Absorption of Scintillation Light in a 100 ℓ\ell Liquid Xenonγ\gamma Ray Detector and Expected Detector Performance

An 800L liquid xenon scintillation $\gamma$ ray detector is being developed for the MEG experiment which will search for $\mu^+\to\mathrm{e}^+\gamma$ decay at the Paul Scherrer Institut. Absorption of scintillation light of xenon by impurities might possibly limit the performance of such a detector. We used a 100L prototype with an active volume of 372x372x496 mm$^3$ to study the scintillation light absorption. We have developed a method to evaluate the light absorption, separately from elastic scattering of light, by measuring cosmic rays and $\alpha$ sources. By using a suitable purification technique, an absorption length longer than 100 cm has been achieved. The effects of the light absorption on the energy resolution are estimated by Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures (eps). Submitted to Nucl. Instr. and Meth.

Lung adenocarcinoma originates from retrovirus infection of proliferating type 2 pneumocytes during pulmonary post-natal development or tissue repair

Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV) is a unique oncogenic virus with distinctive biological properties. JSRV is the only virus causing a naturally occurring lung cancer (ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma, OPA) and possessing a major structural protein that functions as a dominant oncoprotein. Lung cancer is the major cause of death among cancer patients. OPA can be an extremely useful animal model in order to identify the cells originating lung adenocarcinoma and to study the early events of pulmonary carcinogenesis. In this study, we demonstrated that lung adenocarcinoma in sheep originates from infection and transformation of proliferating type 2 pneumocytes (termed here lung alveolar proliferating cells, LAPCs). We excluded that OPA originates from a bronchioalveolar stem cell, or from mature post-mitotic type 2 pneumocytes or from either proliferating or non-proliferating Clara cells. We show that young animals possess abundant LAPCs and are highly susceptible to JSRV infection and transformation. On the contrary, healthy adult sheep, which are normally resistant to experimental OPA induction, exhibit a relatively low number of LAPCs and are resistant to JSRV infection of the respiratory epithelium. Importantly, induction of lung injury increased dramatically the number of LAPCs in adult sheep and rendered these animals fully susceptible to JSRV infection and transformation. Furthermore, we show that JSRV preferentially infects actively dividing cell in vitro. Overall, our study provides unique insights into pulmonary biology and carcinogenesis and suggests that JSRV and its host have reached an evolutionary equilibrium in which productive infection (and transformation) can occur only in cells that are scarce for most of the lifespan of the sheep. Our data also indicate that, at least in this model, inflammation can predispose to retroviral infection and cancer

Cultivating epizoic diatoms provides insights into the evolution and ecology of both epibionts and hosts

11 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, supplementary information https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-19064-0.-- Data availability: DNA sequence data generated for this study are published on the NCBI GenBank online sequence depository under the accession numbers listed in Table S1. Additional micrographs and cleaned voucher material from the sequenced cultures are available from lead author MPAOur understanding of the importance of microbiomes on large aquatic animals—such as whales, sea turtles and manatees—has advanced considerably in recent years. The latest observations indicate that epibiotic diatom communities constitute diverse, polyphyletic, and compositionally stable assemblages that include both putatively obligate epizoic and generalist species. Here, we outline a successful approach to culture putatively obligate epizoic diatoms without their hosts. That some taxa can be cultured independently from their epizoic habitat raises several questions about the nature of the interaction between these animals and their epibionts. This insight allows us to propose further applications and research avenues in this growing area of study. Analyzing the DNA sequences of these cultured strains, we found that several unique diatom taxa have evolved independently to occupy epibiotic habitats. We created a library of reference sequence data for use in metabarcoding surveys of sea turtle and manatee microbiomes that will further facilitate the use of environmental DNA for studying host specificity in epizoic diatoms and the utility of diatoms as indicators of host ecology and health. We encourage the interdisciplinary community working with marine megafauna to consider including diatom sampling and diatom analysis into their routine practicesFinancial support for sequencing and SEM comes from the Jane and the Roland Blumberg Centennial Professorship in Molecular Evolution at UT Austin and the US Department of Defense (grant number W911NF-17-2-0091). Sampling in South Africa was done with partial financial support from The Systematics Association (UK) through the Systematics Research Fund Award granted to RM (2017 and 2020). Work in the Adriatic Sea was supported by Croatian Science Foundation, project UIP-05-2017-5635 (TurtleBIOME). KF has been fully supported by the “Young researchers' career development project – training of doctoral students” of the CSF funded by the EU from the European Social Fund. NJR was funded by the Spanish government (AEI) through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S)Peer reviewe

Spontaneous dissection of the superior mesenteric artery and the right hepatic artery: a case report

Abstract Introduction Isolated spontaneous dissection of the superior mesenteric artery is a very rare condition. Endovascular stent placement has been proposed recently for selected cases, which has led to some good clinical results. Case presentation We report a case of spontaneous dissection of the superior mesenteric artery spreading to the origin of a right hepatic artery in a 48-year-old Chinese man. He benefited from the placement of an endovascular stent that yielded excellent results. Conclusion Endovascular stent placement is a good alternative treatment for dissection of the superior mesenteric artery. We propose an algorithm for the management of this rare condition.</p

Cell encapsulation technology as a novel strategy for human anti-tumor immunotherapy

Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) as an adjuvant in autologous cell-based anti-tumor immunotherapy has recently been approved for clinical application. To avoid the need for individualized processing of autologous cells, we developed a novel strategy based on the encapsulation of GM-CSF-secreting human allogeneic cells. GM-CSF-producing K562 cells showed high, stable and reproducible cytokine secretion when enclosed into macrocapsules. For clinical development, the cryopreservation of these devices is critical. Thawing of capsules frozen at different time points displayed differences in GM-CSF release shortly after thawing. However, similar secretion values to those of non-frozen control capsules were obtained 8 days after thawing at a rate of >1000 ng GM-CSF per capsule every 24 h. For future human application, longer and reinforced capsules were designed. After irradiation and cryopreservation, these capsules produced >300 ng GM-CSF per capsule every 24 h 1 week after thawing. The in vivo implantation of encapsulated K562 cells was evaluated in mice and showed preserved cell survival. Finally, as a proof of principle of biological activity, capsules containing B16-GM-CSF allogeneic cells implanted in mice induced a prompt inflammatory reaction. The ability to reliably achieve high adjuvant release using a standardized procedure may lead to a new clinical application of GM-CSF in cell-based cancer immunization