1,984 results match your criteria: "National Centre for Scientific Research "DEMOKRITOS"[Affiliation]"

Article Synopsis
  • The study uses an unsupervised anomaly-detection technique to search for new resonances in particle collision data from the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, focusing on events with electrons or muons.
  • An autoencoder is trained on the data to identify unusual patterns by analyzing the reconstruction loss, with the research examining nine invariant mass spectra involving pairs of jets and leptons or photons.
  • No significant anomalies were found, leading to the establishment of limits on potential Gaussian signals of various widths for the analyzed invariant masses in the anomalous regions.
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This work presents the synthesis of N-doped nanoporous carbon materials using the Ionic Liquid (IL) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tricyanomethanide [BMIM][TCM] as a fluidic carbon precursor, employing two carbonization pathways: templated precursor and pyrolysis/activation. Operando monitoring of mass loss during pyrolytic and activation treatments provides insights into chemical processes, including IL decomposition, polycondensation reactions and pore formation. Comparatively low mass reduction rates were observed at all stages.

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The chemistry of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) continues to expand rapidly, providing materials with diverse structures and properties. The reticular chemistry approach, where well-defined structural building blocks are combined together to form crystalline open framework solids, has greatly accelerated the discovery of new and important materials. However, its full potential toward the rational design of MOFs relies on the availability of highly connected building blocks because these greatly reduce the number of possible structures.

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A practical and comprehensive experimental approach for radioactivity measurements of voluminous environmental samples using high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry with High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector is presented. The radioanalytical procedure includes sample preparation, detector calibration, implemented corrections, quality control and assurance; and it is demonstrated with the determination of natural and anthropogenic radionuclides in water and soil standard samples. The methodology is verified, and the results are validated by intercomparison with the refence values provided as part of a worldwide proficiency test.

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Toll, immune deficiency and prophenoloxidase cascade represent vital immune signaling pathways in insects. Peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs) are innate immune receptors that activate and regulate the immune signaling pathways. Previously, we reported that BmPGPR-L4 was induced in the silkworm Bombyx mori larvae by bacteria and peptidoglycan challenges.

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Article Synopsis
  • The 'QuantitatEVs' workshop focused on quantitative methods for analyzing extracellular vesicles (EVs), from large bulk samples to individual vesicles, emphasizing new technologies.
  • * The event explored critical issues in analyzing EV-associated molecules and biophysical features, which are key for discovering and validating EV biomarkers for clinical use.
  • * Held in Trento, Italy, from January 31 to February 2, 2023, the workshop included a follow-up event in Milan aimed at supporting early career researchers.
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SmCo constitutes one of the strongest classes of permanent magnets, which exhibit magnetocrystalline anisotropy with uniaxial character and enormous energy and possess high Curie temperature. However, the performance of SmCo permanent magnets is hindered by a limited energy product and relatively high supply risk. Sm is a moderately expensive element within the lanthanide group, while Co is a more expensive material than Fe, making SmCo-based permanent magnets among the most expensive materials in the group.

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The first search for scalar leptoquarks produced in τ-lepton-quark collisions is presented. It is based on a set of proton-proton collision data recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138  fb^{-1}. The reconstructed final state consists of a jet, significant missing transverse momentum, and a τ lepton reconstructed through its hadronic or leptonic decays.

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Single-Nucleus Sequencing of Silkworm Larval Brain Reveals the Key Role of Lysozyme in the Antiviral Immune Response in Brain Hemocytes.

J Innate Immun

April 2024

Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Agro-animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.

Introduction: The brain is considered as an immune-privileged organ, yet innate immune reactions can occur in the central nervous system of vertebrates and invertebrates. Silkworm (Bombyx mori) is an economically important insect and a lepidopteran model species. The diversity of cell types in the silkworm brain, and how these cell subsets produce an immune response to virus infection, remains largely unknown.

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Natural gas production from shale formations is one of the most recent and fast growing developments in the oil and gas industry. The accurate prediction of the adsorption and transport of shale gas is essential for estimating shale gas production capacity and improving existing extractions. To realistically represent heterogeneous shale formations, a composite pore model was built from a kaolinite slit mesopore hosting a kerogen matrix.

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Conjugates of chlorins with β-cyclodextrin connected either directly or via a flexible linker were prepared. In aqueous medium these amphiphilic conjugates were photostable, produced singlet oxygen at a rate similar to clinically used temoporfin and formed irregular nanoparticles via aggregation. Successful loading with the chemotherapeutic drug tamoxifen was evidenced in solution by the UV-Vis spectral changes and dynamic light scattering profiles.

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The objective of this study was the optimization of the extraction process and the qualitative and quantitative determination of the bioactive metabolites: 12--methylcarnosic acid (12MCA), carnosic acid (CA), carnosol (CS), 7--methyl--rosmanol (7MER) and rosmanol (RO) in infusions, decoctions, turbulent flow extracts, tinctures and oleolites from three species: L. (common sage, ), Mill. (Greek sage, ) and Spenn (syn L.

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A search for dark matter in events with a displaced nonresonant muon pair and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is performed using an integrated luminosity of 138  fb^{-1} of proton-proton (pp) collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV produced by the LHC in 2016-2018. No significant excess over the predicted backgrounds is observed.

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Risk assessment of pesticide impacts on remote ecosystems makes use of model-estimated degradation in air. Recent studies suggest these degradation rates to be overestimated, questioning current pesticide regulation. Here, we investigated the concentrations of 76 pesticides in Europe at 29 rural, coastal, mountain, and polar sites during the agricultural application season.

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Article Synopsis
  • The PKD family of proteins is important in regulating the fission of cargo vesicles in the Golgi complex and has been linked to promoting tumor growth in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).
  • Research investigated the role of PKD in the secretion of factors that promote tumors in TNBC by using drug inhibitors and RNA techniques to deplete specific PKD variants.
  • Findings revealed that inhibiting PKD activity significantly reduced the release of proteins associated with cell invasiveness and extracellular matrix organization, particularly showcasing the crucial role of PKD2 in this process.
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This Letter reports the observation of WZγ production and a measurement of its cross section using 140.1±1.2  fb^{-1} of proton-proton collision data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider.

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The first evidence for the Higgs boson decay to a Z boson and a photon is presented, with a statistical significance of 3.4 standard deviations. The result is derived from a combined analysis of the searches performed by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations with proton-proton collision datasets collected at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) from 2015 to 2018.

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The coordination chemistry of 2-pyridyl ketoximes continues to attract the interest of many inorganic chemistry groups around the world for a variety of reasons. Cadmium(II) complexes of such ligands have provided models of solvent extraction of this toxic metal ion from aqueous environments using 2-pyridyl ketoxime extractants. Di-2-pyridyl ketone oxime (dpkoxH) is a unique member of this family of ligands because its substituent on the oxime carbon bears another potential donor site, i.

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The radiolabeled iron oxide nanoparticles constitute an attractive choice to be used as dual-modality contrast agents (DMCAs) in nuclear medical diagnosis, due to their ability to combine the benefits of two imaging modalities, for instance single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Before the use of any DMCA, the investigation of its plasma extra- and on/intra cellular distribution in peripheral human blood is of paramount importance. Here, we focus on the in vitro investigation of the distribution of Tc-DPD-FeO DMCA in donated peripheral human blood (the ligand 2-3-dicarboxypropane-1-1-diphosphonic-acid is denoted as DPD).

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Mechanisms of Allosteric Inhibition of Insulin-Regulated Aminopeptidase.

J Mol Biol

March 2024

Laboratory of Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 15771, Greece; National Centre for Scientific Research Demokritos, Athens 15341, Greece. Electronic address:

Inhibition of Insulin-Regulated Aminopeptidase is being actively explored for the treatment of several human diseases and several classes of inhibitors have been developed although no clinical applications have been reported yet. Here, we combine enzymological analysis with x-ray crystallography to investigate the mechanism employed by two of the most studied inhibitors of IRAP, an aryl sulfonamide and a 2-amino-4H-benzopyran named HFI-419. Although both compounds have been hypothesized to target the enzyme's active site by competitive mechanisms, we discovered that they instead target previously unidentified proximal allosteric sites and utilize non-competitive inhibition mechanisms.

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Glucocorticoid stress hormones stimulate vesicle-free Tau secretion and spreading in the brain.

Cell Death Dis

January 2024

Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and Aging Brain, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.

Chronic stress and elevated levels of glucocorticoids (GCs), the main stress hormones, accelerate Alzheimer's disease (AD) onset and progression. A major driver of AD progression is the spreading of pathogenic Tau protein between brain regions, precipitated by neuronal Tau secretion. While stress and high GC levels are known to induce intraneuronal Tau pathology (i.

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Poly(ethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate) (PEF)-based nanocomposites containing Ce-bioglass, ZnO, and ZrO nanoparticles were synthesized via in situ polymerization, targeting food packaging applications. The nanocomposites were thoroughly characterized, combining a range of techniques. The successful polymerization was confirmed using attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, and the molecular weight values were determined indirectly by applying intrinsic viscosity measurements.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the strange quark content of protons by measuring the production cross section of W bosons and charm quarks in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV, using data from the CMS detector at the LHC.
  • - W bosons are identified through their decays into leptons (electrons or muons) and neutrinos, while charm quarks are tagged by detecting muons or secondary vertices in jets.
  • - The measurements, which reach a precision of 1%, include both inclusive and differential analyses based on the transverse momentum and pseudorapidity of the leptons, and the results are compared with advanced theoretical predictions in quantum chromodynamics.
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The measurement of Z boson production is presented as a method to determine the integrated luminosity of CMS data sets. The analysis uses proton-proton collision data, recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2017 at a center-of-mass energy of 13. Events with Z bosons decaying into a pair of muons are selected.

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Quasireal photons exchanged in relativistic heavy ion interactions are powerful probes of the gluonic structure of nuclei. The coherent J/ψ photoproduction cross section in ultraperipheral lead-lead collisions is measured as a function of photon-nucleus center-of-mass energies per nucleon (W_{γN}^{Pb}) over a wide range of 40 View Article and Find Full Text PDF