Vortex length, vortex energy and fractal dimension of superfluid turbulence at very low temperature

By assuming a self-similar structure for Kelvin waves along vortex loops with successive smaller scale features, we model the fractal dimension of a superfluid vortex tangle in the zero temperature limit. Our model assumes that at each step the total energy of the vortices is conserved, but the total length can change. We obtain a relation between the fractal dimension and the exponent describing how the vortex energy per unit length changes with the length scale. This relation does not depend on the specific model, and shows that if smaller length scales make a decreasing relative contribution to the energy per unit length of vortex lines, the fractal dimension will be higher than unity. Finally, for the sake of more concrete illustration, we relate the fractal dimension of the tangle to the scaling exponents of amplitude and wavelength of a cascade of Kelvin waves.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur

Correlating perceived arrhythmia symptoms and QoL in the elderly with Heart Failure in an urban clinic: A prospective, single center study

Aims and objectives To determine the relationship between quality of life and perceived self-reported symptoms in an older, ambulatory, urban population living with heart failure. Background While arrhythmias in older individuals with heart failure are well documented, the association between perceived arrhythmia symptoms and quality of life is not well-defined. Design Prospective, cross-sectional single-centre study. Methods A single-centre, prospective study was conducted with heart failure patients recruited from an urban outpatient cardiology clinic in the United States. Fifty-seven patients completed a baseline quality of life survey with 42 of these completing the six-month follow-up survey. Quality of life was evaluated with the SF-36v2™ and frequency of symptoms with the Atrial Fibrillation Severity Scale. Subjects wore an auto triggered cardiac loop monitor (LifeStar AF Express®) for two weeks to document arrhythmias. Data analysis utilised Spearman's rank correlation and logistic regression. Results Baseline and six-month quality of life measures did not correlate with recorded arrhythmias. However, perceptions of diminished general health correlated significantly with symptoms of exercise intolerance, lightheadedness/dizziness, palpitations and chest pain/pressure. By multivariable logistic regression, more severe perceived episodes, symptoms of exercise intolerance and lightheadedness/dizziness were independently associated with diminished quality of life. Conclusion Quality of life was significantly worse in patients with perceptions of severe arrhythmic episodes and in those with symptoms of dizziness and exercise intolerance. Relevance to clinical practice The findings of this study indicate that symptomatic heart failure patients suffer from poor quality of life and that interventions are needed to improve quality of life and decrease symptom severity. Nurses who care for heart failure patients play an essential role in symptom evaluation and management and could significantly improve overall quality of life in these patients by carefully evaluating symptomatology and testing interventions and educational programmes aimed at improving quality of life

Gas Analysis and Monitoring Systems for the RPC Detector of CMS at LHC

The Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) detector of the CMS experiment at the LHC proton collider (CERN, Switzerland) will employ an online gas analysis and monitoring system of the freon-based gas mixture used. We give an overview of the CMS RPC gas system, describe the project parameters and first results on gas-chromatograph analysis. Finally, we report on preliminary results for a set of monitor RPC.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Presented by Stefano Bianco (Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati dell'INFN) at the IEEE NSS, San Diego (USA), October 200

Importance of a real-time monitoring of the Earth's ionosphere

The ionosphere affects the electromagnetic wave propagation and then its study is important for Earth-Earth, satellite-Earth, and satellite-satellite communication purposes. Diffractive and refractive processes due to irregular electron density structures cause signal fluctuations that can disrupt satellite-ground communications and represent a hazard for navigation systems. The study and the real-time monitoring of the ionosphere are important for Space Weather purposes. The ionospheric vertical sounding is described, together with the automatic scaling of the ionograms.UnpublishedRome2A. Fisica dell'alta atmosferaope

The CMS RPC gas gain monitoring system: an overview and preliminary results

The status of the CMS RPC Gas Gain Monitoring (GGM) system developed at the Frascati Laboratory of INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) is reported on. The GGM system is a cosmic ray telescope based on small RPC detectors operated with the same gas mixture used by the CMS RPC system. The GGM gain and efficiency are continuously monitored on-line, thus providing a fast and accurate determination of any shift in working point conditions. The construction details and the first result of GGM commissioning are described.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, uses lnfprepCMS.sty, presented by L. Benussi at RPC07, Mumbai, INDIA 200

Immune-inflammatory markers and arterial stiffness indexes in subjects with acute ischemic stroke with and without metabolic syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to evaluate the associations between arterial stiffness indexes and immune-inflammatory markers in subjects with acute ischemic stroke with and without metabolic syndrome. MATERIALS/METHODS: We enrolled 130 patients with acute ischemic stroke and metabolic syndrome, 127 patients with acute ischemic stroke without metabolic syndrome and 120 control subjects without acute stroke. Applanation tonometry was used to record the augmentation index (Aix) and pulse wave velocity (PWV). We also evaluated plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), Interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and Interleukin-10 (IL-10), E-selectin, P-selectin, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), von Willebrand Factor (vWF) plasma levels, tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1). RESULTS: In subjects with acute ischemic stroke and metabolic syndrome we observed higher median plasma values of immuno-inflammatory markers. In acute ischemic stroke patients and metabolic syndrome in relation of each TOAST subtype we observed a more significant positive correlation between PWV and immuno-inflammatory markers. CONCLUSIONS: Stroke subjects with acute ischemic stroke and metabolic syndrome showed a higher degree of immuno-inflammatory and arterial stiffness indexes possibly due to metabolic background of these types of patients that trigger a more intense immune-inflammatory activation irrespective of stroke subtype, whereas being related to stroke subtype in subjects without metabolic syndrome

Effect of surface roughness on metal enhanced fluorescence in planar substrates and optical fibers

Published 27 May 2016Abstract not availableElizaveta Klantsataya, Alexandre François, Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem, Beniamino Sciacca, Agnieszka Zuber, and Tanya M. Monr

The risk stratification of adverse neonatal outcomes in women with gestational diabetes (STRONG) study

Aims: To assess the risk of adverse neonatal outcomes in women with gestational diabetes (GDM) by identifying subgroups of women at higher risk to recognize the characteristics most associated with an excess of risk. Methods: Observational, retrospective, multicenter study involving consecutive women with GDM. To identify distinct and homogeneous subgroups of women at a higher risk, the RECursive Partitioning and AMalgamation (RECPAM) method was used. Overall, 2736 pregnancies complicated by GDM were analyzed. The main outcome measure was the occurrence of adverse neonatal outcomes in pregnancies complicated by GDM. Results: Among study participants (median age 36.8 years, pre-gestational BMI 24.8 kg/m2), six miscarriages, one neonatal death, but no maternal death was recorded. The occurrence of the cumulative adverse outcome (OR 2.48, 95% CI 1.59–3.87), large for gestational age (OR 3.99, 95% CI 2.40–6.63), fetal malformation (OR 2.66, 95% CI 1.00–7.18), and respiratory distress (OR 4.33, 95% CI 1.33–14.12) was associated with previous macrosomia. Large for gestational age was also associated with obesity (OR 1.46, 95% CI 1.00–2.15). Small for gestational age was associated with first trimester glucose levels (OR 1.96, 95% CI 1.04–3.69). Neonatal hypoglycemia was associated with overweight (OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.02–2.27) and obesity (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.04–2.51). The RECPAM analysis identified high-risk subgroups mainly characterized by high pre-pregnancy BMI (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.21–2.33 for obese; OR 1.38 95% CI 1.03–1.87 for overweight). Conclusions: A deep investigation on the factors associated with adverse neonatal outcomes requires a risk stratification. In particular, great attention must be paid to the prevention and treatment of obesity

?2-Microglobulin Amyloid Fibril-Induced Membrane Disruption Is Enhanced by Endosomal Lipids and Acidic pH

Although the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathology of amyloidoses are not well understood, the interaction between amyloid proteins and cell membranes is thought to play a role in several amyloid diseases. Amyloid fibrils of ?2-microglobulin (?2m), associated with dialysis-related amyloidosis (DRA), have been shown to cause disruption of anionic lipid bilayers in vitro. However, the effect of lipid composition and the chemical environment in which ?2m-lipid interactions occur have not been investigated previously. Here we examine membrane damage resulting from the interaction of ?2m monomers and fibrils with lipid bilayers. Using dye release, tryptophan fluorescence quenching and fluorescence confocal microscopy assays we investigate the effect of anionic lipid composition and pH on the susceptibility of liposomes to fibril-induced membrane damage. We show that ?2m fibril-induced membrane disruption is modulated by anionic lipid composition and is enhanced by acidic pH. Most strikingly, the greatest degree of membrane disruption is observed for liposomes containing bis(monoacylglycero)phosphate (BMP) at acidic pH, conditions likely to reflect those encountered in the endocytic pathway. The results suggest that the interaction between ?2m fibrils and membranes of endosomal origin may play a role in the molecular mechanism of ?2m amyloid-associated osteoarticular tissue destruction in DRA

Mobile application development exploiting science gateway technologies

Nowadays, collaborative applications are valuable tools for scientists to share their studies and experiences, for example, by interacting simultaneously with their data and outcomes giving feedback to other colleagues on how the data are processed. This paper presents a mobile application connected to a workflow-enabled framework to perform visualization and data analysis of large-scale, multi-dimensional datasets on distributed computing infrastructures. In particular, the usage of workflow-driven applications, through science gateway technologies, allows the scientist to share heavy data exploration tasks as workflows and the relative results in a transparent and user-friendly way