Histologic Analysis of Zafirlukast's Effect on Capsule Formation Around Silicone Implants: Some Considerations

We have read with profound interest the article by Bastos and colleagues entitled Histologic Analysis of Zafirlukast’s Effect on Capsule Formation Around Silicone Implants. We have truly enjoyed this study because it focuses on the very important issue of ongoing research toward pharmacologic therapy for the treatment of periprosthetic capsule contracture. The latter has an incidence in the range of 0.5% to 50% [3]. Despite persistent clinical and laboratory investigation, to date, no solution has been developed to solve or prevent this problem

Status of Salerno Laboratory (Measurements in Nuclear Emulsion)

A report on the analysis work in the Salerno Emulsion Laboratory is presented. It is related to the search for nu_mu->nu_tau oscillations in CHORUS experiment, the calibrations in the WANF (West Area Neutrino Facility) at Cern and tests and preparation for new experiments.Comment: Proc. The First International Workshop of Nuclear Emulsion Techniques (12-24 June 1998, Nagoya, Japan), 15 pages, 11 figure

Influence of gender, sexual orientation, and need on treatment utilization for substance use and mental disorders: Findings from the California Quality of Life Survey

Abstract Background Prior research has shown a higher prevalence of substance use and mental disorders among sexual minorities, however, the influence of sexual orientation on treatment seeking has not been widely studied. We use a model of help-seeking for vulnerable populations to investigate factors related to treatment for alcohol or drug use disorders and mental health disorders, focusing on the contributions of gender, sexual orientation, and need. Methods Survey data were obtained from a population-based probability sample of California residents that oversampled for sexual minorities. Logistic regression was used to model the enabling, predisposing, and need-related factors associated with past-year mental health or substance abuse treatment utilization among adults aged 18–64 (N = 2,074). Results Compared with individuals without a diagnosed disorder, those with any disorder were more likely to receive treatment. After controlling for both presence of disorder and other factors, lesbians and bisexual women were most likely to receive treatment and heterosexual men were the least likely. Moreover, a considerable proportion of sexual orientation minorities without any diagnosable disorder, particularly lesbians and bisexual women, also reported receiving treatment. Conclusion The study highlights the need to better understand the factors beyond meeting diagnostic criteria that underlie treatment utilization among sexual minorities. Future research should also aim to ascertain the effects of treatment provided to sexual minorities with and without diagnosable disorders, including the possibility that the provision of such treatment may reduce the likelihood of their progression to greater severity of distress, disorders, or impairments in functioning.</p

Search for spontaneous muon emission from lead nuclei

We describe a possible search for muonic radioactivity from lead nuclei using the base elements ("bricks" composed by lead and nuclear emulsion sheets) of the long-baseline OPERA neutrino experiment. We present the results of a Monte Carlo simulation concerning the expected event topologies and estimates of the background events. Using few bricks, we could reach a good sensitivity level.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Prospect for Charge Current Neutrino Interactions Measurements at the CERN-PS

Tensions in several phenomenological models grew with experimental results on neutrino/antineutrino oscillations at Short-Baseline (SBL) and with the recent, carefully recomputed, antineutrino fluxes from nuclear reactors. At a refurbished SBL CERN-PS facility an experiment aimed to address the open issues has been proposed [1], based on the technology of imaging in ultra-pure cryogenic Liquid Argon (LAr). Motivated by this scenario a detailed study of the physics case was performed. We tackled specific physics models and we optimized the neutrino beam through a full simulation. Experimental aspects not fully covered by the LAr detection, i.e. the measurements of the lepton charge on event-by-event basis and their energy over a wide range, were also investigated. Indeed the muon leptons from Charged Current (CC) (anti-)neutrino interactions play an important role in disentangling different phenomenological scenarios provided their charge state is determined. Also, the study of muon appearance/disappearance can benefit of the large statistics of CC muon events from the primary neutrino beam. Results of our study are reported in detail in this proposal. We aim to design, construct and install two Spectrometers at "NEAR" and "FAR" sites of the SBL CERN-PS, compatible with the already proposed LAr detectors. Profiting of the large mass of the two Spectrometers their stand-alone performances have also been exploited.Comment: 70 pages, 38 figures. Proposal submitted to SPS-C, CER

Strangeness enhancements at central rapidity in 40 A GeV/c Pb-Pb collisions

Results are presented on neutral kaon, hyperon and antihyperon production in Pb-Pb and p-Be interactions at 40 GeV/c per nucleon. The enhancement pattern follows the same hierarchy as seen in the higher energy data - the enhancement increases with the strangeness content of the hyperons and with the centrality of collision. The centrality dependence of the Pb-Pb yields and enhancements is steeper at 40 than at 158 A GeV/c. The energy dependence of strangeness enhancements at mid-rapidity is discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures and 3 tables. Presented at International Conference on Strangeness in Quark Matter (SQM2009), Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 27 Sept - 2 Oct 2009. Submitted to J.Phys.G: Nucl.Part.Phys, one reference adde