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.
Neutrinoless double-beta (0vββ) decay is a hypothesized lepton-number-violating process that offers the only known means of asserting the possible Majorana nature of neutrino mass. The Cryogenic ...Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is an upcoming experiment designed to search for 0vββ decay of sup.130Te using an array of 988 TeO.sub.2 crystal bolometers operated at 10 mK. The detector will contain 206 kg of sup.130Te and have an average energy resolution of 5 keV; the projected 0vββ decay half-life sensitivity after five years of livetime is 1.6 x 10.sup.26 γ at 1σ (9.5 x 10.sup.25 γ at the 90% confidence level), which corresponds to an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass in the range 40-100 meV (50-130 meV). In this paper, we review the experimental techniques used in CUORE as well as its current status and anticipated physics reach.
A proper soil risk assessment needs to estimate the processes that affect the fate and the behaviour of a contaminant, which are influenced by soil biotic and abiotic components. For this reason, the ...measurement of biomarkers in soil bioindicator organisms, such as earthworms, has recently received increasing attention. In this study, the earthworm Eisenia andrei was used to assess the pollutant-induced stress syndrome after exposure to sublethal concentrations of Cd (10 or 100 μg g−1) in OECD soil, after 14 d of exposure. Cadmium bioaccumulation and potential biomarkers such as catalase (CAT), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), malondialdehyde (MDA), phenoloxidase (PO), metallothioneins (MTs) and genotoxic damage were determined. Results suggested that the exposure to 10 and 100 μg g−1 Cd significantly increased Cd bioaccumulation, MTs and MDA; 100 μg g−1 Cd contamination evidenced significantly higher values of H2O2 content and PO activity; CAT activity was inhibited at the higher concentration while GST and Comet assay did not show any significant differences from the control. Rank-based biomarker index showed that both different contaminated soils had an effect on the earthworms and allowed to validate the ecotoxicological relevance of this battery of biomarkers for a promising integrated multi-marker approach in soil monitoring and assessment.
•We used a multi-biomarker approach on earthworms exposed to artificial Cd soils.•The selected biomarkers have been integrated into the rank-based index.•Not all biomarkers responded to Cd contamination in the same way.•The rank-based index of 100 ppm Cd treatment resulted almost double compared to the control.•Several biomarkers have shown significant correlation between them.
The aim of the study is to identify the role of the People’s Republic of China in the activities of the organisation, based on the Chinese vision of its role in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation ...as one of the ideological and philosophical leaders that determine its focus and ideology. In particular, China implements the principle of polycentrism in Eurasia and interstate partnership and promotes the idea of state-regulated economic globalisation. The methodology of this scientific research is based on the analytical method of studying the issues related to the topic of the scientific research. China proceeds from the concept of ensuring full sovereignty by the member states of the organisation, but against the backdrop of low development rates of national economies (up to 2–2.5%) and lack of awareness by countries of their national interests in the region, Chinese business will strengthen its expansion, relying on both the World Trade Organisation rules and using protectionist measures by absorbing ineffective business entities. China is guided by the principles of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states, while maintaining its socio-political model based on the fusion of the communist ideology and the traditional philosophical doctrines of China and the mentality of the country’s population, excluding the democracy export policy, denying the desire for undivided hegemony and to rule the world community. This is confirmed by the main key elements of the People’s Republic of China’s foreign policy, determined by the Chinese leadership.
Experimental data obtained using three scintillation detectors are analyzed. The characteristics of cosmogenic neutrons in underground experiments their analytic dependences are considered. The ...behavior of background counting rate for the LVD detector for two measuring thresholds (0.5 and 5 MeV) are discussed.
Steroid receptor expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry in neoplastic, hyperplastic/dysplastic, and normal mammary tissue samples removed from 68 queens and 47 bitches, using monoclonal ...antibodies against human oestrogen-α (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR). Mammary lesions were classified according to World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, and all animals with invasive carcinomas were clinically followed for 2 years. Stromal and/or lymphatic invasion and histological grading were also recorded. In both species, ER expression was significantly higher in healthy tissues, hyperplastic/dysplastic lesions, and benign tumours than in carcinomas. The loss of ER expression was more marked in feline than in canine carcinomas. In queens, PR expression increased in dysplastic lesions and “in situ” carcinomas and decreased in invasive carcinomas, even if parts of these tumours were still PR-positive. In bitches no significant variation in PR expression was observed between normal tissue, dysplasias, and benign neoplasms, but was significantly lower in carcinomas. In both species ER and PR expression in invasive carcinomas did not correlate either with histological parameters or overall survival time.
This study demonstrates several differences in steroid hormone dependency between the two species. The percentage of PR-positive feline carcinomas suggests a possible role of progesterone in promoting early tumour cell growth in queens. The low percentage of ER-positive invasive carcinomas further demonstrated the aggressive phenotype and behaviour of feline mammary tumours.
In this paper we show the capabilities of the Large Volume Detector (INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory) to identify a neutrino burst associated with a supernova explosion, in the absence of an ...“external trigger”, e.g., an optical observation. We describe how the detector trigger and event selection have been optimized for this purpose, and we detail the algorithm used for the on-line burst recognition. The on-line sensitivity of the detector is defined and discussed in terms of supernova distance and
ν
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e
intensity at the source.
Cosmic radiation is a potential additional tool for atmospheric monitoring. High-energy cosmic rays, interacting in the atmosphere, produce secondary particles, the production and propagation of ...which are ruled by the state of the atmosphere. Atmospheric muons carry information on the stratosphere, as its temperature modulates their intensity. Here, we present a comprehensive investigation of the 24-year series of the muon flux recorded underground with the Large Volume Detector in the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy. Using advanced spectral-analysis methods, we reveal, in addition to the well-known annual cycle, two significant variations with periods of about four and ten years. These two multiannual components, however, are not present in the series of the so-called effective temperature—an average parameter commonly used to describe the entire atmospheric profile in relationship to the detected muon flux—but we find them in the series of the raw temperatures in the lower-stratospheric levels. We show that the weaker multiannual cycles emerge in the temperature series thanks to the dampening of the dominant annual radiative cycle at these levels, which are affected by higher-frequency variability related to transport and wave processes. We also show that the multiannual variations are not typical only of the Gran Sasso area but are present at large scales throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The analysis of the series of the muon flux also reveals evidence of daily to monthly scale variations, especially during the highly variable winter period. Although such short-term modulations are also found in the series of the effective temperature, we show that the variations of the two series are brought to better agreement when considering only specific layers of the atmosphere depending on the event. The amplitudes of the multiannual variations are significantly larger than those expected based on the temperature modulations. Such differences may be due to acknowledged difficulties of the adopted temperature reanalysis dataset to thoroughly represent long-term variability scales, so that long-term modulations in the raw temperature series and, consequently, in the effective temperature record would result as artificially attenuated. The muon flux therefore may be envisaged as a high time-resolution integrated proxy of lower-stratospheric temperatures.
Epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process occurring during both embryogenesis and early stages of invasive cancer. Epithelial cells that undergo EMT become more migratory and invasive with ...a mesenchymal morphology. Herein we assess EMT induction in a mouse mammary epithelial cell line driven by Msx2, a homeobox‐containing transcription factor important during mammary gland development. NMuMG cells, a normal mouse mammary epithelial cell line, stably transfected with a Msx2 cDNA showed downregulation of an epithelial marker E‐cadherin and upregulation of the mesenchymal markers vimentin and N‐cadherin. Furthermore, overexpression of Cripto‐1, a member of the epidermal growth factor‐CFC protein family already known to be involved in EMT, was detected in Msx2‐transfected cells. The expression of Cripto‐1 was accompanied by activation of the tyrosine kinase c‐Src pathway and an increase in the invasive ability of the cells. Functional assays also demonstrated inhibition of the invasive behavior of the Msx2‐transfected cells by a c‐Src specific inhibitor. Moreover, immunohistochemistry of human infiltrating breast carcinomas showed positive staining for Msx2 only in the infiltrating tumor cells while the non‐infiltrating tumor cells were negative. These results suggest that Msx2 may play a significant role in promoting EMT in epithelial cells that acquire properties involved in tumor invasion. J. Cell. Physiol. 219: 659–666, 2009. Published 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
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