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

Mesophilic mineral-weathering bacteria inhabit the critical-zone of a perennially cold basaltic environment

The weathering of silicate in the world’s critical-zone (rock-soil interface) is a natural mechanism providing a feedback on atmospheric CO2 concentrations through the carbonate-silicate cycle. We examined culturable bacterial communities from a critical-zone in western Iceland to determine the optimum growth temperature, ability to solubilise phosphate-containing minerals, which are abundant within the critical-zone area examined here. The majority of isolated bacteria were able to solubilize mineral-state phosphate. Almost all bacterial isolates were mesophilic (growth optima of 20-45°C), despite critical-zone temperatures that were continuously below 15°C, although all isolates could grow at temperatures associated with the critical-zone (-2.8 – 13.1°C). Only three isolates were shown to have thermal optima for growth that were within temperatures experienced at the critical-zone. These findings show that the bacteria that inhabit the western Icelandic critical-zone have temperature growth optima suboptimally adapted to their environment, implying that other adaptations may be more important for their long-term persistence in this environment. Moreover, our study showed that the cold basaltic critical-zone is a region of active phosphate mineral-weathering

Parenteral thiamine for prevention and treatment of delirium in critically ill adults: a systematic review protocol

Background: Delirium is an acute confusional state, common in critical illness and associated with cognitive decline. There is no effective pharmacotherapy to prevent or treat delirium, although it is scientifically plausible that thiamine could be effective. Thiamine studies in dementia patients are inconclusive. Aside from small numbers, all used oral administration: bioavailability of thiamine is poor; parenteral thiamine bypasses this. In the UK, parenteral thiamine is administered as a compound vitamin B and C solution (Pabrinex®). The aim of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness of parenteral thiamine (alone or in a compound solution) in preventing or treating delirium in critical illness. Methods: We will search for studies in electronic databases (MEDLINE (Pro-Quest), EMBASE, CINAHL, LILACS, CNKI, AMED, and Cochrane CENTRAL), clinical trials registries (WHO International Clinical Trials Registry, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Controlled-trials.com), and grey literature (Google Scholar, conference proceedings, and Index to Theses). We will perform complementary searches of reference lists of included studies, relevant reviews, clinical practice guidelines, or other pertinent documents (e.g. official documents and government reports). We will consider quasi-randomised or randomised controlled trials in critically ill adults. We will include studies that evaluate parenteral thiamine versus standard of care, placebo, or any other non-pharmacological or pharmacological interventions. The primary outcomes will be the delirium core outcome set, including incidence and severity of delirium and cognition. Secondary outcomes are adapted from the ventilation core outcome set: duration of mechanical ventilation, length of stay, and adverse events incidence. Screening, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment will be undertaken independently by two reviewers. If data permits, we will conduct meta-analyses using a random effects model and, where appropriate, sensitivity and subgroup analyses to explore sources of heterogeneity. Discussion: This review will provide evidence for the effectiveness of parental thiamine in the prevention or treatment of delirium in critical care. Findings will contribute to establishing the need for a multicentre study of parenteral thiamine in the prevention and treatment of critical care delirium. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42019118808.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the Publisher URL to access it via the publisher's site.published version, accepted versio

Novel inhibitors of the calcineurin/NFATc hub - alternatives to CsA and FK506?

The drugs cyclosporine A (CsA) and tacrolimus (FK506) revolutionized organ transplantation. Both compounds are still widely used in the clinic as well as for basic research, even though they have dramatic side effects and modulate other pathways than calcineurin-NFATc, too. To answer the major open question - whether the adverse side effects are secondary to the actions of the drugs on the calcineurin-NFATc pathway - alternative inhibitors were developed. Ideal inhibitors should discriminate between the inhibition of (i) calcineurin and peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerases (PPIases; the matchmaker proteins of CsA and FK506), (ii) calcineurin and the other Ser/Thr protein phosphatases, and (iii) NFATc and other transcription factors. In this review we summarize the current knowledge about novel inhibitors, synthesized or identified in the last decades, and focus on their mode of action, specificity, and biological effects

Analysis of arterial intimal hyperplasia: review and hypothesis

which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background: Despite a prodigious investment of funds, we cannot treat or prevent arteriosclerosis and restenosis, particularly its major pathology, arterial intimal hyperplasia. A cornerstone question lies behind all approaches to the disease: what causes the pathology? Hypothesis: I argue that the question itself is misplaced because it implies that intimal hyperplasia is a novel pathological phenomenon caused by new mechanisms. A simple inquiry into arterial morphology shows the opposite is true. The normal multi-layer cellular organization of the tunica intima is identical to that of diseased hyperplasia; it is the standard arterial system design in all placentals at least as large as rabbits, including humans. Formed initially as one-layer endothelium lining, this phenotype can either be maintained or differentiate into a normal multi-layer cellular lining, so striking in its resemblance to diseased hyperplasia that we have to name it "benign intimal hyperplasia". However, normal or "benign " intimal hyperplasia, although microscopically identical to pathology, is a controllable phenotype that rarely compromises blood supply. It is remarkable that each human heart has coronary arteries in which a single-layer endothelium differentiates earl

Measurement of the Ratio of b Quark Production Cross Sections in Antiproton-Proton Collisions at 630 GeV and 1800 GeV

We report a measurement of the ratio of the bottom quark production cross section in antiproton-proton collisions at 630 GeV to 1800 GeV using bottom quarks with transverse momenta greater than 10.75 GeV identified through their semileptonic decays and long lifetimes. The measured ratio sigma(630)/sigma(1800) = 0.171 +/- .024 +/- .012 is in good agreement with next-to-leading order (NLO) quantum chromodynamics (QCD)

Measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry in the B→K(*) μ\u3csup\u3e+\u3c/sup\u3eμ\u3csup\u3e-\u3c/sup\u3e decay and first observation of the Bs0→μ\u3csup\u3e+\u3c/sup\u3eμ\u3csup\u3e-\u3c/sup\u3e decay

We reconstruct the rare decays B+→K+μ +μ-, B0→K*(892)0μ +μ-, and Bs0→(1020)μ+μ - in a data sample corresponding to 4.4fb-1 collected in pp̄ collisions at √s=1.96TeV by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron Collider. Using 121±16 B+→K+μ +μ- and 101±12 B0→K*0μ +μ- decays we report the branching ratios. In addition, we report the differential branching ratio and the muon forward-backward asymmetry in the B+ and B0 decay modes, and the K*0 longitudinal polarization fraction in the B0 decay mode with respect to the squared dimuon mass. These are consistent with the predictions, and most recent determinations from other experiments and of comparable accuracy. We also report the first observation of the Bs0→μ+μ- decay and measure its branching ratio BR(Bs0→μ+μ-)= [1.44±0.33±0.46]×10-6 using 27±6 signal events. This is currently the most rare Bs0 decay observed. © 2011 American Physical Society

Improving topological cluster reconstruction using calorimeter cell timing in ATLAS

Clusters of topologically connected calorimeter cells around cells with large absolute signal-to-noise ratio (topo-clusters) are the basis for calorimeter signal reconstruction in the ATLAS experiment. Topological cell clustering has proven performant in LHC Runs 1 and 2. It is, however, susceptible to out-of-time pile-up of signals from soft collisions outside the 25 ns proton-bunch-crossing window associated with the event’s hard collision. To reduce this effect, a calorimeter-cell timing criterion was added to the signal-to-noise ratio requirement in the clustering algorithm. Multiple versions of this criterion were tested by reconstructing hadronic signals in simulated events and Run 2 ATLAS data. The preferred version is found to reduce the out-of-time pile-up jet multiplicity by ∼50% for jet pT ∼ 20 GeV and by ∼80% for jet pT 50 GeV, while not disrupting the reconstruction of hadronic signals of interest, and improving the jet energy resolution by up to 5% for 20 < pT < 30 GeV. Pile-up is also suppressed for other physics objects based on topo-clusters (electrons, photons, τ -leptons), reducing the overall event size on disk by about 6% in early Run 3 pileup conditions. Offline reconstruction for Run 3 includes the timing requirement