| 1. |
- Caliandro, Pietro, et al.
(författare)
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Jitter of Corticospinal Neurons During Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation : Method and Possible Clinical Implications
- 2014
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Ingår i: Brain Stimulation. - : Elsevier BV. - 1935-861X .- 1876-4754. ; 7:4, s. 580-586
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the motor cortex activates corticospinal neurons mainly through the depolarization of cortico-cortical axons belonging to interneurons of superficial layers. Objective: We used single-fiber electromyography (SFEMG) to estimate the "central jitter" of activation latency of interneural pools from one pulse of TMS to another. Methods: We evaluated 10 healthy subjects and one patient with multiple sclerosis. By recording SFEMG evoked activity from the left first dorsal interosseous (FDI), we first used a standard repetitive electrical 3 Hz stimulation of the ulnar nerve at the wrist to calculate the mean consecutive difference from at least 10 different potentials. The same procedure was applied during 3 Hz repetitive TMS of the contralateral motor cortex. The corticospinal monosynaptic connection of the FDI and the selectivity of SFEMG recording physiologically justified the subtraction of the "peripheral jitter" from the whole cortico-muscular jitter, obtaining an estimation of the actual "central jitter." Results: All subjects completed the study. The peripheral jitter was 28 mu s +/- 6 and the cortico-muscular jitter was 344 mu s +/- 97. The estimated central jitter was 343 +/- 97 mu s. In the patient the central jitter was 846 mu s, a value more than twice the central jitter in healthy subjects. Conclusion: Current results demonstrate that the evaluation of the central component of the cumulative cortico-muscular latency variability in healthy subjects is feasible with a minimally invasive approach. We present and discuss this methodology and provide a "proof of concept" of its potential clinical applicability in a patient with multiple sclerosis.
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| 2. |
- Flex, Elisabetta, et al.
(författare)
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Activating mutations in RRAS underlie a phenotype within the RASopathy spectrum and contribute to leukaemogenesis
- 2014
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Ingår i: Human Molecular Genetics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0964-6906 .- 1460-2083. ; 23:16, s. 4315-4327
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- RASopathies, a family of disorders characterized by cardiac defects, defective growth, facial dysmorphism, variable cognitive deficits and predisposition to certain malignancies, are caused by constitutional dysregulation of RAS signalling predominantly through the RAF/MEK/ERK (MAPK) cascade. We report on two germline mutations (p.Gly39dup and p.Val55Met) in RRAS, a gene encoding a small monomeric GTPase controlling cell adhesion, spreading and migration, underlying a rare (2 subjects among 504 individuals analysed) and variable phenotype with features partially overlapping Noonan syndrome, the most common RASopathy. We also identified somatic RRAS mutations (p.Gly39dup and p.Gln87Leu) in 2 of 110 cases of non-syndromic juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia, a childhood myeloproliferative/myelodysplastic disease caused by upregulated RAS signalling, defining an atypical form of this haematological disorder rapidly progressing to acute myeloid leukaemia. Two of the three identified mutations affected known oncogenic hotspots of RAS genes and conferred variably enhanced RRAS function and stimulus-dependent MAPK activation. Expression of an RRAS mutant homolog in Caenorhabditis elegans enhanced RAS signalling and engendered protruding vulva, a phenotype previously linked to the RASopathy-causing SHOC2(S2G) mutant. Overall, these findings provide evidence of a functional link between RRAS and MAPK signalling and reveal an unpredicted role of enhanced RRAS function in human disease.
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| 3. |
- Abelev, Betty, et al.
(författare)
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Long-range angular correlations on the near and away side in p-Pb collisions at root S-NN=5.02 TeV
- 2013
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Ingår i: Physics Letters. Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0370-2693. ; 719:1-3, s. 29-41
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Angular correlations between charged trigger and associated particles are measured by the ALICE detector in p-Pb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV for transverse momentum ranges within 0.5 < P-T,P-assoc < P-T,P-trig < 4 GeV/c. The correlations are measured over two units of pseudorapidity and full azimuthal angle in different intervals of event multiplicity, and expressed as associated yield per trigger particle. Two long-range ridge-like structures, one on the near side and one on the away side, are observed when the per-trigger yield obtained in low-multiplicity events is subtracted from the one in high-multiplicity events. The excess on the near-side is qualitatively similar to that recently reported by the CMS Collaboration, while the excess on the away-side is reported for the first time. The two-ridge structure projected onto azimuthal angle is quantified with the second and third Fourier coefficients as well as by near-side and away-side yields and widths. The yields on the near side and on the away side are equal within the uncertainties for all studied event multiplicity and p(T) bins, and the widths show no significant evolution with event multiplicity or p(T). These findings suggest that the near-side ridge is accompanied by an essentially identical away-side ridge. (c) 2013 CERN. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 4. |
- Abelev, Betty, et al.
(författare)
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Measurement of prompt J/psi and beauty hadron production cross sections at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of High Energy Physics. - 1029-8479. ; :11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ALICE experiment at the LHC has studied J/psi production at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV through its electron pair decay on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity L-int = 5.6 nb(-1). The fraction of J/psi from the decay of long-lived beauty hadrons was determined for J/psi candidates with transverse momentum p(t) > 1,3 GeV/c and rapidity vertical bar y vertical bar < 0.9. The cross section for prompt J/psi mesons, i.e. directly produced J/psi and prompt decays of heavier charmonium states such as the psi(2S) and chi(c) resonances, is sigma(prompt J/psi) (p(t) > 1.3 GeV/c, vertical bar y vertical bar < 0.9) = 8.3 +/- 0.8(stat.) +/- 1.1 (syst.)(-1.4)(+1.5) (syst. pol.) mu b. The cross section for the production of b-hadrons decaying to J/psi with p(t) > 1.3 GeV/c and vertical bar y vertical bar < 0.9 is a sigma(J/psi <- hB) (p(t) > 1.3 GeV/c, vertical bar y vertical bar < 0.9) = 1.46 +/- 0.38 (stat.)(-0.32)(+0.26) (syst.) mu b. The results are compared to QCD model predictions. The shape of the p(t) and y distributions of b-quarks predicted by perturbative QCD model calculations are used to extrapolate the measured cross section to derive the b (b) over bar pair total cross section and d sigma/dy at mid-rapidity.
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| 5. |
- Abelev, Betty, et al.
(författare)
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Underlying Event measurements in pp collisions at root s=0.9 and 7 TeV with the ALICE experiment at the LHC
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of High Energy Physics. - 1029-8479. ; :7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present measurements of Underlying Event observables in pp collisions at root s = 0 : 9 and 7 TeV. The analysis is performed as a function of the highest charged-particle transverse momentum p(T),L-T in the event. Different regions are defined with respect to the azimuthal direction of the leading (highest transverse momentum) track: Toward, Transverse and Away. The Toward and Away regions collect the fragmentation products of the hardest partonic interaction. The Transverse region is expected to be most sensitive to the Underlying Event activity. The study is performed with charged particles above three different p(T) thresholds: 0.15, 0.5 and 1.0 GeV/c. In the Transverse region we observe an increase in the multiplicity of a factor 2-3 between the lower and higher collision energies, depending on the track p(T) threshold considered. Data are compared to PYTHIA 6.4, PYTHIA 8.1 and PHOJET. On average, all models considered underestimate the multiplicity and summed p(T) in the Transverse region by about 10-30%.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Feroci, M., et al.
(författare)
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The large observatory for x-ray timing
- 2014
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Ingår i: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. - : SPIE. - 9780819496126
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Large Observatory For x-ray Timing (LOFT) was studied within ESA M3 Cosmic Vision framework and participated in the final downselection for a launch slot in 2022-2024. Thanks to the unprecedented combination of effective area and spectral resolution of its main instrument, LOFT will study the behaviour of matter under extreme conditions, such as the strong gravitational field in the innermost regions of accretion flows close to black holes and neutron stars, and the supranuclear densities in the interior of neutron stars. The science payload is based on a Large Area Detector (LAD, 10 m2 effective area, 2-30 keV, 240 eV spectral resolution, 1° collimated field of view) and a Wide Field Monitor (WFM, 2-50 keV, 4 steradian field of view, 1 arcmin source location accuracy, 300 eV spectral resolution). The WFM is equipped with an on-board system for bright events (e.g. GRB) localization. The trigger time and position of these events are broadcast to the ground within 30 s from discovery. In this paper we present the status of the mission at the end of its Phase A study.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Magnani, Matteo, et al.
(författare)
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Factors Enabling Information Propagation in a Social Network Site
- 2013
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Ingår i: The Influence of Technology on Social Network Analysis and Mining. - Vienna : Springer Vienna. - 9783709113455 ; , s. 411-426
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A relevant feature of Social Network Sites is their ability to propagate units of information and create large distributed conversations. This phenomenon is particularly relevant because of the speed of information propagation, which is known to be much faster than within traditional media, and because of the very large amount of people that can potentially be exposed to information items. While many general formal models of network propagation have been developed in different research fields, in this chapter we present the result of an empirical study on a Large Social Database (LSD) aimed at measuring specific socio-technical factors enabling information spreading in Social Network Sites.
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| 10. |
- Magnani, Matteo, et al.
(författare)
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Formation of multiple networks
- 2013
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Ingår i: Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling and Prediction. - Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg. - 9783642372094 ; , s. 257-264
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- While most research in Social Network Analysis has focused on single networks, the availability of complex on-line data about individuals and their mutual heterogenous connections has recently determined a renewed interest in multi-layer network analysis. To the best of our knowledge, in this paper we introduce the first network formation model for multiple networks. Network formation models are among the most popular tools in traditional network studies, because of both their practical and theoretical impact. However, existing models are not sufficient to describe the generation of multiple networks. Our model, motivated by an empirical analysis of real multi-layered network data, is a conservative extension of single-network models and emphasizes the additional level of complexity that we experience when we move from a single- to a more complete and realistic multi-network context.
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