Relevant results from the NA48 experiment

We report relevant results from NA48 experiment at CERN SPS. NA48 was proposed in 1990 \cite{proposal} to study direct CP violation in $K^0\to\pi\pi$ to a level of accuracy sufficient to resolve the inconclusive status left by the previous measurements performed by NA31 \cite{NA31} and E731 \cite{E731}. In 2002 NA48 published the final result \cite{NA48epsoeps}. Small modification to the experimental setup have allowed NA48 to go forward with an extensive investigation of $K^0$ rare decays and hyperon decays. Some results are already available and reported here together with the final CP violation measurement.Comment: 3 pages, 1 eps figure, XXIII Physics in collisio

Myoinositol supplementation in the treatment of gestational diabetes mellitus: effects on glycaemic control and maternal-foetal outcomes

Background Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is defined as glucose intolerance with onset during pregnancy. It is characterized by high risk of adverse outcomes for the mother and the foetus, if not adequately controlled. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of 4000 mg of myoinositol supplementation in women with GDM on maternal-foetal outcomes, compared to controls. Methods A cohort of 330 women with GDM, 150 supplemented with myoinositol and 180 controls were enrolled. Clinical and metabolic parameters and the prevalence of maternal and foetal complications were assessed. Results The same number of women in the two groups started insulin as additional therapy. Women treated with myoinositol more frequently had a long-acting insulin scheme of treatment than those untreated (p<0.001), while women untreated with myoinositol more frequently had a basal-bolus insulin regimen (p<0.001) compared to women on myoinositol. Patients treated with myoinositol had significantly lower fasting plasma glucose (p=0.032), post-prandial dinner glucose (p=0.014), insulin requirement both in the 2nd and in the 3rd trimesters (p=0.001 and p<0.001, respectively), than those not treated with myoinositol. With regard to maternal/foetal outcomes, lower birth weight (p=0.043) and frequency of hypoglycaemic events (p=0.001) were observed in women treated with myoinositol compared to controls. Conclusions Women with GDM treated with myoinositol showed an improved glycaemic control in the 3(rd) trimester of pregnancy and a lower insulin requirement, when insulin was added to the treatment, compared to controls. In addition, they showed lower preterm birth weight and neonatal hypoglycaemia, compared to women not supplemented with myoinositol

Biomechanical Comparison of Open versus Percutaneous Techniques for Primary Mid-Substance Achilles Tendon Repair: A Meta-Analysis

poste

Complications Associated with Proximal Hamstring Tendon Repair: A Systematic Review

poste

Integrated Trigger and Data Acquisition system for the NA62 experiment at CERN

The main goal of the NA62 experiment is to measure the branching ratio of the K+decay, collecting O(100) events in two years of data taking. Efficient online selection of interesting events and loss-less readout at high rate will be key issues for such experiment. An integrated trigger and data acquisition system has been designed. Only the very first trigger stage will be implemented in hardware, in order to reduce the total rate for the software levels on PC farms. Readout uniformity among different subdetectors and scalability were taken into account in the architecture design

First Observation and Measurement of the Decay K+- -> pi+- e+ e- gamma

Using the full data set of the NA48/2 experiment, the decay K+- -> pi+- e+ e- gamma is observed for the first time, selecting 120 candidates with 7.3 +- 1.7 estimated background events. With K+- -> pi+- pi0D as normalisation channel, the branching ratio is determined in a model-independent way to be Br(K+- -> pi+- e+ e- gamma, m_eegamma > 260 MeV/c^2) = (1.19 +- 0.12_stat +- 0.04_syst) x 10^-8. This measured value and the spectrum of the e+ e- gamma invariant mass allow a comparison with predictions of Chiral Perturbation Theory.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys.Lett.

Measurement of the branching ratio of the decay Ξ0→Σ+μ−νˉμ\Xi^{0}\rightarrow \Sigma^{+} \mu^{-} \bar{\nu}_{\mu}

From the 2002 data taking with a neutral kaon beam extracted from the CERN-SPS, the NA48/1 experiment observed 97 $\Xi^{0}\rightarrow \Sigma^{+} \mu^{-} \bar{\nu}_{\mu}$ candidates with a background contamination of $30.8 \pm 4.2$ events. From this sample, the BR($\Xi^{0}\rightarrow \Sigma^{+} \mu^{-} \bar{\nu}_{\mu}$) is measured to be $(2.17 \pm 0.32_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm 0.17_{\mathrm{syst}})\times10^{-6}$

Mirror system of the RICH detector of the NA62 experiment

A large RICH detector is used in NA62 to suppress the muon contamination in the charged pion selection by a factor 100 in the momentum range between 15 and 35 GeV/c. The detector consists of a 17 m long tank (vessel), filled with neon gas at atmospheric pressure. Cherenkov light is reflected by a mosaic of 20 spherical mirrors with 17 m focal length, placed at the downstream end, and collected by 1952 photomultipliers (PMTs) placed at the upstream end. In this paper the characterization of the mirrors before installation and the mirror support system are described. The mirror installation procedure and the laser alignment are also illustrated

Empirical parameterization of the K+- -> pi+- pi0 pi0 decay Dalitz plot

As first observed by the NA48/2 experiment at the CERN SPS, the \p0p0 invariant mass (M00) distribution from \kcnn decay shows a cusp-like anomaly at M00=2m+, where m+ is the charged pion mass. An analysis to extract the pi pi scattering lengths in the isospin I=0 and I=2 states, a0 and a2, respectively, has been recently reported. In the present work the Dalitz plot of this decay is fitted to a new empirical parameterization suitable for practical purposes, such as Monte Carlo simulations of K+- -> pi+- pi0 pi0 decays.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

Observation of the rare decay K_S -> pi^0mu^+mu^-

A search for the decay K_S -> pi^0mu^+mu^- has been made by the NA48/1 Collaboration at the CERN SPS accelerator. The data were collected during 2002 with a high-intensity K_S beam. Six events were found with a background expectation of 0.22^+0.18_-0.11 event. Using a vector matrix element and unit form factor, the measured branching ratio is B(K_S -> pi^0mu^+mu^-)=[2.9^+1.5_-1.2(stat)+/-0.2(syst)]x10^{-9}.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables. To be published in Physics Letters