University of Turin

About: University of Turin is a education organization based out in Turin, Piemonte, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Cancer. The organization has 29607 authors who have published 77952 publications receiving 2480900 citations. The organization is also known as: Universita degli Studi di Torino & Università degli Studi di Torino.

Evidence for the 125 GeV Higgs boson decaying to a pair of τ leptons

Abstract: A search for a standard model Higgs boson decaying into a pair of tau leptons is performed using events recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011 and 2012. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 inverse femtobarns at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and 19.7 inverse femtobarns at 8 TeV. Each tau lepton decays hadronically or leptonically to an electron or a muon, leading to six different final states for the tau-lepton pair, all considered in this analysis. An excess of events is observed over the expected background contributions, with a local significance larger than 3 standard deviations for m[H] values between 115 and 130 GeV. The best fit of the observed H to tau tau signal cross section for m[H] = 125 GeV is 0.78 +- 0.27 times the standard model expectation. These observations constitute evidence for the 125 GeV Higgs boson decaying to a pair of tau leptons.

Overexpression of the c-MET/HGF receptor gene in human thyroid carcinomas.

Abstract: The receptor for Hepatocyte Growth Factor is a transmembrane tyrosine kinase encoded by the c-MET oncogene. We have previously shown that the Met protein is expressed in several human epithelial tissues. The receptor is barely detectable, however, in normal thyroids and in specimens from patients affected by non-neoplastic thyroid diseases. Now we report that the expression of the Met/HGF receptor is increased a hundred fold in 22 out of 41 human carcinomas derived from the thyroid follicular epithelium. A comprehensive analysis of 15 cases showed that the overexpressing carcinomas belong to histotype variants correlated with negative prognosis and in all but one case there were evidences of locally advanced disease and/or distant metastases. The 11 benign adenomas and the 5 medullary carcinomas tested were negative. Western blot analysis with monoclonal antibodies directed against either the intracellular or the extracellular receptor domains failed to reveal major structural alterations. Southern blot analysis also demonstrated that the c-MET gene was not amplified nor rearranged. These data suggest a role for the overexpression of c-MET oncogene in the pathogenesis and progression of thyroid tumors derived from the follicular epithelium.

Solid-state interactions, adsorption sites and functionality of Cu-ZnO/ZrO2 catalysts in the CO2 hydrogenation to CH3OH

Abstract: Structure, adsorption properties and surface reactivity of Cu-ZnO/ZrO 2 catalysts (ZrO 2 loading, 43 wt%; Zn/Cu (at/at), 00–28) have been probed by BET, XRD, TPR, N 2 O-titration, FTIR and TPD measurements of H 2 , CO and CO 2 Characterization data indicate that ZnO promotes the dispersion and reactivity of metal copper to oxygen, while both ZnO and ZrO 2 support markedly enhance the surface CO 2 adsorption A synergism of metal Cu hydrogenation and oxide basic sites discloses the primary role of the metal/oxide interface on the functionality of Cu-ZnO/ZrO 2 catalysts in the CO 2 to CH 3 OH hydrogenation reaction The extent of the oxide/metal interface, probed both by Cu δ + /Cu 0 and oxide-to-metal surface area (OSA/MSA) ratios, provides a normalization of the Cu site specific activity (TOF) in a wide range (3–60%) of metal dispersion proving the dual-site nature and, then, the formal structure-insensitive character of the title reaction

Isolation of human mesenchymal stem cells: bone marrow versus umbilical cord blood.

Abstract: We attempted the isolation and characterization of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from bone marrow (BM) and umbilical cord blood (UBC) in a medium with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and 10% horse serum. In the same conditions it was possible to isolate MSCs from bone marrow but not from UCB.

Placebo analgesia induced by social observational learning.

Abstract: Although it has long been known that psychosocial factors play a crucial role in placebo responses, no attempt has been made to understand if social observation shapes the placebo analgesic effect. To address this question, we compared placebo analgesia induced through social observation (Group 1) with first-hand experience via a typical conditioning procedure (Group 2) and verbal suggestion alone (Group 3). In Group 1, subjects underwent painful stimuli and placebo treatment after they had observed a demonstrator (actually a simulator) showing analgesic effect when the painful stimuli were paired to a green light. In Group 2, subjects were conditioned according to previous studies, whereby a green light was associated to the surreptitious reduction of stimulus intensity, so as to make them believe that the treatment worked. In Group 3, subjects received painful stimuli and were verbally instructed to expect a benefit from a green light. Pain perception was assessed by means of a Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) ranging from 0 = no pain to 10 = maximum imaginable pain. Empathy trait and heart rate were also measured. We found that observing the beneficial effects in the demonstrator induced substantial placebo analgesic responses, which were positively correlated with empathy scores. Moreover, observational social learning produced placebo responses that were similar to those induced by directly experiencing the benefit through the conditioning procedure, whereas verbal suggestions alone produced significantly smaller effects. These findings show that placebo analgesia is finely tuned by social observation and suggest that different forms of learning take part in the placebo phenomenon.