Mechanical energy recovery during walking in patients with Parkinson disease

The mechanisms of mechanical energy recovery during gait have been thoroughly investigated in healthy subjects, but never described in patients with Parkinson disease (PD). The aim of this study was to investigate whether such mechanisms are preserved in PD patients despite an altered pattern of locomotion. We consecutively enrolled 23 PD patients (mean age 64\ub19 years) with bilateral symptoms (H&Y 65II) if able to walk unassisted in medication-off condition (overnight suspension of all dopaminergic drugs). Ten healthy subjects (mean age 62\ub13 years) walked both at their 'preferred' and 'slow' speeds, to match the whole range of PD velocities. Kinematic data were recorded by means of an optoelectronic motion analyzer. For each stride we computed spatio-temporal parameters, time-course and range of motion (ROM) of hip, knee and ankle joint angles. We also measured kinetic (Wk), potential (Wp), total (WtotCM) energy variations and the energy recovery index (ER). Along with PD progression, we found a significant correlation of WtotCM and Wp with knee ROM and in particular with knee extension in terminal stance phase. Wk and ER were instead mainly related to gait velocity. In PD subjects, the reduction of knee ROM significantly diminished both Wp and WtotCM. Rehabilitation treatments should possibly integrate passive and active mobilization of knee to prevent a reduction of gait-related energetic components

CUORE: A Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events

CUORE is a proposed tightly packed array of 1000 TeO2 bolometers, each being a cube 5 cm on a side with a mass of 760 g. The array consists of 25 vertical towers, arranged in a square of 5 towers by 5 towers, each containing 10 layers of 4 crystals. The design of the detector is optimized for ultralow-background searches: for neutrinoless double beta decay of 130Te (33.8% abundance), cold dark matter, solar axions, and rare nuclear decays. A preliminary experiment involving 20 crystals 3x3x6 cm3 of 340 g has been completed, and a single CUORE tower is being constructed as a smaller scale experiment called CUORICINO. The expected performance and sensitivity, based on Monte Carlo simulations and extrapolations of present results, are reported.Comment: 39 pages, 12 figures, submitted to NI

New Cuoricino Results and Status of CUORE

CUORICINO is an array of 62 TeO2 bolometers with a total mass of 40.7 kg (11.2 kg of 130Te), operated at about 10 mK to search for ββ(0ν) of 130Te. The detectors are organized as a 14-story tower and intended as a slightly modified version of one of the 19 towers of the CUORE project, a proposed tightly packed array of 988 TeO2 bolometers (741 kg of total mass of TeO2) for ultralow-background searches on neutrinoless double-beta decay, cold dark matter, solar axions, and rare nuclear decays. Started in April 2003 at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), CUORICINO data taking was stopped in November 2003 to repair the readout wiring system of the 62 bolometers. Restarted in spring 2004, CUORICINO is presently the most sensitive running experiment on neutrinoless double-beta decay. No evidence for ββ(0ν) decay has been found so far and a new lower limit, T 1 2/0ν ≥ 1.8 × 1024 yr (90% C.L.), is set, corresponding to 〈m ν〉 ≤ 0.2–1.1 eV, depending on the theoretical nuclear matrix elements used in the analysis. Detector performance, operational procedures, and background analysis results are reviewed. The expected performance and sensitivity of CUORE is also discussed

Results from CUORICINO experiment and prospects for CUORE

Cuoricino is a taking data bolometric experiment searching for neutrinoless double beta decay (0νDBD) of 130Te. The detector consists of an array of large cubic TeO2 crystal bolometers. Cuoricino works at about 10 mK in the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory. Good energy resolutions were obtained (2.1 keV at 911 keV and 3.9 keV at 2615 keV at best). The counting rate in the region of 0νDBD is 0.18±0.02 c/keV/kg/y. The limit for the 0νDBD half lifetime is 2.0 × 1024 years at the 90% of C.L. This results correspond to a limit for the effective neutrino mass between 0.2 and 1.0 eV, depending on the nuclear matrix elements used. A large international collaboration is working on CUORE project, a future experiment with a mass of 741 kg of TeO2 crystal bolometers. The experiment aims to probe the neutrino absolute mass down to 50 meV and to understand if the inverted hierarchy holds in the neutrino mass pattern

CUORE: An experiment to investigate for neutrinoless double beta decay by cooling 750 kg of TeO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e crystals at 10 mK

CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) is an experiment proposed to infer the effective Majorana mass of the electron neutrino from measurements on neutrinoless double beta decay (0νDBD). The goal of CUORE is to achieve a background rate in the range 0.001 to 0.01 counts/keV/kg/y at the 0νDBD transition energy of 130Te (2528 keV). The proposed experiment, to be mounted in the underground Gran Sasso INFN National Laboratory, Italy, is realized by cooling about 1000 TeO2 bolometers, of 750 g each, at a temperature of 10mK. We will describe the experiment, to be cooled by an extremely powerful dilution refrigerator, operating with no liquid helium, and the main experimental features designed to assure the predicted sensitivity. We present moreover the last results of a small scale (40.7 kg) 0νDBD experiment carried on in the Gran Sasso Laboratory (CUORICINO)

Search for double-β decay of 130Te to the first 0+ excited state of 130Xe with the CUORICINO experiment bolometer array

The CUORICINO experiment was an array of 62 TeO2 single-crystal bolometers with a total 130Te mass of 11.3kg. The experiment finished in 2008 after more than 3 yr of active operating time. Searches for both 0ν and 2ν double-β decay to the first excited 0+ state in 130Xe were performed by studying different coincidence scenarios. The analysis was based on data representing a total exposure of N(130Te)⋅t=9.5×1025yr. No evidence for a signal was found. The resulting lower limits on the half-lives are T2ν12(130Te→130Xe∗)\u3e1.3×1023yr (90% C.L.), and T0ν12(130Te→130Xe∗)\u3e9.4×1023yr (90% CL)

An active-shield method for the reduction of surface contamination in CUORE

The main goal of the CUORE experiment is to search for the neutrinoless double beta decay of 130Te. As it is a rare nuclear decay, the sensitivity of the experiment strongly depends on the background level in the transition energy region. In this paper we describe the R&D work performed to develop an active method for the reduction of radioactive background in CUORE. The idea is to reject events originated by surface contamination in large mass bolometric detectors by using bolometers sensitive to surface events. Results obtained with the first prototypes and tests made with large mass surface sensitive bolometers will be reported

Passive shielding in CUORE

The nature of neutrino mass is one of the friontier problems of fundamental physics. Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay (0νDBD) is a powerful tool to investigate the mass hierarchy and possible extensions of the Standard Model. CUORE is a 1‐Ton next generation experiment, made of 1000 Te bolometers, aiming at reaching a background of 0.01 (possibly 0.001) counts keV −1 kg −1 y −1 and therefore a mass sensitivity of few tens of meV The background contribution due to environmental neutrons, muon‐induced neutrons in the shieldings and external gamma is discussed