Studies of b-hadron decays to charming final states at LHCb

We present studies from the LHCb experiment of decays of the type H_b to H_c X, where H_b represents a beauty hadron (B+, B0 or Lambda_b) and H_c a charmed hadron (D0, D(*)+, Ds or Lambda_c). Such decays are important for the determination of the CKM angle gamma, a key goal of the LHCb physics programme. We exploit the data accumulated in 2010, and in the early months of the 2011 run. We report on the observation of new decay modes, and first measurements on the road to a precise determination of gamma.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the DPF-2011 Conference, Providence, RI, August 201

THEATRE AS THE REPRESENTATIVE SCENE OF THE POWER OF COURT: THE FIFTEENTH- AND SIXTEENTH-CENTURY ITALIAN EXEMPLA

Tra XV e XVI secolo il teatro diviene luogo deputato alla rappresentazione della corte . Il luogo teatrale manifesta emblematicamente la metafora del potere e del prestigio del casato . Sin dalla seconda metà del XV secolo la corte di Ferrara mette in atto, attraverso la figura di Pellegrino Prisciani, un’ operazione culturale orientata al recupero dei testi e del teatro classico.Il saggio analizza il coerente percorso della festa e della sua rappresentazione a Ferrara nel XV secolo e nel XVI secolo , evidenziando rapporti tematici e compositivi con gli affreschi di palazzo Schifanoia

Growth and apoptosis pathways in human cutaneous melanoma: in vitro and in vivo studies by using biological and proteomics approaches

Purpose. Melanoma is the most aggressive cutaneous cancer without effective treatment. Diagnosis is achieved very often too late and prognosis is poor. Aim of this work is to identify proteomic pathways potentially involved in melanoma aggressiveness. Materials and Methods. We analyzed 5 human metastatic melanoma cell lines and human keratinocyte and melanocyte cell lines as a control. Their proliferation and apoptotic behaviors under serum stimulation and starvation were analyzed in order to identify the most aggressive one. Melanoma cell proteome from the most aggressive cell line (A375), compared to the less aggressive one (SK mel 28), was analyzed by means of two complementary approaches: 1) multiplexed assay to measure the levels of 27 cytokines both in cell extracts and in conditioned media; 2) proteomic study through LC-MS/MS analysis of cell extracts. Data obtained were analyzed using bioinformatic analysis. Results. A375 cells were found to possess the highest growth rate both under serum stimulation and under serum starvation, while SK mel 28 cells under similar conditions were significantly less aggressive, confirmed also by invasion assays. The effect was markedly cell-density dependent, suggesting that cell-cell interaction and/or secretory signals dependent phenomena are important. Proteome analyses indicated that several proteins are differentially expressed and possibly related the aggressiveness. Some of these proteins have been identified as transport and proteasome components. The Bio-Plex analysis of the melanoma cell lines under study indicated that melanoma cells contain significantly (p<0.001) different levels of some inflammatory cytokines and angiogenic growth factors: the most significantly modified factors were IL-6, Il-7, RANTES and VEGF, suggesting a novel interesting viewpoint to explain melanoma cell aggressiveness. Conclusions. The reported results show that transport, proteasome components and an altered cytokine balance may be responsible for human melanoma aggressiveness