Transient polarization dynamics in a CO2_2 laser

We study experimentally and theoretically the polarization alternation during the switch-on transient of a quasi-isotropic CO$_2$ laser emitting on the fundamental mode. The observed transient dynamics is well reproduced by means of a model which provides a quantitative discrimination between the intrinsic asymmetry due to the kinetic coupling of molecules with different angular momenta, and the extrinsic anisotropies, due to a tilted intracavity window. Furthermore, the experiment provides a numerical assignment for the decay rate of the coherence term for a CO$_2$ laser.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Opt. Com

Self-consistent simulation of plasma scenarios for ITER using a combination of 1.5D transport codes and free-boundary equilibrium codes

Self-consistent transport simulation of ITER scenarios is a very important tool for the exploration of the operational space and for scenario optimisation. It also provides an assessment of the compatibility of developed scenarios (which include fast transient events) with machine constraints, in particular with the poloidal field (PF) coil system, heating and current drive (H&CD), fuelling and particle and energy exhaust systems. This paper discusses results of predictive modelling of all reference ITER scenarios and variants using two suite of linked transport and equilibrium codes. The first suite consisting of the 1.5D core/2D SOL code JINTRAC [1] and the free boundary equilibrium evolution code CREATE-NL [2,3], was mainly used to simulate the inductive D-T reference Scenario-2 with fusion gain Q=10 and its variants in H, D and He (including ITER scenarios with reduced current and toroidal field). The second suite of codes was used mainly for the modelling of hybrid and steady state ITER scenarios. It combines the 1.5D core transport code CRONOS [4] and the free boundary equilibrium evolution code DINA-CH [5].Comment: 23 pages, 18 figure

Acute pancreatitis in children. An Italian multicentre study

AIM: To evaluate the clinical, morphological and aetiological aspects of acute pancreatitis in children in Italy. PATIENTS: The hospital records of 50 consecutive patients with acute pancreatitis observed in 5 Italian Pediatric Departments were reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 25 males and 25 females (median age 10.5 years, range 2-17) were studied. Of these patients, 48 (96%) had abdominal pain. The pancreatitis was associated with biliary disease in 10 patients (20%); it was due to viral infection in 6 patients (12%), pancreatic duct abnormalities in 4 (8%, familial chronic pancreatitis in 3 (6%), trauma in 5 (10%) and other causes in 5 (10%); the pancreatitis was of unknown origin in 17 patients (34%). Previous attacks of the disease had occurred in 14 patients. A diagnosis of mild pancreatitis was made in 41 patients (82%) and of severe disease in 9 (18%). One patient with severe pancreatitis died from multiorgan failure. Patients with severe pancreatitis had significantly higher serum concentrations of C-reactive protein than patients with mild pancreatitis. Hospital stay was similar for patients with the mild form and those with the severe form of the disease. CONCLUSIONS: In Italian children, acute pancreatitis is of unknown origin in about one-third of the children and is recurrent in 28% of the cases. The disease is severe in 18% of the case

Morphological alterations and gene and protein expression profiling of bladder tumor cells after treatment with gemcitabine.

Chemical agents used in cancer therapy are associated with cell cycle arrest, activation or deactivation of mechanisms\ud associated to DNA repair and apoptosis. However, due to the complexity of biological systems, the molecular\ud mechanisms responsible for these activities are not fully understood. Thus, studies about gene and protein expression\ud have shown promising results for understanding the mechanisms related to cellular responses and regression of cancer\ud after chemotherapy. This study aimed to evaluate the gene and protein expression profiling in bladder transitional cell\ud carcinoma (TCC) with different TP53 status after gemcitabine (1.56 μM) treatment. The RT4 (grade 1, TP53 wild\ud type), 5637 (grade 2, TP53 mutated) and T24 (grade 3, TP53 mutated) cell lines were used. PCR arrays and mass\ud spectrometry were used to analyze gene and protein expression, respectively. Morphological alterations were observed\ud using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results of PCR array\ud showed that gemcitabine activity was mainly related to CDKN1A, GADD45A and SERTDA1 overexpression, and BAX\ud overexpression only in the wild type TP53 cells. Mass spectrometry demonstrated that gemcitabine modulated the protein\ud expression, especially those from genes related to apoptosis, transport of vesicles and stress response. Analyses using SEM\ud and TEM showed changes in cell morphology independently on the cell line studied. The observed decreased number of\ud microvillus suggests low contact among the cells and between cell and extracellular matrix; irregular forms might indicate\ud actin cytoskeleton deregulation; and the reduction in the amount of organelles and core size might indicate reduced\ud cellular metabolism. In conclusion, independently on TP53 status or grade of bladder tumor, gemcitabine modulated\ud genes related to the cell cycle and apoptosis, that reflected in morphological changes indicative of future cell death.FAPESPCNP

Study of shock waves generation, hot electron production and role of parametric instabilities in an intensity regime relevant for the shock ignition

We present experimental results at intensities relevant to Shock Ignition obtained at the sub-ns Prague Asterix Laser System in 2012 . We studied shock waves produced by laser-matter interaction in presence of a pre-plasma. We used a first beam at 1ω (1315 nm) at 7 × 10 13 W/cm 2 to create a pre-plasma on the front side of the target and a second at 3ω (438 nm) at ∼ 10 16 W/cm 2 to create the shock wave. Multilayer targets composed of 25 (or 40 μm) of plastic (doped with Cl), 5 μm of Cu (for Kα diagnostics) and 20 μm of Al for shock measurement were used. We used X-ray spectroscopy of Cl to evaluate the plasma temperature, Kα imaging and spectroscopy to evaluate spatial and spectral properties of the fast electrons and a streak camera for shock breakout measurements. Parametric instabilities (Stimulated Raman Scattering, Stimulated Brillouin Scattering and Two Plasmon Decay) were studied by collecting the back scattered light and analysing its spectrum. Back scattered energy was measured with calorimeters. To evaluate the maximum pressure reached in our experiment we performed hydro simulations with CHIC and DUED codes. The maximum shock pressure generated in our experiment at the front side of the target during laser-interaction is 90 Mbar. The conversion efficiency into hot electrons was estimated to be of the order of ∼ 0.1% and their mean energy in the order ∼50 keV. Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distributio

Telomere length shortening is associated with treatment-free remission in chronic myeloid leukemia patients

We studied telomere length in 32 CML patients who discontinued imatinib after achieving complete molecular remission and 32 age-sex-matched controls. The relative telomere length (RTL) was determined by q-PCR as the telomere to single copy gene (36B4) ratio normalized to a reference sample (K-562 DNA). Age-corrected RTL (acRTL) was also obtained. The 36-month probability of treatment-free remission (TFR) was 59.4 %. TFR patients showed shorter acRTL compared to relapsed (mean ± SD = 0.01 ± 0.14 vs 0.20 ± 0.21; p = 0.01). TFR was significantly higher in CML patients with acRTL ≤0.09 (78.9 vs 30.8 %, p = 0.002). CML stem cells harboring longer telomeres possibly maintain a proliferative potential after treatment discontinuation