Reversibility of airway obstruction in response to β2-agonists is highly variable among asthmatics, which is partially attributed to genetic factors. In a genome-wide association study of acute ...bronchodilator response (BDR) to inhaled albuterol, 534 290 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were tested in 403 white trios from the Childhood Asthma Management Program using five statistical models to determine the most robust genetic associations. The primary replication phase included 1397 polymorphisms in three asthma trials (pooled n=764). The second replication phase tested 13 SNPs in three additional asthma populations (n=241, n=215 and n=592). An intergenic SNP on chromosome 10, rs11252394, proximal to several excellent biological candidates, significantly replicated (P=1.98 × 10(-7)) in the primary replication trials. An intronic SNP (rs6988229) in the collagen (COL22A1) locus also provided strong replication signals (P=8.51 × 10(-6)). This study applied a robust approach for testing the genetic basis of BDR and identified novel loci associated with this drug response in asthmatics.
D. João de Castro seamount has an elevation of 1000 m and is located between the islands of Terceira and São Miguel, Azores, on the hyper-slow spreading Terceira Rift. The summit of the seamount ...shoals to 13 m below sea level and has hydrothermal vents at a depth of 20 m. This is the first vent system to be described on a hyperslow spreading centre. Gas discharging from the vents is dominated by CO
2 (90%) with lesser H
2S, H
2 and CH
4. Two distinct vent areas were identified that had different physical and chemical characteristics. The white area had vent orifices with white bacterial mats, while the yellow area had yellowish coloured vent openings. Vents in the white area had lower temperatures (≤
43 °C), but higher concentrations of H
2S, CH
4 and H
2.
Beggiatoa sp. was found in this area. The yellow area had vent temperatures up to 63 °C. No typical hydrothermal vent fauna was found at these vents. The macro species present were similar to those found in coastal and seamount areas of the Azorean Archipelago. There was evidence for the presence of deeper vents on the flanks of the D. João de Castro seamount, at depths between 150–400 m.
Reverse cardiac remodeling may occur in some left ventricular assist device (LVAD) recipients. Although considered the standard therapy, surgical device explantation with repeat sternotomy might be ...undesirable or very high risk. On the other hand, there are few data reporting minimally invasive percutaneous LVAD deactivation. We describe a case of a man with LVAD malfunction due to driveline fracture and left ventricular (LV) function recovery who had a Heart Mate II deactivated with a percutaneous technique using a left atrial appendage occluder (LAAO) positioned inside the outflow cannula. To the best of our knowledge, this the first report of LVAD deactivation with the fully recapturable LAAO device. We propose that the use of a LAA occluder to obstruct HM II outflow cannula is feasible and safe.
The standard model of particle physics contains parameters-such as particle masses-whose origins are still unknown and which cannot be predicted, but whose values are constrained through their ...interactions. In particular, the masses of the top quark (Mt) and W boson (MW) constrain the mass of the long-hypothesized, but thus far not observed, Higgs boson. A precise measurement of Mt can therefore indicate where to look for the Higgs, and indeed whether the hypothesis of a standard model Higgs is consistent with experimental data. As top quarks are produced in pairs and decay in only about 10-24 s into various final states, reconstructing their masses from their decay products is very challenging. Here we report a technique that extracts more information from each top-quark event and yields a greatly improved precision (of ± 5.3 GeV/c2) when compared to previous measurements. When our new result is combined with our published measurement in a complementary decay mode and with the only other measurements available, the new world average for Mt becomes 178.0 ± 4.3 GeV/c2. As a result, the most likely Higgs mass increases from the experimentally excluded value of 96 to 117 GeV/c2, which is beyond current experimental sensitivity. The upper limit on the Higgs mass at the 95% confidence level is raised from 219 to 251 GeV/c2.
A
bstract
Combined ATLAS and CMS measurements of the Higgs boson production and decay rates, as well as constraints on its couplings to vector bosons and fermions, are presented. The combination is ...based on the analysis of five production processes, namely gluon fusion, vector boson fusion, and associated production with a
W
or a
Z
boson or a pair of top quarks, and of the six decay modes
H
→
ZZ, W W
, γγ
, ττ, bb
, and
μμ
. All results are reported assuming a value of 125
.
09 GeV for the Higgs boson mass, the result of the combined measurement by the ATLAS and CMS experiments. The analysis uses the CERN LHC proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS and CMS experiments in 2011 and 2012, corresponding to integrated luminosities per experiment of approximately 5 fb
−1
at
s
=
7
TeV and 20 fb
−1
at
s
=
8
TeV. The Higgs boson production and decay rates measured by the two experiments are combined within the context of three generic parameterisations: two based on cross sections and branching fractions, and one on ratios of coupling modifiers. Several interpretations of the measurements with more model-dependent parameterisations are also given. The combined signal yield relative to the Standard Model prediction is measured to be 1
.
09 ± 0
.
11. The combined measurements lead to observed significances for the vector boson fusion production process and for the
H
→
ττ
decay of 5
.
4 and 5
.
5 standard deviations, respectively. The data are consistent with the Standard Model predictions for all parameterisations considered.
A search for narrow, low-mass, scalar, and pseudoscalar resonances decaying to bottom quark-antiquark pairs is presented. The search is based on events recorded in √ s = 13 TeV proton-proton ...collisions with the CMS detector at the LHC, collected in 2016, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1 . The search selects events in which the resonance would be produced with high transverse momentum because of the presence of initial- or final-state radiation. In such events, the decay products of the resonance would be reconstructed as a single large-radius jet with high mass and two-prong substructure. A potential signal would be identified as a narrow excess in the jet invariant mass spectrum. No evidence for such a resonance is observed within the mass range from 50 to 350 GeV, and upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the product of the cross section and branching fraction to a bottom quark-antiquark pair. These constitute the first constraints from the LHC on exotic bottom quark-antiquark resonances with masses below 325 GeV.
A measurement of the Higgs boson mass is presented based on the combined data samples of the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the CERN LHC in the H arrow right gamma gamma and H arrow right ZZ arrow ...right 4scriptl decay channels. The results are obtained from a simultaneous fit to the reconstructed invariant mass peaks in the two channels and for the two experiments. The measured masses from the individual channels and the two experiments are found to be consistent among themselves. The combined measured mass of the Higgs boson is mH=125.09+ or -0.21 (stat)+ or -0.11 (syst) GeV.
•Cathodoluminescence provides an innovative tool for revealing the skeletal fabric of fossil rhodoliths in thin sections.•Low luminescence is related to low concentrations of Mn2+ in ...seawater.•Reconstruction of Santa Maria palaeoshore at 3.5Ma is based on recent digital terrain model (DTM).
The diagenetic history of calcareous fossils is required for their application as palaeoenvironmental indicators. In this study, cathodoluminescence-microscopy (CL microscopy) and back scatter electron image–energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (BSE–EDS microscopy) were applied to Pliocene rhodoliths from the Azores Archipelago (NE Atlantic) in order to gain additional insight regarding the trace element content distribution throughout the algae thalli, and to ascertain palaeoenvironmental interpretations.
Two types of luminescence were obtained: (1) high and (2) low luminescence. Rhodoliths with high luminescence are related with high concentrations of Mn2+ in seawater and low luminescence rhodoliths are related with low concentrations of Mn2+ in seawater. When the rhodoliths were deposited at about 4.0–4.5Ma, the shoreline configuration of Santa Maria Island was much different than today. The influence of volcanic activity due to the extrusion of lavas and associated products and/or the presence of active shallow-water hydrothermal vents, was reflected in the sea water chemistry, with penecontemporaneous palaeoshores of the island featuring a high sea water concentration of Mn2+, which mirrored on the rhodolith Mn2+ high concentration. By contrast, rhodoliths located about 2.8 and 2.9km from the shore, in areas with low seawater Mn2+ concentration, had low luminescence, reflecting the low Mn2+ concentration in seawater. Rhodoliths chemical data and the geological history of the island proved to be congruent with the palaeogeographical reconstruction of Santa Maria Island at the time of the formation of the rhodoliths.
A search for new physics using events containing an imbalance in transverse momentum and one or more energetic jets arising from initial-state radiation or the hadronic decay of W or Z bosons is ...presented. A data sample of proton-proton collisions at s=13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1, is used. The observed data are found to be in agreement with the expectation from standard model processes. The results are interpreted as limits on the dark matter production cross section in simplified models with vector, axial-vector, scalar, and pseudoscalar mediators. Interpretations in the context of fermion portal and nonthermal dark matter models are also provided. In addition, the results are interpreted in terms of invisible decays of the Higgs boson and set stringent limits on the fundamental Planck scale in the Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos, and Dvali model with large extra spatial dimensions.
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