118 research outputs found
Effect of an oral branched chain amino acid-enriched snack in cirrhotic patients with sleep disturbance.
Aim: Sleep is closely related to physical and mental health. Sleep disturbance is reported in patients without encephalopathy. We examined the relationship among cirrhotic symptoms, laboratory data and sleep disturbances. Next, we examined the influence of a branched chain amino acid (BCAA) supplement on sleep disturbance in cirrhotic patients. Methods: We investigated a total of 21 patients at Nagasaki University Hospital from January to June 2009. We constructed questionnaire items for the evaluation of cirrhotic symptoms. The items, as major symptoms of cirrhotic patients, were as follows: hand tremor, appetite loss, muscle cramp of foot, fatigue, decreased strength, anxiety, abdominal fullness, abdominal pain and a feeling of low energy. We used the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) for the evaluation of daytime hypersomnolence. Energy supplementation with a BCAA snack was performed as a late evening snack (LES). All patients were assessed at the time of entry into the study, and at 4 and 8 weeks. Results: It was found that BCAA snack, taken p.o. as an LES, improved the ESS for cirrhotic patients without encephalopathy. This beneficial result was recognized in the short term, 4 weeks after beginning of treatment. This study demonstrated the utility of BCAA supplementation for cirrhotic patients with sleep disturbance. However, the cirrhotic symptom-related score was positively relation with the Child-Pugh score at the time of patient entry, and we were unable to identify the item that related to ESS. Conclusion: A BCAA snack is a useful drug for cirrhotic patients who do not have any overt encephalopathy, but who suffered from sleep disturbance
Search for astrophysical electron antineutrinos in Super-Kamiokande with 0.01wt% gadolinium-loaded water
We report the first search result for the flux of astrophysical electron
antineutrinos for energies O(10) MeV in the gadolinium-loaded Super-Kamiokande
(SK) detector. In June 2020, gadolinium was introduced to the ultra-pure water
of the SK detector in order to detect neutrons more efficiently. In this new
experimental phase, SK-Gd, we can search for electron antineutrinos via inverse
beta decay with efficient background rejection and higher signal efficiency
thanks to the high efficiency of the neutron tagging technique. In this paper,
we report the result for the initial stage of SK-Gd with a exposure at 0.01% Gd mass concentration. No significant excess
over the expected background in the observed events is found for the neutrino
energies below 31.3 MeV. Thus, the flux upper limits are placed at the 90%
confidence level. The limits and sensitivities are already comparable with the
previous SK result with pure-water () owing
to the enhanced neutron tagging
Search for Cosmic-ray Boosted Sub-GeV Dark Matter using Recoil Protons at Super-Kamiokande
We report a search for cosmic-ray boosted dark matter with protons using the
0.37 megatonyears data collected at Super-Kamiokande experiment during
the 1996-2018 period (SKI-IV phase). We searched for an excess of proton
recoils above the atmospheric neutrino background from the vicinity of the
Galactic Center. No such excess is observed, and limits are calculated for two
reference models of dark matter with either a constant interaction
cross-section or through a scalar mediator. This is the first experimental
search for boosted dark matter with hadrons using directional information. The
results present the most stringent limits on cosmic-ray boosted dark matter and
exclude the dark matter-nucleon elastic scattering cross-section between
and for dark matter mass
from 10 MeV/ to 1 GeV/.Comment: With 1-page appendi
Measurement of the cosmogenic neutron yield in Super-Kamiokande with gadolinium loaded water
Cosmic-ray muons that enter the Super-Kamiokande detector cause hadronic
showers due to spallation in water, producing neutrons and radioactive
isotopes. Those are a major background source for studies of MeV-scale
neutrinos and searches for rare events. Since 2020, gadolinium was introduced
in the ultra-pure water in the Super-Kamiokande detector to improve the
detection efficiency of neutrons. In this study, the cosmogenic neutron yield
was measured using data acquired during the period after the gadolinium
loading. The yield was found to be at
259 GeV of average muon energy at the Super-Kamiokande detector.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 3 table
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