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. Excitation functions of the nat Ni( α ,x) 62,63,65 Zn, nat Ni( α ,x) 56,57 Ni and nat Ni( α ,x) 56,57,58m+g Co reactions were measured from the respective thresholds to 44MeV using the stacked-foil activation technique. The tests for the beam characterization are described. The radioactivity was measured using HPGe γ -ray detectors. Theoretical calculations on α -particles-induced reactions on nat Ni were performed using the nuclear model code TALYS-1.8. A few results are new, the others strengthen the database. Our experimental data were compared with results of nuclear model calculations and described the reaction mechanism.

The flux-weighted cross-sections of the nat Yb(γ, xn) 175,169,167 Yb reactions were measured at the bremsstrahlung end-point energies of 12, 14, 16, 60, 65, and 70 MeV by the activation and off-line γ-ray spectrometric technique using the 20 MeV electron linac (ELBE) at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Dresden, Germany, and 100 MeV electron linac at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL), Korea. The nat Yb(γ, xn) 175,169,167 Yb reaction cross-sections as a function of photon energy were also calculated theoretically using the TALYS 1.9 code. The flux-weighted average values at different end-point energies were obtained from the literature as well as from the theoretical values reported in the TALYS library based on mono-energetic photons. They were compared with the flux-weighted values based on the present experimental data and were found to be in general agreement. It was also found that the experimental and theoretical cross-section data increased from the threshold values to a certain energy, where other reaction channels opened, which highlights the role of excitation energy. After a certain value, the individual reaction cross-sections decrease with an increase in bremsstrahlung energy owing to the opening of other reaction channels, which indicates the partitioning of energy in different reaction channels.

. Neutron capture yields of dysprosium isotopes ( 161 Dy, 162 Dy, 163 Dy, and 164 Dy were measured using the time-of-flight method with a 16 segment sodium iodide multiplicity detector. The measurements were made at the 25m flight station at the Gaerttner LINAC Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Resonance parameters were obtained using the multilevel R-matrix Bayesian code SAMMY. The neutron capture data for four enriched dysprosium isotopes and one natural dysprosium sample were sequentially fitted. New resonances not listed in ENDF/B-VII.1 were observed. There were 29 and 17 new resonances from 161 Dy and 163 Dy isotopes, respectively. Six resonances from 161 Dy isotope, two resonances from 163 Dy, and four resonances from 164 Dy were not observed. The capture resonance integrals of each isotope were calculated with the resulting resonance parameters and those of ENDF/B-VII.1 in the energy region from 0.5eV to 20MeV and were compared to the capture resonance integrals with the resonance parameters from ENDF/B-VII.1. A resonance integral value of the natural dysprosium calculated with present resonance parameters was 1405 ± 3 . 5 barn. The value is ∼ 0 . 3 % higher than that obtained with the ENDF/B-VII.1 parameters. The distributions of the present and ENDF/B-VII.1 neutron widths were compared to a Porter-Thomas distribution. Neutron strength functions for 161 Dy and 163 Dy were calculated with the present resonance parameters and both values were in between the values of “Atlas of Neutron Resonances” and ENDF/B-VII.1. The present radiation width distributions of 161 Dy and 163 Dy were fitted with the χ 2 distribution by varying the degrees of freedom.

In July 2012, the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the CERN Large Hadron Collider announced the observation of a Higgs boson at a mass of around 125 gigaelectronvolts. Ten years later, and with the data corresponding to the production of a 30-times larger number of Higgs bosons, we have learnt much more about the properties of the Higgs boson. The CMS experiment has observed the Higgs boson in numerous fermionic and bosonic decay channels, established its spin–parity quantum numbers, determined its mass and measured its production cross-sections in various modes. Here the CMS Collaboration reports the most up-to-date combination of results on the properties of the Higgs boson, including the most stringent limit on the cross-section for the production of a pair of Higgs bosons, on the basis of data from proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 teraelectronvolts. Within the uncertainties, all these observations are compatible with the predictions of the standard model of elementary particle physics. Much evidence points to the fact that the standard model is a low-energy approximation of a more comprehensive theory. Several of the standard model issues originate in the sector of Higgs boson physics. An order of magnitude larger number of Higgs bosons, expected to be examined over the next 15 years, will help deepen our understanding of this crucial sector. The most up-to-date combination of results on the properties of the Higgs boson is reported, which indicate that its properties are consistent with the standard model predictions, within the precision achieved to date.

The angiopoietin-Tie2 system in endothelial cells is an important regulator of vasculogenesis and vascular integrity. High levels of angiopoietin-2 (Ang2) mRNA are observed in vascular activation during tumorigenesis. Although Ang2 is known to be a naturally occurring antagonist of angiopoietin-1 (Ang1) in vivo, the exact function of Ang2 itself is not known. Here, we found that a high concentration of Ang2 (800 ng/ml) acts as an apoptosis survival factor for endothelial cells during serum deprivation apoptosis. The survival effect of high concentration Ang2 was blocked by pre-treatment with soluble Tie2 receptor and the PI 3'-kinase-specific inhibitors, wortmannin and LY294002. Accordingly, 800 ng/ml of Ang2 induced phosphorylation of Tie2, the p85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI 3'-kinase), and serine-threonine kinase Akt at Ser473 in the human umbilical vein endothelial cells; lower concentrations of Ang2 (50 - 400 ng/ml) did not produce notable effects. These findings indicate that at high concentrations, Ang2, like Ang1, can be an apoptosis survival factor for endothelial cells through the activation of the Tie2 receptor, PI 3'-kinase and Akt, and thus may be a positive regulator of tumor angiogenesis. Oncogene (2000) 19, 4549 - 4552.

. After publication of the paper, the authors realized that the acknowledgements were not correct. Their correct version appears in this erratum.

Activating mutations of KIT and platelet-derived growth factor receptor α ( PDGFRA ) are known to be alternative and mutually exclusive genetic events in the development of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). We examined the effect of the mutations of these two genes on the gene expression profile of 22 GISTs using the oligonucleotide microarray. Mutations of KIT and PDGFRA were found in 17 cases and three cases, respectively. The remaining two cases had no detectable mutations in either gene. The mutation status of KIT and PDGFRA was directly related to the expression levels of activated KIT and PDGFRA, and was also related to the different expression levels of activated proteins that play key roles in the downstream of the receptor tyrosine kinase III family. To evaluate the impact of mutation status and the importance of the type of mutation in gene expression and clinical features, microarray-derived data from 22 GISTs were interpreted using a principal component analysis (PCA). Three relevant principal component representing mutation of KIT , PDGFRA and chromosome 14q deletion were identified from the interpretation of the oligonucleotide microarray data with PCA. After supervised analysis, there was at least a two fold difference in expression between GISTs with KIT and PDGFRA mutation in 70 genes. Our findings demonstrate that mutations of KIT and PDGFRA affect differential activation and expression of some genes, and can be used for the molecular classification of GISTs.

A bstract Evidence for Higgs boson decay to a pair of muons is presented. This result combines searches in four exclusive categories targeting the production of the Higgs boson via gluon fusion, via vector boson fusion, in association with a vector boson, and in association with a top quark-antiquark pair. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data at s = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb − 1 , recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. An excess of events over the back- ground expectation is observed in data with a significance of 3.0 standard deviations, where the expectation for the standard model (SM) Higgs boson with mass of 125.38 GeV is 2.5. The combination of this result with that from data recorded at s = 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 5.1 and 19.7 fb − 1 , respectively, increases both the expected and observed significances by 1%. The measured signal strength, relative to the SM prediction, is 1.19 − 0.39 + 0.40 stat − 0.14 + 0.15 syst . This result constitutes the first evidence for the decay of the Higgs boson to second generation fermions and is the most precise measurement of the Higgs boson coupling to muons reported to date.

Since the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, detailed studies of its properties have been ongoing. Besides its mass, its width—related to its lifetime—is an important parameter. One way to determine this quantity is to measure its off-shell production, where the Higgs boson mass is far away from its nominal value, and relating it to its on-shell production, where the mass is close to the nominal value. Here we report evidence for such off-shell contributions to the production cross-section of two Z bosons with data from the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We constrain the total rate of the off-shell Higgs boson contribution beyond the Z boson pair production threshold, relative to its standard model expectation, to the interval [0.0061, 2.0] at the 95% confidence level. The scenario with no off-shell contribution is excluded at a p -value of 0.0003 (3.6 standard deviations). We measure the width of the Higgs boson as Γ H = 3.2 − 1.7 + 2.4 MeV , in agreement with the standard model expectation of 4.1 MeV. In addition, we set constraints on anomalous Higgs boson couplings to W and Z boson pairs. The CMS Collaboration reports evidence for off-shell Higgs boson contributions in the production of Z boson pairs, and measures the width of the Higgs boson, which is inversely related to its lifetime.

Electronic root canal length measurement devices have made it easier and faster to measure the root canal length of a tooth compared with the conventional radiographic method. Of these electronic apex locators, the frequency-dependent type features greater accuracy and convenience in operation. However, its accuracy is still influenced by the presence of blood and/or the various electrolytes used in root canal therapy. This study describes the development of a new frequency-dependent electronic apex locator featuring electrolyte compensation, utilising an impedance ratio and voltage difference technique to minimise the influence of electrolytes on the accuracy of root canal length measurement. The errors for distances from file tips to apical constrictions were determined in vivo with the device operating with electrolyte compensation. The measured lengths were compared with the true lengths of the extracted teeth determined using a microscope. The mean error was +0.14+/-0.27mm, and 95.2% of the measurements were within the clinical tolerance of +/-0.5mm. It was also found that the degree of accuracy was not dependent on the size of the apical foramen (p = 0.74).