University of Cyprus

About: University of Cyprus is a education organization based out in Nicosia, Cyprus. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Large Hadron Collider & Context (language use). The organization has 3624 authors who have published 15157 publications receiving 412135 citations.

Normalization of tumour blood vessels improves the delivery of nanomedicines in a size-dependent manner

Abstract: The blood vessels of cancerous tumours are leaky and poorly organized. This can increase the interstitial fluid pressure inside tumours and reduce blood supply to them, which impairs drug delivery. Anti-angiogenic therapies--which 'normalize' the abnormal blood vessels in tumours by making them less leaky--have been shown to improve the delivery and effectiveness of chemotherapeutics with low molecular weights, but it remains unclear whether normalizing tumour vessels can improve the delivery of nanomedicines. Here, we show that repairing the abnormal vessels in mammary tumours, by blocking vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2, improves the delivery of smaller nanoparticles (diameter, 12 nm) while hindering the delivery of larger nanoparticles (diameter, 125 nm). Using a mathematical model, we show that reducing the sizes of pores in the walls of vessels through normalization decreases the interstitial fluid pressure in tumours, thus allowing small nanoparticles to enter them more rapidly. However, increased steric and hydrodynamic hindrances, also associated with smaller pores, make it more difficult for large nanoparticles to enter tumours. Our results further suggest that smaller (∼12 nm) nanomedicines are ideal for cancer therapy due to their superior tumour penetration.

An Analysis of the Barriers Hindering Small Business Export Development

Abstract: Notwithstanding the benefits derived from exporting in an increasingly globalized marketplace, for many smaller‐sized manufacturers the internationalization path is beset by numerous obstacles. Thi...

Event generator tunes obtained from underlying event and multiparton scattering measurements

Abstract: New sets of parameters ("tunes") for the underlying-event (UE) modeling of the PYTHIA8, PYTHIA6 and HERWIG++ Monte Carlo event generators are constructed using different parton distribution functions. Combined fits to CMS UE data at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and to UE data from the CDF experiment at lower sqrt(s), are used to study the UE models and constrain their parameters, providing thereby improved predictions for proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV. In addition, it is investigated whether the values of the parameters obtained from fits to UE observables are consistent with the values determined from fitting observables sensitive to double-parton scattering processes. Finally, comparisons of the UE tunes to "minimum bias" (MB) events, multijet, and Drell-Yan (q q-bar to Z / gamma* to lepton-antilepton + jets) observables at 7 and 8 TeV are presented, as well as predictions of MB and UE observables at 13 TeV.

Precise determination of the mass of the Higgs boson and tests of compatibility of its couplings with the standard model predictions using proton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV

Abstract: Properties of the Higgs boson with mass near 125 GeV are measured in proton-proton collisions with the CMS experiment at the LHC. Comprehensive sets of production and decay measurements are combined. The decay channels include gamma gamma, ZZ, WW, tau tau, bb, and mu mu pairs. The data samples were collected in 2011 and 2012 and correspond to integrated luminosities of up to 5.1 inverse femtobarns at 7 TeV and up to 19.7 inverse femtobarns at 8 TeV. From the high-resolution gamma gamma and ZZ channels, the mass of the Higgs boson is determined to be 125.02 +0.26 -0.27 (stat) +0.14 -0.15 (syst) GeV. For this mass value, the event yields obtained in the different analyses tagging specific decay channels and production mechanisms are consistent with those expected for the standard model Higgs boson. The combined best-fit signal relative to the standard model expectation is 1.00 +/- 0.09 (stat) +0.08 -0.07 (theo) +/- 0.07 (syst) at the measured mass. The couplings of the Higgs boson are probed for deviations in magnitude from the standard model predictions in multiple ways, including searches for invisible and undetected decays. No significant deviations are found.