, doctor en filosofía, ha sido profesor del Instituto de Caen desde 1983 a 2002, antes de crear l... more , doctor en filosofía, ha sido profesor del Instituto de Caen desde 1983 a 2002, antes de crear la Universidad Popular de Caen. Ha publicado una veintena de libros en los que propone su teoría del hedonismo: ¿Qué puede conseguir el cuerpo? ¿Cuál es el objeto prioritario de la filosofía? ¿Cómo pensar en artista? ¿Cómo instalar una cierta ética en el terreno de la estética? ¿Qué lugar se le puede dejar a Dioniso en una civilización sometida toda ella a Apolo? ¿Qué relación hay entre el hedonismo ético y el anarquismo político? ¿Qué modalidad filosófica es practicable? ¿Qué posibilidades puede esperar el cuerpo de las ciencias postmodernas? ¿Qué relaciones hay entre biografía y escritura en materia de filosofía? ¿Sobre qué cimientos se construyen las mitologías filosóficas? Sus libros lo han llevado a celebrar los sentidos prohibidos como el olfato y el gusto: Le Ventre des philosophes. Critique de la raison diététique
A model-independent search for three-jet hadronic resonance production in pp collisions at a cent... more A model-independent search for three-jet hadronic resonance production in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV has been conducted by the CMS Collaboration at the LHC, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35 pb −1 . Events with high jet multiplicity and a large scalar sum of jet transverse momenta are analyzed. The number of expected standard model background events is found to be in good agreement with the observed events. Limits are set on a model describing the production of R-parity-violating supersymmetric gluino pairs, and gluino masses in the range of 200 to 280 GeV/c 2 are excluded at a 95% confidence level for the first time.
The purpose of this study was to identify the species of local landraces of wheat (Triticum spp.)... more The purpose of this study was to identify the species of local landraces of wheat (Triticum spp.), held in the Israel Gene Bank, to evaluate them for basic characters and to assess their response to infection by two rust fungi under artificial inoculation conditions. One-hundred-thirty one seed samples were collected from local or Beduin farmers during 1978–1981 throughout the Galilee, Mt. Gilboa. Judean Desert and the south Negev. The samples were collected and stored in the Israel Gene Bank without any characterization or evaluation. Each accession was planted in a 1 m row at Bet Dagan and grown under favorable conditions for plant growth and rust development. Determination of the species, data of plant height, days to heading and reaction of the landraces to artificial inoculation with a composite inoculum of Puccinia recondita and P. striiformis were collected from each row. A small part of the landraces collection consisted of mixed populations of T. durum and T. aestivum plants, where one of the two species was predominant. One-hundred-fourteen and 17 accessions from this collection represented, respectively, Triticum durum and T. aestivum Israel landraces. Large variations were found for all the characters examined. Of the total accessions, 6.5% (8 accessions) and 32% (42 accessions) were resistant, respectively, to yellow- and leaf-rust. It was concluded that the diversified populations of the local landraces of wheat can be used as a source not only for genes affecting basic characters such as plant height and heading date, but also for resistance to leaf rust and yellow rust.
The recent development of advanced photoinjectors and next generation light sources guides the pr... more The recent development of advanced photoinjectors and next generation light sources guides the progression towards high-current, ultra-short beams. The measurement of these short pulses, with sub-picosecond resolution, is essential for successful beam operation and optimization. This paper describes the development of a real-time, shotto-shot bunch length diagnostic utilizing a novel coherent terahertz radiation autocorrelation technique. The proposed diagnostic is called the real-time interferometer (RTI).
First measurements of dihadron correlations for charged particles are presented for central PbPb ... more First measurements of dihadron correlations for charged particles are presented for central PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV over a broad range in relative pseudorapidity (∆η) and the full range of relative azimuthal angle (∆φ). The data were collected with the CMS detector, at the LHC. A broadening of the away-side (∆φ ≈ π) azimuthal correlation is observed at all ∆η, as compared to the measurements in pp collisions. Furthermore, long-range dihadron correlations in ∆η are observed for particles with similar φ values. This phenomenon, also known as the "ridge", persists up to at least |∆η| = 4. For particles with transverse momenta
This paper focuses on the language processing tool being developed at our centre and briefly desc... more This paper focuses on the language processing tool being developed at our centre and briefly describes two of its applications. CATCG, our morphosyntactic analyser, is designed to deal with general written Catalan text. In CATCG the whole processing task has been divided into specific subtasks and for each one of them we try to apply the best strategy available. The most relevant properties of our system are its robustness, the fact that we have given reusability a very high priority, and the goal of acquiring linguistic information by fully automatic means. The paper is structured as follows: section 1 and 2 explicate and describe the global architecture of CATCG. Section 3 shows the output of CATCG and gives data on its performance. Section 4 describes two projects to which CATCG is being applied: BancTrad and PrADo. Section 5 presents our plans for future work. Section 6 closes the paper with some conclusions.
We have generated noncollinear quasi-phase-matched second harmonic wave in an RbTiOPO(4) crystal ... more We have generated noncollinear quasi-phase-matched second harmonic wave in an RbTiOPO(4) crystal that was poled using the high-voltage atomic force microscope (HV-AFM). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic nonlinear frequency conversion study of samples produced by the HV-AFM method. The short poling period of 1.18 microm enabled us to observe second harmonic generation at very large angles with respect to the fundamental wave. The setup was used to optically explore the homogeneity of the poled area. The measurements are in a reasonable agreement with an analytic calculations.
Revista Do Instituto De Medicina Tropical De Sao Paulo, 2010
Regiões como o Pantanal brasileiro, que apresentam fatores como riqueza de fauna silvestre inclui... more Regiões como o Pantanal brasileiro, que apresentam fatores como riqueza de fauna silvestre incluindo circulação de aves migratórias e condições ambientais e climáticas favoráveis à proliferação de artrópodes estão potencialmente sujeitas à circulação de arbovírus. Entretanto, poucos trabalhos foram realizados acerca da presença de arbovírus em potenciais vetores no Pantanal. Neste sentido o principal objetivo deste trabalho foi conduzir uma investigação preliminar para presença de arbovírus em amostragens de culicídeos capturados na Sub-região da Nhecolândia no Pantanal Sul. Um total de 3684 mosquitos foi capturado, dos quais 78 grupos compondo uma amostragem de 1789 espécimes foram submetidos às técnicas de isolamento viral e RT-PCR para os mais importantes arbovírus no Brasil. Simultaneamente, 70 espécimes de carrapatos capturados durante hematofagia em cavalos também foram submetidos à pesquisa viral. Não houve isolamento viral em nenhuma amostra analisada e os resultados de detecção de ácido nucléico viral foram também negativos. Entretanto, foram identificadas 22 espécies de culicídeos, dez das quais previamente reportadas como vetores de importantes arbovírus. A competência vetorial de espécies capturadas durante hematofagia em humanos e cavalos aliada ao relato prévio de circulação de arbovírus sugerem a Sub-região da Nhecolândia como uma importante área de vigilância para arbovírus no Centro-Oeste do Brasil.
We observe a stringlike domain penetration from a ferroelectric surface deep into the crystal bul... more We observe a stringlike domain penetration from a ferroelectric surface deep into the crystal bulk induced by a high voltage atomic force microscope tip. The domains, which resemble channels of an electrical breakdown, nucleate under an electric field of around 10(7) V/cm at the ferroelectric surface, and grow throughout the crystal bulk where the external electric field is practically zero. A theory explaining the shape of the formed domains is presented. It shows that the driving force for the domain breakdown is the decrease of the total free energy of the system with increasing domain length.
Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences, 2009
Xenotransplantation of pig tissues has great potential to overcome the shortage of organ donors. ... more Xenotransplantation of pig tissues has great potential to overcome the shortage of organ donors. One approach to address the vigorous immune rejection associated with xenotransplants is the use of embryonic precursor tissue, which induces and utilizes host vasculature upon its growth and development. Recently, we showed in mice that embryonic pig pancreatic tissue from embryonic day 42 (E42) exhibits optimal properties as a  cell replacement therapy. We now demonstrate the proof of concept in 2 diabetic Cynomolgus monkeys, followed for 393 and 280 days, respectively. A marked reduction of exogenous insulin requirement was noted by the fourth month after transplantation, reaching complete independence from exogenous insulin during the fifth month after transplantation, with full physiological control of blood glucose levels. The porcine origin of insulin was documented by a radioimmunoassay specific for porcine C-peptide. Furthermore, the growing tissue was found to be predominantly vascularized with host blood vessels, thereby evading hyperacute or acute rejection, which could potentially be mediated by preexisting anti-pig antibodies. Durable graft protection was achieved, and most of the late complications could be attributed to the immunosuppressive protocol. While fine tuning of immune suppression, tissue dose, and implantation techniques are still required, our results demonstrate that porcine E-42 embryonic pancreatic tissue can normalize blood glucose levels in primates. Its long-term proliferative capacity, its revascularization by host endothelium, and its reduced immunogenicity, strongly suggest that this approach could offer an attractive replacement therapy for diabetes.
A measurement of inclusive W and Z production cross sections in pp collisions at √ s = 7 TeV is p... more A measurement of inclusive W and Z production cross sections in pp collisions at √ s = 7 TeV is presented. The electron and muon decay channels are analyzed in a data sample collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb −1 . The measured inclusive cross sections are σ(pp → WX) × B(W → ν) = 10.30 ± 0.02 (stat.) ± 0.10 (syst.) ± 0.10 (th.) ± 0.41 (lumi.) nb and σ(pp → ZX) × B(Z → + − ) = 0.974 ± 0.007 (stat.) ± 0.007 (syst.) ± 0.018 (th.) ± 0.039 (lumi.) nb, limited to the dilepton invariant mass range 60 to 120 GeV. The luminosity-independent cross section ratios are (σ(pp
Multiresistant Klebsiella pneumoniae caused a nosocomial outbreak. Resistance patterns of the pre... more Multiresistant Klebsiella pneumoniae caused a nosocomial outbreak. Resistance patterns of the presumed outbreak isolates varied among and within patients. In order to control the outbreak, screening for extendedspectrum -lactamase (ESBL)-producing K. pneumoniae was commenced. A number of susceptible K. pneumoniae strains were stored to serve as controls in genetic strain typing. Typing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis proved the clonality of the strains in the recognized outbreak patients. Typing of the control strains by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis showed that at least one patient had been missed by the ESBL screening procedure. Further genetic typing confirmed the presence of the SHV-5 ESBL gene in all but one of the outbreak strains. Variable presence of integrons that carried the aminoglycoside resistance genes aadB and aadA2 was found. A gyrA mutation in codon 83 was present in all outbreak strains tested, despite considerable differences in ciprofloxacin MICs. The MICs of ciprofloxacin and the chemically unrelated drug cefoxitin were correlated (r ؍ 0.86, P < 0.01) and were compatible with the overexpression of an efflux pump in a subset of the outbreak strains. We conclude that outbreak strains that express an ESBL gene only at a low level may pass unnoticed in a screening procedure, when the laboratory is unaware of variable ESBL expression. In this particular outbreak, screening for strains for which ciprofloxacin MICs were >0.25 g/ml would in retrospect have been the most sensitive method for detection of the K. pneumoniae outbreak strain.
In this article, we describe methods for using oxygen-15 water (H2O15) positron emission tomograp... more In this article, we describe methods for using oxygen-15 water (H2O15) positron emission tomography (PET) to explore the functional neuroanatomy of cognition in awake, non-human primates. The discussion is based on a recent study designed to identify regions in the monkey brain associated with perceiving auditory stimuli, and species-specific calls, in particular [Gil-da-Costa et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101 (2004) 17516-17521]. Details are provided concerning critical aspects of the experimental paradigm, including pre-scanning habituation sessions to acclimate the animals to the PET scanner environment, and details of a pilot study to determine the auditory stimulus parameters necessary to produce robust activity in brain regions known to process auditory information (belt and parabelt regions of monkey auditory cortex). Methods for acquiring and analyzing PET data to identify significant regions of brain activity in single animals are also presented.
A measurement of the tt production cross section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass ... more A measurement of the tt production cross section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV has been performed at the LHC with the CMS detector. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb −1 and is based on the reconstruction of the final state with one isolated, high transverse-momentum electron or muon and three or more hadronic jets. The kinematic properties of the events are used to separate the tt signal from W+jets and QCD multijet background events. The measured cross section is 173 +39 −32 (stat. + syst.) pb, consistent with standard model expectations.
Jet production in PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV was stud... more Jet production in PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV was studied with the CMS detector at the LHC, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6.7 µb −1 . Jets are reconstructed using the energy deposited in the CMS calorimeters and studied as a function of collision centrality. With increasing collision centrality, a striking imbalance in dijet transverse momentum is observed, consistent with jet quenching. The observed effect extends from the lower cut-off used in this study (jet p T = 120 GeV/c) up to the statistical limit of the available data sample (jet p T ≈ 210 GeV/c). Correlations of charged particle tracks with jets indicate that the momentum imbalance is accompanied by a softening of the fragmentation pattern of the second most energetic, away-side jet. The dijet momentum balance is recovered when integrating low transverse momentum particles distributed over a wide angular range relative to the direction of the away-side jet.
, doctor en filosofía, ha sido profesor del Instituto de Caen desde 1983 a 2002, antes de crear l... more , doctor en filosofía, ha sido profesor del Instituto de Caen desde 1983 a 2002, antes de crear la Universidad Popular de Caen. Ha publicado una veintena de libros en los que propone su teoría del hedonismo: ¿Qué puede conseguir el cuerpo? ¿Cuál es el objeto prioritario de la filosofía? ¿Cómo pensar en artista? ¿Cómo instalar una cierta ética en el terreno de la estética? ¿Qué lugar se le puede dejar a Dioniso en una civilización sometida toda ella a Apolo? ¿Qué relación hay entre el hedonismo ético y el anarquismo político? ¿Qué modalidad filosófica es practicable? ¿Qué posibilidades puede esperar el cuerpo de las ciencias postmodernas? ¿Qué relaciones hay entre biografía y escritura en materia de filosofía? ¿Sobre qué cimientos se construyen las mitologías filosóficas? Sus libros lo han llevado a celebrar los sentidos prohibidos como el olfato y el gusto: Le Ventre des philosophes. Critique de la raison diététique
A model-independent search for three-jet hadronic resonance production in pp collisions at a cent... more A model-independent search for three-jet hadronic resonance production in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV has been conducted by the CMS Collaboration at the LHC, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35 pb −1 . Events with high jet multiplicity and a large scalar sum of jet transverse momenta are analyzed. The number of expected standard model background events is found to be in good agreement with the observed events. Limits are set on a model describing the production of R-parity-violating supersymmetric gluino pairs, and gluino masses in the range of 200 to 280 GeV/c 2 are excluded at a 95% confidence level for the first time.
The purpose of this study was to identify the species of local landraces of wheat (Triticum spp.)... more The purpose of this study was to identify the species of local landraces of wheat (Triticum spp.), held in the Israel Gene Bank, to evaluate them for basic characters and to assess their response to infection by two rust fungi under artificial inoculation conditions. One-hundred-thirty one seed samples were collected from local or Beduin farmers during 1978–1981 throughout the Galilee, Mt. Gilboa. Judean Desert and the south Negev. The samples were collected and stored in the Israel Gene Bank without any characterization or evaluation. Each accession was planted in a 1 m row at Bet Dagan and grown under favorable conditions for plant growth and rust development. Determination of the species, data of plant height, days to heading and reaction of the landraces to artificial inoculation with a composite inoculum of Puccinia recondita and P. striiformis were collected from each row. A small part of the landraces collection consisted of mixed populations of T. durum and T. aestivum plants, where one of the two species was predominant. One-hundred-fourteen and 17 accessions from this collection represented, respectively, Triticum durum and T. aestivum Israel landraces. Large variations were found for all the characters examined. Of the total accessions, 6.5% (8 accessions) and 32% (42 accessions) were resistant, respectively, to yellow- and leaf-rust. It was concluded that the diversified populations of the local landraces of wheat can be used as a source not only for genes affecting basic characters such as plant height and heading date, but also for resistance to leaf rust and yellow rust.
The recent development of advanced photoinjectors and next generation light sources guides the pr... more The recent development of advanced photoinjectors and next generation light sources guides the progression towards high-current, ultra-short beams. The measurement of these short pulses, with sub-picosecond resolution, is essential for successful beam operation and optimization. This paper describes the development of a real-time, shotto-shot bunch length diagnostic utilizing a novel coherent terahertz radiation autocorrelation technique. The proposed diagnostic is called the real-time interferometer (RTI).
First measurements of dihadron correlations for charged particles are presented for central PbPb ... more First measurements of dihadron correlations for charged particles are presented for central PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV over a broad range in relative pseudorapidity (∆η) and the full range of relative azimuthal angle (∆φ). The data were collected with the CMS detector, at the LHC. A broadening of the away-side (∆φ ≈ π) azimuthal correlation is observed at all ∆η, as compared to the measurements in pp collisions. Furthermore, long-range dihadron correlations in ∆η are observed for particles with similar φ values. This phenomenon, also known as the "ridge", persists up to at least |∆η| = 4. For particles with transverse momenta
This paper focuses on the language processing tool being developed at our centre and briefly desc... more This paper focuses on the language processing tool being developed at our centre and briefly describes two of its applications. CATCG, our morphosyntactic analyser, is designed to deal with general written Catalan text. In CATCG the whole processing task has been divided into specific subtasks and for each one of them we try to apply the best strategy available. The most relevant properties of our system are its robustness, the fact that we have given reusability a very high priority, and the goal of acquiring linguistic information by fully automatic means. The paper is structured as follows: section 1 and 2 explicate and describe the global architecture of CATCG. Section 3 shows the output of CATCG and gives data on its performance. Section 4 describes two projects to which CATCG is being applied: BancTrad and PrADo. Section 5 presents our plans for future work. Section 6 closes the paper with some conclusions.
We have generated noncollinear quasi-phase-matched second harmonic wave in an RbTiOPO(4) crystal ... more We have generated noncollinear quasi-phase-matched second harmonic wave in an RbTiOPO(4) crystal that was poled using the high-voltage atomic force microscope (HV-AFM). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic nonlinear frequency conversion study of samples produced by the HV-AFM method. The short poling period of 1.18 microm enabled us to observe second harmonic generation at very large angles with respect to the fundamental wave. The setup was used to optically explore the homogeneity of the poled area. The measurements are in a reasonable agreement with an analytic calculations.
Revista Do Instituto De Medicina Tropical De Sao Paulo, 2010
Regiões como o Pantanal brasileiro, que apresentam fatores como riqueza de fauna silvestre inclui... more Regiões como o Pantanal brasileiro, que apresentam fatores como riqueza de fauna silvestre incluindo circulação de aves migratórias e condições ambientais e climáticas favoráveis à proliferação de artrópodes estão potencialmente sujeitas à circulação de arbovírus. Entretanto, poucos trabalhos foram realizados acerca da presença de arbovírus em potenciais vetores no Pantanal. Neste sentido o principal objetivo deste trabalho foi conduzir uma investigação preliminar para presença de arbovírus em amostragens de culicídeos capturados na Sub-região da Nhecolândia no Pantanal Sul. Um total de 3684 mosquitos foi capturado, dos quais 78 grupos compondo uma amostragem de 1789 espécimes foram submetidos às técnicas de isolamento viral e RT-PCR para os mais importantes arbovírus no Brasil. Simultaneamente, 70 espécimes de carrapatos capturados durante hematofagia em cavalos também foram submetidos à pesquisa viral. Não houve isolamento viral em nenhuma amostra analisada e os resultados de detecção de ácido nucléico viral foram também negativos. Entretanto, foram identificadas 22 espécies de culicídeos, dez das quais previamente reportadas como vetores de importantes arbovírus. A competência vetorial de espécies capturadas durante hematofagia em humanos e cavalos aliada ao relato prévio de circulação de arbovírus sugerem a Sub-região da Nhecolândia como uma importante área de vigilância para arbovírus no Centro-Oeste do Brasil.
We observe a stringlike domain penetration from a ferroelectric surface deep into the crystal bul... more We observe a stringlike domain penetration from a ferroelectric surface deep into the crystal bulk induced by a high voltage atomic force microscope tip. The domains, which resemble channels of an electrical breakdown, nucleate under an electric field of around 10(7) V/cm at the ferroelectric surface, and grow throughout the crystal bulk where the external electric field is practically zero. A theory explaining the shape of the formed domains is presented. It shows that the driving force for the domain breakdown is the decrease of the total free energy of the system with increasing domain length.
Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences, 2009
Xenotransplantation of pig tissues has great potential to overcome the shortage of organ donors. ... more Xenotransplantation of pig tissues has great potential to overcome the shortage of organ donors. One approach to address the vigorous immune rejection associated with xenotransplants is the use of embryonic precursor tissue, which induces and utilizes host vasculature upon its growth and development. Recently, we showed in mice that embryonic pig pancreatic tissue from embryonic day 42 (E42) exhibits optimal properties as a  cell replacement therapy. We now demonstrate the proof of concept in 2 diabetic Cynomolgus monkeys, followed for 393 and 280 days, respectively. A marked reduction of exogenous insulin requirement was noted by the fourth month after transplantation, reaching complete independence from exogenous insulin during the fifth month after transplantation, with full physiological control of blood glucose levels. The porcine origin of insulin was documented by a radioimmunoassay specific for porcine C-peptide. Furthermore, the growing tissue was found to be predominantly vascularized with host blood vessels, thereby evading hyperacute or acute rejection, which could potentially be mediated by preexisting anti-pig antibodies. Durable graft protection was achieved, and most of the late complications could be attributed to the immunosuppressive protocol. While fine tuning of immune suppression, tissue dose, and implantation techniques are still required, our results demonstrate that porcine E-42 embryonic pancreatic tissue can normalize blood glucose levels in primates. Its long-term proliferative capacity, its revascularization by host endothelium, and its reduced immunogenicity, strongly suggest that this approach could offer an attractive replacement therapy for diabetes.
A measurement of inclusive W and Z production cross sections in pp collisions at √ s = 7 TeV is p... more A measurement of inclusive W and Z production cross sections in pp collisions at √ s = 7 TeV is presented. The electron and muon decay channels are analyzed in a data sample collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb −1 . The measured inclusive cross sections are σ(pp → WX) × B(W → ν) = 10.30 ± 0.02 (stat.) ± 0.10 (syst.) ± 0.10 (th.) ± 0.41 (lumi.) nb and σ(pp → ZX) × B(Z → + − ) = 0.974 ± 0.007 (stat.) ± 0.007 (syst.) ± 0.018 (th.) ± 0.039 (lumi.) nb, limited to the dilepton invariant mass range 60 to 120 GeV. The luminosity-independent cross section ratios are (σ(pp
Multiresistant Klebsiella pneumoniae caused a nosocomial outbreak. Resistance patterns of the pre... more Multiresistant Klebsiella pneumoniae caused a nosocomial outbreak. Resistance patterns of the presumed outbreak isolates varied among and within patients. In order to control the outbreak, screening for extendedspectrum -lactamase (ESBL)-producing K. pneumoniae was commenced. A number of susceptible K. pneumoniae strains were stored to serve as controls in genetic strain typing. Typing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis proved the clonality of the strains in the recognized outbreak patients. Typing of the control strains by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis showed that at least one patient had been missed by the ESBL screening procedure. Further genetic typing confirmed the presence of the SHV-5 ESBL gene in all but one of the outbreak strains. Variable presence of integrons that carried the aminoglycoside resistance genes aadB and aadA2 was found. A gyrA mutation in codon 83 was present in all outbreak strains tested, despite considerable differences in ciprofloxacin MICs. The MICs of ciprofloxacin and the chemically unrelated drug cefoxitin were correlated (r ؍ 0.86, P < 0.01) and were compatible with the overexpression of an efflux pump in a subset of the outbreak strains. We conclude that outbreak strains that express an ESBL gene only at a low level may pass unnoticed in a screening procedure, when the laboratory is unaware of variable ESBL expression. In this particular outbreak, screening for strains for which ciprofloxacin MICs were >0.25 g/ml would in retrospect have been the most sensitive method for detection of the K. pneumoniae outbreak strain.
In this article, we describe methods for using oxygen-15 water (H2O15) positron emission tomograp... more In this article, we describe methods for using oxygen-15 water (H2O15) positron emission tomography (PET) to explore the functional neuroanatomy of cognition in awake, non-human primates. The discussion is based on a recent study designed to identify regions in the monkey brain associated with perceiving auditory stimuli, and species-specific calls, in particular [Gil-da-Costa et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101 (2004) 17516-17521]. Details are provided concerning critical aspects of the experimental paradigm, including pre-scanning habituation sessions to acclimate the animals to the PET scanner environment, and details of a pilot study to determine the auditory stimulus parameters necessary to produce robust activity in brain regions known to process auditory information (belt and parabelt regions of monkey auditory cortex). Methods for acquiring and analyzing PET data to identify significant regions of brain activity in single animals are also presented.
A measurement of the tt production cross section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass ... more A measurement of the tt production cross section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV has been performed at the LHC with the CMS detector. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb −1 and is based on the reconstruction of the final state with one isolated, high transverse-momentum electron or muon and three or more hadronic jets. The kinematic properties of the events are used to separate the tt signal from W+jets and QCD multijet background events. The measured cross section is 173 +39 −32 (stat. + syst.) pb, consistent with standard model expectations.
Jet production in PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV was stud... more Jet production in PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV was studied with the CMS detector at the LHC, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6.7 µb −1 . Jets are reconstructed using the energy deposited in the CMS calorimeters and studied as a function of collision centrality. With increasing collision centrality, a striking imbalance in dijet transverse momentum is observed, consistent with jet quenching. The observed effect extends from the lower cut-off used in this study (jet p T = 120 GeV/c) up to the statistical limit of the available data sample (jet p T ≈ 210 GeV/c). Correlations of charged particle tracks with jets indicate that the momentum imbalance is accompanied by a softening of the fragmentation pattern of the second most energetic, away-side jet. The dijet momentum balance is recovered when integrating low transverse momentum particles distributed over a wide angular range relative to the direction of the away-side jet.
Uploads
Papers by Alex Gil