The EEE (Extreme Energy Event) Project׳s goal is the study of high energy Extensive Air Showers (EAS) over a very large area, using an array of muon telescopes, based on position-sensitive Multigap ...Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPCs). Young students are directly involved in assembling and monitoring the telescopes, with the aim to introduce them to advanced physics research. At present the array is composed of more than 40 stations, distributed on a total area of 3×105km2. Most of them are independently taking data since several years. A new combined run (RUN-1) has started in February 2015, with 35 telescopes taking data simultaneously for a collected statistics larger than 4×109 reconstructed events. An overview of the experiment and some results from studies on correlated muons from the same EAS, and on solar events as Forbush decreases, will be shown.
The eruption of the Hunga-Tonga volcano in the South Pacific Ocean on January 15, 2022, at about 4:15 UTC, generated a violent explosion, which created atmospheric pressure disturbances in the form ...of Rayleigh-Lamb waves detected all over the globe. Here we discuss the observation of the Hunga-Tonga shock-wave performed at the Ny-Ålesund Research Station on the Spitsbergen island, by the detectors of the PolarquEEEst experiment and their ancillary sensors. Online pressure data as well as the results of dedicated offline analysis are presented and discussed in details. Results include wave arrival times, wave amplitude measurements and wave velocity calculation. We observed five passages of the shock wave with a significance larger than 3 Formula: see text and an amplitude up to 1 hPa. The average propagation velocity resulted to be (308 ± 0.6) m/s. Possible effects of the atmospheric pressure variation associated with the shock-wave multiple passages on the cosmic-ray rate at ground level are also investigated. We did not find any significant evidence of this effect.
This paper describes the simulation framework of the extreme energy events (EEE) experiment. EEE is a network of cosmic muon trackers, each made of three multi-gap resistive plate chambers (MRPC), ...able to precisely measure the absolute muon crossing time and the muon integrated angular flux at the ground level. The response of a single MRPC and the combination of three chambers have been implemented in a GEANT4-based framework (GEMC) to study the telescope response. The detector geometry, as well as details about the surrounding materials and the location of the telescopes have been included in the simulations in order to realistically reproduce the experimental set-up of each telescope. A model based on the latest parametrization of the cosmic muon flux has been used to generate single muon events. After validating the framework by comparing simulations to selected EEE telescope data, it has been used to determine detector parameters not accessible by analysing experimental data only, such as detection efficiency, angular and spatial resolution.
Background
Grass pollen‐related seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (SARg) is clinically heterogeneous in severity, comorbidities, and response to treatment. The component‐resolved diagnostics ...disclosed also a high heterogeneity at molecular level. Our study aimed at analyzing the characteristics of the IgE sensitization to Phleum pratense molecules and investigating the diagnostic relevance of such molecules in childhood.
Methods
We examined 1120 children (age 4‐18 years) with SARg. Standardized questionnaires on atopy were acquired through informatics platform (AllergyCARD™). Skin prick tests were performed with pollen extracts. Serum IgE to airborne allergens and eight P. pratense molecules (rPhl p 1, rPhl p 2, rPhl p 4, rPhl p 5b, rPhl p 6, rPhl p 7, rPhl p 11, rPhl p 12) were tested by ImmunoCAP FEIA.
Results
The analysis of IgE responses against eight P. pratense molecules showed 87 profiles. According to the number of molecules recognized by IgE, the more complex profiles were characterized by higher serum total IgE, higher grass‐specific serum IgE, and higher number and degree of sensitization to pollens. The most frequent IgE sensitization profile was the monomolecular Phl p 1. Sensitization to Phl p 7 was a reliable biomarker of asthma, whereas Phl p 12 of oral allergy syndrome. Sensitization to Phl p 7 was associated with a higher severity of SARg, and complex profiles were associated with longer disease duration.
Conclusions
In a large pediatric population, the complexity of IgE sensitization profiles against P. pratense molecules is related to high atopic features although useless for predicting the clinical severity. The detection of serum IgE to Phl p 1, Phl p 7, and Phl p 12 can be used as clinical biomarkers of SARg and comorbidities. Further studies in different areas are required to test the impact of different IgE molecular profiles on AIT response.
Abstract
After its successful campaign of measurements beyond the Polar Arctic Circle, the PolarquEEEst experiment measured the cosmic charged particle rate at sea level in a latitude interval ...between 35
$$^{\circ }$$
∘
N and 82
$$^{\circ }$$
∘
N. In this paper, these measurements are described and the corresponding results are discussed.
Background: The hygiene hypothesis proposes that declining exposure to infections is implicated in the rising trend of allergy and asthma. Objective: We sought to test this hypothesis by examining ...the relationship of hay fever, asthma, and atopic sensitization with markers of infection in a large general population sample of the United States. Methods: We analyzed the data of 33,994 US residents recorded in a public database of a nationally representative cross-sectional survey (Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-1994). The variables examined were sociodemographic information, lifetime diagnosis and age at first diagnosis of hay fever or asthma, current skin sensitization to 9 airborne allergens and peanut, and current serology for Toxoplasma gondii , herpes simplex viruses type 1 and 2, and hepatitis A, B, and C viruses. Results: Hay fever (adjusted odds ratio, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.18-0.41; P < .001) and asthma (adjusted odds ratio, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.31-0.66; P < .001) were less frequent in subjects seropositive for hepatitis A virus (HAV), T gondii , and herpes simplex virus 1 versus seronegative subjects after adjusting for age, sex, race, urban residence, census region, family size, income, and education. Skin sensitization to peanut and to all the airborne allergens examined, except for cockroach, was less frequent among HAV-seropositive versus HAV-seronegative subjects younger than 40 years of age. The prevalence of hay fever and asthma diagnosed at or before 18 years of age in HAV-seronegative subjects increased progressively from 2.7% (95% CI, 0.7%-4.7%) and 0.4% (95% CI, 0.1%-1.6%), respectively, in cohorts born before 1920 to 8.5% (95% CI, 7.3%-9.7%) and 5.8% (95% CI, 4.8%-6.8%), respectively, in cohorts born in the 1960s, whereas they remained constant at around 2% in all cohorts of HAV-seropositive subjects. Conclusion: In the United States serologic evidence of acquisition of certain infections, mainly food-borne and orofecal infection, is associated with a lower probability of having hay fever and asthma. Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data support the hypothesis that hygiene is a major factor contributing to the increase in hay fever, asthma, and atopic sensitization in westernized countries. (J Allergy Clin Immunol 2002;110:381-7.)
The goal of the PolarquEEEst experiment was to measure the cosmic charged particle rate at latitudes greater than 66
∘
N, where no systematic and accurate measurements at sea level have ever been ...performed. A latitude range well above the Arctic Circle was explored on board of a sailboat, up to the unprecedented northernmost value of
82
∘
07
′
N. In this paper a description of the experimental set-up is reported, then the procedures for calibration and data analysis are described in detail. The results show that the rate measured in this latitude range stays constant within a novel accuracy of
±
1
%.
We present the observations of GRB090510 performed by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope and the Swift observatory. This is a bright, short burst that shows an extended emission detected in the GeV ...range. Furthermore, its optical emission initially rises, a feature so far observed only in long bursts, while the X-ray flux shows an initial shallow decrease, followed by a steeper decay. This exceptional behavior enables us to investigate the physical properties of the gamma-ray burst outflow, poorly known in short bursts. We discuss internal and external shock models for the broadband energy emission of this object.