Measurement of the 54,57Fe (n,γ) cross section in the resolved resonance region at CERN n_TOF

© 2014 Elsevier Inc. 54 Fe and 57 Fe are stable iron isotopes, which play an important role in the nucleosynthesis of theslow neutron capture process (s process). In addition, these nuclei are present in many structuralmaterials, and therefore, the knowledge of their neutron capture cross sections is of importance forreactor design studies. This contribution summarizes the results of the (n, γ) cross sections of thesetwo isotopes in the resolved resonance region. The experiment was carried out at the CERN n TOFfacility using the Pulse-Height Weighting Technique in combination with an experimental set-upoptmized for reducing neutron induced backgrounds

Effect of Macitentan on the Development of New Ischemic Digital Ulcers in Patients With Systemic Sclerosis DUAL-1 and DUAL-2 Randomized Clinical Trials

IMPORTANCE Digital ulcers in patients with systemic sclerosis are associated with pain and poor quality of life. Endothelin-1 promotes vasculopathy in systemic sclerosis after macitentan, an endothelin-1 blocker. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of macitentan in reducing the number of new digital ulcers in patients with systemic sclerosis. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Two international, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials (DUAL-1, DUAL-2) were conducted between January 2012 and February 2014. Participants were patients with systemic sclerosis and active digital ulcers at baseline. Target enrollment for each study was 285 patients. INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized (1: 1: 1) to receive oral doses of 3 mg of macitentan, 10mg of macitentan, or placebo once daily and stratified according to number of digital ulcers at baseline (3). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome for each trial was the cumulative number of new digital ulcers from baseline to week 16. Treatment effect was expressed as the ratio between treatment groups. RESULTS In DUAL-1, among 289 randomized patients (mean age 51.2 years; 85.8% women), 226 completed the study. The adjusted mean number of new digital ulcers per patient over 16 weeks was 0.94 in the 3-mg macitentan group (n = 95) and 1.08 in the 10-mg macitentan group (n = 97) compared with 0.85 in the placebo group (n = 97) (absolute difference, 0.09 [95% CI, -0.37 to 0.54] for 3mg of macitentan vs placebo and 0.23 [-0.27 to 0.72] for 10mg of macitentan vs placebo). Among 265 patients randomized in DUAL-2 (mean age 49.6 years; 81.9% women), 216 completed the study. In DUAL-2, the adjusted mean number of new digital ulcers was 1.44 in the 3-mg macitentan group (n = 88) and 1.46 in the 10-mg macitentan group (n = 88) compared with 1.21 in the placebo group (n = 89) (absolute difference, 0.23 [95% CI, -0.35 to 0.82] for 3mg of macitentan vs placebo and 0.25 [95% CI, -0.34 to 0.84] for 10mg of macitentan vs placebo). Adverse events more frequently associated with macitentan than with placebo were headache, peripheral edema, skin ulcer, anemia, upper respiratory tract infection, diarrhea, and nasopharyngitis. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Among patients with systemic sclerosis and active ischemic digital ulcers, treatment with macitentan did not reduce new digital ulcers over 16 weeks. These results do not support the use of macitentan for the treatment of digital ulcers in this patient population

7^{7} Be(n,p)7^{7} Li Cross Section Measurement for the Cosmological Lithium Problem at the n _\_ TOF Facility at CERN

International audienceOne of the most puzzling problems in Nuclear Astrophysics is the “Cosmological Lithium Problem”, i.e the discrepancy between the primordial abundance of$^{7}$ Li observed in metal poor halo stars (Asplund et al. in Astrophys J 644:229–259, 2006, [1]), and the one predicted by Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN). One of the reactions that could have an impact on the problem is$^{7}$ Be(n,p)$^{7}$ Li. Despite of the importance of this reaction in BBN, the cross-section has never been directly measured at the energies of interest for BBN. Taking advantage of the innovative features of the second experimental area at the n $\_$ TOF facility at CERN (Sabate-Gilarte et al. in Eur Phys J A 53:210, 2017, [2], Weiss et al. in NIMA 799:90, 2015, [3]), an accurate measurement of$^{7}$ Be(n,p) cross section has been recently performed at n $\_$ TOF, with a pure$^{7}$ Be target produced by implantation of a$^{7}$ Be beam at ISOLDE. The mesurement started in April 2016 and lasted for two months. The experimental procedure, the setup used in the measurement and the results obtained so far will be here presented