95 research outputs found
Norovirus Infection and Disease in an Ecuadorian Birth Cohort: Association of Certain Norovirus Genotypes With Host FUT2 Secretor Status.
BACKGROUND: Although norovirus is the most common cause of gastroenteritis, there are few data on the community incidence of infection/disease or the patterns of acquired immunity or innate resistance to norovirus. METHODS: We followed a community-based birth cohort of 194 children in Ecuador with the aim to estimate (1) the incidence of norovirus gastroenteritis from birth to age 3 years, (2) the protective effect of norovirus infection against subsequent infection/disease, and (3) the association of infection and disease with FUT2 secretor status. RESULTS: Over the 3-year period, we detected a mean of 2.26 diarrheal episodes per child (range, 0-12 episodes). Norovirus was detected in 260 samples (18%) but was not found more frequently in diarrheal samples (79 of 438 [18%]), compared with diarrhea-free samples (181 of 1016 [18%]; P = .919). A total of 66% of children had at least 1 norovirus infection during the first 3 years of life, and 40% of children had 2 infections. Previous norovirus infections were not associated with the risk of subsequent infection. All genogroup II, genotype 4 (GII.4) infections were among secretor-positive children (P < .001), but higher rates of non-GII.4 infections were found in secretor-negative children (relative risk, 0.56; P = .029). CONCLUSIONS: GII.4 infections were uniquely detected in secretor-positive children, while non-GII.4 infections were more often found in secretor-negative children
Leptogenesis and symmetry
If an exact symmetry is the explanation of the
maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing angle, it has interesting implications for
origin of matter via leptogenesis in models where small neutrino masses arise
via the seesaw mechanism. For seesaw models with two right handed neutrinos
, lepton asymmetry vanishes in the exact symmetric limit, even though there are nonvanishing Majorana phases in
the neutrino mixing matrix. On the other hand, for three right handed neutrino
models, lepton asymmetry nonzero and is given directly by the solar mass
difference square. We also find an upper bound on the lightest neutrino mass.Comment: 5 pages; latex; no figures; some typos correcte
Phenomenology of symmetry breaking from extra dimensions
Motivated by the electroweak hierarchy problem, we consider theories with two
extra dimensions in which the four-dimensional scalar fields are components of
gauge boson in full space. We explore the Nielsen-Olesen instability for SU(N)
on a torus, in the presence of a magnetic background. A field theory approach
is developed, computing explicitly the minimum of the complete effective
potential, including tri-linear and quartic couplings and determining the
symmetries of the stable vacua. We also develop appropriate gauge-fixing terms
when both Kaluza-Klein and Landau levels are present and interacting,
discussing the interplay between the possible six and four dimensional choices.
The equivalence between coordinate dependent and constant Scherk-Schwarz
boundary conditions -associated to either continuous or discrete Wilson lines-
is analyzed.Comment: 39 pages and 8 eps figures. Few changes in section
Unveiling Neutrino Mixing and Leptonic CP Violation
We review the present understanding of neutrino masses and mixings,
discussing what are the unknowns in the three family oscillation scenario.
Despite the anticipated success coming from the planned long baseline neutrino
experiments in unraveling the leptonic mixing sector, there are two important
unknowns which may remain obscure: the mixing angle and the
CP-phase . The measurement of these two parameters has led us to
consider the combination of superbeams and neutrino factories as the key to
unveil the neutrino oscillation picture.Comment: Invited brief review, 18 pages, 6 figure
Probabilistic combination of eigenlungs-based classifiers for COVID-19 diagnosis in chest CT images
The outbreak of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic has changed
the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been
more than 100 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, including more than 2.4
million deaths. It is extremely important the early detection of the disease,
and the use of medical imaging such as chest X-ray (CXR) and chest Computed
Tomography (CCT) have proved to be an excellent solution. However, this process
requires clinicians to do it within a manual and time-consuming task, which is
not ideal when trying to speed up the diagnosis. In this work, we propose an
ensemble classifier based on probabilistic Support Vector Machine (SVM) in
order to identify pneumonia patterns while providing information about the
reliability of the classification. Specifically, each CCT scan is divided into
cubic patches and features contained in each one of them are extracted by
applying kernel PCA. The use of base classifiers within an ensemble allows our
system to identify the pneumonia patterns regardless of their size or location.
Decisions of each individual patch are then combined into a global one
according to the reliability of each individual classification: the lower the
uncertainty, the higher the contribution. Performance is evaluated in a real
scenario, yielding an accuracy of 97.86%. The large performance obtained and
the simplicity of the system (use of deep learning in CCT images would result
in a huge computational cost) evidence the applicability of our proposal in a
real-world environment.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure
Non-unitary Leptonic Mixing and Leptogenesis
We investigate the relation between non-unitarity of the leptonic mixing
matrix and leptogenesis. We discuss how all parameters of the canonical type-I
seesaw mechanism can, in principle, be reconstructed from the neutrino mass
matrix and the deviation of the effective low-energy leptonic mixing matrix
from unitary. When the mass M' of the lightest right-handed neutrino is much
lighter than the masses of the others, we show that its decay asymmetries
within flavour-dependent leptogenesis can be expressed in terms of two
contributions, one depending on the unique dimension five (d=5) operator
generating neutrino masses and one depending on the dimension six (d=6)
operator associated with non-unitarity. In low-energy seesaw scenarios where
small lepton number violation explains the smallness of neutrino masses, the
lepton number conserving d=6 operator contribution generically dominates over
the d=5 operator contribution which results in a strong enhancement of the
flavour-dependent decay asymmetries without any resonance effects. To calculate
the produced final baryon asymmetry, the flavour equilibration effects directly
related to non-unitarity have to be taken into account. In a simple realization
of this non-unitarity driven leptogenesis, the lower bound on M' is found to be
about 10^8 GeV at the onset of the strong washout regime, more than one order
of magnitude below the bound in "standard" thermal leptogenesis.Comment: 19 pages, REVTeX4, 2 eps and 2 axodraw figure
Reconstructing Seesaws
We explore some aspects of "reconstructing" the heavy singlet sector of
supersymmetric type I seesaw models, for two, three or four singlets. We work
in the limit where one light neutrino is massless. In an ideal world, where
selected coefficients of the TeV-scale effective Lagrangian could be measured
with arbitrary accuracy, the two-singlet case can be reconstructed, two three
or more singlets can be differentiated, and an inverse seesaw with four
singlets can be reconstructed. In a more realistic world, we estimate \ell_\a
\to \ell_\b \gamma expectations with a "Minimal-Flavour-Violation-like"
ansatz, which gives a relation between ratios of the three branching ratios.
The two singlet model predicts a discrete set of ratios.Comment: 14 page
Dimensiones del arco posterior de C2 para el guiado de tornillos translaminares. Estudio radiológico en población española
Background. To describe the feasibility of the posterior
arch of C2 accepting two crossing screws in the Spanish
population.
Methods. One hundred and fifty patients who underwent
a routine neck CT scan for non-cervical pathology were
enrolled. Submillimeter slices (thickness 0.7 mm) every
0.4 mm were performed with a 64 multi-detector CT scan,
which allows isometric measurements. We measured the
length and height of the cortical and cancellous (endomedullar) region of the lamina and the spinous process,
inclination, maximal screw length and spinolaminar angle.
Results. The average (standard deviation) measurements
of the lamina were: width of the left cortical 7.2 (1.5) mm,
right cortical 6.9 (1.3) mm, width of the cancellous part of
the left lamina 4.8 (1.5) mm, right side 4.6 (1.4) mm. The
mean left cortical height was 13.0 (1.5) mm and 13.1 (1.6)
mm for the right. The mean height of the cancellous part
was 9.0 mm for both sides. The average measurements of
the spinous process were: cortical length 15.7 (3.5) mm,
endomedullar length 12.5 (3.9) mm; cortical height 11.9
(2.2) mm, endomedullar height 8.4 (2.1) mm; spinolaminar angle 49º (4); the maximum screw length 3.18 cm, and
the inclination angle 143º.
Conclusion. A CT scan with submillimeter slices is necessary in order to avoid malpositioning of the screws. The
outer cortical measurements are 2 to 4 mm bigger than
the endomedullar ones. Taking into account the dimensions of the spinous process, 24% of the population would
not be candidates for this crossing screw technique.Fundamento. Describir la capacidad del arco posterior
de C2 en población española para colocar dos tornillos
cruzados translaminares.
Método. Se reclutaron 150 pacientes a los que se les realizó un escáner del cuello por patología no cervical. Para
el estudio se utilizó un 64 multi-detector TAC realizando
cortes submilimétricos (0,7 mm de grosor) cada 0,4 mm,
permitiendo obtener medidas isométricas. Se midieron
anchura y altura cortical y endomedular de la lámina y
de la espinosa, inclinación de la lámina, máxima longitud
de tornillo y ángulo espinolaminar.
Resultados. Las media (desviación estándar) de las medidas de la lámina fueron: anchura cortical izquierda 7.2
(1,5) mm, cortical derecho 6,9 (1,3) mm, anchura endomedular izquierda 4,8 (1,5) mm, derecha 4,6 (1,4) mm La
altura media cortical izquierda fue 13,0 (1,5) mm y de 13,1
(1,6) mm para la derecha. La altura media endomedular
fue de 9,0 mm en ambos lados. Las medidas medias de la
espinosa fueron: longitud media cortical 15,7 (3,5) mm,
longitud endomedular 12,5 (3,9) mm; altura cortical 11,9
(2,2) mm, altura endomedular de 8,4 (2,1) mm; ángulo espinolaminar 49º (4); la longitud máxima de tornillo 3,18
cm; y el ángulo de inclinación 143º.
Conclusiones. Para evitar la colocación errónea de los tornillos es necesario un estudio de TAC con cortes submilimétricos. La diferencia entre las medidas corticales y endomedulares oscila entre 2 y 4 mm. Teniendo en cuenta las dimensiones
de la espinosa, un 24% de la población no sería candidato a
esta técnica de tornillos cruzados translaminares
Risk Factors for Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infections during the First 3 Years of Life in the Tropics; Findings from a Birth Cohort.
Background: Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) infect more than 2 billion humans worldwide, causing significant morbidity in children. There are few data on the epidemiology and risk factors for infection in pre-school children. To investigate risk factors for infection in early childhood, we analysed data prospectively collected in the ECUAVIDA birth cohort in Ecuador.
Methods and Findings:
Children were recruited at birth and followed up to 3 years of age with periodic collection of stool samples that were examined microscopically for STH parasites. Data on social, demographic, and environmental risk factors were collected from the mother at time of enrolment. Associations between exposures and detection of STH infections were analysed by multivariable logistic regression. Data were analysed from 1,697 children for whom a stool sample was obtained at 3 years. 42.3% had at least one STH infection in the first 3 years of life and the most common infections were caused by A. lumbricoides (33.2% of children) and T. trichiura (21.2%). Hookworm infection was detected in 0.9% of children. Risk of STH infection was associated with factors indicative of poverty in our study population such as Afro-Ecuadorian ethnicity and low maternal educational level. Maternal STH infections during pregnancy were strong risk factors for any childhood STH infection, infections with either A. lumbricoides or T. trichiura, and early age of first STH infection. Children of mothers with moderate to high infections intensities with A. lumbricoides were most at risk.
Conclusions:
Our data show high rates of infection with STH parasites during the first 3 years of life in an Ecuadorian birth cohort, an observation that was strongly associated with maternal STH infections during pregnancy. The targeted treatment of women of childbearing age, in particular before pregnancy, with anthelmintic drugs could offer a novel approach to the prevention of STH infections in pre-school children
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