Association of a novel SNP in the ASIP gene with skin color in black-bone chicken

The agouti signaling protein gene (ASIP) is a widely studied pigmentation gene that plays an important role in melanin synthesis. To determine the variety of ASIP expression in the Muchuan Black-Bone chicken, we examined genetic variation in the ASIP promoter region. A single nucleotide polymorphism (c.-1826A>T) was found to be associated with the skin color (dorsal and subalar) of black-bone chicken. Individuals with TT and AT genotypes had higher ASIP mRNA levels in the skin than did those with the AA genotype (P < 0.01). In addition, individuals with the TT genotype had higher ASIP mRNA levels than did those with the AT genotype (P < 0.05). Expression of melanogenesis-related genes (melanocortin 1 receptor and tyrosinase genes) was higher in the skin of chickens with the TT and AT genotypes than in those with the AA genotype (P < 0.01). A luciferase assay showed that promoter activity was higher in chickens with the TT genotype than in those with the AA genotype. Putative transcription factor prediction suggested that the c.-1826A>T mutation might shift the promoter binding affinity with differential transcription factors. In summary, we identified a novel mutation in the ASIP gene promoter that may affect chicken skin color by altering ASIP transcriptional activity.

Protective effect of Lycium barbarum polysaccharides against high-fat diet-induced renal injury and lipid deposition in rat kidneys

This study aimed to explore the protective effect of Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBPs) against hyperlipidemia and lipid-induced renal injury in a rat model. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=30) were randomly divided into three equal groups: a control group (fed a regular diet) and two experimental groups (fed a high-fat diet). By feeding rats a high-fat diet for 12 weeks, an animal model of hyperlipidemia was established, after which one experimental group received oral LBPs at a dose of 300 mg/kg per day. Blood lipids, renal function, and urinary proteins were measured after 12 weeks. Changes in renal pathology and expression levels of sterol regulatory element binding transcription factor 1 (SREBP-1), interleukin-6 (IL- 6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) were determined. Rats with hyperlipidemia induced by a high-fat diet showed increases in blood lipids and blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, and urinary protein, as well as increases in renal levels of SREBP-1, TNF-α, and IL-6 and decreases in renal levels of adiponectin and AMPK. Administration of LBPs restored blood lipid, blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, and urinary protein levels, downregulated renal levels of SREBP-1, TNF-α, and IL-6, and upregulated renal levels of adiponectin and AMPK. These results indicate that LBPs may mediate lipid metabolism, enhance anti-inflammatory responses, and ameliorate renal injury caused by lipid metabolism isorders in a rat model of hyperlipidemia.

Five alternative splicing variants of the TYR gene and their different roles in melanogenesis in the Muchuan black-boned chicken

1. The TYR gene encodes tyrosinase, a multifunctional enzyme that is essential for melanin biosynthesis in melanocytes. This experiment involved the cloning and characterisation of the TYR gene in chicken. Five alternative splice variants were identified in the black feather bulb and designated as TYR-AS1, TYR-AS2, TYR-AS3, TYR-AS4 and TYR-AS5. 2. Among the 11 chicken tissues examined, the feather bulb, comb and skin showed higher levels of all TYR variants. All TYR variants were expressed at significantly different levels in black and white feather bulbs (P < 0.05) and may be involved in melanin formation in plumage. Only TYR-AS1, which plays an important role in muscle melanogenesis, was significantly differentially expressed between black and white muscle (P < 0.01). All TYR variants were expressed at significantly different levels in black and white skin (P < 0.01). 3. The mRNA expression levels of the 5 variants were closely associated with skin melanogenesis in the chicken. These findings provide new clues to the molecular mechanism of melanin formation in the Muchuan black-boned chicken.

Depth of field extension and objective space depth measurement based on wavefront imaging

When all the parts of the wavefront imaging system are kept static after wavefront measuring, the target's images are blurry, because the depth of field (DOF) of the system affects the imaging quality. In this paper, the method for extending the DOF of the wavefront imaging system through an integrated architecture of a liquid-crystal microlens array (LCMLA) powered by electricity and a common photosensitive array, is presented. The DOF can be extended remarkably only by stitching together several sub-images of the LCMLA. The problem that the wavefronts and imaging results are insensitive to the objective depth is also solved. Optimal driving voltage signals are found out according to Sobel mean gradient to efficiently calibrate the depth of objective space in order to quantitatively measure the depth. The approach indicates a viable way to effectively extend the DOF of imaging micro-systems and to measure the geometrical depth of targets at the same time.

An OLTAM system for analysis of brown/beige fat thermogenic activity

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

Thermogenic fat is present in humans and emerging evidence indicates that increasing the content and activity of these adipocytes may lead to weight loss and improved metabolic health. Multiple reporter systems have been developed to assay thermogenic fat activity based on the transcriptional and translational activation of Ucp1, the key molecule that mediates nonshivering thermogenesis. Our study aims to develop a much-needed tool to monitor thermogenic fat activity through a mechanism independent of Ucp1 regulation, therefore effectively assaying not only canonical β-adrenergic activation but also various non-UCP1-mediated thermogenic pathways that have been increasingly appreciated.

METHODS

We detected increased luciferase activity upon thermogenic activation in interscapular brown and inguinal subcutaneous fat in ODD-Luc mice, a hypoxia reporter mouse model. We then developed an OLTAM (ODD-Luc based Thermogenic Activity Measurement) system to assay thermogenic fat cell activity.

RESULTS

In both primary murine and human adipocytes and an immortalized adipose cell line that were transduced with the OLTAM system, luciferase activity can be readily measured and visualized by bioluminescence imaging in response to a variety of stimuli, including UCP1-independent thermogenic signaling. This system can offer a convenient method to assay thermogenic activity for both basic and translational research.

CONCLUSIONS

The OLTAM system offers a convenient way to measure of the activation of thermogenic fat and presents opportunities to discover novel signaling pathways and unknown compounds targeting metabolically active adipocytes to counteract human obesity.

Efficacy and safety of three adefovir-based combination therapies in HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B patients with suboptimal response to adefovir monotherapy

Although high potent nucleos(t)ide analogues are strongly recommended as first-line therapy for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in China, some patients are still being treated with adefovir disoproxil (ADV), especially those low-income patients whose health insurance could not reimburse the drug cost. Therefore, the management of patients who have failed ADV therapy or who sustained renal damage during ADV therapy remains an important clinical problem in China. This retrospective study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of lamivudine (LAM), telbivudine (LdT) or entecavir (ETV) add-on strategies to optimize the treatment of patients with prior suboptimal response to ADV monotherapy. A total of 277 eligible patients were included in this study, and the baseline characteristics were similar among the LAM + ADV (n = 116), LdT + ADV (n = 72) and ETV + ADV (n = 89) groups. At week 96, both the proportion of undetectable HBV DNA (81.03% for LAM + ADV, 84.72% for LdT + ADV and 88.76% for ETV + ADV; P = .317) and ALT elevation (5.17% for LAM + ADV, 4.17% for LdT + ADV and 4.49% for ETV + ADV; P = 1.000) were similar among the three groups; also, a significant decline in liver stiffness was observed in each group from baseline to week 96. At week 96, the rate of HBeAg seroconversion was significantly higher in LdT + ADV than in LAM + ADV (26.39% vs 13.79%, P = .031) and ETV + ADV (26.39% vs 10.11%, P = .007). During the 96 weeks, no obvious renal injury was reported in any of the three groups, but an improvement in eGFR was found in LdT + ADV compared with LAM + ADV and ETV + ADV. In summary, all three combination strategies provide good control of virus replication, but the LdT + ADV combination therapy may yield better HBeAg seroconversion and eGFR improvement.

Genetic variation in the MITF promoter affects skin colour and transcriptional activity in black-boned chickens

1. Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) plays a pivotal role in melanocyte development by regulating the transcription of major pigmentation enzymes (e.g. TYR, TYRP1 and DCT). A single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), c.-638T>C, was identified in the MITF promoter, and genotyping of a population (n = 426) revealed that SNP c.-638T>C was associated with skin colour in black-boned chickens. 2. Individuals with genotypes CC and TC exhibited greater MTIF expression than those with genotype TT. Luciferase assays also revealed that genotype CC and TC promoters had higher activity levels than genotype TT. Expression of melanogenesis-related gene (TYR) was higher in the skin of chickens with the CC and CT genotype compared to TT chickens (P < 0.05). 3. Transcription factor-binding site analyses showed that the c.-638C allele contains a putative binding site for transcription factor sterol regulatory element-binding transcription factor 2, aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator, transcription factor binding to IGHM enhancer 3 and upstream transcription factor 2. In contrast, the c.-638T allele contains binding sites for Sp3 transcription factor and Krüppel-like factor 1. 4. It was concluded that MITF promoter polymorphisms affected chicken skin colour. SNP c.-638T>C could be used for the marker-assisted selection of skin colour in black-boned chicken breeding.

Antimicrobial peptide AMPNT-6 from Bacillus subtilis inhibits biofilm formation by Shewanella putrefaciens and disrupts its preformed biofilms on both abiotic and shrimp shell surfaces

Shewanella putrefaciens biofilm formation is of great concern for the shrimp industry because it adheres easily to food and food-contact surfaces and is a source of persistent and unseen contamination that causes shrimp spoilage and economic losses to the shrimp industry. Different concentrations of an antimicrobial lipopeptide, the fermentation product of Bacillus subtilis, AMPNT-6, were tested for the ability to reduce adhesion and disrupt S. putrefaciens preformed biofilms on two different contact surfaces (shrimp shell, stainless steel sheet). AMPNT-6 displayed a marked dose- and time-dependent anti-adhesive effect>biofilm removal. 3MIC AMPNT-6 was able both to remove biofilm and prevent bacteria from forming biofilm in a 96-well polystyrene microplate used as the model surface. 2MIC AMPNT-6 prevented bacteria from adhering to the microplate surface to form biofilm for 3h and removed already existing biofilm within 24h. Secretion of extracellular polymeric substances incubated in LB broth for 24h by S. putrefaciens was minimal at 3× MIC AMPNT-6. Scanning electron microscopy showed that damage to S. putrefaciens bacteria by AMPNT-6 possibly contributed to the non-adherence to the surfaces. Disruption of the mature biofilm structure by AMPNT-6 contributed to biofilm removal. It is concluded that AMPNT-6 can be used effectively to prevent attachment and also detach S. putrefaciens biofilms from shrimp shells, stainless steel sheets and polystyrene surfaces.

Characterization of retroviral infectivity and superinfection resistance during retrovirus-mediated transduction of mammalian cells

Retroviral vectors including lentiviral vectors are commonly used tools to stably express transgenes or RNA molecules in mammalian cells. Their utilities are roughly divided into two categories, stable overexpression of transgenes and RNA molecules, which requires maximal transduction efficiency, or functional selection with retrovirus (RV)-based libraries, which takes advantage of retroviral superinfection resistance. However, the dynamic features of RV-mediated transduction are not well characterized. Here, we engineered two murine stem cell virus-based retroviral vectors expressing dual fluorescence proteins and antibiotic markers, and analyzed virion production efficiency and virion stability, dynamic infectivity and superinfection resistance in different cell types, and strategies to improve transduction efficiency. We found that the highest virion production occurred between 60 and 72 h after transfection. The stability of the collected virion supernatant decreased by >60% after 3 days in storage. We found that RV infectivity varied drastically in the tested human cancer lines, while low transduction efficiency was partially overcome with increased virus titer, prolonged infection duration and/or repeated infections. Furthermore, we demonstrated that RV receptors PIT1 and PIT2 were lowly expressed in the analyzed cells, and that PIT1 and/or PIT2 overexpression significantly improved transduction efficiency in certain cell lines. Thus, our findings provide resourceful information for the optimal conditions of retroviral-mediated gene delivery.

First Direct-Detection Constraints on eV-Scale Hidden-Photon Dark Matter with DAMIC at SNOLAB

We present direct detection constraints on the absorption of hidden-photon dark matter with particle masses in the range 1.2-30  eV c^{-2} with the DAMIC experiment at SNOLAB. Under the assumption that the local dark matter is entirely constituted of hidden photons, the sensitivity to the kinetic mixing parameter κ is competitive with constraints from solar emission, reaching a minimum value of 2.2×10^{-14} at 17  eV c^{-2}. These results are the most stringent direct detection constraints on hidden-photon dark matter in the galactic halo with masses 3-12  eV c^{-2} and the first demonstration of direct experimental sensitivity to ionization signals <12  eV from dark matter interactions.

Effect of T-2 toxin-injected shrimp muscle extracts on mouse macrophage cells (RAW264.7)

Following intramuscular injections of 0.1 mL, 3 mg kg^-1BW^-1(1/10 LD₅₀) T-2 toxin (T-2), the tissue concentration of T-2 in shrimp was quantitatively detected using LC-MS/MS. The biological half-time (t_1/2) of T-2 in blood was 40.47 ± 0.24 min. The highest number of intramuscular T-2 shrimp could tolerate when given at blood t_1/2 intervals was 4. The shrimps which were injected 5 T-2 died. The T-2 toxin highest accumulation was 0.471 ± 0.012 ng g^-1BW^-1. The effect of toxic shrimp muscle subjected to different processing conditions (high pressure, trifluoroacetic acid, acid and alkali digestions, artificial digestive juice [to simulate exposure to gastric and intestinal juices]) on mouse macrophage cells (RAW267.4) were evaluated by the MTT assay. The inhibition ratio of 2% muscle extract on RAW267.4 was 85.70 ± 2.63%. The immunocytotoxicity of muscle extracts to RAW264.7 was highest in muscle extracts subjected to physical and chemical digestion (high pressure > NaOH > trifluoroacetic acid > 0.02 M HCl > 0.2 M HCl > controls), and also artificial digestion (artificial intestinal juice > artificial gastric juice > N type intestinal juice > N type gastric liquid > controls). Results showed that high-pressure and artificial intestinal juice were most effective in the release of modified T-2 to free T-2 thus enhancing toxicity. These results can be interpreted as measurement of T-2 in food being of little value because of enhanced toxicity of T-2-contaminated food as they pass through the gastrointestinal tract.

A sensitive method for simultaneous quantitative determination of surfactin and iturin by LC-MS/MS

Surfactin and iturin are antimicrobial lipopeptides produced from Bacillus spp. and have significant prospective applications in many fields. Therefore, accurate analysis of these lipopeptides in the fermented product of some Bacillus strains is important. A sensitive method for simultaneous quantitative determination of surfactin and iturin fermented by Bacillus natto NT-6 was developed and validated using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Crude extracts of antimicrobial lipopeptide samples were dissolved in a mixture of acetonitrile/water (7:3, v/v) in 0.1 % (v/v) formic acid and eluted with acetonitrile/water (7:3, v/v) containing 5 mmol L^-1 ammonium acetate and 0.1 % (v/v) formic acid. The target compounds were detected by mass spectrometry (ESI+) using selective ion monitoring. A good linear regression in the range of 0.20-10.0 mg L^-1 for both surfactin and iturin (R ² ≥ 0.9995) was observed with spiked recoveries of 93.3-108.2 %, RSD values less than 15 %, precision 4.14-13.30 %, and a detection limit of 0.374 mg L^-1. This method has a simple preprocessing operation, good repeatability, and provides an accurate quantitative analysis of surfactin and iturin. Graphical Abstract Surfactin and iturin from Bacillus natto NT-6 extraction and detection procedure.

The efficacy and safety of intensified enteric-coated mycophenolate sodium with low exposure of calcineurin inhibitors in Chinese de novo kidney transplant recipients: a prospective study

AIMS

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of a transient intensified enteric-coated mycophenolate sodium (EC-MPS) dosing regimen with low exposure of calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) in Chinese de novo kidney transplantation.

METHODS

In a 6-month prospective study, a total of 97 recipients were enrolled and assigned to either an intensified EC-MPS dosing (IS) regimen or a standard EC-MPS dosing (SD) regimen. The area under the curve (AUC) of MPA was assessed at week 1 post transplant. The incidences of acute rejection, patient and graft survival, renal allograft function and adverse events were analysed.

RESULTS

The IS regimen displayed a trend of acute rejection risk reduction (IS 2.7% vs. SD 13.3%, p = 0.061) and allograft function improvement (IS 62.8 ± 14.0 ml/min per 1.73 m(2) vs. SD 56.6 ± 18.3 ml/min per 1.73 m(2) , p = 0.084) after 6-month follow-up. MPA-AUC0-12 h was substantially higher in the intensified EC-MPS group than the standard EC-MPS group, though without a significant difference (71.4 ± 41.7 vs. 53.0 ± 27.0 mg·h/l, p = 0.107). The IS regimen did not increase the incidence of adverse effects (IS 54.1% vs. 45.0%, p = 0.39), including diarrhoea or leucopenia.

CONCLUSIONS

The intensified EC-MPS dosing regimen maintaining low-dose CNIs in this study may be beneficial for Chinese adult de novo kidney transplant recipients in terms of acute rejection and allograft function and is safe within 6 months post transplant.

eEF-2 kinase is a critical regulator of Warburg effect through controlling PP2A-A synthesis

Cancer cells predominantly metabolize glucose by glycolysis to produce energy in order to meet their metabolic requirement, a phenomenon known as Warburg effect. Although Warburg effect is considered a peculiarity critical for survival and proliferation of cancer cells, the regulatory mechanisms behind this phenomenon remain incompletely understood. We report here that eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase (eEF-2K), a negative regulator of protein synthesis, has a critical role in promoting glycolysis in cancer cells. We showed that deficiency in eEF-2K significantly reduced the uptake of glucose and decreased the productions of lactate and adenosine triphosphate in tumor cells and in the Ras-transformed mouse embryonic fibroblasts. We further demonstrated that the promotive effect of eEF-2K on glycolysis resulted from the kinase-mediated restriction of synthesis of the protein phosphatase 2A-A (PP2A-A), a key factor that facilitates the ubiquitin-proteasomal degradation of c-Myc protein, as knockdown of eEF-2K expression led to a significant increase in PP2A-A protein synthesis and remarkable downregulation of c-Myc and pyruvate kinase M2 isoform, the key glycolytic enzyme transcriptionally activated by c-Myc. In addition, depletion of eEF-2K reduced the ability of the transformed cells to proliferate and enhanced the sensitivity of tumor cells to chemotherapy both in vitro and in vivo. These results, which uncover a role of the eEF-2K-mediated control of PP2A-A in tumor cell glycolysis, provide new insights into the regulation of the Warburg effect.

Recipient C6 rs9200 genotype is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence after orthotopic liver transplantation in a Han Chinese population

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence is one of the leading causes of death after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). The sixth complement component (C6) is a late-acting complement protein that participates in the assembly of the membrane attack complex, which has an indispensable role in innate and acquired immune responses, as well as cancer immune surveillance. However, studies assessing the association between C6 and HCC recurrence after OLT are scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the association of donor and recipient C6 single-nucleotide polymorphisms with the risk for HCC recurrence after OLT. A total of 71 adult patients who underwent primary LT for HCC were enrolled. HCC recurrence was observed in 26 (36.6%) patients. Ten single-nucleotide polymorphisms were genotyped and analyzed in both donor and recipient groups. Patients with the rs9200 heterozygous GA variant presented significantly higher HCC recurrence rates (54.17 vs 27.66%, P=0.028), and lower cumulative tumor-free survival and overall survival (P=0.006 and P=0.013, respectively) compared with those harboring the GG/AA genotype, in multivariate logistic regression and Cox regression analyses. The rs9200 heterozygous GA variant in C6 persisted as a statistically independent prognostic factor (P<0.05) for predicting HCC recurrence after OLT. In conclusion, recipient C6 rs9200 polymorphism is associated with HCC recurrence after OLT, and improves the predictive value of clinical models.

Abstract P2-11-03: Phase I/II randomized study of combination immunotherapy with or without polysaccharide krestin (PSK) concurrently with a HER2 ICD peptide-based vaccine in patients with stage IV breast cancer receiving HER2-targeted monoclonal antibody therapy

Natural killer (NK) cell defects, commonly seen in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) lead to decrease in dendritic cell (DC) maturation, proinflammatory cytokine production, and tumor infiltrating T-cells (TILs). This results in a protumorigenic Th2 immune microenvironment with low response rates to immunotherapy (i.e., immune checkpoint blockade) and standard chemotherapy. PSK, a potent TLR-2 agonist, activates NK cells to produce IFN-γ and IL-12 and promote DC maturation/differentiation toward a Th1 profile in the tumor microenvironment which results in antigen specific TIL that can eradicate tumor. The combination immunotherapy of PSK and HER2 directed therapy described here, aims at inducing Th1 immunity and tumor specific T-cells. This proposed regimen could eradicate microscopic residual disease and prevent recurrence in optimally treated HER2+ MBC patients. Moreover, the regimen could result in enhanced trafficking of TILs to the site of tumor and improve the efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors and other therapies. A phase I/II randomized 2 arm study of combination immunotherapy with oral PSK (or placebo) given with a HER2 peptide vaccine and HER2 mAb therapy (trastuzumab (TZ) +/- pertuzumab (PZ)) was initiated to assess the safety of the approach and evaluate the effect of PSK on NK cell activity, pro-inflammatory cytokine/chemokine profile; and HER2 vaccine-induced T cell immunity.

Methods: Up to 30 patients with HER2+ MBC who are without evidence of disease after definitive therapy and currently on maintenance TZ +/- PZ are enrolled and randomly assigned in equal numbers to 1 of 2 arms (15 patients/arm): Arm 1: HER2 ICD vaccine + placebo or Arm 2: HER2 ICD vaccine + PSK. All patients receive concomitant treatment with 4 months of daily oral PSK or placebo, 3 monthly intradermal HER2 ICD vaccinations and continued TZ +/- PZ. Toxicity is evaluated per CTEP CTCAE 4.0, during and post vaccination. Serial blood draws for immunologic evaluation of NK cell activity and antigen-specific T cell immunity via flow cytometry and IFN-γ ELISPOT, respectively; and pro-inflammatory cytokines/chemokines.

Results: 24 subjects have been enrolled and 60 vaccines have been given. 16 subjects have completed all 3 vaccines and PSK/placebo; and 6 subjects are currently in progress. 2 subjects received &lt; 3 vaccines and were taken off study. Of 144 reported adverse events (AEs), 97% were Grade 1-2; 66 (46%) were possibly, probably, or definitely related to study treatment. Most common AEs are injection site reaction and flu-like symptoms. There have been a total of four Grade 3 AEs, 1 episode of self-limited nausea/vomiting attributed to study treatment; and cognitive disturbance, fatigue, and lymphopenia all in 1 subject and attributed to disease progression. There have been no Grade 4 AEs. Immunologic analyses are ongoing and will be presented along with completed clinical data on all patients.

Conclusion: Combination immunotherapy with PSK/placebo and concurrent HER2 directed therapy is safe and well-tolerated. Further ongoing immunologic studies will help define the immunogenicity of the approach.

Citation Format: Salazar LG, Higgins D, Childs J, Coveler AL, Liao J, Stanton S, Gooley T, Standish LJ, Sasagawa M, DISIS ML. Phase I/II randomized study of combination immunotherapy with or without polysaccharide krestin (PSK) concurrently with a HER2 ICD peptide-based vaccine in patients with stage IV breast cancer receiving HER2-targeted monoclonal antibody therapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-11-03.

Abstract P3-11-02: Weight maintenance initiated at midlife reduces mammary tumor incidence but metformin treatment does not mimic the effect

Weight gain and/or obesity are now considered to be risk factors for the development of postmenopausal breast cancer. Thus, weight loss and/or maintenance resulting from calorie restriction (CR) is recommended however success rates are infrequent. Metformin (MET) is a safe and effective treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus and its use has been linked to reduced breast cancer incidence and mortality in comparison to other forms of diabetes treatments. Interestingly, MET's mechanism of action is considered to be similar to CR. The goal of the present investigation was to directly compare the effect of CR implemented at midlife with the administration of metformin on the development of mammary tumors (MT) in a relevant mouse model. Further, since these interventions would likely be used by obese women we studied both lean and obese mice. Female MMTV-TGF-α mice which develop MTs in the second year of life were fed ad libitum (AL) either a low fat (LF) (10.2% by calories) diet or a moderately high fat (HF) (33.5% by calories) diet from 10 until 30 weeks of age. At 30 weeks the mice on each diet were divided into AL, MET (250 mg/kg/bw/day) or CR (25% reduction in calories) subgroups and then followed until 90 weeks of age. HF-AL and HF-Met mice were significantly heavier that the other 4 groups whose weights were similar. The survival curves had an overall P value of P&lt;0.0001 with LF-CR having the best survival of 100% while the HF-AL and HF-Met had the poorest survival with rates of 68% and 63% respectively. HF-CR mice had a significantly better survival rate compared to HF-AL and HF-Met (P&lt;0.0001 for both). MT incidence (histologically confirmed) was significantly reduced in LF-CR (6%) compared to all other groups (45%-69%) (Chi-squared analysis). Tumor incidence in the HF-CR group (51%) was reduced compared to HF-AL (69%) and HF-Met (60%) mice but not significantly different due to adjustment for multiple comparisons, although the HF-CR vs HF-AL comparison was P&lt;0.02. However, when the incidence rate for tumors detected by palpation prior to euthanasia was examined LF-CR mice did not have any MTs although the palpable incidence rates were not significantly different due to the need for multiple comparisons (LF-CR vs LF-AL was P&lt;0.0097). The HF-CR group had significantly reduced palpable MT prior to euthanasia as compared to both HF-AL and the HF-Met (P&lt;0.0002 and P&lt;0.0001 respectively). Total tumor weight, grade and multiplicity were also examined for the effects of weight maintenance and MET. Presently the role of the AMPK pathway in these effects and serum measurements are being determined. In conclusion, the results to date indicate that weight maintenance during midlife can have a significant impact in delaying MT formation regardless of body weight status although the effects of MET are less dramatic.

Supported by NIH-NCI CA157012, The Hormel Foundation and Paint the Town Pink.

Citation Format: Cleary MP, Mizuno NK, Yang D-Q, Liao J, Grossmann ME. Weight maintenance initiated at midlife reduces mammary tumor incidence but metformin treatment does not mimic the effect. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-11-02.

Abstract P1-11-04: Long-term patient satisfaction with cosmetic outcome and psychosocial wellbeing after breast conserving therapy is affected only by lumpectomy volume

Introduction: Breast conserving therapy (BCT) is considered the treatment of choice for early stage breast cancer by National Cancer Institute guidelines. Little data exists on patient-reported satisfaction and quality of life outcomes after lumpectomy with radiation. This study aims to identify factors influencing satisfaction with cosmetic outcome and quality of life in patients receiving BCT using a validated instrument.

Methods: All patients treated with lumpectomy and radiation for breast cancer at our institution from 1997-2012 received a mailed questionnaire containing the BREAST-Q breast conservation module (graciously provided by Dr A. Pusic, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center), a validated quality of life survey instrument. A retrospective chart review was performed for survey responders for demographic, treatment, and staging information. Scores were calculated for satisfaction with appearance of the breast, adverse effects of radiation, sexual wellbeing, psychosocial wellbeing and physical wellbeing: upper body and arm. Pearson correlation coefficients were obtained. Wilcoxon rank-sum and one-way ANOVA were used to identify associations between patient variables and satisfaction scores. Multivariate regression was used to assess confounding variables.

Results: A total of 110 questionnaires (response rate of 29.5%) fit criteria for analysis. The mean age of respondents was 65.9±11.2 yrs, and mean time since diagnosis was 91.8±53.1 mos. We observed the strongest correlations between satisfaction with breast appearance and sexual wellbeing (r=0.66, p&lt;0.01), breast appearance and psychosocial wellbeing (r=0.62, p&lt;0.01), and fewer effects of radiation and physical wellbeing (r=0.65, p&lt;0.01). Lumpectomy volume was associated with decreased satisfaction with breast appearance (r=-0.32, p &lt;0.01) and psychosocial wellbeing (r=-0.19, p&lt;0.05). There was no correlation between satisfaction with breast appearance and patient age, time since surgery, history of re-excision, stage or localization technique. Patients with older age at diagnosis reported significantly fewer effects of radiation and better psychosocial, physical, and sexual wellbeing (all p&lt;0.05) (Table 1). The incidence of recurrence was 2.7% and did not impact satisfaction scores.

Distribution of Satisfaction/Quality of Life Outcomes by Age at Diagnosis  Satisfaction/Quality of Life*AgeNBreastAdverse Effects of RadiationPsychosocialSexualPhysical&lt;451458±2282±1973±1945±2074±1645-553264±2683±1980±2054±2579±1756-602667±1794±983±2370±1885±1361-651267±2989±2383±2053±2983±17&gt;652670±2391±1288±1663±2588±25All11065±2388±1682±2058±2482±19P 0.1590.0190.0140.0300.002*Rasch scores range from 0-100 where 100 indicates highest satisfaction

Conclusions: In women undergoing BCT, patient satisfaction with appearance of the breast and psychosocial wellbeing at 7.6 years of follow-up correlated with the volume of tissue removed but no other patient or tumor characteristics. Increasing age at diagnosis was associated with greater satisfaction in multiple domains. These results emphasize the importance of precise surgical technique and patient selection in order to achieve long-term patient satisfaction with BCT.

Citation Format: Welsh JL, Fu S, Liao J, Sugg SL, Scott-Conner CE, Weigel RJ, Erdahl LM, Lizarraga IM. Long-term patient satisfaction with cosmetic outcome and psychosocial wellbeing after breast conserving therapy is affected only by lumpectomy volume. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-11-04.

Abstract P3-01-11: Sentinel lymph node (SLN) localization is highly successful after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) for breast cancer

Background: Recent multi-center trial results are concerning for the ability to identify SLNs after NCT. SLN localization was shown to be less successful (80%) after NCT when compared with no NCT (99%) (SENTINA), and the SLN identification rate in Z1071 in which all patients received NCT was 93%.

Purpose: To examine the effect of NCT, patient and disease characteristics, imaging and surgical technique on SLN localization rates in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Methods: Retrospective, single institution study was performed on patients who underwent surgery for breast cancer from January 2008 to December 2013. All patients who underwent SLN biopsy and either adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) or NCT, were included. All patients underwent lymphoscintigraphy, and SLN biopsy was performed with the definitive breast surgery.

Results: 68 patients underwent NCT, and 133 underwent ACT. Our SLN localization rate was 198/201 (98.5%) overall; 98.6% (67 of 68) with NCT and 97.7% (130/133) with ACT (p=1.0). Compared with the NCT group, the ACT patients were significantly older, white, with more ER/PR positive tumors. The NCT group had more positive nodes on preop imaging (64% v. 20%, p&lt;0.001), FNA (82% v. 22%, p&lt;0.001), and a lower use of blue dye (37% v. 61%, p=0.05) but there were no differences in the number of SLN removed (1.43 v. 1.33 p=0.32), or nodes that were positive on intraoperative evaluation (30 v. 33%, p=0.75). Comparing the patients who had successful and failed SLN localization, there were no differences in demographics, tumor type, Stage, prior breast surgery, preoperative node positivity on imaging or FNA or timing of chemotherapy.

Conclusion: In this single institution series, SLN non-localization was a rare event and not associated with NCT. We were unable to identify any patient or disease characteristics, imaging or surgical techniques associated with SLN non-localization. The etiology of the lower SLN identification rates with NCT in multi-institutional trials remains to be elucidated.

Citation Format: Sugg S, Hayes R, Gbenon A, Lizarraga I, Erdahl L, Weigel R, Liao J, Menda Y, Scott-Conner C. Sentinel lymph node (SLN) localization is highly successful after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) for breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-01-11.

Aqueous-phase mechanism for secondary organic aerosol formation from isoprene: application to the Southeast United States and co-benefit of SO2 emission controls

Isoprene emitted by vegetation is an important precursor of secondary organic aerosol (SOA), but the mechanism and yields are uncertain. Aerosol is prevailingly aqueous under the humid conditions typical of isoprene-emitting regions. Here we develop an aqueous-phase mechanism for isoprene SOA formation coupled to a detailed gas-phase isoprene oxidation scheme. The mechanism is based on aerosol reactive uptake coefficients (γ) for water-soluble isoprene oxidation products, including sensitivity to aerosol acidity and nucleophile concentrations. We apply this mechanism to simulation of aircraft (SEAC⁴RS) and ground-based (SOAS) observations over the Southeast US in summer 2013 using the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model. Emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO_x ≡ NO + NO₂) over the Southeast US are such that the peroxy radicals produced from isoprene oxidation (ISOPO₂) react significantly with both NO (high-NO_x pathway) and HO₂ (low-NO_x pathway), leading to different suites of isoprene SOA precursors. We find a mean SOA mass yield of 3.3 % from isoprene oxidation, consistent with the observed relationship of total fine organic aerosol (OA) and formaldehyde (a product of isoprene oxidation). Isoprene SOA production is mainly contributed by two immediate gas-phase precursors, isoprene epoxydiols (IEPOX, 58% of isoprene SOA) from the low-NO_x pathway and glyoxal (28%) from both low- and high-NO_x pathways. This speciation is consistent with observations of IEPOX SOA from SOAS and SEAC⁴RS. Observations show a strong relationship between IEPOX SOA and sulfate aerosol that we explain as due to the effect of sulfate on aerosol acidity and volume. Isoprene SOA concentrations increase as NO_x emissions decrease (favoring the low-NO_x pathway for isoprene oxidation), but decrease more strongly as SO₂ emissions decrease (due to the effect of sulfate on aerosol acidity and volume). The US EPA projects 2013-2025 decreases in anthropogenic emissions of 34% for NO_x (leading to 7% increase in isoprene SOA) and 48% for SO₂ (35% decrease in isoprene SOA). Reducing SO₂ emissions decreases sulfate and isoprene SOA by a similar magnitude, representing a factor of 2 co-benefit for PM_2.5 from SO₂ emission controls.

Aqueous-phase mechanism for secondary organic aerosol formation from isoprene: application to the Southeast United States and co-benefit of SO2 emission controls

Isoprene emitted by vegetation is an important precursor of secondary organic aerosol (SOA), but the mechanism and yields are uncertain. Aerosol is prevailingly aqueous under the humid conditions typical of isoprene-emitting regions. Here we develop an aqueous-phase mechanism for isoprene SOA formation coupled to a detailed gas-phase isoprene oxidation scheme. The mechanism is based on aerosol reactive uptake coefficients (γ) for water-soluble isoprene oxidation products, including sensitivity to aerosol acidity and nucleophile concentrations. We apply this mechanism to simulation of aircraft (SEAC⁴RS) and ground-based (SOAS) observations over the Southeast US in summer 2013 using the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model. Emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO_x ≡ NO + NO₂) over the Southeast US are such that the peroxy radicals produced from isoprene oxidation (ISOPO₂) react significantly with both NO (high-NO_x pathway) and HO₂ (low-NO_x pathway), leading to different suites of isoprene SOA precursors. We find a mean SOA mass yield of 3.3 % from isoprene oxidation, consistent with the observed relationship of total fine organic aerosol (OA) and formaldehyde (a product of isoprene oxidation). Isoprene SOA production is mainly contributed by two immediate gas-phase precursors, isoprene epoxydiols (IEPOX, 58% of isoprene SOA) from the low-NO_x pathway and glyoxal (28%) from both low- and high-NO_x pathways. This speciation is consistent with observations of IEPOX SOA from SOAS and SEAC⁴RS. Observations show a strong relationship between IEPOX SOA and sulfate aerosol that we explain as due to the effect of sulfate on aerosol acidity and volume. Isoprene SOA concentrations increase as NO_x emissions decrease (favoring the low-NO_x pathway for isoprene oxidation), but decrease more strongly as SO₂ emissions decrease (due to the effect of sulfate on aerosol acidity and volume). The US EPA projects 2013-2025 decreases in anthropogenic emissions of 34% for NO_x (leading to 7% increase in isoprene SOA) and 48% for SO₂ (35% decrease in isoprene SOA). Reducing SO₂ emissions decreases sulfate and isoprene SOA by a similar magnitude, representing a factor of 2 co-benefit for PM_2.5 from SO₂ emission controls.

Instrumentation and Measurement Strategy for the NOAA SENEX Aircraft Campaign as Part of the Southeast Atmosphere Study 2013

Natural emissions of ozone-and-aerosol-precursor gases such as isoprene and monoterpenes are high in the southeast of the US. In addition, anthropogenic emissions are significant in the Southeast US and summertime photochemistry is rapid. The NOAA-led SENEX (Southeast Nexus) aircraft campaign was one of the major components of the Southeast Atmosphere Study (SAS) and was focused on studying the interactions between biogenic and anthropogenic emissions to form secondary pollutants. During SENEX, the NOAA WP-3D aircraft conducted 20 research flights between 27 May and 10 July 2013 based out of Smyrna, TN. Here we describe the experimental approach, the science goals and early results of the NOAA SENEX campaign. The aircraft, its capabilities and standard measurements are described. The instrument payload is summarized including detection limits, accuracy, precision and time resolutions for all gas-and-aerosol phase instruments. The inter-comparisons of compounds measured with multiple instruments on the NOAA WP-3D are presented and were all within the stated uncertainties, except two of the three NO₂ measurements. The SENEX flights included day- and nighttime flights in the Southeast as well as flights over areas with intense shale gas extraction (Marcellus, Fayetteville and Haynesville shale). We present one example flight on 16 June 2013, which was a daytime flight over the Atlanta region, where several crosswind transects of plumes from the city and nearby point sources, such as power plants, paper mills and landfills, were flown. The area around Atlanta has large biogenic isoprene emissions, which provided an excellent case for studying the interactions between biogenic and anthropogenic emissions. In this example flight, chemistry in and outside the Atlanta plumes was observed for several hours after emission. The analysis of this flight showcases the strategies implemented to answer some of the main SENEX science questions.

Achievement of linear response for competitive bioaffinity assays of ligands: criteria of optimized interaction systems

For a linear response, an optimized competitive bioaffinity assay of a ligand requiresC_RT> 3 ×C_PT,C_PT> 50 ×K_dR, andK_dR> 260 ×K_dX(C_RTandC_PTare concentrations of the probe and protein whileK_dXandK_dRareK_dfor the ligand and probe, respectively).

Instrumentation and Measurement Strategy for the NOAA SENEX Aircraft Campaign as Part of the Southeast Atmosphere Study 2013

Natural emissions of ozone-and-aerosol-precursor gases such as isoprene and monoterpenes are high in the southeast of the US. In addition, anthropogenic emissions are significant in the Southeast US and summertime photochemistry is rapid. The NOAA-led SENEX (Southeast Nexus) aircraft campaign was one of the major components of the Southeast Atmosphere Study (SAS) and was focused on studying the interactions between biogenic and anthropogenic emissions to form secondary pollutants. During SENEX, the NOAA WP-3D aircraft conducted 20 research flights between 27 May and 10 July 2013 based out of Smyrna, TN. Here we describe the experimental approach, the science goals and early results of the NOAA SENEX campaign. The aircraft, its capabilities and standard measurements are described. The instrument payload is summarized including detection limits, accuracy, precision and time resolutions for all gas-and-aerosol phase instruments. The inter-comparisons of compounds measured with multiple instruments on the NOAA WP-3D are presented and were all within the stated uncertainties, except two of the three NO₂ measurements. The SENEX flights included day- and nighttime flights in the Southeast as well as flights over areas with intense shale gas extraction (Marcellus, Fayetteville and Haynesville shale). We present one example flight on 16 June 2013, which was a daytime flight over the Atlanta region, where several crosswind transects of plumes from the city and nearby point sources, such as power plants, paper mills and landfills, were flown. The area around Atlanta has large biogenic isoprene emissions, which provided an excellent case for studying the interactions between biogenic and anthropogenic emissions. In this example flight, chemistry in and outside the Atlanta plumes was observed for several hours after emission. The analysis of this flight showcases the strategies implemented to answer some of the main SENEX science questions.

John J, Sulak L, Alimena J, Bhattacharya S, Christopher G, Cutts D, Demiragli Z, Ferapontov A, Garabedian A, Jabeen S, Heintz U, Kukartsev G, Laird E, Landsberg G, Luk M, Narain M, Segala M, Sinthuprasith T, Speer T, Swanson J, Breedon R, Breto G, De La Barca Sanchez MC, Chauhan S, Chertok M, Conway J, Conway R, Cox PT, Erbacher R, Gardner M, Ko W, Lander R, Miceli T, Mulhearn M, Pellett D, Pilot J, Ricci-Tam F, Searle M, Shalhout S, Smith J, Squires M, Stolp D, Tripathi M, Wilbur S, Yohay R, Cousins R, Everaerts P, Farrell C, Hauser J, Ignatenko M, Rakness G, Takasugi E, Valuev V, Weber M, Babb J, Clare R, Ellison J, Gary JW, Hanson G, Heilman J, Jandir P, Kennedy E, Lacroix F, Liu H, Long OR, Luthra A, Malberti M, Nguyen H, Shrinivas A, Sumowidagdo S, Wimpenny S, Andrews W, Branson JG, Cerati GB, Cittolin S, D’Agnolo RT, Evans D, Holzner A, Kelley R, Kovalskyi D, Lebourgeois M, Letts J, Macneill I, Olivito D, Padhi S, Palmer C, Pieri M, Sani M, Sharma V, Simon S, Sudano E, Tu Y, Vartak A, Welke C, Würthwein F, Yagil A, Yoo J, Barge D, Bradmiller-Feld J, Campagnari C, Danielson T, Dishaw A, Flowers K, Sevilla MF, Geffert P, George C, Golf F, Gouskos L, Incandela J, Justus C, Mccoll N, Richman J, Stuart D, To W, West C, Apresyan A, Bornheim A, Bunn J, Chen Y, Di Marco E, Duarte J, Mott A, Newman HB, Pena C, Rogan C, Spiropulu M, Timciuc V, Wilkinson R, Xie S, Zhu RY, Azzolini V, Calamba A, Ferguson T, Iiyama Y, Paulini M, Russ J, Vogel H, Vorobiev I, Cumalat JP, Drell BR, Ford WT, Gaz A, LuiggiLopez E, Nauenberg U, Smith JG, Stenson K, Ulmer KA, Wagner SR, Alexander J, Chatterjee A, Chu J, Dittmer S, Eggert N, Hopkins W, Kreis B, Mirman N, Kaufman GN, Patterson JR, Ryd A, Salvati E, Skinnari L, Sun W, Teo WD, Thom J, Thompson J, Tucker J, Weng Y, Winstrom L, Wittich P, Winn D, Abdullin S, Albrow M, Anderson J, Apollinari G, Bauerdick LAT, Beretvas A, Berryhill J, Bhat PC, Burkett K, Butler JN, Cheung HWK, Chlebana F, Cihangir S, Elvira VD, Fisk I, Freeman J, Gao Y, Gottschalk E, Gray L, Green D, Grünendahl S, Gutsche O, Hanlon J, Hare D, Harris RM, Hirschauer J, Hooberman B, Jindariani S, Johnson M, Joshi U, Kaadze K, Klima B, Kwan S, Linacre J, Lincoln D, Lipton R, Liu T, Lykken J, Maeshima K, Marraffino JM, Outschoorn VIM, Maruyama S, Mason D, McBride P, Mishra K, Mrenna S, Musienko Y, Nahn S, Newman-Holmes C, O’Dell V, Prokofyev O, Sexton-Kennedy E, Sharma S, Soha A, Spalding WJ, Spiegel L, Taylor L, Tkaczyk S, Tran NV, Uplegger L, Vaandering EW, Vidal R, Whitbeck A, Whitmore J, Yang F, Acosta D, Avery P, Bourilkov D, Carver M, Cheng T, Curry D, Das S, De Gruttola M, Di Giovanni GP, Field RD, Fisher M, Furic IK, Hugon J, Konigsberg J, Korytov A, Kypreos T, Low JF, Matchev K, Milenovic P, Mitselmakher G, Muniz L, Rinkevicius A, Shchutska L, Skhirtladze N, Snowball M, Yelton J, Zakaria M, Gaultney V, Hewamanage S, Linn S, Markowitz P, Martinez G, Rodriguez JL, Adams T, Askew A, Bochenek J, Diamond B, Haas J, Hagopian S, Hagopian V, Johnson KF, Prosper H, Veeraraghavan V, Weinberg M, Baarmand MM, Hohlmann M, Kalakhety H, Yumiceva F, Adams MR, Apanasevich L, Bazterra VE, Berry D, Betts RR, Bucinskaite I, Cavanaugh R, Evdokimov O, Gauthier L, Gerber CE, Hofman DJ, Khalatyan S, Kurt P, Moon DH, O’Brien C, Silkworth C, Turner P, Varelas N, Albayrak EA, Bilki B, Clarida W, Dilsiz K, Duru F, Haytmyradov M, Merlo JP, Mermerkaya H, Mestvirishvili A, Moeller A, Nachtman J, Ogul H, Onel Y, Ozok F, Penzo A, Rahmat R, Sen S, Tan P, Tiras E, Wetzel J, Yetkin T, Yi K, Barnett BA, Blumenfeld B, Bolognesi S, Fehling D, Gritsan AV, Maksimovic P, Martin C, Swartz M, Baringer P, Bean A, Benelli G, Bruner C, Gray J, Kenny RP, Murray M, Noonan D, Sanders S, Sekaric J, Stringer R, Wang Q, Wood JS, Barfuss AF, Chakaberia I, Ivanov A, Khalil S, Makouski M, Maravin Y, Saini LK, Shrestha S, Svintradze I, Gronberg J, Lange D, Rebassoo F, Wright D, Baden A, Calvert B, Eno SC, Gomez JA, Hadley NJ, Kellogg RG, Kolberg T, Lu Y, Marionneau M, Mignerey AC, Pedro K, Skuja A, Tonjes MB, Tonwar SC, Apyan A, Barbieri R, Bauer G, Busza W, Cali IA, Chan M, Di Matteo L, Dutta V, Ceballos GG, Goncharov M, Gulhan D, Klute M, Lai YS, Lee YJ, Levin A, Luckey PD, Ma T, Paus C, Ralph D, Roland C, Roland G, Stephans GSF, Stöckli F, Sumorok K, Velicanu D, Veverka J, Wyslouch B, Yang M, Zanetti M, Zhukova V, Dahmes B, De Benedetti A, Gude A, Kao SC, Klapoetke K, Kubota Y, Mans J, Pastika N, Rusack R, Singovsky A, Tambe N, Turkewitz J, Acosta JG, Oliveros S, Avdeeva E, Bloom K, Bose S, Claes DR, Dominguez A, Suarez RG, Keller J, Knowlton D, Kravchenko I, Lazo-Flores J, Malik S, Meier F, Snow GR, Dolen J, Godshalk A, Iashvili I, Kharchilava A, Kumar A, Rappoccio S, Alverson G, Barberis E, Baumgartel D, Chasco M, Haley J, Massironi A, Morse DM, Nash D, Orimoto T, Trocino D, Wood D, Zhang J, Hahn KA, Kubik A, Mucia N, Odell N, Pollack B, Pozdnyakov A, Schmitt M, Stoynev S, Sung K, Velasco M, Won S, Brinkerhoff A, Chan KM, Drozdetskiy A, Hildreth M, Jessop C, Karmgard DJ, Kellams N, Lannon K, Luo W, Lynch S, Marinelli N, Pearson T, Planer M, Ruchti R, Valls N, Wayne M, Wolf M, Woodard A, Antonelli L, Brinson J, Bylsma B, Durkin LS, Flowers S, Hill C, Hughes R, Kotov K, Ling TY, Puigh D, Rodenburg M, Smith G, Vuosalo C, Winer BL, Wolfe H, Wulsin HW, Berry E, Driga O, Elmer P, Hebda P, Hunt A, Koay SA, Lujan P, Marlow D, Medvedeva T, Mooney M, Olsen J, Piroué P, Quan X, Saka H, Stickland D, Tully C, Werner JS, Zenz SC, Zuranski A, Brownson E, Mendez H, Vargas JER, Alagoz E, Barnes VE, Benedetti D, Bolla G, Bortoletto D, De Mattia M, Everett A, Hu Z, Jha MK, Jones M, Jung K, Kress M, Leonardo N, Pegna DL, Maroussov V, Merkel P, Miller DH, Neumeister N, Radburn-Smith BC, Shi X, Shipsey I, Silvers D, Svyatkovskiy A, Wang F, Xie W, Xu L, Yoo HD, Zablocki J, Zheng Y, Parashar N, Stupak J, Adair A, Akgun B, Ecklund KM, Geurts FJM, Li W, Michlin B, Padley BP, Redjimi R, Roberts J, Zabel J, Betchart B, Bodek A, Covarelli R, deBarbaro P, Demina R, Eshaq Y, Ferbel T, Garcia-Bellido A, Goldenzweig P, Han J, Harel A, Khukhunaishvili A, Miner DC, Petrillo G, Vishnevskiy D, Bhatti A, Ciesielski R, Demortier L, Goulianos K, Lungu G, Mesropian C, Arora S, Barker A, Chou JP, Contreras-Campana C, Contreras-Campana E, Duggan D, Ferencek D, Gershtein Y, Gray R, Halkiadakis E, Hidas D, Lath A, Panwalkar S, Park M, Patel R, Rekovic V, Salur S, Schnetzer S, Seitz C, Somalwar S, Stone R, Thomas S, Thomassen P, Walker M, Rose K, Spanier S, York A, Bouhali O, Eusebi R, Flanagan W, Gilmore J, Kamon T, Khotilovich V, Krutelyov V, Montalvo R, Osipenkov I, Pakhotin Y, Perloff A, Roe J, Rose A, Safonov A, Sakuma T, Suarez I, Tatarinov A, Akchurin N, Cowden C, Damgov J, Dragoiu C, Dudero PR, Faulkner J, Kovitanggoon K, Kunori S, Lee SW, Libeiro T, Volobouev I, Appelt E, Delannoy AG, Greene S, Gurrola A, Johns W, Maguire C, Mao Y, Melo A, Sharma M, Sheldon P, Snook B, Tuo S, Velkovska J, Arenton MW, Boutle S, Cox B, Francis B, Goodell J, Hirosky R, Ledovskoy A, Li H, Lin C, Neu C, Wood J, Gollapinni S, Harr R, Karchin PE, Kottachchi Kankanamge Don C, Lamichhane P, Sturdy J, Belknap DA, Carlsmith D, Cepeda M, Dasu S, Duric S, Friis E, Hall-Wilton R, Herndon M, Hervé A, Klabbers P, Lanaro A, Lazaridis C, Levine A, Loveless R, Mohapatra A, Ojalvo I, Perry T, Pierro GA, Polese G, Ross I, Sarangi T, Savin A, Smith WH, Woods N, Collaboration [A. Search for dark matter, extra dimensions, and unparticles in monojet events in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]

Results are presented from a search for particle dark matter (DM), extra dimensions, and unparticles using events containing a jet and an imbalance in transverse momentum. The data were collected by the CMS detector in proton-proton collisions at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7[Formula: see text]at a centre-of-mass energy of 8[Formula: see text]. The number of observed events is found to be consistent with the standard model prediction. Limits are placed on the DM-nucleon scattering cross section as a function of the DM particle mass for spin-dependent and spin-independent interactions. Limits are also placed on the scale parameter [Formula: see text] in the Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos, and Dvali (ADD) model of large extra dimensions, and on the unparticle model parameter [Formula: see text]. The constraints on ADD models and unparticles are the most stringent limits in this channel and those on the DM-nucleon scattering cross section are an improvement over previous collider results.

Neutralizing effect of hemolymph from the shore crab, Thalamita crenata, on paralytic shellfish toxins

Several species of crabs are resistant to paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) and/or pufferfish toxin, tetrodotoxin, regardless of toxification by the toxins. The shore crab Thalamita crenata, which inhabits Leizhou Peninsula, China, is tolerant to PST toxicity, and the hemolymph has neutralizing effects against the lethal activity of PST. In the present study, we investigated the PST neutralizing factors in the hemolymph from T. crenata and successfully separated PST-binding proteins by PST-ligand affinity chromatography. The neutralization factors, obtained in the fraction with a molecular weight over 10 kDa by ultrafiltration, were susceptible to proteases such as alcalase, animal complex proteases, pancreatin, and papain. The PST-binding protein had high dose-dependent neutralization effects on PST toxicity. The PST-binding activity of the protein was stable at 25 °C and then decreased with an increase in temperature; heating at 65 °C for 60 min eliminated the initial activity by two-thirds. The PST-binding activity was strongly inhibited in the presence of Mg(2+) and Ca(2+), but not Na(+) and K(+). The PST-binding capability of the protein differed among PST components in descending order of neosaxitoxin, gonyautoxins 1 and 4, saxitoxin, and gonyautoxins 2 and 3, suggesting a structure-activity relationship in PST binding.

Regulation of mTOR Pathway in Exercise-induced Cardiac Hypertrophy

This study was designed to examine whether the mTOR signaling pathway would respond to long-term different intensity exercises and to observe the impact of exercise upon possible cardiac damage. Male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into control group, moderate-intensity exercise group and high-intensity exercise group, and each exercise group had 4 observation time points (1-24 h). Exercise training lasted 8 weeks with a 2-day break for each week. Serum cTnI was measured by ELSIA and myocardium histology was assessed by HE and HBFP. The expressions of Akt, mTOR, p70(S6K) and their phosphorylated forms were determined by western-blot. Both exercises were effective at inducing cardiac hypertrophy, wherein magnitude increased with exercise intensity. The significantly high level of serum cTnI in the high-intensity group was accompanied by obvious myocellular abnormalities and ischemia in the myocardium. Significant activation of Akt, mTOR and p70(S6K) were observed in the moderate exercise group but not in the high-intensity exercise group. Results indicate that long-term high-intensity exercise training would induce cardiac hypertrophy accompanied by damage to the heart, entailing a risk of pathological changes. There might be a pivotal regulatory role of the mTOR signaling pathway on cardiac hypertrophy after long-term moderate exercise, but not after high-intensity exercise.

Geometric effects on stress wave propagation

The present study, through finite element simulations, shows the geometric effects of a bioinspired solid on pressure and impulse mitigation for an elastic, plastic, and viscoelastic material. Because of the bioinspired geometries, stress wave mitigation became apparent in a nonintuitive manner such that potential real-world applications in human protective gear designs are realizable. In nature, there are several toroidal designs that are employed for mitigating stress waves; examples include the hyoid bone on the back of a woodpecker's jaw that extends around the skull to its nose and a ram's horn. This study evaluates four different geometries with the same length and same initial cross-sectional diameter at the impact location in three-dimensional finite element analyses. The geometries in increasing complexity were the following: (1) a round cylinder, (2) a round cylinder that was tapered to a point, (3) a round cylinder that was spiraled in a two dimensional plane, and (4) a round cylinder that was tapered and spiraled in a two-dimensional plane. The results show that the tapered spiral geometry mitigated the greatest amount of pressure and impulse (approximately 98% mitigation) when compared to the cylinder regardless of material type (elastic, plastic, and viscoelastic) and regardless of input pressure signature. The specimen taper effectively mitigated the stress wave as a result of uniaxial deformational processes and an induced shear that arose from its geometry. Due to the decreasing cross-sectional area arising from the taper, the local uniaxial and shear stresses increased along the specimen length. The spiral induced even greater shear stresses that help mitigate the stress wave and also induced transverse displacements at the tip such that minimal wave reflections occurred. This phenomenon arose although only longitudinal waves were introduced as the initial boundary condition (BC). In nature, when shearing occurs within or between materials (friction), dissipation usually results helping the mitigation of the stress wave and is illustrated in this study with the taper and spiral geometries. The combined taper and spiral optimized stress wave mitigation in terms of the pressure and impulse; thus providing insight into the ram's horn design and woodpecker hyoid designs found in nature.

John J, Sulak L, Alimena J, Bhattacharya S, Christopher G, Cutts D, Demiragli Z, Ferapontov A, Garabedian A, Heintz U, Jabeen S, Kukartsev G, Laird E, Landsberg G, Luk M, Narain M, Segala M, Sinthuprasith T, Speer T, Swanson J, Breedon R, Breto G, Calderon De La Barca Sanchez M, Chauhan S, Chertok M, Conway J, Conway R, Cox PT, Erbacher R, Gardner M, Ko W, Kopecky A, Lander R, Miceli T, Mulhearn M, Pellett D, Pilot J, Ricci-Tam F, Rutherford B, Searle M, Shalhout S, Smith J, Squires M, Tripathi M, Wilbur S, Yohay R, Andreev V, Cline D, Cousins R, Erhan S, Everaerts P, Farrell C, Felcini M, Hauser J, Ignatenko M, Jarvis C, Rakness G, Schlein P, Takasugi E, Valuev V, Weber M, Babb J, Clare R, Ellison J, Gary JW, Hanson G, Heilman J, Jandir P, Lacroix F, Liu H, Long OR, Luthra A, Malberti M, Nguyen H, Shrinivas A, Sturdy J, Sumowidagdo S, Wimpenny S, Andrews W, Branson JG, Cerati GB, Cittolin S, D’Agnolo RT, Evans D, Holzner A, Kelley R, Kovalskyi D, Lebourgeois M, Letts J, Macneill I, Padhi S, Palmer C, Pieri M, Sani M, Sharma V, Simon S, Sudano E, Tadel M, Tu Y, Vartak A, Wasserbaech S, Würthwein F, Yagil A, Yoo J, Barge D, Bradmiller-Feld J, Campagnari C, Danielson T, Dishaw A, Flowers K, Franco Sevilla M, Geffert P, George C, Golf F, Incandela J, Justus C, Magaña Villalba R, Mccoll N, Pavlunin V, Richman J, Rossin R, Stuart D, To W, West C, Apresyan A, Bornheim A, Bunn J, Chen Y, Di Marco E, Duarte J, Kcira D, Mott A, Newman HB, Pena C, Rogan C, Spiropulu M, Timciuc V, Wilkinson R, Xie S, Zhu RY, Azzolini V, Calamba A, Carroll R, Ferguson T, Iiyama Y, Jang DW, Paulini M, Russ J, Vogel H, Vorobiev I, Cumalat JP, Drell BR, Ford WT, Gaz A, Luiggi Lopez E, Nauenberg U, Smith JG, Stenson K, Ulmer KA, Wagner SR, Alexander J, Chatterjee A, Chu J, Eggert N, Gibbons LK, Hopkins W, Khukhunaishvili A, Kreis B, Mirman N, Nicolas Kaufman G, Patterson JR, Ryd A, Salvati E, Sun W, Teo WD, Thom J, Thompson J, Tucker J, Weng Y, Winstrom L, Wittich P, Winn D, Abdullin S, Albrow M, Anderson J, Apollinari G, Bauerdick LAT, Beretvas A, Berryhill J, Bhat PC, Burkett K, Butler JN, Chetluru V, Cheung HWK, Chlebana F, Cihangir S, Elvira VD, Fisk I, Freeman J, Gao Y, Gottschalk E, Gray L, Green D, Grünendahl S, Gutsche O, Hare D, Harris RM, Hirschauer J, Hooberman B, Jindariani S, Johnson M, Joshi U, Kaadze K, Klima B, Kwan S, Linacre J, Lincoln D, Lipton R, Lykken J, Maeshima K, Marraffino JM, Martinez Outschoorn VI, Maruyama S, Mason D, McBride P, Mishra K, Mrenna S, Musienko Y, Nahn S, Newman-Holmes C, O’Dell V, Prokofyev O, Ratnikova N, Sexton-Kennedy E, Sharma S, Spalding WJ, Spiegel L, Taylor L, Tkaczyk S, Tran NV, Uplegger L, Vaandering EW, Vidal R, Whitbeck A, Whitmore J, Wu W, Yang F, Yun JC, Acosta D, Avery P, Bourilkov D, Cheng T, Das S, De Gruttola M, Di Giovanni GP, Dobur D, Field RD, Fisher M, Fu Y, Furic IK, Hugon J, Kim B, Konigsberg J, Korytov A, Kropivnitskaya A, Kypreos T, Low JF, Matchev K, Milenovic P, Mitselmakher G, Muniz L, Rinkevicius A, Shchutska L, Skhirtladze N, Snowball M, Yelton J, Zakaria M, Gaultney V, Hewamanage S, Linn S, Markowitz P, Martinez G, Rodriguez JL, Adams T, Askew A, Bochenek J, Chen J, Diamond B, Haas J, Hagopian S, Hagopian V, Johnson KF, Prosper H, Veeraraghavan V, Weinberg M, Baarmand MM, Dorney B, Hohlmann M, Kalakhety H, Yumiceva F, Adams MR, Apanasevich L, Bazterra VE, Betts RR, Bucinskaite I, Cavanaugh R, Evdokimov O, Gauthier L, Gerber CE, Hofman DJ, Khalatyan S, Kurt P, Moon DH, O’Brien C, Silkworth C, Turner P, Varelas N, Akgun U, Albayrak EA, Bilki B, Clarida W, Dilsiz K, Duru F, Haytmyradov M, Merlo JP, Mermerkaya H, Mestvirishvili A, Moeller A, Nachtman J, Ogul H, Onel Y, Ozok F, Rahmat R, Sen S, Tan P, Tiras E, Wetzel J, Yetkin T, Yi K, Barnett BA, Blumenfeld B, Bolognesi S, Fehling D, Gritsan AV, Maksimovic P, Martin C, Swartz M, Baringer P, Bean A, Benelli G, Gray J, Kenny RP, Murray M, Noonan D, Sanders S, Sekaric J, Stringer R, Wang Q, Wood JS, Barfuss AF, Chakaberia I, Ivanov A, Khalil S, Makouski M, Maravin Y, Saini LK, Shrestha S, Svintradze I, Gronberg J, Lange D, Rebassoo F, Wright D, Baden A, Calvert B, Eno SC, Gomez JA, Hadley NJ, Kellogg RG, Kolberg T, Lu Y, Marionneau M, Mignerey AC, Pedro K, Skuja A, Temple J, Tonjes MB, Tonwar SC, Apyan A, Barbieri R, Bauer G, Busza W, Cali IA, Chan M, Di Matteo L, Dutta V, Gomez Ceballos G, Goncharov M, Gulhan D, Klute M, Lai YS, Lee YJ, Levin A, Luckey PD, Ma T, Paus C, Ralph D, Roland C, Roland G, Stephans GSF, Stöckli F, Sumorok K, Velicanu D, Veverka J, Wyslouch B, Yang M, Yoon AS, Zanetti M, Zhukova V, Dahmes B, De Benedetti A, Gude A, Kao SC, Klapoetke K, Kubota Y, Mans J, Pastika N, Rusack R, Singovsky A, Tambe N, Turkewitz J, Acosta JG, Cremaldi LM, Kroeger R, Oliveros S, Perera L, Sanders DA, Summers D, Avdeeva E, Bloom K, Bose S, Claes DR, Dominguez A, Gonzalez Suarez R, Keller J, Knowlton D, Kravchenko I, Lazo-Flores J, Malik S, Meier F, Snow GR, Dolen J, Godshalk A, Iashvili I, Jain S, Kharchilava A, Kumar A, Rappoccio S, Alverson G, Barberis E, Baumgartel D, Chasco M, Haley J, Massironi A, Nash D, Orimoto T, Trocino D, Wood D, Zhang J, Anastassov A, Hahn KA, Kubik A, Lusito L, Mucia N, Odell N, Pollack B, Pozdnyakov A, Schmitt M, Stoynev S, Sung K, Velasco M, Won S, Berry D, Brinkerhoff A, Chan KM, Drozdetskiy A, Hildreth M, Jessop C, Karmgard DJ, Kellams N, Kolb J, Lannon K, Luo W, Lynch S, Marinelli N, Morse DM, Pearson T, Planer M, Ruchti R, Slaunwhite J, Valls N, Wayne M, Wolf M, Woodard A, Antonelli L, Bylsma B, Durkin LS, Flowers S, Hill C, Hughes R, Kotov K, Ling TY, Puigh D, Rodenburg M, Smith G, Vuosalo C, Winer BL, Wolfe H, Wulsin HW, Berry E, Elmer P, Halyo V, Hebda P, Hunt A, Jindal P, Koay SA, Lujan P, Marlow D, Medvedeva T, Mooney M, Olsen J, Piroué P, Quan X, Raval A, Saka H, Stickland D, Tully C, Werner JS, Zenz SC, Zuranski A, Brownson E, Lopez A, Mendez H, Ramirez Vargas JE, Alagoz E, Benedetti D, Bolla G, Bortoletto D, De Mattia M, Everett A, Hu Z, Jha MK, Jones M, Jung K, Kress M, Leonardo N, Lopes Pegna D, Maroussov V, Merkel P, Miller DH, Neumeister N, Radburn-Smith BC, Shipsey I, Silvers D, Svyatkovskiy A, Wang F, Xie W, Xu L, Yoo HD, Zablocki J, Zheng Y, Parashar N, Adair A, Akgun B, Ecklund KM, Geurts FJM, Li W, Michlin B, Padley BP, Redjimi R, Roberts J, Zabel J, Betchart B, Bodek A, Covarelli R, de Barbaro P, Demina R, Eshaq Y, Ferbel T, Garcia-Bellido A, Goldenzweig P, Han J, Harel A, Miner DC, Petrillo G, Vishnevskiy D, Zielinski M, Bhatti A, Ciesielski R, Demortier L, Goulianos K, Lungu G, Malik S, Mesropian C, Arora S, Barker A, Chou JP, Contreras-Campana C, Contreras-Campana E, Duggan D, Ferencek D, Gershtein Y, Gray R, Halkiadakis E, Hidas D, Lath A, Panwalkar S, Park M, Patel R, Rekovic V, Robles J, Salur S, Schnetzer S, Seitz C, Somalwar S, Stone R, Thomas S, Thomassen P, Walker M, Rose K, Spanier S, Yang ZC, York A, Bouhali O, Eusebi R, Flanagan W, Gilmore J, Kamon T, Khotilovich V, Krutelyov V, Montalvo R, Osipenkov I, Pakhotin Y, Perloff A, Roe J, Safonov A, Sakuma T, Suarez I, Tatarinov A, Toback D, Akchurin N, Cowden C, Damgov J, Dragoiu C, Dudero PR, Faulkner J, Kovitanggoon K, Kunori S, Lee SW, Libeiro T, Volobouev I, Appelt E, Delannoy AG, Greene S, Gurrola A, Johns W, Maguire C, Mao Y, Melo A, Sharma M, Sheldon P, Snook B, Tuo S, Velkovska J, Arenton MW, Boutle S, Cox B, Francis B, Goodell J, Hirosky R, Ledovskoy A, Lin C, Neu C, Wood J, Gollapinni S, Harr R, Karchin PE, Kottachchi Kankanamge Don C, Lamichhane P, Belknap DA, Borrello L, Carlsmith D, Cepeda M, Dasu S, Duric S, Friis E, Grothe M, Hall-Wilton R, Herndon M, Hervé A, Klabbers P, Klukas J, Lanaro A, Lazaridis C, Levine A, Loveless R, Mohapatra A, Ojalvo I, Perry T, Pierro GA, Polese G, Ross I, Sarangi T, Savin A, Smith WH, Woods N. Measurement of differential cross sections for the production of a pair of isolated photons in pp collisions at [Formula: see text]

A measurement of differential cross sections for the production of a pair of isolated photons in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text] is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0[Formula: see text] collected with the CMS detector. A data-driven isolation template method is used to extract the prompt diphoton yield. The measured cross section for two isolated photons, with transverse energy above 40 and 25[Formula: see text] respectively, in the pseudorapidity range [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and with an angular separation [Formula: see text], is [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]. Differential cross sections are measured as a function of the diphoton invariant mass, the diphoton transverse momentum, the azimuthal angle difference between the two photons, and the cosine of the polar angle in the Collins-Soper reference frame of the diphoton system. The results are compared to theoretical predictions at leading, next-to-leading, and next-to-next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics.

John J, Sulak L, Alimena J, Bhattacharya S, Christopher G, Cutts D, Demiragli Z, Ferapontov A, Garabedian A, Heintz U, Jabeen S, Kukartsev G, Laird E, Landsberg G, Luk M, Narain M, Segala M, Sinthuprasith T, Speer T, Swanson J, Breedon R, Breto G, Calderon De La Barca Sanchez M, Chauhan S, Chertok M, Conway J, Conway R, Cox PT, Erbacher R, Gardner M, Ko W, Lander R, Miceli T, Mulhearn M, Pellett D, Pilot J, Ricci-Tam F, Searle M, Shalhout S, Smith J, Squires M, Stolp D, Tripathi M, Wilbur S, Yohay R, Cousins R, Everaerts P, Farrell C, Hauser J, Ignatenko M, Rakness G, Takasugi E, Valuev V, Weber M, Babb J, Clare R, Ellison J, Gary JW, Hanson G, Heilman J, Ivova Rikova M, Jandir P, Kennedy E, Lacroix F, Liu H, Long OR, Luthra A, Malberti M, Nguyen H, Shrinivas A, Sumowidagdo S, Wimpenny S, Andrews W, Branson JG, Cerati GB, Cittolin S, D’Agnolo RT, Evans D, Holzner A, Kelley R, Klein D, Lebourgeois M, Letts J, Macneill I, Olivito D, Padhi S, Palmer C, Pieri M, Sani M, Sharma V, Simon S, Sudano E, Tadel M, Tu Y, Vartak A, Welke C, Würthwein F, Yagil A, Yoo J, Barge D, Bradmiller-Feld J, Campagnari C, Danielson T, Dishaw A, Flowers K, Franco Sevilla M, Geffert P, George C, Golf F, Gouskos L, Gran J, Incandela J, Justus C, Mccoll N, Richman J, Stuart D, To W, West C, Apresyan A, Bornheim A, Bunn J, Chen Y, Di Marco E, Duarte J, Mott A, Newman HB, Pena C, Rogan C, Spiropulu M, Timciuc V, Wilkinson R, Xie S, Zhu RY, Azzolini V, Calamba A, Ferguson T, Iiyama Y, Paulini M, Russ J, Vogel H, Vorobiev I, Cumalat JP, Drell BR, Ford WT, Gaz A, Luiggi Lopez E, Nauenberg U, Smith JG, Stenson K, Ulmer KA, Wagner SR, Alexander J, Chatterjee A, Chu J, Dittmer S, Eggert N, Hopkins W, Mirman N, Nicolas Kaufman G, Patterson JR, Ryd A, Salvati E, Skinnari L, Sun W, Teo WD, Thom J, Thompson J, Tucker J, Weng Y, Winstrom L, Wittich P, Winn D, Abdullin S, Albrow M, Anderson J, Apollinari G, Bauerdick LAT, Beretvas A, Berryhill J, Bhat PC, Burkett K, Butler JN, Cheung HWK, Chlebana F, Cihangir S, Elvira VD, Fisk I, Freeman J, Gottschalk E, Gray L, Green D, Grünendahl S, Gutsche O, Hanlon J, Hare D, Harris RM, Hirschauer J, Hooberman B, Jindariani S, Johnson M, Joshi U, Kaadze K, Klima B, Kreis B, Kwan S, Linacre J, Lincoln D, Lipton R, Liu T, Lykken J, Maeshima K, Marraffino JM, Martinez Outschoorn VI, Maruyama S, Mason D, McBride P, Mishra K, Mrenna S, Musienko Y, Nahn S, Newman-Holmes C, O’Dell V, Prokofyev O, Sexton-Kennedy E, Sharma S, Soha A, Spalding WJ, Spiegel L, Taylor L, Tkaczyk S, Tran NV, Uplegger L, Vaandering EW, Vidal R, Whitbeck A, Whitmore J, Yang F, Acosta D, Avery P, Bourilkov D, Carver M, Cheng T, Curry D, Das S, De Gruttola M, Di Giovanni GP, Field RD, Fisher M, Furic IK, Hugon J, Konigsberg J, Korytov A, Kypreos T, Low JF, Matchev K, Milenovic P, Mitselmakher G, Muniz L, Rinkevicius A, Shchutska L, Skhirtladze N, Snowball M, Yelton J, Zakaria M, Hewamanage S, Linn S, Markowitz P, Martinez G, Rodriguez JL, Adams T, Askew A, Bochenek J, Diamond B, Haas J, Hagopian S, Hagopian V, Johnson KF, Prosper H, Veeraraghavan V, Weinberg M, Baarmand MM, Hohlmann M, Kalakhety H, Yumiceva F, Adams MR, Apanasevich L, Bazterra VE, Berry D, Betts RR, Bucinskaite I, Cavanaugh R, Evdokimov O, Gauthier L, Gerber CE, Hofman DJ, Khalatyan S, Kurt P, Moon DH, O’Brien C, Silkworth C, Turner P, Varelas N, Albayrak EA, Bilki B, Clarida W, Dilsiz K, Duru F, Haytmyradov M, Merlo JP, Mermerkaya H, Mestvirishvili A, Moeller A, Nachtman J, Ogul H, Onel Y, Ozok F, Penzo A, Rahmat R, Sen S, Tan P, Tiras E, Wetzel J, Yetkin T, Yi K, Barnett BA, Blumenfeld B, Bolognesi S, Fehling D, Gritsan AV, Maksimovic P, Martin C, Swartz M, Baringer P, Bean A, Benelli G, Bruner C, Gray J, Kenny RP, Murray M, Noonan D, Sanders S, Sekaric J, Stringer R, Wang Q, Wood JS, Barfuss AF, Chakaberia I, Ivanov A, Khalil S, Makouski M, Maravin Y, Saini LK, Shrestha S, Svintradze I, Gronberg J, Lange D, Rebassoo F, Wright D, Baden A, Calvert B, Eno SC, Gomez JA, Hadley NJ, Kellogg RG, Kolberg T, Lu Y, Marionneau M, Mignerey AC, Pedro K, Skuja A, Tonjes MB, Tonwar SC, Apyan A, Barbieri R, Bauer G, Busza W, Cali IA, Chan M, Di Matteo L, Dutta V, Gomez Ceballos G, Goncharov M, Gulhan D, Klute M, Lai YS, Lee YJ, Levin A, Luckey PD, Ma T, Paus C, Ralph D, Roland C, Roland G, Stephans GSF, Stöckli F, Sumorok K, Velicanu D, Veverka J, Wyslouch B, Yang M, Yoon AS, Zanetti M, Zhukova V, Dahmes B, De Benedetti A, Gude A, Kao SC, Klapoetke K, Kubota Y, Mans J, Pastika N, Rusack R, Singovsky A, Tambe N, Turkewitz J, Acosta JG, Cremaldi LM, Kroeger R, Oliveros S, Perera L, Sanders DA, Summers D, Avdeeva E, Bloom K, Bose S, Claes DR, Dominguez A, Gonzalez Suarez R, Keller J, Knowlton D, Kravchenko I, Lazo-Flores J, Malik S, Meier F, Snow GR, Dolen J, Godshalk A, Iashvili I, Jain S, Kharchilava A, Kumar A, Rappoccio S, Alverson G, Barberis E, Baumgartel D, Chasco M, Haley J, Massironi A, Nash D, Orimoto T, Trocino D, Wood D, Zhang J, Anastassov A, Hahn KA, Kubik A, Lusito L, Mucia N, Odell N, Pollack B, Pozdnyakov A, Schmitt M, Stoynev S, Sung K, Velasco M, Won S, Brinkerhoff A, Chan KM, Drozdetskiy A, Hildreth M, Jessop C, Karmgard DJ, Kellams N, Lannon K, Luo W, Lynch S, Marinelli N, Pearson T, Planer M, Ruchti R, Valls N, Wayne M, Wolf M, Woodard A, Antonelli L, Brinson J, Bylsma B, Durkin LS, Flowers S, Hill C, Hughes R, Kotov K, Ling TY, Puigh D, Rodenburg M, Smith G, Vuosalo C, Winer BL, Wolfe H, Wulsin HW, Berry E, Driga O, Elmer P, Hebda P, Hunt A, Koay SA, Lujan P, Marlow D, Medvedeva T, Mooney M, Olsen J, Piroué P, Quan X, Saka H, Stickland D, Tully C, Werner JS, Zenz SC, Zuranski A, Brownson E, Mendez H, Ramirez Vargas JE, Alagoz E, Barnes VE, Benedetti D, Bolla G, Bortoletto D, De Mattia M, Hu Z, Jha MK, Jones M, Jung K, Kress M, Leonardo N, Lopes Pegna D, Maroussov V, Merkel P, Miller DH, Neumeister N, Radburn-Smith BC, Shi X, Shipsey I, Silvers D, Svyatkovskiy A, Wang F, Xie W, Xu L, Yoo HD, Zablocki J, Zheng Y, Parashar N, Stupak J, Adair A, Akgun B, Ecklund KM, Geurts FJM, Li W, Michlin B, Padley BP, Redjimi R, Roberts J, Zabel J, Betchart B, Bodek A, Covarelli R, de Barbaro P, Demina R, Eshaq Y, Ferbel T, Garcia-Bellido A, Goldenzweig P, Han J, Harel A, Khukhunaishvili A, Miner DC, Petrillo G, Vishnevskiy D, Ciesielski R, Demortier L, Goulianos K, Lungu G, Mesropian C, Arora S, Barker A, Chou JP, Contreras-Campana C, Contreras-Campana E, Duggan D, Ferencek D, Gershtein Y, Gray R, Halkiadakis E, Hidas D, Lath A, Panwalkar S, Park M, Patel R, Rekovic V, Salur S, Schnetzer S, Seitz C, Somalwar S, Stone R, Thomas S, Thomassen P, Walker M, Rose K, Spanier S, York A, Bouhali O, Eusebi R, Flanagan W, Gilmore J, Kamon T, Khotilovich V, Krutelyov V, Montalvo R, Osipenkov I, Pakhotin Y, Perloff A, Roe J, Rose A, Safonov A, Sakuma T, Suarez I, Tatarinov A, Akchurin N, Cowden C, Damgov J, Dragoiu C, Dudero PR, Faulkner J, Kovitanggoon K, Kunori S, Lee SW, Libeiro T, Volobouev I, Appelt E, Delannoy AG, Greene S, Gurrola A, Johns W, Maguire C, Mao Y, Melo A, Sharma M, Sheldon P, Snook B, Tuo S, Velkovska J, Arenton MW, Boutle S, Cox B, Francis B, Goodell J, Hirosky R, Ledovskoy A, Li H, Lin C, Neu C, Wood J, Gollapinni S, Harr R, Karchin PE, Kottachchi Kankanamge Don C, Lamichhane P, Sturdy J, Belknap DA, Carlsmith D, Cepeda M, Dasu S, Duric S, Friis E, Hall-Wilton R, Herndon M, Hervé A, Klabbers P, Lanaro A, Lazaridis C, Levine A, Loveless R, Mohapatra A, Ojalvo I, Perry T, Pierro GA, Polese G, Ross I, Sarangi T, Savin A, Smith WH, Woods N. Searches for electroweak production of charginos, neutralinos, and sleptons decaying to leptons and W, Z, and Higgs bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV

Searches for the direct electroweak production of supersymmetric charginos, neutralinos, and sleptons in a variety of signatures with leptons and [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and Higgs bosons are presented. Results are based on a sample of proton-proton collision data collected at center-of-mass energy [Formula: see text] with the CMS detector in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 [Formula: see text]. The observed event rates are in agreement with expectations from the standard model. These results probe charginos and neutralinos with masses up to 720 [Formula: see text], and sleptons up to 260 [Formula: see text], depending on the model details.

Evidence of b-jet quenching in PbPb collisions at √(s(NN))=2.76 TeV

The production of jets associated to bottom quarks is measured for the first time in PbPb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV per nucleon pair. Jet spectra are reported in the transverse momentum (p(T)) range of 80-250  GeV/c, and within pseudorapidity |η|<2. The nuclear modification factor (R(AA)) calculated from these spectra shows a strong suppression in the b-jet yield in PbPb collisions relative to the yield observed in pp collisions at the same energy. The suppression persists to the largest values of p(T) studied, and is centrality dependent. The R(AA) is about 0.4 in the most central events, similar to previous observations for inclusive jets. This implies that jet quenching does not have a strong dependence on parton mass and flavor in the jet p(T) range studied.