Clinical, morphological and molecular biological examination of the myocardium in COVID-19 patients

The presence of coronavirus-associated myocarditis remains controversial despite elevations in cardiac troponin and natriuretic peptide in many patients.Aim. To assess the morphological changes in the myocardium of patients who died due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and compare them with the intravital level of cardiac biomarkers.Material and methods. A total of 420 hospital charts and 77 autopsies of those who died from COVID-19 were analyzed. In 15 of 77 cases (19%) with histologically suspected myocarditis, an immunohistochemical examination of the myocardium with antibodies to CD3, CD45, CD8, CD68, CD34, Ang1, VWF, VEGF, HLA-DR, MHC1, C1q, VP1 of enteroviruses was performed, and in 8 patients with immunohistochemically confirmed myocarditis (10%) — polymerase chain reaction for SARS-CoV-2.Results. Hemorrhage, intramural thrombosis, necrosis of non-coronary origin, myocardial infarction and lymphocytic myocarditis were detected in 43%, 10%, 17%, 19% and 10% of cases, respectively, without coronavirus N and E gene sequences in the myocardium. Dysplasia, hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the vascular endothelium, expression of Ang1, VWF, VEGF, MHC1, C1q, VP1 of enteroviruses were determined in 100, 100, 87, 100, 75 and 62% of cases of myocarditis, respectively. There were no significant correlations between inflammatory biomarkers and myocarditis.Conclusion. The main morphological manifestation of COVID-19 in the myocardium is the so-called endotheliitis with dysplasia and endothelial activation, leading to hemorrhages, intramural thrombosis and necrosis. There is no convincing evidence of a direct involvement of coronavirus in myocarditis induction

Lambda hyperons produced in central nucleus-nucleus interactions at 4.5 GeV/c momentum per incident nucleon

Transverse momenta and rapidities of Lambda 's produced in central nucleus-nucleus collisions at 4.5 GeV/c·u (C-C,...,O-Pb) were studied and compared with those from inelastic He-Li interactions at the same incident momentum. Polarization of the Lambda hyperons was found to be consistent with zero ( alpha P=-0.06=0.11 for Lambda 's from central collisions). An upper limit of the Lambda -bar / Lambda production ratio was estimated to be less than 4.5 x 10-3. The experiment was performed in a triggered streamer chamber

Analysis of the Magnetized Friction Force.

A comprehensive examination of theoretical models for the friction force, in use by the electron cooling community, was performed. Here, they present their insights about the models gained as a result of comparison between the friction force formulas and direct numerical simulations, as well as studies of the cooling process as a whole

Slow positron beam at the JINR, Dubna

The Low Energy Positron Toroidal Accumulator (LEPTA) at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) proposed for generation of positronium in flight has been adopted for positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS). The positron injector generates continuous slow positron beam with positron energy range between 50 eV and 35 keV. The radioactive 22Na isotope is used. In distinction to popular tungsten foil, here the solid neon is used as moderator. It allows to obtain the beam intensity of about 105 e+/s width energy spectrum characterized by full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 3.4 eV and a tail to lower energies of about 30 eV. The paper covers the characteristic of variable energy positron beam at the LEPTA facility: parameters, the rule of moderation, scheme of injector, and transportation of positrons into the sample chamber. Recent status of the project and its development in the field of PAS is discussed. As an example, the measurement of the positron diffusion length in pure iron is demonstrated