31 research outputs found
Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy Monitors the Fate of Degradable Nanocarriers in the Blood Stream
[Image: see text] The use of nanoparticles as carriers to deliver pharmacologically active compounds to specific parts of the body via the bloodstream is a promising therapeutic approach for the effective treatment of various diseases. To reach their target sites, nanocarriers (NCs) need to circulate in the bloodstream for prolonged periods without aggregation, degradation, or cargo loss. However, it is very difficult to identify and monitor small-sized NCs and their cargo in the dense and highly complex blood environment. Here, we present a new fluorescence correlation spectroscopy-based method that allows the precise characterization of fluorescently labeled NCs in samples of less than 50 μL of whole blood. The NC size, concentration, and loading efficiency can be measured to evaluate circulation times, stability, or premature drug release. We apply the new method to follow the fate of pH-degradable fluorescent cargo-loaded nanogels in the blood of live mice for periods of up to 72 h
Inclusive Production Cross Sections from 920 GeV Fixed Target Proton-Nucleus Collisions
Inclusive differential cross sections and
for the production of \kzeros, \lambdazero, and
\antilambda particles are measured at HERA in proton-induced reactions on C,
Al, Ti, and W targets. The incident beam energy is 920 GeV, corresponding to
GeV in the proton-nucleon system. The ratios of differential
cross sections \rklpa and \rllpa are measured to be and , respectively, for \xf . No significant dependence upon the
target material is observed. Within errors, the slopes of the transverse
momentum distributions also show no significant
dependence upon the target material. The dependence of the extrapolated total
cross sections on the atomic mass of the target material is
discussed, and the deduced cross sections per nucleon are
compared with results obtained at other energies.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, 5 table
The QCD transition temperature: results with physical masses in the continuum limit II.
We extend our previous study [Phys. Lett. B643 (2006) 46] of the cross-over
temperatures (T_c) of QCD. We improve our zero temperature analysis by using
physical quark masses and finer lattices. In addition to the kaon decay
constant used for scale setting we determine four quantities (masses of the
\Omega baryon, K^*(892) and \phi(1020) mesons and the pion decay constant)
which are found to agree with experiment. This implies that --independently of
which of these quantities is used to set the overall scale-- the same results
are obtained within a few percent. At finite temperature we use finer lattices
down to a <= 0.1 fm (N_t=12 and N_t=16 at one point). Our new results confirm
completely our previous findings. We compare the results with those of the
'hotQCD' collaboration.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 3 table
The ENABLE Machine - A Systolic Second Level Trigger Processor for Track Finding
The Enable Machine is a systolic processor for 2nd level triggering for the TRD. It is under development within the EAST/RD-11 collaboration at CERN. The task of the processor is to identify electron tracks and to reject pion tracks in less than 10 s. Track are identified by direct template matching in a region-of-interest (RoI) of the TRD. This is done by histogramming the coincidences of the mask templates and the RoI data for each track. Tracks of the same slope are handled in parallel, tracks of different slope in a pipeline. e/p discrimination is done according to the EAST benchmark algorithm. At an operational speed of 40 MHz the trigger decision time will be 6.5 s and the latency 7.0 s. The Enable Machine will be set up with programmable gate arrays so that it can be adapted easily to different applications. It is scalable in the RoI size as well as in the number of tracks processed concurrently. A prototype is scheduled for spring 1993. 1. Introduction Systolic proce..