11 research outputs found

    Patients with encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis have increased peritoneal expression of connective tissue growth factor (CCN2), transforming growth factor- β1, and vascular endothelial growth factor

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    Introduction: Encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS) is a devastating complication of peritoneal dialysis (PD). The pathogenesis is not exactly known and no preventive strategy or targeted medical therapy is available. CCN2 has both profibrotic and pro-angiogenic actions and appears an attractive target. Therefore, we studied peritoneal expression of CCN2, as well as TGFb1 and VEGF, in different stages of peritoneal fibrosis.Materials and methods: Sixteen PD patients were investigated and compared to 12 hemodialysis patients and four preemptively transplanted patients. Furthermore, expression was investigated in 12 EPS patients in comparison with 13 PD and 12 non-PD patients without EPS. Peritoneal tissue was taken during kidney transplantation procedure or during EPS surgery. In a subset of patients, CCN2 protein levels in peritoneal effluent and plasma were determined. Samples were examined by qPCR, histology, immunohistochemistry, and ELISA.Results: Peritoneal CCN2 expression was 5-fold higher in PD patients compared to pre-emptively transplanted patients (P< 0.05), but did not differ from hemodialysis patients. Peritoneal expression of TGFβ1 and VEGF were not different between the three groups; neither was peritoneal thickness. Peritoneum of EPS patients exhibited increased expression of CCN2 (35- fold, P<0.001), TGFβ1 (24-fold, P< 0.05), and VEGF (77-fold, P<0.001) compared to PD patients without EPS. In EPS patients, CCN2 protein was mainly localized in peritoneal endothelial cells and fibroblasts. CCN2 protein levels were significantly higher in peritoneal effluent of EPS patients compared to levels in dialysate of PD patients (12.0±4.5 vs. 0.91±0.92 ng/ml, P<0.01), while plasma CCN2 levels were not increased.Conclusions: Peritoneal expression of CCN2, TGFβ1, and VEGF are significantly increased in EPS patients. In early stages of peritoneal fibrosis, only CCN2 expression is slightly increased. Peritoneal CCN2 overexpression in EPS patients is a locally driven response. The potential of CCN2 as biomarker and target for CCN2-inhibiting agents to prevent or treat EPS warrants further study

    Search for resonances decaying into photon pairs in 139 fb−1 of pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

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    Searches for new resonances in the diphoton final state, with spin 0 as predicted by theories with an extended Higgs sector and with spin 2 using a warped extra-dimension benchmark model, are presented using 139 fb−1 of √s = 13 TeV pp collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. No significant deviation from the Standard Model is observed and upper limits are placed on the production cross-section times branching ratio to two photons as a function of the resonance mass

    Search for single vector-like B quark production and decay via B → bH(b¯b) in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

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    A search is presented for single production of a vector-like B quark decaying into a Standard Model b-quark and a Standard Model Higgs boson, which decays into a b¯b pair. The search is carried out in 139 fb−1 of √s = 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC between 2015 and 2018. No significant deviation from the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and mass-dependent exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level are set on the resonance production cross-section in several theoretical scenarios determined by the couplings cW, cZ and cH between the B quark and the Standard Model W, Z and Higgs bosons, respectively. For a vector-like B occurring as an isospin singlet, the search excludes values of cW greater than 0.45 for a B resonance mass (mB) between 1.0 and 1.2 TeV. For 1.2 TeV < mB < 2.0 TeV, cW values larger than 0.50–0.65 are excluded. If the B occurs as part of a (B, Y) doublet, the smallest excluded cZ coupling values range between 0.3 and 0.5 across the investigated resonance mass range 1.0 TeV < mB < 2.0 TeV

    Measurements of WH and ZH production in the H→ bb¯ decay channel in pp collisions at 13Te with the ATLAS detector

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    Measurements of the Standard Model Higgs boson decaying into a bbˉb\bar{b} pair and produced in association with a WW or ZZ boson decaying into leptons, using proton-proton collision data collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS detector, are presented. The measurements use collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of s=\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb1^{-1}. The production of a Higgs boson in association with a WW or ZZ boson is established with observed (expected) significances of 4.0 (4.1) and 5.3 (5.1) standard deviations, respectively. Cross-sections of associated production of a Higgs boson decaying into bottom quark pairs with an electroweak gauge boson, WW or ZZ, decaying into leptons are measured as a function of the gauge boson transverse momentum in kinematic fiducial volumes. The cross-section measurements are all consistent with the Standard Model expectations, and the total uncertainties vary from 30% in the high gauge boson transverse momentum regions to 85% in the low regions. Limits are subsequently set on the parameters of an effective Lagrangian sensitive to modifications of the WHWH and ZHZH processes as well as the Higgs boson decay into bbˉb\bar{b}

    Measurement of the nuclear modification factor for muons from charm and bottom hadrons in Pb+Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector

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    Heavy-flavour hadron production provides information about the transport properties and microscopic structure of the quark–gluon plasma created in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. A measurement of the muons from semileptonic decays of charm and bottom hadrons produced in Pb+Pb and pp collisions at a nucleon–nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. The Pb+Pb data were collected in 2015 and 2018 with sampled integrated luminosities of 208μb−1 and 38μb−1, respectively, and pp data with a sampled integrated luminosity of 1.17pb−1 were collected in 2017. Muons from heavy-flavour semileptonic decays are separated from the light-flavour hadronic background using the momentum imbalance between the inner detector and muon spectrometer measurements, and muons originating from charm and bottom decays are further separated via the muon track's transverse impact parameter. Differential yields in Pb+Pb collisions and differential cross sections in pp collisions for such muons are measured as a function of muon transverse momentum from 4 GeV to 30 GeV in the absolute pseudorapidity interval |η|<2. Nuclear modification factors for charm and bottom muons are presented as a function of muon transverse momentum in intervals of Pb+Pb collision centrality. The bottom muon results are the most precise measurement of b quark nuclear modification at low transverse momentum where reconstruction of B hadrons is challenging. The measured nuclear modification factors quantify a significant suppression of the yields of muons from decays of charm and bottom hadrons, with stronger effects for muons from charm hadron decays

    Constraints on Higgs boson production with large transverse momentum using H -> b(b)over-bar decays in the ATLAS detector

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    This paper reports constraints on Higgs boson production with transverse momentum above 1 TeV. The analyzed data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV were recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider from 2015 to 2018 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 136 fb(-1.) Higgs bosons decaying into b (b) over bar are reconstructed as single large-radius jets recoiling against a hadronic system and are identified by the experimental signature of two b-hadron decays. The experimental techniques are validated in the same kinematic regime using the Z -&gt; b (b) over bar process. The 95% confidence-level upper limit on the cross section for Higgs boson production with transverse momentum above 450 GeV is 115 fb, and above 1 TeV it is 9.6 fb. The Standard Model cross section predictions for a Higgs boson with a mass of 125 GeV in the same kinematic regions are 18.4 fb and 0.13 fb, respectively

    The ATLAS Fast TracKer system

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    Abstract: The ATLAS Fast TracKer (FTK) was designed to provide full tracking for the ATLAS high-level trigger by using pattern recognition based on Associative Memory (AM) chips and fitting in high-speed field programmable gate arrays. The tracks found by the FTK are based on inputs from all modules of the pixel and silicon microstrip trackers. The as-built FTK system and components are described, as is the online software used to control them while running in the ATLAS data acquisition system. Also described is the simulation of the FTK hardware and the optimization of the AM pattern banks. An optimization for long-lived particles with large impact parameter values is included. A test of the FTK system with the data playback facility that allowed the FTK to be commissioned during the shutdown between Run 2 and Run 3 of the LHC is reported. The resulting tracks from part of the FTK system covering a limited η–ϕ region of the detector are compared with the output from the FTK simulation. It is shown that FTK performance is in good agreement with the simulation

    Search for new phenomena in three- or four-lepton events in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

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    We thank CERN for the very successful operation of the LHC, as well as the support staff from our institutions without whom ATLAS could not be operated efficiently. We acknowledge the support of ANPCyT, Argentina; YerPhI, Ar-menia; ARC, Australia; BMWFW and FWF, Austria; ANAS, Azerbai-jan; SSTC, Belarus; CNPq and FAPESP, Brazil; NSERC, NRC and CFI, Canada; CERN; ANID, Chile; CAS, MOST and NSFC, China; Min-ciencias, Colombia; MSMT CR, MPO CR and VSC CR, Czech Repub-lic; DNRF and DNSRC, Denmark; IN2P3-CNRS and CEA-DRF/IRFU, France; SRNSFG, Georgia; BMBF, HGF and MPG, Germany; GSRI, Greece; RGC and Hong Kong SAR, China; ISF and Benoziyo Cen-ter, Israel; INFN, Italy; MEXT and JSPS, Japan; CNRST, Morocco; NWO, Netherlands; RCN, Norway; MEiN, Poland; FCT, Portugal; MNE/IFA, Romania; JINR; MES of Russia and NRC KI, Russian Fed-eration; MESTD, Serbia; MSSR, Slovakia; ARRS and MIZŠ, Slovenia; DSI/NRF, South Africa; MICINN, Spain; SRC and Wallenberg Founda-tion, Sweden; SERI, SNSF and Cantons of Bern and Geneva, Switzer-land; MOST, Taiwan; TAEK, Turkey; STFC, United Kingdom; DOE and NSF, United States of America. In addition, individual groups and members have received support from BCKDF, CANARIE, Com-pute Canada and CRC, Canada; COST, ERC, ERDF, Horizon 2020 and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, European Union; Investisse-ments d’Avenir Labex, Investissements d’Avenir Idex and ANR, France; DFG and AvH Foundation, Germany; Herakleitos, Thales and Aristeia programmes co-financed by EU-ESF and the Greek NSRF, Greece; BSF-NSF and GIF, Israel; Norwegian Financial Mecha-nism 2014-2021, Norway; NCN and NAWA, Poland; La Caixa Bank-ing Foundation, CERCA Programme Generalitat de Catalunya and PROMETEO and GenT Programmes Generalitat Valenciana, Spain; Göran Gustafssons Stiftelse, Sweden; The Royal Society and Lever-hulme Trust, United Kingdom. The crucial computing support from all WLCG partners is ac-knowledged gratefully, in particular from CERN, the ATLAS Tier-1 facilities at TRIUMF (Canada), NDGF (Denmark, Norway, Sweden), CC-IN2P3 (France), KIT/GridKA (Germany), INFN-CNAF (Italy), NL-T1 (Netherlands), PIC (Spain), ASGC (Taiwan), RAL (UK) and BNL (USA), the Tier-2 facilities worldwide and large non-WLCG resource providers. Major contributors of computing resources are listed in Ref.[91].A search with minimal model dependence for physics beyond the Standard Model in events featuring three or four charged leptons (3l and 4l, l = e, mu) is presented. The analysis aims to be sensitive to a wide range of potential new-physics theories simultaneously. This analysis uses data from pp collisions delivered by the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV and recorded with the ATLAS detector, corresponding to the full Run 2 dataset of 139 fb(-1). The 3l and 4l phase space is divided into 22 event categories according to the number of leptons in the event, the missing transverse momentum, the invariant mass of the leptons, and the presence of leptons originating from a Z-boson candidate. These event categories are analysed independently for the presence of deviations from the Standard Model. No statistically significant deviations from the Standard Model predictions are observed. Upper limits for all signal regions are reported in terms of the visible cross-section.ANPCyT, ArgentinaYerPhI, ArmeniaARC, AustraliaBMWFW and FWF, AustriaANAS, AzerbaijanSSTC, BelarusCNPq and FAPESP, BrazilNSERC, NRC and CFI, CanadaCERNANID, ChileCAS, MOST and NSFC, ChinaMinciencias, ColombiaMSMT CR, MPO CR and VSC CR, Czech RepublicDNRF and DNSRC, DenmarkIN2P3-CNRS and CEA-DRF/IRFU, FranceSRNSFG, GeorgiaBMBF, HGF and MPG, GermanyGSRI, GreeceRGC and Hong Kong SAR, ChinaISF and Benoziyo Center, IsraelINFN, ItalyMEXT and JSPS, JapanCNRST, MoroccoNWO, NetherlandsRCN, NorwayMEiN, PolandFCT, PortugalMNE/IFA, RomaniaJINRMES of Russia and NRC KI, Russian FederationMESTD, SerbiaMSSR, SlovakiaARRS and MIZŠ, SloveniaDSI/NRF, South AfricaMICINN, SpainSRC and Wallenberg Foundation, SwedenSERI, SNSF and Cantons of Bern and Geneva, SwitzerlandMOST, TaiwanTAEK, TurkeySTFC, United KingdomDOE and NSF, United States of AmericaBCKDF, CANARIE, Compute Canada and CRC, CanadaCOST, ERC, ERDF, Horizon 2020 and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, European UnionInvestissements d’Avenir Labex, Investissements d’Avenir Idex and ANR, FranceDFG and AvH Foundation, GermanyHerakleitos, Thales and Aristeia programmes co-financed by EU-ESF and the Greek NSRF, GreeceBSF-NSF and GIF, IsraelNorwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021, NorwayNCN and NAWA, PolandLa Caixa Banking Foundation, CERCA Programme Generalitat de Catalunya and PROMETEO and GenT Programmes Generalitat Valenciana, SpainGöran Gustafssons Stiftelse, SwedenThe Royal Society and Leverhulme Trust, United Kingdo
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