PERSISTENCE OF IMMUNITY TO POLIOMYELITIS AMONG A SOUTHERN POPULATION THAT RECEIVED FOUR DOSES OF OPV 5 TO OVER 15 YEARS BEFORE

The immune status against polioviruses was investigated in a population of 545 students aged 11-20 years residing in the Neapolitan area, who had completed the vaccination cycle with four doses of OPV 5 to over 15 years before. Assuming as unprotected those individuals without detectable neutralizing antibodies at the dilution 1:2, nobody resulted without protection against all types of poliovirus; 0.7% lacked antibodies only against type 1, 0.6% only against type 3 and none against type 2. A very slight decreasing trend was observed for GMT values in function of the distance from the last dose of OPV for polio 1 and 2, but not for polio 3. As expected, GMT values for polio 2 resulted higher than those for polio 1 and both were higher than those for polio 3, when calculated by age groups as well as by distance groups. The last four Italian cases of autochthonous paralytic poliomyelitis, occurred in the period 1981/83, regarded unvaccinated children aged 6 months-2 years, residing in the same geographical area to which the study population belong. In the same area a delay of immunization practices was also ascertained in the recent past. Results of this study confirm that a priority for public health services is to devote their human and economic resources to reduce the vaccination delay more than administrate a further fifth dose of OPV at the age of twelve

Tunnelling anisotropic magnetoresistance at La<inf>0.67</inf>Sr<inf>0.33</inf>MnO<inf>3</inf>-graphene interfaces

Using ferromagnetic La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 electrodes bridged by single-layer graphene, we observe magnetoresistive changes of ∼32–35 MΩ at 5 K. Magneto-optical Kerr effect microscopy at the same temperature reveals that the magnetoresistance arises from in-plane reorientations of electrode magnetization, evidencing tunnelling anisotropic magnetoresistance at the La0.67Sr0.33MnO3-graphene interfaces. Large resistance switching without spin transport through the non-magnetic channel could be attractive for graphene-based magnetic-sensing applications.This work was funded by grant F/09 154/E from the Leverhulme Trust, ERC Grant Hetero2D, EU Graphene Flagship (no. 604391), a Schlumberger Cambridge International Scholarship, a UK EPSRC DTA award, the Royal Society, and EPSRC Grants EP/K01711X/1, EP/K017144/1, EP/N010345/1, EP/M507799/1 and EP/L016087/1.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/apl/108/11/10.1063/1.4942778

p-wave triggered superconductivity in single-layer graphene on an electron-doped oxide superconductor

Electron pairing in the vast majority of superconductors follows the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory of superconductivity, which describes the condensation of electrons into pairs with antiparallel spins in a singlet state with an s-wave symmetry. Unconventional superconductivity was predicted in single-layer graphene (SLG), with the electrons pairing with a $\textit{p}$-wave or chiral d-wave symmetry, depending on the position of the Fermi energy with respect to the Dirac point. By placing SLG on an electron-doped (non-chiral) d-wave superconductor and performing local scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy, here we show evidence for a $\textit{p}$-wave triggered superconducting density of states in SLG. The realization of unconventional superconductivity in SLG offers an exciting new route for the development of p-wave superconductivity using two-dimensional materials with transition temperatures above 4.2 K.The work was funded by the following agencies: Royal Society (‘Superconducting Spintronics’), Leverhulme Trust (IN-2013-033), Schiff Foundation, the EPSRC (EP/N017242/1, EP/G037221/1, EP/K01711X/1, EP/K017144/1, EP/N010345/1, EP/M507799/1, EP/L016087/1), ERC Grant Hetero2D, EU Graphene Flagship, COST Action MP-1201, MSCA-IFEF-ST No. 656485-Spin3, Outstanding Academic Fellows programme at NTNU, Research Council of Norway (205591, 216700 and 24080)

Measurements of branching fraction ratios and CP-asymmetries in suppressed B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)K^- and B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)pi^- decays

We report the first reconstruction in hadron collisions of the suppressed decays B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)K^- and B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)pi^-, sensitive to the CKM phase gamma, using data from 7 fb^-1 of integrated luminosity collected by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron collider. We reconstruct a signal for the B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)K^- suppressed mode with a significance of 3.2 standard deviations, and measure the ratios of the suppressed to favored branching fractions R(K) = [22.0 \pm 8.6(stat)\pm 2.6(syst)]\times 10^-3, R^+(K) = [42.6\pm 13.7(stat)\pm 2.8(syst)]\times 10^-3, R^-(K)= [3.8\pm 10.3(stat)\pm 2.7(syst]\times 10^-3, as well as the direct CP-violating asymmetry A(K) = -0.82\pm 0.44(stat)\pm 0.09(syst) of this mode. Corresponding quantities for B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)pi^- decay are also reported.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, accepted by Phys.Rev.D Rapid Communications for Publicatio

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns