13,962 research outputs found
The HCV Sicily Network: a web-based model for the management of HCV chronic liver diseases
Epidemiological studies report that in Sicily reside about 30,000 citizens with a diagnosis of chronic hepatitis due to HCV. The availability of direct antiviral action (DAA) is a real therapeutic breakthrough, but the high cost of the therapeutic regimes limits their use and forced the National Health System to establish clinical priority for the treatment
Metal chelation therapy and Parkinson\u2019s disease: A critical review on the thermodynamics of complex formation between relevant metal ions and promising or established drugs
The present review reports a list of approximately 800 compounds which have been
used, tested or proposed for Parkinson\u2019s disease (PD) therapy in the year range 2014\u20132019 (April):
name(s), chemical structure and references are given. Among these compounds, approximately 250
have possible or established metal-chelating properties towards Cu(II), Cu(I), Fe(III), Fe(II), Mn(II),
and Zn(II), which are considered to be involved in metal dyshomeostasis during PD. Speciation
information regarding the complexes formed by these ions and the 250 compounds has been collected
or, if not experimentally available, has been estimated from similar molecules. Stoichiometries and
stability constants of the complexes have been reported; values of the cologarithm of the concentration
of free metal ion at equilibrium (pM), and of the dissociation constant Kd (both computed at pH = 7.4
and at total metal and ligand concentrations of 106 and 105 mol/L, respectively), charge and
stoichiometry of the most abundant metal\u2013ligand complexes existing at physiological conditions,
have been obtained. A rigorous definition of the reported amounts is given, the possible usefulness
of this data is described, and the need to characterize the metal\u2013ligand speciation of PD drugs
is underlined
Numerical study on Schramm-Loewner Evolution in nonminimal conformal field theories
The Schramm-Loewner evolution (SLE) is a powerful tool to describe fractal
interfaces in 2D critical statistical systems. Yet the application of SLE is
well established for statistical systems described by quantum field theories
satisfying only conformal invariance, the so called minimal conformal field
theories (CFTs). We consider interfaces in Z(N) spin models at their self-dual
critical point for N=4 and N=5. These lattice models are described in the
continuum limit by non-minimal CFTs where the role of a Z_N symmetry, in
addition to the conformal one, should be taken into account. We provide
numerical results on the fractal dimension of the interfaces which are SLE
candidates for non-minimal CFTs. Our results are in excellent agreement with
some recent theoretical predictions.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, v2: typos corrected, published versio
Evolution of Large Scale Curvature Fluctuations During the Perturbative Decay of the Inflaton
We study the evolution of cosmological fluctuations during and after
inflation driven by a scalar field coupled to a perfect fluid through afriction
term. During the slow-roll regime for the scalar field, the perfect fluid is
also frozen and isocurvature perturbations are generated. After the end of
inflation, during the decay of the inflaton, we find that a change in the
observationally relevant large scale curvature fluctuations is possible.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures; v2: version published in PR
Investigation of rare nuclear decays with BaF crystal scintillator contaminated by radium
The radioactive contamination of a BaF scintillation crystal with mass of
1.714 kg was measured over 101 hours in the low-background DAMA/R&D set-up deep
underground (3600 m w.e.) at the Gran Sasso National Laboratories of INFN
(LNGS, Italy). The half-life of Po (present in the crystal scintillator
due to contamination by radium) was measured as Po) =
298.80.8(stat.)1.4(syst.) ns by analysis of the events' pulse
profiles. The Rn nuclide is known as 100% decaying via emission of
particle with = 3.82 d; however, its decay is also
energetically allowed with keV. Search for decay chains of
events with specific pulse shapes characteristic for or for
signals and with known energies and time differences allowed us
to set, for the first time, the limit on the branching ratio of Rn
relatively to decay as % at 90% C.L. (equivalent to
limit on partial half-life y). Half-life limits of
Pb, Rn and Ra relatively to decays are also
improved in comparison with the earlier results.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 2 table
A High Sensitive Nested PCR for Toxoplasma gondii Detection in Animal and Food Samples
Toxoplasma gondii is a major food and waterborne transmitted parasite world-wide. The tissues and meat
samples of many warm blooded animals can contain tissues cysts from chronic toxoplasmosis. Water and vegetable
can be contaminated by the parasitic oocysts shed through the feces of infected cats, representing the definitive
host of the parasite.
A sensitive PCR for Toxoplasma gondii detection is described. The first step amplified the region between the
28S and 18S rDNA in the closely related T. gondii and Neospora caninum; RFLP analysis distinguished the DNA
from the two morphologically identical parasites. Although N. caninum is not involved in human transmission, so far,
it is important for animal health since is a major responsible for abortion in cattle.
The nested PCR was used in a dilution assay in pork sausage samples spiked with T. gondii parasitic DNA. The
analysis showed that up to 200fg equivalent to two single parasites only, could be detected. Similar detection limit
for T. gondii can be obtained with real-time PCRs, but real time methods need special consumables and expensive
equipment
Carbon nanotubes as target for directional detection of light WIMP
In this paper I will briefly introduce the idea of using Carbon Nanotubes
(CNT) as target for the detection of low mass WIMPs with the additional
information of directionality. I will also present the experimental efforts of
developing a Time Projection Chamber with a CNT target inside and the results
of a test beam at the Beam Test Facility of INFN-LNF.Comment: 3 figures, IFAE2017 poster session proceeding
MORPH: A Reference Architecture for Configuration and Behaviour Self-Adaptation
An architectural approach to self-adaptive systems involves runtime change of
system configuration (i.e., the system's components, their bindings and
operational parameters) and behaviour update (i.e., component orchestration).
Thus, dynamic reconfiguration and discrete event control theory are at the
heart of architectural adaptation. Although controlling configuration and
behaviour at runtime has been discussed and applied to architectural
adaptation, architectures for self-adaptive systems often compound these two
aspects reducing the potential for adaptability. In this paper we propose a
reference architecture that allows for coordinated yet transparent and
independent adaptation of system configuration and behaviour
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