The trigger system of the muon spectrometer of the ALICE experiment at the LHC

In the framework of the ALICE physics program, the goal of the muon spectrometer is the study of quarkonia and open heavy flavors production via the muonic decay channel in a wide range of transverse momentum and in the pseudo-rapidity range − 4.0 η − 2.5 . The trigger system of the muon spectrometer consists of four planes of Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) detectors, 21 thousand front-end channels and fast-decision electronics. It is designed to select (muon) tracks via a rough transverse momentum determination, in a large background environment, and to provide a fast trigger signal. The results of the commissioning phase will be reported

Performance of the RPC-based ALICE muon trigger system at the LHC

The forward muon spectrometer of ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is equipped with a trigger system made of four planes of Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC), arranged in two stations with two planes each, for a total area of about 140 m2 . The system provides single and di-muon triggers with suitable transverse momentum selection, optimised for the physics of quarkonia and open heavy flavour. In the first two years of data-taking at the Large Hadron Collider (2010 and 2011) the 72 RPCs were operated in highly saturated avalanche mode in both pp and Pb-Pb collisions. The integrated charge was about 1.3 mC/cm2 on average and 3.5 mC/cm2 for the most exposed detectors. This paper describes two main results. The first result is the determination of the RPC performance, with particular focus on the stability of the main detector parameters such as efficiency, dark current, and dark rate. The second result is the measurement of the muon trigger performance in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 2.76 TeV, in terms of the reliability and stability of the trigger decision logic.The forward muon spectrometer of ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is equipped with a trigger system made of four planes of Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC), arranged in two stations with two planes each, for a total area of about 140 m2 . The system provides single and di-muon triggers with suitable transverse momentum selection, optimised for the physics of quarkonia and open heavy flavour. In the first two years of data-taking at the Large Hadron Collider (2010 and 2011) the 72 RPCs were operated in highly saturated avalanche mode in both pp and Pb-Pb collisions. The integrated charge was about 1.3 mC/cm2 on average and 3.5 mC/cm2 for the most exposed detectors. This paper describes two main results. The first result is the determination of the RPC performance, with particular focus on the stability of the main detector parameters such as efficiency, dark current, and dark rate. The second result is the measurement of the muon trigger performance in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 2.76 TeV, in terms of the reliability and stability of the trigger decision logic

Evaluation of dental demands and needs of people experiencing homelessness in the city of Rome, Italy

Objective: poor oral health and oral diseases are common among people experiencing homelessness. The aim of this study was to evaluate the dental demands and needs of a population of homeless persons in the city of Rome, Italy. Patients and methods: the clinical records of 165 homeless patients admitted between October 2020 and October 2021 to the dental service of the Primary Care Services of the Eleemosynaria Apostolica, Vatican City, were retrospectively reviewed. The service employed dentists to evaluate dental needs and oral conditions in patients experiencing homelessness. The main dental and oral pathological conditions were noted. Results: one hundred and sixty-five records of homeless patients were included in the study. The sample consisted in 138 males (76.97%) and 27 females (23.03%) with a mean age of 46.9 years (range 7-85 years). Acute tooth pain was reported by 132 (80%) patients, 42 (25.45%) had edentulism or missing teeth and 18 (10.91%) patients had oral lesions. Both dental and oral pathologies were intercepted and managed in secondary healthcare facilities. Conclusions: given the specific peculiarities of this vulnerable population, it is important to implement strategies that facilitate the access of persons experiencing homelessness to dental evaluation with a preventive and curative perspective

Flexural strength and elastic modulus evaluation of structures made by conventional PMMA and PMMA reinforced with graphene

Abstract. – OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare both the elastic modulus (EM) and the flexural strength (FS) of two materials used in dental prosthesis, namely polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and polymethylmethacrylate reinforced with graphene (G-PMMA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty rectangular samples were manufactured by a milling machine and divided into two groups (n= 10/group): Group 1, PMMA; Group 2, G-PMMA. The specimens were subjected to a three-point bending test conducted in the elastic range to evaluate EM. A similar test was protracted until fracture to evaluate FS. Data on EM and FS were statistically analyzed with independent-samples t-test in order to compare the two groups. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) (5.00 kx and 1.00 kx magnification) was used to evaluate the morphology of sample’s fracture. RESULTS: Compared to PMMA samples, each G-PMMA sample showed significantly higher values of FS (p <0.001) and EM (p <0.001). SEM images analysis showed an inhomogeneous fracture morphology in G-PMMA samples. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that G-PMMA is a promising material to be used for prosthetic purposes. This is demonstrated by a significant increase in both peak load and bending stiffness, resulting from the bending test performed on G-PMMA samples. Furthermore, the latter exhibit greater homogeneity in their mechanical behavior, supporting the potential value of this material in dental prosthesis

The CLAS12 Software Framework and Event Reconstruction

We describe offline event reconstruction for the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer at 12 GeV (CLAS12), including an overview of the offline reconstruction framework and software tools, a description of the algorithms developed for the individual detector subsystems, and the overall approach for charged and neutral particle identification. We also present the scheme for data processing and the code management procedures

MAO A VNTR polymorphism and amygdala volume in healthy subjects

The X-linked Monoamine Oxidase A (MAO A) gene presents a well known functional polymorphism consisting of a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) (long and short variants) previously associated with altered neural function of the amygdala. Using automatic subcortical segmentation (Freesurfer), we investigated whether amygdala volume could be influenced by this genotype. We studied 109 healthy subjects (age range 18-80 years; 59 male and 50 female), 74 carrying the MAO A High-activity allele and 35 the MAO A Low-activity allele. No significant effect of the MAO A polymorphism or interaction effect between polymorphism × gender was found on amygdalar volume. Thus, our findings suggest that the reported impact of the MAO A polymorphism on amygdala function is not coupled with consistent volumetric changes in healthy subjects. Future studies are needed to investigate whether the association between volume of the amygdala and the MAO A VNTR polymorphism is influenced by social/psychological variables, such as impulsivity, trauma history and cigarette smoking behaviour, not taken into account in this work

Gender specific decrease of a set of circulating Nacylphosphatidyl ethanolamines (NAPEs) in the plasma of Parkinson’s disease patients

Introduction: Current markers of Parkinson's disease (PD) fail to detect the early progression of disease state. Conversely, current omics techniques allow the investigation of hundreds of molecules potentially altered by disease conditions. Based on evidence previously collected by our group in a mouse model of PD, we speculated that a particular set of circulating lipids might be significantly altered by the pathology. Objectives: The aim of current study was to evaluate the potential of a particular set of N-acyl-phosphatidylethanolamines (NAPEs) as potential non-invasive plasma markers of ongoing neurodegeneration from Parkinson's disease in human subjects. Methods: A panel of seven NAPEs were quantified by LC-MS/MS in the plasma of 587 individuals (healthy controls, n = 319; Parkinson's disease, n = 268); Random Forest classification and statistical modeling was applied to compare Parkinson's disease versus controls. All p-values obtained in different tests were corrected for multiplicity by controlling the false discovery rate (FDR). Results: The results indicate that this panel of NAPEs is able to distinguish female PD patients from the corresponding healthy controls. Further to this, the observed downregulation of these NAPEs is in line with the results in plasma of a mouse model of Parkinson's (6-OHDA). Conclusions: In the current study we have shown the downregulation of NAPEs in plasma of PD patients and we thus speculate that these lipids might serve as candidate biomarkers for PD. We also suggest a molecular mechanism, explaining our findings, which involves gut microbiota

ZNF804A risk allele is associated with relatively intact gray matter volume in patients with schizophrenia

ZNF804A rs1344706 is the first genetic risk variant to achieve genome wide significance for psychosis. Following earlier evidence that patients carrying the ZNF804A risk allele had relatively spared memory function compared to patient non-carriers, we investigated whether ZNF804A was also associated with variation in brain volume. In a sample of 70 patients and 38 healthy participants we used voxel based morphometry to compare homozygous (AA) carriers of the ZNF804A risk allele to heterozygous and homozygous (AC/CC) non-carriers for both whole brain volume and specific regions implicated in earlier ZNF804A studies-the dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex, the hippocampus, and the amygdala. For patients, but not for controls, we found that homozygous 'AA' risk carriers had relatively larger gray matter volumes than heterozygous/homozygous non-carriers (AC/CC), particularly for hippocampal volumes. These data are consistent with our earlier behavioral data and suggest that ZNF804A is delineating a schizophrenia subtype characterized by relatively intact brain volume. Establishing if this represents a discrete molecular pathogenesis with consequences for nosology and treatment will be an important next step in understanding ZNF084A's role in illness risk

Exclusive ⁻ Electroproduction Off The Neutron In Deuterium In The Resonance Region

New results for the exclusive and quasifree cross sections off neutrons bound in deuterium vn(p) → pπ− (p) are presented over a wide final state hadron angle range with a kinematic coverage of the invariant mass (W) up to 1.825 GeV and the four-momentum transfer squared (Q2) from 0.4 to 1.0 GeV2. The exclusive structure functions were extracted and their Legendre moments were obtained. Final-state-interaction contributions have been kinematically separated from the extracted quasifree cross sections off bound neutrons solely based on the analysis of the experimental data. These new results will serve as long-awaited input for phenomenological analyses to extract the Q2 evolution of previously unavailable n → N∗ electroexcitation amplitudes and to improve state-of-the-art models of neutrino scattering off nuclei by augmenting the already available results from free protons

The CLAS12 software framework and event reconstruction

We describe offline event reconstruction for the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer at 12 GeV (CLAS12), including an overview of the offline reconstruction framework and software tools, a description of the algorithms developed for the individual detector subsystems, and the overall approach for charged and neutral particle identification. We also present the scheme for data processing and the code management procedures