the inner Galaxy will cover a much larger region than corresponding previous observational campaigns with imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. CTA will map with unprecedented precision the large-scale diffuse emission in high-energy gamma rays, constituting a background for dark matter searches for which we adopt state-of-the-art models based on current data. Throughout our analysis, we use up-to-date event reconstruction Monte Carlo tools developed by the CTA consortium, and pay special attention to quantifying the level of instrumental systematic uncertainties, as well as background template systematic errors, required to probe thermally produced dark matter at these energies

Study of the rare decays of B_{s}^{0} and B^{0} mesons into muon pairs using data collected during 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector

A study of the decays B_{s}^{0} → μ⁺μ⁻ and B_{0} → μ⁺μ⁻ has been performed using 26.3 fb⁻¹ of 13 TeV LHC proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector in 2015 and 2016. Since the detector resolution in μ⁺μ⁻ invariant mass is comparable to the B_{s}^{0} - B^{0} mass difference, a single fit determines the signal yields for both decay modes. This results in a measurement of the branching fraction Β (B^{0} → μ⁺μ⁻) < 4.3 x 10⁻¹⁰ at 95% confidence level. The result is combined with the Run 1 ATLAS result, yielding Β (B_{s}^{0} → μ⁺μ⁻) = (2.8_{-0.7}^{+0.8}) x 10⁻⁹ and Β (B^{0} → μ⁺μ⁻) < 2.1 x 10⁻¹⁰ at 95% confidence level. The combined result is consistent with the Standard Model prediction within 2.4 standard deviations in the B (B^{0} → μ⁺μ⁻) - Β (B_{s}^{0} → μ⁺μ⁻) plane

CKD: The burden of disease invisible to research funders

The uptake of the current concept of chronic kidney disease (CKD) by the public, physicians and health authorities is low. Physicians still mix up CKD with chronic kidney insufficiency or failure. In a recent manuscript, only 23% of participants in a cohort of persons with CKD had been diagnosed by their physicians as having CKD while 29% has a diagnosis of cancer and 82% had a diagnosis of hypertension. For the wider public and health authorities, CKD evokes kidney replacement therapy (KRT). In Spain, the prevalence of KRT is 0.13%. A prevalent view is that for those in whom kidneys fail, the problem is solved by dialysis or kidney transplantation. However, the main burden of CKD is accelerated aging and all-cause and cardiovascular premature death. CKD is the most prevalent risk factor for lethal COVID-19 and the factor that most increases the risk of death in COVID-19, after old age. Moreover, men and women undergoing KRT still have an annual mortality which is 10-100-fold higher than similar age peers, and life expectancy is shortened by around 40 years for young persons on dialysis and by 15 years for young persons with a functioning kidney graft. CKD is expected to become the fifth global cause of death by 2040 and the second cause of death in Spain before the end of the century, a time when 1 in 4 Spaniards will have CKD. However, by 2022, CKD will become the only top-15 global predicted cause of death that is not supported by a dedicated well-funded CIBER network research structure in Spain. Leading Spanish kidney researchers grouped in the kidney collaborative research network REDINREN have now applied for the RICORS call of collaborative research in Spain with the support of the Spanish Society of Nephrology, ALCER and ONT: RICORS2040 aims to prevent the dire predictions for the global 2040 burden of CKD from becoming true. However, only the highest level of research funding through the CIBER will allow to adequately address the issue before it is too late. (C) 2021 Sociedad Espanola de Nefrologia. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U

Role of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells in liver diseases

Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) form the wall of the hepatic sinusoids. Unlike other capillaries, they lack an organized basement membrane and have cytoplasm that is penetrated by open fenestrae, making the hepatic microvascular endothelium discontinuous. LSECs have essential roles in the maintenance of hepatic homeostasis, including regulation of the vascular tone, inflammation and thrombosis, and they are essential for control of the hepatic immune response. On a background of acute or chronic liver injury, LSECs modify their phenotype and negatively affect neighbouring cells and liver disease pathophysiology. This Review describes the main functions and phenotypic dysregulations of LSECs in liver diseases, specifically in the context of acute injury (ischaemia-reperfusion injury, drug-induced liver injury and bacterial and viral infection), chronic liver disease (metabolism-associated liver disease, alcoholic steatohepatitis and chronic hepatotoxic injury) and hepatocellular carcinoma, and provides a comprehensive update of the role of LSECs as therapeutic targets for liver disease. Finally, we discuss the open questions in the field of LSEC pathobiology and future avenues of research

Search for resonances in the mass distribution of jet pairs with one or two jets identified as b-jets in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for new resonances decaying into jets containing b -hadrons in p p collisions with the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented in the dijet mass range from 0.57 to 7 TeV. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of up to 36.1     fb − 1 collected in 2015 and 2016 at √ s = 13     TeV . No evidence of a significant excess of events above the smooth background shape is found. Upper cross-section limits and lower limits on the corresponding signal mass parameters for several types of signal hypotheses are provided at 95% C.L. In addition, 95% C.L. upper limits are set on the cross sections for new processes that would produce Gaussian-shaped signals in the di- b -jet mass distributions