EUSO science

EUSO is a mission to explore the extreme universe by the probe of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) and UHE neutrinos. EUSO monitors a gigantic volume of atmosphere from Space and measures showers induced by UHECRs and UHE neutrinos. Scientifically, it is important to measure the energy spectrum of UHECRs well beyond GZK energy with high statistics. EUSO ensures the observation of UHECRs up to 10$^{21}$eV even in the case of GZK mechanism working, and gives us a clear picture of the existence / non-existence of the GZK effect and the behavior of the spectrum beyond GZK energy, which represents the contributions from nearby sources. The anisotropy study of UHECR arrival directions in a small scale angle above GZK energy may allow us to identify individual source, because of the limited propagation distance and the high rigidity of particles. If event clusters observed by AGASA are real, it is expected from Monte Carlo simulation that EUSO will see ~100 particles from individual brightest sources and will give us a good opportunity to test the relativity in high precision. The UHE neutrino is a unique channel to explore the universe much deeper than UHECRs. EUSO essentially can measure UHE neutrinos free from background proton showers. The number of GZK neutrino events in a EUSO three years' mission is expected to be only a few. Nevertheless, it is a definitely conceivable opportunity to begin UHE neutrino astrophysics at GZK energy

Deadly Puppy Infection Caused by an MDR Escherichia coli O39 blaCTX–M–15, blaCMY–2, blaDHA–1, and aac(6)-Ib-cr – Positive in a Breeding Kennel in Central Italy

Antimicrobial consumption in veterinary medicine has led to the spread of multi drug-resistance in clinically important bacteria, with the companion animals and their environment involved as emerging reservoirs. While CTX-M-15 and CMY-2 acquired β-lactamases have been widely detected in the bacterial population of companion and breeding animals in European area, DHA-1 enzymes have been rarely reported in veterinary medicine. The aim of the study was to characterize the Escherichia coli associated with mortality of a litter of Bulldog puppies in a breeding kennel located in Pesaro area, Central Italy. The E. coli strains O39 serotype were resistant to 3rd/4th generation cephalosporins, chloramphenicol, aminoglycosides, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and ciprofloxacin, retaining susceptibility to carbapenems, colistin, fosfomycin, and levofloxacin (by Microscan Autoscan4, EUCAST clinical breakpoints). Pulse field gel electrophoreses (PFGE-XbaI) on five E. coli strains revealed the presence of a single profile. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) analysis revealed a complex resistome, harboring blaTEM–1b, blaCTX–M–15, blaOXA–1, aph(6)-Ib, aac(6′)Ib-cr, aac(3)-Ila, aph(6)-Id, aadA1, qnrB1, sul2, catA1, catB3, tetA, and dfrA14 genes located on a 302597 bp IncHI2/HI2A plasmid. Moreover, blaDHA–1, qnrB4, mph(A), sul1, and dfrA17 determinants were carried on an 83,429 bp IncFII plasmid. A blaCMY–2 determinant was carried on a 90,249 bp IncI1 plasmid. Two IncX1 and IncX4 plasmids without antimicrobial resistance genes were also detected. The presence of lpfA, iss, astA, and gad virulence factors was highlighted. This is the first report in Italy on an invasive infection in eight 2-weeks old dogs caused by the same MDR E. coli O39 blaCTX–M–15, blaCMY–2, blaDHA–1, and aac(6′)-Ib-cr positive strain. The above MDR E. coli clone caused the death of the entire litter, despite amoxicillin-clavulanate and enrofloxacin administration. The tank for storage of the water used to prepare the milk-based meal for the litter was the suspected reservoir

Propagation of ultra-high energy protons in the nearby universe

We present a new calculation of the propagation of protons with energies above $10^{19}$ eV over distances of up to several hundred Mpc. The calculation is based on a Monte Carlo approach using the event generator SOPHIA for the simulation of hadronic nucleon-photon interactions and a realistic integration of the particle trajectories in a random extragalactic magnetic field. Accounting for the proton scattering in the magnetic field affects noticeably the nucleon energy as a function of the distance to their source and allows us to give realistic predictions on arrival energy, time delay, and arrival angle distributions and correlations as well as secondary particle production spectra.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, ReVTeX. Physical Review D, accepte

SUSY Resonances from UHE neutralinos in Neutrino Telescopes and in the Sky

In the Top-down scenarios, the decay of super-heavy particles (m~10^{12-16}GeV), situated in dark-matter halos not very far from our Galaxy, can explain the ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic-ray spectrum beyond the Griesen-Zatasepin-Kuzmin cut-off. In the MSSM, a major component of the UHE cosmic-ray flux at PeV-EeV energies could be given by the lightest neutralino \chi, that is the lightest stable supersymmetric particle. Then, the signal of UHE \chi's on earth might emerge over the interactions of a comparable neutrino component. We compute the event rates for the resonant production of "right" selectrons and "right" squarks in mSUGRA, when UHE neutralinos of energy larger than 10^5 GeV scatter off electrons and quarks in an earth-based detector like IceCube. When the resonant channel dominates in the total \chi-e,\chi-q scattering cross section, the only model parameters affecting the corresponding visible signal rates turn out to be the physical masses of the resonant right-scalar and of the lightest neutralino. We compare the expected number of supersymmetric events with the rates corresponding to the expected Glashow W resonance and to the continuum UHE \nu-N scattering for realistic power-law spectra. We find that the event rate in the leptonic selectron channel is particularly promising, and can reach a few tens for a one-year exposure in IceCube. Finally, we note that UHE neutralinos at much higher energies (up to hundreds ZeV) may produce sneutrino resonances by scattering off relic neutrinos in the Local Group hot dark halo. The consequent \tilde{\nu}-burst into hadronic final states could mimic Z-burst events, although with quite smaller conversion efficiency.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures; one reference adde

Extreme Energy Cosmic Rays (EECR) Observation Capabilities of an "Airwatch from Space'' Mission

The longitudinal development and other characteristics of the EECR induced atmospheric showers can be studied from space by detecting the fluorescence light induced in the atmospheric nitrogen. According to the Airwatch concept a single fast detector can be used for measuring both intensity and time development of the streak of fluorescence light produced by the atmospheric shower induced by an EECR. In the present communication the detection capabilities for the EECR observation from space are discussed.Comment: 3 pages (LaTeX). To appear in the Proceedings of TAUP'9

The Particle Physics Reach of High-Energy Neutrino Astronomy

We discuss the prospects for high-energy neutrino astronomy to study particle physics in the energy regime comparable to and beyond that obtainable at the current and planned colliders. We describe the various signatures of high-energy cosmic neutrinos expected in both neutrino telescopes and air shower experiments and discuss these measurements within the context of theoretical models with a quantum gravity or string scale near a TeV, supersymmetry and scenarios with interactions induced by electroweak instantons. We attempt to access the particle physics reach of these experiments.Comment: Mini-review article for New Journal of Physics, "Focus on Neutrinos" issue. 27 pages, 11 figure

Results from the ULTRA experiment in the framework of the EUSO project

The detection of Cerenkov light from EAS in a delayed coincidence with fluorescence light gives a strong signature to discriminate protons and neutrinos in cosmic rays. For this purpose, the ULTRA experiment has been designed with 2 detectors: a small EAS array (ETscope) and an UV optical device including wide field (Belenos) and narrow field (UVscope) Cerenkov light detectors. The array measures the shower size and the arrival direction of the incoming EAS, while the UV devices, pointing both to zenith and nadir, are used to determine the amount of direct and diffused coincident Cerenkov light. This information, provided for different diffusing surfaces, will be used to verify the possibility of detecting from Space the Cerenkov light produced by UHECRs with the EUSO experiment, on board the ISS

Treatment with COLchicine in hospitalized patients affected by COVID-19: The COLVID-19 trial

Objective: To evaluate whether the addition of colchicine to standard of care (SOC) results in better outcomes in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Design: This interventional, multicenter, randomized, phase 2 study, evaluated colchicine 1.5 mg/day added to SOC in hospitalized COVID-19 patients (COLVID-19 trial) and 227 patients were recruited. The primary outcome was the rate of critical disease in 30 days defined as need of mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit (ICU), or death. Results: 152 non-anti-SARS-CoV-2-vaccinated patients (colchicine vs controls: 77vs75, mean age 69.1±13.1 vs 67.9±15 years, 39% vs 33.3% females, respectively) were analyzed. There was no difference in co-primary end-points between patients treated with colchicine compared to controls (mechanical ventilation 5.2% vs 4%, ICU 1.3% vs 5.3%, death 9.1% vs 6.7%, overall 11 (14.3%) vs 10 (13.3%) patients, P=ns, respectively). Mean time to discharge was similar (colchicine vs controls 14.1±10.4 vs 14.7±8.1 days). Older age (>60 years, P=0.025), P/F<275 mmHg (P=0.005), AST>40 U/L (P<0.001), pre-existent heart (P=0.02), lung (P=0.003), upper-gastrointestinal (P=0.014), lower-gastrointestinal diseases (P=0.009) and cancer (P=0.008) were predictive of achieving the primary outcome. Diarrhoea (9.1% vs 0%, p=0.0031) and increased levels of AST at 6 days (76.9±91.8 vs 33.5±20.7 U/l, P=0.016) were more frequent in the colchicine group. Conclusion: Colchicine did not reduce the rate and the time to the critical stage. Colchicine was relatively safe although adverse hepatic effects require caution. We confirm that older (>60 years) patients with comorbidities are characterized by worse outcome