523 research outputs found
Neutrino oscillations and Lorentz Invariance Violation in a Finslerian Geometrical model
Neutrino oscillations are one of the first evidences of physics beyond the
Standard Model (SM). Since Lorentz Invariance is a fundamental symmetry of the
SM, recently also neutrino physics has been explored to verify the eventual
modification of this symmetry and its potential magnitude. In this work we
study the consequences of the introduction of Lorentz Invariance Violation
(LIV) in the high energy neutrinos propagation and evaluate the impact of this
eventual violation on the oscillation predictions. An effective theory
explaining these physical effects is introduced via Modified Dispersion
Relations. This approach, originally introduced by Coleman and Glashow,
corresponds in our model to a modification of the special relativity geometry.
Moreover, the generalization of this perspective leads to the introduction of a
maximum attainable velocity which is specific of the particle. This can be
formalized in Finsler geometry, a more general theory of space-time. In the
present paper the impact of this kind of LIV on neutrino phenomenology is
studied, in particular by analyzing the corrections introduced in neutrino
oscillation probabilities for different values of neutrino energies and
baselines of experimental interest. The possibility of further improving the
present constraints on CPT-even LIV coefficients by means of our analysis is
also discussed.Comment: Accepted for publication with minor revisions, will appear on
European Physics Journal
Usutu virus in blackbirds (Turdus merula) with clinical signs, a case study from northern Italy
Usutu virus (USUV) is a mosquito-borne virus belonging to the family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus. Natural transmission
cycle of USUV involves mosquitoes and birds, so humans and other mammals are considered incidental hosts. In this study,
USUV infection was diagnosed in all wild blackbirds, collected from July to September 2018 in a wildlife recovery center
in the province of Bologna, in the Emilia-Romagna region, northern Italy. All blackbirds showed neurological clinical signs,
such as overturning, pedaling, and incoordination. Moreover, the subjects died shortly after arriving at the hospitalization
center. Virological investigations were performed by real-time PCR on frozen samples of the spleen, kidney, myocardium,
and brain for the detection of Usutu (USUV) and West Nile (WNV) viruses. The small and large intestine were used as a
matrix for the detection of Newcastle disease virus (NDV). All 56 subjects with neurological clinical signs were positive
for USUV, only one subject (1.8%) tested positive for WNV, and no subject was positive for NDV. The most represented
age class was class 1 J (58.9%), followed by class 3 (25.0%), and lastly from class 4 (16.1%). Most of the blackbirds before
dying were in good (51.8%) and fair (39.3%) nutritional status, while only five subjects (8.9%) were cachectic. The USUV
genomes detected in the blackbirds of this study fall within the sub-clade already called EU2 that has been detected since
2009 in the Emilia-Romagna region. Neurological clinical signs in USUV-affected blackbirds are still widely discussed and
there are few works in the literature. Although our results require further studies, we believe them to be useful for understanding
the clinical signs of Usutu virus in blackbirds, helping to increase the knowledge of this zoonotic agent in wild species
and to understand its effect on the ecosystem. The goal of this study was to reportâin the context of the regional passive
surveillance programâthe detection of USUV RNA in its most important amplifying host, the common blackbird, when
showing clinical signs before death
Neoadjuvant eribulin mesylate following anthracycline and taxane in triple negative breast cancer: Results from the HOPE study
Background Eribulin mesylate (E) is indicated for metastatic breast cancer patients previously treated with anthracycline and taxane. We argued that E could also benefit patients eligible for neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods Patients with primary triple negative breast cancer 2 cm received doxorubicin 60 mg/m2 and paclitaxel 200 mg/m2 x 4 cycles (AT) followed by E 1.4 mg/m2 x 4 cycles. Primary endpoint was pathological complete response (pCR) rate; secondary and explorative endpoints included clinical/metabolic response rates and safety, and biomarker analysis, respectively. Using a two-stage Simon design, 43 patients were to be included provided that 4 of 13 patients had achieved pCR in the first stage of the study. Results In stage I of the study 13 women were enrolled, median age 43 years, tumor size 2â5 cm in 9/13 (69%), positive nodal status in 8/13 (61%). Main grade 3 adverse event was neutropenia (related to AT and E in 4 and 2 cases, respectively). AT followed by E induced clinical complete + partial responses in 11/13 patients (85%), pCR in 3/13 (23%). Median measurements of maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) resulted 13, 3, and 1.9 at baseline, after AT and E, respectively. Complete metabolic response (CMR) occurred after AT and after E in 2 and 3 cases, respectively. Notably, 2 of the 5 (40%) patients with CMR achieved pCR at surgery. Immunostaining of paired pre-/post-treatment tumor specimens showed a reduction of ÎČ-catenin, CyclinD1, Zeb-1, and c-myc expression, in the absence of N-cadherin modulation. The study was interrupted at stage I due to the lack of the required patients with pCR. Conclusions Despite the early study closure, preoperative E following AT showed clinical and biological activity in triple negative breast cancer patients. Furthermore, the modulation of ÎČ-catenin pathway core proteins, supposedly outside the domain of epithelialâmesenchymal transition, claims for further investigation. Trial registration EU Clinical Trial Register, EudraCT number 2012-004956-12
A conical deficit in the AdS4/CFT3 correspondence
Inspired by the AdS/CFT correspondence we propose a new duality that allow
the study of strongly coupled field theories living in a 2+1 conical
space-time. Solving the 4-d Einstein equations in the presence of an infinite
static string and negative cosmological constant we obtain a conical AdS4
space-time whose boundary is identified with the 2+1 cone found by Deser,
Jackiw and 't Hooft. Using the AdS4/CFT3 correspondence we calculate retarded
Green's functions of scalar operators living in the cone.Comment: v3, 14 pages. We reinterpret our results for the Green's functions in
the con
Effect of a topical treatment in organotypic culture of human breast skin after exposure to gamma-rays
The early radiation of epidermal reactions can lead to healing of the lesion or radiation necrosis. There is no general agreement for either the prevention and/or treatment of radiation skin response, also as little is known about the immediate phases of this phenomenon. We investigated the early effects exerted by Healing and Wound Emulsion (HWE) on human skin response after ionizing radiation. Epidermal morphology, Heat Shock Protein (HSP) 70, and Transforming Growth Factor-b1 (TGF-b1) gene expression were investigated in organotypic human skin cultures undergoing a double dose of gamma-rays (2 Gy). HSP70 gene expression tended to be induced in the HWE group 6 hours after cream administration and was significantly up-regulated after 48 hours, when epidermal morphological alterations were evident. TGF- b1 seems not affected in cream treated samples. HWE may stimulate skin to mount an early defensive response against damage induced by gamma rays
M2-Branes and Fano 3-folds
A class of supersymmetric gauge theories arising from M2-branes probing
Calabi-Yau 4-folds which are cones over smooth toric Fano 3-folds is
investigated. For each model, the toric data of the mesonic moduli space is
derived using the forward algorithm. The generators of the mesonic moduli space
are determined using Hilbert series. The spectrum of scaling dimensions for
chiral operators is computed.Comment: 128 pages, 39 figures, 42 table
Rapporto tecnico sulla valutazione della biomassa ittioplanctonica mediante l'utilizzo del Multi Plankton Sampler (MPS)
Il piano di campionamento della campagna oceanografica BANSIC'14, condotta a bordo della N/O "URANIA" dal 22 Luglio al 9 Agosto 2014, lungo transetti sotto costa e a largo delle coste meridionali della Sicilia, ha avuto lâobiettivo generale dello studio delle relazioni tra le strutture oceanografiche a mesoscala (vortici verticali ed orizzontali, upwelling, etc.) e le strutture spaziali dei fenomeni biologici relativi ai primi anelli della catena trofica (zooplancton, distribuzione e abbondanza di larve di piccoli pelagici e grandi pelagici) (vedi Rapporto finale BANSIC 2014) per la stima dellâabbondanza dello stock riproduttore. E' una campagna di ricerca nell'ambito del WP3 del progetto SSD-Pesca, finanziato dal MIUR su fondi MISE, a supporto della pesca italiana nelle Regioni Obiettivo 1 e del progetto RITMARE (SP2_WP4_AZ2_UO04). Il campionamento ittioplanctonico Ăš inserito anche nel piano di lavoro del progetto regionale MIPAF-FAO âMedSudMedâ (âAssessment and Monitoring of the Fishery Resources and the Ecosystems in the Straits of Sicilyâ).
Il campionamento dellâittioplancton, durante questa campagna, oltre ai metodi tradizionali quali le reti di tipo Bongo, ha visto l'utilizzo del Multi Plankton Sampler (MPS) MultiNet.
I campionatori ittioplanctonici hanno lo scopo di prelevare porzioni di mesozooplancton da un massimo di 100 m fino alla superficie, in quanto le uova di pesci pelagici possiedono una galleggiabilitĂ tale che nonostante le turbolenze superficiali dellâacqua, un campionamento entro i primi metri restituisce un dato affidabile della distribuzione anche se alcune uova possono trovarsi a maggiore profonditĂ (Ahlstrom, 1959).
Il campionatore MPS consente, a differenza di altri strumenti, di prelevare la frazione di zooplancton d'interesse con diverse modalitĂ di campionamento: orizzontale, verticale e obliquo e, allo stesso tempo, permette di campionare a differenti quote di profonditĂ .
Le informazioni cosĂŹ ottenute sono state utilizzate per valutare la variazione della biomassa ittioplanctonica, l'abbondanza e la composizione delle specie lungo gli strati della colonna d'acqua anche in relazione alle componenti oceanografiche.
Grazie all'utilizzo di questo strumento Ăš possibile validare e verificare alcune informazioni e acquisirne delle nuove sullâecologia delle specie larvali e sul mesozooplancton, sul modo in cui queste si distribuiscono lungo la colonna d'acqua e sulle interazioni intra ed interspecifiche legate anche a fattori oceanografici. CiĂČ consente di ottenere maggiori informazioni e contribuire al miglioramento della comprensione della biologia e dell'ecologia delle specie rinvenute e, nel contempo, approfondire e migliorare le conoscenze sugli stadi di sviluppo di uova di specie ittiche che allo stadio embrionale sono ancora poco conosciuti
Choosing wisely first line immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): what to add and what to leave out
Immunotherapy has dramatically changed the therapeutic scenario in treatment na\uefve advanced non-small celllung cancer (NSCLC). While single agent pembrolizumab has become the standard therapy in patients with PD-L1 expression on tumor cells 65 50%, the combination of pembrolizumab or atezolizumab and platinum-basedchemotherapy has emerged as an effective first line treatment regardless of PD-L1 expression both in squamousand non-squamous NSCLC without oncogenic drivers. Furthermore, double immune checkpoint inhibition hasshown promising results in treatment na\uefve patients with high tumor mutational burden (TMB). Of note, thepresence of both negative PD-L1 expression and low TMB may identify a subgroup of patients who has littlebenefit from immunotherapy combinations and for whom the best treatment option may still be platinum-basedchemotherapy. To date, first-line single agent immune checkpoint blockade has demonstrated limited activity inEGFR mutated NSCLC and the combination of immunotherapy and targeted agents has raised safety concerns inboth EGFR and ALK positive NSCLC patients. Finally, in EGFR mutated or ALK rearranged NSCLC, atezolizumabin combination with platinum-based chemotherapy and bevacizumab is emerging as a potential treatment optionupon progression to first line tyrosine kinase inhibitors
Hairs on the cosmological horizon
We investigate the possibility of having hairs on the cosmological horizon.
The cosmological horizon shares similar properties of black hole horizons in
the aspect of having hairs on the horizons. For those theories admitting haired
black hole solutions, the nontrivial matter fields may reach and extend beyond
the cosmological horizon. For Q-stars and boson stars, the matter fields cannot
reach the cosmological horizon. The no short hair conjecture keeps valid,
despite the asymptotic behavior (de Sitter or anti-de Sitter) of black hole
solutions. We prove the no scalar hair theorem for anti-de Sitter black holes.
Using the Bekenstein's identity method, we also prove the no scalar hair
theorem for the de Sitter space and de Sitter black holes if the scalar
potential is convex.Comment: Revtex, no figures, 16 page
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