High-pressure behaviour of an X-ray preionized discharge pumped XeCl laser

The output characteristics are described of an X-ray preionized discharge pumped XeCl laser, fed by a low-impedance pulse forming line (PFL), at pressures up to 12 bar. The influence of a multichannel rail gap placed between the PFL and the laser head on the output energy was studied. We found an increase of output energy with increasing pressure up to 8 bar. At higher pressures a saturation behaviour was found. The maximum output energy per unit volume was 6.5 J/l

An improved discharge technique for excimer lasers

The further development of discharge excimer lasers depends upon a better degree of control over the discharge stability. A problem is the large difference between the breakdown and steady-state voltage which requires a time dependent impedance of the power circuit. Further the large attachment rates of halogens like HCl, causing electric field disturbances require a short rise time of the applied current pulse. A large effort has been expended towards this goal by researchers since the early development of discharge excimer lasers

BANDWIDTH STUDIES OF AN INJECTION-SEEDED BETA-BARIUM BORATE OPTICAL PARAMETRIC OSCILLATOR

Spectral and temporal properties of a scanning injection-seeded beta-barium borate optical parametric oscillator pumped by the third harmonic of a 10-Hz Nd:YAG laser have been studied. The seed source was a cw diode laser with a wavelength of 830 nm tunable over a range of 50 GHz. We measured the bandwidth of the seeded optical parameter oscillator, using a two-photon resonance in barium and a Fabry-Perot etalon, to be approximately 400 MHz for pump power levels more than two times above threshold. This is similar to 2 times the Fourier-transform-limited bandwidth. At lower pump powers the bandwidth was smaller

Outcome of debridement, antibiotics and implant retention for streptococcal hip and knee prosthetic joint infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives: This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to assess the outcome of streptococcal hip and knee prosthetic joint infection (PJI) treated with Debridement, Antibiotics and Implant Retention (DAIR) and to evaluate risk factors associated with failure. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature search on PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane library from inception until October 2021. Random effects meta-analyses (i.e. relative risk) were used to estimate the success rate at the study level and its association with possible risk factors for failure with a specific focus on the use of rifampicin.Results: 25 observational studies were included, incorporating 1367 patients with streptococcal PJIs treated with DAIR. An overall pooled success rate of 71% (95% confidence interval (95%CI) 64-77%) was found for streptococcal PJI treated with DAIR. Treatment success was 76% (95%CI 62% to 91%) for knee PJI and 58% (95%CI 52% to 65%) for hip PJI. Treatment success differed for patients receiving rifampicin (84%, 95% CI 78% to 90%) compared to patients not receiving rifampicin (74%, 95% CI 63% to 85%), but this effect was no longer present in subsequent meta-analyses. Conclusions: The meta-analysis showed no clear benefit for rifampicin administration after DAIR for streptococcal PJI. Better outcome was observed for knee PJI compared to hip PJI.Orthopaedics, Trauma Surgery and Rehabilitatio

Synthesis and self-assembly of giant porphyrin discs

Contains fulltext : 13852.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Breast cancer risk genes: association analysis in more than 113,000 women

BACKGROUNDGenetic testing for breast cancer susceptibility is widely used, but for many genes, evidence of an association with breast cancer is weak, underlying risk estimates are imprecise, and reliable subtype-specific risk estimates are lacking.METHODSWe used a panel of 34 putative susceptibility genes to perform sequencing on samples from 60,466 women with breast cancer and 53,461 controls. In separate analyses for protein-truncating variants and rare missense variants in these genes, we estimated odds ratios for breast cancer overall and tumor subtypes. We evaluated missense-variant associations according to domain and classification of pathogenicity.RESULTSProtein-truncating variants in 5 genes (ATM, BRCA1, BRCA2, CHEK2, and PALB2) were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall with a P value of less than 0.0001. Protein-truncating variants in 4 other genes (BARD1, RAD51C, RAD51D, and TP53) were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall with a P value of less than 0.05 and a Bayesian false-discovery probability of less than 0.05. For protein-truncating variants in 19 of the remaining 25 genes, the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval of the odds ratio for breast cancer overall was less than 2.0. For protein-truncating variants in ATM and CHEK2, odds ratios were higher for estrogen receptor (ER)-positive disease than for ER-negative disease; for protein-truncating variants in BARD1, BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, RAD51C, and RAD51D, odds ratios were higher for ER-negative disease than for ER-positive disease. Rare missense variants (in aggregate) in ATM, CHEK2, and TP53 were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall with a P value of less than 0.001. For BRCA1, BRCA2, and TP53, missense variants (in aggregate) that would be classified as pathogenic according to standard criteria were associated with a risk of breast cancer overall, with the risk being similar to that of protein-truncating variants.CONCLUSIONSThe results of this study define the genes that are most clinically useful for inclusion on panels for the prediction of breast cancer risk, as well as provide estimates of the risks associated with protein-truncating variants, to guide genetic counseling. (Funded by European Union Horizon 2020 programs and others.)Molecular tumour pathology - and tumour geneticsMTG1 - Moleculaire genetica en pathologie van borstkanke