59 research outputs found
The chemical structure of the very young starless core L1521E
L1521E is a dense starless core in Taurus that was found to have relatively
low molecular depletion by earlier studies, thus suggesting a recent formation.
We aim to characterize the chemical structure of L1521E and compare it to the
more evolved L1544 pre-stellar core. We have obtained 2.52.5
arcminute maps toward L1521E using the IRAM-30m telescope in transitions of
various species. We derived abundances for the species and compared them to
those obtained toward L1544. We estimated CO depletion factors. Similarly to
L1544, -CH and CHOH peak at different positions. Most species
peak toward the -CH peak. The CO depletion factor derived toward the
dust peak is 4.31.6, which is about a factor of three lower
than that toward L1544. The abundances of sulfur-bearing molecules are higher
toward L1521E than toward L1544 by factors of 2-20. The abundance of
methanol is similar toward the two cores. The higher abundances of
sulfur-bearing species toward L1521E than toward L1544 suggest that significant
sulfur depletion takes place during the dynamical evolution of dense cores,
from the starless to pre-stellar stage. The CO depletion factor measured toward
L1521E suggests that CO is more depleted than previously found. Similar
CHOH abundances between L1521E and L1544 hint that methanol is forming at
specific physical conditions in Taurus, characterized by densities of a few
10 cm and (H)10 cm, when CO
starts to catastrophically freeze-out, while water can still be significantly
photodissociated, so that the surfaces of dust grains become rich in solid CO
and CHOH, as already found toward L1544. Methanol can thus provide
selective crucial information about the transition region between dense cores
and the surrounding parent cloud.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, abstract abridge
Comparative modeling of infrared fiber lasers
The modeling and design of fiber lasers facilitate the process of their practical realization. Of particular interest during the last few years is the development of lanthanide ion-doped fiber lasers that operate at wavelengths exceeding 2000 nm. There are two main host glass materials considered for this purpose, namely fluoride and chalcogenide glasses. Therefore, this study concerned comparative modeling of fiber lasers operating within the infrared wavelength region beyond 2000 nm. In particular, the convergence properties of selected algorithms, implemented within various software environments, were studied with a specific focus on the central processing unit (CPU) time and calculation residual. Two representative fiber laser cavities were considered: One was based on a chalcogenide-selenide glass step-index fiber doped with trivalent dysprosium ions, whereas the other was a fluoride step-index fiber doped with trivalent erbium ions. The practical calculation accuracy was also assessed by comparing directly the results obtained from the different models
Italian guidelines for primary headache: 2012 revised version
The first edition of the Italian diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines for primary headaches in adults was published in J Headache Pain 2(Suppl. 1):105-190 (2001). Ten years later, the guideline committee of the Italian Society for the Study of Headaches (SISC) decided it was time to update therapeutic guidelines. A literature search was carried out on Medline database, and all articles on primary headache treatments in English, German, French and Italian published from February 2001 to December 2011 were taken into account. Only randomized controlled trials (RCT) and meta-analyses were analysed for each drug. If RCT were lacking, open studies and case series were also examined. According to the previous edition, four levels of recommendation were defined on the basis of levels of evidence, scientific strength of evidence and clinical effectiveness. Recommendations for symptomatic and prophylactic treatment of migraine and cluster headache were therefore revised with respect to previous 2001 guidelines and a section was dedic
Investigating the Effects of COVID-19 Quarantine in Migraine: An Observational Cross-Sectional Study From the Italian National Headache Registry (RICe)
Background: Previous studies during SARS and Ebola pandemics have shown that quarantine is associated with several negative psychological effects, such as post-traumatic stress symptoms, confusion, and anger. These conditions may affect the course of many diseases, including migraine. Although it is possible that the quarantine measures for the current COVID-19 pandemic affect migraine burden, no information is currently available on this issue.
Aim: In this study, we aimed to: (1) explore the possible changes in migraine frequency, severity, and days with acute medication intake during quarantine period; (2) evaluate possible differences in migraine outcomes in consideration of lifestyle changes, emotions, pandemic diffusion, and COVID-19 infection.
Methods: We interviewed patients who were included in the observational Italian Headache Registry (Registro Italiano Cefalee, RICE), retrospectively collecting information on main headache features, lifestyle factors, emotions, individual infection status, and perception of COVID-19 for 2 months before (pre-quarantine) and after the beginning of the quarantine (quarantine). Inclusion criteria were: age > 18, diagnosis of migraine without aura, migraine with aura and chronic migraine, last in-person visit more than 3 months preceding the beginning of quarantine.
Results: A total of 433 migraine subjects agreed to be interviewed. We found an overall reduction in headache frequency (9.42 ± 0.43 days with headache vs. 8.28 ± 0.41) and intensity (6.57 ± 0.19 vs. 6.59 ± 0.21) during the quarantine, compared to pre-quarantine. There was a correlation between improvement and number of days of stay-at-home. When results were stratified for geographic area, we found a tendency toward worsening of headache frequency in northern Italy. Disgust regarding viral infection corresponded to a minor improvement in migraine.
Conclusions: Migraine patients showed a mild improvement of migraine features, probably attributable to resilient behavior toward pandemic distress. Disgust regarding the contagion whereas potentially favoring defensive behavior, could potentially worsen migraine. The spontaneous limitation of migraine burden during quarantine could favor patient follow-up via the use of telemedicine visits, reliable diaries, and frequent remote contacts
Investigating the effects of COVID-19 quarantine in migraine. An observational cross-sectional study from the Italian National Headache Registry (RICe)
Background: Previous studies during SARS and Ebola pandemics have shown that quarantine is associated with several negative psychological effects, such as post-traumatic stress symptoms, confusion, and anger. These conditions may affect the course of many diseases, including migraine. Although it is possible that the quarantine measures for the current COVID-19 pandemic affect migraine burden, no information is currently available on this issue. Aim: In this study, we aimed to: (1) explore the possible changes in migraine frequency, severity, and days with acute medication intake during quarantine period; (2) evaluate possible differences in migraine outcomes in consideration of lifestyle changes, emotions, pandemic diffusion, and COVID-19 infection. Methods: We interviewed patients who were included in the observational Italian Headache Registry (Registro Italiano Cefalee, RICE), retrospectively collecting information on main headache features, lifestyle factors, emotions, individual infection status, and perception of COVID-19 for 2 months before (pre-quarantine) and after the beginning of the quarantine (quarantine). Inclusion criteria were: age > 18, diagnosis of migraine without aura, migraine with aura and chronic migraine, last in-person visit more than 3 months preceding the beginning of quarantine. Results: A total of 433 migraine subjects agreed to be interviewed. We found an overall reduction in headache frequency (9.42 ± 0.43 days with headache vs. 8.28 ± 0.41) and intensity (6.57 ± 0.19 vs. 6.59 ± 0.21) during the quarantine, compared to pre-quarantine. There was a correlation between improvement and number of days of stay-at-home. When results were stratified for geographic area, we found a tendency toward worsening of headache frequency in northern Italy. Disgust regarding viral infection corresponded to a minor improvement in migraine. Conclusions: Migraine patients showed a mild improvement of migraine features, probably attributable to resilient behavior toward pandemic distress. Disgust regarding the contagion whereas potentially favoring defensive behavior, could potentially worsen migraine. The spontaneous limitation of migraine burden during quarantine could favor patient follow-up via the use of telemedicine visits, reliable diaries, and frequent remote contacts
Validation of the italian version of the Cluster Headache Impact Questionnaire (CHIQ)
Background: The Cluster Headache Impact Questionnaire (CHIQ) is a specific and easy-to-use questionnaire to assess the current impact of cluster headache (CH). The aim of this study was to validate the Italian version of the CHIQ. Methods: We included patients diagnosed with episodic CH (eCH) or chronic CH (cCH) according to the ICHD-3 criteria and included in the “Italian Headache Registry” (RICe). The questionnaire was administered to patients through an electronic form in two sessions: at first visit for validation, and after 7 days for test-retest reliability. For internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha was calculated. Convergent validity of the CHIQ with CH features and the results of questionnaires assessing anxiety, depression, stress, and quality of life was evaluated using Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Results: We included 181 patients subdivided in 96 patients with active eCH, 14 with cCH, and 71 with eCH in remission. The 110 patients with either active eCH or cCH were included in the validation cohort; only 24 patients with CH were characterized by a stable attack frequency after 7 days, and were included in the test-retest cohort. Internal consistency of the CHIQ was good with a Cronbach alpha value of 0.891. The CHIQ score showed a significant positive correlation with anxiety, depression, and stress scores, while showing a significant negative correlation with quality-of-life scale scores. Conclusion: Our data show the validity of the Italian version of the CHIQ, which represents a suitable tool for evaluating the social and psychological impact of CH in clinical practice and research
Do novel European Headache Federation criteria identify differences in migraine burden?: baseline data of an international real-life study on resistant and refractory migraine (REFINE)
Question. We evaluated if EHF criteria for resistant (RES) and refractory (REF) migraine identify patients with more severe migraine burden. Methods. We performed an observational, multi center, international study to compare baseline characteristics, comorbidities, and PROMs of non-resistant and non-refractory (NRNR) migraine, RES and REF individuals in the REFINE study. Results. We included 175 individuals with NRNR migraine, 133 (39.7%) with RES and 27 (8.0%) with REF. Individuals with RES and REF migraine as compared to those with NRNR reported higher monthly migraine days (median=8, IQR=5-14 vs. median=13, IQR=10- 17 and median=15, IQR=10-20; p≤0.001), months of chronification (median=24, IQR=12-72 vs. median=40, IQR=12-108 and median=60, IQR=18-96; p=0.044), monthly days of symptomatic drugs assumption (median=8, IQR=5-15 vs. median=12, IQR=9-20 and median=15, IQR=10-20; p≤0.001), medication overuse (19.4% vs. 45.9% and 40.7%; p≤0.001). They also had more comorbidities such as depression (18.3% vs. 31.1% and 44.4%; p=0.002) and anxiety (13.7% vs. 21.1% and 37%; p=0.009). In these groups, PROMs also revealed a higher presence of anxiety (p≤0.001) and depression (p≤0.001) symptoms and poorer sleep quality (p=0.006). Regarding specific perceptions about migraine, RES and REF individuals reported higher impact of migraine on daily life (p≤0.001) and work, household work, and social life (p≤0.001), along with a lower perception of the effectiveness of their ongoing treatment for migraine (p≤0.001), when compared to NRNR subjects (Table 1). Conclusion. RES and REF migraine is associated with relevant migraine burden considering migraine features, comorbidities and scores at several scales; the severe burdensome condition of RES and REF is confirmed by the median number of monthly migraine days and PROMs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Diamond Detectors for the TOTEM Timing Upgrade
This paper describes the design and the performance of the timing detector
developed by the TOTEM Collaboration for the Roman Pots (RPs) to measure the
Time-Of-Flight (TOF) of the protons produced in central diffractive
interactions at the LHC. The measurement of the TOF of the protons allows the
determination of the longitudinal position of the proton interaction vertex and
its association with one of the vertices reconstructed by the CMS detectors.
The TOF detector is based on single crystal Chemical Vapor Deposition (scCVD)
diamond plates and is designed to measure the protons TOF with about 50 ps time
precision. This upgrade to the TOTEM apparatus will be used in the LHC run 2
and will tag the central diffractive events up to an interaction pileup of
about 1. A dedicated fast and low noise electronics for the signal
amplification has been developed. The digitization of the diamond signal is
performed by sampling the waveform. After introducing the physics studies that
will most profit from the addition of these new detectors, we discuss in detail
the optimization and the performance of the first TOF detector installed in the
LHC in November 2015.Comment: 26 pages, 18 figures, 2 tables, submitted for publication to JINS
Sodium valproate in migraine without aura and medication overuse headache: A randomized controlled trial
Objective: To assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of sodium valproate (800. mg/die) compared with placebo in medication-overuse headache patients with a history of migraine without aura. Methods: This is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study enrolled medication-overuse headache patients for a 3-month treatment period with sodium valproate (800. mg/day) or placebo after a 6 day outpatient detoxification regimen, followed by a 3-month follow-up. Primary outcome was defined by the proportion of patients achieving ≥50% reduction in the number of days with headache per month (responders) from the baseline to the last 4 weeks of the 3-month treatment. Multivariate logistic regression models were used on the primary endpoint, adjusting for age, sex, disease duration, comorbidity and surgery. The last-observation-carried-forward method was used to adjust for missing values. Results: Nine sites enrolled 130 patients and, after a 6-day detoxification phase, randomized 88 eligible patients. The 3-month responder rate was higher in the sodium valproate (45.0%) than in the placebo arm (23.8%) with an absolute difference of about 20% (p=0.0431). Sodium valproate had safety and tolerability profiles comparable to placebo. Conclusions: The present study supports the efficacy and safety of sodium valproate in the treatment of medication overuse headache with history of migraine after detoxification
Evidence for non-exponential elastic proton-proton differential cross-section at low |t| and sqrt(s) = 8 TeV by TOTEM
The TOTEM experiment has made a precise measurement of the elastic
proton-proton differential cross-section at the centre-of-mass energy sqrt(s) =
8 TeV based on a high-statistics data sample obtained with the beta* = 90
optics. Both the statistical and systematic uncertainties remain below 1%,
except for the t-independent contribution from the overall normalisation. This
unprecedented precision allows to exclude a purely exponential differential
cross-section in the range of four-momentum transfer squared 0.027 < |t| < 0.2
GeV^2 with a significance greater than 7 sigma. Two extended parametrisations,
with quadratic and cubic polynomials in the exponent, are shown to be well
compatible with the data. Using them for the differential cross-section
extrapolation to t = 0, and further applying the optical theorem, yields total
cross-section estimates of (101.5 +- 2.1) mb and (101.9 +- 2.1) mb,
respectively, in agreement with previous TOTEM measurements.Comment: Final version published in Nuclear Physics
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