3,167 research outputs found
Treatment Options for Hepatitis A and E: A Non-Systematic Review
Hepatitis A and hepatitis E are relatively common causes of liver disease. Both viruses are mainly transmitted through the faecalâoral route and, consequently, most outbreaks occur in countries with poor sanitation. An important role of the immune response as the driver of liver injury is also shared by the two pathogens. For both the hepatitis A (HAV) and hepatitis E (HEV) viruses, the clinical manifestations of infection mainly consist of an acute disease with mild liver injury, which results in clinical and laboratory alterations that are self-limiting in most cases. However, severe acute disease or chronic, long-lasting manifestations may occur in vulnerable patients, such as pregnant women, immunocompromised individuals or those with pre-existing liver disease. Specifically, HAV infection rarely results in fulminant hepatitis, prolonged cholestasis, relapsing hepatitis and possibly autoimmune hepatitis triggered by the viral infection. Less common manifestations of HEV include extrahepatic disease, acute liver failure and chronic HEV infection with persistent viraemia. In this paper, we conduct a non-systematic review of the available literature to provide a comprehensive understanding of the state of the art. Treatment mainly consists of supportive measures, while the available evidence for aetiological treatment and additional agents in severe disease is limited in quantity and quality. However, several therapeutic approaches have been attempted: for HAV infection, corticosteroid therapy has shown outcome improvement, and molecules, such as AZD 1480, zinc chloride and heme oxygenase-1, have demonstrated a reduction in viral replication in vitro. As for HEV infection, therapeutic options mainly rely on the use of ribavirin, and some studies utilising pegylated interferon-alpha have shown conflicting results. While a vaccine for HAV is already available and has led to a significant reduction in the prevalence of the disease, several vaccines for HEV are currently being developed, with some already available in China, showing promising results
A narrow band neutrino beam with high precision flux measurements
The ENUBET facility is a proposed narrow band neutrino beam where lepton
production is monitored at single particle level in the instrumented decay
tunnel. This facility addresses simultaneously the two most important
challenges for the next generation of cross section experiments: a superior
control of the flux and flavor composition at source and a high level of
tunability and precision in the selection of the energy of the outcoming
neutrinos. We report here the latest results in the development and test of the
instrumentation for the decay tunnel. Special emphasis is given to irradiation
tests of the photo-sensors performed at INFN-LNL and CERN in 2017 and to the
first application of polysiloxane-based scintillators in high energy physics.Comment: Poster presented at NuPhys2017 (London, 20-22 December 2017). 5
pages, 2 figure
The ENUBET Beamline
The ENUBET ERC project (2016-2021) is studying a narrow band neutrino beam
where lepton production can be monitored at single particle level in an
instrumented decay tunnel. This would allow to measure and
cross sections with a precision improved by about one order of
magnitude compared to present results. In this proceeding we describe a first
realistic design of the hadron beamline based on a dipole coupled to a pair of
quadrupole triplets along with the optimisation guidelines and the results of a
simulation based on G4beamline. A static focusing design, though less efficient
than a horn-based solution, results several times more efficient than
originally expected. It works with slow proton extractions reducing drastically
pile-up effects in the decay tunnel and it paves the way towards a time-tagged
neutrino beam. On the other hand a horn-based transferline would ensure higher
yields at the tunnel entrance. The first studies conducted at CERN to implement
the synchronization between a few ms proton extraction and a horn pulse of 2-10
ms are also described.Comment: Poster presented at NuPhys2018 (London 19-21 December 2018). 4 pages,
3 figure
Steps towards the hyperfine splitting measurement of the muonic hydrogen ground state: pulsed muon beam and detection system characterization
The high precision measurement of the hyperfine splitting of the
muonic-hydrogen atom ground state with pulsed and intense muon beam requires
careful technological choices both in the construction of a gas target and of
the detectors. In June 2014, the pressurized gas target of the FAMU experiment
was exposed to the low energy pulsed muon beam at the RIKEN RAL muon facility.
The objectives of the test were the characterization of the target, the
hodoscope and the X-ray detectors. The apparatus consisted of a beam hodoscope
and X-rays detectors made with high purity Germanium and Lanthanum Bromide
crystals. In this paper the experimental setup is described and the results of
the detector characterization are presented.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, published and open access on JINS
Liver function following hepatitis C virus eradication by direct acting antivirals in patients with liver cirrhosis: data from the PITER cohort
Background: The development of direct-acting antivirals (DAA) for HCV has revolutionized the treatment of HCV, including its treatment in patients with HIV coinfection. The aim of this study was to compare the changes in liver function between coinfected and monoinfected patients with cirrhosis who achieved HCV eradication by DAA. Methods: Patients with pre-treatment diagnosis of HCV liver cirrhosis, consecutively enrolled in the multicenter PITER cohort, who achieved a sustained virological response 12 weeks after treatment cessation (SVR12) were analysed. Changes in Child-Pugh (C-P) class and the occurrence of a decompensating event was prospectively evaluated after the end of DAA treatment. Cox regression analysis was used to evaluate factors independently associated with changes in liver function following viral eradication. Results: We evaluated 1350 patients, of whom 1242 HCV monoinfected (median follow-up 24.7, range 6.8â47.5 months after viral eradication) and 108 (8%) HCV/HIV coinfected (median follow-up 27.1, range 6.0â44.6). After adjusting for age, sex, HCV-genotype, HBsAg positivity and alcohol use, HIV was independently associated with a more advanced liver disease before treatment (C-P class B/C vs A) (OR: 3.73, 95% CI:2.00â6.98). Following HCV eradication, C-P class improved in 17/20 (85%) coinfected patients (from B to A and from C to B) and in 53/82 (64.6%) monoinfected patients (from B to A) (p = 0.08). C-P class worsened in 3/56 coinfected (5.3%) (from A to B) and in 84/1024 (8.2%) monoinfected patients (p = 0.45) (from A to B or C and from B to C). Baseline factors independently associated with C-P class worsening were male sex (HR = 2.00; 95% CI = 1.18â3.36), platelet count < 100,000/ÎŒl (HR = 1.75; 95% CI 1.08â2.85) and increased INR (HR = 2.41; 95% CI 1.51â3.84). Following viral eradication, in 7 of 15 coinfected (46.6%) and in 61 of 133 (45.8%) monoinfected patients with previous history of decompensation, a new decompensating event occurred. A first decompensating event was recorded in 4 of 93 (4.3%) coinfected and in 53 of 1109 (4.8%) monoinfected patients (p = 0.83). Conclusions: Improvement of liver function was observed following HCV eradication in the majority of patients with cirrhosis; however viral eradication did not always mean cure of liver disease in both monoinfected and coinfected patients with advanced liver disease
Multiplicity Studies and Effective Energy in ALICE at the LHC
In this work we explore the possibility to perform ``effective energy''
studies in very high energy collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
In particular, we focus on the possibility to measure in collisions the
average charged multiplicity as a function of the effective energy with the
ALICE experiment, using its capability to measure the energy of the leading
baryons with the Zero Degree Calorimeters. Analyses of this kind have been done
at lower centre--of--mass energies and have shown that, once the appropriate
kinematic variables are chosen, particle production is characterized by
universal properties: no matter the nature of the interacting particles, the
final states have identical features. Assuming that this universality picture
can be extended to {\it ion--ion} collisions, as suggested by recent results
from RHIC experiments, a novel approach based on the scaling hypothesis for
limiting fragmentation has been used to derive the expected charged event
multiplicity in interactions at LHC. This leads to scenarios where the
multiplicity is significantly lower compared to most of the predictions from
the models currently used to describe high energy collisions. A mean
charged multiplicity of about 1000-2000 per rapidity unit (at ) is
expected for the most central collisions at .Comment: 12 pages, 19 figures. In memory of A. Smirnitski
Jet production in charged current deep inelastic eâșp scatteringat HERA
The production rates and substructure of jets have been studied in charged current deep inelastic eâșp scattering for QÂČ > 200 GeVÂČ with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 110.5 pbâ»Âč. Inclusive jet cross sections are presented for jets with transverse energies E_{T}^{jet} > 5 GeV. Measurements of the mean subjet multiplicity, â©n_{sbj}âȘ, of the inclusive jet sample are presented. Predictions based on parton-shower Monte Carlo models and next-to-leading-order QCD calculations are compared to the measurements. The value of α_{s} (M_{z}), determined from â©n_{sbj}âȘ at y_{cut} = 10â»ÂČ for jets with 25 < E_{T}^{jet} < 119 GeV, is α_{s} (M_{z}) = 0.1202 ± 0.0052 (stat.)_{-0.0019}^{+0.0060} (syst.)_{-0.0053}^{+0.0065} (th.). The mean subjet multiplicity as a function of QÂČ is found to be consistent with that measured in NC DIS
Multijet production in neutral current deep inelastic scattering at HERA and determination of α_{s}
Multijet production rates in neutral current deep inelastic scattering have been measured in the range of exchanged boson virtualities 10 5 GeV and â1 < η_{LAB}^{jet} < 2.5. Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations describe the data well. The value of the strong coupling constant α_{s} (M_{z}), determined from the ratio of the trijet to dijet cross sections, is α_{s} (M_{z}) = 0.1179 ± 0.0013 (stat.)_{-0.0046}^{+0.0028}(exp.)_{-0.0046}^{+0.0028}(th.)
A new Low Gain Avalanche Diode concept: the double-LGAD
This paper describes the new concept of the double-LGAD. The goal is to
increase the charge at the input of the electronics, keeping a time resolution
equal or better than a standard (single) LGAD; this has been realized by adding
the charges of two coupled LGADs while still using a single front-end
electronics. The study here reported has been done starting from single LGAD
with a thickness of 25 \textmu{m}, 35 \textmu{m} and 50 \textmu{m}.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2208.0571
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