Chiral sulfoxides in the enantioselective allylation of aldehydes with allyltrichlorosilane: a kinetic study

The mechanism of the allylation of aldehydes in the presence of allyltrichlorosilane employing the commercially available (R)-methyl p-tolyl sulfoxide as a Lewis base has been investigated. The combination of kinetic measurements, conductivity analysis and quantum chemical calculations indicates that the reaction proceeds through a dissociative pathway in which an octahedral cationic complex with two sulfoxides is involved. The lack of turnover is ascribed to the formation of neutral sulfurane derivatives

Detection methods for the Cherenkov Telescope Array at very-short exposure times

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next generation ground-based observatory for very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy, with the deployment of tens of highly sensitive and fast-reacting Cherenkov telescopes. It will cover a wide energy range (20 GeV - 300 TeV) with unprecedented sensitivity. To maximize the scientific return, the observatory will be provided with an online software system that will perform the first analysis of scientific data in real-time. This study investigates the precision and accuracy of available science tools and analysis techniques for the short-term detection of gamma-ray sources, in terms of sky localization, detection significance and, if significant detection is achieved, a first estimation of the integral photon flux. The scope is to evaluate the feasibility of the algorithms' implementation in the real-time analysis of CTA. In this contribution we present a general overview of the methods and some of the results for the test case of the short-term detection of a gamma-ray burst afterglow, as the VHE counterpart of a gravitational wave event.Comment: Proceedings of the 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2021), PoS(ICRC2021)69, 8 pages + full author list, 5 figure

An Italian functional genomic resource for Medicago truncatula

Background: Medicago truncatula is a model species for legumes. Its functional genomics have been considerably boosted in recent years due to initiatives based both in Europe and US. Collections of mutants are becoming increasingly available and this will help unravel the genetic control of important traits for many species of legumes. Findings: Our report is on the production of three complementary mutant collections of the model species Medicago truncatula produced in Italy in the frame of a national genomic initiative. Well established strategies were used: Tnt1 mutagenesis, TILLING and activation tagging. Both forward and reverse genetics screenings proved the efficiency of the mutagenesis approaches adopted, enabling the isolation of interesting mutants which are in course of characterization. We anticipate that the reported collections will be complementary to the recently established functional genomics tools developed for Medicago truncatula both in Europe and in the United States

Detection methods for the Cherenkov Telescope Array at very-short exposure times

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next generation ground-based observatory for very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy, with the deployment of tens of highly sensitive and fast-reacting Cherenkov telescopes. It will cover a wide energy range (20 GeV - 300 TeV) with unprecedented sensitivity. To maximize the scientific return, the observatory will be provided with an online software system that will perform the first analysis of scientific data in real-time. This study investigates the precision and accuracy of available science tools and analysis techniques for the short-term detection of gamma-ray sources, in terms of sky localization, detection significance and, if significant detection is achieved, a first estimation of the integral photon flux. The scope is to evaluate the feasibility of the algorithms' implementation in the real-time analysis of CTA. In this contribution we present a general overview of the methods and some of the results for the test case of the short term detection of a gamma-ray burst afterglow, as the VHE counterpart of a gravitational wave event

TGF DETECTION BY AGILE

We report the detection by the Astrorivelatore Gamma a Immagini Leggero (AGILE) satellite of terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) obtained with the minicalorimeter (MCAL) detector operating in the ..

Impact of social determinants on antiretroviral therapy access and outcomes entering the era of universal treatment for people living with HIV in Italy

Background: Social determinants are known to be a driving force of health inequalities, even in high income countries. Aim of our study was to determine if these factors can limit antiretroviral therapy (ART) access, outcome and retention in care of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Italy. Methods: All ART naïve HIV+ patients (pts) of Italian nationality enrolled in the ICONA Cohort from 2002 to 2016 were included. The association of socio-demographic characteristics (age, sex, risk factor for HIV infection, educational level, occupational status and residency area) with time to: ART initiation (from the first positive anti-HIV test), ART regimen discontinuation, and first HIV-RNA < 50 cp/mL, were evaluated by Cox regression analysis, Kaplan Meier method and log-rank test. Results: A total of 8023 HIV+ pts (82% males, median age at first pos anti-HIV test 36 years, IQR: 29-44) were included: 6214 (77.5%) started ART during the study period. Women, people who inject drugs (PWID) and residents in Southern Italy presented the lowest levels of education and the highest rate of unemployment compared to other groups. Females, pts aged > 50 yrs., unemployed vs employed, and people with lower educational levels presented the lowest CD4 count at ART initiation compared to other groups. The overall median time to ART initiation was 0.6 years (yrs) (IQR 0.1-3.7), with a significant decrease over time [2002-2006 = 3.3 yrs. (0.2-9.4); 2007-2011 = 1.0 yrs. (0.1-3.9); 2012-2016 = 0.2 yrs. (0.1-2.1), p < 0.001]. By multivariate analysis, females (p < 0.01) and PWID (p < 0.001), presented a longer time to ART initiation, while older people (p < 0.001), people with higher educational levels (p < 0.001), unemployed (p = 0.02) and students (p < 0.001) were more likely to initiate ART. Moreover, PWID, unemployed vs stable employed, and pts. with lower educational levels showed a lower 1-year probability of achieving HIV-RNA suppression, while females, older patients, men who have sex with men (MSM), unemployed had higher 1-year risk of first-line ART discontinuation. Conclusions: Despite median time to ART start decreased from 2002 to 2016, socio-demographic factors still contribute to disparities in ART initiation, outcome and durability

AGILE TGFS AND GLOBAL LIGHTNING ACTIVITY

[1] The AGILE satellite detects Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs) in the 0.35–100 MeV energy range using its Mini-Calorimeter (MCAL) instrument with an average detection rate of 10 TGFs/month. Thanks to its Low Earth Orbit with only 2.5 degree of inclination, AGILE guarantees an unprecedented exposure above the equator, where both lightning activity and TGF detection peak. Here we report the comparison between the AGILE TGFs detected between March 2009 and February 2010 and full climatology lightning worldwide distribution based on satellite optical observations from LIS (Lightning Imaging Sensor) and OTD (Optical Transient Detector) instruments. This approach is complementary to the one-to-one TGF/lightning correlations by ground-based sferics measurements. Based on mono and bi-dimensional Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests, we show that the AGILE TGFs and time-averaged global lightning in the equatorial area are not drawn from the same distribution. However, we find significant regional differences in the degree of correlation as well as in the TGF/lightning ratio. In the case of south east Asia we find a 87% probability for the TGF and lightning being samples of the same distribution. This result supports the idea that the physical conditions at play in TGF generation can have strong geographical and climatological modulation. Based on the assumption that the observed range of TGF/flash ratio holds at all latitudes we can estimate a global rate of ≃ 220 ÷ 570 TGFs per day. The observed TGF/flash geographical modulation as well as the TGF global rate estimate are in agreement with previous observations

Serum Albumin Is Inversely Associated With Portal Vein Thrombosis in Cirrhosis

We analyzed whether serum albumin is independently associated with portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in liver cirrhosis (LC) and if a biologic plausibility exists. This study was divided into three parts. In part 1 (retrospective analysis), 753 consecutive patients with LC with ultrasound-detected PVT were retrospectively analyzed. In part 2, 112 patients with LC and 56 matched controls were entered in the cross-sectional study. In part 3, 5 patients with cirrhosis were entered in the in vivo study and 4 healthy subjects (HSs) were entered in the in vitro study to explore if albumin may affect platelet activation by modulating oxidative stress. In the 753 patients with LC, the prevalence of PVT was 16.7%; logistic analysis showed that only age (odds ratio [OR], 1.024; P = 0.012) and serum albumin (OR, -0.422; P = 0.0001) significantly predicted patients with PVT. Analyzing the 112 patients with LC and controls, soluble clusters of differentiation (CD)40-ligand (P = 0.0238), soluble Nox2-derived peptide (sNox2-dp; P < 0.0001), and urinary excretion of isoprostanes (P = 0.0078) were higher in patients with LC. In LC, albumin was correlated with sCD4OL (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient [r(s)], -0.33; P < 0.001), sNox2-dp (r(s), -0.57; P < 0.0001), and urinary excretion of isoprostanes (r(s), -0.48; P < 0.0001) levels. The in vivo study showed a progressive decrease in platelet aggregation, sNox2-dp, and urinary 8-iso prostaglandin F2 alpha-III formation 2 hours and 3 days after albumin infusion. Finally, platelet aggregation, sNox2-dp, and isoprostane formation significantly decreased in platelets from HSs incubated with scalar concentrations of albumin. Conclusion: Low serum albumin in LC is associated with PVT, suggesting that albumin could be a modulator of the hemostatic system through interference with mechanisms regulating platelet activation

The AGILE Mission

AGILE is an Italian Space Agency mission dedicated to observing the gamma-ray Universe. The AGILE's very innovative instrumentation for the first time combines a gamma-ray imager (sensitive in the energy range 30 MeV-50 GeV), a hard X-ray imager (sensitive in the range 18-60 keV), a calorimeter (sensitive in the range 350 keV-100 MeV), and an anticoincidence system. AGILE was successfully launched on 2007 April 23 from the Indian base of Sriharikota and was inserted in an equatorial orbit with very low particle background. Aims. AGILE provides crucial data for the study of active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts, pulsars, unidentified gamma-ray sources, galactic compact objects, supernova remnants, TeV sources, and fundamental physics by microsecond timing. Methods. An optimal sky angular positioning (reaching 0.1 degrees in gamma- rays and 1-2 arcmin in hard X-rays) and very large fields of view (2.5 sr and 1 sr, respectively) are obtained by the use of Silicon detectors integrated in a very compact instrument. Results. AGILE surveyed the gamma- ray sky and detected many Galactic and extragalactic sources during the first months of observations. Particular emphasis is given to multifrequency observation programs of extragalactic and galactic objects. Conclusions. AGILE is a successful high-energy gamma-ray mission that reached its nominal scientific performance. The AGILE Cycle-1 pointing program started on 2007 December 1, and is open to the international community through a Guest Observer Program