Luminescence and formation of alkalihalide ionic excimers in solid Ne and Ar

Transitions from ionic states A²⁺X– of alkalihalides CsF, CsCl and RbF isolated in solid Ne and Ar films recorded under pulsed e-beam excitation are studied. The B(²∑₁/₂)-X(²∑₁/₂) and C(²П₃/₂)-A(²П₃/₂) luminescence bands of Cs2+F– (196.5 nm, 227 nm), Cs²⁺Cl– (220.1 nm, 249.2 nm) and Rb²⁺F– (136 nm) in Ne, and a weakerB–X emission of Cs²⁺F– (211.2 nm) in Ar are identified. For CsF the depopulation of the A²⁺X– state is dominated by the radiative decay. A ratio of the recorded exciplex emission intensities of I(CsF)/I(CsCl)/I(RbF) = 20/5/1 reflects the luminescence efficiency and for RbF and CsCl a competitive emission channel due to predissociation in the A²⁺X⁻(B²∑₁/₂) state is observed. For these molecules an efficient formation of the state X*₂ is confirmed through recording the molecular D`(³П₂g)-A`(³П₂u) transition. A strong dependence of the luminescence intensities on the alkalihalide content reveals quenching at concentrations higher than 0.7%

Luminescence and formation of alkali-halide ionic excimers in solid Ne and Ar

Transitions from ionic states A²⁺X– of alkalihalides CsF, CsCl and RbF isolated in solid Ne and Ar films recorded under pulsed e-beam excitation are studied. The B(²∑₁/₂)-X(²∑₁/₂) and C(²П₃/₂)-A(²П₃/₂) luminescence bands of Cs2+F– (196.5 nm, 227 nm), Cs²⁺Cl– (220.1 nm, 249.2 nm) and Rb²⁺F– (136 nm) in Ne, and a weakerB–X emission of Cs²⁺F– (211.2 nm) in Ar are identified. For CsF the depopulation of the A²⁺X– state is dominated by the radiative decay. A ratio of the recorded exciplex emission intensities of I(CsF)/I(CsCl)/I(RbF) = 20/5/1 reflects the luminescence efficiency and for RbF and CsCl a competitive emission channel due to predissociation in the A²⁺X⁻(B²∑₁/₂) state is observed. For these molecules an efficient formation of the state X*₂ is confirmed through recording the molecular D`(³П₂g)-A`(³П₂u) transition. A strong dependence of the luminescence intensities on the alkalihalide content reveals quenching at concentrations higher than 0.7%

A Study of the Scintillation Induced by Alpha Particles and Gamma Rays in Liquid Xenon in an Electric Field

Scintillation produced in liquid xenon by alpha particles and gamma rays has been studied as a function of applied electric field. For back scattered gamma rays with energy of about 200 keV, the number of scintillation photons was found to decrease by 64+/-2% with increasing field strength. Consequently, the pulse shape discrimination power between alpha particles and gamma rays is found to reduce with increasing field, but remaining non-zero at higher fields.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, accepted by Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research

The Glasgow Benefit Inventory: a systematic review of the use and value of an otorhinolaryngological generic patient-recorded outcome measure

The Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI) is a validated, generic patient-recorded outcome measure widely used in otolaryngology to report change in quality of life post-intervention.To date, no systematic review has made (i) a quality assessment of reporting of Glasgow Benefit Inventory outcomes; (ii) a comparison between Glasgow Benefit Inventory outcomes for different interventions and objectives; (iii) an evaluation of subscales in describing the area of benefit; (iv) commented on its value in clinical practice and research.Systematic review.'Glasgow Benefit Inventory' and 'GBI' were used as keywords to search for published, unpublished and ongoing trials in PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL and Google in addition to an ISI citation search for the original validating Glasgow Benefit Inventory paper between 1996 and January 2015.Papers were assessed for study type and quality graded by a predesigned scale, by two authors independently. Papers with sufficient quality Glasgow Benefit Inventory data were identified for statistical comparisons. Papers with 50% and gave sufficient Glasgow Benefit Inventory total and subscales for meta-analysis. For five of the 11 operation categories (vestibular schwannoma, tonsillectomy, cochlear implant, middle ear implant and stapes surgery) that were most likely to have a single clear clinical objective, score data had low-to-moderate heterogeneity. The value in the Glasgow Benefit Inventory having both positive and negative scores was shown by an overall negative score for the management of vestibular schwannoma. The other six operations gave considerable heterogeneity with rhinoplasty and septoplasty giving the greatest percentages (98% and 99%) most likely because of the considerable variations in patient selection. The data from these operations should not be used for comparative purposes. Five papers also reported the number of patients that had no or negative benefit, a potentially a more clinically useful outcome to report. Glasgow Benefit Inventory subscores for tonsillectomy were significantly different from ear surgery suggesting different areas of benefitThe Glasgow Benefit Inventory has been shown to differentiate the benefit between surgical and medical otolaryngology interventions as well as 'reassurance'. Reporting benefit as percentages with negative, no and positive benefit would enable better comparisons between different interventions with varying objectives and pathology. This could also allow easier evaluation of factors that predict benefit. Meta-analysis data are now available for comparison purposes for vestibular schwannoma, tonsillectomy, cochlear implant, middle ear implant and stapes surgery. Fuller report of the Glasgow Benefit Inventory outcomes for non-surgical otolaryngology interventions is encouraged

Effects of Nitrogen contamination in liquid Argon

A dedicated test of the effects of Nitrogen contamination in liquid Argon has been performed at the INFN-Gran Sasso Laboratory (LNGS, Italy) within the WArP R&D program. A detector has been designed and assembled for this specific task and connected to a system for the injection of controlled amounts of gaseous Nitrogen into the liquid Argon. Purpose of the test is to detect the reduction of the Ar scintillation light emission as a function of the amount of the Nitrogen contaminant injected in the Argon volume. A wide concentration range, spanning from about 10^-1 ppm up to about 10^3 ppm, has been explored. Measurements have been done with electrons in the energy range of minimum ionizing particles (gamma-conversion from radioactive sources). Source spectra at different Nitrogen contaminations are analyzed, showing sensitive reduction of the scintillation yield at increasing concentrations. The rate constant of the light quenching process induced by Nitrogen in liquid Ar has been found to be k(N2)=0.11 micros^-1 ppm^-1. Direct PMT signals acquisition at high time resolution by fast Waveform recording allowed to extract with high precision the main characteristics of the scintillation light emission in pure and contaminated LAr. In particular, the decreasing behavior in lifetime and relative amplitude of the slow component is found to be appreciable from O(1 ppm) of Nitrogen concentrations

Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor and K-RAS status in two cohorts of squamous cell carcinomas

With the availability of effective anti-EGFR therapies for various solid malignancies, such as non-cell small lung cancer, colorectal cancer and squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, the knowledge of EGFR and K-RAS status becomes clinically important. The aim of this study was to analyse EGFR expression, EGFR gene copy number and EGFR and K-RAS mutations in two cohorts of squamous cell carcinomas, specifically anal canal and tonsil carcinomas.Journal ArticleMulticenter StudyResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tSCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

A network analysis to identify mediators of germline-driven differences in breast cancer prognosis.

Identifying the underlying genetic drivers of the heritability of breast cancer prognosis remains elusive. We adapt a network-based approach to handle underpowered complex datasets to provide new insights into the potential function of germline variants in breast cancer prognosis. This network-based analysis studies ~7.3 million variants in 84,457 breast cancer patients in relation to breast cancer survival and confirms the results on 12,381 independent patients. Aggregating the prognostic effects of genetic variants across multiple genes, we identify four gene modules associated with survival in estrogen receptor (ER)-negative and one in ER-positive disease. The modules show biological enrichment for cancer-related processes such as G-alpha signaling, circadian clock, angiogenesis, and Rho-GTPases in apoptosis