Collective modes across the soliton-droplet crossover in binary Bose mixtures

We study the collective modes of a binary Bose mixture across the soliton to droplet crossover in a quasi one dimensional waveguide with a beyond-mean-field equation of state and a variational Gaussian ansatz for the scalar bosonic field of the corresponding effective action. We observe a sharp difference in the collective modes in the two regimes. Within the soliton regime modes vary smoothly upon the variation of particle number or interaction strength. On the droplet side collective modes are inhibited by the emission of particles. This mechanism turns out to be dominant for a wide range of particle numbers and interactions. In a small window of particle number range and for intermediate interactions we find that monopole frequency is likely to be observed. In the last part we focus on the spin-dipole modes for the case of equal intraspecies interactions and equal equilibrium particle numbers in the presence of a weak longitudinal confinement. We found that such modes might be unobservable in the real-time dynamics close to the equilibrium as their frequency is higher than the particle emission spectrum by at least one order of magnitude in the droplet phase. Our results are relevant for experiments with two-component BECs for which we provide realistic parameters.Comment: Accepted for Publication in PR

Superfluid filaments of dipolar bosons in free space

We systematically investigate the zero temperature phase diagram of bosons interacting via dipolar interactions in three dimensions in free space via path integral Monte Carlo simulations with few hundreds of particles and periodic boundary conditions based on the worm algorithm. Upon increasing the strength of the dipolar interaction and at sufficiently high densities we find a wide region where filaments are stabilized along the direction of the external field. Most interestingly by computing the superfluid fraction we conclude that superfluidity is anisotropic and is greatly suppressed along the orthogonal plane. Finally we perform simulations at finite temperature confirming the stability of filaments against thermal fluctuations and provide an estimate of the superfluid fraction in the weak coupling limit in the framework of the Landau two-fluid model.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures (supplemental materials: 5 pages, 6 figures). Revised version, to appear in Physical Review Letter

Equation of state and self-bound droplet in Rabi-coupled Bose mixtures

Laser induced transitions between internal states of atoms have been playing a fundamental role to manipulate atomic clouds for many decades. In absence of interactions each atom behaves independently and their coherent quantum dynamics is described by the Rabi model. Since the experimental observation of Bose condensation in dilute gases, static and dynamical properties of multicomponent quantum gases have been extensively investigated. Moreover, at very low temperatures quantum fluctuations crucially affect the equation of state of many-body systems. Here we study the effects of quantum fluctuations on a Rabi-coupled two-component Bose gas of interacting alkali atoms. The divergent zero-point energy of gapless and gapped elementary excitations of the uniform system is properly regularized obtaining a meaningful analytical expression for the beyond-mean-field equation of state. In the case of attractive inter-particle interaction we show that the quantum pressure arising from Gaussian fluctuations can prevent the collapse of the mixture with the creation of a self-bound droplet. We characterize the droplet phase and discover an energetic instability above a critical Rabi frequency provoking the evaporation of the droplet. Finally, we suggest an experiment to observe such quantum droplets using Rabi-coupled internal states of $^{39}$K atoms.Comment: to be published in Scientific Report

Designing Sustainable Clothing Systems

The Fashion System is at the center of the international debate as one of the most polluting and most impactful industries on the environment. In the last decade the fashion industry has changed, and is still modifying, its approach, aware of the fact that the attention to the environment can no longer be considered a trend: the entire system needs to find and adopt a methodological approach to the project and to the production of goods and services. Today all the stakeholders on the supply chain follow a path from upstream to downstream: from the treatment of pollution, to the intervention on the production processes that generate a product, to the redesign of products and/or services to reach the discussion and reorientation of social behavior. This path shows the need to intervene in design terms and that the growth in responsibility and role of design, requiring reference scenarios, knowledge and new tools. The book defines the features and scenarios of sustainable development, as well as the evolution of sustainability in research and practice of fashion design, addressing the strategies for the design and development of environmentally sustainable products. The authors describe the Life Cycle Design approach and the strategies and guidelines for integrating environmental requirements into product design for sustainable fashion. They present the so-called Systems of Sustainable Products-Services, namely the most promising scenarios and models to make design for sustainable fashion economically convenient. Finally, they provide a method and related tools to support design for sustainable fashion in the evaluation of the environmental impact of products, with particular emphasis on the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment). The text is enriched by a full-bodied review of interviews and case studies, with the dual purpose of making the design options clear and of highlighting their specificity for the different design contexts

PrP Gene Polymorphism in Medieval Remains of Sicilian Sheep

Encephalopathy in sheep was at first described in Ireland in 1732 and was called scrapie. Ancient DNA in archaeogenetics represents an effective method to evaluate the ancestral pedigree of living animals and track evolutionary changes occurred between the past and the present day. Since several point mutations are today widely described in modern scrapie, no data about both sequence and frequency are still available for the prion protein (PrP) gene in ancient breeds. In order to evaluate whether the haplotypes distribution in ancient sheep differed from those of the modern population we evaluated polymorphism at four well know codons of the Prp Open Reading Frame. In the present work, we collected 37 medieval sheep bone remains found at the Calathamet (n = 11), Palazzo Bonagia (n = 12) and Palazzo Steri (n = 14) Sicilians archeological sites and dated back between 9th - 15th century. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at codons 136, 141, 154 and 171 of the prion protein (PrP) were investigated using cycle sequencing. Sequenom Mass ARRAYiPLEX platform confirmed the results for 5 individuals out of 37. Cycle sequencing showed at all samples the AA136LL141RR154QQ171 (hereafter ALRQ/ALRQ) genotype except at 2 individuals showing the very susceptible genotype VLRQ/VLRQ (n = 1) and the resistant (ALRR/ ALRR) (n = 1) respectively. Supported by a high incidence of susceptible genotype to prion infection we concluded that presumably scrapie was already widespread enough in the medieval Sicily. Moreover, we described conceivable scenarios that could have underlain evolutionary changes in the medieval sheep population

Demographic, Clinical and Hematological Predictors of Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaque Histology

Aims: This retrospective observational study was aimed to identify hematological predictors of histological heterogeneity of carotid atherosclerotic plaques (CAPs). Results: The mean values of all demographic, clinical and haematological parameters did not differ between patients with or without symptomatic CAD. In univariate analysis, intraplaque hemorrhage was associated with male sex (r=0.18; p=0.032), superficial thrombosis with low hemoglobin (r=- 0.18; p=0.033), fibrosis with enhanced RDW (r=0.24; p=0.005), presence of foam cells with high WBC count (r=0.22; p=0.001), neovascularisation with high WBC count (r=0.17; p=0.048), whilst the presence of inflammatory infiltrate was also associated with high WBC count (r=0.17; p=0.043). Conlusions: The results of this retrospective observational study confirm that some traditional and inexpensive hematological parameters such as WBC count, hemoglobin and RDW may help identifying patients with more severe forms of CAD

Moderate Neonatal Stress Decreases Within-Group Variation in Behavioral, Immune and HPA Responses in Adult Mice

BACKGROUND: The significance of behavioral neuroscience and the validity of its animal models of human pathology largely depend on the possibility to replicate a given finding across different laboratories. Under the present test and housing conditions, this axiom fails to resist the challenge of experimental validation. When several mouse strains are tested on highly standardized behavioral test batteries in different laboratories, significant strain x lab interactions are often detected. This limitation, predominantly due to elevated within-group variability observed in control subjects, increases the number of animals needed to address fine experimental questions. Laboratory rodents display abnormal stress and fear reactions to experimental testing, which might depend on the discrepancy between the stability of the neonatal environment and the challenging nature of the adult test and housing conditions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Stimulating neonatal environments (e.g. brief maternal separations, increased foraging demands or maternal corticosterone supplementation) reduce stress and fear responses in adulthood. Here we tested whether reduced fearfulness associated with experimental testing would also reduce inter-individual variation. In line with our predictions, we show that a moderate elevation in neonatal corticosterone through maternal milk significantly reduces fear responses and inter-individual variability (average 44%) in adult mouse offspring. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We observed reduced variation in pain perception, novelty preference, hormonal stress response and resistance to pathogen infection. This suggests that the results of this study may apply to a relatively broad spectrum of neuro-behavioral domains. Present findings encourage a reconsideration of the basic principles of neonatal housing systems to improve the validity of experimental models and reduce the number of animals used

Sialendoscopy for salivary stones: principles, technical skills and therapeutic experience

La scialoadenite cronica ostruttiva rappresenta una delle più frequenti patologie non-neoplastiche delle ghiandole salivari e la scialoendoscopia è sempre più utilizzata nella sua diagnosi e nel suo trattamento, associata o meno con la litotripsia laser. La scialoendoscopia può essere inoltre associata ad approcci esterni mini-invasivi nelle litiasi troppo voluminose per essere rimosse con un approccio unicamente endoscopico. Il presente articolo riporta l’esperienza delle Cliniche Otorinolaringoiatriche dell’Ospedale Sant’Orsola-Malpighi di Bologna e dell’Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria di Cagliari, Italia. È stata eseguita un’analisi retrospettiva su 48 pazienti (26 femmine, 22 maschi; età media di 45,3 anni; range 8-83 anni) trattati per patologia cronica ostruttiva delle ghiandole salivari maggiori mediante procedure chirurgiche endoscopiche o combinate da novembre 2010 ad aprile 2016 presso l’Azienda-Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Cagliari. I risultati dell’Ospedale Sant’Orsola-Malpighi di Bologna erano stati precedentemente pubblicati. Gli aspetti tecnici della scialoendoscopia sono stati accuratamente descritti. I pazienti trattati presso l’Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria di Cagliari presentavano una patologia unilaterale in 40 casi e bilaterale in 8 casi; sono state trattate 56 ghiandole salivari maggiori (22 sottomandibolari e 34 parotidi). 5 pazienti sono stati sottoposti a scialoendoscopia bilaterale per parotite ricorrente giovanile, 10 per patologia ostruttiva non litiasica e 33 (68,75%) presentavano calcoli salivari (1 paziente presentava una litiasi parotidea bilaterale). Solo 8 pazienti sono stati sottoposti a scialectomia radicale per via esterna (5 scialectomie sottomandibolare e 3 parotidectomie). La chirurgia conservativa nei pazienti con scialoadenite cronica ostruttiva appare efficace e può essere realizzata mediante un approccio puramente endoscopico o combinato, con un’alta percentuale di successo. La procedura richiede una strumentazione adeguata e deve essere eseguita da un chirurgo esperto, che abbia svolto un training specifico scialoendoscopico, in modo da evitare le possibili complicanze maggiori e minori. La scialectomia tradizionale rappresenta la “extrema ratio”, limitata nei casi in cui un approccio conservativo sia risultato inefficace o controindicato.Obstructive sialadenitis is the most common non-neoplastic disease of the salivary glands, and sialendoscopy is increasingly used in both diagnosis and treatment, associated in selected cases with endoscopic laser lithotripsy. Sialendoscopy is also used for combined minimally invasive external and endoscopic approaches in patients with larger and proximal stones that would require excessively long laser procedures. The present paper reports on the technical experience from the Ear, Nose and Throat Unit of the Sant'Orsola-Malpighi Hospital of Bologna, and from the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of the University Hospital of Cagliari, Italy, including the retrospective analysis of the endoscopic and endoscopic assisted procedures performed on 48 patients (26 females and 22 males; median age 45.3; range 8-83 years) treated for chronic obstructive sialadenitis at the University Hospital of Cagliari from November 2010 to April 2016. The results from the Sant'Orsola-Malpighi Hospital of Bologna have been previously published. The technical aspects of sialendoscopy are carefully described. The retrospective analysis of the University Hospital of Cagliari shows that the disease was unilateral in 40 patients and bilateral in 8; a total of 56 major salivary glands were treated (22 submandibular glands and 34 parotids). Five patients underwent bilateral sialendoscopy for juvenile recurrent parotitis. 10 patients were treated for non-lithiasic obstructive disease. In 33 patients (68.75%) the obstruction was caused by salivary stones (bilateral parotid lithiasis in 1 case). Only 8 patients needed a sialectomy (5 submandibular glands and 3 parotids). The conservative approach to obstructive sialadenitis is feasible and can be performed either purely endoscopically or in a combined modality, with a high percentage of success. The procedure must be performed with dedicated instrumentation by a skilled surgeon after proper training since minor to major complications can be encountered. Sialectomy should be the "extrema ratio" after failure of a conservative approach