117,389 research outputs found
Search for flavour-changing neutral-current top quark decays to c-quark and Z boson using the Atlas detector at the LHC
No full textThe main focus of this thesis is the search for the t → Zc process in the proton–proton collisions data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider located at CERN. The flavour-changing neutral-current (FCNC) processes are forbidden at tree-level and highly suppressed at loop-level which is why they are very rare phenomena in the Standard Model of particle physics. However, this processes have a higher probability to occur in several theories beyond the Standard Model where the suppression could be relaxed and the loop diagrams mediated by new bosons could contribute. The FCNC top-quark decays t → Zc are searched in tt pair events with one top quark decaying through the t → Zc channel and the other through the dominant Standard Model mode t → Wb. The analysed data were recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and correspond to the full Run-2 dataset with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 . The data are consistent with Standard Model background contributions, and, at 95% confidence level the search sets observed (expected) upper limits of 11.8 × 10−5 (9.5 × 10−5 ) on the t → cZ branching ratio, constituting the most stringent limit to date and improving the previous ATLAS results by a factor of 2 (2.5)
Should antioxidant status be considered in interventional trials with antioxidants?
No full textThe last decade has seen many trials with antioxidants in patients with cardiovascular disease, with equivocal results. One possible explanation for the disappointing findings is the lack of identification criteria of patients who are potential candidates for antioxidant treatment. Several studies have been carried out in parents at risk of cardiovascular disease, indicating that enhanced oxidative stress is associated with the presence of diabetes, hypercholesterolaemia, hypertension, and smoking. This review analyses the data reported so far to determine whether they clearly support the premise that patients at risk of cardiovascular events may be candidates for antioxidant treatment
The Foodborne Strain <i>Lactobacillus fermentum</i> MBC2 Triggers <i>pept-1</i>-Dependent Pro-Longevity Effects in <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>
No full textLactic acid bacteria (LAB) are involved in several food fermentations and many of them provide strain-specific health benefits. Herein, the probiotic potential of the foodborne strain Lactobacillus fermentum MBC2 was investigated through in vitro and in vivo approaches. Caenorhabditis elegans was used as an in vivo model to analyze pro-longevity and anti-aging effects. L. fermentum MBC2 showed a high gut colonization capability compared to E. coli OP50 (OP50) or L. rhamnosus GG (LGG). Moreover, analysis of pumping rate, lipofuscin accumulation, and body bending showed anti-aging effects in L. fermentum MBC2-fed worms. Studies on PEPT-1 mutants demonstrated that pept-1 gene was involved in the anti-aging processes mediated by this bacterial strain through DAF-16, whereas the oxidative stress protection was PEPT-1 independent. Moreover, analysis of acid tolerance, bile tolerance, and antibiotic susceptibility were evaluated. L. fermentum MBC2 exerted beneficial effects on nematode lifespan, influencing energy metabolism and oxidative stress resistance, resulted in being tolerant to acidic pH and able to adhere to Caco-2 cells. Overall, these findings provide new insight for application of this strain in the food industry as a newly isolated functional starter. Furthermore, these results will also shed light on C. elegans molecular players involved in host-microbe interactions
Efficienza di crescita di Bidens cernua L., specie rara della flora d'Italia
No full textE’ stata analizzata l’efficienza di crescita di Bidens cernua L., specie rara nel Lazio e inclusa nelle Liste Rosse regionali della Flora Italiana (status CR). Le ricerche sono state condotte in situ (Riserva Naturale “Lago di Posta Fibreno”, Lazio) e su individui coltivati presso l’Orto Botanico di Roma, nel corso dell’anno 2006. I risultati nel loro insieme hanno messo in evidenza l’influenza della temperatura sulla lunghezza delle fenofasi, con una riduzione significativa del periodo di attività vegetativa negli individui coltivati ex situ, in risposta alla variazione della temperatura. Il ciclo fenologico si completa in 7 mesi e la massima altezza viene raggiunta rispettivamente 131 e 96 giorni dall’inizio della germinazione rispettivamente in situ ed ex situ. La riduzione del periodo di attività vegetativa per le piante coltivate ex situ determina una riduzione dell’altezza finale, con implicazioni sulla loro capacità produttiva.
Growth efficiency of Bidens cernua L. Italian flora rare species.The growth efficiency of Bidens cernua L., included in the Red List of Italian Flora (status CR), was analysed. Experiments were carried out in situ (Posta Fibreno lake, Latium) and ex situ (Botanical Garden of Rome) during the year 2006. The time span from seedlings emergence to seed dispersion was 7 months. Air temperature changing influenced the length of the vegetative activity period and the maximum plant height. Maximum plant height was reached 131 and 96 days after seedlings emergence in situ and ex situ, respectively
"Pelvic ultrasound evaluation in transgender male during testosterone therapy" G. Senofonte, E. Marcoccia, C. Boccherini, M. Marasco, A. Perlorca, G. Nigro, A. Giancotti, M. Mosconi, F. Lombardo
No full textIntroduction: Gender dysphoria (GD) is characterised by significant distress and/or poor
social functioning due to a non-congruence between an individual’s assigned gender and the
perceived gender identity. In Female to Male subjects, androgen therapy aims to induce
physical changes (such as hair growth, tone voice decrease, fat mass redistribution, breast
volume reduction, etc) and cessation of menses. The latest guidelines (Hembree, 2017)
suggest a higher risk of malignancies (uterus and ovaries) and of endometrial hyperplasia than
cis-gender female, secondary to testosterone therapy. Therefore, a radical
hysteroannesisectomy is recommended after 2 years of therapy.
Aims: The aim of this study is the acquisition of data from pelvic ultrasound surveillance in
Transgender Male in order to evaluate endometrial thickness, uterine and ovarian volume.
Materials and Methods: FtM subjects referred to the outpatient clinic of Endocrinology and
Andrology of the Department of Experimental Medicine, “Sapienza” University of Rome, for
Gender Dysphoria, sent by their mental health specialists. We recruited 26 patients (mean age
27.3 ± 11.0) with the following inclusions criteria: diagnosis of gender dysphoria, participation
on follow-up, no previous testosterone therapy; exclusions criteria were: history of
gynaecological surgery/hysterectomy, menopause. Each patient underwent clinical
evaluation, blood testosterone test and US evaluation before starting therapy (T0) and after
six months of therapy (T 6). The hormone therapy consisted of intramuscolar testosterone
undecanoate 250 mg-every 28 days.
Results: Twenty-six subjects underwent the baseline evaluation: mean uterine volume was
49.4 ± 21.7 cc, mean endometrial thickness was 5.0 ± 3.5 mm, mean right ovarian volume was
5.9 ± 5.3 cc, mean left ovarian volume was 7.5 ± 6.8 cc and mean endometrial thickness was
5.0 ± 3.5 mm. At this time, 12 patients finished six months therapy and returned for control.
The cessation of menses occurred in all patients after a median of 2 months (approximately 2
testosterone undecanoate injections). There was no significant difference in post therapy
mean uterine volume (49.4 ± 21.7 cc vs 49.9 ± 29.0 cc, T0 vs T6, p = 0.43) and in endometrial
thickness (5.0 ± 3.5 mm vs 2.7 ± 1.0 mm, T0 vs T6, p = 0.15). Instead we detected a significant
decrease in mean left ovarian volume (7.5 ± 6.8 cc vs 2.7 ± 1.1, T0 vs T6, p = 0.002) and right
ovarian volume (5.9 ± 5.3 cc vs 2.3 ± 1.7, T0 vs T6, p =0.010). Blood tests confirmed a
significant increase of testosterone levels after six months of therapy (1.3 ± 0.9 vs 13.4 ± 4.5
nnmol/L, T0 vs T6; p=0.001). We did not detect any significant correlation between
testosterone levels under treatment and ovarian volume.
Conclusions: Testosterone therapy induces marked physical changes, as demonstrated by
menses cessation and reduction of ovarian volume, although apparently not correlated with
mean blood testosterone level. No significant difference were found in endometrial thickness
and uterine volume, though these results may be due in part to the small number of enrolled
subjects. Future increase of study cohort and longer follow up will strengthen our results and
possibly provide information on risk of malignancies in trangender males
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
STRATEGIE DI CONSERVAZIONE IN SITU ED EX SITU DI BIDENS CERNUA L., SPECIE MINACCIATA NEL LAZIO.
No full textSquare Dancing with the Stars to Enhance Dynamic Hirschman Linkages?
No full textIn this Presidential Address, the author takes the reader on a reconnaissance of his life and time as a regional scientist. He points out scenery he found scintillating along the way, hoping that some may pick up the banner and chew on a few of the ideas for a while. He suggests a revisit to Albert O. Hirschman’s notion of key sectors and more empirical analysis related to Marcus Berliant’s and Masahisa Fujita’s notion of knowledge creation and transfer.Presidential Address, San Antonio, Texas, March 29, 2014 (53rd Meetings of the Southern Regional Science Association
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Letter from unknown writer to Jesse L. Boyce
No full textLetter to Jesse L. Boyce from unknown author (possibly Jack) about the investigation into the powder magazine located in the Grand Canyon. Some personal news is included in the letter such as the writer's marriage to the daughter of C.A. Taylor, former Supervisor of Cochise County
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