Rheumatologic rehabilitation: the great expectation for rheumatic patients

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VULVAR HISTOPATHOLOGICAL AND IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL CHANGES IN PATIENTS WITH PRIMARY SJÖGREN SYNDROME

Background: Primary Sjogren Syndrome (pSS) is an autoimmune disease mostly affecting women, characterized by a lymphocyte-mediated infiltration and destruction of several exocrine glands, which causes mucosal dryness. Genital involvement is frequent and characterized by vulvar and vaginal dryness, dyspareunia and pruritus, that significantly impairs sexual function. However, despite the high frequency of genital involvement, few data were published about the histopathology of external genitalia in pSS. The studies performed until now show that vaginal and vulvar dryness are due to the presence of a vulvar inflammatory infiltrate and to the atrophy of minor and major vestibular glands, whose secretions are important for the sexual function. Objectives: To evaluate the presence and the characteristics of histopathological and immunohistochemical changes in vulvar tissues in women with pSS. Methods: Women with pSS (21 patients) underwent vulvar biopsies that have been evaluated for histopathological and immunohistochemical changes and finally compared with those obtained from 26 patients with lichen sclerosus. Results: An inflammatory infiltrate (composed predominantly by T lymphocytes (CD3+), sparse CD20+ B cells and mean CD4:CD8 T-cell ratio of 1.5) was evidenced in all 21 biopsies and classified in mild (10), moderate (11) and severe (0). No correlation was shown between vulvar inflammatory infiltrate score and salivary Chisholm e Mason score. No differences were found neither in gynecological symptoms neither in clinical and demographical characteristics between patients with mild and those with moderate vulvar inflammatory score. A higher prevalence of moderate inflammatory infiltrate was observed in biopsies from women with lichen sclerosus than in pSS

Differences in pigment circadian rhythmicity in green- and red-leafed tree species in the sun and shade

Light flux and quality are crucial factor for setting endogenous plant circadian rhythms. Evaluating the daily rhythmicity of leaf chlorophyll content is an effective method to monitor the plant physiological endogenous clock in response to environmental signals such as light availability/quality. Here, we used a leaf-clip sensor to monitor diurnal rhythms in the content of chlorophyll and flavonoids such as flavonols and anthocyanins in three green- (Ailanthus altissima, Tilia platyphyllos and Platanus x acerifolia) and two red-leafed (Acer platanoides cv. Crimson King and Prunus cerasifera var. pissardii) tree species, adapted to sun (L) or shade (S). Significant differences in chlorophyll content (Chl) and its variations during the day were observed among treatments in all the analyzed species. S-plants had more Chl than L-plants irrespective of leaf color, and Chl variations were more distinct during the day than in L-plants. In particular, contents were lowest in the morning (9:00) and in the middle of the day (at 12:00 and 15:00), and the highest at dusk (21:00). The less evident trends in Chl variation in L-plants were attributed to a decrease in Chl content in high light, which likely masked any increases in the shaded counterparts during the afternoon. Daily flavonol levels did not vary no notably during the day. In sun-exposed red leaves, anthocyanins partially screened mesophyll cells from incident light, and its levels were similar to the Chl dynamics in the shaded counterparts. This study provides new bases for further work on endogenous rhythms of plant pigments and improves our understanding of plant physiology in the context of day/night rhythmicity

Measurement of forward photon production cross-section in proton-proton collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV with the LHCf detector

In this paper, we report the production cross-section of forward photons in the pseudorapidity regions of $\eta\,>\,10.94$ and $8.99\,>\,\eta\,>\,8.81$, measured by the LHCf experiment with proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. The results from the analysis of 0.191 $\mathrm{nb^{-1}}$ of data obtained in June 2015 are compared to the predictions of several hadronic interaction models that are used in air-shower simulations for ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. Although none of the models agree perfectly with the data, EPOS-LHC shows the best agreement with the experimental data among the models.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure

CaloCube: a novel calorimeter for high-energy cosmic rays in space

In order to extend the direct observation of high-energy cosmic rays up to the PeV region, highly performing calorimeters with large geometrical acceptance and high energy resolution are required. Within the constraint of the total mass of the apparatus, crucial for a space mission, the calorimeters must be optimized with respect to their geometrical acceptance, granularity and absorption depth. CaloCube is a homogeneous calorimeter with cubic geometry, to maximise the acceptance being sensitive to particles from every direction in space; granularity is obtained by relying on small cubic scintillating crystals as active elements. Different scintillating materials have been studied. The crystal sizes and spacing among them have been optimized with respect to the energy resolution. A prototype, based on CsI(Tl) cubic crystals, has been constructed and tested with particle beams. Some results of tests with different beams at CERN are presented.Comment: Seven pages, seven pictures. Proceedings of INSTR17 Novosibirs

Spatial Resolution of Double-Sided Silicon Microstrip Detectors for the PAMELA Apparatus

The PAMELA apparatus has been assembled and it is ready to be launched in a satellite mission to study mainly the antiparticle component of cosmic rays. In this paper the performances obtained for the silicon microstrip detectors used in the magnetic spectrometer are presented. This subdetector reconstructs the curvature of a charged particle in the magnetic field produced by a permanent magnet and consequently determines momentum and charge sign, thanks to a very good accuracy in the position measurements (better than 3 um in the bending coordinate). A complete simulation of the silicon microstrip detectors has been developed in order to investigate in great detail the sensor's characteristics. Simulated events have been then compared with data gathered from minimum ionizing particle (MIP) beams during the last years in order to tune free parameters of the simulation. Finally some either widely used or original position finding algorithms, designed for such kind of detectors, have been applied to events with different incidence angles. As a result of the analysis, a method of impact point reconstruction can be chosen, depending on both the particle's incidence angle and the cluster multiplicity, so as to maximize the capability of the spectrometer in antiparticle tagging.Comment: 28 pages, 18 figures, submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research

The performance of the LHCf detector for hadronic showers

The Large Hadron Collider forward (LHCf) experiment has been designed to use the LHC to benchmark the hadronic interaction models used in cosmic-ray physics. The LHCf experiment measures neutral particles emitted in the very forward region of LHC collisions. In this paper, the performances of the LHCf detectors for hadronic showers was studied with MC simulations and beam tests. The detection efficiency for neutrons is from 60% to 70% above 500 GeV. The energy resolutions are about 40% and the position resolution is 0.1 to 1.3mm depend on the incident energy for neutrons. The energy scale determined by the MC simulations and the validity of the MC simulations were examined using 350 GeV proton beams at the CERN-SPS.Comment: 15pages, 19 figure

First flight data from the PAMELA spectrometer

Abstract PAMELA is a satellite-borne experiment designed to study charged particles in the cosmic radiation, optimized in particular for antimatter components search. The experiment is mounted on the Resurs DK1 satellite that was launched on June 15th 2006 from Baikonur cosmodrome and is now collecting data from a semi-polar elliptical orbit around the Earth. The core of the PAMELA apparatus is a magnetic spectrometer, designed to determine precisely the rigidity and the absolute charge of particles crossing the detector. The tracking system is composed of six planes of silicon microstrip detectors dipped in an almost uniform magnetic field generated by a permanent magnet made of an Nd–Fe–B alloy. Some preliminary analysis about the spectrometer's performances, made using data collected since July 2006 till June 2007, are here reviewed