Determination of the presence of metabolic syndrome in patients of erectile dysfunction and assess correlation of its components with erectile dysfunction in a tertiary care hospital in central India

Background: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common medical condition that affects approximately 100 million men worldwide and is currently recognized as a major public health problem. Metabolic syndrome (Met S) is a complex entity consisting of multiple interrelated factors including insulin resistance, central adiposity, dyslipidaemia, endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerotic disease, low-grade inflammation, and in males, low testosterone levels. we aimed to investigate the relationship between metabolic syndrome and ED presence and severity.Methods: Patient who came to urology OPD with c/o of ED and were evaluated for it with physical examination, questionnaire, investigations>after confirmation of ED were evaluated for presence of metabolic syndrome and its individual componentsResults: Out of these 202 patients, 98 patients were found to have metabolic syndrome. The mean age of participating patients in this study was 47.2±5.6 years. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed in 98 (34.78%) of 202 patients. Statistically significant association was found between ED and metabolic syndrome, waist circumference and fasting blood glucose (p<0.001 with each parameter). We also found a significant correlation between hypertension and ED but no significant correlation with triglyceride levels or HDL levels.Conclusions: ED is strongly associated with metabolic syndrome and the efforts for treatment of erectile dysfunction must be made in the context of metabolic syndrome and its constituents with a low threshold to diagnose the cardiovascular disease

Influenza A Virus Nucleoprotein Exploits Hsp40 to Inhibit PKR Activation

BACKGROUND: Double-stranded RNA dependent protein kinase (PKR) is a key regulator of the anti-viral innate immune response in mammalian cells. PKR activity is regulated by a 58 kilo Dalton cellular inhibitor (P58(IPK)), which is present in inactive state as a complex with Hsp40 under normal conditions. In case of influenza A virus (IAV) infection, P58(IPK) is known to dissociate from Hsp40 and inhibit PKR activation. However the influenza virus component responsible for PKR inhibition through P58(IPK) activation was hitherto unknown. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Human heat shock 40 protein (Hsp40) was identified as an interacting partner of Influenza A virus nucleoprotein (IAV NP) using a yeast two-hybrid screen. This interaction was confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation studies from mammalian cells transfected with IAV NP expressing plasmid. Further, the IAV NP-Hsp40 interaction was validated in mammalian cells infected with various seasonal and pandemic strains of influenza viruses. Cellular localization studies showed that NP and Hsp40 co-localize primarily in the nucleus. During IAV infection in mammalian cells, expression of NP coincided with the dissociation of P58(IPK) from Hsp40 and decrease PKR phosphorylation. We observed that, plasmid based expression of NP in mammalian cells leads to decrease in PKR phosphorylation. Furthermore, inhibition of NP expression during influenza virus replication led to PKR activation and concomitant increase in eIF2α phosphorylation. Inhibition of NP expression also led to reduced IRF3 phosphorylation, enhanced IFN β production and concomitant reduction of virus replication. Taken together our data suggest that NP is the viral factor responsible for P58(IPK) activation and subsequent inhibition of PKR-mediated host response during IAV infection. SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings demonstrate a novel role of IAV NP in inhibiting PKR-mediated anti-viral host response and help us understand P58(IPK) mediated inhibition of PKR activity during IAV infection

MUSiC : a model-unspecific search for new physics in proton-proton collisions at root s=13TeV

Results of the Model Unspecific Search in CMS (MUSiC), using proton-proton collision data recorded at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1), are presented. The MUSiC analysis searches for anomalies that could be signatures of physics beyond the standard model. The analysis is based on the comparison of observed data with the standard model prediction, as determined from simulation, in several hundred final states and multiple kinematic distributions. Events containing at least one electron or muon are classified based on their final state topology, and an automated search algorithm surveys the observed data for deviations from the prediction. The sensitivity of the search is validated using multiple methods. No significant deviations from the predictions have been observed. For a wide range of final state topologies, agreement is found between the data and the standard model simulation. This analysis complements dedicated search analyses by significantly expanding the range of final states covered using a model independent approach with the largest data set to date to probe phase space regions beyond the reach of previous general searches.Peer reviewe

Measurement of prompt open-charm production cross sections in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

The production cross sections for prompt open-charm mesons in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeV are reported. The measurement is performed using a data sample collected by the CMS experiment corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 29 nb(-1). The differential production cross sections of the D*(+/-), D-+/-, and D-0 ((D) over bar (0)) mesons are presented in ranges of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity 4 < p(T) < 100 GeV and vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.1, respectively. The results are compared to several theoretical calculations and to previous measurements.Peer reviewe

Search for top squark production in fully hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search for production of the supersymmetric partners of the top quark, top squarks, is presented. The search is based on proton-proton collision events containing multiple jets, no leptons, and large transverse momentum imbalance. The data were collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1). The targeted signal production scenarios are direct and gluino-mediated top squark production, including scenarios in which the top squark and neutralino masses are nearly degenerate. The search utilizes novel algorithms based on deep neural networks that identify hadronically decaying top quarks and W bosons, which are expected in many of the targeted signal models. No statistically significant excess of events is observed relative to the expectation from the standard model, and limits on the top squark production cross section are obtained in the context of simplified supersymmetric models for various production and decay modes. Exclusion limits as high as 1310 GeVare established at the 95% confidence level on the mass of the top squark for direct top squark production models, and as high as 2260 GeV on the mass of the gluino for gluino-mediated top squark production models. These results represent a significant improvement over the results of previous searches for supersymmetry by CMS in the same final state.Peer reviewe

Measurement of the W gamma Production Cross Section in Proton-Proton Collisions at root s=13 TeV and Constraints on Effective Field Theory Coefficients

A fiducial cross section for W gamma production in proton-proton collisions is measured at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 137 fb(-1) of data collected using the CMS detector at the LHC. The W -> e nu and mu nu decay modes are used in a maximum-likelihood fit to the lepton-photon invariant mass distribution to extract the combined cross section. The measured cross section is compared with theoretical expectations at next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics. In addition, 95% confidence level intervals are reported for anomalous triple-gauge couplings within the framework of effective field theory.Peer reviewe

Performance of the CMS muon trigger system in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV

The muon trigger system of the CMS experiment uses a combination of hardware and software to identify events containing a muon. During Run 2 (covering 2015-2018) the LHC achieved instantaneous luminosities as high as 2 × 10 cm s while delivering proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV. The challenge for the trigger system of the CMS experiment is to reduce the registered event rate from about 40 MHz to about 1 kHz. Significant improvements important for the success of the CMS physics program have been made to the muon trigger system via improved muon reconstruction and identification algorithms since the end of Run 1 and throughout the Run 2 data-taking period. The new algorithms maintain the acceptance of the muon triggers at the same or even lower rate throughout the data-taking period despite the increasing number of additional proton-proton interactions in each LHC bunch crossing. In this paper, the algorithms used in 2015 and 2016 and their improvements throughout 2017 and 2018 are described. Measurements of the CMS muon trigger performance for this data-taking period are presented, including efficiencies, transverse momentum resolution, trigger rates, and the purity of the selected muon sample. This paper focuses on the single- and double-muon triggers with the lowest sustainable transverse momentum thresholds used by CMS. The efficiency is measured in a transverse momentum range from 8 to several hundred GeV

Search for long-lived particles decaying to jets with displaced vertices in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 Te V

A search is presented for long-lived particles produced in pairs in proton-proton collisions at the LHC operating at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data were collected with the CMS detector during the period from 2015 through 2018, and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 140 fb(-1). This search targets pairs of long-lived particles with mean proper decay lengths between 0.1 and 100 mm, each of which decays into at least two quarks that hadronize to jets, resulting in a final state with two displaced vertices. No significant excess of events with two displaced vertices is observed. In the context of R-parity violating supersymmetry models, the pair production of long-lived neutralinos, gluinos, and top squarks is excluded at 95% confidence level for cross sections larger than 0.08 fb, masses between 800 and 3000 GeV, and mean proper decay lengths between 1 and 25 mm.Peer reviewe