Updated bounds for neutrinoless double beta decay

We study the hypothesis that the Majorana mass of ordinary neutrinos dominates the rate of neutrinoless double beta decay. In particular, we update predictions from neutrino oscillations and we compare them with the results from neutrinoless double beta decay searches. We also evaluate the impact of the quenching of the axial vector coupling constant in the nuclear medium, recently studied by Iachello et al. (Phys. Rev. C, 87 (2013) 014315)

Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay: 2015 Review

The discovery of neutrino masses through the observation of oscillations boosted the importance of neutrinoless double beta decay (0 nu beta beta). In this paper, we review the main features of this process, underlining its key role from both the experimental and theoretical point of view. In particular, we contextualize the 0 nu beta beta in the panorama of lepton number violating processes, also assessing some possible particle physics mechanisms mediating the process. Since the 0 nu beta beta existence is correlated with neutrino masses, we also review the state of the art of the theoretical understanding of neutrinomasses. In the final part, the status of current 0 nu beta beta experiments is presented and the prospects for the future hunt for 0 nu beta beta are discussed. Also, experimental data coming from cosmological surveys are considered and their impact on 0 nu beta beta expectations is examined

ISIDe, an Italian Seismic Data Base with minimum magnitude of completeness ML 1.8

ISIDe, the Italian Seismic Instrumental and parametric DatabasE, includes today more than 17000 earthquakes occurred in Italy and surrounding seas since April 16th 2005, ranging from magnitude ML 0.2 to ML 5.7. All the ML are computed from synthetic Wood-Anderson records obtained from horizontal broad band and very-broad band registrations. The minimum magnitude of completeness is ML 1.9, as computed from the cumulated Gutenberg-Richter distribution. The ML 4.8 event occurred in the Gargano peninsula (southern Italy) on May 29th 2006 is the crustal earthquake of maximum magnitude included in the catalog; it was followed on December 10th 2006 by an ML 4.5 earthquake, about 40 km northeast of the previous event. The largest earthquake of the catalog (ML 5.7) occurred on October 26th 2006 in the southern Tyrrhenian sea at a depth of 220 km. Although ISIDe is spanning only the last three years and half of Italian seismicity, it is unprecedented in Italy for completeness and homogeneity and represents an optimum test data set for small and moderate seismicity pattern model verification. ISIDe is now available at http://iside.rm.ingv.it/

Normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism: a survey in a small village of Southern Italy

We investigated the prevalence of normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism (NPHPT) in the adult population living in a village in Southern Italy. All residents in 2010 (n=2045) were invited by calls and 1046 individuals accepted to participate. Medical history, calcium intake, calcium, albumin, creatinine, parathyroid hormone (PTH) and 25OHD were evaluated. NPHPT was defined by normal albumin-adjusted serum calcium, elevated plasma PTH, and exclusion of common causes of secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) (serum 25OHD <30 ng/ml, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 ml/min per 1.73 m(2) and thiazide diuretics use), overt gastrointestinal and metabolic bone diseases. Complete data were available for 685 of 1046 subjects. Twenty subjects did not meet the inclusion criteria and 341 could not be evaluated because of thawing of plasma samples. Classical PHPT was diagnosed in four women (0.58%). For diagnosing NPHPT the upper normal limit of PTH was established in the sample of the population (n=100) who had 25OHD ≥30 ng/ml and eGFR ≥60 ml/min per 1.73 m(2) and was set at the mean+3s.d. Three males (0.44%) met the diagnostic criteria of NPHPT. These subjects were younger and with lower BMI than those with classical PHPT. Our data suggest, in line with previous studies, that NPHPT might be a distinct clinical entity, being either an early phenotype of asymptomatic PHPT or a distinct variant of it. However, we cannot exclude that NPHPT might also represent an early phase of non-classical SHPT, since other variables, in addition to those currently taken into account for the diagnosis of NPHPT, might cumulate in a normocalcemic subject to increase PTH secretion

Tuning an Earthworm phase picker: some considerations on the pick_ew parameters

Although the Earthworm project started with the initial mission of replacing the old real time picker by Rex Allen, as developed by Jim Ellis [Allen, 1978; Allen, 1982; USGS et al., 2010], that picker is still in use in many networks. The name of the procedure that implements the Allen’s algorithm is pick_ew. Despite its long-lived use, configuring this picker still seems not so immediate and easy. We discuss here a few simple rules to define some of the numerous (18) parameters of pick_ew, interpreting their physical meaning

Real-time detection of solar neutrinos with Borexino

Solar neutrinos have been fundamental in the discovery of neutrino flavor oscillations and are a unique tool to probe the nuclear reactions that fuel the Sun. The Borexino experiment, located in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, is an ultra-pure liquid scintillator detector conceived for the real time spectroscopy of low energy solar neutrinos. Thanks to its unprecedented background levels, Borexino could measure in real time the fluxes of different components of the solar neutrino spectrum, thus probing both solar neutrino oscillations and the Standard Solar Model. We review these fundamental results and also discuss the prospects for the Phase-II of Borexino, which is entering the precision era of solar neutrino measurements

R&D project for neutrinoless double beta decay in Borexino

Since the proposal of the Borexino project in the early nineties, the idea to perform a neutrinoless double beta decay experiment with 136Xe dissolved in the scintillator was considered. The beautiful results obtained by the Borexino experiment, which achieved a purity far exceeding design goals, and a new concept for dissolving large quantities of xenon in the scintillator by increasing its pressure make this possibility even more interesting for a new-generation experiment in the next decade. We present the ongoing R&D studies to look for neutrinoless double beta decay using liquid scintillators, discussing the optical properties of the Borexino scintillator when xenon is dissolved in large quantity and with high pressure

Integrated SEED data archive for temporary seismic experiments

One of the most valuable results achieved during the work on S5 project is the implementation of a new temporary network data management that allows the integration in the National Data Center together with all other seismological data produced by INGV. This makes all data gathered during temporary experiments immediately available from the same source and in the same data format (SEED) increasing the availability for processing and analysis. Moreover the data are distributed to the scientific community using the EIDA (European Integrated Data Archive http://eida.rm.ingv.it/). The first application has been carried out for the Messina 1908-2008 experiment (WP2.2) http://dpc-s5.rm.ingv.it/en/Database-MessinaFault.html where has been achieved the complete integration of permanent networks (National Seismic Network, MedNet and Peloritani Local Network), temporary deployments (INGV-CNT and INGVCT mobile networks) and OBS data. All the procedures were used and further improved during the L'Aquila sequence (Task 4) where data was available for processing together with permanent network data as soon as it was gathered from the field giving to the scientific community the opportunity to study the evolution of the seismic sequence with higher density of stations (WP4.2) ( h t t p : / / d p c - s 5 . r m . i n g v . i t / e n / D a t a b a s e - AquilaFaultSystem.html).UnpublishedSede Ispra | Via Curtatone 7, Roma1.1. TTC - Monitoraggio sismico del territorio nazionaleope

GSH-C4 acts as anti-inflammatory drug in different models of canonical and cell autonomous inflammation through NFκB inhibition

An imbalance in GSH/GSSG ratio represents a triggering event in pro-inflammatory cytokine production and inflammatory response. However, the molecular mechanism(s) through which GSH regulates macrophage and cell autonomous inflammation remains not deeply understood. Here, we investigated the effects of a derivative of GSH, the N-butanoyl glutathione (GSH-C4), a cell permeable compound, on lipopolisaccharide (LPS)-stimulated murine RAW 264.7 macrophages, and human macrophages. LPS alone induces a significant production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α and a significant decrement of GSH content. Such events were significantly abrogated by treatment with GSH-C4. Moreover, GSH-C4 was highly efficient in buffering cell autonomous inflammatory status of aged C2C12 myotubes and 3T3-L1 adipocytes by suppressing the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. We found that inflammation was paralleled by a strong induction of the phosphorylated form of NFκB, which translocates into the nucleus; a process that was also efficiently inhibited by the treatment with GSH-C4. Overall, the evidence suggests that GSH decrement is required for efficient activation of an inflammatory condition and, at the same time, GSH-C4 can be envisaged as a good candidate to abrogate such process, expanding the anti-inflammatory role of this molecule in chronic inflammatory states

Antioxidant activity and antiherpetic effects of a Solanum melongena L. genotype.

Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a recurrent human virus, which develops quickly resistance to drugs commercially available, so increasing the need to study new sources of bioactive antiviral agents. To this end, extracts from medicinal plants, essential oils or fruits with antiviral properties are widely investigated in order to found the bioactive compounds. Among them, flavonoids and anthocyanins have been shown to inhibit the HSV-1, due to a probable virucidal action, likely antioxidant mechanisms (Khan et al., 2005). Besides, it is generally accepted that oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of viral diseases (Peterhans, 1997). Also Solanaceae glycoalkaloids were found to be active against HSV-1 (Ikeda et al., 2000). On the basis of these evidences, in the present study, the antioxidant and antiherpetic properties of a DR2 eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) genotype (Mennella et al., 2012) were studied. Eggplant fruit is one of the most common vegetable consumed all around the world and an important source of both polyphenols and glycoalkaloids, including delphinidin, nasunin, chlorogenic acid and solamargine (Mennella et al., 2010). To perform the experiments, a 70% ethanol extract (pH 3) from the peel of the DR2 eggplant fruit, at both the commercial (B) and physiological (C) stage of ripeness, was prepared. The polyphenolic content was evaluated by high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) and determined colorimetrically. Different antioxidant mechanisms, among which the radical scavenging power and the ability to block the ROS generation (by reducing and/or chelating mechanisms) were studied (Di Sotto et al., 2013). The antiherpetic activity of the extracts (DR2-B and DR2-C) was evaluated by the plaque assay in monkey kidney epithelial (Vero) cells, after infection with HSV-1 (Civitelli et al., 2014). In agreement with the colorimetric determinations, the HPTLC analysis showed the presence of different polyphenols in both the extracts, particularly the anthocyanin, delphinidin 3-O-β-rutinoside. The samples possessed antioxidant properties, being able to scavenge different radical species and to block the ROS generation by chelating mechanisms. As regard the antiherpetic activity, in spite of a null effect of DR2-B, the extract DR2-C inhibited the HSV-1 replication in a dose-dependent manner, reaching a 93% inhibition at concentration of 500 g/ml. When administered during different phases of the virus life-cycle, DR2-C inhibited the viral replication of about 50% during the adsorption period: these data were confirmed by the immunoblotting analysis, in which several herpetic proteins resulted inhibited. Present data highlight that DR2-C extract possess antiherpetic properties, likely due to an impairment of specific steps of the virus life-cycle. Taking into account that the HSV-1 replication requires an impairment of the intracellular redox status, the antioxidant properties of DR2-C extract, likely due to the presence of different polyphenolic compounds, could be involved in the antiviral effects found. In conclusion, the beneficial antioxidant and antiherpetic properties of DR-2C suggest a possible application of S. melongena as dietary supplement, or included in topical formulations, to treat the herpetic skin symptomatic lesions