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Right-sided heart failure and tricuspid regurgitation are common and strongly associated with poor quality of life and an increased risk of heart failure hospitalizations and death. While medical therapy for right-sided heart failure is limited, treatment options for tricuspid regurgitation include surgery and, based on recent developments, several transcatheter interventions. However, the patients who might benefit from tricuspid valve interventions are yet unknown, as is the ideal time for these treatments given the paucity of clinical evidence. In this context, it is crucial to elucidate aetiology and pathophysiological mechanisms leading to right-sided heart failure and tricuspid regurgitation in order to recognize when tricuspid regurgitation is a mere bystander and when it can cause or contribute to heart failure progression. Notably, early identification of right heart failure and tricuspid regurgitation may be crucial and optimal management requires knowledge about the different mechanisms and causes, clinical course and presentation, as well as possible treatment options. The aim of this clinical consensus statement is to summarize current knowledge about epidemiology, pathophysiology and treatment of tricuspid regurgitation in right-sided heart failure providing practical suggestions for patient identification and management. more...

Due to the largely recognized utility of bioluminescence in many fields, a wide variety of luciferase-luciferin systems have been investigated in order to find the best-suited for a number of different applications. The collected knowledge has allowed the identification of a few necessary, or at least desirable, properties, such as bright luminescence, low background signal and small dimension of the enzyme that must exhibit structural stability at operating conditions. The NanoLuc-furimazine pair seems to meet all these requirements, but the mechanism of the reaction and the characteristics of the species responsible for the emission remain unknown. The aim of this study is to identify the luminescent product among the possible forms of oxidized furimazine and to understand how the chemical form and structure of the system, before and after the oxidation, are involved into the reaction mechanism and determine emission. To do this, we consider two possible forms of furimazine, the keto and the enol one, and test which of them is the most plausible candidate in the bioluminescence process on the basis of enzyme-substrate interactions from docking calculations. A similar procedure is repeated for three possible forms of the furimamide luminescent product, and their properties in the protein environment are then evaluated via QM/MM calculations. In contrast with previous indications, our simulations well support the involvement of the enol form of furimazine as reagent and point to the zwitterionic forms of furimamide as emissive species. more...

Aims: Patients with heart failure (HF) remain often undertreated for multiple reasons, including treatment inertia, contraindications, and intolerance. The OPTIimal PHARMacological therapy for patients with Heart Failure (OPTIPHARM-HF) registry is designed to evaluate the prevalence of evidence-based medical treatment prescription and titration, as well as the causes of its underuse, in a broad real-world population of consecutive patients with HF across the whole ejection fraction spectrum and among different clinical phenotypes. Methods: The OPTIPHARM-HF registry (NCT06192524) is a prospective, multicenter, observational, national study of adult patients with symptomatic HF, as defined by current international guidelines, regardless of ejection fraction. Both outpatients and inpatients with chronic and acute decompensated HF will be recruited. The study will enroll up to 2500 patients with chronic HF at approximately 35 Italian HF centres. Patients will be followed for a maximum duration of 24 months. The primary objective of the OPTIPHARM-HF registry is to assess prescription and adherence to evidence-based guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) in patients with HF. The primary outcome is to describe the prevalence of GDMT use according to target guideline recommendation. Secondary objectives include implementation of comorbidity treatment, evaluation of sequence of treatment introduction and up-titration, description of GDMT implementation in the specific HF population, main causes of GDMT underuse, and assessment of cumulative rate of cardiovascular events. Conclusion: The OPTIPHARM-HF registry will provide important implications for improving patient care and adoption of recommended medical therapy into clinical practice among HF patients. more...

Background: Data on the prognostic role of the TRI-SCORE in patients undergoing transcatheter tricuspid valve intervention (TTVI) are limited. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of the TRI-SCORE in predicting outcomes of patients undergoing TTVI. Methods: TriValve (Transcatheter Tricuspid Valve Therapies) is a large multicenter multinational registry including patients undergoing TTVI. The TRI-SCORE is a risk model recently proposed to predict in-hospital mortality after tricuspid valve surgery. The TriValve population was stratified based on the TRI-SCORE tertiles. The outcomes of interest were all-cause death and all-cause death or heart failure hospitalization. Procedural complications and changes in NYHA functional class were also reported. Results: Among the 634 patients included, 223 patients (35.2%) had a TRI-SCORE between 0 and 5, 221 (34.8%) had 6 or 7, and 190 (30%) had ≥8 points. Postprocedural blood transfusion, acute kidney injury, new atrial fibrillation, and in-hospital mortality were more frequent in the highest TRI-SCORE tertile. Postprocedure length of stay increased with a TRI-SCORE increase. A TRI-SCORE ≥8 was associated with an increased risk of 30-day all-cause mortality and all-cause mortality and the composite endpoint assessed at a median follow-up of 186 days (OR: 3.00; 95% CI: 1.38-6.55; HR: 2.17; 95% CI: 1.78-4.13; HR: 2.08, 95% CI: 1.57-2.74, respectively) even after adjustment for procedural success and EuroSCORE II or Society of Thoracic Surgeons Predicted Risk of Mortality. The NYHA functional class improved across all TRI-SCORE values. Conclusions: In the TriValve registry, the TRI-SCORE has a suboptimal performance in predicting clinical outcomes. However, a TRISCORE ≥8 is associated with an increased risk of clinical events and a lack of prognostic benefit after successful TTVI. more...

The TRPV1 ion channel serves a critical role in sensory nerve fibers as an integrator of various painful stimuli, including noxious heat, vanilloid compounds, acids, and toxins from venomous creatures. Targeting TRPV1 has shown promising therapeutic potential, as both agonists and antagonists alike are being explored to treat pain across a variety of chronic conditions. A deeper understanding of TRPV1's activity at both structural and functional levels is essential to advancing drug discovery, which can ultimately lead to improved clinical outcomes. The two chapters of this dissertation will address fundamental, yet unresolved, questions in TRPV1 pharmacology.For one, the precise mechanism by which lipids modulate channel activity continues to be debated. Natural products like capsaicin and resiniferatoxin are known to bind to a site within the channel known as the vanilloid binding pocket. In the absence of applied ligand, this pocket is instead occupied by a resident phosphoinositide lipid. Competition for the vanilloid binding pocket is clearly recognized as a key aspect of ligand action. Removal of this resident lipid has been speculated to underlie temperature-dependent gating as well, however this has yet to be definitively demonstrated. Moreover, the vanilloid binding pocket appears capable of accommodating other lipidic species. This includes phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2), which is crucial in cellular signaling mechanisms. Despite this, the effects of PIP2 on TRPV1 remain controversial. In Chapter 1, we investigate how both the resident lipid, along with PIP2 and its derivatives, influence TRPV1 channel gating. Meanwhile, venoms from tarantulas, scorpions, and other venomous species are a rich source of pharmacological agents targeting TRPV1. However, the discovery of new ligands is often complicated by the heterogeneous nature of venoms. While venoms contain specialized toxin peptides that exquisitely target key host proteins, like TRPV1, the more...

Plasma-derived therapeutic proteins are produced through an industrial fractionation process where proteins are purified from individual intermediates, some of which remain unused and are discarded. Relatively few plasma-derived proteins are exploited clinically, with most of available plasma being directed towards the manufacture of immunoglobulin and albumin. Although the plasma proteome provides opportunities to develop novel protein replacement therapies, particularly for rare diseases, the high cost of plasma together with small patient populations impact negatively on the development of plasma-derived orphan drugs. Enabling therapeutics development from unused plasma fractionation intermediates would therefore constitute a substantial innovation. To this objective, we characterized the proteome of unused plasma fractionation intermediates and prioritized proteins for their potential as new candidate therapies for human disease. We selected ceruloplasmin, a plasma ferroxidase, as a potential therapy for aceruloplasminemia, an adult-onset ultra-rare neurological disease caused by iron accumulation as a result of ceruloplasmin mutations. Intraperitoneally administered ceruloplasmin, purified from an unused plasma fractionation intermediate, was able to prevent neurological, hepatic and hematological phenotypes in ceruloplasmin-deficient mice. These data demonstrate the feasibility of transforming industrial waste plasma fraction into a raw material for manufacturing of new candidate proteins for replacement therapies, optimizing plasma use and reducing waste generation. more...

Our paper will present defect control solutions for manufacturing Gallium Nitride (GaN) devices in a silicon production line. The flexibility of defect inspection and review tools allowed us to successfully implement a full defectivity control plan for both silicon and GaN-on-Si wafers. In addition, two novel methods were employed for the detection of a GaN-specific defect. First, SEM review equipment was used as an inspection tool to detect and enumerate the number of killer defects and second, the intensity output of an inspection system was utilized for high-speed mapping of the overall defectivity on a wafer. more...

Glycoconjugate vaccines so far licensed are generally composed of a native or size-reduced capsular polysaccharide conjugated to carrier proteins. Detailed information on the structural requirements necessary for CPS recognition is becoming the key to accelerating the development of next-generation improved glycoconjugate vaccines. Structural glycobiology studies using oligosaccharides (OS) complexed with functional monoclonal antibodies represent a powerful tool for gaining information on CPS immunological determinants at the atomic level. Herein, the minimal structural epitope of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) CPS recognized by a functional human monoclonal antibody (hmAb) is reported. Short and well-defined Hib oligosaccharides originating from the depolymerization of the native CPS have been used to elucidate saccharide-mAb interactions by using a multidisciplinary approach combining surface plasmon resonance (SPR), saturation transfer difference-nanomagnetic resonance (STD-NMR), and X-ray crystallography. Our study demonstrates that the minimal structural epitope of Hib is comprised within two repeating units (RUs) where ribose and ribitol are directly engaged in the hmAb interaction, and the binding pocket fully accommodates two RUs without any additional involvement of a third one. Understanding saccharide antigen structural characteristics can provide the basis for the design of innovative glycoconjugate vaccines based on alternative technologies, such as synthetic or enzymatic approaches. more...

Purpose: The aim of this multi-center, retrospective/prospective cohort observational study was to evaluate outcomes in routine clinical practice of first-line chemo-immunotherapy with cis/carboplatin, pemetrexed and pembrolizumab in patients with advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in 33 Italian centers. Methods: The outcome measure was to evaluate overall survival (OS) in a real-world patient population. Secondary endpoints were: progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), duration of response (DoR) and incidence of treatment-related adverse events (AEs). Results: 1068 patients were enrolled at the time of data cut-off (January 31st, 2023), and 812 (76.0%) belonged to the retrospective cohort. Median age was 66 years (27−85), ECOG PS was ≥ 2 in 91 (8.6%) patients; 254 (23.8%) patients had brain metastases at baseline; 38 (3.6%) patients had tumor with PD-L1 expression ≥ 50%. After a median follow-up of 17.0 months (95% CI, 16.1–17.9), median OS was 16.1 months (95% CI, 14.4–18.8) and PFS was 9.9 months (95% CI, 8.8–11.2). Median DoR (n = 493) was 14.7 months (95% CI, 13.6–17.1). ORR was 43.4% (95% CI, 40.4–46.4). Any-grade AEs occurred in 636 (59.6%) patients and grade ≥ 3 in 253 (23.7%) patients. Most common grade ≥ 3 AEs were neutropenia (6.3%) and anemia (6.3%). Conclusions: First-line chemo-immunotherapy was effective and tolerable in this large, real-world Italian study of patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC. Our results were in line with the KEYNOTE-189 registration study, also considering the low number of PD-L1 ≥ 50% patients included in our study. more...

We present a comparative study of the molecular gas in two galaxies from the Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey(LEGUS)sample: barred spiral NGC 1313 andflocculent spiral NGC 7793. These two galaxies have similarmasses, metallicities, and star formation rates, but NGC 1313 is forming significantly more massive star clustersthan NGC 7793, especially young massive clusters(<10 Myr,>10(4)M(circle star)). Using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array(ALMA)CO(2-1)observations of the two galaxies with the same sensitivity and resolution(13 pc), we directly compare the molecular gas in these two similar galaxies to determine the physical conditionsresponsible for their large disparity in cluster formation. Byfitting size-line width relations for the clouds in eachgalaxy, wefind that NGC 1313 has a higher intercept than NGC 7793, implying that its clouds have higher kineticenergies at a given size scale. NGC 1313 also has more clouds near virial equilibrium than NGC 7793, which maybe connected to its higher rate of massive cluster formation. However, these virially bound clouds do not show astronger correlation with young clusters than with the general cloud population. Wefind surprisingly smalldifferences between the distributions of molecular cloud populations in the two galaxies, though the largest ofthose differences is that NGC 1313 has higher surface densities and lower freefall times. more...

We analyze the far-ultraviolet (1130-1770 angstrom rest frame) spectroscopy of 20 young (<50 Myr) and massive (>10(4) M-circle dot) star clusters (YSCs) in 11 nearby star-forming galaxies. We probe the interstellar gas intervening along the line of sight, detecting several metal absorption lines of a wide range of ionization potentials, from 6.0 to 77.5 eV. Multiple-component Voigt fits to the absorption lines are used to study the kinematics of the gas. We find that nearly all targets in the sample feature gas outflowing from 30 up to 190 km s(-1), often in both the neutral and ionized phases. The outflow velocities correlate with the underlying stellar population properties directly linked to the feedback: the mass of the YSCs, the photon production rate, and the instantaneous mechanical luminosity produced by stellar winds and supernovae. We detect a neutral inflow in four targets, which we interpret as likely not associated with the star cluster but tracing larger-scale gas kinematics. A comparison between the outflows' energy and that produced by the associated young stellar populations suggests an average coupling efficiency of 10% with a broad scatter. Our results extend the relation found in previous works between galactic outflows and the host galaxy star formation rate to smaller scales, pointing toward the key role that clustered star formation and feedback play in regulating galaxy growth. more...

We compare the molecular cloud properties in subgalactic regions of two galaxies, barred spiral NGC 1313, which is forming many massive clusters, and flocculent spiral NGC 7793, which is forming significantly fewer massive clusters despite having a similar star formation rate to NGC 1313. We find that there are larger variations in cloud properties between different regions within each galaxy than there are between the galaxies on a global scale, especially for NGC 1313. There are higher masses, line widths, pressures, and virial parameters in the arms of NGC 1313 and the center of NGC 7793 than in the interarm and outer regions of the galaxies. The massive cluster formation of NGC 1313 may be driven by its greater variation in environment, allowing more clouds with the necessary conditions to emerge, although no one parameter seems primarily responsible for the difference in star formation. Meanwhile NGC 7793 has clouds that are as massive and have as much kinetic energy as the clouds in the arms of NGC 1313, but have densities and pressures more similar to those in the interarm regions and so are less inclined to collapse and form stars. The cloud properties in NGC 1313 and NGC 7793 suggest that spiral arms, bars, interarm regions, and flocculent spirals each represent distinct environments with regard to molecular cloud populations. We see surprisingly little difference in surface density between the regions, suggesting that the differences in surface densities frequently seen between arm and interarm regions in lower-resolution studies are indicative of the sparsity of molecular clouds, rather than differences in their true surface density. more...

Editor: FedOA - Federico II University Press Pages: 140 Language: Italian ISBN: 978-88-6887-233-5 NBN: http://nbn.depositolegale.it/resolver.pl?nbn=urn:nbn:it:unina-30050 Abstract: The Liber de coquina in the version preserved in Paris in ms. Lat. 7131 of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France is a cookbook that can be traced back to the court of the first Angevin kings, probably conceived in the multicultural context of the Swabian kingdom of Sicily and perhaps also influenced by the gastronomical attitudes of the court of Frederick II. Through a historical analysis and a modern reworking of this ancient recipe book, the volume focuses on the contribution that the culture of the time had on the development of Italian cuisine and the Mediterranean diet. The book aims to be a cultural contribution to the valorisation of Italian cuisine and is part of the complex program of celebrations for the eight-hundredth anniversary of the University founded by Emperor Frederick II way back on 5 June 1224. Summary Prefazione di Matteo Lorito, Rettore dell'Universita degli Studi Napoli Federico II Introduzione di Paola Adamo, Valentina Della Corte, Francesca Marino, Elisabetta Moro Alla mensa dell’imperatore: ricette e precetti all’epoca di Federico II, di Fulvio Delle Donne Il Liber de coquina e la nascita della gastronomia italiana, di Gianni Cicia e Massimo Ricciardi Una selezione di ricette dal Liber de Coquina, di Massimo Ricciardi e Gianni Cicia con il contributo di Fulvio Delle Donne Una tavola epicurea. Federico II e la dieta mediterranea, di Elisabetta Moro e Marino Niola Il ponte fra eclettismo e modernità e il ricettario contemporaneo, di Luciano Pignataro e Francesca Marino Il Ricettario per gli 800 anni della Federico II, con le ricette raccolte da Luciano Pignataro e Francesca Marino, proposte da Corrado Assenza, Domenico Candela, Moreno Cedroni, Caterina Ceraudo,Enzo Coccia, Vitantonio Lombardo, Angelo Sabatelli, Mauro Uliassi con il contributo di Massimo Ricciardi, Editore: FedOA - Federico II University Press Pagine: 140 Lingua: Italiano ISBN: 978-88-6887-233-5 NBN: http://nbn.depositolegale.it/resolver.pl?nbn=urn:nbn:it:unina-30050 Abstract: Il Liber de coquina nella versione conservata a Parigi nel ms. Lat. 7131 della Biblioteca Nazionale di Francia è un manuale di cucina da ricondurre alla corte dei primi re angioini probabilmente concepito nel contesto multiculturale del regno svevo di Sicilia e forse influenzato anche dalle attitudini gastronomiche alimentari della corte di Federico II. Attraverso l’analisi storica e la rielaborazione in chiave moderna di questo antico ricettario, il volume pone l’attenzione sul contributo che la cultura dell’epoca ebbe sullo sviluppo della cucina italiana e della dieta mediterranea. Propone, così, un contributo culturale alla valorizzazione della cucina italiana e si inserisce nel complesso programma di celebrazioni per l’ottocentenario dell’Ateneo fondato dall’imperatore Federico II nel lontano 5 giugno 1224. Sommario Prefazione di Matteo Lorito, Rettore dell'Universita degli Studi Napoli Federico II Introduzione di Paola Adamo, Valentina Della Corte, Francesca Marino, Elisabetta Moro Alla mensa dell’imperatore: ricette e precetti all’epoca di Federico II, di Fulvio Delle Donne Il Liber de coquina e la nascita della gastronomia italiana, di Gianni Cicia e Massimo Ricciardi Una selezione di ricette dal Liber de Coquina, di Massimo Ricciardi e Gianni Cicia con il contributo di Fulvio Delle Donne Una tavola epicurea. Federico II e la dieta mediterranea, di Elisabetta Moro e Marino Niola Il ponte fra eclettismo e modernità e il ricettario contemporaneo, di Luciano Pignataro e Francesca Marino Il Ricettario per gli 800 anni della Federico II, con le ricette raccolte da Luciano Pignataro e Francesca Marino, proposte da Corrado Assenza, Domenico Candela, Moreno Cedroni, Caterina Ceraudo,Enzo Coccia, Vitantonio Lombardo, Angelo Sabatelli, Mauro Uliassi con il contributo di Massimo Ricciardi e more...

Publisher: FedOA - Federico II University Press Series: Clio. Essays in History, Archaeology and Art History Pages: 189 Language: Italian NBN: Abstract: In the archaic Greek society, both mountain and wood economies characterized ‘open’ contexts. These latter are the most difficult to reconstruct, because of both the marginality and perishability of the production of this specific material culture. In addition, a historical reconstruction of these contexts is limited by both heavy ideological burdens and cultural prejudices. Therefore, only mythical and typological representations, which cannot be interpreted as self-representations, can help to define an historical profile of these contexts. The aim of this book is in fact to reappraise the mythical story of Epeios, who is generally credited either as the eponym of a mountain people from Elis, the Epeians or as the builder of the Trojan horse. This latter is usually portrayed as incapable of using weapons; conversely, he is described as a skilled craftsman and, first and foremost, as an expert on finding wood. His job as hylotomos, woodcutter, even before that as tekton, carpenter, closely link him to the mountain areas where his myth originated, that is, Elis bordering the mountains of Achaia and Arcadia, Phocis, the mountainous and hilly hinterland of the Ionian district. This is also an indirect evidence of his original environment, which helps to explains why Homer was the first to prejudice him and his story., Editore: FedOA - Federico II University Press Serie: Clio. Saggi di scienze storiche, archeologiche e storico-artistiche Pagine: 189 Lingua: Italiano NBN: Abstract: Le economie della montagna e l’economia del legno caratterizzano anche per il mondo greco contesti ‘aperti’, i più difficili da ricostruire, se si considerano la marginalità e la deperibilità della specifica cultura materiale, e i più gravati da schemi ideologici e pregiudizi condizionanti: le rappresentazioni mitiche e tipologiche, quasi mai autorappresentazioni, restano l’unica via per provare a definirne un sia pur minimo profilo storico. Questo libro rilegge con questo obiettivo e in una nuova prospettiva la vicenda mitica di Epeo, noto ora come eponimo di un popolo di montagna dell’Elide, gli Epei, ora come costruttore del cavallo di Troia, incapace di usare le armi, ma abile artigiano del legno e prim’ancora esperto nella ricerca della materia. La funzione di hylotomos, boscaiolo, prima ancora di quella di tekton, carpentiere, lega strettamente la sua figura agli ambienti montani in cui si colloca il suo mito – l’Elide confinante con i monti dell’Acaia e dell’Arcadia, la Focide, l’entroterra montano e collinare dell’arco ionico –, ne rivela il suo ambiente originario, ne spiega i tanti pregiudizi che gravano sulla sua figura e la sua fortuna, a partire da Omero. more...

The future of humanity depends on successfully adapting key cropping systems for food security, such as corn (Zea mays L.), to global climatic changes, including changing air temperatures. We monitored the effects of climate change on harvested yields using long-term research plots that were established in 2001 near Fort Collins, Colorado, and long-term average yields in the region (county). We found that the average temperature for the growing period of the irrigated corn (May to September) has increased at a rate of 0.023 °C yr−1, going from 16.5 °C in 1900 to 19.2 °C in 2019 (p < 0.001), but precipitation did not change (p = 0.897). Average minimum (p < 0.001) temperatures were positive predictors of yields. This response to temperature depended on N fertilizer rates, with the greatest response at intermediate fertilizer rates. Maximum (p < 0.05) temperatures and growing degree days (GDD; p < 0.01) were also positive predictors of yields. We propose that the yield increases with higher temperatures observed here are likely only applicable to irrigated corn and that irrigation is a good climate change mitigation and adaptation practice. However, since pan evaporation significantly increased from 1949 to 2019 (p < 0.001), the region’s dryland corn yields are expected to decrease in the future from heat and water stress associated with increasing temperatures and no increases in precipitation. This study shows that increases in GDD and the minimum temperatures that are contributing to a changing climate in the area are important parameters that are contributing to higher yields in irrigated systems in this region. more...

We theoretically study the homolytic dissociation reactions of sterically crowded alkanes of increasing size, carrying three different (bulky) substituents such as tert-butyl, adamantane, and [1.1.1]propellanyl, employing a family of parameter-free functionals ranging from semi-local, to hybrid and double-hybrid models. The study is complemented with the interaction between a pair of HC(CH3)3 molecules at repulsive and attractive regions, as an example of a system composed by a pair of weakly bound sterically crowded alkanes. We also assessed the effect of incorporating reliable dispersion corrections (i.e., D4 or NL) for all the functionals assessed, as well as the use of a tailored basis set (DH-SVPD) for non-covalent interactions, which provides the best trade-off between accuracy and computational cost for a seemingly extended applications to branched or crowded systems. Overall, the PBE-QIDH/DH-SVPD and r2SCAN-QIDH/DH-SVPD methods represent an excellent compromise providing relatively low, and thus very competitive, errors at a fraction of the cost of other quantum-chemical methods in use. more...

The management of package waste has become a critical concern in pursuing sustainable development, particularly within the European context, where environmental regulations and sustainability goals are stringent. This paper presents a comprehensive strategic and efficiency analysis of waste packaging management across Europe, examining current practices, policies, and technological innovations in a sample of countries. The work identifies critical challenges and opportunities in the sector using Data Envelopment Analysis and Multicriteria decision analysis. Our findings reveal significant variations in the efficiency and effectiveness of waste packaging management practices among European countries, influenced by differing policy frameworks, recycling infrastructures, and public awareness levels. Sweden and Luxembourg excel in the sustainable and technical model for recycling, while Austria prevails for recovery in both. The strategic vision suggests an emphasis on green premium, and the most sustainable alternatives are those marked by natural fibres and respect for human conditions. The paper concludes with strategic recommendations for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and communities to enhance waste packaging management efficiency. These include policy harmonisation at the EU level, investment in innovative recycling technologies, and fostering public–private partnerships to drive systemic change. By adopting these strategies, Europe can move closer to achieving its sustainability targets, reducing environmental impact, and promoting a circular economy. So, the implications of this paper are both strategic and political. The former is related to identifying the best strategy related to packaging waste, and the latter is to uniform the efficiency of waste packaging management in Europe. more...

JWST spectroscopy has revolutionized our understanding of galaxies in the early Universe. Covering wavelengths up to 5.3 mu m, NIRSpec can detect rest-frame optical H alpha emission lines out to z = 7 and [O iii] to z = 9.5. Observing these lines in more distant galaxies requires longer wavelength spectroscopy with MIRI. Here we present MIRI Medium Resolution Spectrograph integral field unit observations of the lensed galaxy merger MACS0647-JD at z = 10.165. With exposure times of 4.2 hr in each of two bands (SHORT and LONG), we detect H alpha at 9 sigma, [O iii] lambda 5008 at 11 sigma, and [O iii] lambda 4960 at 3 sigma. Combined with previously reported NIRSpec spectroscopy that yielded seven emission lines including the auroral line [O iii] lambda 4363, we present the first direct metallicity measurement of a z > 10 galaxy: 12+log(O/H)=7.79 +/- 0.09, or 0.13(-0.03)(+0.02)Z(circle dot). This is similar to galaxies at z similar to 4-9 with direct metallicity measurements, though higher than expected given the high specific star formation rate log(sSFR/yr(-1)) = -7.4 +/- 0.3. We further constrain the ionization parameter log(U) = -1.9 +/- 0.1, ionizing photon production efficiency log(xi(ion)) = 25.3 +/- 0.1, and SFR = 5.0 +/- 0.6 M-circle dot yr(-1) within the past 10 Myr. These observations demonstrate the combined power of JWST NIRSpec and MIRI for studying galaxies in the first 500 million years. more...

Introduction: The 10-Meter Walk Test (10MWT) and Timed Up and Go (TUG) are valid tools for gait performance and mobility assessment after total hip arthroplasty (THA). The study aimed to assess test-retest reliability of 10MWT and TUG in indoor and outdoor environments in patients in acute phase after THA and compare their indoor vs. outdoor performance during these tests. Methods: Thirty-five inpatients performed 10MWT and TUG in indoor and outdoor settings on the second postoperative day. An additional evaluation session was performed after 1 hour under the supervision of the same operator. Test-retest reliability was assessed using Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC: 2.1) and Minimal Detectable Change (MDC95), while paired t-tests were used to compare indoor vs. outdoor performance. Results: Indoor (ICC: 0.94, MDC95: 0.13 m/s) and outdoor (ICC: 0.91, MDC95: 0.16 m/s) 10MWT at maximum speed and indoor (ICC: 0.92, MDC95: 2.5 s) and outdoor (ICC: 0.93, MDC95: 2.4 s) TUG revealed excellent reliability. Indoor (ICC: 0.86, MDC95: 0.16 m/s) and outdoor (ICC: 0.89, MDC95: 0.16 m/s) 10MWT at spontaneous speed revealed good reliability. Spontaneous (mean difference [MD]: 0.05 m/s, 95% confidence interval [CI95]: 0.03, 0.07, p < 0.001) and maximum (MD: 0.02 m/s, CI95: 0.01, 0.04, p < 0.001) 10MWT revealed higher gait speed when performed outdoors compared to indoors. Conclusions: Indoor and outdoor 10MWT and TUG are reliable tests in acute phase after THA. Higher gait speed during outdoor 10MWT may depend on test score variability, due to MDs being lower than MDC95. more...

We take up the challenge of developing an international network with capacity to survey the world’s scientists on an ongoing basis, providing rich datasets regarding the opinions of scientists and scientific sub-communities, both at a time and also over time. The novel methodology employed sees local coordinators, at each institution in the network, sending survey invitation emails internally to scientists at their home institution. The emails link to a ‘10 second survey’, where the participant is presented with a single statement to consider, and a standard five-point Likert scale. In June 2023, a group of 30 philosophers and social scientists invited 20,085 scientists across 30 institutions in 12 countries to participate, gathering 6,807 responses to the statement Science has put it beyond reasonable doubt that COVID-19 is caused by a virus. The study demonstrates that it is possible to establish a global network to quickly ascertain scientific opinion on a large international scale, with high response rate, low opt-out rate, and in a way that allows for significant (perhaps indefinite) repeatability. Measuring scientific opinion in this new way would be a valuable complement to currently available approaches, potentially informing policy decisions and public understanding across diverse fields. more...

Document Reviewers: Rudolf A. de Boer (CPG Review Co-ordinator) (Netherlands), P. Christian Schulze (CPG Review Co-ordinator) (Germany), Elena Arbelo (Spain), Jozef Bartunek (Belgium), Johann Bauersachs (Germany), Michael A. Borger (Germany), Sergio Buccheri (Sweden), Elisabetta Cerbai (Italy), Erwan Donal (France), Frank Edelmann (Germany), Gloria Farber (Germany), Bettina Heidecker (Germany), Borja Ibanez (Spain), Stefan James (Sweden), Lars Kober (Denmark), Konstantinos C. Koskinas (Switzerland), Josep Masip (Spain), John William McEvoy (Ireland), Robert Mentz (United States of America), Borislava Mihaylova (United Kingdom), Jacob Eifer Moller (Denmark), Wilfried Mullens (Belgium), Lis Neubeck (United Kingdom), Jens Cosedis Nielsen (Denmark), Agnes A. Pasquet (Belgium), Piotr Ponikowski (Poland), Eva Prescott (Denmark), Amina Rakisheva (Kazakhstan), Bianca Rocca (Italy), Xavier Rossello (Spain), Leyla Elif Sade (United States of America/Turkiye), Hannah Schaubroeck (Belgium), Elena Tessitore (Switzerland), Mariya Tokmakova (Bulgaria), Peter van der Meer (Netherlands), Isabelle C. Van Gelder (Netherlands), Mattias Van Heetvelde (Belgium), Christiaan Vrints (Belgium), Matthias Wilhelm (Switzerland), Adam Witkowski (Poland), and Katja Zeppenfeld (Netherlands)All experts involved in the development of this Focused Update have submitted declarations of interest. These have been compiled in a report and simultaneously published in a supplementary document to the Focused Update. The report is also available on the ESC websiteSee the European Heart Journal online for supplementary documents that include evidence tables. more...

The phytocannabinoid cannabinol (CBN) has a potential mechanism of action as an alternative sleep aid but there is minimal evidence to support its effectiveness. The aim of this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to assess the safety and effects of three formulations of a hemp-derived CBN sleep aid, TruCBN™ [25 mg (n = 206), 50 mg (n = 205), 100 mg (n = 203)], on sleep quality (PROMIS Sleep Disturbance 8A), relative to placebo (n = 204). The effectiveness and safety of these formulations relative to 4 mg of melatonin (n = 202) was assessed. Exploratory measures were stress (PROMIS Stress 4A), anxiety (Anxiety 4A), pain (PROMIS™ PEG), and well-being (WHO 5). All groups and the 4 mg melatonin group experienced significant improvement in sleep quality relative to the placebo group with no significant differences between any group and the melatonin group. Participants taking 100 mg showed a larger decrease in stress compared to the placebo group. There were no significant differences in anxiety, pain, well-being, or the frequency of side effects between any group and the placebo group. There was no significant difference in improvements in sleep quality between any of the treatment groups and the 4 mg melatonin group. Orally ingested CBN, at 25 mg, 50 mg, and 100 mg, is a safe and effective alternative for the improvement of sleep. more...

Right-sided heart failure and tricuspid regurgitation are common and strongly associated with poor quality of life and an increased risk of heart failure hospitalizations and death. While medical therapy for right-sided heart failure is limited, treatment options for tricuspid regurgitation include surgery and, based on recent developments, several transcatheter interventions. However, the patients who might benefit from tricuspid valve interventions are yet unknown, as is the ideal time for these treatments given the paucity of clinical evidence. In this context, it is crucial to elucidate aetiology and pathophysiological mechanisms leading to right-sided heart failure and tricuspid regurgitation in order to recognize when tricuspid regurgitation is a mere bystander and when it can cause or contribute to heart failure progression. Notably, early identification of right heart failure and tricuspid regurgitation may be crucial and optimal management requires knowledge about the different mechanisms and causes, clinical course and presentation, as well as possible treatment options. The aim of this clinical consensus statement is to summarize current knowledge about epidemiology, pathophysiology and treatment of tricuspid regurgitation in right-sided heart failure providing practical suggestions for patient identification and management. more...

As an unprecedented stream of decametric hyperspectral observations becomes available from recent and upcoming spaceborne missions, effective algorithms are required to retrieve vegetation biophysical and biochemical variables such as leaf area index (LAI) and canopy chlorophyll content (CCC). In the context of missions such as the Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP), Precursore Iperspettrale della Missione Applicativa (PRISMA), Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment (CHIME), and Surface Biology Geology (SBG), several retrieval algorithms have been developed based upon the turbid medium Scattering by Arbitrarily Inclined Leaves (SAIL) radiative transfer model. Whilst well suited to cereal crops, SAIL is known to perform comparatively poorly over more heterogeneous canopies (including forests and row-structured crops). In this paper, we investigate the application of hybrid radiative transfer models, including a modified version of SAIL (rowSAIL) and the Invertible Forest Reflectance Model (INFORM), to such canopies. Unlike SAIL, which assumes a horizontally homogeneous canopy, such models partition the canopy into geometric objects, which are themselves treated as turbid media. By enabling crown transmittance, foliage clumping, and shadowing to be represented, they provide a more realistic representation of heterogeneous vegetation. Using airborne hyperspectral data to simulate EnMAP observations over vineyard and deciduous broadleaf forest sites, we demonstrate that SAIL-based algorithms provide moderate retrieval accuracy for LAI (RMSD = 0.92–2.15, NRMSD = 40–67%, bias = −0.64–0.96) and CCC (RMSD = 0.27–1.27 g m−2, NRMSD = 64–84%, bias = −0.17–0.89 g m−2). The use of hybrid radiative transfer models (rowSAIL and INFORM) reduces bias in LAI (RMSD = 0.88–1.64, NRMSD = 27–64%, bias = −0.78–−0.13) and CCC (RMSD = 0.30–0.87 g m−2, NRMSD = 52–73%, bias = 0.03–0.42 g m−2) retrievals. Based on our results, at the canopy level, we recom more...

This work describes how disruptive presidential images, as opposed to continuous images, are incorporated into the political narratives of president Santiago Peña (Paraguay) and Bernardo Arévalo (Guatemala). The analysis of both cases allows us, despite their respective political relationship of officialist and or opponent as to their predecessors, to continue supporting the current trend in political communication strategies in the region: projecting disruptive images stands out. The analysis unite is the presidential government communication of each government. The observation unites include 79 videos published in the official Facebook profiles of each government headquarters. The research strategy is qualitative with a descriptive aim. To carry out the comparative analysis the content analysis technique was used., El presente trabajo describe cómo se incorporan imágenes presidenciales disruptivas, en contraposición a imágenes continuistas, en los relatos políticos del presidente Santiago Peña (Paraguay) y Bernardo Arévalo (Guatemala). El análisis de ambos casos permite, a pesar de sus respectivas relaciones políticas de oficialista y opositor con sus antecesores, seguir sosteniendo la tendencia actual en las estrategias de comunicación política de la región: prima la proyección de imágenes disruptivas. La unidad de análisis es la comunicación gubernamental presidencial de cada gobierno. Las unidades de observación consisten en 79 videos publicados en los perfiles oficiales de Facebook de la sede de cada gobierno. La estrategia de investigación es cualitativa con objetivos descriptivos. Para realizar el análisis comparado se utilizó la técnica de análisis de contenido. more...

Institutionen för vårdvetenskap, 2024.Bakgrund: Forskning visar att patienter föredrar att vårdas och dö i det egna hemmet. Att vårda patienter i livets slutskede inom ordinärt boende ställer höga krav på sjuksköterskans kunskap och kompetens inom ordinärt boende för att kunna hantera komplexa medicinska och psykosociala utmaningar. Syfte: Syftet med litteraturstudien var att beskriva sjuksköterskans upplevelse av att vårda patienter i livets slutskede i ordinärt boende. Metod: Litteraturstudien baseras på resultaten från tio vetenskapliga artiklar med kvalitativ ansats. Databaserna PubMed och Cinahl har använts för att identifiera artiklar av relevans för syftet. De tio artiklarna kvalitetsgranskades utifrån SBU:s mall, och analyserades utifrån Popenoes principer för dataanalys. Resultat: Två kategorier identifierades: Utmaningar i arbetet och Betydelsen av en välfungerande verksamhet. Sex subkategorier identifierades och de var följande: Känsla av maktlöshet, Känsla av otillräcklighet, Känslomässig och existentiell påfrestning, Svårigheter i samverkan inom teamet, Betydelsen av en välfungerande verksamhet, Vikten av goda relationer till patienter och närstående samt Vikten av stöd och struktur i arbetet. Konklusion: Studiens resultat tyder på att sjuksköterskor står inför en mångfald av utmaningar när det gäller att vårda patienter i livets slutskede i hemmet. Det fanns exempelvis stress på arbetsplatsen, höga krav, brist på kontroll över arbetsuppgifter, att inte ha blivit sedd, hörd samt respekterad vilket kunde leda till känslor av otillräcklighet och svårigheter i samverkan inom teamet. För att kunna erbjuda en god vård till patienter i livets slutskede inom ordinärt boende är det viktigt att sjuksköterskan får ett gott stöd, både från verksamheten och kollegor., Background: Research shows that patients prefer to be cared for and die at home. Caring for patients at the end of life in community settings places high demands on the knowledge and skills of community nurses to deal with complex medical and psychosocial challenges. Aim: The purpose of the literature review was to describe the nurse's experience of providing home-based end-of-life palliative care. Method: The literature review was based on the results of ten scientific articles with qualitative approaches. The databases PubMed and Cinahl were used to identify articles that met the study's inclusion criteria. The SBU template was used to review the articles. Results: Two categories were identified: Challenges at work, and Importance of a well-functioning organization. Six subcategories were identified and they were as follows: Feeling powerless, Feeling inadequate, Emotional and existential stress, Difficulties in collaboration within the team, The importance of a well-functioning organization, The importance of good relations with patients and relatives and the importance of support and structure in the work.Conclusion: The study findings suggest that nurses face a variety of challenges in caring for patients at the end of life at home. These included workplace stress, high demands, lack of control over tasks, not being seen, heard and respected, which could lead to feelings of inadequacy and difficulties in team collaboration. In order to offer good care to patients at the end of life in ordinary housing, it is important that the nurse receives good support, both from the organization and colleagues. more...

We study the resolved stellar populations and derive the star formation history of NGC 5474, a peculiar star-forming dwarf galaxy at a distance of ∼7 Mpc, using Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys data from the Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) programme. We apply an improved colour–magnitude diagram fitting technique based on the code SFERA and use the latest PARSEC–COLIBRI stellar models. Our results are the following. The off-centre bulge-like structure, suggested to constitute the bulge of the galaxy, is dominated by star formation (SF) activity initiated 14 Gyr ago and lasted at least up to 1 Gyr ago. Nevertheless, this component shows clear evidence of prolonged SF activity (lasting until ∼10 Myr ago). We estimate the total stellar mass of the bulge-like structure to be (5.0 ± 0.3) × 108 M⊙. Such a mass is consistent with published suggestions that this structure is in fact an independent system orbiting around and not within NGC 5474’s disc. The stellar overdensity located to the South–West of the bulge-like structure shows a significant SF event older than 1 Gyr, while it is characterized by two recent peaks of SF, around ∼10 and ∼100 Myr ago. In the last Gyr, the behaviour of the stellar disc is consistent with what is known in the literature as ‘gasping’. The synchronized burst at 10–35 Myr in all components might hint to the recent gravitational interaction between the stellar bulge-like structure and the disc of NGC 5474. more...

In Chemistry, complexity is not necessarily associated to large systems, as illustrated by the textbook example of axial–equatorial equilibrium in mono-substituted cyclohexanes. The difficulty in modelling such a simple isomerization is related to the need for reproducing the delicate balance between two forces, with opposite effects, namely the attractive London dispersion and the repulsive steric interactions. Such balance is a stimulating challenge for density-functional approximations and it is systematically explored here by considering 20 mono-substituted cyclohexanes. In comparison to highly accurate CCSD(T) reference calculations, their axial–equatorial equilibrium is studied with a large set of 48 exchange–correlation approximations, spanning from semilocal to hybrid to more recent double hybrid functionals. This dataset, called SAV20 (as Steric A-values for 20 molecules), allows to highlight the difficulties encountered by common and more original DFT approaches, including those corrected for dispersion with empirical potentials, the 6-31G*-ACP model, and our cost-effective PBE-QIDH/DH-SVPD protocol, in modeling these challenging interactions. Interestingly, the performance of the approaches considered in this contribution on the SAV20 dataset does not correlate with that obtained with other more standard datasets, such as S66, IDISP or NC15, thus indicating that SAV20 covers physicochemical features not already considered in previous noncovalent interaction benchmarks. more...

With the aim of computing bound waveforms from scattering amplitudes, we explore gravitational two-body dynamics using the Schwinger-Dyson equations and Bethe-Salpeter recursion. We show that the tree-level scattering waveform admits a natural analytic continuation, in rapidity, to the bound waveform, which we confirm from an independent calculation, in the Post-Newtonian expansion, of the time-domain multipoles at large eccentricity. We demonstrate consistency of this scattering-to-bound map with the Damour-Deruelle prescription for orbital elements in the quasi-Keplerian parametrization (which enters into the evaluation of the multipoles) and with the analytic continuation, in the binding energy, of radiated energy and angular momentum at 3PM., Comment: 46 pages, 10 figures; v2: typos corrected, references added more...

OBJECTIVE: The dysregulation of the axon guidance pathway is common in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), yet our understanding of its biological relevance is limited. Here, we investigated the functional role of the axon guidance cue SEMA3A in supporting PDAC progression. DESIGN: We integrated bulk and single-cell transcriptomic datasets of human PDAC with in situ hybridisation analyses of patients tissues to evaluate SEMA3A expression in molecular subtypes of PDAC. Gain and loss of function experiments in PDAC cell lines and organoids were performed to dissect how SEMA3A contributes to define a biologically aggressive phenotype. RESULTS: In PDAC tissues, SEMA3A is expressed by stromal elements and selectively enriched in basal-like/squamous epithelial cells. Accordingly, expression of SEMA3A in PDAC cells is induced by both cell-intrinsic and cell-extrinsic determinants of the basal-like phenotype. In vitro, SEMA3A promotes cell migration as well as anoikis resistance. At the molecular level, these phenotypes are associated with increased focal adhesion kinase signalling through canonical SEMA3A-NRP1 axis. SEMA3A provides mouse PDAC cells with greater metastatic competence and favours intratumoural infiltration of tumour-associated macrophages and reduced density of T cells. Mechanistically, SEMA3A functions as chemoattractant for macrophages and skews their polarisation towards an M2-like phenotype. In SEMA3Ahigh tumours, depletion of macrophages results in greater intratumour infiltration by CD8+T cells and better control of the disease from antitumour treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Here, we show that SEMA3A is a stress-sensitive locus that promotes the malignant phenotype of basal-like PDAC through both cell-intrinsic and cell-extrinsic mechanisms. more...

Combined Heat and Power (CHP) has been identified by the EU as a powerful resource capable of making substantial contributions to energy savings and reducing GHG emissions. Spain’s effort to promote CHP has been prolific since the 1980s. In this regard, there have been various Laws, Royal Decrees (RDs) and European Union (EU) Directives addressed to reach the national objectives set for the CHP sector. Despite these attempts, the evolution and growth of installed CHP capacity has been irregular, compared to other technologies. Likewise, the academic treatment of the Spanish CHP evolution has not deserved the same attention as other technologies such as wind, photovoltaic and thermal solar systems. As a result, this article is aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of the regulatory frameworks applied to the Spanish CHP sector and analysing the reasons behind the variable evolution of the installed CHP capacity. The study covers the legislative context from 1980 to 2020, describing the evolution during both the pre-liberalization and liberalization periods, highlighting the modifications in economic policies that affected self-producers and the so-called Special Regime (SR) for CHP, and examining the challenges faced during the cost containment measures that followed. The manuscript finds and explains the connection between the regulatory framework and the evolution of installed CHP capacity in Spain. Likewise, the connection between the industrial situation and the promotion of CHP, as well as the influence of the Spanish Electricity Sector (SES)’s liberalization on the CHP sector are also pointed out. The paper intends to provide valuable insights for CHP experts and policymakers by showcasing the importance of aligning regulatory measures with the objectives of energy efficiency. It also serves as a reference for countries in various stages of promoting CHP, and provides evidence for the importance of stable energy-policy control mechanisms., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (published version) more...

The European Union (EU) is moving towards sustainable development, and a key role is played by circular economy (CE) models geared towards reducing pressure on natural resources, generating jobs and fostering economic opportunities. Indicators are able to aggregate a variety of information and their use, through the use of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), allows the performance of alternatives to be monitored. This work aims to calculate the performance of the EU27 in the years 2019 and 2020 according to 15 CE indicators available on Eurostat. The results of the Analytic Hierarchy process show that the greatest impact on circularity is determined by the category ‘competitiveness and innovation’, which together with the category ‘global sustainability and resilience’ accounts for two thirds of the overall weight. The MCDA results show that Belgium prevails in both the baseline and alternative scenarios, ahead of Italy and the Netherlands respectively. In general, circular policies see western European countries excel, while the performance of eastern European countries is weaker. The implications of this work highlight the three main barriers to the development of CE models: (i) illegal waste management; (ii) lack of knowledge and low level of investment in circular technologies and (iii) low distribution of value among stakeholders. In this way, resource management based on circularity will enable Europe to meet the challenges of sustainability with less dependence on imported raw materials. more...

[Italiano] Abstract: Il Liber de coquina nella versione conservata a Parigi nel ms. Lat. 7131 della Biblioteca Nazionale di Francia è un manuale di cucina da ricondurre alla corte dei primi re angioini probabilmente concepito nel contesto multiculturale del regno svevo di Sicilia e forse influenzato anche dalle attitudini gastronomiche alimentari della corte di Federico II. Attraverso l’analisi storica e la rielaborazione in chiave moderna di questo antico ricettario, il volume pone l’attenzione sul contributo che la cultura dell’epoca ebbe sullo sviluppo della cucina italiana e della dieta mediterranea. Propone, così, un contributo culturale alla valorizzazione della cucina italiana e si inserisce nel complesso programma di celebrazioni per l’ottocentenario dell’Ateneo fondato dall’imperatore Federico II nel lontano 5 giugno 1224. Sommario Prefazione di Matteo Lorito, Rettore dell'Universita degli Studi Napoli Federico II Introduzione di Paola Adamo, Valentina Della Corte, Francesca Marino, Elisabetta Moro Alla mensa dell’imperatore: ricette e precetti all’epoca di Federico II, di Fulvio Delle Donne Il Liber de coquina e la nascita della gastronomia italiana, di Gianni Cicia e Massimo Ricciardi Una selezione di ricette dal Liber de Coquina, di Massimo Ricciardi e Gianni Cicia con il contributo di Fulvio Delle Donne Una tavola epicurea. Federico II e la dieta mediterranea, di Elisabetta Moro e Marino Niola Il ponte fra eclettismo e modernità e il ricettario contemporaneo, di Luciano Pignataro e Francesca Marino Il Ricettario per gli 800 anni della Federico II, con le ricette raccolte da Luciano Pignataro e Francesca Marino, proposte da Corrado Assenza, Domenico Candela, Moreno Cedroni, Caterina Ceraudo,Enzo Coccia, Vitantonio Lombardo, Angelo Sabatelli, Mauro Uliassi con il contributo di Massimo Ricciardi e Raffaele Sacchi Dalla cucina medioevale all’arte gastronomica: cucinare per Federico II oggi, di Massimo Ricciardi e Raffaele Sacchi / [Inglese] Abstract: The Li more...

Five new families of noncommutative lightcones in 2+1 dimensions are presented as the quantizations of the inequivalent Poisson homogeneous structures that emerge when the lightcone is constructed as a homogeneous space of the SO(2,1) conformal group. Each of these noncommutative lightcones maintains covariance under the action of the respective quantum deformation of the SO(2,1) conformal group. We discuss the role played by SO(2,1) automorphisms in the classification of inequivalent Poisson homogeneous lightcones, as well as the geometric aspects of this construction. The localization properties of the novel quantum lightcones are analyzed and shown to be deeply connected with the geometric features of the Poisson homogeneous spaces., Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures more...

The computation of scattering amplitudes in the presence of non-trivial background gauge fields is an important but extremely difficult problem in quantum field theory. In even the simplest backgrounds, obtaining explicit formulae for processes involving more than a few external particles is often intractable. Recently, it has been shown that remarkable progress can be made by considering background fields which are chiral in nature. In this paper, we obtain a compact expression for the tree-level, maximal helicity violating (MHV) scattering amplitude of an arbitrary number of gluons in the background of a self-dual dyon. This is a Cartan-valued, complex gauge field sourced by a point particle with equal electric and magnetic charges, and can be viewed as the self-dual version of a Coulomb field. Twistor theory enables us to manifest the underlying integrability of the self-dual dyon, trivializing the perturbative expansion in the MHV sector. The formula contains a single position-space integral over a spatial slice, which can be evaluated explicitly in simple cases. As an application of the formula, we show that the holomorphic collinear splitting functions of gluons in the self-dual dyon background are un-deformed from a trivial background, meaning that holomorphic celestial OPE coefficients and the associated chiral algebra are similarly un-deformed. We also comment on extensions of our MHV formula to the full tree-level gluon S-matrix., Comment: 24+6 pages more...

The double copy relationship between Yang-Mills theory and general relativity can be stated in terms of a field theory Kawai-Lewellen-Tye (KLT) momentum kernel, which maps two colour-ordered gluon amplitudes to a graviton amplitude at tree-level. These amplitudes can also be written in compact, helicity-graded representations on twistor space which include the famous Parke-Taylor and Hodges formulae in the maximal helicity violating sector. However, a double copy formulation of these helicity-graded formulae has proved elusive. In this paper, we use graph-theoretic methods to obtain an explicit double copy representation of the tree-level, helicity graded S-matrix of general relativity in terms of a KLT-like integral kernel in twistor space. This integral kernel glues together two colour-ordered integrands for tree-level gluon scattering on twistor space to produce tree-level graviton amplitudes, and admits a chiral splitting into positive and negative helicity degrees of freedom. Furthermore, the kernel can be inverted to obtain a new formula for the tree-level S-matrix of biadjoint scalar theory, which we verify using recursion relations. We also derive extensions of this integral kernel to graviton scattering in anti-de Sitter space and self-dual radiative spacetimes, commenting on their potential double copy interpretations., Comment: 53 pages + appendices and references, 13 figures. v2: references added more...

Celestial scattering amplitudes for massless particles are Mellin transforms of momentum-space scattering amplitudes with respect to the energies of the external particles, and behave as conformal correlators on the celestial sphere. However, there are few explicit cases of well-defined celestial amplitudes, particularly for gravitational theories: the mixing between low- and high-energy scales induced by the Mellin transform generically yields divergent integrals. In this paper, we argue that the most natural object to consider is the gravitational amplitude dressed by an oscillating phase arising from semi-classical effects known as eikonal exponentiation. This leads to gravitational celestial amplitudes which are analytic, apart from a set of poles at integer negative conformal dimensions, whose degree and residues we characterize. We also study the large conformal dimension limits, and provide an asymptotic series representation for these celestial eikonal amplitudes. Our investigation covers two different frameworks, related by eikonal exponentiation: $2\to2$ scattering of scalars in flat spacetime and $1\to1$ scattering of a probe scalar particle in a curved, stationary spacetime. These provide data which any putative celestial dual for Minkowski, shockwave or black hole spacetimes must reproduce. We also derive dispersion and monodromy relations for these celestial amplitudes and discuss Carrollian eikonal-probe amplitudes in curved spacetimes., Comment: 38 pages + appendix and references, 6 figures. v2: references added more...