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Objectives In Italy the burden of patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) gradually decreased from March to the end of May. In this work, we aimed at evaluating a possible association between the severity of clinical manifestations and viral load over time, during the epidemiological transition from high to low transmission setting. Methods We reviewed the cases of Covid-19 diagnosed at the Emergency Room of our hospital, retrieving the proportion of patients admitted to the intensive care unit. A raw estimation of the viral load was done evaluating the Ct (cycle threshold) trend obtained from our diagnostic Reverse Transcriptase real-time PCR test. Results The proportion of patients requiring intensive care significantly reduced from 6.7% (19/281) in March, to 1.1% (1/86) in April, and to none in May (Fisher’s test p-value=0.0067). As for viral load, we observed a trend of Ct increasing from a median value of 24 (IQR 19-29) to 34 (IQR 29-37) between March and May, with a statistically significant difference between March and April (Pairwise Wilcoxon test with Stepdown Bonferroni Adjustment for multiple testing, p=0.0003). Conclusions We observed a reduction over time of the proportion of patients with Covid-19 requiring intensive care, along with decreasing median values of viral load. As the epidemiological context changes from high to low transmission setting, people are presumably exposed to a lower viral load, which has been previously associated to less severe clinical manifestations.

Accuracy of diagnostic tests is essential for suspected cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study aimed to assess the sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive value (PPV and NPV) of molecular and serological tests for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. A total of 346 consenting, adult patients were enrolled at the emergency room of IRCCS Sacro Cuore Don Calabria Hospital, Negrar, Italy. We evaluated three RT-PCR methods including six different gene targets; five serologic rapid diagnostic tests (RDT); one ELISA test. The final classification of infected/not infected patients was performed using Latent Class Analysis in combination with clinical re-assessment of incongruous cases and was the basis for the main analysis of accuracy. Of 346 patients consecutively enrolled, 85 (24.6%) were classified as infected. The molecular test with the highest sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV was RQ-SARS-nCoV-2 with 91.8% (C.I. 83.8-96.6), 100% (C.I. 98.6-100.0), 100.0% (C.I. 95.4-100.0) and 97.4% (C.I. 94.7-98.9) respectively, followed by CDC 2019-nCoV with 76.2% (C.I. 65.7-84.8), 99.6% (C.I. 97.9-100.0), 98.5% (C.I. 91.7-100.0) and 92.9% (C.I. 89.2-95.6) and by in-house test targeting E-RdRp with 61.2% (C.I. 50.0-71.6), 99.6% (C.I. 97.9-100.0), 98.1% (C.I. 89.9-100.0) and 88.7% (C.I. 84.6-92.1). The analyses on single gene targets found the highest sensitivity for S and RdRp of the RQ-SARS-nCoV-2 (both with sensitivity 94.1%, C.I. 86.8-98.1). The in-house RdRp had the lowest sensitivity (62.4%, C.I. 51.2-72.6). The specificity ranged from 99.2% (C.I. 97.3-99.9) for in-house RdRp and N2 to 95.0% (C.I. 91.6-97.3) for E. The PPV ranged from 97.1% (C.I. 89.8-99.6) of N2 to 85.4% (C.I. 76.3-92.00) of E, and the NPV from 98.1% (C.I. 95.5-99.4) of gene S to 89.0% (C.I. 84.8-92.4) of in-house RdRp . All serological tests had

The HIE-ISOLDE project* (High Intensity and Energy ISOLDE) reached an important milestone in September 2016 when the first physics run was carried out with radioactive beams at 6 MV/m. This is the first stage in the upgrade of the REX post-accelerator, whereby the energy of the radioactive ion beams was increased from 3 to 5.5 MeV per nucleon. The facility will ultimately be equipped with four high-beta cryomodule that will accelerate the beams up to 10 MeV per nucleon for the heaviest isotopes available at ISOLDE. The first 2 cryomodules of the new linac, hosting each five superconducting cavities and one solenoid, were commissioned in August 2016. Besides demonstrating the experimental capabilities of the facility, this successful first run validated the technical choices of the HIE ISOLDE team and provided a fitting reward for eight years of rigorous R&D efforts. At the start of 2018, HIE-ISOLDE is expected to complete the energy upgrade, reaching 10 MeV/u and becoming an attractive facility for a wide variety of experiments. This contribution will focus on the results of the commissioning and on the main technical issues that were highlighted., Proceedings of the 8th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2017, Copenhagen, Denmark

The HIE-ISOLDE project has been approved by CERN in 2009 and gained momentum after 2011. The final energy goal of the upgrade is to boost the radioactive beams of REX-ISOLDE from the present 3 MeV/u up to 10 MeV/u for A/q up to 4.5. This is to be achieved by means of a new superconducting linac, operating at 101.28 MHz and 4.5 K with independently phased quarter wave resonators (QWR). The QWRs are based on the Nb sputtering on copper technology, pioneered at CERN and developed at INFN-LNL for this cavity shape. Transverse focusing is provided by Nb-Ti superconducting solenoids. The cryomodules hosting the active elements are of the common vacuum type. In this contribution we will report on the recent advancements of the HIE-ISOLDE linac technical systems involving SRF technology. The paper is focused on the cavity production, on the experience with the assembly of the first cryomodule (CM1), and on the results of the first hardware commissioning campaign., Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on RF Superconductivity, SRF2015, Whistler, BC, Canada

The HIE-ISOLDE project aims at increasing the energy of the radioactive beams (RIB) of REX-ISOLDE from the present 3 MeV/u up to 10 MeV/u for A/q up to 4.5. This will be accomplished by means of a new superconducting linac, based on independently phased quarter wave resonators using the Nb sputtering on copper technology, and working at 101.28 MHz. The focusing elements are superconducting solenoids providing 13.5 T2m field integral. These active elements are contained in a common vacuum cryostat. The presentation will cover the status of advancement of the HIE-ISOLDE linac technical systems. The performance of the superconducting elements will be presented, together with the assembly work of the cryomodule in clean room and the planned qualification tests in the horizontal test facility at CERN

Contribution to Proceedings, Proc. of PANIC 2014, 716 - 719; DESY-PROC-2014-02; ISSN 1435-8077

Two events, occurring in 2008 during commissioning of the LHC circuits, lead to fundamental changes to the scope of circuit protection. The discovery of aperture-symmetric quenches and the accidental rupture at 9kA of an interconnecting busbar resulted in an emergency program for development and implementation of new protection facilities. The new scheme comprises a distributed busbar supervision system with early warning capabilities based on high-precision splice resistance measurements and system interlocks for rapid de-excitation of the circuit in case of a sudden splice resistance increase. The developed symmetric quench detectors are digital systems with radiation-resistant FPGA logic controllers, having magnet heater firing capabilities. This program successfully allowed a safe re-powering of the collider. The concept of the new electronics boards and the powering modules will be described. More than 14¿600 extra cables and 6¿000 new detector and control cards were added to the existing QPS system. A first evaluation of the system performance as well as a number of interesting discoveries made during the commissioning will be presented., Proceedings of the 1st International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2010, Kyoto, Japan