The Search for Extra Neutral Currents at the LHC: QCD and Anomalous Gauge Interactions

Extensions of the Standard Model with extra neutral currents due to additional anomalous abelian gauge factors are considered. We summarize the main features of the effective action associated to these theories. They are characterized by an axion-like particle (the {\em axi-higgs}) which can be (almost) massless, with its mass generated non-perturbatively in the QCD vacuum as for an ordinary Peccei-Quinn axion, but that can also mix with the scalars of the Higgs sector, becoming a heavy axion. We briefly describe the interplay between the electroweak and the QCD sectors in these types of theories, which emerge either from special vacua of string/brane theory; from partial decoupling of a heavier fermion sector or from an anomaly inflow in the context of models with extra dimensions.Comment: Talk given at QCD@work 2007, Martina Franca, Italy, 16-20 June 2007, 5 pages, 2 figures. To be published in the American Institute of Physics (AIP) conference proceeding

Effects of physical activity on endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs)

Physical activity has a therapeutic role in cardiovascular disease (CVD), through its beneficial effects on endothelial function and cardiovascular system. Circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are bone marrow (BM) derived cells that represent a novel therapeutic target in CVD patients, because of their ability to home to sites of ischemic injury and repair the damaged vessels. Several studies show that physical activity results in a significant increase in circulating EPCs, and, in particular, there are some evidence of the beneficial exercise-induced effects on EPCs activity in CVD settings, including coronary artery disease (CAD), heart failure (HF), and peripheral artery disease (PAD). The aim of this paper is to review the current evidence about the beneficial effects of physical exercise on endothelial function and EPCs levels and activity in both healthy subjects and patients with CVD

Digital Information and Communication Technologies in Physics Education teaching courses at a federal public university: “uses” established by professors in the undergraduate programs

This  study  aims  to  analyze  the  uses  that  professors  of  undergraduate physics education courses at a Federal Public University make of Digital Information  and  Communication  Technologies  (Digital ICT)  in  their teaching.  This   is   an  exploratory  study  and  uses  documents  and  semi-structured interview as sources of data collection. By the means of the Discursive Textual Analysis four emergent categories were also identified in this study: (i) The place of Digital ICT subjects in the Physics Education undergraduate course; (Ii) Uses of techniques; (Iii) Uses of technology in the  education  process  of  the  undergraduate  students – relation with the education processes of the course professor; (IV) What network is there in this education process? The results indicate that the uses of Digital ICT in the  undergraduate  Physics  Education  course  involve  different  ways  of usage that are created in a dynamic setting based on techniques that are not necessarily pure techniques but are interwoven with theoretical and methodological aspects of teaching and learning, the educational process designed  for  its  development,  and  the  dialogue  established  among  the possible educational contexts for the use of technologies. Moreover, we discuss the perspective of universalization of the interconnection network since  the  use  of  the  Internet  (in the dimension of collective  knowledge construction)  is  limited  in  the  University  and  in  the  context  of  k-12 education

Diet quality and therapeutic targets in patients with type 2 diabetes : evaluation of concordance between dietary indexes

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the concordance between two dietary indexes, the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and the Diabetes Healthy Eating Index (DHEI), in evaluating diet quality and its possible association with therapeutic targets in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: Cross-sectional study of outpatients with type 2 diabetes mellitus treated at a university hospital. Dietary information was obtained from a quantitative food frequency questionnaire (previously validated for use in patients with type 2 diabetes) and converted into daily intakes. Diet quality was assessed using two dietary indexes: HEI (12 components, nine food groups and three moderation components) and DHEI (10 components, six food groups, three nutrient groups, and one for variety of diet). In both indexes, the sum of the scores for each component yields an overall score converted on a scale from 0 to 100%; diet quality is subsequently ranked as low (80%). Patients underwent clinical and laboratory assessment. Those with fasting blood glucose values 70–130 mg/dL, A1c < 7%, total cholesterol <200 mg/dL, LDL-cholesterol <100 mg/dL, and triglycerides <150 mg/dL were considered to meet therapeutic targets. All analyses were conducted in PASW Statistics 18.0, and p < 0.05 deemed significant. Results: We analyzed 148 patients with type 2 diabetes (73% white, mean age 63.2 ± 9.4 years, median diabetes duration 10 [IQR 5–19] years, mean A1c% 8.4 ± 2.0%, and mean BMI 30.5 ± 4.2 kg/m2). Mean energy intake was 2114 ± 649 kcal/day. DHEI scores were 17.0 (95%CI -6.8 to 41.0) points lower than HEI scores (55.9 ± 14.2% vs. 72.9 ± 10.7%, respectively; P < 0.001), suggesting there is no agreement (Bland-Altman method), and the Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.55 (P < 0.001). More patients were classified as having a low-quality diet by the DHEI than by the HEI (38.5% vs. 1.4%; P < 0.001). A higher proportion of patients (35.7%) with out-of-target total cholesterol levels had a low-quality diet evaluated by the DHEI (P = 0.03). We did not find associations between overall score of HEI and therapeutic targets. Conclusions: In its intended population of patients with type 2 diabetes, the DHEI seems to be a more rigorous tool to evaluate association between diet quality and changes in metabolic parameters

Resolution of tongue lesions caused by Leishmania infantum in a dog treated with the association miltefosine-allopurinol

Canine leishmaniosis is a severe systemic disease caused by the kinetoplastid protozoan Leishmania infantum, an obligatory intracellular parasite of mammalian macrophages, transmitted by the bite of phlebotomine sandflies. The infection in dogs might occur without any clinical signs or might be characterised by chronic viscerocutaneous signs, such as lymphadenopathy, skin lesions, splenomegaly, onychogryphosis, and renal as well as ocular damage due to immunocomplex deposition. In atypical cases the parasites can be found in the striated musculature, the central nervous system, the endocrine glands or gonads, with or without functional damage. Leishmania infection might seldom induce oral lesions, particularly on the tongue. The authors describe the clinical case of a four-year old mongrel dog with tongue lesions caused by L. infantum. The dog was presented due to diarrhoea, lack of appetite and hypersalivation. Examination of the oral cavity revealed the presence of multiple red, nodular lesions on the dorsal and lateral surfaces of the tongue. Definite diagnosis of an infection with L. infantum was obtained by an indirect immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT) and by the cytological identification of the parasite in nodular, lingual lesions and bone marrow aspirates. The dog was treated with a combination of miltefosine (Milteforan®, Virbac), 2 mg/kg orally once a day for four weeks and allopurinol (Ziloric®, GlaxoSmithKline), 10 mg/kg orally twice a day for six months. At the end of the treatment, the animal showed full remission of clinical signs. The authors outline the atypical manifestations in the oral cavity in combination with a L. infantum infection and discuss the therapeutic potential of the combination treatment of miltefosine and allopurinol in canine leishmaniosis

Harnessing Cyanobacteria’s Bioactive Potential: A Sustainable Strategy for Antioxidant Production

: Unsaturated diacylglycerols are a class of antioxidant compounds with the potential to positively impact human health. Their ability to combat oxidative stress through radical scavenger activity underscores their significance in the context of preventive and therapeutic strategies. In this paper we highlight the role of Anabaena flos-aquae as a producer of unsaturated mono and diacylglycerols, and then demonstrate the antioxidant activity of its methanolic extract, which has as its main components a variety of acylglycerol analogues. This finding was revealed using a sustainable strategy in which the One Strain Many Compounds (OSMAC) cultivation in microscale was coupled with a bioinformatic approach to analyze a large dataset of mass spectrometry data using the molecular networking analyses. This strategy reduces time and costs, avoiding long and expensive steps of purification and obtaining informative data on the metabolic composition of the extracts. This study highlights the role of Anabaena as a sustainable and green source of novel bioactive compounds

Transcatheter implantable devices to monitoring of elevated left atrial pressures in patients with chronic heart failure

Elevated left atrial (LA) pressures are associated with poor prognosis in heart failure (HF). Invasive monitoring of LA-pressures and direct mechanical LAdecompression are associated with functional improvement in patients suffering from HF both with reduced and preserved ejection fraction. We aim to review the current available percutaneously implantable sensors for haemodynamic telemonitoring of LApressures (direct LAP sensor device- HeartPOD; right ventricular device- Chronicle; pulmonary artery deviceCardioMEMs)

Mandibular coronoid process tumor resembling a mandibular condyle: A case report

Abnormal elongation of mandibular coronoid process, often defined as coronoid hyperplasia, is a rare condition, which is frequently associated with limited mouth opening. In some cases, the enlarged coronoid pushes the zygoma forward causing facial asymmetry. This case report describes a 16-year-old boy whose chief complaint was a progressive difficulty and deviation in mouth opening, together with a deformity appearing at maximum opening at the zygomatic area. The diagnosis was Unilateral Accessory Mandibular Condyle at coronoid process, without reduction of the mouth opening capacity. A coronoidectomy was carried out by means of piezoelectric surgery, instead of a coronoidotomy which is usually performed in these cases, due to a suspect of ramus neoplasm. Keywords: Coronoid hyperplasia, Accessory condyle, Temporomandibular disorder, Piezoelectric surgery, Adolescen

Big Health Data and Cardiovascular Diseases: A Challenge for Research, an Opportunity for Clinical Care

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for the majority of death and hospitalization, health care expenditures and loss of productivity in developed country. CVD research, thus, plays a key role for improving patients' outcomes as well as for the sustainability of health systems. The increasing costs and complexity of modern medicine along with the fragmentation in healthcare organizations interfere with improving quality care and represent a missed opportunity for research. The advancement in diagnosis, therapy and prognostic evaluation of patients with CVD, indeed, is frustrated by limited data access to selected small patient populations, not standardized nor computable definition of disease and lack of approved relevant patient-centered outcomes. These critical issues results in a deep mismatch between randomized controlled trials and real-world setting, heterogeneity in treatment response and wide inter-individual variation in prognosis. Big data approach combines millions of people's electronic health records (EHR) from different resources and provides a new methodology expanding data collection in three direction: high volume, wide variety and extreme acquisition speed. Large population studies based on EHR holds much promise due to low costs, diminished study participant burden, and reduced selection bias, thus offering an alternative to traditional ascertainment through biomedical screening and tracing processes. By merging and harmonizing large data sets, the researchers aspire to build algorithms that allow targeted and personalized CVD treatments. In current paper, we provide a critical review of big health data for cardiovascular research, focusing on the opportunities of this largely free data analytics and the challenges in its realization