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Showing papers by "Sapienza University of Rome published in 2010"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the present status of lithium battery technology, then focus on its near future development and finally examine important new directions aimed at achieving quantum jumps in energy and power content.

4,363 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval debulking surgery was not inferior to primary debulked surgery followed by chemotherapy as a treatment option for patients with bulky stage IIIC or IV ovarian carcinoma in this study.
Abstract: Of the 670 patients randomly assigned to a study treatment, 632 (94.3%) were eligible and started the treatment. The majority of these patients had extensive stage IIIC or IV disease at primary debulking surgery (metastatic lesions that were larger than 5 cm in diameter in 74.5% of patients and larger than 10 cm in 61.6%). The largest residual tumor was 1 cm or less in diameter in 41.6% of patients after primary debulking and in 80.6% of patients after interval debulking. Postoperative rates of adverse effects and mortality tended to be higher after primary debulking than after interval debulking. The hazard ratio for death (intention-to-treat analysis) in the group assigned to neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval debulking, as compared with the group assigned to primary debulking surgery followed by chemotherapy, was 0.98 (90% confidence interval [CI], 0.84 to 1.13; P = 0.01 for noninferiority), and the hazard ratio for progressive disease was 1.01 (90% CI, 0.89 to 1.15). Complete resection of all macroscopic disease (at primary or interval surgery) was the strongest independent variable in predicting overall survival. Conclusions Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval debulking surgery was not inferior to primary debulking surgery followed by chemotherapy as a treatment option for patients with bulky stage IIIC or IV ovarian carcinoma in this study. Complete resection of all macroscopic disease, whether performed as primary treatment or after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, remains the objective whenever cytoreductive surgery is performed. (Funded by the National Cancer Institute; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00003636.)

1,865 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The second European Federation of Neurological Societies Task Force as discussed by the authors aimed at updating the existing evidence about the pharmacological treatment of neuropathic pain since 2005, and identified studies using the Cochrane Database and Medline.
Abstract: Background and objectives: This second European Federation of Neurological Societies Task Force aimed at updating the existing evidence about the pharmacological treatment of neuropathic pain since 2005. Methods: Studies were identified using the Cochrane Database and Medline. Trials were classified according to the aetiological condition. All class I and II randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were assessed; lower class studies were considered only in conditions that had no top-level studies. Treatments administered using repeated or single administrations were considered, provided they are feasible in an outpatient setting. Results: Most large RCTs included patients with diabetic polyneuropathies and post-herpetic neuralgia, while an increasing number of smaller studies explored other conditions. Drugs generally have similar efficacy in various conditions, except in trigeminal neuralgia, chronic radiculopathy and HIV neuropathy, with level A evidence in support of tricyclic antidepressants (TCA), pregabalin, gabapentin, tramadol and opioids (in various conditions), duloxetine, venlafaxine, topical lidocaine and capsaicin patches (in restricted conditions). Combination therapy appears useful for TCA-gabapentin and gabapentin-opioids (level A). Conclusions: There are still too few large-scale comparative studies. For future trials, we recommend to assess comorbidities, quality of life, symptoms and signs with standardized tools and attempt to better define responder profiles to specific drug treatments.

1,504 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
M. Punturo, M. R. Abernathy1, Fausto Acernese2, Benjamin William Allen3, Nils Andersson4, K. G. Arun5, Fabrizio Barone2, B. Barr1, M. Barsuglia6, M. G. Beker7, N. Beveridge1, S. Birindelli8, Suvadeep Bose9, L. Bosi, S. Braccini, C. Bradaschia, Tomasz Bulik10, Enrico Calloni, G. Cella, E. Chassande Mottin6, Simon Chelkowski11, Andrea Chincarini, John A. Clark12, E. Coccia13, C. N. Colacino, J. Colas, A. Cumming1, L. Cunningham1, E. Cuoco, S. L. Danilishin14, Karsten Danzmann3, G. De Luca, R. De Salvo15, T. Dent12, R. De Rosa, L. Di Fiore, A. Di Virgilio, M. Doets7, V. Fafone13, Paolo Falferi16, R. Flaminio17, J. Franc17, F. Frasconi, Andreas Freise11, Paul Fulda11, Jonathan R. Gair18, G. Gemme, A. Gennai11, A. Giazotto, Kostas Glampedakis19, M. Granata6, Hartmut Grote3, G. M. Guidi20, G. D. Hammond1, Mark Hannam21, Jan Harms22, D. Heinert23, Martin Hendry1, Ik Siong Heng1, Eric Hennes7, Stefan Hild1, J. H. Hough, Sascha Husa24, S. H. Huttner1, Gareth Jones12, F. Y. Khalili14, Keiko Kokeyama11, Kostas D. Kokkotas19, Badri Krishnan24, M. Lorenzini, Harald Lück3, Ettore Majorana, Ilya Mandel25, Vuk Mandic22, I. W. Martin1, C. Michel17, Y. Minenkov13, N. Morgado17, Simona Mosca, B. Mours26, H. Müller–Ebhardt3, P. G. Murray1, Ronny Nawrodt1, John Nelson1, Richard O'Shaughnessy27, Christian D. Ott15, C. Palomba, A. Paoli, G. Parguez, A. Pasqualetti, R. Passaquieti28, D. Passuello, L. Pinard17, Rosa Poggiani28, P. Popolizio, Mirko Prato, P. Puppo, D. S. Rabeling7, P. Rapagnani29, Jocelyn Read24, Tania Regimbau8, H. Rehbein3, Stuart Reid1, Luciano Rezzolla24, F. Ricci29, F. Richard, A. Rocchi, Sheila Rowan1, Albrecht Rüdiger3, Benoit Sassolas17, Bangalore Suryanarayana Sathyaprakash12, Roman Schnabel3, C. Schwarz, Paul Seidel, Alicia M. Sintes24, Kentaro Somiya15, Fiona C. Speirits1, Kenneth A. Strain1, S. E. Strigin14, P. J. Sutton12, S. P. Tarabrin14, Andre Thüring3, J. F. J. van den Brand7, C. van Leewen7, M. van Veggel1, C. Van Den Broeck12, Alberto Vecchio11, John Veitch11, F. Vetrano20, A. Viceré20, Sergey P. Vyatchanin14, Benno Willke3, Graham Woan1, P. Wolfango30, Kazuhiro Yamamoto3 
TL;DR: The third-generation ground-based observatory Einstein Telescope (ET) project as discussed by the authors is currently in its design study phase, and it can be seen as the first step in this direction.
Abstract: Advanced gravitational wave interferometers, currently under realization, will soon permit the detection of gravitational waves from astronomical sources. To open the era of precision gravitational wave astronomy, a further substantial improvement in sensitivity is required. The future space-based Laser Interferometer Space Antenna and the third-generation ground-based observatory Einstein Telescope (ET) promise to achieve the required sensitivity improvements in frequency ranges. The vastly improved sensitivity of the third generation of gravitational wave observatories could permit detailed measurements of the sources' physical parameters and could complement, in a multi-messenger approach, the observation of signals emitted by cosmological sources obtained through other kinds of telescopes. This paper describes the progress of the ET project which is currently in its design study phase.

1,497 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
A. A. Abdo1, A. A. Abdo2, Markus Ackermann3, Marco Ajello3  +285 moreInstitutions (39)
TL;DR: The first Fermi-LAT catalog (1FGL) as mentioned in this paper contains 1451 sources detected and characterized in the 100 MeV to 100 GeV range, and the threshold likelihood Test Statistic is 25, corresponding to a significance of just over 4 sigma.
Abstract: We present a catalog of high-energy gamma-ray sources detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT), the primary science instrument on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi), during the first 11 months of the science phase of the mission, which began on 2008 August 4. The First Fermi-LAT catalog (1FGL) contains 1451 sources detected and characterized in the 100 MeV to 100 GeV range. Source detection was based on the average flux over the 11 month period, and the threshold likelihood Test Statistic is 25, corresponding to a significance of just over 4 sigma. The 1FGL catalog includes source location regions, defined in terms of elliptical fits to the 95% confidence regions and power-law spectral fits as well as flux measurements in five energy bands for each source. In addition, monthly light curves are provided. Using a protocol defined before launch we have tested for several populations of gamma-ray sources among the sources in the catalog. For individual LAT-detected sources we provide firm identifications or plausible associations with sources in other astronomical catalogs. Identifications are based on correlated variability with counterparts at other wavelengths, or on spin or orbital periodicity. For the catalogs and association criteria that we have selected, 630 of the sources are unassociated. Care was taken to characterize the sensitivity of the results to the model of interstellar diffuse gamma-ray emission used to model the bright foreground, with the result that 161 sources at low Galactic latitudes and toward bright local interstellar clouds are flagged as having properties that are strongly dependent on the model or as potentially being due to incorrectly modeled structure in the Galactic diffuse emission.

1,412 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a set of recommendations for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with synthetic and biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and glucocorticoids (GCs) that also account for strategic algorithms and deal with economic aspects.
Abstract: Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may differ among rheumatologists and currently, clear and consensual international recommendations on RA treatment are not available. In this paper recommendations for the treatment of RA with synthetic and biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and glucocorticoids (GCs) that also account for strategic algorithms and deal with economic aspects, are described. The recommendations are based on evidence from five systematic literature reviews (SLRs) performed for synthetic DMARDs, biological DMARDs, GCs, treatment strategies and economic issues. The SLR-derived evidence was discussed and summarised as an expert opinion in the course of a Delphi-like process. Levels of evidence, strength of recommendations and levels of agreement were derived. Fifteen recommendations were developed covering an area from general aspects such as remission/low disease activity as treatment aim via the preference for methotrexate monotherapy with or without GCs vis-a-vis combination of synthetic DMARDs to the use of biological agents mainly in patients for whom synthetic DMARDs and tumour necrosis factor inhibitors had failed. Cost effectiveness of the treatments was additionally examined. These recommendations are intended to inform rheumatologists, patients and other stakeholders about a European consensus on the management of RA with DMARDs and GCs as well as strategies to reach optimal outcomes of RA, based on evidence and expert opinion.

1,372 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
10 Dec 2010-Science
TL;DR: Though the threat of extinction is increasing, overall declines would have been worse in the absence of conservation, and current conservation efforts remain insufficient to offset the main drivers of biodiversity loss in these groups.
Abstract: Using data for 25,780 species categorized on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, we present an assessment of the status of the world's vertebrates. One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing: On average, 52 species of mammals, birds, and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year. However, this overall pattern conceals the impact of conservation successes, and we show that the rate of deterioration would have been at least one-fifth again as much in the absence of these. Nonetheless, current conservation efforts remain insufficient to offset the main drivers of biodiversity loss in these groups: agricultural expansion, logging, overexploitation, and invasive alien species.

1,333 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This guideline aims to provide proposed advisable ranges for nutrient intakes for stable-growing preterm infants up to a weight of approximately 1800 g, because most data are available for these infants.
Abstract: The number of surviving children born prematurely has increased substantially during the last 2 decades. The major goal of enteral nutrient supply to these infants is to achieve growth similar to foetal growth coupled with satisfactory functional development. The accumulation of knowledge since the previous guideline on nutrition of preterm infants from the Committee on Nutrition of the European Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition in 1987 has made a new guideline necessary. Thus, an ad hoc expert panel was convened by the Committee on Nutrition of the European Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition in 2007 to make appropriate recommendations. The present guideline, of which the major recommendations are summarised here (for the full report, see http://links.lww.com/A1480), is consistent with, but not identical to, recent guidelines from the Life Sciences Research Office of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences published in 2002 and recommendations from the handbook Nutrition of the Preterm Infant. Scientific Basis and Practical Guidelines, 2nd ed, edited by Tsang et al, and published in 2005. The preferred food for premature infants is fortified human milk from the infant's own mother, or, alternatively, formula designed for premature infants. This guideline aims to provide proposed advisable ranges for nutrient intakes for stable-growing preterm infants up to a weight of approximately 1800 g, because most data are available for these infants. These recommendations are based on a considered review of available scientific reports on the subject, and on expert consensus for which the available scientific data are considered inadequate.

1,267 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
J. Abadie1, B. P. Abbott1, R. Abbott1, M. R. Abernathy2  +719 moreInstitutions (79)
TL;DR: In this paper, Kalogera et al. presented an up-to-date summary of the rates for all types of compact binary coalescence sources detectable by the initial and advanced versions of the ground-based gravitational-wave detectors LIGO and Virgo.
Abstract: We present an up-to-date, comprehensive summary of the rates for all types of compact binary coalescence sources detectable by the initial and advanced versions of the ground-based gravitational-wave detectors LIGO and Virgo. Astrophysical estimates for compact-binary coalescence rates depend on a number of assumptions and unknown model parameters and are still uncertain. The most confident among these estimates are the rate predictions for coalescing binary neutron stars which are based on extrapolations from observed binary pulsars in our galaxy. These yield a likely coalescence rate of 100 Myr−1 per Milky Way Equivalent Galaxy (MWEG), although the rate could plausibly range from 1 Myr−1 MWEG−1 to 1000 Myr−1 MWEG−1 (Kalogera et al 2004 Astrophys. J. 601 L179; Kalogera et al 2004 Astrophys. J. 614 L137 (erratum)). We convert coalescence rates into detection rates based on data from the LIGO S5 and Virgo VSR2 science runs and projected sensitivities for our advanced detectors. Using the detector sensitivities derived from these data, we find a likely detection rate of 0.02 per year for Initial LIGO–Virgo interferometers, with a plausible range between 2 × 10−4 and 0.2 per year. The likely binary neutron–star detection rate for the Advanced LIGO–Virgo network increases to 40 events per year, with a range between 0.4 and 400 per year.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Disease-related causes, in particular pulmonary fibrosis, PAH and cardiac causes, accounted for the majority of deaths in SSc.
Abstract: Objectives To determine the causes and predictors of mortality in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Methods Patients with SSc (n=5860) fulfilling the American College of Rheumatology criteria and prospectively followed in the EULAR Scleroderma Trials and Research (EUSTAR) cohort were analysed. EUSTAR centres completed a structured questionnaire on cause of death and comorbidities. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards models were used to analyse survival in SSc subgroups and to identify predictors of mortality. Results Questionnaires were obtained on 234 of 284 fatalities. 55% of deaths were attributed directly to SSc and 41% to non-SSc causes; in 4% the cause of death was not assigned. Of the SSc-related deaths, 35% were attributed to pulmonary fibrosis, 26% to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and 26% to cardiac causes (mainly heart failure and arrhythmias). Among the non-SSc-related causes, infections (33%) and malignancies (31%) were followed by cardiovascular causes (29%). Of the non-SSc-related fatalities, 25% died of causes in which SSc-related complications may have participated (pneumonia, sepsis and gastrointestinal haemorrhage). Independent risk factors for mortality and their HR were: proteinuria (HR 3.34), the presence of PAH based on echocardiography (HR 2.02), pulmonary restriction (forced vital capacity below 80% of normal, HR 1.64), dyspnoea above New York Heart Association class II (HR 1.61), diffusing capacity of the lung (HR 1.20 per 10% decrease), patient age at onset of Raynaud's phenomenon (HR 1.30 per 10 years) and the modified Rodnan skin score (HR 1.20 per 10 score points). Conclusion Disease-related causes, in particular pulmonary fibrosis, PAH and cardiac causes, accounted for the majority of deaths in SSc.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the results obtained with a further exposure of 0.34 ton x yr are presented, which refers to two further annual cycles collected one before and one after the first DAMA/LIBRA upgrade occurred on September/October 2008.
Abstract: DAMA/LIBRA is running at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the I.N.F.N. Here the results obtained with a further exposure of 0.34 ton x yr are presented. They refer to two further annual cycles collected one before and one after the first DAMA/LIBRA upgrade occurred on September/October 2008. The cumulative exposure with those previously released by the former DAMA/NaI and by DAMA/LIBRA is now 1.17 ton x yr, corresponding to 13 annual cycles. The data further confirm the previous positive results obtained investigating the presence of Dark Matter (DM) particles in the galactic halo by means of the model independent Dark Matter annual modulation signature; the confidence level is now 8.9 sigma for the cumulative exposure. In particular, with the cumulative exposure the modulation amplitude of the single-hit events in the (2-6) keV energy interval measured in NaI(Tl) target is (0.0116 +/- 0.0013) cpd/kg/keV; the measured phase is (146 +/- 7) days and the measured period is (0.999 +/- 0.002) yr, values well in agreement with those expected for the DM particles.

Journal ArticleDOI
Amy Strange1, Francesca Capon2, Chris C. A. Spencer1, Jo Knight, Michael E. Weale2, Michael H. Allen2, Anne Barton3, Gavin Band1, Céline Bellenguez1, Judith G.M. Bergboer4, Jenefer M. Blackwell, Elvira Bramon, Suzannah Bumpstead5, Juan P. Casas6, Michael J. Cork7, Aiden Corvin8, Panos Deloukas5, Alexander T. Dilthey1, Audrey Duncanson9, Sarah Edkins5, Xavier Estivill, Oliver FitzGerald, Colin Freeman9, Emiliano Giardina, Emma Gray5, Angelika Hofer10, Ulrike Hüffmeier11, Sarah E. Hunt5, Alan D. Irvine8, Janusz Jankowski12, Brian Kirby, Cordelia Langford5, Jesús Lascorz, Joyce Leman13, Stephen Leslie1, Lotus Mallbris14, Hugh S. Markus15, Christopher G. Mathew2, W.H. Irwin McLean16, Ross McManus8, Rotraut Mössner17, Loukas Moutsianas1, Åsa Torinsson Naluai18, Frank O. Nestle, Giuseppe Novelli, Alexandros Onoufriadis2, Colin N. A. Palmer16, Carlo Perricone19, Matti Pirinen1, Robert Plomin2, Simon C. Potter5, Ramon M. Pujol, Anna Rautanen9, Eva Riveira-Muñoz, Anthony W. Ryan8, Wolfgang Salmhofer10, Lena Samuelsson18, Stephen Sawcer20, Joost Schalkwijk4, Catherine H. Smith, Mona Ståhle14, Zhan Su9, Rachid Tazi-Ahnini7, Heiko Traupe21, Ananth C. Viswanathan22, Ananth C. Viswanathan23, Richard B. Warren3, Wolfgang Weger10, Katarina Wolk14, Nicholas W. Wood, Jane Worthington3, Helen S. Young3, Patrick L.J.M. Zeeuwen4, Adrian Hayday, A. David Burden, Christopher E.M. Griffiths3, Juha Kere, André Reis11, Gilean McVean1, David M. Evans24, Matthew A. Brown, Jonathan Barker, Leena Peltonen5, Peter Donnelly1, Peter Donnelly9, Richard C. Trembath 
TL;DR: These findings implicate pathways that integrate epidermal barrier dysfunction with innate and adaptive immune dysregulation in psoriasis pathogenesis and report compelling evidence for an interaction between the HLA-C and ERAP1 loci.
Abstract: To identify new susceptibility loci for psoriasis, we undertook a genome-wide association study of 594,224 SNPs in 2,622 individuals with psoriasis and 5,667 controls. We identified associations at eight previously unreported genomic loci. Seven loci harbored genes with recognized immune functions (IL28RA, REL, IFIH1, ERAP1, TRAF3IP2, NFKBIA and TYK2). These associations were replicated in 9,079 European samples (six loci with a combined P < 5 × 10⁻⁸ and two loci with a combined P < 5 × 10⁻⁷). We also report compelling evidence for an interaction between the HLA-C and ERAP1 loci (combined P = 6.95 × 10⁻⁶). ERAP1 plays an important role in MHC class I peptide processing. ERAP1 variants only influenced psoriasis susceptibility in individuals carrying the HLA-C risk allele. Our findings implicate pathways that integrate epidermal barrier dysfunction with innate and adaptive immune dysregulation in psoriasis pathogenesis.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article performed a second-generation genome-wide association study of 4,533 individuals with celiac disease (cases) and 10,750 control subjects, and genotyped 113 selected SNPs with P(GWAS) < 10(-4) and 18 SNPs from 14 known loci in a further 4,918 cases and 5,684 controls.
Abstract: We performed a second-generation genome-wide association study of 4,533 individuals with celiac disease (cases) and 10,750 control subjects. We genotyped 113 selected SNPs with P(GWAS) < 10(-4) and 18 SNPs from 14 known loci in a further 4,918 cases and 5,684 controls. Variants from 13 new regions reached genome-wide significance (P(combined) < 5 x 10(-8)); most contain genes with immune functions (BACH2, CCR4, CD80, CIITA-SOCS1-CLEC16A, ICOSLG and ZMIZ1), with ETS1, RUNX3, THEMIS and TNFRSF14 having key roles in thymic T-cell selection. There was evidence to suggest associations for a further 13 regions. In an expression quantitative trait meta-analysis of 1,469 whole blood samples, 20 of 38 (52.6%) tested loci had celiac risk variants correlated (P < 0.0028, FDR 5%) with cis gene expression.

Journal ArticleDOI
A. A. Abdo1, A. A. Abdo2, Markus Ackermann3, Ivan Agudo4  +270 moreInstitutions (51)
Abstract: We have conducted a detailed investigation of the broadband spectral properties of the gamma-ray selected blazars of the Fermi LAT Bright AGN Sample (LBAS). By combining our accurately estimated Fermi gamma-ray spectra with Swift, radio, infra-red, optical, and other hard X-ray/gamma-ray data, collected within 3 months of the LBAS data taking period, we were able to assemble high-quality and quasi-simultaneous spectral energy distributions (SED) for 48 LBAS blazars. The SED of these gamma-ray sources is similar to that of blazars discovered at other wavelengths, clearly showing, in the usual log nu-log nu F-nu representation, the typical broadband spectral signatures normally attributed to a combination of low-energy synchrotron radiation followed by inverse Compton emission of one or more components. We have used these SED to characterize the peak intensity of both the low-and the high-energy components. The results have been used to derive empirical relationships that estimate the position of the two peaks from the broadband colors (i.e., the radio to optical, alpha(ro), and optical to X-ray, alpha(ox), spectral slopes) and from the gamma-ray spectral index. Our data show that the synchrotron peak frequency (nu(S)(peak)) is positioned between 10(12.5) and 10(14.5) Hz in broad-lined flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) and between 10(13) and 10(17) Hz in featureless BL Lacertae objects. We find that the gamma-ray spectral slope is strongly correlated with the synchrotron peak energy and with the X-ray spectral index, as expected at first order in synchrotron-inverse Compton scenarios. However, simple homogeneous, one-zone, synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) models cannot explain most of our SED, especially in the case of FSRQs and low energy peaked (LBL) BL Lacs. More complex models involving external Compton radiation or multiple SSC components are required to reproduce the overall SED and the observed spectral variability. While more than 50% of known radio bright high energy peaked (HBL) BL Lacs are detected in the LBAS sample, only less than 13% of known bright FSRQs and LBL BL Lacs are included. This suggests that the latter sources, as a class, may be much fainter gamma-ray emitters than LBAS blazars, and could in fact radiate close to the expectations of simple SSC models. We categorized all our sources according to a new physical classification scheme based on the generally accepted paradigm for Active Galactic Nuclei and on the results of this SED study. Since the LAT detector is more sensitive to flat spectrum gamma-ray sources, the correlation between nu(S)(peak) and gamma-ray spectral index strongly favors the detection of high energy peaked blazars, thus explaining the Fermi overabundance of this type of sources compared to radio and EGRET samples. This selection effect is similar to that experienced in the soft X-ray band where HBL BL Lacs are the dominant type of blazars.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is suggested that flocks behave as critical systems, poised to respond maximally to environmental perturbations, through scale-free behavioral correlations, which provide each animal with an effective perception range much larger than the direct interindividual interaction range, thus enhancing global response to perturbation.
Abstract: From bird flocks to fish schools, animal groups often seem to react to environmental perturbations as if of one mind. Most studies in collective animal behavior have aimed to understand how a globally ordered state may emerge from simple behavioral rules. Less effort has been devoted to understanding the origin of collective response, namely the way the group as a whole reacts to its environment. Yet, in the presence of strong predatory pressure on the group, collective response may yield a significant adaptive advantage. Here we suggest that collective response in animal groups may be achieved through scale-free behavioral correlations. By reconstructing the 3D position and velocity of individual birds in large flocks of starlings, we measured to what extent the velocity fluctuations of different birds are correlated to each other. We found that the range of such spatial correlation does not have a constant value, but it scales with the linear size of the flock. This result indicates that behavioral correlations are scale free: The change in the behavioral state of one animal affects and is affected by that of all other animals in the group, no matter how large the group is. Scale-free correlations provide each animal with an effective perception range much larger than the direct interindividual interaction range, thus enhancing global response to perturbations. Our results suggest that flocks behave as critical systems, poised to respond maximally to environmental perturbations.

01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: Variants from 13 new regions reached genome-wide significance and most contain genes with immune functions, with ETS1, RUNX3, THEMIS and TNFRSF14 having key roles in thymic T-cell selection.
Abstract: We performed a second-generation genome-wide association study of 4,533 individuals with celiac disease (cases) and 10,750 control subjects. We genotyped 113 selected SNPs with P(GWAS) < 10(-4) and 18 SNPs from 14 known loci in a further 4,918 cases and 5,684 controls. Variants from 13 new regions reached genome-wide significance (P(combined) < 5 x 10(-8)); most contain genes with immune functions (BACH2, CCR4, CD80, CIITA-SOCS1-CLEC16A, ICOSLG and ZMIZ1), with ETS1, RUNX3, THEMIS and TNFRSF14 having key roles in thymic T-cell selection. There was evidence to suggest associations for a further 13 regions. In an expression quantitative trait meta-analysis of 1,469 whole blood samples, 20 of 38 (52.6%) tested loci had celiac risk variants correlated (P < 0.0028, FDR 5%) with cis gene expression.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Generalized Nash Equilibrium Problem is an important model that has its roots in the economic sciences but is being fruitfully used in many different fields and its main properties and solution algorithms are discussed.
Abstract: The Generalized Nash Equilibrium Problem is an important model that has its roots in the economic sciences but is being fruitfully used in many different fields. In this survey paper we aim at discussing its main properties and solution algorithms, pointing out what could be useful topics for future research in the field.


Journal ArticleDOI
Sergio Molinari1, B. Swinyard, John Bally2, M. J. Barlow3, J.-P. Bernard4, Paul Martin5, Toby J. T. Moore6, Alberto Noriega-Crespo7, Rene Plume8, Leonardo Testi9, Leonardo Testi1, Annie Zavagno10, Alain Abergel11, Babar Ali7, L. D. Anderson10, Ph. André12, J.-P. Baluteau10, Cara Battersby2, M. T. Beltrán1, M. Benedettini1, N. Billot7, J. A. D. L. Blommaert13, Sylvain Bontemps12, Sylvain Bontemps14, F. Boulanger11, Jan Brand1, Christopher M. Brunt15, Michael G. Burton16, Luca Calzoletti, Sean Carey7, Paola Caselli17, Riccardo Cesaroni1, José Cernicharo18, Sukanya Chakrabarti, Antonio Chrysostomou, Martin Cohen, Mathieu Compiegne5, P. de Bernardis19, G. de Gasperis20, A. M. di Giorgio1, Davide Elia1, F. Faustini, Nicolas Flagey7, Yasuo Fukui21, Gary A. Fuller22, K. Ganga23, Pedro García-Lario, Jason Glenn2, Paul F. Goldsmith24, Matthew Joseph Griffin25, Melvin Hoare17, Maohai Huang26, D. Ikhenaode19, C. Joblin4, G. Joncas27, Mika Juvela28, Jason M. Kirk25, Guilaine Lagache11, Jin-Zeng Li26, T. L. Lim, S. D. Lord7, Massimo Marengo29, Douglas J. Marshall4, Silvia Masi19, Fabrizio Massi1, Mikako Matsuura3, Vincent Minier12, Marc-Antoine Miville-Deschenes11, L. Montier4, L. K. Morgan6, Frédérique Motte12, Joseph C. Mottram15, T. G. Müller30, Paolo Natoli20, J. Neves31, Luca Olmi1, Roberta Paladini7, Deborah Paradis7, Harriet Parsons31, Nicolas Peretto12, Nicolas Peretto22, M. R. Pestalozzi1, Stefano Pezzuto1, F. Piacentini19, Lorenzo Piazzo19, D. Polychroni1, M. Pomarès10, Cristina Popescu30, William T. Reach7, Isabelle Ristorcelli4, Jean-François Robitaille27, Thomas P. Robitaille29, J. A. Rodón10, A. Roy5, Pierre Royer13, D. Russeil10, Paolo Saraceno1, Marc Sauvage12, Peter Schilke32, Eugenio Schisano1, Nicola Schneider12, Frederic Schuller, Benjamin L. Schulz7, B. Sibthorpe25, Hazel Smith29, Michael D. Smith33, L. Spinoglio1, Dimitrios Stamatellos25, Francesco Strafella, Guy S. Stringfellow2, E. Sturm30, R. Taylor8, Mark Thompson31, Alessio Traficante20, Richard J. Tuffs30, Grazia Umana1, Luca Valenziano1, R. Vavrek, M. Veneziani19, Serena Viti3, C. Waelkens13, Derek Ward-Thompson25, Glenn J. White34, L. A. Wilcock25, Friedrich Wyrowski, Harold W. Yorke24, Qizhou Zhang29 
TL;DR: In this paper, the first results from the science demonstration phase for the Hi-GAL survey, the Herschel key program that will map the inner Galactic plane of the Milky Way in 5 bands, were presented.
Abstract: We present the first results from the science demonstration phase for the Hi-GAL survey, the Herschel key program that will map the inner Galactic plane of the Milky Way in 5 bands. We outline our data reduction strategy and present some science highlights on the two observed 2° × 2° tiles approximately centered at l = 30° and l = 59°. The two regions are extremely rich in intense and highly structured extended emission which shows a widespread organization in filaments. Source SEDs can be built for hundreds of objects in the two fields, and physical parameters can be extracted, for a good fraction of them where the distance could be estimated. The compact sources (which we will call cores' in the following) are found for the most part to be associated with the filaments, and the relationship to the local beam-averaged column density of the filament itself shows that a core seems to appear when a threshold around AV ~ 1 is exceeded for the regions in the l = 59° field; a AV value between 5 and 10 is found for the l = 30° field, likely due to the relatively higher distances of the sources. This outlines an exciting scenario where diffuse clouds first collapse into filaments, which later fragment to cores where the column density has reached a critical level. In spite of core L/M ratios being well in excess of a few for many sources, we find core surface densities between 0.03 and 0.5 g cm-2. Our results are in good agreement with recent MHD numerical simulations of filaments forming from large-scale converging flows.

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TL;DR: The pre-print version of the Published Article can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 Springer Verlag as discussed by the authors, which can be viewed as a preprint of the published article.
Abstract: This is the pre-print version of the Published Article, which can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 Springer Verlag

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K. Aamodt1, Betty Abelev2, A. Abrahantes Quintana, Dagmar Adamová3  +1011 moreInstitutions (81)
TL;DR: In this paper, the first measurement of charged particle elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) p = 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider was performed in the central pseudorapidity region.
Abstract: We report the first measurement of charged particle elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) p = 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is performed in the central pseudorapidity region (vertical bar eta vertical bar < 0.8) and transverse momentum range 0.2 < p(t) < 5.0 GeV/c. The elliptic flow signal v(2), measured using the 4-particle correlation method, averaged over transverse momentum and pseudorapidity is 0.087 +/- 0.002(stat) +/- 0.003(syst) in the 40%-50% centrality class. The differential elliptic flow v(2)(p(t)) reaches a maximum of 0.2 near p(t) = 3 GeV/c. Compared to RHIC Au-Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV, the elliptic flow increases by about 30%. Some hydrodynamic model predictions which include viscous corrections are in agreement with the observed increase.

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TL;DR: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to define subregions within the cerebellar cortex based on their functional connectivity with the cerebral cortex, and found that the Cerebellum can be divided into at least 2 zones.
Abstract: The cerebellum processes information from functionally diverse regions of the cerebral cortex. Cerebellar input and output nuclei have connections with prefrontal, parietal, and sensory cortex as well as motor and premotor cortex. However, the topography of the connections between the cerebellar and cerebral cortices remains largely unmapped, as it is relatively unamenable to anatomical methods. We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to define subregions within the cerebellar cortex based on their functional connectivity with the cerebral cortex. We mapped resting-state functional connectivity voxel-wise across the cerebellar cortex, for cerebral-cortical masks covering prefrontal, motor, somatosensory, posterior parietal, visual, and auditory cortices. We found that the cerebellum can be divided into at least 2 zones: 1) a primary sensorimotor zone (Lobules V, VI, and VIII), which contains overlapping functional connectivity maps for domain-specific motor, somatosensory, visual, and auditory cortices; and 2) a supramodal zone (Lobules VIIa, Crus I, and II), which contains overlapping functional connectivity maps for prefrontal and posterior-parietal cortex. The cortical connectivity of the supramodal zone was driven by regions of frontal and parietal cortex which are not directly involved in sensory or motor processing, including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the frontal pole, and the inferior parietal lobule.

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TL;DR: There is empirical evidence that dysfunctional emotional reactivity might mediate the interaction between cognitive and autonomic hyperarousal, thus contributing to the maintenance of insomnia, and the need for future research on emotions in insomnia is underlines.

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Georges Aad1, Brad Abbott2, Jalal Abdallah3, A. A. Abdelalim4  +3098 moreInstitutions (192)
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used the ATLAS detector to detect dijet asymmetry in the collisions of lead ions at the Large Hadron Collider and found that the transverse energies of dijets in opposite hemispheres become systematically more unbalanced with increasing event centrality, leading to a large number of events which contain highly asymmetric di jets.
Abstract: By using the ATLAS detector, observations have been made of a centrality-dependent dijet asymmetry in the collisions of lead ions at the Large Hadron Collider. In a sample of lead-lead events with a per-nucleon center of mass energy of 2.76 TeV, selected with a minimum bias trigger, jets are reconstructed in fine-grained, longitudinally segmented electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters. The transverse energies of dijets in opposite hemispheres are observed to become systematically more unbalanced with increasing event centrality leading to a large number of events which contain highly asymmetric dijets. This is the first observation of an enhancement of events with such large dijet asymmetries, not observed in proton-proton collisions, which may point to an interpretation in terms of strong jet energy loss in a hot, dense medium.

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TL;DR: Together with their spontaneous commitment to cardiac and angiogenic differentiation, transplanted CDCs serve as “role models,” recruiting endogenous regeneration and improving tissue resistance to ischemic stress.
Abstract: Rationale: Multiple biological mechanisms contribute to the efficacy of cardiac cell therapy. Most prominent among these are direct heart muscle and blood vessel regeneration from transplanted cells, as opposed to paracrine enhancement of tissue preservation and/or recruitment of endogenous repair. Objective: Human cardiac progenitor cells, cultured as cardiospheres (CSps) or as CSp-derived cells (CDCs), have been shown to be capable of direct cardiac regeneration in vivo. Here we characterized paracrine effects in CDC transplantation and investigated their relative importance versus direct differentiation of surviving transplanted cells. Methods and Results: In vitro, many growth factors were found in media conditioned by human adult CSps and CDCs; CDC-conditioned media exerted antiapoptotic effects on neonatal rat ventricular myocytes, and proangiogenic effects on human umbilical vein endothelial cells. In vivo, human CDCs secreted vascular endothelial growth factor, hepatocyte growth factor, and insuli...

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TL;DR: A chimeric receptor approach is adopted to elucidate the role of Arabidopsis WAK1 and shows that transgenic plants overexpressing Wak1 are more resistant to Botrytis cinerea and are effective against fungal and bacterial pathogens.
Abstract: Oligogalacturonides (OGs) released from the plant cell wall are active both as damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) for the activation of the plant immune response and regulators of plant growth and development. Members of the Wall-Associated Kinase (WAK) family are candidate receptors of OGs, due to their ability to bind in vitro these oligosaccharides. Because lethality and redundancy have hampered the study of WAKs by reverse genetics, we have adopted a chimeric receptor approach to elucidate the role of Arabidopsis WAK1. In a test-of-concept study, we first defined the appropriate chimera design and demonstrated that the Arabidopsis pattern recognition receptor (PRR) EFR is amenable to the construction of functional and resistance-conferring chimeric receptors carrying the ectodomain of another Arabidopsis PRR, FLS2. After, we analyzed chimeras derived from EFR and WAK1. Our results show that, upon stimulation with OGs, the WAK1 ectodomain is capable of activating the EFR kinase domain. On the other hand, upon stimulation with the cognate ligand elf18, the EFR ectodomain activates the WAK1 kinase, triggering defense responses that mirror those normally activated by OGs and are effective against fungal and bacterial pathogens. Finally, we show that transgenic plants overexpressing WAK1 are more resistant to Botrytis cinerea.

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F. D. Aaron1, Halina Abramowicz2, I. Abt3, Leszek Adamczyk4  +538 moreInstitutions (69)
TL;DR: In this article, a combination of the inclusive deep inelastic cross sections measured by the H1 and ZEUS Collaborations in neutral and charged current unpolarised e(+/-)p scattering at HERA during the period 1994-2000 is presented.
Abstract: A combination is presented of the inclusive deep inelastic cross sections measured by the H1 and ZEUS Collaborations in neutral and charged current unpolarised e(+/-)p scattering at HERA during the period 1994-2000. The data span six orders of magnitude in negative four-momentum-transfer squared, Q(2), and in Bjorken x. The combination method used takes the correlations of systematic uncertainties into account, resulting in an improved accuracy. The combined data are the sole input in a NLO QCD analysis which determines a new set of parton distributions, HERAPDF1.0, with small experimental uncertainties. This set includes an estimate of the model and parametrisation uncertainties of the fit result.

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TL;DR: It is conjecture that on quenched scale-rich networks the threshold of generic epidemic models is vanishing or finite depending on the presence or absence of a steady state.
Abstract: We study the threshold of epidemic models in quenched networks with degree distribution given by a power-law. For the susceptible-infected-susceptible model the activity threshold λ(c) vanishes in the large size limit on any network whose maximum degree k(max) diverges with the system size, at odds with heterogeneous mean-field (HMF) theory. The vanishing of the threshold has nothing to do with the scale-free nature of the network but stems instead from the largest hub in the system being active for any spreading rate λ>1/√k(max) and playing the role of a self-sustained source that spreads the infection to the rest of the system. The susceptible-infected-removed model displays instead agreement with HMF theory and a finite threshold for scale-rich networks. We conjecture that on quenched scale-rich networks the threshold of generic epidemic models is vanishing or finite depending on the presence or absence of a steady state.