Most COVID-19-related deaths occurred in older adults, however to date, evidence on determinants of SARS-CoV-2 infection in this population is limited and mostly based on case series without a ...comparison group. A telephone-based cross-sectional study was conducted in November 2020 on a representative sample of 4,400 people aged ≥65 years from the Italian region of Lombardy. We determined the prevalence of participants reporting a SARS-CoV-2 infection in the period between the onset of the pandemic and the time of the interview. To investigate the determinants of the infection, we estimated odds ratios (OR) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) thorough unconditional multiple logistic models. We further evaluated if the infection was a determinant of a worsening in mental health wellbeing. Overall, 4.9% of participants reported a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. No significant relationship between sex and infection was observed. SARS-CoV-2 infection was less frequently reported in subjects aged ≥70 (OR = 0.55; 95% 0.41-0.74) compared to 65-69 years. We didn't observe any trend after 70 years of age. Participants reporting at least one chronic condition had a lower infection rate compared to healthy subjects (OR = 0.68 95% CI: 0.49-0.93). Separated/divorced subjects more frequently reported infection than married/cohabiting ones (OR = 2.33 95% CI: 1.29-4.20). Self-reported history of SARS-CoV-2 infection resulted being a determinant of an increase in depressive symptoms (OR = 1.57; 95% CI: 1.17-2.10). In this large study - among the few assessing the determinants of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a representative sample of older adults -, the prevalence of a history of infection in November 2020 approached 5%. We found that persons aged 70 and above and those with chronic conditions, thus individuals with likely less social interactions, were less frequently exposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
We reviewed 20 studies on wolf diet in Italy, to relate the changes in diet composition to the increase of wild ungulate population in Italy. Researches covered the period from 1976 to 2004 and the ...whole range of wolves from southern Apennines to western Alps. We used the frequency of occurrence of seven food categories and of the wild ungulate species occurring in the diet. Estimates of wild ungulate populations were obtained from the literature and we extrapolated their trend in the period considered. Differences among geographic areas (south-central Apennines, northern Apennines, and western Alps) were tested by nonparametric multivariate analysis of variance, while the trends of the wild ungulate and livestock use and of diet breadth were analysed by regression and curve-fit analyses. We used the same method to support the relationships between the use and availability of wild ungulates. Wolves preyed on wild herbivores more in the northern Apennines and in the western Alps than in the southern Apennines; the contrary was the case for livestock. Among wild ungulate species, wild boar, roe deer and red deer were the main prey of the wolf. The occurrence of wild ungulates in the wolf diet increased from 1976 to 2004 together with a decrease of livestock; the increase was mainly due to roe deer, red deer and chamois. The results of scat analysis in the province of Genoa showed an increase of the occurrence of wild ungulates from 1987 to 2005, in particular roe deer and fallow deer. Wolves in Italy seem to select wild ungulates over domestic ones where the former are available with rich and diversified guilds and abundant populations.
We present the first direct search for lepton flavour violating muon decay mediated by a new light particle X,
μ
+
→
e
+
X
,
X
→
γ
γ
. This search uses a dataset resulting from
7.5
×
10
14
stopped ...muons collected by the MEG experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institut in the period 2009–2013. No significant excess is found in the mass region 20–45 MeV/c
2
for lifetimes below 40 ps, and we set the most stringent branching ratio upper limits in the mass region of 20–40 MeV/c
2
, down to
O
(
10
-
11
)
at 90% confidence level.
Abstract
Background
The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, which nowadays has exceeded 2.5 million notified infections in the world and about 200,000 deaths, is a strong reminder that urbanization has ...changed the way that people and communities live, work, and interact, and it's necessary to make the systems and local capacities resilient to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. How we can re-design the concept of Public Health in relation to the built environment and the contemporary cities?
Methods
According to the previous statements and scenario, aim of this paper is to integrate the Urban Health strategic objectives, focusing the possible responses, both immediate and medium-long term, to the current environmental, social, and economic aspects of the “period” of physical distancing.
Results
Immediate Actions are 01. program the flexibility of city schedules; 02. plan a smart and sustainable mobility network; 03. define a neighborhood services' plan; 04. develop a digitization of the urban context, promoting the smart communities; 05. re-think the accessibility to the places of culture and tourism. Medium-long term Actions are 06. design the indoor flexibility of domestic living spaces; 07. re-think building typologies, fostering the presence of semi-private or collective spaces; 08. renovate the basic care services' network; 09. integrate the existing environmental emergency plans, with those related to the health emergencies; 10. improve stakeholders' awareness of the factors affecting Public Health in the cities.
Conclusions
The Decalogue of Public Health opportunities may provide a useful basis for Designers (Architects and Urban Planners), Policy Makers, Public Health experts and Local Health Agencies, in promoting actions and policies aimed to transform our cities in healthier and Salutogenic living environments.
Key messages
The strategies described in this paper are at the basis of a social and infrastructural rethinking of the city, careful to the Welfare and Public Health needs.
The physical distancing imposed, may have amplified population's social and health inequalities.
The formability prediction of dual-phase steel sheets is highly important in the present automotive industry. In this study, the forming-limit curve (FLC) of a DP-780 steel sheet is predicted based ...on the well-known Marciniak and Kuczynski (MK) theory using a Visco-Plastic Self-Consistent (VPSC) crystal-plasticity scheme. To calibrate the polycrystal model, the stress–strain curves of the ferritic and martensitic phases are inferred by accounting for three martensitic plastic behaviors. Thus, the effect of martensitic plasticity on the FLC simulation can be analyzed. In addition, two different hardening laws – namely saturation and Voce models – are considered in order to study the effects of the extrapolated hardening behavior on the shape of the predicted FLCs. The best agreement with experimentation is found when the FLCs are calculated using the saturation hardening law and when the martensite deformation is either not allowed or retarded to occur after the point of necking. An analysis of the ferritic/martensitic slip system activity inside and outside the MK instability band suggests that, within the MK-VPSC framework, localization occurs much faster in the ferritic than in the martensitic phase. In addition, it is found that, unlike uniaxial tension, after plane-strain deformation and equi-biaxial stretching there is a strong correlation between the orientation of the ferritic grain and the strain that it accommodates. The predictive capability of the model is also confirmed by comparing the measured and simulated crystallographic textures close to necking.
Homeorhetic mechanisms assist dairy cows in the transition from pregnancy to lactation. Less successful cows develop severe negative energy balance (NEB), placing them at risk of metabolic and ...infectious diseases and reduced fertility. We have previously placed multiparous Holstein Friesian cows from 4 herds into metabolic clusters, using as biomarkers measurements of plasma nonesterified fatty acids, β-hydroxybutyrate, glucose and IGF-1 collected at 14 and 35 d in milk (DIM). This study characterized the global transcriptomic profiles of liver and circulating leukocytes from the same animals to determine underlying mechanisms associated with their metabolic and immune function. Liver biopsy and whole-blood samples were collected around 14 DIM for RNA sequencing. All cows with available RNA sequencing data were placed into balanced (BAL, n = 44), intermediate (n = 44), or imbalanced (IMBAL, n = 19) metabolic cluster groups. Differential gene expression was compared between the 3 groups using ANOVA, but only the comparison between BAL and IMBAL cows is reported. Pathway analysis was undertaken using DAVID Bioinformatic Resources (https://david.ncifcrf.gov/). Milk yields did not differ between BAL and IMBAL cows but dry matter intake was less in IMBAL cows and they were in greater energy deficit at 14 DIM (−4.48 v −11.70 MJ/d for BAL and IMBAL cows). Significantly differentially expressed pathways in hepatic tissue included AMPK signaling, glucagon signaling, adipocytokine signaling, and insulin resistance. Genes involved in lipid metabolism and cholesterol transport were more highly expressed in IMBAL cows but IGF1 and IGFALS were downregulated. Leukocytes from BAL cows had greater expression of histones and genes involved in nucleosomes and cell division. Leukocyte expression of heat shock proteins increased in IMBAL cows, suggesting an unfolded protein response, and several key genes involved in immune responses to pathogens were upregulated (e.g., DEFB13, HP, OAS1Z, PTX3, and TLR4). Differentially expressed genes upregulated in IMBAL cows in both tissues included CD36, CPT1, KFL11, and PDK4, all central regulators of energy metabolism. The IMBAL cows therefore had greater difficulty maintaining glucose homeostasis and had dysregulated hepatic lipid metabolism. Their energy deficit was associated with a reduced capacity for cell division and greater evidence of stress responses in the leukocyte population, likely contributing to an increased risk of infectious disease.
Looking for Cherenkov light in liquid xenon with LoLX Galli, L.; Kharusi, S. Al; Brunner, T. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
February 2023, 2023-02-00, Volume:
1047
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The Light-only Liquid Xenon (LoLX) experiment is designed to study the properties of light emission and transport in liquid xenon (LXe) using silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). In addition, we also ...plan to perform long-term stability studies of the SiPMs in LXe. Another important goal of the LoLX experiment is to characterize and utilize the differences in spectrum and timing of Cherenkov and scintillation light production to develop a background discriminator for low-background LXe experiments such as, neutrino-less double beta decay searches.
In this paper we present the project status and perspectives.
The MEG detector for μ+→e+γ decay search Adam, J.; Bai, X.; Baldini, A. M. ...
European physical journal. C, Particles and fields,
04/2013, Volume:
73, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The MEG (Mu to Electron Gamma) experiment has been running at the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), Switzerland since 2008 to search for the decay
μ
+
→e
+
γ
by using one of the most intense continuous
μ
...+
beams in the world. This paper presents the MEG components: the positron spectrometer, including a thin target, a superconducting magnet, a set of drift chambers for measuring the muon decay vertex and the positron momentum, a timing counter for measuring the positron time, and a liquid xenon detector for measuring the photon energy, position and time. The trigger system, the read-out electronics and the data acquisition system are also presented in detail. The paper is completed with a description of the equipment and techniques developed for the calibration in time and energy and the simulation of the whole apparatus.
LSPE/SWIPE is a balloon-borne experiment aimed at measuring the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) exploiting the reionization peak at ℓ<10, with the primary target of ...improving the tensor-to-scalar ratio limit down to r=0.03 at 99.7% confidence level. SWIPE will use 326 spider-web Ti/Au transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers, realized at INFN Genova, hosted on two focal planes cooled down at 300 mK and readout by superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs), with multi-mode horns to couple the instrument’s optical stages to the detectors. We present our design and demonstration of a 16-channel frequency domain multiplexing (FDM) system to readout SWIPE’s TES bolometers.
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