40 research outputs found
The flavodoxin FldA activates the class Ia ribonucleotide reductase of Campylobacter jejuni
Campylobacter jejuni is a microaerophilic zoonotic pathogen with an atypical respiratory Complex I that oxidizes a flavodoxin (FldA) instead of NADH. FldA is essential for viability and is reduced via pyruvate and 2‐oxoglutarate oxidoreductases (POR/OOR). Here, we show that FldA can also be reduced by FqrB (Cj0559), an NADPH:FldA reductase. An fqrB deletion mutant was viable but displayed a significant growth defect. FqrB is related to flavoprotein reductases from Gram‐positive bacteria that can reduce NrdI, a specialized flavodoxin that is needed for tyrosyl radical formation in NrdF, the beta subunit of class 1b‐type (Mn) ribonucleotide reductase (RNR). However, C. jejuni possesses a single class Ia‐type (Fe) RNR (NrdAB) that would be expected to be ferredoxin dependent. We show that CjFldA is an unusually high potential flavodoxin unrelated to NrdI, yet growth of the fqrB mutant, but not the wild‐type or a complemented strain, was stimulated by low deoxyribonucleoside (dRNS) concentrations, suggesting FldA links FqrB and RNR activity. Using purified proteins, we confirmed the NrdB tyrosyl radical could be regenerated in an NADPH, FqrB, and FldA dependent manner, as evidenced by both optical and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Thus, FldA activates RNR in C. jejuni, partly explaining its essentiality
Beam profile investigation of the new collimator system for the J-PET detector
Jagiellonian Positron Emission Tomograph (J-PET) is a multi-purpose detector
which will be used for search for discrete symmetries violations in the decays
of positronium atoms and for investigations with positronium atoms in
life-sciences and medical diagnostics. In this article we present three methods
for determination of the beam profile of collimated annihilation gamma quanta.
Precise monitoring of this profile is essential for time and energy calibration
of the J-PET detector and for the determination of the library of model signals
used in the hit-time and hit-position reconstruction. We have we have shown
that usage of two lead bricks with dimensions of 5x10x20 cm^3 enables to form a
beam of annihilation quanta with Gaussian profile characterized by 1 mm FWHM.
Determination of this characteristic is essential for designing and
construction the collimator system for the 24-module J-PET prototype.
Simulations of the beam profile for different collimator dimensions were
performed. This allowed us to choose optimal collimation system in terms of the
beam profile parameters, dimensions and weight of the collimator taking into
account the design of the 24 module J-PET detector.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure
A feasibility study of ortho-positronium decays measurement with the J-PET scanner based on plastic scintillators
We present a study of the application of the Jagiellonian Positron Emission
Tomograph (J-PET) for the registration of gamma quanta from decays of
ortho-positronium (o-Ps). The J-PET is the first positron emission tomography
scanner based on organic scintillators in contrast to all current PET scanners
based on inorganic crystals. Monte Carlo simulations show that the J-PET as an
axially symmetric and high acceptance scanner can be used as a multi-purpose
detector well suited to pursue research including e.g. tests of discrete
symmetries in decays of ortho-positronium in addition to the medical imaging.
The gamma quanta originating from o-Ps decay interact in the plastic
scintillators predominantly via the Compton effect, making the direct
measurement of their energy impossible. Nevertheless, it is shown in this paper
that the J-PET scanner will enable studies of the o-Ps decays with
angular and energy resolution equal to and
keV, respectively. An order of magnitude shorter decay
time of signals from plastic scintillators with respect to the inorganic
crystals results not only in better timing properties crucial for the reduction
of physical and instrumental background, but also suppresses significantly the
pileups, thus enabling compensation of the lower efficiency of the plastic
scintillators by performing measurements with higher positron source
activities
Potential of the J-PET detector for studies of discrete symmetries in decays of positronium atom - a purely leptonic system
The Jagiellonian Positron Emission Tomograph (J-PET) was constructed as a
prototype of the cost-effective scanner for the simultaneous metabolic imaging
of the whole human body. Being optimized for the detection of photons from the
electron-positron annihilation with high time- and high angular-resolution, it
constitutes a multi-purpose detector providing new opportunities for studying
the decays of positronium atoms. Positronium is the lightest purely leptonic
object decaying into photons. As an atom bound by a central potential it is a
parity eigenstate, and as an atom built out of an electron and an anti-electron
it is an eigenstate of the charge conjugation operator. Therefore, the
positronium is a unique laboratory to study discrete symmetries whose precision
is limited in principle by the effects due to the weak interactions expected at
the level of (~10) and photon-photon interactions expected at the level
of (~10). The J-PET detector enables to perform tests of discrete
symmetries in the leptonic sector via the determination of the expectation
values of the discrete-symmetries-odd operators, which may be constructed from
the spin of ortho-positronium atom and the momenta and polarization vectors of
photons originating from its annihilation. In this article we present the
potential of the J-PET detector to test the C, CP, T and CPT symmetries in the
decays of positronium atoms.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figure
Trilateration-based reconstruction of ortho-positronium decays into three photons with the J-PET detector
This work reports on a new reconstruction algorithm allowing to reconstruct
the decays of ortho-positronium atoms into three photons using the places and
times of photons recorded in the detector. The method is based on trilateration
and allows for a simultaneous reconstruction of both location and time of the
decay. Results of resolution tests of the new reconstruction in the J-PET
detector based on Monte Carlo simulations are presented, which yield a spatial
resolution at the level of 2 cm (FWHM) for X and Y and at the level of 1 cm
(FWHM) for Z available with the present resolution of J-PET after application
of a kinematic fit. Prospects of employment of this method for studying angular
correlations of photons in decays of polarized ortho-positronia for the needs
of tests of CP and CPT discrete symmetries are also discussed. The new
reconstruction method allows for discrimination of background from random
three-photon coincidences as well as for application of a novel method for
determination of the linear polarization of ortho-positronium atoms, which is
also introduced in this work.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Nuclear
Instrumentation and Methods in Physics Research
Calculation of time resolution of the J-PET tomograph using the Kernel Density Estimation
In this paper we estimate the time resolution of the J-PET scanner built from
plastic scintillators. We incorporate the method of signal processing using the
Tikhonov regularization framework and the Kernel Density Estimation method. We
obtain simple, closed-form analytical formulas for time resolutions. The
proposed method is validated using signals registered by means of the single
detection unit of the J-PET tomograph built out from 30 cm long plastic
scintillator strip. It is shown that the experimental and theoretical results,
obtained for the J-PET scanner equipped with vacuum tube photomultipliers, are
consistent.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figure
Time resolution of the plastic scintillator strips with matrix photomultiplier readout for J-PET tomograph
Recent tests of a single module of the Jagiellonian Positron Emission
Tomography system (J-PET) consisting of 30 cm long plastic scintillator strips
have proven its applicability for the detection of annihilation quanta (0.511
MeV) with a coincidence resolving time (CRT) of 0.266 ns. The achieved
resolution is almost by a factor of two better with respect to the current
TOF-PET detectors and it can still be improved since, as it is shown in this
article, the intrinsic limit of time resolution for the determination of time
of the interaction of 0.511 MeV gamma quanta in plastic scintillators is much
lower. As the major point of the article, a method allowing to record
timestamps of several photons, at two ends of the scintillator strip, by means
of matrix of silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) is introduced. As a result of
simulations, conducted with the number of SiPM varying from 4 to 42, it is
shown that the improvement of timing resolution saturates with the growing
number of photomultipliers, and that the 2 x 5 configuration at two ends
allowing to read twenty timestamps, constitutes an optimal solution. The
conducted simulations accounted for the emission time distribution, photon
transport and absorption inside the scintillator, as well as quantum efficiency
and transit time spread of photosensors, and were checked based on the
experimental results. Application of the 2 x 5 matrix of SiPM allows for
achieving the coincidence resolving time in positron emission tomography of
0.170 ns for 15 cm axial field-of-view (AFOV) and 0.365 ns
for 100 cm AFOV. The results open perspectives for construction of a
cost-effective TOF-PET scanner with significantly better TOF resolution and
larger AFOV with respect to the current TOF-PET modalities.Comment: To be published in Phys. Med. Biol. (26 pages, 17 figures
Overview of the software architecture and data flow for the J-PET tomography device
Modern TOF-PET scanner systems require high-speed computing resources for efficient data processing, monitoring and image reconstruction. In this article, we present the data flow and software architecture for the novel TOF-PET scanner developed by the J-PET Collaboration. We discuss the data acquisition system, reconstruction framework and image reconstruction software. Also, the concept of computing outside hospitals in the remote centers such as Świerk Computing Centre in Poland is presented
Sampling FEE and trigger-less DAQ for the J-PET scanner
In this paper, we present a complete Data Acquisition System (DAQ) together with the readout mechanisms for the J-PET tomography scanner. In general, detector readout chain is constructed out of Front-End Electronics (FEE) measurement devices such as Time-to-Digital or Analog-to-Digital Converters (TDCs or ADCs), data collectors and storage. We have developed a system capable for maintaining continuous readout of digitized data without preliminary selection. Such operation mode results in up to 8 Gbps data stream, therefore, it is required to introduce a dedicated module for on-line event building and feature extraction. The Central Controller Module, equipped with Xilinx Zynq SoC and 16 optical transceivers, serves as such true real time computing facility. Our solution for the continuous data recording (trigger-less) is a novel approach in such detector systems and assures that most of the information is preserved on the storage for further, high-level processing. Signal discrimination applies a unique method of using LVDS buffers located in the FPGA fabric
Determination of the 3\gamma fraction from positron annihilation in mesoporous materials for symmetry violation experiment with J-PET scanner
Various mesoporous materials were investigated to choose the best material
for experiments requiring high yield of long-lived positronium. We found that
the fraction of 3\gamma annihilation determined using \gamma-ray energy spectra
and positron annihilation lifetime spectra (PAL) changed from 20% to 25%. The
3gamma fraction and o-Ps formation probability in the polymer XAD-4 is found to
be the largest. Elemental analysis performed using scanning electron microscop
(SEM) equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscop EDS show high purity of
the investigated materials.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure