Muons in air showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory: Mean number in highly inclined events

We present the first hybrid measurement of the average muon number in air showers at ultrahigh energies, initiated by cosmic rays with zenith angles between 62° and 80°. The measurement is based on 174 hybrid events recorded simultaneously with the surface detector array and the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The muon number for each shower is derived by scaling a simulated reference profile of the lateral muon density distribution at the ground until it fits the data. A 10^19  eV shower with a zenith angle of 67°, which arrives at the surface detector array at an altitude of 1450 m above sea level, contains on average (2.68±0.04±0.48(sys))×10^7 muons with energies larger than 0.3 GeV. The logarithmic gain d ln N_μ/dlnE of muons with increasing energy between 4×1018  eV and 5×1019  eV is measured to be (1.029±0.024±0.030(sys)

Impact of power ultrasound on chemical and physicochemical quality indicators of strawberries dried by convection

[EN] A study on the quality parameters of strawberries dehydrated by convection assisted by power ultrasound (US) at 40 70 C and 30 and 60W has been carried out for the first time. In general, the quality of US-treated samples was higher than that of commercial samples. Even under the most severe conditions used (US at 70 C and 60 W), high values of vitamin C retention (>65%) and scarce advance of Maillard reaction (2-furoylmethyl derivatives of Lys and Arg < 90 mg 100 g 1 protein) were observed. Rehydration ratio was not affected by the power applied and the obtained values were similar to those of convectively-treated samples. According to the results here presented, US is a suitable example of an emerging and environmentally friendly technology that accelerates convective drying, allowing the obtainment of dried strawberries with premium quality.This work has been funded by Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain and ERDF (FEDER) (Project DPI2012-37466-C03-03), Fun-c-Food (CSD2007-00063 Consolider-INGENIO 2010), CYTED IBEROFUN (P109AC0302) and Comunidad de Valencia, Project PROMETEO/2010/062. J.G.S. also thanks CSIC and the EU for a predoctoral JAE grant. A.C.S. thanks the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for a Ramon y Cajal contract.Gamboa-Santos, J.; Montilla, A.; Cortijo Soria, A.; Cárcel Carrión, JA.; García Pérez, JV.; Villamiel, M. (2014). Impact of power ultrasound on chemical and physicochemical quality indicators of strawberries dried by convection. Food Chemistry. 161:40-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.03.106S404616

Very low frequency Syndromes

Dismorfología, Citogenética y Clínica: Resultados de estudios sobre los datos del ECEMCThe aim of this chapter is to summarize updated knowledge about the clinical characteristics, etiology, genetic and molecular aspects, as well as mechanisms involved in syndromes having very low frequency, in order to promote their better recognition. During the last five years, a total of 30 syndromes have been published in this chapter of the Boletín del ECEMC. This issue includes the following selected syndromes: Crouzon, Pfeiffer, Apert, Saethre-Chotzen, Carpenter and Muenke. All share craniosynostosis as the main clinical feature but also present with other birth defects, the most important being limb malformations, specially syndactyly and polydactyly. Over 100 syndromes with craniosynostosis have been described, usually involving multiple sutures, and several of them are associated with limb malformations. The clinical overlapping between those syndromes makes difficult to perform a neonatal diagnosis, based on their clinical findings. However, molecular genetic testing, specifically of the FRGR1-3 and TWIST1 genes, could help to establish the diagnosis of some of them. Early diagnosis is important for establishing the most suitable treatment for each patient, as well as to offer an accurate genetic counselling and the possibility of preimplantational and/or prenatal diagnosis.N

Cognitive functioning throughout adulthood and illness stages in individuals with psychotic disorders and their unaffected siblings

Important questions remain about the profile of cognitive impairment in psychotic disorders across adulthood and illness stages. The age-associated profile of familial impairments also remains unclear, as well as the effect of factors, such as symptoms, functioning, and medication. Using cross-sectional data from the EU-GEI and GROUP studies, comprising 8455 participants aged 18 to 65, we examined cognitive functioning across adulthood in patients with psychotic disorders (n = 2883), and their unaffected siblings (n = 2271), compared to controls (n = 3301). An abbreviated WAIS-III measured verbal knowledge, working memory, visuospatial processing, processing speed, and IQ. Patients showed medium to large deficits across all functions (ES range = –0.45 to –0.73, p < 0.001), while siblings showed small deficits on IQ, verbal knowledge, and working memory (ES = –0.14 to –0.33, p < 0.001). Magnitude of impairment was not associated with participant age, such that the size of impairment in older and younger patients did not significantly differ. However, first-episode patients performed worse than prodromal patients (ES range = –0.88 to –0.60, p < 0.001). Adjusting for cannabis use, symptom severity, and global functioning attenuated impairments in siblings, while deficits in patients remained statistically significant, albeit reduced by half (ES range = –0.13 to –0.38, p < 0.01). Antipsychotic medication also accounted for around half of the impairment in patients (ES range = –0.21 to –0.43, p < 0.01). Deficits in verbal knowledge, and working memory may specifically index familial, i.e., shared genetic and/or shared environmental, liability for psychotic disorders. Nevertheless, potentially modifiable illness-related factors account for a significant portion of the cognitive impairment in psychotic disorders

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Genetic variants associated with longitudinal changes in brain structure across the lifespan

Human brain structure changes throughout the lifespan. Altered brain growth or rates of decline are implicated in a vast range of psychiatric, developmental and neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, we identified common genetic variants that affect rates of brain growth or atrophy in what is, to our knowledge, the first genome-wide association meta-analysis of changes in brain morphology across the lifespan. Longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging data from 15,640 individuals were used to compute rates of change for 15 brain structures. The most robustly identified genes GPR139, DACH1 and APOE are associated with metabolic processes. We demonstrate global genetic overlap with depression, schizophrenia, cognitive functioning, insomnia, height, body mass index and smoking. Gene set findings implicate both early brain development and neurodegenerative processes in the rates of brain changes. Identifying variants involved in structural brain changes may help to determine biological pathways underlying optimal and dysfunctional brain development and aging

Improved limit to the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy neutrinos from the Pierre Auger Observatory

Neutrinos in the cosmic ray flux with energies near 1 EeV and above are detectable with the Surface Detector array (SD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory. We report here on searches through Auger data from 1 January 2004 until 20 June 2013. No neutrino candidates were found, yielding a limit to the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy neutrinos that challenges the Waxman-Bahcall bound predictions. Neutrino identification is attempted using the broad time structure of the signals expected in the SD stations, and is efficiently done for neutrinos of all flavors interacting in the atmosphere at large zenith angles, as well as for "Earth-skimming" neutrino interactions in the case of tau neutrinos. In this paper the searches for downward-going neutrinos in the zenith angle bins 60 degrees-75 degrees and 75 degrees-90 degrees as well as for upward-going neutrinos, are combined to give a single limit. The 90% C.L. single-flavor limit to the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy neutrinos with an E-2 spectrum in the energy range 1.0 x 10(17) eV-2.5 x 10(19) eV is E(nu)(2)dN(nu)/dE(nu) < 6.4 x 10(-9) GeV cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1)

Searches for anisotropies in the arrival directions of the highest energy cosmic rays detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory

We analyze the distribution of arrival directions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays recorded at the Pierre Auger Observatory in 10 years of operation. The data set, about three times larger than that used in earlier studies, includes arrival directions with zenith angles up to 80°, thus covering from -90 to +45 in declination. After updating the fraction of events correlating with the active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the Véron-Cetty and Véron catalog, we subject the arrival directions of the data with energies in excess of 40 EeV to different tests for anisotropy. We search for localized excess fluxes, self-clustering of event directions at angular scales up to 30°, and different threshold energies between 40 and 80 EeV. We then look for correlations of cosmic rays with celestial structures both in the Galaxy (the Galactic Center and Galactic Plane) and in the local universe (the Super-Galactic Plane). We also examine their correlation with different populations of nearby extragalactic objects: galaxies in the 2MRS catalog, AGNs detected by Swift-BAT, radio galaxies with jets, and the Centaurus A (Cen A) galaxy. None of the tests show statistically significant evidence of anisotropy. The strongest departures from isotropy (post-trial probability ~1.4%) are obtained for cosmic rays with E > 58 EeV in rather large windows around Swift AGNs closer than 130 Mpc and brighter than 1044 erg s−1 (18° radius), and around the direction of Cen A (15° radius)