Glueball Dark Matter Revisited.

We revisit the possibility that dark matter is composed of stable scalar glueballs of a confining dark SU(3) gauge theory coupled only to gravity. The relic abundance of dark glueballs is studied for the first time in a thermal effective theory accounting for strong-coupling dynamics. An important ingredient of our analysis is the use of an effective potential for glueballs that is fitted by lattice simulations.

Constraining Heavy Axionlike Particles by Energy Deposition in Globular Cluster Stars.

Heavy axionlike particles (ALPs) with masses up to a few 100 keV and coupled with photons can be efficiently produced in stellar plasmas. We present a new "ballistic" recipe that covers both the energy-loss and energy-transfer regimes, and we perform the first dedicated simulation of Globular Cluster stars including the ALP energy transfer. This argument allows us to constrain ALPs with m_{a}≲0.

Axionlike Particles from Hypernovae.

It was recently pointed out that very energetic subclasses of supernovae (SNe), like hypernovae and superluminous SNe, might host ultrastrong magnetic fields in their core. Such fields may catalyze the production of feebly interacting particles, changing the predicted emission rates. Here we consider the case of axionlike particles (ALPs) and show that the predicted large scale magnetic fields in the core contribute significantly to the ALP production, via a coherent conversion of thermal photons.

Enhanced Supernova Axion Emission and Its Implications.

We calculate the axion emission rate from reactions involving thermal pions in matter encountered in supernovae and neutron star mergers, identify unique spectral features, and explore their implications for astrophysics and particle physics. We find that it is about 2-5 times larger than nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung, which in past studies was considered to be the dominant process. The axion spectrum is also found be much harder.

Power spectral analysis of heart-rate variations improves assessment of diabetic cardiac autonomic neuropathy.

Power spectral analysis (PSA) of heart-rate variations has recently proved a useful tool in evaluating cardiovascular autonomic activity. It offers the possibility of examining both the functioning of parasympathetic and sympathetic pathways through breakdown into two frequency bands, and of their effects on heart-rate cyclic variability. We applied an autoregressive model for PSA to study overall autonomic tone in 20 male age-matched control subjects and 53 insulin-dependent (type I) diabetic subjects, subdivided into three groups of 20, 15, and 18, each group presenting different degrees of autonomic involvement.

Reduction of complex ventricular arrhythmias after enalapril treatment in patients with advanced stable heart failure.

We studied, by 48-hour Holter monitoring, 33 patients with chronic stable heart failure (radionuclide ejection fraction less than 35%), complex ventricular arrhythmias and no electrolyte abnormalities, after a period during which they were treated with digoxin and diuretics. Before Holter monitoring blood samples were analyzed for serum concentration of sodium, potassium, magnesium, urea, creatinine, digoxin, aldosterone and for plasmatic renin activity in addition to urinary aldosterone and catecholamines determination. After these investigations in 23 patients, 5-20 mg of enalapril were progressively added to the conventional therapy, while 10 patients continued the previous therapy.

Heart rate spectral analysis for assessing autonomic regulation in diabetic patients.

Spectral analysis of the R-R variability signal has been used for assessing the autonomic regulation of heart rate in control subjects and in diabetic patients affected by autonomic neuropathy. Modifications of the parasympathetic-sympathetic balance following postural changes, as observed in normal subjects, were not significant in autonomic patients. In addition, the overall reduction of power occurring in diabetics at all frequencies indicates the impairment of both autonomic components.