Development of lens opacities with peculiar characteristics in patients affected by thalassemia major on chelating treatment with deferasirox (ICL670) at the Pediatric Clinic in Monza, Italy.

About the 11–14% of patients with thalassemia major (TM) treated with deferasirox (DFO) develops retinopathy and/or lens opacities with an unclear pathogenesis but with a clear age related pattern.[1][1],[2][2] Possible causes can be either iron overload itself or DFO toxicity, with variou

First Results on Zinc Oxide Thick Film Deposition by Inverted Magnetron Sputtering for Cyclotron Solid Targets Production

The magnetron sputtering technique has been investigated in recent years with ever-growing interest as a verifiable solid target manufacturing technology aimed at the production of medical radionuclides by using low-energy cyclotron accelerators. However, the possible loss of high-cost materials prevents access to work with isotopically enriched metals. The need for expensive materials for the supply of the growing demand for theranostic radionuclides makes the material-saving approach and recovery essential for the radiopharmaceutical field. To overcome the main magnetron sputtering drawback, an alternative configuration is proposed. In this work, an inverted magnetron prototype for the deposition of tens of (Formula presented.) m film onto different substrates is developed. Such configuration for solid target manufacturing has been proposed for the first time. Two (Formula presented.) depositions (20–30 (Formula presented.) m) onto (Formula presented.) backing were carried out and analysed by SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) and XRD (X-ray Diffractogram). Their thermomechanical stability under the proton beam of a medical cyclotron was tested as well. A possible improvement of the prototype and the perspective of its utilisation were discussed

CUPID-0: the first array of enriched scintillating bolometers for 0decay investigations

The CUPID-0 detector hosted at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy, is the first large array of enriched scintillating cryogenic detectors for the investigation of82Se neutrinoless double-beta decay (0). CUPID-0 aims at measuring a background index in the region of interest (RoI) for 0at the level of 10- 3 counts/(keV kg years), the lowest value ever measured using cryogenic detectors. CUPID-0 operates an array of Zn82Se scintillating bolometers coupled with bolometric light detectors, with a state of the art technology for background suppression and thorough protocols and procedures for the detector preparation and construction. In this paper, the different phases of the detector design and construction will be presented, from the material selection (for the absorber production) to the new and innovative detector structure. The successful construction of the detector lead to promising preliminary detector performance which is discussed here

Follow- up the gesture of pointing and looking at early stages of development

La atención conjunta, definida como la coordinación visual de dos individuos dirigida hacia un objeto de interés mutuo, es una habilidad nuclear que se desarrolla durante la infancia temprana y es la base de la futura capacidad lingüística, emocional, de la teoria de la mente y de la cognición en general de toda persona. Este fenómeno incluye la adquisición de comportamientos como el seguimiento de mirada y señalamiento. Por otro lado, la vulnerabilidad social es un factor de riesgo estudiado en relación con numerosas variables como la memoria, las funciones ejecutivas y distintas patologías. En este caso, se propone investigar la modulación que ejerce la vulnerabilidad social sobre las habilidades de seguimiento de mirada y señalamiento en la primera infancia. La muestra estuvo conformada por 18 infantes entre 9 a 13 meses. Se midieron las conductas de comunicación a partir del seguimiento de la mirada y del señalamiento del infante a objetos distantes señalizados por el evaluador. Se midió la latencia y duración de la conducta de seguimiento a través del análisis conductual aplicado. La vulneravilidad social fue medida utilizando la Escala de Nivel Económico Social (NES). Los resultados reflejan que no se encuentran diferencias en las capacidades de seguimiento de la mirada y señalamiento según el nivel socioeconómico. Estos resultados resaltan que a pesar de que el nivel socioeconómico produce limitaciones en las habilidades comunicativas, no habría aún efectos visibles en los primeros estadios del desarrollo.Joint attention, defined as the visual co-ordination of two individuals directed towards an object of mutual interest, is a nuclear skill that develops during early childhood and is the basis of the future linguistic, emotional capacity of mind theory and Of the general cognition of every person. This phenomenon includes the acquisition of behaviors such as the tracking of gaze and signaling. On the other hand, social vulnerability is a risk factor studied in relation to many variables such as memory, executive functions and different pathologies. In this case, it is proposed to investigate the modulation that social vulnerability exerts on the abilities of followup of gaze and signaling in early childhood. The sample consisted of 18 infants between 9 and 13 months. Communication behaviors were measured from the follow-up of the gaze and from the infant’s pointing to distant objects marked by the evaluator. The latency and duration of follow-up behavior were measured through applied behavioral analysis. Social vulnerability was measured using the Social Economic Level Scale (NES) (INDEC, 2000). The results reflect that there are no differences in the abilities to follow the look and pointing according to the socioeconomic level. These results highlight that although the socioeconomic level produces limitations in communicative skills, there would still be no visible effects in the early stages of development. Further research must be carried out to corroborate this claim

CUORE and beyond: bolometric techniques to explore inverted neutrino mass hierarchy

The CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) experiment will search for neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{130}$Te. With 741 kg of TeO$_2$ crystals and an excellent energy resolution of 5 keV (0.2%) at the region of interest, CUORE will be one of the most competitive neutrinoless double beta decay experiments on the horizon. With five years of live time, CUORE projected neutrinoless double beta decay half-life sensitivity is $1.6\times 10^{26}$ y at $1\sigma$ ($9.5\times10^{25}$ y at the 90% confidence level), which corresponds to an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass in the range 40--100 meV (50--130 meV). Further background rejection with auxiliary light detector can significantly improve the search sensitivity and competitiveness of bolometric detectors to fully explore the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy with $^{130}$Te and possibly other double beta decay candidate nuclei.Comment: Submitted to the Proceedings of TAUP 2013 Conferenc

CUORE-0 results and prospects for the CUORE experiment

With 741 kg of TeO2 crystals and an excellent energy resolution of 5 keV (0.2%) at the region of interest, the CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) experiment aims at searching for neutrinoless double beta decay of 130Te with unprecedented sensitivity. Expected to start data taking in 2015, CUORE is currently in an advanced construction phase at LNGS. CUORE projected neutrinoless double beta decay half-life sensitivity is 1.6E26 y at 1 sigma (9.5E25 y at the 90% confidence level), in five years of live time, corresponding to an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass in the range 40-100 meV (50-130 meV). Further background rejection with auxiliary bolometric detectors could improve CUORE sensitivity and competitiveness of bolometric detectors towards a full analysis of the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy. CUORE-0 was built to test and demonstrate the performance of the upcoming CUORE experiment. It consists of a single CUORE tower (52 TeO2 bolometers of 750 g each, arranged in a 13 floor structure) constructed strictly following CUORE recipes both for materials and assembly procedures. An experiment its own, CUORE-0 is expected to reach a sensitivity to the neutrinoless double beta decay half-life of 130Te around 3E24 y in one year of live time. We present an update of the data, corresponding to an exposure of 18.1 kg y. An analysis of the background indicates that the CUORE performance goal is satisfied while the sensitivity goal is within reach.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the proceedings of NEUTRINO 2014, 26th International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics, 2-7 June 2014, held at Boston, Massachusetts, US