Vegetarian and vegan weaning of the infant: How common and how evidence-based? a population-based survey and narrative review

Background: Vegetarian and vegan weaning have increasing popularity among parents and families. However, if not correctly managed, they may lead to wrong feeding regimens, causing severe nutritional deficiencies requiring specific nutritional support or even the need for hospitalization. Aim: To assess the prevalence of vegetarian and vegan weaning among Italian families and to provide an up-to-date narrative review of supporting evidence. Materials and methods: We investigated 360 Italian families using a 40-item questionnaire. The narrative review was conducted searching scientific databases for articles reporting on vegetarian and vegan weaning. Results: 8.6% of mothers follow an alternative feeding regimen and 9.2% of infants were weaned according to a vegetarian or vegan diet. The breastfeeding duration was longer in vegetarian/vegan infants (15.8 vs. 9.7 months; p < 0.0001). Almost half of parents (45.2%) claim that their pediatrician was unable to provide sufficient information and adequate indications regarding unconventional weaning and 77.4% of parents reported the pediatrician’s resistance towards alternative weaning methods. Nine studies were suitable for the review process. The vast majority of authors agree on the fact that vegetarian and vegan weaning may cause severe nutritional deficiencies, whose detrimental effects are particularly significant in the early stages of life. Discussion and conclusion: Our results show that alternative weaning methods are followed by a significant number of families; in half of the cases, the family pediatrician was not perceived as an appropriate guide in this delicate process. To date, consistent findings to support both the safety and feasibility of alternative weaning methods are still lacking. Since the risk of nutritional deficiencies in the early stages of life is high, pediatricians have a pivotal role in guiding parents and advising them on the most appropriate and complete diet regimen during childhood. Efforts should be made to enhance nutritional understanding among pediatricians as an unsupervised vegetarian or vegan diet can cause severe nutritional deficiencies with possible detrimental long-term effects

A large area CsI RICH Detector in ALICE at LHC

A 1m2 CsI RICH prototype has been successfully tested in a hadron beam at CERN SPS. The prototype, fully equipped with 15k electronic channels, has been used to identify particles coming from pi-Be interactions. Track reconstruction has been performed by using a telescope consisting of four gas pad chambers. A detailed description of the detector will be presented and results from the test will be discussed.List of figuresFigure 1 Expected proton and antiproton yields including jet quenching mechanism in central Pb-Pb collisions at LHC.Figure 2 Schematic view of the HMPID CsI-RICHFigure 3 Experimental layout used at the SPS/H4 test beamFigure 4 Distributions of the mean number, per ring, of pad hits (Npad), electrons (Ntot) and Cherenkov photoelectrons (Nres) as a function of the single-electron mean pulse heightFigure 5 Mean single-electron pulse height as a function of high voltage measured at the centre of each of the four photocathodesFigure 6 Evaluation of the uniformity of the chamber gain for the photocathode PC32Figure 7 Azimuthal distribution of the photon pad hits in the Cherenkov fiducial zone (HV=2050 V)Figure 8 Photon angle (a) and track Cherenkov angle (b) distributions for beam events at the SPSFigure 9 Track density on the HMPID cathode plane in real 350 GeV/c pi--Be eventsFigure 10 Three dimensional display of an SPS 350 GeV/c pi--Be event. Eleven tracks are reconstructed in the telescope by requiring one hit on each pad chamber to reconstruct a track</UL

The Present Development of CsI Rich Detectors for the ALICE Experiment at CERN

The ALICE Collaboration plans to implement a 12m^2 array consisting of 7 proximity focussed C6F^14 liquid radiator RICH modules devoted to the particle identification in the momentum range: 1 GeV/c - 3.5 GeV/c for pions and kaons. A large area CSI-RICH prototype has been designed and built with the aim to validate the detector parameter assumptions made to predict the performance of the High Momentum Particle Identification System (HMPID) of the ALICE Experiment. The main elements of the prototype will be described with emphasis on the engineering solutions adopted. First results from the analysis of multitrack events recorded with this prototype exposed to hadron beams at the CERN SPS will be discussedList of FiguresFigure 1 General view of the ALICE lay-outFigure 2 Schematic layout of the fast CsI-RICHFigure 3 Perspective view of the HMPID layout with the seven RICH modules tilted according to their position with respect to the interaction vertex. The frame that supports the detectors is also shownFigure 4 Top view of the photodetector anode plane with the wire support spacer. One CsI board, out of six forming the pad cathode plane, is also shown.Figure 5 Perspective view of the HMPID honeycomb panel with the three radiator vesselsFigure 6 Cut away view of the HMPID CsI-RICH showing separately each detector component. Kapton buses that carry signals from the pads to the readout electronics are also shownFigure 7 a)number of resolved photoelectrons per event, b)reconstructed Cherenkov angle per photonFigure 8 C6F14 transmission plots before and after the molecular sieve purificationFigure 9 Display plot showing an SPS event. Three tracks are reconstructed by using the tracking chamber telescope, the associated rings are shown in the HMPID prototypeThis publication also appears as INT-98-20

Charged Particle Production in Proton-, Deuteron-, Oxygen- and Sulphur-Nucleus Collisions at 200 GeV per Nucleon

The transverse momentum and rapidity distributions of net protons and negatively charged hadrons have been measured for minimum bias proton-nucleus and deuteron-gold interactions, as well as central oxygen-gold and sulphur-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon. The rapidity density of net protons at midrapidity in central nucleus-nucleus collisions increases both with target mass for sulphur projectiles and with the projectile mass for a gold target. The shape of the rapidity distributions of net protons forward of midrapidity for d+Au and central S+Au collisions is similar. The average rapidity loss is larger than 2 units of rapidity for reactions with the gold target. The transverse momentum spectra of net protons for all reactions can be described by a thermal distribution with `temperatures' between 145 +- 11 MeV (p+S interactions) and 244 +- 43 MeV (central S+Au collisions). The multiplicity of negatively charged hadrons increases with the mass of the colliding system. The shape of the transverse momentum spectra of negatively charged hadrons changes from minimum bias p+p and p+S interactions to p+Au and central nucleus-nucleus collisions. The mean transverse momentum is almost constant in the vicinity of midrapidity and shows little variation with the target and projectile masses. The average number of produced negatively charged hadrons per participant baryon increases slightly from p+p, p+A to central S+S,Ag collisions.Comment: 47 pages, submitted to Z. Phys.

A progress report on the development of the CsI-RICH detector for the ALICE experiment at LHC

The particle identification in ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) at LHC will be achieved by two complementary systems based on time of flight measurement, at low $p_t$, and on the Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) technique, at $p_t$ ranging from 2 to 5 GeV/$c$, respectively. The High Momentum PID (HMPID) system will cover $\sim$5\% of the phase space, the single arm detector array beeing composed by seven 1.3$\times$1.3 m$^2$ CsI-RICH modules placed at 4.7 m from the interaction point where a density of about 50 particles/m$^2$ is expected.\\ A 1 m$^2$ prototype, 2/3 of HMPID module size, has been successfully tested at the CERN/PS beam where 18 photoelectrons per event have been obtained with 3 GeV/c pions and 10 mm liquid $\mathrm{C}_6\mathrm{F}_{14}$ radiator. Mechanical problems related to the liquid radiator vessel construction have been solved and the prototype, fully equipped, will be tested at the CERN/SPS to investigate the PID capability in high particle density events.\\ In this report, after an introductory discussion on the requirements for PID in ALICE, the HMPID prototype is described and the main results of beam tests on large area CsI photocathodes, operated in RICH detectors, are given

Seagrass ecosystems of the Pacific Island countries and territories: a global bright spot

Seagrass ecosystems exist throughout Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs). Despite this area covering nearly 8% of the global ocean, information on seagrass distribution, biogeography, and status remains largely absent from the scientific literature. We confirm 16 seagrass species occur across 17 of the 22 PICTs with the highest number in Melanesia, followed by Micronesia and Polynesia respectively. The greatest diversity of seagrass occurs in Papua New Guinea (13 species), and attenuates eastward across the Pacific to two species in French Polynesia. We conservatively estimate seagrass extent to be 1446.2 km2, with the greatest extent (84%) in Melanesia. We find seagrass condition in 65% of PICTs increasing or displaying no discernible trend since records began. Marine conservation across the region overwhelmingly focuses on coral reefs, with seagrass ecosystems marginalised in conservation legislation and policy. Traditional knowledge is playing a greater role in managing local seagrass resources and these approaches are having greater success than contemporary conservation approaches. In a world where the future of seagrass ecosystems is looking progressively dire, the Pacific Islands appears as a global bright spot, where pressures remain relatively low and seagrass more resilient

Study of the transverse mass spectra of strange particles in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c

The NA57 experiment has collected high statistics, high purity samples of \PKzS and \PgL, $\Xi$ and $\Omega$ hyperons produced in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 $A$ GeV/$c$. In this paper we present a study of the transverse mass spectra of these particles for a sample of events corresponding to the most central 53% of the inelastic Pb-Pb cross-section. We analyse the transverse mass distributions in the framework of the blast-wave model for the full sample and, for the first time at the SPS, as a function of the event centrality.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, submitted to J. Phys. G: Nucl. Phy

Strange particle production in 158 and 40 AA GeV/cc Pb-Pb and p-Be collisions

Results on strange particle production in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 and 40 $A$ GeV/$c$ beam momentum from the NA57 experiment at CERN SPS are presented. Particle yields and ratios are compared with those measured at RHIC. Strangeness enhancements with respect to p-Be reactions at the same beam momenta have been also measured: results about their dependence on centrality and collision energy are reported and discussed.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the "Hot Quarks 2004" Conference, July 18-24 2004, New Mexico, USA, submitted to Journal of Physics G 7 pages, 5 figure

R&D in ALICE: The CsI-based RICH high momentum particle identification detector

We report on the R&D studies performed on a CsI-based RICH detector with a liquid perfluorohexane radiator running pure methane at atmospheric pressure. The development, initiated by the CERN RD26 project in 1993, has been pursued in the framework of the ALICE/HMPID collaboration. A prototype of the detector under construction for ALICE is taking data since two years in the STAR experiment at RHIC

Review of the development of cesium iodide photocathodes for application to large RICH detectors

CsI photocathodes were studied in order to evaluate their potential use as large photo converters in RICH detectors for the PID system of ALICE at LHC in heavy-ion collider mode. It has been demonstrated that a quantum efficiency close to the reference value obtained on small samples can be obtained on CsI layers evaporated on large pad electrodes operated in a MWPC at atmospheric pressure. We present a survey of the results obtained in the laboratory on small samples irradiated with UV-monochromatic beams and with large area RICH detectors of proximity-focusing geometry in a 3 GeV/c pion beam