Technique for Direct eV-Scale Measurements of the Mu and Tau Neutrino Masses Using Supernova Neutrinos

Early black hole formation in a core-collapse supernova will abruptly truncate the neutrino fluxes. The sharp cutoff can be used to make model-independent time-of-flight neutrino mass tests. Assuming a neutrino luminosity of $10^{52}$ erg/s per flavor at cutoff and a distance of 10 kpc, SuperKamiokande can detect an electron neutrino mass as small as 1.8 eV, and the proposed OMNIS detector can detect mu and tau neutrino masses as small as 6 eV. This {\it Letter} presents the first technique with direct sensitivity to eV-scale mu and tau neutrino masses.Comment: 4 pages including 3 inline figures. Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Neutrino - nucleon reaction rates in the supernova core in the relativistic random phase approximation

In view of the application to supernova simulations, we calculate neutrino reaction rates with nucleons via the neutral and charged currents in the supernova core in the relativistic random phase approximation (RPA) and study their effects on the opacity of the supernova core. The formulation is based on the Lagrangian employed in the calculation of nuclear equation of state (EOS) in the relativistic mean field theory (RMF). The nonlinear meson terms are treated appropriately so that the consistency of the density correlation derived in RPA with the thermodynamic derivative obtained from EOS by RMF is satisfied in the static and long wave length limit. We employ pion and rho meson exchange interactions together with the phenomenological Landau-Migdal parameters for the isospin-dependent nuclear interactions. We find that both the charged and neutral current reaction rates are suppressed from the standard Bruenn's approximate formula considerably in the high density regime. In the low density regime, on the other hand, the vector current contribution to the neutrino-nucleon scattering rate is enhanced in the vicinity of the boundary of the liquid-gas phase transition, while the other contributions are moderately suppressed there also. In the high temperature regime or in the regime where electrons have a large chemical potential, the latter of which is important only for the electron capture process and its inverse process, the recoil of nucleons cannot be neglected and further reduces the reaction rates with respect to the standard approximate formula which discards any energy transfer in the processes. These issues could have a great impact on the neutrino heating mechanism of collapse-driven supernovae.Comment: 16pages, 19figures, submitted to PR

BABIES WITH BRAIN DAMAGE WHO CAN NOT SWALLOW Surgical management

Background: Neonates with severe neurological impairment are often unable to swallow, necessitating gastrostomy for feeding. Because of the risk of developing severe reflux, this procedure is often associated with fundoplication. Objective: To assess the safety and efficacy of gastrostomy and Nissen fundoplication in 22 neonates with swallowing difficulties due to serious neurological impairment. Method: All children underwent an initial period of nasogastric feeding and after informed consent underwent gastrostomy and Nissen fundoplication. Results: There were no significant intraoperative complications. There were two cases of postoperative periostomy leakage. Of the 22 neonates 16 were alive four months after surgery. Six neonates died of complications due to underlying disease. Conclusion: We concluded that gastrostomy and Nissen fundoplication are safe procedures and help parents give a better care to these children.663B64164

Reexamining nonstandard interaction effects on supernova neutrino flavor oscillations

Several extensions of the standard electroweak model allow new four-fermion interactions (nu_a nu_b * ff) with strength eps_ab*G_F, where (a,b) are flavor indices. We revisit their effects on flavor oscillations of massive (anti)neutrinos in supernovae, in order to achieve, in the region above the protoneutron star, an analytical treatment valid for generic values of the neutrino mixing angles (omega,phi,psi)=(theta_12,theta_13,theta_23). Assuming that eps_ab<<1, we find that the leading effects on the flavor transitions occurring at high (H) and low (L) density along the supernova matter profile can be simply embedded through the replacements phi-->phi+eps_H and omega-->omega+eps_L, respectively, where eps_H and eps_L are specific linear combinations of the eps_ab's. Similar replacements hold for eventual oscillations in the Earth matter. From a phenomenological point of view, the most relevant consequence is a possible uncontrolled bias (phi-->phi+eps_H) in the value of the mixing angle phi inferred by inversion of supernova neutrino data. Such a drawback, however, does not preclude the discrimination of the neutrino mass spectrum hierarchy (direct or inverse) through supernova neutrino oscillations.Comment: Text clarified, one figure added. To appear in PR

Sterile neutrinos and supernova nucleosynthesis

A light sterile neutrino species has been introduced to explain simultaneously the solar and atmospheric neutrino puzzles and the results of the LSND experiment, while providing for a hot component of dark matter. Employing this scheme of neutrino masses and mixings, we show how matter-enhanced active-sterile neutrino transformation followed by active-active neutrino transformation can solve robustly the neutron deficit problem encountered by models of r-process nucleosynthesis associated with neutrino-heated supernova ejecta.Comment: 29 pages, 3 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Verbal, Facial and Autonomic Responses to Empathy-Eliciting Film Clips by Disruptive Male Adolescents with High Versus Low Callous-Unemotional Traits

This study examined empathy-related responding in male adolescents with disruptive behavior disorder (DBD), high or low on callous-unemotional (CU) traits. Facial electromyographic (EMG) and heart rate (HR) responses were monitored during exposure to empathy-inducing film clips portraying sadness, anger or happiness. Self-reports were assessed afterward. In agreement with expectations, DBD adolescents with high CU traits showed significantly lower levels of empathic sadness than healthy controls across all response systems. Between DBD subgroups significant differences emerged at the level of autonomic (not verbal or facial) reactions to sadness, with high CU respondents showing less HR change from baseline than low CU respondents. The study also examined basal patterns of autonomic function. Resting HR was not different between groups, but resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was significantly lower in DBD adolescents with high CU traits compared to controls. Results support the notion that CU traits designate a distinct subgroup of DBD individuals

G6PD deficiency in Latin America: systematic review on prevalence and variants

Plasmodium vivax radical cure requires the use of primaquine (PQ), a drug that induces haemolysis in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficient (G6PDd) individuals, which further hampers malaria control efforts. The aim of this work was to study the G6PDd prevalence and variants in Latin America (LA) and the Caribbean region. A systematic search of the published literature was undertaken in August 2013. Bibliographies of manuscripts were also searched and additional references were identified. Low prevalence rates of G6PDd were documented in Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay, but studies from Curaçao, Ecuador, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Suriname and Trinidad, as well as some surveys carried out in areas of Brazil, Colombia and Cuba, have shown a high prevalence (> 10%) of G6PDd. The G6PD A-202A mutation was the variant most broadly distributed across LA and was identified in 81.1% of the deficient individuals surveyed. G6PDd is a frequent phenomenon in LA, although certain Amerindian populations may not be affected, suggesting that PQ could be safely used in these specific populations. Population-wide use of PQ as part of malaria elimination strategies in LA cannot be supported unless a rapid, accurate and field-deployable G6PDd diagnostic test is made available