Reduction of voluntary dehydration during effort in hot environments

During an experimental marching trip the daily positive fluid balance was preserved by providing a wide choice of beverages during the hours of the day. It was found that the beverage most suitable for drinking in large quantities during periods of effort was a cold drink with sweetened (citrus) fruit taste. Carbonated drinks, including beer, but milk also, were found unsuitable for this purpose

Brain regions concerned with perceptual skills in tennis: An fMRI study

Sporting performance makes special demands on perceptual skills, but the neural mechanisms underlying such performance are little understood. We address this issue, making use of fMRI to identify the brain areas activated in viewing and responding to video sequences of tennis players, filmed from the opponent’s perspective. In a block-design, fMRI study, 9 novice tennis players watched video clips of tennis play. The main stimulus conditions were (1) serve sequences, (2) non-serve behaviour (ball bouncing) and (3) static control sequences. A button response was required indicating the direction of serve (left or right for serve sequences, middle button for non-serve and static sequences). By comparing responses to the three stimulus conditions, it was possible to identify two groups of brain regions responsive to different components of the task. Areas MT/MST and STS in the posterior part of the temporal lobe responded either to serve and to non-serve stimuli, relative to static controls. Serve sequences produced additional regions of activation in parietal lobe (bilateral IPL, right SPL) and in right frontal cortex (IFGd, IFGv), and these areas were not activated by non-serve sequences. These regions of parietal and frontal cortex have been implicated in a “mirror neuron” network in the human brain. It is concluded that the task of judgement of serve direction produces two different patterns of response: activations in MT/MST and STS concerned with primarily with the analysis of motion and body actions, and activations in parietal and frontal cortex associated specifically with the task of identification of direction of serve

Stromal fibroblasts support dendritic cells to maintain IL-23/Th17 responses after exposure to ionizing radiation

Dendritic cell function is modulated by stromal cells, including fibroblasts. Although poorly understood, the signals delivered through this crosstalk substantially alter dendritic cell biology. This is well illustrated with release of TNF-0/IL-113 from activated dendritic cells, promoting PGE2 secretion from stromal fibroblasts. This instructs dendritic cells to up-regulate IL-23, a key Th17-polarizing cytokine. We previously showed that ionizing radiation inhibited IL-23 production by human dendritic cells in vitro. In the present study, we investigated the hypothesis that dendritic cell-fibroblast crosstalk over¬comes the suppressive effect of ionizing radiation to support appropriately polarized Th17 responses. Radia¬tion (1–6 Gy) markedly suppressed IL-23 secretion by activated dendritic cells (P < 0.0001) without adversely impacting their viability and consequently, inhibited the generation of Th17 responses. Cytokine suppression by ionizing radiation was selective, as there was no effect on IL-10, -6, -10, and -27 or TNF-a and only a modest (11%) decrease in IL-12p70 secretion. Coculture with fibroblasts augmented IL-23 secretion by irradiated dendritic cells and increased Th17 responses. Impor¬tantly, in contrast to dendritic cells, irradiated fibroblasts maintained their capacity to respond to TNF-0/IL-10 and produce PGE2, thus providing the key intermediary signals for successful dendritic cell-fibroblasts crosstalk. In summary, stromal fibroblasts support Th17-polarizing cytokine production by dendritic cells that would other¬wise be suppressed in an irradiated microenvironment. This has potential ramifications for understanding the immune response to local radiotherapy. These findings underscore the need to account for the impact of microenvironmental factors, including stromal cells, in understanding the control of immunity. J. Leukoc. Biol. 100: 000–000; 2016

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurement of the top quark pair cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV using final states with an electron or a muon and a hadronically decaying τ lepton

A measurement of the cross section of top quark pair production in proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is reported. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.05 fb -1. Events with an isolated electron or muon and a τ lepton decaying hadronically are used. In addition, a large missing transverse momentum and two or more energetic jets are required. At least one of the jets must be identified as originating from a b quark. The measured cross section, σtt-=186±13(stat.)±20(syst.)±7(lumi.) pb, is in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction

Measurement of the top quark-pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at \sqrt{s}=7\TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs(\ttbar) in $pp$ collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 \TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron $e$ or muon $\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton ($ee$, $\mu\mu$ or $e\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb-1, 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-\ttbar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be $12.2 \pm 3.9$ events and $2.5 \pm 0.6$ events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM \ttbar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be \sigmattbar=145 \pm 31 ^{+42}_{-27} pb where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 30 pages plus author list (50 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, CERN-PH number and final journal adde

Expected Performance of the ATLAS Experiment - Detector, Trigger and Physics

A detailed study is presented of the expected performance of the ATLAS detector. The reconstruction of tracks, leptons, photons, missing energy and jets is investigated, together with the performance of b-tagging and the trigger. The physics potential for a variety of interesting physics processes, within the Standard Model and beyond, is examined. The study comprises a series of notes based on simulations of the detector and physics processes, with particular emphasis given to the data expected from the first years of operation of the LHC at CERN

Hunt for new phenomena using large jet multiplicities and missing transverse momentum with ATLAS in 4.7 fb−1 of √s=7 TeV proton-proton collisions

Results are presented of a search for new particles decaying to large numbers of jets in association with missing transverse momentum, using 4.7 fb−1 of pp collision data at s√=7TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011. The event selection requires missing transverse momentum, no isolated electrons or muons, and from ≥6 to ≥9 jets. No evidence is found for physics beyond the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in the context of a MSUGRA/CMSSM supersymmetric model, where, for large universal scalar mass m 0, gluino masses smaller than 840 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, extending previously published limits. Within a simplified model containing only a gluino octet and a neutralino, gluino masses smaller than 870 GeV are similarly excluded for neutralino masses below 100 GeV