Search

Abstract We present the first direct search for lepton flavour violating muon decay mediated by a new light particle X, $$\upmu ^+ \rightarrow \mathrm {e}^+\mathrm {X}, \mathrm {X} \rightarrow \upgamma \upgamma \ $$ μ + → e + X , X → γ γ . This search uses a dataset resulting from $$7.5\times 10^{14}$$ 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 $$^2$$ 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 $$^2$$ 2 , down to $${\mathcal {O}}(10^{-11})$$ O ( 10 - 11 ) at 90% confidence level.

Abstract The MEG experiment, designed to search for the $${\mu ^+ \rightarrow \hbox {e}^+ \gamma }$$ μ+→e+γ decay, completed data-taking in 2013 reaching a sensitivity level of $${5.3\times 10^{-13}}$$ 5.3×10-13 for the branching ratio. In order to increase the sensitivity reach of the experiment by an order of magnitude to the level of $$6\times 10^{-14}$$ 6×10-14 , a total upgrade, involving substantial changes to the experiment, has been undertaken, known as MEG II. We present both the motivation for the upgrade and a detailed overview of the design of the experiment and of the expected detector performance.

Abstract Liver fibrosis is often undetected whereas it is the determinant of liver-related mortality. We evaluate a pathway based on the systematic calculation of FIB-4 to screen for advanced hepatic fibrosis. Systematic calculation of FIB-4 was implemented in the centralized laboratory of a French University Hospital in 4 pilot departments. If ≥ 2.67, the FIB-4 result was returned to the prescribers, for patients between 18 and 70 years of age, with an incentive to measure liver stiffness by vibration controlled transient elastography. During a 2-years period, a FIB-4 was calculated in 2963 patients and 135 were ≥ 2.67 (4.6%). After exclusion of patients with a known cause of elevated FIB-4, 47 patients (34.8%) were eligible for elastography. Forty patients underwent elastography, but only 15% (7/47) at the spontaneous request of the referring physician. Fifteen patients were identified with significant fibrosis, among which 8 attended the scheduled specialist consultation, all with a confirmed diagnosis of cirrhosis. A sequential pathway based on the systematic calculation of FIB-4 enables the identification of patients with significant unknown liver fibrosis, allowing to refer them to specialized care. Raising awareness is essential to improve the care pathway.

Introducere. În ocluziile axului arterial subclavio-axilar cu ischemie severă a membrului superior s-ar impune folosirea metodelor endovasculare sau aplicarea unui bypass ortotop. În cazul imposibilității, din motive tehnice sau a stării pacientului, drept alternativă servește bypass-ul carotido-brahial. Scopul lucrării. Aprecierea posibilității utilizării bypass-ului extraanatomic carotido-brahial în revascularizarea membrului superior în ischemia severă. Material și metode. Raportul de cazuri cuprinde 5 pacienți cu ocluzia axului subclavio-axilar cu ischemie severă a membrului superior, dintre care 3 cu ocluzie acută pe fundal de stenoze aterosclerotice, la care intervenția inițială de trombectomie (embolectomie) a eșuat, un pacient cu tromboza anevrismului a. subclaviculare și un pacient cu ocluzie aterosclerotică de gradul IV cu gangrena degetului II, la care intervenția endovasculară a eșuat. La toți pacienții s-a aplicat un bypass carotido-brahial cu grefon safen intern inversat. Grefele au fost amplasate suprafascial supraclavicular. Rezultate. La toți 5 pacienți ischemia a cedat complet. La 4 din ei s-a restabilit pulsul distal. La pacientul cu ateroscleroză cronică de gradul IV, cu afectarea concomitentă a arterelor antebrațului, pulsul s-a restabilit la bifurcația arterei brahiale. La acest pacient s-a efectuat amputația degetului. Complicații nu s-au înregistrat. Incomodități subiective din cauza amplasării suprafasciale și supraclaviculare a bypass-urilor, de asemenea, n-au fost înregistrate. Concluzii. Bypass-urile carotido-brahiale localizate suprafascial și supraclavicular serversc o alternativă a bypass-urilor ortotope, inclusiv în cazurile eșecurilor sau contraindicațiilor metodelor endovasculare.

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are increasingly used in different applications, including 3D urban modelling, cadastral mapping, urban planning, GIS information system and other fields because of their advantages. As a consequence, UAS equipment is constantly developed to provide more accurate results in a more reliable mode. This paper aims to evaluate the performances of a low-cost UAS system, namely DJI Phantom 4 Pro v2 equipped with a TeoKIT GNSS PPK (post-processing kinematic) module for cadastral mapping purposes. Two fights (oblique and nadir) over a residential area at 60 m height were performed and some 100 ground points were used to derive RMSE accuracies. Comparison between GNSS-aided with PPK processing and indirect georeferencing processes are performed. Given a mobile laser scanner (MLS) point cloud as ground truth, comparison with UAS point clouds and manually digitized features are also performed and reported.

BACKGROUND: HCV chronic infection may affect Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs) and HCV related neuroinflammation might correlate with neurocognitive performances (NCP) dysfunction. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A prospective observational study on HCV infected patients treated with direct-acting antivirals (DAA) was conducted at the University Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases of Brescia, ASST Spedali Civili General Hospital (Italy) from October 2017 to June 2018. Data were collected at baseline (BL), end of treatment (EOT) and 12 weeks after EOT (FU12W). PROs were evaluated with Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Visual Analogue Fatigue Scale (VAFS) and Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire: General Health (WPAI:GH). Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test evaluated NCP. Exclusion criteria were: HIV infection with CD4+ nadir

En una región con pastizal bajo del departamento, La Pampa (lat·.36°50' S Long'. 65°18' W) se analizaron las diferencias entre tres áreas. Dos de ellas eran clausuras de 28 y 14 años. La tercera tuvo en los últimos años un descanso de doce meses, año por medio. Las tres áreas son similares en composición florística, pero difieren en los valores de abundancia-cobertura de sus especies principales. La cobertura de la vegetación tuvo un máximo en las dos clausuras y un mínimo en el área con descanso de doce meses, año por medio. La frecuencia de las especies dominantes y codominantes vario del 90 al 100%. La fitomasa aérea alcanzó a 320 gMS/m2 en el área no pastoreada durante 28 años y de150 gMS/m2 en el área con un descanso anual, año por medio. Los valores de altura de cañas, altura verde y diámetro de corona fueron mayores en la clausura de 14 años. Koeleria permollis una especie decreciente codominó solamente en la clausura de 28 años. Poa ligularis otra especie decreciente, deseable, codominó en la clausura de 14 años y Piptochaetium napostaense domino en el área con un descanso de doce meses, año por medio.

Se evaluó la condición de pastura en 20 áreas de pastizal de planicie en el Departamento Loventué, La Pampa. La identificación del estado de condición se realizó en función del peso de las especies por unidad de muestreo. Se hicieron además determinaciones de frecuencia, densidad, cobertura y altura de las especies más importantes. Para la determinación de la condición de las áreas, fueron usados los siguientes índices: Muy buena. Buena, Regular, Mala y Muy Mala.

La reintroducción del fuego en forma de quema prescriptas puede tener diferentes finalidades. El uso más frecuente es para la reducción de fitomasa altamente combustible, disminuyendo de esta manera los riesgos de propagación de incendio o como herramienta para mantener o aumentar la producción forrajera de las áreas. El objetivo del presente trabajo es evaluar la respuesta de la vegetación a la acción de la quema controlada en los 6 y 12 meses posteriores a la misma en dos variantes de la comunidad de bosque de caldén: bosque abierto (BA) con presencia de especies forrajeras y bosque denso (BD) con baja proporción de especies forrajeras a) en la vegetación b) en el banco de semillas de gramíneas. El efecto del fuego controlado observado en este trabajo para ambas comunidades no tuvo la magnitud de cambio estructural que se esperaba en lo que respecta a aumento de forrajeras y disminución de especies no forrajeras y leñosas. La respuesta de la vegetación estuvo principalmente condicionada por las características estructurales y florísticas de la comunidad.

Nowadays, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) are a wide used technique for acquisition in order to create buildings 3D models, providing the acquisition of a high number of images at very high resolution or video sequences, in a very short time. Since low-cost UASs are preferred, the accuracy of a building 3D model created using this platforms must be evaluated. To achieve results, the dean's office building from the Faculty of “Hydrotechnical Engineering, Geodesy and Environmental Engineering” of Iasi, Romania, has been chosen, which is a complex shape building with the roof formed of two hyperbolic paraboloids. Seven points were placed on the ground around the building, three of them being used as GCPs, while the remaining four as Check points (CPs) for accuracy assessment. Additionally, the coordinates of 10 natural CPs representing the building characteristic points were measured with a Leica TCR 405 total station. The building 3D model was created as a point cloud which was automatically generated based on digital images acquired with the low-cost UASs, using the image matching algorithm and different software like 3DF Zephyr, Visual SfM, PhotoModeler Scanner and Drone2Map for ArcGIS. Except for the PhotoModeler Scanner software, the interior and exterior orientation parameters were determined simultaneously by solving a self-calibrating bundle adjustment. Based on the UAS point clouds, automatically generated by using the above mentioned software and GNSS data respectively, the parameters of the east side hyperbolic paraboloid were calculated using the least squares method and a statistical blunder detection. Then, in order to assess the accuracy of the building 3D model, several comparisons were made for the facades and the roof with reference data, considered with minimum errors: TLS mesh for the facades and GNSS mesh for the roof. Finally, the front facade of the building was created in 3D based on its characteristic points using the PhotoModeler Scanner software, resulting a CAD (Computer Aided Design) model. The results showed the high potential of using low-cost UASs for building 3D model creation and if the building 3D model is created based on its characteristic points the accuracy is significantly improved.

This paper presents the results obtained following the testing of five hypotheses regarding conditional return and volatility of the most listed European stocks in the steel & iron subsector. The following elements of the stocks are analysed: time variation of volatility, seasonality of return and volatility, relationship between return and volatility and volatility asymmetry. The results obtained confirm for all the analyzed stocks the existence of volatility variation in time, the lack of correlation between return and volatility, the existence of asymmetry phenomenon of volatility and the presence in some stocks of the seasonality effect both for return and volatility.

In 2003, the incidence of tuberculosis in Argentina showed an increase compared to 2002. The severe national crisis at the end of the 90s has probably strongly contributed to this situation. The goal of this work was to estimate the extent of the spread of the most predominant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains and to assess the spread of predominant M. tuberculosis clusters as determined by spoligotyping and IS6110 RFLP. The study involved 590 pulmonary, smear-positive TB cases receiving medical attention at health centers and hospitals in Northern Buenos Aires (NBA) suburbs, from October 2001 to December 2002. From a total of 208 clinical isolates belonging to 6 major clusters, 63 (30.2%) isolates had identical spoligotyping and IS6110 RFLP pattern. Only 22.2% were shown to have epidemiological connections with another member of their respective cluster. In these major clusters, 30.2% of the 208 TB cases studied by both molecular techniques and contact tracing could be convincingly attributable to a recently acquired infection. This knowledge may be useful to assess the clonal distribution of predominant M. tuberculosis clusters in Argentina, which may make an impact on TB control strategies.La incidencia de la tuberculosis en Argentina mostró en 2003 un incremento en comparación con 2002. La grave crisis nacional a fines de los 90 ha probablemente contribuido en gran medida a esta situación. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue determinar la diversidad genética de aislamientos de Mycobacterium tuberculosis y el grado de dispersión de algunas cepas mayoritarias genéticamente relacionadas. El estudio involucró 590 aislamientos clínicos provenientes de muestras respiratorias con examen directo positivo, de pacientes atendidos en los hospitales y centros de salud que conforman la región Gran Buenos Aires Norte (NBA), de octubre de 2001 a diciembre de 2002. De 208 aislamientos que se encontraron en los 6 mayores clusters, 63 (30,2%) tenían patrones idénticos de spoligotyping y de IS6110 RFLP. En el 22,2% de los casos fue posible verificar la conexión epidemiológica con otro miembro del respectivo cluster. Concluimos que el 30,2% de estos agrupamientos principales pueden ser atribuidos a una infección reciente. Estos resultados pueden ser útiles para determinar la distribución clonal de los grupos predominantes de M. tuberculosis en Argentina, lo que puede impactar en las estrategias de control de la tuberculosis.

During a population-based study to genotype isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from Buenos Aires Northern suburbs, we found isolates with molecular patterns related to those of the Beijing genotype. Five out of 590 (0.85%) patients had isolates with spoligopattern identical to that of the Beijing family. Since two of these isolates showed identical IS6110RFLP pattern, we found only four different patterns containing 11 to 19 bands. The isolates were obtained from young people (including a 7 years-old child) who were born in Argentina, and were living in a small area of our region. However, conventional contact tracing did not prove epidemiological linkage among them. These isolates were fully drug-susceptible to the first-line drugs. The comparison of the IS6110RFLP patterns from our isolates against a set of 19 reference Beijing patterns from the RIVM (The Netherlands) confirmed that the strains belonged to the Beijing lineage. These findings might be partially explained by the important migration phenomena occurred during the last decade. Further surveillance studies would help in the following of Beijing family strain dissemination in our community.Durante un estudio poblacional para genotipificar aislamientos de Mycobacterium tuberculosis de Gran Buenos Aires Norte, se encontraron aislamientos con patrones moleculares relacionados con el genotipo Beijing. Cinco de 590 (0,85%) pacientes tuvieron aislamientos con un patrón de spoligotyping idéntico al de la familia Beijing. Dos de esos aislamientos mostraron un patrón de IS6110 RFLP idéntico, por lo que finalmente fueron encontrados cuatro patrones diferentes conteniendo entre 11 y 19 bandas. Las cepas fueron aisladas de personas jóvenes incluyendo un niño de siete años de edad, todos ellos nacidos en Argentina y residentes en un pequeño distrito de nuestra región. Sin embargo, no pudo hallarse ninguna conexión epidemiológica entre ellos. La comparación de los patrones de IS6110 RFLP de los aislamientos con un panel de 19 cepas Beijing de referencia del RIVM (Holanda), confirmó que estas cepas pertenecían a ese linaje. Estos hallazgos podrían explicarse, parcialmente, por el importante fenómeno migratorio ocurrido la pasada década. Futuros estudios de vigilancia epidemiológica podrían contribuir en el seguimiento de la diseminación de las cepas de la familia Beijing de M. tuberculosis en nuestra comunidad.

Cinnamic acids have been prepared in moderate to high yields by a new direct synthesis using aromatic aldehydes and aliphatic carboxylic acids, in the presence of boron tribromide as reagent, 4-dimethylaminopyridine (4-DMAP) and pyridine (Py) as bases and N-methyl-2-pyrolidinone (NMP) as solvent, at reflux (180-190°C) for 8-12 hours.

Objective: To demonstrate the usefulness of ultrasonography in detecting knee ossification centers in infants with permanent congenital hypothyroidism (PCH)., Methods: From 2011 to 2021, all infants with PCH referred for thyroid ultrasound also underwent left knee ultrasound and radiography on the same day. Knee radiographs were compared with knee sonograms. Two pediatric radiologists reviewed the consensus knee radiographs and sonograms to identify femoral and tibial epiphyseal ossification centers (presence/absence). The concordance between ultrasonography and radiography was assessed. Another radiologist conducted a second late review to evaluate interobserver agreement., Results: We identified 125 patients (65 girls, 60 boys) with a mean age of 24 days (5 days-5 months). On scintigraphy, the thyroid was in place in 66.4%, ectopic in 24%, and absent in 9.6% of patients. The femoral center was observed in 108 patients (86.4%) via sonography and 106 patients (84.8%) via radiography. The tibial center was observed in 84 patients (67.2%) via sonography and radiography. Both femoral and tibial centers were present on sonography and radiography in 84 patients (67.2%). A single nucleus was present in 24 patients (19.2%) on sonography and 22 patients (17.6%) on radiography; it corresponded to the femoral center in all patients. The concordance between ultrasonography and radiography was 99% and 100%, respectively, for the detection of the femoral and tibial centers. Interobserver agreement was substantial to almost perfect for both ultrasonography and radiography., Conclusion: Ultrasonography is as effective as radiography in detecting knee ossification centers in PCH. It can be performed at the same time as thyroid examination, in place of radiography., (© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.)

Background: In the presence of pain over the lateral aspect of the foot or recurrent ankle sprain in children, medical imaging is often employed to investigate potential causes, such as a calcaneonavicular coalition or a too-long anterior process (TLAP) of the calcaneus. Diagnosis and categorization of calcaneonavicular coalitions (synostosis, synchondrosis, or synfibrosis) is generally facilitated through imaging, in contrast to TLAP, which lacks well-defined semiological characteristics, apart from a calcaneonavicular space measurement of less than 5 mm. However, this measurement initially performed on an oblique view radiograph can be subject to a lack of precision due to positional variations of the foot and overlapping bones. Furthermore, the differentiation between TLAP as an anatomical variant and TLAP syndrome (characterized by symptomatic presentation), remains a subject of uncertainty., Objective: The objective of our retrospective study was to investigate the imaging diagnosis of TLAP syndrome., Materials and Methods: A retrospective unmatched case-control study was conducted, covering data from February 2014 to January 2021. All patients, included retrospectively and consecutively, were initially managed in our hospital with radiography and/or computed tomography (CT) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Two radiologists independently reviewed the images taken (radiographs, CT scans, and MRIs) of patients undergoing treatment in pediatric orthopedics for TLAP syndrome and control subjects, utilizing a standardized questionnaire. The control group consisted of subjects with no features suggestive of TLAP syndrome. The questionnaire included measurements of the calcaneonavicular space and identification of indirect signs associated with calcaneonavicular coalitions, as described in the related literature., Results: A total of 128 patients who met the inclusion criteria were included in the analysis, including 38 patients and 90 controls. The prevalence of TLAP was 71.5% in the study population and 62.6% among controls. A threshold measurement of the calcaneonavicular space at 3.2 mm favored TLAP syndrome (sensitivity=97%, specificity=70%, area under the curve [95% confidence interval] =0.881[0.812-0.949]), with better precision using CT. Three indirect signs were significant: the "anteater nose" sign, the talar beak, and the tapered anterior calcaneal process. These signs demonstrated an even stronger association with TLAP syndrome when observed in conjunction with a reduction in the calcaneonavicular space, particularly in CT scans., Conclusion: TLAP is common among control subjects. Therefore, a variant appears to be the most plausible explanation and it can be considered a mild form of calcaneonavicular coalition. However, in conjunction with symptoms suggestive of TLAP syndrome, the diagnosis is further supported by imaging, specifically with a calcaneonavicular space measurement of less than 3.2 mm. This measurement is most accurately obtained using CT with 2-dimensional reconstructions in all three planes. The simultaneous presence of the "anteater nose" sign, the talar beak, or the tapered anterior calcaneal process provides additional diagnostic evidence. In the diagnostic approach of calcaneonavicular coalition, oblique foot radiography seems useful in initially detecting abnormal coalition (bony or not), and complementarily, CT emerges as the best modality to characterize TLAP syndrome., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)