Features of the immune profile and microbiota in persons whose immune status is susceptible or resistant to chronic stress

Background. The presence of influence both sympathetic and vagus links of the autonomic nervous system to the immune system is generally recognized, but the data on their specific immunotropic effects are ambiguous. This includes, in particular, immune responses to the stress-induced shift of sympatho-vagal balance. The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics of the immune profile, as well as the microbiota associated with it, in persons whose immune status is susceptible or resistant to chronic stress. Materials and Methods. The object of observation were 32 men and 8 women with chronic pyelonephritis in remission. The criterion for inclusion was the magnitude of the sympatho-vagal balance index LF/HF (recorded by "CardioLab+HRV"), which exceeded the age norm by 0,5 σ. Immune status evaluated on a set of I and II levels recommended by the WHO. The observed contingent by pair matching of persons with the same values of LF/HF ratio was retrospectively divided into two groups, almost identical to the average value of LF/HF and its dispersion, but with opposite deviations from the norm of the immune status index. Results. Immune profiles constructed on Z-scores can be divided into three networks. The first set contains 8 parameters (Killing Index vs E. coli and Staph. aur., IL-6, Entropy of LCG, Popovych’s Strain Index of LCG, Igg G and M as well as Microbial Count E. coli) that are not significantly different from persons who are stress-sensitive and stress-resistant. 18 parameters of the second set (Leukocytes, Phagocytose Index vs E. coli and Staph. aur.(PhIA), B-Lymphocytes, Segmented Neutrophils, Microbial Count Staph. aur., T-active (Ta), T-cytolytic and Natural Killers Lymphocytes (NK), IgA, Bactericidity vs E. coli and Staph. aur. (BCA), Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus feces, Stub Neutrophils, T-helpers, Popovych’s Adaptation Index of LCG (PAI) as well as CIC) to a greater or lesser degree higher in stress-resistant persons. Instead, the 8 parameters of the third set (Lymphocytes, Monocytes and Eosinophils (E), TNF-α, IL-1 as well as Popovych’s Strain Index of LCG, 0-Lymphocytes and Hemolytica E. coli HEC) are higher in stress-sensitive persons. The method of discriminant analysis revealed 9 parameters (ranked by criterion Λ: 0-Lym, BCA, HEC, Ta, CIC, E, PhIA, PAI, NK) that characterize the features of immune profile of stress-susceptible and stress-resistant persons

Recent Borexino results and prospects for the near future

The Borexino experiment, located in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, is an organic liquid scintillator detector conceived for the real time spectroscopy of low energy solar neutrinos. The data taking campaign phase I (2007 - 2010) has allowed the first independent measurements of 7Be, 8B and pep fluxes as well as the first measurement of anti-neutrinos from the earth. After a purification of the scintillator, Borexino is now in phase II since 2011. We review here the recent results achieved during 2013, concerning the seasonal modulation in the 7Be signal, the study of cosmogenic backgrounds and the updated measurement of geo-neutrinos. We also review the upcoming measurements from phase II data (pp, pep, CNO) and the project SOX devoted to the study of sterile neutrinos via the use of a 51Cr neutrino source and a 144Ce-144Pr antineutrino source placed in close proximity of the active material.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures. To be published as proceedings of Rencontres de Moriond EW 201

Final results of Borexino Phase-I on low energy solar neutrino spectroscopy

Borexino has been running since May 2007 at the LNGS with the primary goal of detecting solar neutrinos. The detector, a large, unsegmented liquid scintillator calorimeter characterized by unprecedented low levels of intrinsic radioactivity, is optimized for the study of the lower energy part of the spectrum. During the Phase-I (2007-2010) Borexino first detected and then precisely measured the flux of the 7Be solar neutrinos, ruled out any significant day-night asymmetry of their interaction rate, made the first direct observation of the pep neutrinos, and set the tightest upper limit on the flux of CNO neutrinos. In this paper we discuss the signal signature and provide a comprehensive description of the backgrounds, quantify their event rates, describe the methods for their identification, selection or subtraction, and describe data analysis. Key features are an extensive in situ calibration program using radioactive sources, the detailed modeling of the detector response, the ability to define an innermost fiducial volume with extremely low background via software cuts, and the excellent pulse-shape discrimination capability of the scintillator that allows particle identification. We report a measurement of the annual modulation of the 7 Be neutrino interaction rate. The period, the amplitude, and the phase of the observed modulation are consistent with the solar origin of these events, and the absence of their annual modulation is rejected with higher than 99% C.L. The physics implications of phase-I results in the context of the neutrino oscillation physics and solar models are presented

New limits on heavy sterile neutrino mixing in 8B{^{8}\rm{B}}-decay obtained with the Borexino detector

If heavy neutrinos with mass $m_{\nu_{H}}\geq$2$m_e$ are produced in the Sun via the decay ${^8\rm{B}} \rightarrow {^8\rm{Be}} + e^+ + \nu_H$ in a side branch of pp-chain, they would undergo the observable decay into an electron, a positron and a light neutrino $\nu_{H}\rightarrow\nu_{L}+e^++e^-$. In the present work Borexino data are used to set a bound on the existence of such decays. We constrain the mixing of a heavy neutrino with mass 1.5 MeV $\leq m_{\nu_{H}} \le$ 14 MeV to be $|U_{eH}|^2\leq (10^{-3}-4\times10^{-6})$ respectively. These are tighter limits on the mixing parameters than obtained in previous experiments at nuclear reactors and accelerators.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Spectroscopy of geo-neutrinos from 2056 days of Borexino data

We report an improved geo-neutrino measurement with Borexino from 2056 days of data taking. The present exposure is $(5.5\pm0.3)\times10^{31}$ proton$\times$yr. Assuming a chondritic Th/U mass ratio of 3.9, we obtain $23.7 ^{+6.5}_{-5.7} (stat) ^{+0.9}_{-0.6} (sys)$ geo-neutrino events. The null observation of geo-neutrinos with Borexino alone has a probability of $3.6 \times 10^{-9}$ (5.9$\sigma$). A geo-neutrino signal from the mantle is obtained at 98\% C.L. The radiogenic heat production for U and Th from the present best-fit result is restricted to the range 23-36 TW, taking into account the uncertainty on the distribution of heat producing elements inside the Earth.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Solar neutrino with Borexino: results and perspectives

Borexino is a unique detector able to perform measurement of solar neutrinos fluxes in the energy region around 1 MeV or below due to its low level of radioactive background. It was constructed at the LNGS underground laboratory with a goal of solar $^{7}$Be neutrino flux measurement with 5\% precision. The goal has been successfully achieved marking the end of the first stage of the experiment. A number of other important measurements of solar neutrino fluxes have been performed during the first stage. Recently the collaboration conducted successful liquid scintillator repurification campaign aiming to reduce main contaminants in the sub-MeV energy range. With the new levels of radiopurity Borexino can improve existing and challenge a number of new measurements including: improvement of the results on the Solar and terrestrial neutrino fluxes measurements; measurement of pp and CNO solar neutrino fluxes; search for non-standard interactions of neutrino; study of the neutrino oscillations on the short baseline with an artificial neutrino source (search for sterile neutrino) in context of SOX project.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

The Main Results of the Borexino Experiment

The main physical results on the registration of solar neutrinos and the search for rare processes obtained by the Borexino collaboration to date are presented.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figgures, To be published as Proceedings of the Third Annual Large Hadron Collider Physics Conference, St. Petersburg, Russia, 201

Measurement of neutrino flux from the primary proton--proton fusion process in the Sun with Borexino detector

Neutrino produced in a chain of nuclear reactions in the Sun starting from the fusion of two protons, for the first time has been detected in a real-time detector in spectrometric mode. The unique properties of the Borexino detector provided an oppurtunity to disentangle pp-neutrino spectrum from the background components. A comparison of the total neutrino flux from the Sun with Solar luminosity in photons provides a test of the stability of the Sun on the 10$^{5}$ years time scale, and sets a strong limit on the power production in the unknown energy sources in the Sun of no more than 4\% of the total energy production at 90\% C.L.Comment: 15 pages, 2 tables, 3 figure

Experimental Detection of the CNO Cycle

Borexino recently reported the first experimental evidence for a CNO neutrino. Since this process accounts for only about 1% of the Sun’s total energy production, the associated neutrino flux is remarkably low compared to that of the pp chain, the dominant hydrogen-burning process. This experimental evidence for the existence of CNO neutrinos was obtained using a highly radio-pure Borexino liquid scintillator. Improvements in the thermal stabilization of the detector over the last five years have allowed us to exploit a method of constraining the rate of 210Bi background. Since the CNO cycle is dominant in massive stars, this result is the first experimental evidence of a major stellar hydrogen-to-helium conversion mechanism in the Universe