A parameterisation of single and multiple muons in the deep water or ice

Atmospheric muons play an important role in underwater/ice neutrino detectors. In this paper, a parameterisation of the flux of single and multiple muon events, their lateral distribution and of their energy spectrum is presented. The kinematics parameters were modelled starting from a full Monte Carlo simulation of the interaction of primary cosmic rays with atmospheric nuclei; secondary muons reaching the sea level were propagated in the deep water. The parametric formulas are valid for a vertical depth of 1.5-5 km w.e. and up to 85 deg for the zenith angle, and can be used as input for a fast simulation of atmospheric muons in underwater/ice detectors.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figure

Editorial: The role of platinum-based antitumor prodrugs in medicinal inorganic chemistry

Editorial on the research topic "The role of platinum-based antitumor prodrugs in medicinal inorganic chemistry

Ground penetrating radar surveys in a karst area for identification of geomorphological hazards.

Many coastal areas along the apulian coastlines (SE Italy) are intensely affected by sinkhole problems, which periodically cause damage to the main infrastructures, including the coastal roads and sparse settlements. Torre Castiglione is a locality situated at the boundary between the provinces of Lecce and Taranto, on the Jonian sea. Several sinkholes have in time affected the province road 340, which is a very important communication route during the summer, due to the tourist vocation of the area. Proximity of the site to the sea results in the mixing between sea water and fresh water, which determines a higher aggressivity toward the carbonate rock mass, and development of karst features and landforms, including caves. Due to the above reasons, the whole coastal sector is classified as with high geomorphological hazard. Aimed at investigating such hazard, a variety of direct and indirect surveys have been performed in the last years. Geological surveys, carried out through detailed field surveys, highlighted the presence of multi-storey cave systems, which upward stoping might eventually produce the formation of sinkholes. As concerns geomorphology, the population of identified sinkholes (more than 50) has been morphometrically characterized by measuring their depth, length, and width. The present contribution focuses on the geophysical surveys performed in the area. In detail, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys have been carried out, due to the good resolution and the high penetration of the electromagnetic signal in geological settings characterized by presence of carbonate rocks. However, the presence of a karst aquifer in the area causes problems in the absorbing capacity of the signal. The main goal of this study is the analysis of the subsoil, aimed at testing the capability of GPR in a karst setting. A GSSI instrument was used, with antennae of 400 MHz, 200MHz and 100 MHz. The surveys were addressed to evaluate the capability of the method in such a setting, and to verify the velocity of propagation of the electromagnetic waves. Some scanlines were addressed to investigate, in particular, a sinkhole crossing the province road 340, by carrying out GPR profiles with a 200 MHz antenna at 90ns and 120 ns. The signal appeared to penetrate the subsoil at velocity of about 8 cm/ns. Elaboration of the data pointed out a series of cavities along the rural road running parallel to province road 340. In addition, the GPR survey highlighted the presence of complex karst systems at different depths, with cave size on the order of some tens of meters. A likely alignment in the cave direction seems to be shown, too

Intrarenal arterial stiffness is increased in systemic sclerosis patients with anti-ribonucleic acid polymerase III antibodies

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Theoretical derivation of the index flood

International audienceThe expected value of the annual flood is always needed for attaining reliable estimates of the return period of floods. In particular, the accuracy of its estimate is crucial for ungauged basins, where regional analysis is to be invoked. The main goal of this research was to search for an index flood formula suitable to explicate the influence of basin characteristics such as geomorphology, vegetation, soil and climate. This formula, due to unavoidable overparameterization, more than being suggested for technical use, allows sensitivity analyses of simpler formulae to basin features. This study was mainly based on the theoretical distribution of floods developed by Iacobellis and Fiorentino (2000). In particular, the relationship that they derived for the first order moment was analyzed and simplified by assuming the Gumbel distribution as a first order approximation for the distributions of floods and rainfall intensities. The results were validated with regard to data recorded in some basins located in Southern Italy, in a climatically end geologically heterogeneous territory

Angiogenic and angiostatic factors in renal scleroderma-associated vasculopathy

BACKGROUND: The angiogenesis in systemic sclerosis (SSc) is impaired. An imbalance of pro-angiogenic factors and angiogenesis inhibitors has been implicated in the progression of peripheral microvascular damage, defective vascular repair and fibrosis. Intrarenal resistance index are considered markers of renal vasculopathy. The aim of the study is to evaluate angiogenic and angiostatic factors (VEGF and endostatin) in SSc patients and to correlate with intrarenal hemodynamic parameters. METHODS: 91 SSc patients were enrolled in this study. Serum VEGF and endostatin levels were determined. All patients underwent a renal Doppler ultrasound RESULTS: A significant positive correlation was observed between endostatin and renal Doppler parameters (p<0.0001). A negative correlation was observed between serum levels of endostatin and eGFR (p<0.01). In SSc patients with high resistive index, serum levels of endostatin were significantly (p<0.01) higher than in SSc patients with normal resistive index. The serum levels of endostatin significantly increased with progression of nailfold videocapillaroscopy damage (p<0.01) and were significantly (p<0.05) higher in SSc patients with digital ulcers than in SSc patients without digital ulcers. CONCLUSION: This is the first study that assess in SSc patients intrarenal hemodynamic parameters and endostatin. In SSc patients, endostatin represents a marker of renal scleroderma-associated vasculopathy