Joaquim Marques Ferreira dos Santos

This paper details the first application of a software tagging algorithm to reduce radon-induced backgrounds in liquid noble element time projection chambers, such as XENON1T and XENONnT. The convection velocity field in XENON1T was mapped out using and events, and the root-mean-square convection speed was measured to be cm/s. Given this velocity field, background events can be tagged when they are followed by and decays, or preceded by decays. This was achieved by propagating a point cloud as directed by the velocity field, and searching for and decays or decays within a volume defined by the point cloud. In XENON1T, this tagging system achieved a background reduction of with an exposure loss of . The tagging algorithm was also used to produce a population of tagged events with a large enhancement in the fraction. We show that the performance can be improved in XENONnT, and that the performance of such a software-tagging approach can be expected to be further improved in a diffusion-limited scenario. Finally, a similar method might be useful to tag the cosmogenic background, which is relevant to the search for neutrinoless double-beta decay.

The precision in reconstructing events detected in a dual-phase time projection chamber depends on an homogeneous and well understood electric field within the liquid target. In the XENONnT TPC the field homogeneity is achieved through a double-array field cage, consisting of two nested arrays of field shaping rings connected by an easily accessible resistor chain. Rather than being connected to the gate electrode, the topmost field shaping ring is independently biased, adding a degree of freedom to tune the electric field during operation. Two-dimensional finite element simulations were used to optimize the field cage, as well as its operation. Simulation results were compared to calibration data. This comparison indicates an accumulation of charge on the panels of the TPC which is constant over time, as no evolution of the reconstructed position distribution of events is observed. The simulated electric …

NEXT-100 is currently being constructed at the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc in the Spanish Pyrenees and will search for neutrinoless double beta decay using a high-pressure gaseous time projection chamber (TPC) with 100 kg of xenon. Charge amplification is carried out via electroluminescence (EL) which is the process of accelerating electrons in a high electric field region causing secondary scintillation of the medium proportional to the initial charge. The NEXT-100 EL and cathode regions are made from tensioned hexagonal meshes of 1 m diameter. This paper describes the design, characterization, and installation of these parts for NEXT-100. Simulations of the electric field are performed to model the drift and amplification of ionization electrons produced in the detector under various EL region alignments and rotations. Measurements of the electrostatic breakdown voltage in air characterize …

Articular cartilage healing and repair is one of the biggest clinical challenges in trauma and orthopaedic medicine, leading to high economic loss due to athletic impairment in sport horses. Multipotent Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells are part of novel therapeutic arsenal aimed at tissue regeneration and restoring organ function. These cells release biomolecules and factors in the culture media, producing the so called conditioned medium, which have a pro-regenerative effect through paracrine mechanisms. Considering this, a therapeutic product combining equine synovial membrane derived Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells and equine umbilical cord stroma-derived Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells conditioned medium was employed. In this work the treatment of two articular defects, in the first phalanx and third metacarpus of the left front limb of a five-year-old horse, is described. Following surgical debridement of the lesions, the treatment comprised two intra-articular administrations of the above-mentioned therapeutic combination, 15 days apart. This was followed by a thorough rehabilitation program. A second-round treatment was performed 6 months later. Diagnostic imaging demonstrated significant improvement of the articular defects. The clinical outcome allowed a full return to the athletic performance demonstrating the safety and potential advantages of this approach when compared with other therapeutic options.

The CYGNO project for directional Dark Matter searches - NASA/ADS Now on home page ads icon ads Enable full ADS view NASA/ADS The CYGNO project for directional Dark Matter searches Messina, A. ; Amaro, FD ; Antonietti, R. ; Baracchini, E. ; Benussi, L. ; Bianco, S. ; Borra, F. ; Capoccia, C. ; Caponero, M. ; Cardoso, DS ; Cavoto, G. ; Costa, IA ; Dané, E. ; Dho, G. ; Di Giambattista, F. ; Di Marco, E. ; Folcarelli, M. ; D'imperio, G. ; Iacoangeli, F. ; Lima Junior, HP ; Kemp, E. ; Lopes, GSP ; Maccarrone, G. ; Passos Mano, RD ; Gregorio, RR Marcelo ; Marques, D. ; Mazzitelli, G. ; McLean, AG ; Bernardes Monteiro, CM ; Nobrega, RA ; Pains, IF ; Paoletti, E. ; Passamonti, L. ; Pelosi, S. ; Petrucci, F. ; Piacentini, S. ; Piccolo, D. ; Pierluigi, D. ; Pinci, D. ; Prajapati, A. ; Renga, F. ; Roque, RJ d. C. ; Rosatelli, F. ; Russo, A. ; dos Santos, JMF ; Saviano, G. ; Spooner, N. ; Tesauro, R. ; Tomassini, S. ; Torelli, S. and 1 more Abstract …

Simple Summary In the current era, sport horses face the challenge of increasingly rigorous workouts, overtaking, and, at times, certain physiological thresholds, leaving them susceptible to injury. This shift underscores the significance of prioritizing the exercise preparation quality and post-care to proactively mitigate the risk of injuries. Despite these measures, injuries may still occur, thus requiring a nuanced understanding of the most effective therapeutic approaches for various types of lesions. In the dynamic field of equine sports medicine, keeping abreast of the expansive therapeutic options proves challenging, especially when aiming to address injuries comprehensively, restore organ function, and sustain the horse’s athletic life. The present endeavor seeks to elucidate the array of available therapies, encompassing both conservative and regenerative methods, for the effective management of musculoskeletal injuries in sport horses. Abstract Musculoskeletal injuries such as equine osteoarthritis, osteoarticular defects, tendonitis/desmitis, and muscular disorders are prevalent among sport horses, with a fair prognosis for returning to exercise or previous performance levels. The field of equine medicine has witnessed rapid and fruitful development, resulting in a diverse range of therapeutic options for musculoskeletal problems. Staying abreast of these advancements can be challenging, prompting the need for a comprehensive review of commonly used and recent treatments. The aim is to compile current therapeutic options for managing these injuries, spanning from simple to complex physiotherapy …

Xenon dual-phase time projections chambers (TPCs) have proven to be a successful technology in studying physical phenomena that require low-background conditions. With of liquid xenon (LXe) in the TPC baseline design, DARWIN will have a high sensitivity for the detection of particle dark matter, neutrinoless double beta decay (\(0\upnu\upbeta\upbeta\)), and axion-like particles (ALPs). Although cosmic muons are a source of background that cannot be entirely eliminated, they may be greatly diminished by placing the detector deep underground. In this study, we used Monte Carlo simulations to model the cosmogenic background expected for the DARWIN observatory at four underground laboratories: Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM) and SNOLAB. We present here the results of simulations performed to …

Background and Importance Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukaemia (JMML) is a paediatric haematological malignancy with a poor prognosis. In August 2019 in our paediatric hospital, we have a case of JMML. A protocol pharmacy related to medicinal product indication, preparation, and flow chart instructions was made based on the information given by the patient’s doctor, marketing authorisation, and internet research. In Europe, azacitidine is indicated for the treatment of adult patients who are not eligible for haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) with specific diagnostic criteria. The reconstituted solution should be injected subcutaneously. For this reason, diagnosis and route of administration, this request was an off-label use. Azacitidine is cytotoxic and is prepared in a centralised production unit, under the pharmacist´s responsibility. In 2022 we intended to research the current state of the art.Aim and …

Aims The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) EURObservational Research Programme (EORP) Non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) Registry aims to identify international patterns in NSTEMI management in clinical practice and outcomes against the 2015 ESC Guidelines for the management of acute coronary syndromes in patients presenting without ST-segment-elevation. Methods and results Consecutively hospitalised adult NSTEMI patients (n = 3620) were enrolled between 11 March 2019 and 6 March 2021, and individual patient data prospectively collected at 287 centres in 59 participating countries during a two-week enrolment period per centre. The registry collected data relating to baseline characteristics, major outcomes (in-hospital death, acute heart failure, cardiogenic shock, bleeding, stroke/transient ischaemic attack, and 30-day …

Noble element time projection chambers are a leading technology for rare event detection in physics, such as for dark matter and neutrinoless double beta decay searches. Time projection chambers typically assign event position in the drift direction using the relative timing of prompt scintillation and delayed charge collection signals, allowing for reconstruction of an absolute position in the drift direction. In this paper, alternate methods for assigning event drift distance via quantification of electron diffusion in a pure high pressure xenon gas time projection chamber are explored. Data from the NEXT-White detector demonstrate the ability to achieve good position assignment accuracy for both high- and low-energy events. Using point-like energy deposits from Kr calibration electron captures (keV), the position of origin of low-energy events is determined to cm precision with bias mm. A convolutional neural network approach is then used to quantify diffusion for longer tracks (E1.5MeV), yielding a precision of 3cm on the event barycenter. The precision achieved with these methods indicates the feasibility energy calibrations of better than 1% FWHM at Q in pure xenon, as well as the potential for event fiducialization in large future detectors using an alternate method that does not rely on primary scintillation.

Hydrogen-like light muonic ions, in which one negative muon replaces all the electrons, are extremely sensitive probes of nuclear structure, because the large muon mass increases tremendously the wave function overlap with the nucleus. Using pulsed laser spectroscopy we have measured three 2S-2P transitions in the muonic helium-3 ion (He), an ion formed by a negative muon and bare helium-3 nucleus. This allowed us to extract the Lamb shift meV, the 2P fine structure splitting meV, and the 2S-hyperfine splitting (HFS) meV in He. Comparing these measurements to theory we determine the rms charge radius of the helion (He nucleus) to be = 1.97007(94) fm. This radius represents a benchmark for few nucleon theories and opens the way for precision tests in He atoms and He-ions. This radius is in good agreement with the value from elastic electron scattering, but a factor 15 more accurate. Combining our Lamb shift measurement with our earlier one in He we obtain fm to be compared to results from the isotope shift measurements in regular He atoms, which are however affected by long-standing tensions. By comparing with theory we also obtain the two-photon-exchange contribution (including higher orders) which is another important benchmark for ab-initio few-nucleon theories aiming at understanding the magnetic and current structure of light nuclei.

Xenon scintillation has been widely used in rare event detection experiments, such as in neutrinoless double beta decay, double electron capture and dark matter searches. Nonetheless, experimental values for primary scintillation yield in gaseous xenon (GXe) remain scarce and dispersed. The mean energy required to produce a scintillation photon, w_sc in GXe in the absence of recombination has been measured to be in the range of 34-111 eV. Lower w_sc-values are often reported for alpha-particles when compared to electrons produced by gamma- or x-rays, being this difference not understood. We carried out a systematic study on the absolute primary scintillation yield in GXe under reduced electric fields in the 70-300 V/cm/bar range and near atmospheric pressure, 1.2 bar, supported by a robust geometrical efficiency simulation model. Neglecting the 3rd continuum emission, a mean w_sc-value of 38.7 [+- 0.6 (sta.)] [(- 7.2) (+ 7.7) (sys.)] eV was obtained for x/gamma-rays in the 5.9-60 keV energy range and alpha-particles in the 1.5-2.5 MeV range, no significant dependency neither on radiation type nor on energy has been observed. If the Xe 3rd continuum emission is to be considered, the average energy to produce a 2nd and a 3rd continuum photon was calculated as w_2nd = 43.5 [+- 0.7 (sta.)][(- 8.1)(+ 8.7) (sys.)] eV and w_3rd = 483 [+- 7 (sta.)][(- 105)(+ 110) (sys.)] eV, respectively, while the energy to produce either a 3rd or a 2nd continuum photon is w_(2nd + 3rd) = 39.9 [+- 0.6 (sta.)] [(- 7.4) (+ 8.0) (sys.)] eV. Our experimental w_sc-values agree with both state-of-art simulations and literature data obtained for alpha-particles. The …

Multiple viable theoretical models predict heavy dark matter particles with a mass close to the Planck mass, a range relatively unexplored by current experimental measurements. We use 219.4 days of data collected with the XENON1T experiment to conduct a blind search for signals from multiply interacting massive particles (MIMPs). Their unique track signature allows a targeted analysis with only 0.05 expected background events from muons. Following unblinding, we observe no signal candidate events. This Letter places strong constraints on spin-independent interactions of dark matter particles with a mass between 1× 10 12 and 2× 10 17 GeV/c 2. In addition, we present the first exclusion limits on spin-dependent MIMP-neutron and MIMP-proton cross sections for dark matter particles with masses close to the Planck scale.

The XENONnT detector uses the latest and largest liquid xenon-based time projection chamber (TPC) operated by the XENON Collaboration, aimed at detecting Weakly Interacting Massive Particles and conducting other rare event searches. The XENONnT data acquisition (DAQ) system constitutes an upgraded and expanded version of the XENON1T DAQ system. For its operation, it relies predominantly on commercially available hardware accompanied by open-source and custom-developed software. The three constituent subsystems of the XENONnT detector, the TPC (main detector), muon veto, and the newly introduced neutron veto, are integrated into a single DAQ, and can be operated both independently and as a unified system. In total, the DAQ digitizes the signals of 698 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), of which 253 from the top PMT array of the TPC are digitized twice, at× 10 and× 0.5 gain. The DAQ for the …

The CYGNO project aims at the development of a high precision optical readout gaseous Tima Projection Chamber (TPC) for directional dark matter (DM) searches, to be hosted at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). CYGNO employs a He: CF 4 gas mixture at atmospheric pressure with a Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) based amplification structure coupled to an optical readout comprised of sCMOS cameras and photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). This experimental setup allows to achieve 3D tracking and background rejection down to O (1) keV energy, to boost sensitivity to low WIMP masses. The characteristics of the optical readout approach in terms of the light yield will be illustrated along with the particle identification properties. The project timeline foresees, in the next 2–3 years, the realisation and installation of a 0.4 m 3 TPC in the underground laboratories at LNGS to act as a demonstrator. Finally, the …

We correct an overestimation of the production rate of 137Xe in the DARWIN detector operated at LNGS. This formerly dominant intrinsic background source is now at a level similar to the irreducible background from solar 8B neutrinos, thus unproblematic at the LNGS depth. The projected half-life sensitivity for the neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) of 136Xe improves by 22% compared to the previously reported number and is now T0ν1/2= 3. 0× 1027 yr (90% CL) after 10 years of DARWIN operation.

A 49-year-old man with a history of familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy was admitted to the hospital because of device-related endocarditis. He had undergone a liver transplant and placement of a singlechamber pacemaker 19 years earlier. After transvenous right ventricular lead extraction (LE), transthoracic echocardiography revealed a hyperechogenic, filiform, anomalous mass of 8× 5mm (Fig. 1, and see Videos 1 and 2 in Electronic Supplementary Material). The mass was located along the removed lead’s intracardiac route; one end of the mass was attached to the right ventricular wall and the other end was located below the tricuspid valve and had a very mobile tip. An interventional report and an X-ray confirmed complete LE. The mass was interpreted as a thick, fibrous, tubular encasement of the lead that persisted after extraction, also known as ‘ghost’. A conservative approach was followed. Blood cultures …

Tens of millions of images from biological collections have become available online over the last two decades. In parallel, there has been a dramatic increase in the capabilities of image analysis technologies, especially those involving machine learning and computer vision. While image analysis has become mainstream in consumer applications, it is still used only on an artisanal basis in the biological collections community, largely because the image corpora are dispersed. Yet, there is massive untapped potential for novel applications and research if images of collection objects could be made accessible in a single corpus. In this paper, we make the case for infrastructure that could support image analysis of collection objects. We show that such infrastructure is entirely feasible and well worth investing in.

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background Prognostic value of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in STEMI is not yet fully stablished despite many studies demonstrating its potential in providing additional information. Purpose Evaluation of prognostic impact of BNP in coronary anatomy complexity and outcomes in the context of STEMI. Methods Retrospective analysis of patients admitted with STEMI in a multicentric registry between 2010-19. Patients were divided into 3 groups regarding BNP: <100pg/ml in Group 1 (39%P); 100≤ BNP <400pg/ml in Group 2 (39.5%); and BNP ≥400pg/ml in Group 3 (21.5%). Demographic and clinical characteristics were compared and outcomes evaluated. A Cox multivariate regression was performed to evaluate predictor factors of stablished endpoints. Survival was …

Xenon dual-phase time projections chambers (TPCs) have proven to be a successful technology in studying physical phenomena that require low-background conditions. With 40t of liquid xenon (LXe) in the TPC baseline design, DARWIN will have a high sensitivity for the detection of particle dark matter, neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ), and axion-like particles (ALPs). Although cosmic muons are a source of background that cannot be entirely eliminated, they may be greatly diminished by placing the detector deep underground. In this study, we used Monte Carlo simulations to model the cosmogenic background expected for the DARWIN observatory at four underground laboratories: Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM) and SNOLAB. We determine the production rates of unstable xenon isotopes and tritium due to muon-included neutron fluxes and muon-induced spallation. These are expected to represent the dominant contributions to cosmogenic backgrounds and thus the most relevant for site selection.