The Large Volume Detector (LVD), in the INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory (Italy), has been taking data since June 1992. The experiment, 1 kton of liquid scintillator at the equivalent depth of ...3600 m w.e., has been mainly designed to observe low energy neutrinos from the core collapse of a supernova but allows also the measure of the atmospheric muon flux underground as well as the induced neutron production. In this work we summarize the results of the analysis of the global LVD data set, 5.6 107 muons in a livetime of 8402 days collected during 24 years of continuos operations since 1994 up to 2017. The present measurement represents an unprecedented collection obtained by a unique experiment in a fixed location. The modulation in time of the flux and its correlation with the the effective temperature in the upper atmosphere are here discussed.
Historically, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) beyond 100 days after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) was called chronic GVHD, even if the clinical manifestations were indistinguishable from ...acute GVHD. In 2005, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsored a consensus conference that proposed new criteria for diagnosis and classification of chronic GVHD for clinical trials. According to the consensus criteria, clinical manifestations rather than time after transplantation should be used in clinical trials to distinguish chronic GVHD from late acute GVHD, which includes persistent, recurrent, or late-onset acute GVHD. We evaluated major outcomes according to the presence or absence of NIH criteria for chronic GVHD in a retrospective study of 740 patients diagnosed with historically defined chronic GVHD after allogeneic HCT between 1994 and 2000. The presence or absence of NIH criteria for chronic GVHD showed no statistically significant association with survival, risks of nonrelapse mortality or recurrent malignancy, or duration of systemic treatment. Antecedent late acute GVHD was associated with an increased risk of nonrelapse mortality and prolonged treatment among patients with NIH chronic GVHD. Our results support the consensus recommendation that, with appropriate stratification, clinical trials can include patients with late acute GVHD as well as those with NIH chronic GVHD.
Linelike features in TeV γ rays constitute a "smoking gun" for TeV-scale particle dark matter and new physics. Probing the Galactic Center region with ground-based Cherenkov telescopes enables the ...search for TeV spectral features in immediate association with a dense dark matter reservoir at a sensitivity out of reach for satellite γ-ray detectors, and direct detection and collider experiments. We report on 223 hours of observations of the Galactic Center region with the MAGIC stereoscopic telescope system reaching γ-ray energies up to 100 TeV. We improved the sensitivity to spectral lines at high energies using large-zenith-angle observations and a novel background modeling method within a maximum-likelihood analysis in the energy domain. No linelike spectral feature is found in our analysis. Therefore, we constrain the cross section for dark matter annihilation into two photons to ⟨σv⟩≲5×10^{-28} cm^{3} s^{-1} at 1 TeV and ⟨σv⟩≲1×10^{-25} cm^{3} s^{-1} at 100 TeV, achieving the best limits to date for a dark matter mass above 20 TeV and a cuspy dark matter profile at the Galactic Center. Finally, we use the derived limits for both cuspy and cored dark matter profiles to constrain supersymmetric wino models.
ABSTRACT This paper reports on the measurement of the large-scale anisotropy in the distribution of cosmic-ray arrival directions using the data collected by the air shower detector ARGO-YBJ from ...2008 January to 2009 December, during the minimum of solar activity between cycles 23 and 24. In this period, more than 2 × 1011 showers were recorded with energies between ∼1 and 30 TeV. The observed two-dimensional distribution of cosmic rays is characterized by two wide regions of excess and deficit, respectively, both of relative intensity ∼10−3 with respect to a uniform flux, superimposed on smaller size structures. The harmonic analysis shows that the large-scale cosmic-ray relative intensity as a function of R.A. can be described by the first and second terms of a Fouries series. The high event statistics allow the study of the energy dependence of the anistropy, showing that the amplitude increases with energy, with a maximum intensity at ∼10 TeV, and then decreases while the phase slowly shifts toward lower values of R.A. with increasing energy. The ARGO-YBJ data provide accurate observations over more than a decade of energy around this feature of the anisotropy spectrum.
This paper reports on the observation of the sidereal large-scale anisotropy of cosmic rays using data collected by the ARGO-YBJ experiment over 5 years (2008-2012). This analysis extends previous ...work limited to the period from 2008 January to 2009 December, near the minimum of solar activity between cycles 23 and 24. With the new data sample, the period of solar cycle 24 from near minimum to maximum is investigated. A new method is used to improve the energy reconstruction, allowing us to cover a much wider energy range, from 4 to 520 TeV. Below 100 TeV, the anisotropy is dominated by two wide regions, the so-called "tail-in" and "loss-cone" features. At higher energies, a dramatic change of the morphology is confirmed. The yearly time dependence of the anisotropy is investigated. Finally, no noticeable variation of cosmic-ray anisotropy with solar activity is observed for a median energy of 7 TeV.
The SuperNova Early Warning System is a cooperative project involving many experimenters coming from several, past and present, neutrino detectors. The primary goal of the collaboration is to provide ...the astronomical community with a prompt alert at the time of next galactic supernova. Requiring the online coincidence among neutrino detectors, world-wide distributed and with different detection techniques, SNEWS will generate a reliable, prompt and automated alert by eliminating the potential local false triggers. In this paper I will give a concise overview on the project motivations, network implementation, working procedures and current status.
BACKGROUND Lifestyle modifications are successfully employed to treat obese and overweight women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The aims of the current pilot study were (i) to compare the ...efficacy on reproductive functions of a structured exercise training (SET) programme with a diet programme in obese PCOS patients and (ii) to study their clinical, hormonal and metabolic effects to elucidate potentially different mechanisms of action. METHODS Forty obese PCOS patients with anovulatory infertility underwent a SET programme (SET group, n = 20) and a hypocaloric hyperproteic diet (diet group, n = 20). Clinical, hormonal and metabolic data were assessed at baseline, and at 12- and 24-week follow-ups. Primary endpoint was cumulative pregnancy rate. RESULTS The two groups had similar demographic, anthropometric and biochemical parameters. After intervention, a significant improvement in menstrual cycles and fertility was noted in both groups, with no differences between groups. The frequency of menses and the ovulation rate were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in the SET group than in diet group but the increased cumulative pregnancy rate was not significant. Body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, insulin resistance indexes and serum levels of sex hormone-binding globulin, androstenedione and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate changed significantly (P < 0.05) from baseline and were significantly different (P < 0.05) between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS Both SET and diet interventions improve fertility in obese PCOS patients with anovulatory infertility. We hypothesize that in both interventions an improvement in insulin sensitivity is the pivotal factor involved in the restoration of ovarian function but potentially acting through different mechanisms.
ABSTRACT The Large Volume Detector (LVD) has been continuously taking data since 1992 at the INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory. The LVD is sensitive to neutrino bursts from gravitational stellar ...collapses with full detection probability over the Galaxy. We have searched for neutrino bursts in LVD data taken over 7,335 days of operation. No evidence of neutrino signals has been found between 1992 June and 2013 December. The 90% C.L. upper limit on the rate of core collapse and failed supernova explosions out to distances of 25 kpc is found to be 0.114 yr−1.
The Large Volume Detector, hosted in the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, is triggered by atmospheric muons at a rate of ∼0.1 Hz. The data collected over almost a quarter of a century are ...used to study the muon intensity underground. The 5×107 muon series, the longest ever exploited by an underground instrument, allows for the accurate long-term monitoring of the muon intensity underground. This is relevant as a study of the background in the Gran Sasso Laboratory, which hosts a variety of long-duration, low-background detectors. We describe the procedure to select muon-like events as well as the method used to compute the exposure. We report the value of the average muon flux measured from 1994 to 2017: Iμ0=3.35±0.0005stat±0.03sys×10−4 m−2 s−1. We show that the intensity is modulated around this average value due to temperature variations in the stratosphere. We quantify such a correlation by using temperature data from the European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasts: we find an effective temperature coefficient αT=0.94±0.01stat±0.01sys, in agreement with other measurements at the same depth. We scrutinize the spectral content of the time series of the muon intensity by means of the Lomb-Scargle analysis. This yields the evidence of a 1-year periodicity, as well as the indication of others, both shorter and longer, suggesting that the series is not a pure sinusoidal wave. Consequently, and for the first time, we characterize the observed modulation in terms of amplitude and position of the maximum and minimum on a year-by-year basis.
At the Testa Grigia high altitude research Station (3480 m. a.s.l, Italy, 45°57′ N, 7°42’ E) several dosimetric campaigns for the measurement of the dose due to secondary neutrons produced in the ...atmosphere and in the surrounding environment by primary cosmic rays have been carried out from 2014 until 2021. Because of the high altitude of the site, the neutron flux at Testa Grigia is 10–15 times higher than at the sea level. Various instruments has been used to evaluate the dependence of the ambient dose equivalent rate from different factors as atmospheric parameters, environmental conditions and solar activity. Moreover, since October 2014 a modular neutron monitor designed, realized and tested by the SVIRCO Observatory Group INAF-IAPS in Rome, is permanently operating in the laboratory, providing a continuous monitoring of primary cosmic ray variability and making the laboratory an ideal place for dosimetric studies, instrument calibration and “in field” tests. In this paper the results of several neutron measurements carried out in the last years in periods of different solar activity and environmental conditions are reported, with a discussion on the origin of the observed variations of the ambient dose equivalent rate.
•The dose rate due to secondary cosmic rays neutrons is monitored at the Testa Grigia Laboratory.•Neutron dose rate variations are studied in different environmental conditions.•The sensitivity of different neutron detectors to neutron flux variations is studied.
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