Wavelength-shifting light traps for SWGO and other applications

Wavelength-shifting (WLS) materials contain molecules that absorb light and reemit at longer wavelengths. They can be used for light detection because they provide a large effective area for low cost and they are able to efficiently trap and guide light because of total internal reflection processes. We are currently developing such a WLS detector, considering two main designs: A single-shift design with one wavelength shift (tile) and a double-shift design with two wavelength shifts (tile and fiber). As photodetectors we use small Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) with a high photon detection efficiency (PDE) and single-photon sensitivity. The double-shift layout goes at the expense of detection efficiency. In this design however, light is channeled to the two ends of a fiber, thus requiring a reduced photosensitive area compared to the single-shift layout. We will present the results of our measurements and show that light traps and SiPMs together represent a promising alternative to PMTs in case of a non-focused light beam. For the special case of SWGO, the application of light traps is also motivated by a possible improvement of the gamma/hadron separation, using a one-chamber tank with an array of wavelength-shifting light traps instead of a (two-chamber) tank with PMTs. Besides SWGO, new WLS detectors could also constitute useful and cheap technology for other experiments and use cases. The contribution summarizes our motivation and efforts to build a light trap detection module and to characterize its properties in terms of costs, temporal performance and detection efficiency.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, Presented at the 38th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2023), 202

Monitoring of the radio galaxy M 87 at Very High Energy with MAGIC during a low emission state between 2012 and 2015

AbstractWe present the preliminary results from observing the nearby radio galaxy M 87 for 156 hours (between the years 2012 and 2015) with the MAGIC telescopes, which lead to a significant very high energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) detection of the source in quiescent states each year. Our VHE analysis combined with quasi-simultaneous data at other energies (from gamma-rays, X-rays, optical and radio) provides a unique opportunity to study the source variability and its broadband spectral energy distribution, which is found to disfavour a one-zone synchrotron/synchrotron self-Compton model. Therefore, other alternative scenarios for the photon emission are explored. We also find that the VHE emission is compatible with being produced close to the source radio core as previous data already indicated. A detailed paper presenting full results of the observing campaign is in preparation

Coherence and Consciousness: Study of Fronto-Parietal Gamma Synchrony in Patients with Disorders of Consciousness

Evaluation of consciousness needs to be supported by the evidence of brain activation during external stimulation in patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS). Assessment of patients should include techniques that do not depend on overt motor responses and allow an objective investigation of the spontaneous patterns of brain activity. In particular, electroencephalography (EEG) coherence allows to easily measure functional relationships between pairs of neocortical regions and seems to be closely correlated with cognitive or behavioral measures. Here, we show the contribution of higher order associative cortices of patients with disorder of consciousness (N\ua0=\ua026) in response to simple sensory stimuli, such as visual, auditory and noxious stimulation. In all stimulus modalities an increase of short-range parietal and long-range fronto-parietal coherences in gamma frequencies were seen in the controls and minimally conscious patients. By contrast, UWS patients showed no significant modifications in the EEG patterns after stimulation. Our results suggest that UWS patients can not activate associative cortical networks, suggesting a lack of information integration. In fact, fronto-parietal circuits result to be connectively disrupted, conversely to patients that exhibit some form of consciousness. In the light of this, EEG coherence can be considered a powerful tool to quantify the involvement of cognitive processing giving information about the integrity of fronto-parietal network. This measure can represent a new neurophysiological marker of unconsciousness and help in determining an accurate diagnosis and rehabilitative intervention in each patient

Prediagnostic breast milk DNA methylation alterations in women who develop breast cancer

Prior candidate gene studies have shown tumor suppressor DNA methylation in breast milk related with history of breast biopsy, an established risk factor for breast cancer. To further establish the utility of breast milk as a tissue-specific biospecimen for investigations of breast carcinogenesis, we measured genome-wide DNA methylation in breast milk from women with and without a diagnosis of breast cancer in two independent cohorts. DNA methylation was assessed using Illumina HumanMethylation450k in 87 breast milk samples. Through an epigenome-wide association study we explored CpG sites associated with a breast cancer diagnosis in the prospectively collected milk samples from the breast that would develop cancer compared with women without a diagnosis of breast cancer using linear mixed effects models adjusted for history of breast biopsy, age, RefFreeCellMix cell estimates, time of delivery, array chip and subject as random effect. We identified 58 differentially methylated CpG sites associated with a subsequent breast cancer diagnosis (q-value \u3c0.05). Nearly all CpG sites associated with a breast cancer diagnosis were hypomethylated in cases compared with controls and were enriched for CpG islands. In addition, inferred repeat element methylation was lower in breast milk DNA from cases compared to controls, and cases exhibited increased estimated epigenetic mitotic tick rate as well as DNA methylation age compared with controls. Breast milk has utility as a biospecimen for prospective assessment of disease risk, for understanding the underlying molecular basis of breast cancer risk factors and improving primary and secondary prevention of breast cancer

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and increased risk of 1-year all-cause and cardiac hospital readmissions in elderly patients admitted for acute heart failure

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an emerging risk factor for heart failure (HF). Although some progress has been made in improving survival among patients admitted for HF, the rates of hospital readmissions and the related costs continue to rise dramatically. We sought to examine whether NAFLD and its severity (diagnosed at hospital admission) was independently associated with a higher risk of 1-year all-cause and cardiac re-hospitalization in patients admitted for acute HF. We studied 212 elderly patients who were consecutively admitted with acute HF to the Hospital of Negrar (Verona) over a 1-year period. Diagnosis of NAFLD was based on ultrasonography, whereas the severity of advanced NAFLD fibrosis was based on the fibrosis (FIB)-4 score and other non-invasive fibrosis scores. Patients with acute myocardial infarction, severe valvular heart diseases, endstage renal disease, cancer, known liver diseases or decompensated cirrhosis were excluded. Cox regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) for the associations between NAFLD and the outcome(s) of interest. The cumulative rate of 1-year all-cause re-hospitalizations was 46.7% (n = 99, mainly due to cardiac causes). Patients with NAFLD (n = 109; 51.4%) had remarkably higher 1-year all-cause and cardiac re-hospitalization rates compared with their counterparts without NAFLD. Both event rates were particularly increased in those with advanced NAFLD fibrosis. NAFLD was associated with a 5-fold increased risk of 1-year all-cause re-hospitalization (adjusted-hazard ratio 5.05, 95% confidence intervals 2.78-9.10, p<0.0001) after adjustment for established risk factors and potential confounders. Similar results were found for 1-year cardiac re-hospitalization (adjusted-hazard ratio 8.05, 95% confidence intervals 3.77-15.8, p<0.0001). In conclusion, NAFLD and its severity were strongly and independently associated with an increased risk of 1-year all-cause and cardiac re-hospitalization in elderly patients admitted with acute HF