Search for Gamma-Ray Spectral Lines from Dark Matter Annihilation up to 100 TeV toward the Galactic Center with MAGIC.

Linelike features in TeV γ rays constitute a "smoking gun" for TeV-scale particle dark matter and new physics. Probing the Galactic Center region with ground-based Cherenkov telescopes enables the search for TeV spectral features in immediate association with a dense dark matter reservoir at a sensitivity out of reach for satellite γ-ray detectors, and direct detection and collider experiments. We report on 223 hours of observations of the Galactic Center region with the MAGIC stereoscopic telescope system reaching γ-ray energies up to 100 TeV. We improved the sensitivity to spectral lines at high energies using large-zenith-angle observations and a novel background modeling method within a maximum-likelihood analysis in the energy domain. No linelike spectral feature is found in our analysis. Therefore, we constrain the cross section for dark matter annihilation into two photons to ⟨σv⟩≲5×10^{-28} cm^{3} s^{-1} at 1 TeV and ⟨σv⟩≲1×10^{-25} cm^{3} s^{-1} at 100 TeV, achieving the best limits to date for a dark matter mass above 20 TeV and a cuspy dark matter profile at the Galactic Center. Finally, we use the derived limits for both cuspy and cored dark matter profiles to constrain supersymmetric wino models.

Histomorphometric and immunohistochemical study shows that tricalcium silicate cement associated with zirconium oxide or niobium oxide is a promising material in the periodontal tissue repair of rat molars with perforated pulp chamber floors.

AIM: To evaluate the periodontium response to tricalcium silicate (TCS) with zirconium oxide (ZrO2 ) or niobium oxide (Nb2 O5 ) used in the sealing of perforated pulp chamber floors in rat maxillary molars. METHODOLOGY: In eighty rats, the perforations in right maxillary molars were filled with either TCS + ZrO2 , TCS + Nb2 O5 , White MTA (used as a gold standard material) or no repair material was placed (Sham Group, SG); the left molars of SG, were used as controls (CG). Sections of maxillary fragments following 7, 15, 30 and 60 days were used to evaluate the volume densities of inflammatory cells (VvIC) and fibroblasts (VvFb), width of the periodontal space, amount of collagen, number of osteoclasts and number of IL-6-immunostained cells. The data were subjected to two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's test (P ≤ 0.05). RESULTS: At all periods, significant differences in VvIC were not detected among TCS + ZrO2, TCS + Nb2 O5 and MTA groups, which had values significantly lower (P < 0.05) than the SG. Significant differences in the number of IL-6-immunolabelled cells were not observed among TCS + ZrO2 , TCS + Nb2 O5 and MTA groups (P > 0.05) at 15, 30 and 60 days. At 7, 15 and 30 days, the number of osteoclast was significantly greater in TCS + ZrO2, TCS + Nb2 O5 and MTA (P < 0.05) than in the CG; no significant difference was detected after 60 days (P > 0.05). The width of the periodontal space and amount of collagen in TCS + ZrO2 and TCS + Nb2 O5 groups were similar to the CG at 30 and 60 days while SG specimens had a significant reduction (P < 0.05) in the amount of collagen and significant increase (P < 0.05) in the width of the periodontal space. CONCLUSIONS: TCS + ZrO2 and TCS + Nb2 O5 were associated with periodontium repair since these materials allowed the reestablishment of periodontal space width and collagen formation when used in the filling of uninfected perforations in the pulp chamber floor of maxillary rat molars. Furthermore, the significant reduction in the periodontal space of TCS + ZrO2 and TCS + Nb2 O5 specimens after 60 days confirmed that the experimental materials were associated with a more rapid recovery of the injured tissues than MTA.

Bounds on Lorentz Invariance Violation from MAGIC Observation of GRB 190114C.

On January 14, 2019, the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov telescopes detected GRB 190114C above 0.2 TeV, recording the most energetic photons ever observed from a gamma-ray burst. We use this unique observation to probe an energy dependence of the speed of light in vacuo for photons as predicted by several quantum gravity models. Based on a set of assumptions on the possible intrinsic spectral and temporal evolution, we obtain competitive lower limits on the quadratic leading order of speed of light modification.

Malignant mesothelioma in construction workers: the Apulia regional mesothelioma register, Southern Italy.

OBJECTIVE: Asbestos was widely used in construction in both a friable and a compact form until the 1990s, before its use was banned. Today, many of these materials are still in situ and represent a source of risk for construction workers. The objective of the study was to analyse the cases of mesothelioma arising among construction workers registered in the Apulia regional register of mesothelioma. RESULTS: For the period 1993-2018, there were 178 male cases, and 10.2% of the cases were present in the regional register. The average age at diagnosis was 64.7 years. The site was pleural in 96.06% of cases, with a diagnosis of certainty in 86.5% of the total cases and 61.8% of cases with epithelial histology. The average latency is 43.9 years. In 75.2% of cases, the exposure began between 1941 and 1970, with an average duration of 24.3 years. The age at the start of exposure in 68.5% of cases is between 8 and 20 years. The ORs were 2.5 (C.I. 95% 1.01-6.17) for the epithelioid histotype and the high duration of exposure. The data underline the need for prevention and information on all activities involving construction workers in which asbestos-containing materials are still used.

Health impact of exposure to asbestos in polluted area of Southern Italy.

The three main sources of asbestos pollution in the city of Bari, Puglia, the former Fibronit asbestos factory, the Torre Quetta beach, the former Rossani barracks and the history of their reclamation are described. The results of cohort studies on factory workers and case-control studies on asbestos exposure to the resident population and the onset of mesothelioma are also reported. Finally, the data of the regional register of mesothelioma related to residents in the city of Bari and four new cases with environmental exposure due to the former Rossani barracks are presented.

Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) in a population of men affected by Erectile Dysfunction (ED).

AIMS: A) to evaluate the prevalence of patients affected by Diabetes Mellitus (DM) in a population of men with Erectile Dysfunction (ED); B) to define the epidemiological, biochemical and therapeutic aspects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: N.934 subjects referred at our Andrology Unit for ED were studied. The diagnosis of ED was evaluated using the IIEF-5 questionnaire (Total score ≤21). RESULTS: The prevalence of subjects affected by DM in a population of men with ED was 19.5% (182/934). The age ranges were: ≥55 years (108/182; 59.3%); ≥40<55 years (70/182; 38.5%); <40 years (4/182; 2.2%). HbA1c mean value was 7.9% ± 0.8%. No significant differences were found in DM onset timing or in anti-diabetic treatment. In n.125/182 cases (68.7%) the ED onset followed the diagnosis of DM; in n.34/182 cases (18.7%) it appeared at the same time; and in n.23/182 cases (12.6%) appeared before DM diagnosis. ED TREATMENT: in n.18/182 subjects (9.9%) there was a concomitant hypotestosteronemia; these patients were treated only with testosterone replacement; this treatment was efficacious (IIEF-5 total score ≥22) in 8/18 subjects (44.4%). In n.146/182 subjects (80.2%) a treatment with PDE5-i was given. Of these 146 subjects, the therapy was given "on demand" to 108 subjects (efficacy in 50.9%; 55/108) and "once a day" to the remaining 38 subjects (efficacy 63.1%, 24/38) (p=0.428, n.s.). N.15/182 subjects (8.2%) were treated with intracavernous injections of Alprostadil (efficacy in 8/15, 53.3%). In n.3/182 subjects (1.6%) a penile prosthesis was implanted. CONCLUSIONS: DM is one of the most frequent organic causes of ED; there were many strategies to treat this symptom without interfering with the antidiabetic treatment. Finally, ED can be predictive of DM.

Improving the execution performance of FreeSurfer : a new scheduled pipeline scheme for optimizing the use of CPU and GPU resources.

A scheme to significantly speed up the processing of MRI with FreeSurfer (FS) is presented. The scheme is aimed at maximizing the productivity (number of subjects processed per unit time) for the use case of research projects with datasets involving many acquisitions. The scheme combines the already existing GPU-accelerated version of the FS workflow with a task-level parallel scheme supervised by a resource scheduler. This allows for an optimum utilization of the computational power of a given hardware platform while avoiding problems with shortages of platform resources. The scheme can be executed on a wide variety of platforms, as its implementation only involves the script that orchestrates the execution of the workflow components and the FS code itself requires no modifications. The scheme has been implemented and tested on a commodity platform within the reach of most research groups (a personal computer with four cores and an NVIDIA GeForce 480 GTX graphics card). Using the scheduled task-level parallel scheme, a productivity above 0.6 subjects per hour is achieved on the test platform, corresponding to a speedup of over six times compared to the default CPU-only serial FS workflow.

Complete systolic obliteration of the left ventricle due to an apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in a totally asymptomatic patient.

A 30-years-old man, subjected to an electrocardiogram for screening, showed signs of left ventricular hypertrophy and "giant" inverted T-waves in pre-cordial leads. So, a transthoracic echocardiogram and a Coronary angiography were performed that showed first, a normal ventricular function and second, normal coronary arteries. Luckily, we associated to the Coronary angiography a Ventriculography that revealed a marked hypertrophy particularly in the apex and a 90% complete tele-systolic obliteration of the left ventricle. To better address our diagnosis, we performed a cardiac magnetic resonance that confirmed the Apical Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (AHCM) involving concentrically the apex known as "spade-like configuration" and an apical akinesia with slow-flow. Since the patient was totally asymptomatic, he was discharged without any treatment. AHCM is a form of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) with an hypertrophy of the left ventricular apex. This disease is often sporadic and among the forms of HCM it has a benign prognosis although in > 50% of patients AHCM is symptomatic with chest pain and palpitations. Our patient incredibly never had cardiac symptoms and was always in a good health state, so only thanks to the association of Ventriculography to the Coronary angiography we were able to reach this unusual diagnosis.

Crocodylian diversity peak and extinction in the late Cenozoic of the northern Neotropics.

Northern South America and South East Asia are today's hotspots of crocodylian diversity with up to six (mainly alligatorid) and four (mainly crocodylid) living species respectively, of which usually no more than two or three occur sympatrically. In contrast, during the late Miocene, 14 species existed in South America. Here we show a diversity peak in sympatric occurrence of at least seven species, based on detailed stratigraphic sequence sampling and correlation, involving four geological formations from the middle Miocene to the Pliocene, and on the discovery of two new species and a new occurrence. This degree of crocodylian sympatry is unique in the world and shows that at least several members of Alligatoroidea and Gavialoidea coexisted. By the Pliocene, all these species became extinct, and their extinction was probably related to hydrographic changes linked to the Andean uplift. The extant fauna is first recorded with the oldest Crocodylus species from South America.

Stratigraphic context and paleoenvironmental significance of minor taxa (Pisces, Reptilia, Aves, Rodentia) from the late Early Pleistocene paleoanthropological site of Buia (Eritrea).

The Buia Homo site, also known as Wadi Aalad, is an East African paleoanthropological site near the village of Buia that, due to its very rich yield from the late Early Pleistocene, has been intensively investigated since 1994. In this paper, which reports on the finds of the 2010-2011 excavations, we include new fossil evidence on previously identified taxa (i.e., reptiles), as well as the very first description of the small mammal, fish and bird remains discovered. In particular, this study documents the discovery of the first African fossil of the genus Burhinus (Aves, Charadriiformes) and of the first rodent from the site. This latter is identified as a thryonomyid rodent (cane rat), a relatively common taxon in African paleoanthropological faunal assemblages. On the whole, the new occurrences documented within the Buia vertebrate assemblage confirm the occurrence of taxa characterized by strong water dependence. The paleoenvironmental characteristics of the fauna are confirmed as fully compatible with the evidence obtained through sedimentology and facies analysis, documenting the sedimentary evolution of fluvio-deltaic and lacustrine systems.

The role of post-natal ontogeny in the evolution of phenotypic diversity in Podarcis lizards.

Understanding the role of the developmental pathways in shaping phenotypic diversity allows appreciating in full the processes influencing and constraining morphological change. Podarcis lizards demonstrate extraordinary morphological variability that likely originated in short evolutionary time. Using geometric morphometrics and a broad suite of statistical tests, we explored the role of developmental mechanisms such as growth rate change, ontogenetic divergence/convergence/parallelism as well as morphological expression of heterochronic processes in mediating the formation of their phenotypic diversity during the post-natal ontogeny. We identified hypermorphosis - the prolongation of growth along the same trajectory - as the process responsible for both intersexual and interspecific morphological differentiation. Albeit the common allometric pattern observed in both sexes of any species constrains and canalizes their cephalic scales variation in a fixed portion of the phenotypic space, the extended growth experienced by males and some species allows them to achieve peramorphic morphologies. Conversely, the intrasexual phenotypic diversity is accounted for by non-allometric processes that drive the extensive morphological dispersion throughout their ontogenetic trajectories. This study suggests a model of how simple heterochronic perturbations can produce phenotypic variation, and thus potential for further evolutionary change, even within a strictly constrained developmental pathway.

Pterygosomatidae and Trombiculidae mites infesting Tropidurus hispidus (Spix, 1825) (Tropiduridae) lizards in northeastern Brazil.

Parasitism of the lizard Tropidurus hispidus by Geckobiella sp. and by larvae of Eutrombicula alfreddugesi was examined in a mountainous area in Chapada do Araripe (07° 16' S and 39° 26' W), southern Ceará State, Brazil. Of the 56 lizards collected (26 females, 27 males, and 3 juveniles), 40 (total prevalence of 71.42%) were infested by mites. Mite-pockets were the sites most heavily infested by E. alfreddugesi larvae, while Geckobiella sp. was found uniformly distributed under scales over the host's entire body. The female specimens of T. hispidus parasitised by E. alfreddugesi had an average infestation rate of 8.57 ± 3.62, 1-27, while the males had an average infestation rate of 11.90 ± 2.63, 1-25. The female specimens parasitised by Geckobiella sp. had an average infestation rate of 5.91 ± 2.28, 1-25, while the males had an average infestation rate of 5.43 ± 1.52, 1-23. Seven specimens were also infested by eggs and immature forms of unidentified mites (average 2.28 ± 0.89, 1-7). There were no significant differences between the total prevalence of mites on adult male (70.4%) and adult female (65.4%) lizards. The body sizes of the hosts did not influence their infestation rates. The average infestation intensity by E. alfreddugesi (10.2 ± 8.7) was significantly greater than the average infestation intensity by Geckobiella sp. (5.9 ± 6.8). T. hispidus is the new host record to Geckobiella mites.

Semiaphis dauci (Fabricius) (Insecta, Hemiptera, Aphididae) ­ formal record of occurrence on arracacha (Arracacia xanthorrhiza Bancr) (Apiaceae) in Brazil, morphological characterization, description of damages and arthropods associated to the culture / Semiaphis dauci (Fabricius) (Insecta, Hemiptera, Aphididae) ­ registro formal de ocorrência em mandioquinha­salsa (Arracacia xanthorrhiza Bancr) (Apiaceae) no Brasil, caracterização morfológica, descrição dos danos e artrópodes relacionados à cultura

This paper reports formally the occurrence and describes the damages by Semiaphis dauci (Fabricius, 1775) (Insecta, Hemiptera, Aphididae, Aphidinae, Macrosiphini) on arracacha (Arracaciaxanthorrhiza Bancr.) (Apiaceae) in Brazil. The infestation was initially noted on April/2002 at Núcleo de Produção de Mudas, Departamento de Sementes Mudas e Matrizes, Coordenadoria de Assistência Técnica Integral, Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento, São Bento do Sapucaí, State of São Paulo. Posteriorly the occurrence was detected in other parts of the municipality of São Bento do Sapucaí such as Serrano, Paiol Grande and Cantagalo, being the incidence higher in localities at lower altitudes. The colonies, with large number of individuals, were settled on both sides of the leaves and also hidden under petiole, but with lower number of specimens. The adult plants were underdeveloped and the growing of aphid colonies induced the blossoming. In the seedlings the symptoms were severer with reduction in the development and death of plants. When the colonies were placed in the dorsal side of the leaves, there was a tendency to wrinkling and rolling to upper side that was used as shelter by the aphids. Morphological characterization, illustrations and notes on biology of S. dauci and a survey of the Arthropoda related with A. xanthorrhiza are also presented.

Este trabalho efetua o registro formal de ocorrência e descreve os danos de Semiaphis dauci (Fabricius, 1775) (Insecta, Hemiptera, Aphididae, Aphidinae, Macrosiphini) em cultura de mandioquinha-salsa (Arracacia xanthorrhiza Bancr.) (Apiaceae) no Brasil. A infestação foi observada, inicialmente, em abril/2002, no Núcleo de Produção de Mudas, Departamento de Sementes Mudas e Matrizes, Coordenadoria de Assistência Técnica Integral, Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento, São Bento do Sapucaí, SP. Posteriormente, a ocorrência foi detectada em outras localidades do município como Serrano, Paiol Grande e Cantagalo sendo que a incidência foi maior nas áreas de menor altitude. As colônias estavam localizadas em ambas as faces das folhas, e em menor número no pecíolo escondidas na bainha da folha. As plantas adultas apresentavam subdesenvolvimento e o aumento das colônias induzia o florescimento. Nas mudas os sintomas foram mais severos com redução no desenvolvimento e posterior morte das plantas. Quando havia formação de colônias na superfície superior das folhas, havia tendência de encarquilhamento e enrolamento para cima, servindo de abrigo para os pulgões. Caracterização morfológica, ilustrações, notas sobre a biologia de S. dauci e levantamento dos Arthropoda relacionados com A. xanthorrhiza também são apresentados.

The impact of a diagnosis of couple subfertility on male sexual function.

AIM: The aim was to study: a) the prevalence of sexual dysfunction in male partners of subfertile couples; b) the possible correlation between sexual dysfunction and seminal profile. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Male partners (no.=171) of subfertile couples were studied, aged between 25 and 40 yr, attending the Andrology Unit of Sant'Andrea Hospital. All the subjects responded to a modified International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire, made up of 5 questions: 2 regarding erectile function, 1 concerning orgasmic function, 1 question on sexual desire, and 1 on satisfaction with intercourse. The questionnaire investigated both spontaneous sex for pleasure and sex intended to lead to pregnancy. The subjects underwent standard semen analysis, according to World Health Organization guidelines. RESULTS: The data showed a disorder in sexual intercourse for reproductive purposes in 37 subjects (23.7%). Of these, only 14 (8.9%) also had problems with sex for pleasure. On the other hand, there was no significant variation in the prevalence of sexual dysfunction related to seminal profile. CONCLUSIONS: A diagnosis of subfertility represents a stressful situation which can reduce the pleasure of sex, especially in intercourse intended for reproductive purposes; this disorder in sexual activity does not seem to be directly correlated with awareness of the severity of the semen alterations.