Real-time Monitoring for the Next Core-Collapse Supernova in JUNO

Core-collapse supernova (CCSN) is one of the most energetic astrophysical events in the Universe. The early and prompt detection of neutrinos before (pre-SN) and during the SN burst is a unique opportunity to realize the multi-messenger observation of the CCSN events. In this work, we describe the monitoring concept and present the sensitivity of the system to the pre-SN and SN neutrinos at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), which is a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector under construction in South China. The real-time monitoring system is designed with both the prompt monitors on the electronic board and online monitors at the data acquisition stage, in order to ensure both the alert speed and alert coverage of progenitor stars. By assuming a false alert rate of 1 per year, this monitoring system can be sensitive to the pre-SN neutrinos up to the distance of about 1.6 (0.9) kpc and SN neutrinos up to about 370 (360) kpc for a progenitor mass of 30$M_{\odot}$ for the case of normal (inverted) mass ordering. The pointing ability of the CCSN is evaluated by using the accumulated event anisotropy of the inverse beta decay interactions from pre-SN or SN neutrinos, which, along with the early alert, can play important roles for the followup multi-messenger observations of the next Galactic or nearby extragalactic CCSN.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure

Traces of trauma – a multivariate pattern analysis of childhood trauma, brain structure and clinical phenotypes

Background: Childhood trauma (CT) is a major yet elusive psychiatric risk factor, whose multidimensional conceptualization and heterogeneous effects on brain morphology might demand advanced mathematical modeling. Therefore, we present an unsupervised machine learning approach to characterize the clinical and neuroanatomical complexity of CT in a larger, transdiagnostic context. Methods: We used a multicenter European cohort of 1076 female and male individuals (discovery: n = 649; replication: n = 427) comprising young, minimally medicated patients with clinical high-risk states for psychosis; patients with recent-onset depression or psychosis; and healthy volunteers. We employed multivariate sparse partial least squares analysis to detect parsimonious associations between combinations of items from the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and gray matter volume and tested their generalizability via nested cross-validation as well as via external validation. We investigated the associations of these CT signatures with state (functioning, depressivity, quality of life), trait (personality), and sociodemographic levels. Results: We discovered signatures of age-dependent sexual abuse and sex-dependent physical and sexual abuse, as well as emotional trauma, which projected onto gray matter volume patterns in prefronto-cerebellar, limbic, and sensory networks. These signatures were associated with predominantly impaired clinical state- and trait-level phenotypes, while pointing toward an interaction between sexual abuse, age, urbanicity, and education. We validated the clinical profiles for all three CT signatures in the replication sample. Conclusions: Our results suggest distinct multilayered associations between partially age- and sex-dependent patterns of CT, distributed neuroanatomical networks, and clinical profiles. Hence, our study highlights how machine learning approaches can shape future, more fine-grained CT research

Relatório de estágio em farmácia comunitária

Relatório de estágio realizado no âmbito do Mestrado Integrado em Ciências Farmacêuticas, apresentado à Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Coimbr

Landfill leachate treatment using hybrid coagulation-nanofiltration processes

In this study, treatment of landfill leachate using a novel electrocoagulation – nanofiltration (EC-NF) hybrid system was investigated. Leachate sample was collected from Whytes Gully landfill in Wollongong, Australia. The performance of electrocoagulation (EC) using aluminium electrodes as a pretreatment step for the nanofiltration process was compared against a conventional chemical coagulation (CC) process. Results reported here indicate that electrocoagulation is superior over the conventional coagulation process with respect to total organic carbon (TOC) and turbidity removal. At the optimum reaction time, TOC and turbidity removals by the electrocoagulation process were 67% and 80%, respectively. In comparison, at the optimum dosage of Al2(SO4)3 obtained by a standard jar testing procedure, TOC and turbidity removals by the chemical coagulation process were only 10% and 65%, respectively. It is noteworthy that the amount of aluminium released by the electrocoagulation process to the solution was significantly higher than the optimum dosage of the chemical coagulation process. Therefore, better performance of the electrocoagulation process can possibly be explained by the higher coagulation concentration and the formation of polymeric aluminium which is known to be more effective for small organic compounds which are prevalent in landfill leachate. A remarkable difference between electrocoagulation and chemical coagulation pretreatment was also observed with respect to fouling mitigation in a subsequent nanofiltration process. For the two different nanofiltration membranes (NF 270 and SR2) used in this study, severe membrane fouling was evident when filtering raw landfill leachate or chemical coagulation pretreated landfill leachate. In contrast, fouling was not observed with an electrocoagulation pretreated feed solution. However, the use of electrocoagulation pretreatment did not result in any improvement in treated effluent quality by the hybrid system. Over all, there was no discernible variation between the EC – NF and CC – NF hybrid systems in their TOC and turbidity removals, which were approximately 92% and 99%, respectively. The reported results demonstrate that an EC – NF hybrid system can be a promising candidate for landfill leachate treatment, particularly for small and decentralised landfills where simplicity and robustness are required

Terveysalan AMK-opiskelijoiden käsityksiä kokemusasiantuntijatoiminnan kehittämisestä

Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli tutkia ammattikorkeakouluopiskelijoiden vastauksia, kun Mielenterveyden keskusliitto teki laadullisen kyselyn 14.10.2016 – 31.12.2017 välisenä aikana webropol-kysely menetelmällä. Kysely esitettiin kokemusasiantuntijapuheenvuoron aikana. Kyselyssä oli kuusi kysymystä ja vastanneita opiskelijoita oli yhteensä 293 opiskelijaa. Pohdittavat kysymykset ovat ennen puheenvuoroa: 1. Minkälaisin odotuksin olet tullut kokemuspuheenvuoroa kuuntelemaan? 2. Minkälaisia asioita toivot kokemuspuheenvuoron käsittelevän? 3. Minkälaisia ajatuksia sinulla on kokemusasiantuntijuutta kohtaan? Puheenvuoron jälkeen esitettyjä kysymyksiä ovat: 4. Minkälaiset asiat jäivät sinulle tarinasta tärkeimpinä mieleen? Miksi? 5. Mitä uuttaa kokemuspuheenvuoro antoi omaan ammatillisuuteesi? 6. Minkälaisia uusia näkökulmia kokemuspuheenvuoro sinulle antoi mielenterveyteen / psyykkiseen sairauteen liittyen? Vastauksista nousseista asioista tulee löytää esimerkiksi yhteneväisyyksiä, ja tulee pohtia miten tätä tietoa voi käyttää Mielenterveyden keskusliiton neuvontapalveluissa ja miten tietoa voi hyödyntää alan opiskelun laadun parantamiseen. Kysymykset pohjautuvat Milla Ristolaisen opinnäytetyöhön (Turun AMK) Eettisyys ja elämäntarinat – kokemusasiantuntijuuden hyvät käytännöt Mielenterveyden keskusliitossa. (Ristolainen 2017). Opinnäytetyö on tilaustyö Mielenterveyden keskusliitolle, joka toimii myös yhteistyökumppanina. Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena on kehittää päihde- ja mielenterveyspalveluita aineistosta saadun tiedon perusteella. Samalla tulee pohtia, miten tätä tietoa voi käyttää Mielenterveyden keskusliiton neuvontapalveluissa ja kokemusasiantuntija koulutusten parantamiseen sekä miten tietoa voi hyödyntää sosiaali- ja terveysalojen opiskelun laadun parantamiseen. Tutkimusmenetelmäksi valittiin laadullinen aineistolähtöinen sisällönanalyysi. Tutkimustulosten perusteella moni AMK-opiskelija koki, että kokemuspuheenvuoron avulla oppii paremmin ymmärtämään päihde- ja mielenterveysongelmia ja ihmisiä, jotka kärsivät niistä. Tulosten perusteella kokemusasiantuntijuutta tulisi hyödyntää enemmän sosiaali- ja terveysalan koulutuksissa. Oppimisen kehittämiseksi toivottiin enemmän moninaisuutta kokemusasiantuntijoissa. Kehittämisehdotuksena nousi esiin muun muassa kokemusasiantuntijoiden koulutuksien parantaminen ja heidän esiintymistaitojen kehittäminen. AMK-opiskelijat olivat yleisesti kiinnostuneita tietämään lisää kokemusasiantuntijuudesta ja sen koulutuksesta. Opinnäytetyötä voidaan käyttää apuna tulevaisuudessa kehittämällä kokemuspuheenvuoroja. Tavoitteena olisi, että opinnäytetyö kehittyy jatkossa kokemusasiantuntijoiden ja heidän kanssaan, työskentelevien ammattilaisten työvälineenä

Hyperendemic Dengue and Possible Zika Circulation in the Westernmost Region of the Indonesian Archipelago

The transmission of dengue and other medically important mosquito-borne viruses in the westernmost region of Indonesia is not well described. We assessed dengue and Zika virus seroprevalence in Aceh province, the westernmost area of the Indonesian archipelago. Serum samples collected from 199 randomly sampled healthy residents of Aceh Jaya in 2017 were analyzed for neutralizing antibodies by plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT). Almost all study participants (198/199; 99.5%) presented with multitypic profiles of neutralizing antibodies to two or more DENV serotypes, indicating transmission of multiple DENV in the region prior to 2017. All residents were exposed to one or more DENV serotypes by the age of 30 years. The highest geometric mean titers were measured for DENV-4, followed by DENV-1, DENV-2 and DENV-3. Among a subset of 116 sera, 27 neutralized ZIKV with a high stringency (20 with PRNT90 > 10 and 7 with PRNT90 > 40). This study showed that DENV is hyperendemic in the westernmost region of the Indonesian archipelago and suggested that ZIKV may have circulated prior to 2017

Validation of the Bullying Scale for Adults - Results of the PRONIA-study

Background: Bullying as a specific subtype of adverse life events is a major risk factor for poor mental health. Although many questionnaires on bullying are available, so far none covers bullying retrospectively throughout school and working life. To close this gap, the Bullying Scale for Adults (BSA) was designed. Methods: Based on data of 622 participants from five European countries collected in the prospective multicenter Personalized Prognostic Tools for Early Psychosis Management (PRONIA) study, we investigated whether the BSA is a reliable and valid measurement for bullying and whether there is a difference across different diagnostic groups of early mental disorders (recent onset depressive/psychotic patients, patients at clinical high-risk of psychosis) and healthy controls. Results: Bullying experiences were significantly less frequent in healthy controls than in patient groups, with no significant differences between the three clinical groups. The BSA exhibited a high item scale discrimination (r > .3) and very good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .93). Four factors were identified: 1. Sexual harassment, 2. Emotional Abuse, 3. Physical Abuse, 4. Problems at school. The highly significant correlation between bullying, and childhood adversities and trauma (r = .645, p < .001) indicated good concurrent validity. Discussion: The BSA is the first validated questionnaire that, in retrospective, reliably records various aspects of bullying (incl. its consequences) not only throughout childhood but also working life. It can be used to assess bullying as a transdiagnostic risk factor of mental disorders in different mental disorders, esp. psychosis and depression

Association between age of cannabis initiation and gray matter covariance networks in recent onset psychosis

Cannabis use during adolescence is associated with an increased risk of developing psychosis. According to a current hypothesis, this results from detrimental effects of early cannabis use on brain maturation during this vulnerable period. However, studies investigating the interaction between early cannabis use and brain structural alterations hitherto reported inconclusive findings. We investigated effects of age of cannabis initiation on psychosis using data from the multicentric Personalized Prognostic Tools for Early Psychosis Management (PRONIA) and the Cannabis Induced Psychosis (CIP) studies, yielding a total sample of 102 clinically-relevant cannabis users with recent onset psychosis. GM covariance underlies shared maturational processes. Therefore, we performed source-based morphometry analysis with spatial constraints on structural brain networks showing significant alterations in schizophrenia in a previous multisite study, thus testing associations of these networks with the age of cannabis initiation and with confounding factors. Earlier cannabis initiation was associated with more severe positive symptoms in our cohort. Greater gray matter volume (GMV) in the previously identified cerebellar schizophrenia-related network had a significant association with early cannabis use, independent of several possibly confounding factors. Moreover, GMV in the cerebellar network was associated with lower volume in another network previously associated with schizophrenia, comprising the insula, superior temporal, and inferior frontal gyrus. These findings are in line with previous investigations in healthy cannabis users, and suggest that early initiation of cannabis perturbs the developmental trajectory of certain structural brain networks in a manner imparting risk for psychosis later in life.</p