ESC Working Group Cellular Biology of the Heart: Position Paper: Improving the pre-clinical assessment of novel cardioprotective therapies

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) remains the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. As a result, novel therapies are still needed to protect the heart from the detrimental effects of acute ischemia-reperfusion injury, in order to improve clinical outcomes in IHD patients. In this regard, although a large number of novel cardioprotective therapies discovered in the research laboratory have been investigated in the clinical setting, only a few of these have been demonstrated to improve clinical outcomes. One potential reason for this lack of success may have been the failure to thoroughly assess the cardioprotective efficacy of these novel therapies in suitably designed pre-clinical experimental animal models. Therefore, the aim of this Position Paper by the European Society of Cardiology Working Group Cellular Biology of the Heart is to provide recommendations for improving the pre-clinical assessment of novel cardioprotective therapies discovered in the research laboratory, with the aim of increasing the likelihood of success in translating these new treatments into improved clinical outcomes

Contribution of ion emission to sputtering of uranium dioxide by highly charged ions

Measurements of the cluster size (n) distribution of secondary (UO$_{x})^{+}_{n}$ ions from sputtering of uranium dioxide (UO$_{2})$ by Ne8+, Ar8+ and Xe$^{q+}$ ions (q=10, 23) at fixed kinetic energy (81 keV) have been performed with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The cluster ion yields Y follow a power law $Y(n)\sim n^{\delta}$ with $-2.1<\delta <-1.5$. This is in contrast to a statistical recombination of the constituents upon ejection, but in agreement with the predictions of collective ejection models. Such a power law was also observed in the electronic stopping regime with MeV/u ions. The exponent $\delta$ is found to decrease with increasing projectile mass (and thus total sputter yield) at fixed kinetic energy. The ratio of emitted ionic clusters to monomers varies from 3 to 4.5 depending on the projectile. The contribution of positive ions to the total sputtering yield amounts to about 0.03%