67 research outputs found
Epithelioid Hemangioma of the Nose: A Challenging Diagnosis
Epithelioid hemangioma is a rare reactive vasoproliferative disease presenting with painless vascular nodules in the dermal and subcutaneous tissues of the head and neck. Clinical diagnosis can be difficult as, in most cases, the only symptom is a progressively tender swelling next to a vessel course. Thus far, few cases of epithelioid hemangioma localized to the nose have been described in the literature. Herein, we present a case of a 47-year-old woman with just such a lesion of the nose, focusing on its diagnosis and treatment
Tacrolimus ointment in the management of atopic dermatitis
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, relapsing, highly pruritic inflammatory skin disease. AD long-term treatment is usually required to control and prevent flares, and patients need a treatment that is safe and efficacious when applied continuously or intermittently over a prolonged period of time. The treatment options should be chosen according to age, clinical features and severity of the disease in every single patient. For the treatment of a chronic disease like AD, sustained tolerability and efficacy of the applied medications are essential. A topical immunomodulator, tacrolimus ointment, provides an alternative to topical corticosteroids without the associated adverse events. Tacrolimus is a macrolide lactone with unique immunomodulatory properties and strong anti-inflammatory activities and can be used without increasing the risk of infection or other non-application site adverse events, and without loss of effectiveness, in patients with AD
CDK9 as a Valuable Target in Cancer: From Natural Compounds Inhibitors to Current Treatment in Pediatric Soft Tissue Sarcomas
Cyclin-Dependent Kinases (CDKs) are well-known reliable targets for cancer treatment being often deregulated. Among them, since the transcription-associated CDK9 represents the sentry of cell transcriptional homeostasis, it can be a valuable target for managing cancers in which the transcriptional machinery is dysregulated by tumor-driver oncogenes. Here we give an overview of some natural compounds identified as CDK inhibitors with reported activity also against CDK9, that were taken as a model for the development of highly active synthetic anti-CDK9 agents. After, we summarize the data on CDK9 inhibition in a group of rare pediatric solid tumors such as rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, synovial sarcoma and malignant rhabdoid tumors (soft tissue sarcomas), highlighting the more recent results in this field. Finally, we discuss the perspective and challenge of CDK9 modulation in cancer
A search for the analogue to Cherenkov radiation by high energy neutrinos at superluminal speeds in ICARUS
The OPERA collaboration has claimed evidence of superluminal {\nu}{_\mu}
propagation between CERN and the LNGS. Cohen and Glashow argued that such
neutrinos should lose energy by producing photons and e+e- pairs, through Z0
mediated processes analogous to Cherenkov radiation. In terms of the parameter
delta=(v^2_nu-v^2_c)/v^2_c, the OPERA result implies delta = 5 x 10^-5. For
this value of \delta a very significant deformation of the neutrino energy
spectrum and an abundant production of photons and e+e- pairs should be
observed at LNGS. We present an analysis based on the 2010 and part of the 2011
data sets from the ICARUS experiment, located at Gran Sasso National Laboratory
and using the same neutrino beam from CERN. We find that the rates and
deposited energy distributions of neutrino events in ICARUS agree with the
expectations for an unperturbed spectrum of the CERN neutrino beam. Our results
therefore refute a superluminal interpretation of the OPERA result according to
the Cohen and Glashow prediction for a weak current analog to Cherenkov
radiation. In particular no superluminal Cherenkov like e+e- pair or gamma
emission event has been directly observed inside the fiducial volume of the
"bubble chamber like" ICARUS TPC-LAr detector, setting the much stricter limit
of delta < 2.5 10^-8 at the 90% confidence level, comparable with the one due
to the observations from the SN1987A.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure
Measurement of Through-Going Particle Momentum By Means Of Multiple Scattering With The ICARUS T600 TPC
The ICARUS collaboration has demonstrated, following the operation of a 600
ton (T600) detector at shallow depth, that the technique based on liquid Argon
TPCs is now mature. The study of rare events, not contemplated in the Standard
Model, can greatly benefit from the use of this kind of detectors. In
particular, a deeper understanding of atmospheric neutrino properties will be
obtained thanks to the unprecedented quality of the data ICARUS provides.
However if we concentrate on the T600 performance, most of the
charged current sample will be partially contained, due to the reduced
dimensions of the detector. In this article, we address the problem of how well
we can determine the kinematics of events having partially contained tracks.
The analysis of a large sample of atmospheric muons collected during the T600
test run demonstrate that, in case the recorded track is at least one meter
long, the muon momentum can be reconstructed by an algorithm that measures the
Multiple Coulomb Scattering along the particle's path. Moreover, we show that
momentum resolution can be improved by a factor two using an algorithm based on
the Kalman Filtering technique
Underground operation of the ICARUS T600 LAr-TPC: first results
Open questions are still present in fundamental Physics and Cosmology, like
the nature of Dark Matter, the matter-antimatter asymmetry and the validity of
the particle interaction Standard Model. Addressing these questions requires a
new generation of massive particle detectors exploring the subatomic and
astrophysical worlds. ICARUS T600 is the first large mass (760 ton) example of
a novel detector generation able to combine the imaging capabilities of the old
famous "bubble chamber" with an excellent energy measurement in huge electronic
detectors. ICARUS T600 now operates at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory,
studying cosmic rays, neutrino oscillation and proton decay. Physical
potentialities of this novel telescope are presented through few examples of
neutrino interactions reconstructed with unprecedented details. Detector design
and early operation are also reported.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Jins
Measurement of the muon decay spectrum with the ICARUS liquid Argon TPC
Examples are given which prove the ICARUS detector quality through relevant
physics measurements. We study the muon decay energy spectrum from a sample of
stopping muon events acquired during the test run of the ICARUS T600 detector.
This detector allows the spatial reconstruction of the events with fine
granularity, hence, the precise measurement of the range and dE/dx of the muon
with high sampling rate. This information is used to compute the calibration
factors needed for the full calorimetric reconstruction of the events. The
Michel rho parameter is then measured by comparison of the experimental and
Monte Carlo simulated muon decay spectra, obtaining rho = 0.72 +/- 0.06(stat.)
+/- 0.08(syst.). The energy resolution for electrons below ~50 MeV is finally
extracted from the simulated sample, obtaining (Emeas-Emc)/Emc =
11%/sqrt(E[MeV]) + 2%.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, LaTex, A4. Some text and 1 figure added. Final
version as accepted for publication in The European Physical Journal
Oxygen contamination in liquid Argon: combined effects on ionization electron charge and scintillation light
A dedicated test of the effects of Oxygen contamination in liquid Argon has
been performed at the INFN-Gran Sasso Laboratory (LNGS, Italy) within the WArP
R&D program. Two detectors have been used: the WArP 2.3 lt prototype and a
small (0.7 lt) dedicated detector, coupled with a system for the injection of
controlled amounts of gaseous Oxygen. Purpose of the test with the 0.7 lt
detector is to detect the reduction of the long-lived component lifetime of the
Argon scintillation light emission at increasing O2 concentration. Data from
the WArP prototype are used for determining the behavior of both the ionization
electron lifetime and the scintillation long-lived component lifetime during
the O2-purification process activated in closed loop during the acquisition
run. The electron lifetime measurements allow to infer the O2 content of the
Argon and correlate it with the long-lived scintillation lifetime data. The
effect of Oxygen contamination on the scintillation light has been thus
measured over a wide range of O2 concentration, spanning from about 10^-3 ppm
up to about 10 ppm. The rate constant of the light quenching process induced by
Oxygen in LAr has been found to be k'(O2)=0.54+-0.03 micros^-1 ppm^-1
Effects of Nitrogen contamination in liquid Argon
A dedicated test of the effects of Nitrogen contamination in liquid Argon has
been performed at the INFN-Gran Sasso Laboratory (LNGS, Italy) within the WArP
R&D program. A detector has been designed and assembled for this specific task
and connected to a system for the injection of controlled amounts of gaseous
Nitrogen into the liquid Argon. Purpose of the test is to detect the reduction
of the Ar scintillation light emission as a function of the amount of the
Nitrogen contaminant injected in the Argon volume. A wide concentration range,
spanning from about 10^-1 ppm up to about 10^3 ppm, has been explored.
Measurements have been done with electrons in the energy range of minimum
ionizing particles (gamma-conversion from radioactive sources). Source spectra
at different Nitrogen contaminations are analyzed, showing sensitive reduction
of the scintillation yield at increasing concentrations. The rate constant of
the light quenching process induced by Nitrogen in liquid Ar has been found to
be k(N2)=0.11 micros^-1 ppm^-1. Direct PMT signals acquisition at high time
resolution by fast Waveform recording allowed to extract with high precision
the main characteristics of the scintillation light emission in pure and
contaminated LAr. In particular, the decreasing behavior in lifetime and
relative amplitude of the slow component is found to be appreciable from O(1
ppm) of Nitrogen concentrations
Energy reconstruction of electromagnetic showers from [Pi 0] decays with the ICARUS T600 liquid argon TPC
We discuss the ICARUS T600 detector capabilities in electromagnetic shower reconstruction through the analysis of a sample of 212 events, coming from the 2001 Pavia surface test run, of hadronic interactions leading
to the production of 0 mesons. Methods of shower energy and shower direction measurements were developed and the invariant mass of the photon pairs was reconstructed. The ( ) invariant mass was found to be consistent
with the value of the 0 mass. The resolution of the reconstructed 0 mass was found to be equal to 27.3%. An improved analysis, carried out in order to clean the full event sample from the events measured in the
crowded environment, mostly due to the trigger conditions, gave a 0 mass resolution of 16.1%, significantly better than the one evaluated for the full event sample. The trigger requirement of the coincidence of at least four
photo-multiplier signals favored the selection of events with a strong pile up of cosmic ray tracks and interactions. Hence a number of candidate 0 events were heavily contaminated by other tracks and had to be rejected. Monte Carlo simulations of events with 0 production in hadronic and neutrino interactions confirmed the validity of the shower energy and shower direction reconstruction methods applied to the real data
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