The coherent elastic scattering of neutrinos off nuclei has eluded detection for four decades, even though its predicted cross section is by far the largest of all low-energy neutrino couplings. This ...mode of interaction offers new opportunities to study neutrino properties and leads to a miniaturization of detector size, with potential technological applications. We observed this process at a 6.7σ̃ confidence level, using a low-background, 14.6-kilogram CsINa scintillator exposed to the neutrino emissions from the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Characteristic signatures in energy and time, predicted by the standard model for this process, were observed in high signal-to-background conditions. Improved constraints on nonstandard neutrino interactions with quarks are derived from this initial data set.
The ANAIS (Annual modulation with NaI(Tl) Scintillators) experiment aims at the confirmation or refutation of the DAMA/LIBRA positive annual modulation signal in the low energy detection rate, using ...the same target and technique, at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC) in Spain. ANAIS-112, consisting of nine 12.5 kg NaI(Tl) modules produced by Alpha Spectra Inc. in a
3
×
3
matrix configuration, is taking data smoothly in “dark matter search” mode since August, 2017, after a commissioning phase and operation of the first detectors during the last years in various set-ups. A large effort has been carried out within ANAIS to characterize the background of sodium iodide detectors, before unblinding the data and performing the first annual modulation analysis. Here, the background models developed for all the nine ANAIS-112 detectors are presented. Measured spectra from threshold to high energy in different conditions are well described by the models based on quantified activities independently estimated following several approaches. In the region from 1 to
6
keV
ee
the measured, efficiency corrected background level is
3.58
±
0.02
keV
-
1
kg
-
1
day
-
1
; NaI crystal bulk contamination is the dominant background source being
210
Pb
,
40
K
,
22
Na
and
3
H
contributions the most relevant ones. This background level, added to the achieved
1
keV
ee
analysis threshold (thanks to the outstanding light collection and robust filtering procedures developed), allow ANAIS-112 to be sensitive to the modulation amplitude measured by DAMA/LIBRA, and able to explore at three sigma level in 5 years the WIMP parameter region singled out by this experiment.
The colonic microbiota plays an important role in the bioavailibility of dietary polyphenols. This work has evaluated the impact on the gut microbiota of long-term feeding with both a red wine ...polyphenolic extract and the flavan-3-ol metabolizer strain Lactobacillus plantarum IFPL935. The study was conducted in the dynamic Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem (SHIME). The feeding of the gut microbiota model with red wine polyphenols caused an initial decrease in the counts of total bacteria in the ascending colon (AC), with Bacteroides, Clostridium coccoides/Eubacterium rectale and Bifidobacterium being the most affected bacterial groups. The bacterial counts recovered to initial numbers faster than the overall microbial fermentation and proteolysis, which seemed to be longer affected by polyphenols. Addition of L. plantarum IFPL935 helped to promptly recover total counts, Lactobacillus and Enterobacteriaceae and led to an increase in lactic acid formation in the AC vessel at the start of the polyphenol treatment as well as butyric acid in the transverse (TC) and descending (DC) vessels after 5 days. Moreover, L. plantarum IFPL935 favoured the conversion in the DC vessel of monomeric flavan-3-ols and their intermediate metabolites into phenylpropionic acids and in particular 3-(3′-hydroxyphenyl)propionic acid. The results open the possibilities of using L. plantarum IFPL935 as a food ingredient for helping individuals showing a low polyphenol-fermenting metabotype to increase their colonic microbial capacities of metabolizing dietary polyphenols.
ANAIS is a direct detection dark matter experiment aiming at the study of the annual modulation expected in the interaction rate. It uses same target and technique as the DAMA/LIBRA experiment, which ...reported a highly significant positive modulation compatible with that expected for dark matter particles distributed in the galactic halo. However, other very sensitive experiments do not find any hint of particles with the required properties, although comparison is model dependent. In 2017, ANAIS-112 experiment was installed at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC), in Spain, and after the commissioning run for calibration and general assessment, ANAIS-112 started data taking in dark matter mode on August 3rd, 2017. It consists of nine NaI(Tl) modules, amounting 112.5 kg of mass in total. Here we report on the experimental apparatus and detector performance after the first year of data taking. Total live time available amounts to 341.72 days, being the corresponding exposure 105.32 kg
×
year. ANAIS-112 has achieved an analysis energy threshold of 1 keVee and an average background in the region of interest, from 1 to 6 keVee, of 3.6 counts/keVee/kg/day after correcting by the event selection efficiencies. In these conditions, ANAIS-112 will be able to test the DAMA/LIBRA result at three sigma level in five years of data taking.
GRB 101225A is a prototype of the class of blackbody-dominated (BBD) gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). It has been suggested that BBD-GRBs result from the merger of a binary system formed by a neutron star ...and the helium core of an evolved star. We have modelled the propagation of ultrarelativistic jets through the environment left behind the merger by means of relativistic hydrodynamic simulations. In this paper, the output of our numerical models is post-processed to obtain the (thermal) radiative signature of the resulting outflow. We outline the most relevant dynamical details of the jet propagation and connect them to the generation of thermal radiation in GRB events akin to that of GRB 101225A. A comprehensive parameter study of the jet/environment interaction has been performed and synthetic light curves are confronted with the observational data. The thermal emission in our models originates from the interaction between the jet and the hydrogen envelope ejected during the neutron star/He core merger. We find that the lack of a classical afterglow and the accompanying thermal emission in BBD-GRBs can be explained by the interaction of an ultrarelativistic jet with a toroidally shaped ejecta whose axis coincides with the binary rotation axis. The spectral inversion and reddening happening at about 2 d in GRB 101225A can be related to the time at which the massive shell ejected in an early phase of the common envelope evolution of the progenitor system is completely ablated by the ultrarelativistic jet.
The annual modulation measured by the DAMA/LIBRA experiment can be explained by the interaction of dark matter WIMPs in NaI(Tl) scintillator detectors. Other experiments, with different targets or ...techniques, exclude the region of parameters singled out by DAMA/LIBRA, but the comparison of their results relies on several hypotheses regarding the dark matter model. ANAIS-112 is a dark matter search with 112.5 kg of NaI(Tl) scintillators at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC) to test the DAMA/LIBRA result in a model independent way. We analyze its prospects in terms of the
a priori
critical and detection limits of the experiment. A simple figure of merit has been obtained to compare the different experiments looking for the annual modulation observed by DAMA/LIBRA. We conclude that after 5 years of measurement, ANAIS-112 can detect the annual modulation in the
3
σ
region compatible with the DAMA/LIBRA result.
Gut microbiome and anti-viral immunity in COVID-19 Rossini, V.; Tolosa-Enguis, V.; Frances-Cuesta, C. ...
Critical reviews in food science and nutrition,
2024, Letnik:
64, Številka:
14
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
SARS-CoV-2 mainly affects the respiratory system, but the gastrointestinal tract is also a target. Prolonged gut disorders, in COVID-19 patients, were correlated with decreased richness and diversity ...of the gut microbiota, immune deregulation and delayed viral clearance. Although there are no definitive conclusions, ample evidence would suggest that the gut microbiome composition and function play a role in COVID-19 progression. Microbiome modulation strategies for population stratification and management of COVID-19 infection are under investigation, representing an area of interest in the ongoing pandemic. In this review, we present the existing data related to the interaction between gut microbes and the host's immune response to SARS-CoV-2 and discuss the implications for current disease management and readiness to face future pandemics.
Serratia marcescens frequently causes outbreaks in healthcare settings. There are few studies using high-throughput sequencing (HTS) that analyse S. marcescens outbreaks. We present the analysis of ...two outbreaks in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in hospitals from the Comunitat Valenciana (CV, Spain) and the impact of using different reference genomes.
DNA from cultured isolates was extracted and sequenced by HTS using Illumina NextSeq. Reads were mapped against two reference genomes, strains UMH9 and Db11, and the unmapped fraction of the genomes was assembled to fully genetically characterize the isolates.
Isolates from the first outbreak were identical to the UMH9 reference, an unrelated isolate obtained three years earlier in the USA. This did not occur when the Db11 strain, a standard reference for S. marcescens, was used as the reference for mapping. To check whether UMH9 was a widely distributed clone spreading in the CV, the second outbreak isolates were mapped against this reference. They were not closely related to this strain, and this outbreak could be defined as such regardless of the reference used for mapping the reads.
The choice of the reference for genomic analysis of outbreaks is a critical decision. In the case of the first outbreak, this choice changed the interpretation of the results drastically, allowing or preventing the definition of the outbreak according to the reference used. Although HTS is a powerful tool for epidemiological analysis, it is still essential to collect microbiological and epidemiological data for the correct interpretation of the results.
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