Efficiency of thermal outgassing for tritium retention measurement and removal in ITER

Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Plasma Surface Interactions 2016, 22nd PSIAs a licensed nuclear facility, ITER must limit the in-vessel tritium (T) retention to reduce the risks of potential release during accidents, the inventory limit being set at 1kg. Simulations and extrapolations from existing experiments indicate that T-retention in ITER will mainly be driven by co-deposition with beryllium (Be) eroded from the first wall, with co-deposits forming mainly in the divertor region but also possibly on the first wall itself. A pulsed Laser-Induced Desorption (LID) system, called Tritium Monitor, is being designed to locally measure the T-retention in co-deposits forming on the inner divertor baffle of ITER. Regarding tritium removal, the baseline strategy is to perform baking of the plasma-facing components, at 513K for the FW and 623K for the divertor. Both baking and laser desorption rely on the thermal desorption of tritium from the surface, the efficiency of which remains unclear for thick (and possibly impure) co-deposits. This contribution reports on the results of TMAP7 studies of this efficiency for ITER-relevant deposits.Peer reviewe

Closely related alpha-tropomyosin mRNAs in quail fibroblasts and skeletal muscle cells.

We describe the analysis of two quail cDNA clones representing distinct but closely related alpha-tropomyosin mRNAs. cDNA clone cC101 corresponds to a 1.2-kilobase RNA which accumulates to high levels during myoblast differentiation and which encodes the major isoform of skeletal muscle alpha-tropomyosin. cDNA clone cC102 corresponds to a 2-kilobase RNA which is abundant in cultured embryonic skin fibroblasts and which encodes one of two alpha-tropomyosin-related fibroblast tropomyosins of 35,000 and 34,000 daltons apparent molecular mass (class 1 tropomyosins). The cC102 protein is unique among reported nonstriated-muscle tropomyosins in being identical in amino acid sequence to the major isoform of skeletal muscle alpha-tropomyosin over an uninterrupted stretch of at least 183 amino acids (residues 75-257). The two protein sequences differ in the COOH-terminal region beginning with residue 258. Because the cC101 and cC102 RNAs share an extensive region (at least 373 nucleotides) of nucleotide sequence identity upstream of the codon for residue 258, they are likely derived from a single gene by alternative RNA splicing, as was recently proposed in the case of related beta-tropomyosin mRNAs in human fibroblasts and skeletal muscle (MacLeod, A. R., Houlker, C., Reinach, R. C., Smillie, L. B., Talbot, K., Modi, G., and Walsh, F. S. (1985) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 82, 7835-7837). No alpha-tropomyosin-related RNAs are abundant in undifferentiated myoblasts. This suggests the possibility of a fibroblast-specific function, as opposed to a general nonmuscle-cell function for class 1 tropomyosins and also has implications for the regulation of alpha-tropomyosin gene expression during embryonic development

A developmental analysis of communication between mothers and infants with Down's syndrome

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68850/2/10.1177_027112148300300110.pd

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Three-step photoionization of mercury for application to separation of mercury isomers

Development of techniques for separating isomeric nuclides is important to the investigation of schemes for gamma-ray lasers. In preparation for an experiment to separate 10/sup 14/ atoms of the /sub 197m/Hg (299 keV, tau/sub 1/2/ = 24 hours) isomer, we report isotopically selective resonance ionization of mercury atoms. This has been accomplished by three-step excitation via the 6/sup 3/P/sub 1/ and 8/sup 1/S/sub 0/ excited states, using three collinear pulsed laser beams of 254, 286, and 532 nm wavelengths from a Nd:YAG and two dye lasers. These beams were passed through a closed mercury-vapor cell containing electrostatic plates to which the ions were drawn. Ion current and fluorescent radiation were measured as a function of laser frequency. Hyperfine structures for the 254- and 286-nm transitions were observed