Search for B meson decays to four baryons at BaBar

B mesons are the lightest mesons which can decay to various final states containing baryons. The measurement and comparison of exclusive branching fractions of baryonic B decays, as well as studies on the dynamic of the decay, may allow better understanding of baryon production in B decays and, more generally, hadron fragmentation into baryons. We present here a search for the decay of a B meson in four baryons: B0 → ppp¯p¯, not yet observed. The data set consists of about 470 million BB¯ pairs collected with the BaBar detector at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

RESPOSTAS ECOFISIOLÓGICAS E REPRODUTIVAS DE Allagoptera arenaria (ARECACEAE) ÀS MUDANÇAS CLIMÁTICAS GLOBAIS EM AMBIENTE DE RESTINGA

A velocidade com que mudanças no clima vem acontecendo são uma ameaça em grande escala ao meio ambiente. Não se sabe como as plantas responderão a essas mudanças, pois existem poucas informações acerca das respostas ecofisiológicas das mesmas às mudanças nos padrões de temperatura e precipitação. Dessa forma, é importante identificar as possíveis vulnerabilidades das espécies nos cenários de mudanças climáticas globais. O objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar os efeitos isolados e combinados do aumento de temperatura (2°C) e volume pluviométrico (25%) na produção de biomassa, fenologia reprodutiva, trocas gasosas e fluorescência da clorofila a de Allagoptera arenaria em ambiente de restinga usando câmaras de topo aberto (open top chambers - OTC s) adaptadas e calhas coletoras de chuva. Foram selecionados 40 arbustos de A. arenaria distribuídos em quatro tratamentos, ambiente aberto-controle (C), aumento do volume pluviométrico em 25% (P), aumento de temperatura em 2°C (T) e aumento de temperatura em 2°C e volume pluviométrico em 25% (TP). O experimento foi montado no mês de junho de 2015 e as amostragens realizadas em novembro de 2015 e em fevereiro, junho e novembro de 2016. Os resultados demonstraram que as OTC s e as calhas foram eficazes para simular os efeitos de mudanças climáticas propostos. Os valores da variação da biomassa aérea foram maiores para o tratamento TP quando comparados ao tratamento T que, por sua vez, apresentou mais ciclos reprodutivos ao longo do período avaliado. Dessa forma foi possível verificar duas vertentes distintas entre os resultados no sentindo de produção de biomassa e produção de estruturas reprodutivas. As plantas submetidas ao tratamento TP apresentaram as maiores taxas de assimilação de CO2 (A), condutância estomática (gs), e transpiração (E) enquanto que o tratamento T apresentou as menores taxas nas amostragens inicialmente. Quanto a interação entre as variáveis fotossintéticas foi possível afirmar que nos meses de novembro/2015, fevereiro/2016 e junho/ 2016 houve a maior variação entre as variáveis de trocas gasosas, enquanto que em novembro/2016 houve poucas alterações significativas entre essas variáveis. O tratamento T apresentou considerável redução nas respostas dos transientes da fluorescência da clorofila a e o aumento do volume pluviométrico contribuiu para amenizar os efeitos do aumento de temperatura no tratamento TP. Em P não foram observadas diferenças em relação ao controle para as análises realizadas. Com as mudanças climáticas é possível que, A. arenaria desenvolva mecanismos para sobreviver ao aumento de temperatura e o aumento do volume pluviométrico pode favorecer esse processo. Possíveis aumentos de temperatura futuros poderão encurtar o ciclo reprodutivo de A. arenaria na tentativa de garantir o sucesso adaptativo e evolutivo dessa espécie. No ambiente de restinga essa espécie já lida com condições adversas e a tolerância à temperatura cada vez mais altas pode ser adquirida como mecanismo de adaptação ao ambiente de crescimento alterado. Palavras-chave: Mudanças climáticas biomassa aérea fenologia fotossíntese Allagoptera arenaria resting

Higher Prostate Weight Is Inversely Associated with Gleason Score Upgrading in Radical Prostatectomy Specimens

Background. Protective factors against Gleason upgrading and its impact on outcomes after surgery warrant better definition. Patients and Methods. Consecutive 343 patients were categorized at biopsy (BGS) and prostatectomy (PGS) as Gleason score, ≤6, 7, and ≥8; 94 patients (27.4%) had PSA recurrence, mean followup 80.2 months (median 99). Independent predictors of Gleason upgrading (logistic regression) and disease-free survival (DFS) (Kaplan-Meier, log-rank) were determined. Results. Gleason discordance was 45.7% (37.32% upgrading and 8.45% downgrading). Upgrading risk decreased by 2.4% for each 1 g of prostate weight increment, while it increased by 10.2% for every 1 ng/mL of PSA, 72.0% for every 0.1 unity of PSA density and was 21 times higher for those with BGS 7. Gleason upgrading showed increased clinical stage (P=0.019), higher tumor extent (P=0.009), extraprostatic extension (P=0.04), positive surgical margins (P<0.001), seminal vesicle invasion (P=0.003), less “insignificant” tumors (P<0.001), and also worse DFS, χ2=4.28, df=1, P=0.039. However, when setting the final Gleason score (BGS ≤6 to PGS 7 versus BGS 7 to PGS 7), avoiding allocation bias, DFS impact is not confirmed, χ2=0.40, df=1, P=0.530.Conclusions. Gleason upgrading is substantial and confers worse outcomes. Prostate weight is inversely related to upgrading and its protective effect warrants further evaluation

Higher Prostate Weight Is Inversely Associated With Gleason Score Upgrading In Radical Prostatectomy Specimens.

Background. Protective factors against Gleason upgrading and its impact on outcomes after surgery warrant better definition. Patients and Methods. Consecutive 343 patients were categorized at biopsy (BGS) and prostatectomy (PGS) as Gleason score, ≤6, 7, and ≥8; 94 patients (27.4%) had PSA recurrence, mean followup 80.2 months (median 99). Independent predictors of Gleason upgrading (logistic regression) and disease-free survival (DFS) (Kaplan-Meier, log-rank) were determined. Results. Gleason discordance was 45.7% (37.32% upgrading and 8.45% downgrading). Upgrading risk decreased by 2.4% for each 1 g of prostate weight increment, while it increased by 10.2% for every 1 ng/mL of PSA, 72.0% for every 0.1 unity of PSA density and was 21 times higher for those with BGS 7. Gleason upgrading showed increased clinical stage (P = 0.019), higher tumor extent (P = 0.009), extraprostatic extension (P = 0.04), positive surgical margins (P < 0.001), seminal vesicle invasion (P = 0.003), less insignificant tumors (P < 0.001), and also worse DFS, χ (2) = 4.28, df = 1, P = 0.039. However, when setting the final Gleason score (BGS ≤6 to PGS 7 versus BGS 7 to PGS 7), avoiding allocation bias, DFS impact is not confirmed, χ (2) = 0.40, df = 1, P = 0.530.Conclusions. Gleason upgrading is substantial and confers worse outcomes. Prostate weight is inversely related to upgrading and its protective effect warrants further evaluation.201371042

Contribution of red blood cells to the compensation for hypocapnic alkalosis through plasmatic strong ion difference variations

Introduction Chloride shift is the movement of chloride between red blood cells (RBC) and plasma (and vice versa) caused by variations in pCO2. The aim of our study was to investigate changes in plasmatic strong ion diff erence (SID) during acute variations in pCO2 and their possible role in the compensation for hypocapnic alkalosis.Methods Patients admitted in this year to our ICU requiring extracorporeal CO2 removal were enrolled. Couples of measurements of gases and electrolytes on blood entering (v) and leaving (a) the respiratory membrane were analyzed. SID was calculated as [Na+] + [K+] + 2[Ca2+] \u2013 [Cl\u2013] \u2013 [Lac\u2013]. Percentage variations in SID (SID%) were calculated as (SIDv \u2013 SIDa) x 100 / SIDv. The same calculation was performed for pCO2 (pCO2%). Comparison between v and a values was performed by paired t test or the signed-rank test, as appropriate. Results Analysis was conducted on 205 sample-couples of six enrolled patients. A signifi cant diff erence (P <0.001) between mean values of v\u2013a samples was observed for pH (7.41 \ub1 0.05 vs. 7.51 \ub1 0.06), pCO2 (48 \ub1 6 vs. 35 \ub1 7 mmHg), [Na+] (136.3 \ub1 4.0 vs. 135.2 \ub1 4.0 mEq/l), [Cl\u2013] (101.5 \ub1 5.3 vs. 102.8 \ub1 5.2 mEq/l) and therefore SID (39.5 \ub1 4.0 vs. 36.9 \ub1 4.1 mEq/l). pCO2% and SID% signifi cantly correlated (r2 = 0.28, P <0.001). Graphical representation by quartiles of pCO2% is shown in Figure 1. Conclusions As a reduction in SID decreases pH, the observed movement of anions and cations probably limited the alkalinization caused by hypocapnia. In this model, the only source of electrolytes are blood cells (that is, no interstitium and no infl uence of the kidney is present); it is therefore conceivable to consider the observed phenomenon as the contribution of RBC for the compensation of acute hypocapnic alkalosi

Palladium(II) complexes of quinolinylaminophosphonates: synthesis, structural characterization, antitumor and antimicrobial activity

Three types of palladium(II) halide complexes of quinolinylaminophosphonates have been synthesized and studied. Diethyl and dibutyl [alpha-anilino-(quinolin-2-ylmethyl)]phosphonates (L1, 12) act as N,N-chelate ligands through the quinoline and aniline nitrogens giving complexes cis-[Pd(L1/12)X-2] (X Cl, Br) (1-4). Their 3-substituted analogues [alpha-anilino-(quinolin-3-ylmethyl)]phosphonates (L3, L4) form dihalidopalladium complexes trans-[Pd(L3/L4)(2)X-2] (5-8), with trans N-bonded ligand molecules only through the quinoline nitrogen. Dialkyl [alpha-(quinolin-3-ylamino)-N-benzyl]phosphonates (L5, L6) give tetrahalidodipalladium complexes [Pd-2(L5/L6)(3)X-4] (9-12), containing one bridging and two terminal ligand molecules. The bridging molecule is bonded to the both palladium atoms, one through the quinoline and the other through the aminoquinoline nitrogen, whereas terminal ligand molecules are coordinated each only to one palladium via the quinoline nitrogen. Each palladium ion is also bonded to two halide ions in a trans square-planar fashion. The new complexes were identified and characterized by elemental analyses and by IR, UV-visible, H-1, C-13 and P-31 nuclear magnetic resonance and ESI-mass spectroscopic studies. The crystal structures of complexes 1-4 and 6 were determined by X-ray structure analysis. The antitumor activity of complexes in vitro was investigated on several human tumor cell lines and the highest activity with cell growth inhibitory effects in the low micromolar range was observed for dipalladium complexes 11 and 12 derived from dibutyl ester L6. The antimicrobial properties in vitro of ligands and their complexes were studied using a wide spectrum of bacterial and fungal strains. No specific activity was noted. Only ligands L3 and L4 and tetrahalidodipalladium complexes 9 and 11 show poor activities against some Gram positive bacteria

Thermal and Economic Efficiency of Progressive Retrofit Strategies for School Buildings by a Statistical Analysis based Tool

Design alternatives in air conditioned buildings may be easily compared just by summing the hourly consumption of primary energy, while quantitative approachs for bioclimatic design strategies are difficult to be assessed and compared. A actively heated and passively cooled school building is considered as an application field of a novel methodology to promote an informed choice about the retrofit strategies to be adopted for buildings, defined as the Gained Comfort Cost (GCC). A functional and significant unit (i.e. a classroom), is used to test different energy retrofit solutions and their performances were compared with a baseline, in terms of the capacity to reduce the indoor air temperature variation. The novel methodology is a visual tool allowing to understand the “distance” of indoor conditions from comfort; the retrofit strategies are promoted to reduce this distance considering however the associated costs (LCC) to deal with actual feasibility