Underwater acoustic detection of UHE neutrinos with the ANTARES experiment

The ANTARES Neutrino Telescope is a water Cherenkov detector composed of an array of approximately 900 photomultiplier tubes in 12 vertical strings, spread over an area of about 0.1 km^2 with an instrumented height of about 350 metres. ANTARES, built in the Mediterranean Sea, is the biggest neutrino Telescope operating in the northern hemisphere. Acoustic sensors (AMADEUS project) have been integrated into the infrastructure of ANTARES, grouped in small arrays, to evaluate the feasibility of a future acoustic neutrino telescope in the deep sea operating in the ultra-high energy regime. In this contribution, the basic principles of acoustic neutrino detection will be presented. The AMADEUS array of acoustic sensors will be described and the latest results of the project summarized.Comment: Proceedings of the 31st ICRC conference, 4 pages, 5 figure

Acoustic detection of UHE neutrinos in the Mediterranean sea: Status and perspective

In recent years the astro-particle community is involved in the realization of experimental apparatuses for the detection of high energy neutrinos originated in cosmic sources or produced in the interaction of Cosmic Rays with the Cosmic Microwave Background. For neutrino energies in the TeV-PeV range, optical Cherenkov detectors, that have been so far positively exploited by Baikal[1], IceCube[2] and ANTARES[3], are considered optimal. For higher energies, three different experimental techniques are under study: the detection of radio pulses produced by showers induced by a neutrino interaction, the detection of air showers initiated by neutrinos interacting with rocks or deep Earth's atmosphere and the detection of acoustic waves produced by deposition of energy following the interaction of neutrinos in an acoustically transparent medium. The potential of the acoustic detection technique, first proposed by Askaryan[4], to build very large neutrino detectors is appealing, thanks to the optimal properties of media such as water or ice as sound propagator. Though the studies on this technique are still in an early stage, acoustic positioning systems used to locate the optical modules in underwater Cherenkov neutrino detectors, give the possibility to study the ambient noise and provide important information for the future analysis of acoustic data. © 2017 The Authors, published by EDP Sciences

Cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure: from the case to review of literature

In response to an increased workload due to physiological or pathological stimuli, the heart may undergo a process of growth with increased muscle mass called cardiac hypertrophy. It is a particular mechanism of long term compensation used by the heart to adapt permanently to a greater workload. Although, through its peculiar structural, molecular and metabolic characteristics, in early stage the hypertrophy allows to maintain an adequate cardiac function, after a variable period of time, the same characteristics promote the evolution to contractile dysfunction and heart failure. The latter represents an important cause of death and so the cardiac hypertrophy increases the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. In this paper we report a rare case of extremely high degree of concentric cardiac hypertrophy, with a heart weight of 1050 g and longitudinal diameter of 16.5 cm, transverse diameter of 16 cm and antero-posterior diameter of 9 cm. The thickness of the left ventricle free wall was 4.2 cm, of the septum 4.3 cm and at the apex level 3.5 cm. These data, compared with those described in scientific literature, indicate the exceptional nature of our necropsy finding of a huge cardiac hypertrophy. The analysis of the pathogenetic mechanisms, which may determinate the fatal event in case of cardiac hypertrophy, shows that in the described case the death cause can be the onset of heart failure in presence of cardiomegaly

Terapia farmacologica e suicidio: l’esperienza del Gabapentin e della Quetiapina. Considerazioni medico-legali basate su una meta-analisi

Riassunto Il Gabapentin e la Quetiapina sono due farmaci appartenenti a due categorie farmaceutiche diverse e presentano diverse indicazioni terapeutiche. Essi condividono la negativa caratteristica di essere legati ad un possibile coinvolgimento in episodi di suicidio. Inoltre il recente uso off-label del Gabapentin per la terapia dei disturbi bipolari ha fatto sì che entrambi i farmaci possano essere impiegati per trattare la stessa patologia, aprendo la possibilità di una loro associazione nei pazienti refrattari alla monoterapia, con l’eventualità che i singoli effetti collaterali si sommino. Obiettivo di questo lavoro è stimare, attraverso l’analisi della letteratura scientifica disponibile, il legame esistente tra l’assunzione di Gabapentin e/o Quetiapina ed il rischio di ideazione e/o comportamenti suicidari, individuare un possibile meccanismo d’azione che possa spiegarlo e valutare il possibile utilizzo di questi farmaci come mezzo per porre in atto il suicidio. Il medico nel prescrivere Gabapentin o Quetiapina deve essere consapevole dei rischi che essi comportano e ne deve fornire al proprio paziente una completa informazione che gli consentano di prestare un consenso consapevole alla terapia. Inoltre, attraverso visite regolari, deve porre in atto un attento monitoraggio durante tutto l’arco del trattamento che gli consenta di rilevare segni di allarme e stabilire tutti gli accorgimenti, comportamentali e terapeutici, che permettano di ridurre o prevenire il rischio di comportamenti suicidari nei pazienti. Tutto ciò risulta ancor più importante alla luce della possibilità di una terapia di associazione con i due farmaci, sulla quale non esistono studi specifici. La gabapentine (Gabapentin) et la quétiapine (Quetiapina) sont deux médicaments appartenant à des catégories pharmaceutiques différentes ayant des indications thérapeutiques distinctes. Ils ont en commun la caractéristique négative d’être liés à une augmentation possible du risque de suicide. En outre, la prescription non conforme de médicaments (off-label use) comme la gabapentine, récemment choisie a fait que les deux médicaments peuvent être utilisés pour le traitement des troubles bipolaires, ouvrant la possibilité de faire prendre les deux aux patients jugés réfractaires à la monothérapie : le risque est que l’effet secondaire de l’un se somme à celui de l’autre. Grâce à l’analyse de la littérature scientifique, l’objectif de cette étude est : d’évaluer la relation entre l’assomption de la gabapentine et de la quétiapine et le risque d’idéation suicidaire et/ou de passage à l’acte ; d’identifier un mécanisme d’action pouvant expliquer ce risque ; évaluer l’usage de ces médicaments comme moyen de passage à l’acte dans la crise suicidaire. Le médecin qui prescrit la gabapentine (Gabapentin) ou la quétiapine (Quetiapina) doit être conscient de leurs risques et doit en informer le patient le plus complètement possible afin que ce dernier puisse donner, en toute conscience, un son consentement à la thérapie. En outre, par le biais de consultations régulières, le médecin doit effectuer un monitorage attentif du traitement pour détecter les signaux d’alarme et trouver les échappatoires, comportementales et thérapeutiques, pour réduire ou prévenir le risque suicidaire chez les patients. Tout cela est plus important encore, vu la possibilité de l’association de deux médicaments sur laquelle il n’existe aucune étude spécifique. Gabapentin and Quietiapina are two drugs belonging to two different pharmaceutical classes thus offering different therapeutic indications. They both share the negative feature of being related to a possible implication in suicidal events. Moreover, the latest off-label use of Gabapentin for the bipolar disorders therapy has allowed the use of both these drugs in the treatment of the same pathology, thus opening the possibility of their combination in treating those patients refractory to single-drug therapy. By doing in this way, there is the possibility of joining their separate side effects. The aim of this study is to assess, through the analysis of the available scientific literature, the tie between the administration of Gabapentin and/or Quietiapina and the risk of conceiving and/or practicing suicidal behaviours so that to recognize a possible action mechanism able to explain such behaviours. In this way researchers intend to estimate the possible use of these drugs as a means to commit suicide. When prescribing Gabapentin or Quietiapina, physicians must be aware of the risks of these drugs so that to accurately inform patients who have to give their conscious assent to the therapy. Moreover, through regular visits, caregivers have to implement an attentive monitoring throughout the whole therapy time in order to spot any signs alerting all possible therapeutic procedures necessary to prevent or reduce the risk of suicidal behaviours in patients. All these considerations appear to be more important in the light of the possibility of a therapy combining these two drugs, which has not yet been specifically studied

Cyst-like periapical lesion healing in an orthodontic patient: A case report with five-year follow-up

Abstract Aim To report the orthodontic movement of two central incisors through the healing site of a maxillary cyst-like lesion of endodontic origin after nonsurgical treatment. Case summary This report shows the treatment of a 18-year old patient, male, with a Class II division 2 malocclusion. He came to our attention seeking for orthodontic treatment. Radiographic examinations revealed a large cyst-like lesion in the maxillary anterior area, extending from the mesial surface of tooth 12 to the distal surface of tooth 21. The two upper incisors were nonresponsive to pulp sensitivity tests. Endodontic treatment was performed first. One week after root canal treatment had been completed with gutta-percha fillings, orthodontic treatment was started while the bone lesion healing was still underway. At the end of the orthodontic treatment, incisor retroclination was corrected, periapical lesion healing was completed and there were no signs of root resorption. The five-year follow-up revealed that occlusal relationship and dental alignment were kept stable and excellent radiographic resolution of the periapical lesion was obtained

Multiple genome relationships and a complex biogeographic history in the eastern range of Quercus suber L. (Fagaceae) implied by nuclear and chloroplast DNA variation

The complex evolutionary history of Quercus suber has been throughly investigated in many recent works, but the details of its differentiation processes are still largely unknown. In addition, the geographical and evolutionary roles of the eastern parts of the species range have gained much less attention compared to other southern European areas. In order to fill this gap, new insights to infer the species diversification and range establishment of the cork oak in the east-central Mediterranean are here provided by means of inter- and intra-specific plastid DNA and nuclear ribosomal ITS phylogeographic studies. We analyzed 95 natural cork oak populations; 6 closely related, sympatric oaks were included in the study and used for comparisons.Evidence for a clear phylogeographical structure was detected with PCR-RFLP at 5 chloroplast loci, while ITS sequence variation is apparently unrelated with the geographical distribution. Five chloroplast haplotypes and three ITS main lineages were identified. Three haplotypes and all ITS lineages occur in the Italian Peninsula, stressing the importance of these territories for the evolutionary history of the species. Two divergent "Italian" haplotypes are highly shared, and one ITS variant is basal to the ingroup, revealing sister relationships within Cerris taxonomic group. Hypotheses of hybridization, lineage sorting of ancient DNA polymorphisms and of reticulate evolution of the whole species group are presented and discussed

Temperature Profiles Along the Root with Gutta-percha Warmed through Different Heat Sources

To evaluate temperature profiles developing in the root during warm compaction of gutta-percha with the heat sources System B and System MB Obtura (Analityc Technology, Redmond, WA, USA). Thirty extracted human incisor teeth were used. Root canals were cleaned and shaped by means of Protaper rotary files (Dentsply-Maillefer, Belgium), and imaging was performed by micro-CT (Skyscan 1072, Aartselaar, Belgium)

Discontinuous permeable adsorptive barrier design and cost analysis: a methodological approach to optimisation

The following paper presents a method to optimise a discontinuous permeable adsorptive barrier (PAB-D). This method is based on the comparison of different PAB-D configurations obtained by changing some of the main PAB-D design parameters. In particular, the well diameters, the distance between two consecutive passive wells and the distance between two consecutive well lines were varied, and a cost analysis for each configuration was carried out in order to define the best performing and most cost-effective PAB-D configuration. As a case study, a benzene-contaminated aquifer located in an urban area in the north of Naples (Italy) was considered. The PAB-D configuration with a well diameter of 0.8 m resulted the best optimised layout in terms of performance and cost-effectiveness. Moreover, in order to identify the best configuration for the remediation of the aquifer studied, a comparison with a continuous permeable adsorptive barrier (PAB-C) was added. In particular, this showed a 40% reduction of the total remediation costs by using the optimised PAB-D