Fetal myocarditis – a precursor of undesirable consequences of intrauterine infection with parvovirus B19

Objective: to conduct a retrospective analysis of the results of sonographic, virological and morphological studies of cases of non-immune hydrops fetalis followed by intrauterine fetal death because of severe cardiovascular insufficiency (SCI) against parvovirus infection (PVI) with the aim of identifying signs of an adverse perinatal prognosis for the fetus. Object and methods. Infection of pregnant women was detected by serological diagnostics of specific antibodies IgM and IgG to parvovirus B19. Intrauterine fetal infection was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). An antenatal diagnosis of hydrops fetalis was made using ultrasound scanning; intracranial hemodynamics, fetal myocardial hemodynamics and heart function were monitored using Doppler ultrasound with calculation of peripheral vascular resistance indices. The myocardium of human fetus was studied histologically with hematoxylin and eosin staining. Results. In 15/33 (45.5 %) cases of infection with parvovirus B19 non-immune fetal hydrops was diagnosed in the II–III trimesters of pregnancy. The development of CVI, which arose secondary, against the background of myocarditis with/without fetal anemia (FA) was found in all the cases of fetal loss – 6/15 (40 %), in which the presence of parvovirus DNA in the pericardial effusion was proven after autopsy by the results of a polymerase chain reaction. Conclusions. Myocarditis as a result of PVI promotes the emergence of CVI with the development of hydropericardium, has a fatal prognosis for the fetus, despite attempts to intrauterine blood transfusion in the III trimester. Fetal myocarditis against the background of non-immune fetal hydrops hinders timely non-invasive diagnosis of severe FA, is the cause of CVI which leads to extremely unfavorable consequences for the fetus

Heavy ion beam probing – a tool to study geodesic acoustic modes and alfven eigenmodes in the T-10 tokamak and TJ-II stellarator

Heavy ion beam probing (HIBP) is a unique diagnostic for core plasma potential. It operates in the T-10 tokamak and TJ-II flexible heliac. Multi-slits energy analyzers provide simultaneously the data on plasma potential φ (by beam extra energy), plasma density (by beam current) and Bpol (by beam toroidal shift) in 5 poloidally shifted sample volumes. Thus, the poloidal electric field and the electrostatic turbulent particle flux are derived. The fine focused (<1 cm) and intense (100 μA) beams provide the measurements in the wide density interval ne=(0.3...5)×10¹⁹ m⁻³, while the advanced control system for primary and secondary beams provides the measurements in the wide range of the plasma currents in T-10 and magnetic configurations in TJ-II, including Ohmic, ECR and NBI heated plasmas. Low-noise high-gain (10⁷ V/A) preamplifiers with 300 kHz bandwidth and 2 MHz sampling allow us to study quasi-coherent modes like Geodesic Acoustic Modes (GAMs) and Alfvén Eigenmodes (AEs). The spatial location, poloidal rotation velocity and mode numbers for GAMs and AEs were studied in the core plasmas.Зондирование пучком тяжёлых ионов (ЗПТИ) является уникальной диагностикой для исследования потенциала горячей плазмы, она работает на токамаке T-10 и стеллараторе TJ-II. Многощелевые анализаторы позволяют одновременно определять потенциал, плотность и полоидальное магнитное поле в пяти точках измерения в плазме, что позволяет найти полоидальное электрическое поле и турбулентный поток частиц. Хорошо сфокусированные (< 1 см) интенсивные (100 мкА) пучки позволяют вести измерения в широком интервале плотностей n‾e=(0.3...5)×10¹⁹ m⁻³, а система управления первичным и вторичным пучками обеспечивает измерения в пределах изменения параметров T-10 и TJ-II, включая режимы омического, электронно-циклотронного и инжекционного нагревов плазмы. Исследованы геодезические акустические моды и альфвеновские собственные моды частотой до 300 кГц.Зондування пучком важких іонів (ЗПВІ) є унікальна система діагностики для дослідження потенціалу в гарячій плазмі на токамаці Т-10 та стелараторі TJ-II. Аналізатори з багатою кількістю апертур дозволяють одночасно вимірювати потенціал, густину та полоїдальне магнітне поле у п’яти об’ємах плазми, що дозволяє знайти полоїдальне електричне поле та турбулентний потік часток. Гарно сфокусовані (< 1 см) інтенсивні (100 мкА) пучки дозволяють провести вимірювання в широкому інтервалі n‾e=(0.3...5)×10¹⁹ m⁻³ густини, а система керування первинним та вторинним пучками забезпечує вимірювання у межах діапазону зміни параметрів T-10 та TJ-II, які включають у себе режими омічного, електронно-циклотронного та інжекційного нагрівів плазми. Досліджено геодезичні акустичні моди і альфвенівські коливання особистої моди частотою до 300 кГц

Moderation of neoclassical impurity accumulation in high temperature plasmas of helical devices

Achieving impurity and helium ash control is a crucial issue in the path towards fusion-grade magnetic confinement devices, and this is particularly the case of helical reactors, whose low-collisionality ion-root operation scenarios usually display a negative radial electric field which is expected to cause inwards impurity pinch. In this work we discuss, based on experimental measurements and standard predictions of neoclassical theory, how plasmas of very low ion collisionality, similar to those observed in the impurity hole of the large helical device (Yoshinuma et al and The LHD Experimental Group 2009 Nucl. Fusion 49 062002, Ida et al and The LHD Experimental Group 2009 Phys. Plasmas 16 056111 and Yokoyama et al and LHD Experimental Group 2002 Nucl. Fusion 42 143), can be an exception to this general rule, and how a negative radial electric field can coexist with an outward impurity flux. This interpretation is supported by comparison with documented discharges available in the International Stellarator-Heliotron Profile Database, and it can be extrapolated to show that achievement of high ion temperature in the core of helical devices is not fundamentally incompatible with low core impurity content