27 research outputs found
Preservation of Cavernosal Erectile Function after Soft Penile Prosthesis Implant in Peyronie's Disease: Long-Term Followup
The aim of this retrospective study is to evaluate the long-term followup of soft penile SSDA prosthesis, without plaque surgery in the treatment of Peyronie's disease. This study included 12 men with Peyronie's disease who underwent placement of a penile prosthesis. All patients were followed for at least 6 years. Prosthesis straightened the penile shaft in all cases, restoring patient sexual satisfaction. No operative or postoperative complications occurred, and no reoperations were needed. All patients have undergone further examination with basal and dynamic eco color Doppler. The findings are encouraging as the penis preserves the ability to enhance the tumescence and penile girth. We can conclude that SSDA penile prosthesis is safe and effective in Peyronie's disease
LIME -- a gas TPC prototype for directional Dark Matter search for the CYGNO experiment
The CYGNO experiment aims at the development of a large gaseous TPC with
GEM-based amplification and an optical readout by means of PMTs and scientific
CMOS cameras for 3D tracking down to O(keV) energies, for the directional
detection of rare events such as low mass Dark Matter and solar neutrino
interactions. The largest prototype built so far towards the realisation of the
CYGNO experiment demonstrator is the 50 L active volume LIME, with 4 PMTs and a
single sCMOS imaging a 3333 cm\textsuperscript{2} area for 50 cm drift,
that has been installed in underground Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in
February 2022. We will illustrate LIME performances as evaluated overground in
Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati by means of radioactive X-ray sources, and in
particular the detector stability, energy response and energy resolution. We
will discuss the MC simulation developed to reproduce the detector response and
show the comparison with actual data. We will furthermore examine the
background simulation worked out for LIME underground data taking and
illustrate the foreseen expected measurement and results in terms of natural
and materials intrinsic radioactivity characterisation and measurement of the
LNGS underground natural neutron flux. The results that will be obtained by
underground LIME installation will be paramount in the optimisation of the
CYGNO demonstrator, since this is foreseen to be composed by multiple modules
with the same LIME dimensions and characteristics
Technical Design Report - TDR CYGNO-04/INITIUM
The aim of this Technical Design Report is to illustrate the technological choices foreseen to be implemented in the construction of the CYGNO-04 demonstrator, motivate them against the experiment physics goals of CYGNO-30 and demonstrate the financial sustainability of the project. CYGNO-04 represents PHASE 1 of the long term CYGNO roadmap, towards the development of large high precision tracking gaseous Time Projection Chamber (TPC) for directional Dark Matter searches and solar neutrino spectroscopy.
The CYGNO project1 peculiarities reside in the optical readout of the light produced during the amplification of the primary ionization electrons in a stack of triple Gas Electron Multipliers (GEMs), thanks to the nice scintillation properties of the chosen He:CF4 gas mixture. To this aim, CYGNO is exploiting the fast progress in commercial scientific Active Pixel Sensors (APS) development for highly performing sCMOS cameras, whose high granularity and sensitivity allow to significantly boost tracking, improve particle identification and lower the energy threshold. The X-Y track project obtained from the reconstruction of the sCMOS images is combined with a PMT measurement to obtain a full 3D track reconstruction.
In addition, several synergic R&Ds based on the CYGNO experimental approach are under development in the CYGNO collaboration (see Sec 2) to further enhance the light yield by means of electro luminescence after the amplification stage, to improve the tracking performances by exploiting negative ion drift operation within the INITIUM ERC Consolidator Grant, and to boost the sensitivity to O(GeV) Dark Matter masses by employing hydrogen rich target towards the development of PHASE 2 (see Sec. 1.2).
While still under optimization and subject to possible significant improvements, the CYGNO experimental approach performances and capabilities demonstrated so far with prototypes allow to foresee the development of an O(30) m3 experiment by 2026 for a cost of O(10) MEUROs. A CYGNO-30 experiment would be able to give a significant contribution to the search and study of Dark Matter with masses below 10 GeV/c2 for both SI and SD coupling. In case of a Dark Matter observation claim by other experiments, the information provided by a directional detector such as CYGNO would be fundamental to positively confirm the galactic origin of the allegedly detected Dark Matter signal. CYGNO-30 could furthermore provide the first directional measurement of solar neutrinos from the pp chain, possibly extending to lower energies the Borexino measurement2.
In order to reach this goal, the CYGNO project is proceeding through a staged approach. The PHASE 0 50 L detector (LIME, recently installed underground LNGS) will validate the full performances of the optical readout via APS commercial cameras and PMTs and the Montecarlo simulation of the expected backgrounds.
The full CYGNO-04 demonstrator will be realized with all the technological and material choices foreseen for CYGNO-30, to demonstrate the scalability of the experimental approach and the potentialities of the large PHASE 2 detector to reach the expected physics goals.
The first PHASE 1 design anticipated a 1 m3 active volume detector with two back-to-back TPCs with a central cathode and 500 mm drift length. Each 1 m2 readout area would have been composed by 9 + 9 readout modules having the LIME PHASE 0 dimensions and layout. Time (end of INITIUM project by March 2025) and current space availability at underground LNGS (only Hall F) forced the rescaling of the PHASE 1 active volume and design to a 0.4 m3, hence CYGNO-04. CYGNO-04 will keep the back-to-back double TPC layout with 500 mm drift length each, but with an 800 x 500 mm2 readout area covered by a 2 + 2 modules based on LIME design. The reduction of the detector volume has no impact on the technological objectives of PHASE 1, since the modular design with central cathode, detector materials and shieldings and auxiliary systems are independent of the total volume. The physics reach (which is a byproduct of PHASE 1 and NOT an explicit goal) will be only very partially reduced (less than a factor 2 overall) since a smaller detector volume implies also a reduced background from internal materials radioactivity. In addition, the cost reduction of CYGNO-04 of about 1⁄3 with respect to CYGNO-1 illustrated in the CDR effectively makes the overall project more financially sustainable (see CBS in the last section).
In summary this document will explain:
the physical motivation of the CYGNO project and the technical motivations of the downscale of the PHASE 1 to CYGNO-04, 400 liters of active volume, with respect to the demonstrator presented in the CDR;
the results of R&D and the Montecarlo expectations for PHASE 0;
the technical choices, procedures and the executive drawings of CYGNO-04 in the Hall F of the LNGS;
safety evaluations and the interference/request to the LNGS services;
Project management, WBS/WBC, WP, GANTT, ec
The CYGNO Experiment
The search for a novel technology able to detect and reconstruct nuclear and
electron recoil events with the energy of a few keV has become more and more
important now that large regions of high-mass dark matter (DM) candidates have
been excluded. Moreover, a detector sensitive to incoming particle direction
will be crucial in the case of DM discovery to open the possibility of studying
its properties. Gaseous time projection chambers (TPC) with optical readout are
very promising detectors combining the detailed event information provided by
the TPC technique with the high sensitivity and granularity of
latest-generation scientific light sensors. The CYGNO experiment (a CYGNus
module with Optical readout) aims to exploit the optical readout approach of
multiple-GEM structures in large volume TPCs for the study of rare events as
interactions of low-mass DM or solar neutrinos. The combined use of
high-granularity sCMOS cameras and fast light sensors allows the reconstruction
of the 3D direction of the tracks, offering good energy resolution and very
high sensitivity in the few keV energy range, together with a very good
particle identification useful for distinguishing nuclear recoils from
electronic recoils. This experiment is part of the CYGNUS proto-collaboration,
which aims at constructing a network of underground observatories for
directional DM search. A one cubic meter demonstrator is expected to be built
in 2022/23 aiming at a larger scale apparatus (30 m--100 m) at a later
stage
Analysis of shared heritability in common disorders of the brain
ience, this issue p. eaap8757 Structured Abstract INTRODUCTION Brain disorders may exhibit shared symptoms and substantial epidemiological comorbidity, inciting debate about their etiologic overlap. However, detailed study of phenotypes with different ages of onset, severity, and presentation poses a considerable challenge. Recently developed heritability methods allow us to accurately measure correlation of genome-wide common variant risk between two phenotypes from pools of different individuals and assess how connected they, or at least their genetic risks, are on the genomic level. We used genome-wide association data for 265,218 patients and 784,643 control participants, as well as 17 phenotypes from a total of 1,191,588 individuals, to quantify the degree of overlap for genetic risk factors of 25 common brain disorders. RATIONALE Over the past century, the classification of brain disorders has evolved to reflect the medical and scientific communities' assessments of the presumed root causes of clinical phenomena such as behavioral change, loss of motor function, or alterations of consciousness. Directly observable phenomena (such as the presence of emboli, protein tangles, or unusual electrical activity patterns) generally define and separate neurological disorders from psychiatric disorders. Understanding the genetic underpinnings and categorical distinctions for brain disorders and related phenotypes may inform the search for their biological mechanisms. RESULTS Common variant risk for psychiatric disorders was shown to correlate significantly, especially among attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), and schizophrenia. By contrast, neurological disorders appear more distinct from one another and from the psychiatric disorders, except for migraine, which was significantly correlated to ADHD, MDD, and Tourette syndrome. We demonstrate that, in the general population, the personality trait neuroticism is significantly correlated with almost every psychiatric disorder and migraine. We also identify significant genetic sharing between disorders and early life cognitive measures (e.g., years of education and college attainment) in the general population, demonstrating positive correlation with several psychiatric disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa and bipolar disorder) and negative correlation with several neurological phenotypes (e.g., Alzheimer's disease and ischemic stroke), even though the latter are considered to result from specific processes that occur later in life. Extensive simulations were also performed to inform how statistical power, diagnostic misclassification, and phenotypic heterogeneity influence genetic correlations. CONCLUSION The high degree of genetic correlation among many of the psychiatric disorders adds further evidence that their current clinical boundaries do not reflect distinct underlying pathogenic processes, at least on the genetic level. This suggests a deeply interconnected nature for psychiatric disorders, in contrast to neurological disorders, and underscores the need to refine psychiatric diagnostics. Genetically informed analyses may provide important "scaffolding" to support such restructuring of psychiatric nosology, which likely requires incorporating many levels of information. By contrast, we find limited evidence for widespread common genetic risk sharing among neurological disorders or across neurological and psychiatric disorders. We show that both psychiatric and neurological disorders have robust correlations with cognitive and personality measures. Further study is needed to evaluate whether overlapping genetic contributions to psychiatric pathology may influence treatment choices. Ultimately, such developments may pave the way toward reduced heterogeneity and improved diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders
Robot-assisted Radical Prostatectomy with the Versius Robotic Surgical System: First Description of a Clinical Case
Directional Dark Matter Searches with CYGNO
The CYGNO project aims at developing a high resolution Time Projection Chamber with optical readout for directional dark matter searches and solar neutrino spectroscopy. Peculiar CYGNO’s features are the 3D tracking capability provided by the combination of photomultipliers and scientific CMOS camera signals, combined with a helium-fluorine-based gas mixture at atmospheric pressure amplified by gas electron multipliers structures. In this paper, the performances achieved with CYGNO prototypes and the prospects for the upcoming underground installation at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso of a 50-L detector in fall 2021 will be discussed, together with the plans for a 1-m3 experiment. The synergy with the ERC consolidator, grant project INITIUM, aimed at realising negative ion drift operation within the CYGNO 3D optical approach, will be further illustrated
LIME. A gas TPC prototype for directional Dark Matter search for the CYGNO experiment
The CYGNO experiment aims at the development of a large gaseous TPC with GEM-based amplification and an optical readout
by means of PMTs and scientific CMOS cameras for 3D tracking down to O(keV) energies, for the directional detection of rare
events such as low mass Dark Matter and solar neutrino interactions. The largest prototype built so far towards the realisation of the
CYGNO experiment demonstrator is the 50 L active volume LIME, with 4 PMTs and a single sCMOS imaging a 33×33 cm2 area for
50 cm drift, that has been installed in underground Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in February 2022. We will illustrate LIME
performances as evaluated overground in Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati by means of radioactive X-ray sources, and in particular
the detector stability, energy response and energy resolution. We will discuss the MC simulation developed to reproduce the detector
response and show the comparison with actual data. We will furthermore examine the background simulation worked out for LIME
underground data taking and illustrate the foreseen expected measurement and results in terms of natural and materials intrinsic
radioactivity characterisation and measurement of the LNGS underground natural neutron flux. The results that will be obtained
by underground LIME installation will be paramount in the optimisation of the CYGNO demonstrator, since this is foreseen to be
composed by multiple modules with the same LIME dimensions and characteristic