212 research outputs found
Performance of the TPC with Micro Pixel Chamber Readout: micro-TPC
Micro-TPC, a time projection chamber(TPC) with micro pixel chamber(-PIC)
readout was developed for the detection of the three-dimensional fine(sub-m
illimeter) tracks of charged particles. We developed a two-dimensional position
sensitive gaseous detector, or the -PIC, with the detection area of
1010 cm and 65536 anode electrodes of 400 m pitch. We
achieved the gas gain of over 10000 without any other multipliers. With the
pipe-line readout system specially developed for the -PIC, we detected
X-rays at the rate as high as 7.7 Mcps. We attached a drift cage with an 8 cm
drift length to the -PIC and developed a micro-TPC. We measured the basic
performances of the micro-TPC and took three-dimensional tracks of electrons.
We also developed a prototype of the MeV gamma-ray imaging detector which is a
hybrid of the micro-TPC and NaI(Tl) scintillators and confirmed its concept by
reconstructing the obtained data.Comment: 6 pages 16 figures, submitted for IEEE/TNS 200
Clonal origin of Epstein-Barr virus-infected T/NK-cell subpopulations in chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection
Clonal expansion of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infected B-cells occasionally occurs in immunocompromized subjects. EBV-infected T/natural killer (NK)-cells proliferate in patients with chronic active EBV infection (CAEBV) that is a rare mononucleosis syndrome. It is classified into either T-cell type or NK-cell type according to the primary target of infection, while the pathogenesis remains unclear. To search the clonal origin of EBV-infected T/NK-cells, virus distribution and clonotype were assessed by using highly purified cell fractions obtained from 6 patients. Patient 1 had a monoclonal proliferation of EBV-infected T-cell receptor Vδ2/Vγ9-expressing cells, and carried lower copy number of EBV in αβT-cells. Patients 2 and 3 had a clonal expansion of EBV-infected CD4+T-cells, and lower EBV load in CD56+cells. Patients 4, 5 and 6 had an expansion of CD56+cells with higher EBV load than CD3+cells. EBV-terminal repeats were determined as clonal bands in the minor targeted populations of 5 patients. The size of terminal repeats indicated the same clonotype in minor subsets as in major subsets of 4 patients. However, EBV was not detected in bone marrow-derived lineage negative CD34+cells of patients. These results suggested that EBV could infect T/NK-cells at differentiation stage, but spared bone marrow CD34+hematopoietic stem cells in CAEBV patients
Novel Heterogenous CHS1 Mutations Identified in Five Japanese Patients with Chediak-Higashi Syndrome
Chediak-Higashi syndrome (CHS) is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder characterized by oculocutaneous albinism, recurrent bacterial infections and progressive neurological dysfunction. We demonstrate novel heterogenous mutations of CHS1, the responsive gene of CHS, identified in five Japanese patients with CHS. Patients 1, 2, and 3 were siblings, and they had albinism of the skin and hair. They all had a heterogenous two-base deletion (c.5541-5542 del AA, p.Q1847fsX1850) in exon 18. Patient 4 had a heterogenous single-base insertion (c.3944-3945 ins C, p.T1315fsX1331) in exon 10. The patient exhibited severe early-onset phenotype and suffered from hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. Patient 5 had two heterogenous nonsense mutations; c.7982C>G, p.S2661X in exon 30 and c.8281A>T, p.R2761X in exon 31. The patient suffered from infections in childhood and had visual disturbance and albinism of the skin and hair. The CHS1 mutations described here have not been reported previously
Performance of a micro-TPC for a time-resolved neutron PSD
We report on the performance of a micro-TPC with a micro pixel
chamber(-PIC) readout for a time-resolved neutron position-sensitive
detector(PSD). Three-dimensional tracks and the Bragg curves of protons with
energies of around 1 MeV were clearly detected by the micro-TPC. More than 95%
of gamma-rays of 511 keV were found to be discriminated by simple analysis.
Simulation studies showed that the total track length of proton and triton
emitted from the (n,p(573 keV)) reaction is
about 1.2 cm, and that both particles have large energy losses () in 1 atm Ar++He(). These values
suit the current performance of the micro-TPC, and we conclude that a
time-resolved neutron PSD with spatial resolution of sub-millimeters shall be
developed as an application of the micro-TPC.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, to appear in NIM
Simulation study of electron drift and gas multiplication in Micro Pixel Chamber
The physical processes of charge collection and gas multiplication of a Micro
Pixel Chamber (mu-PIC) were studied in detail using a three-dimensional
simulation. The collection efficiencies of primary electrons and gas
multiplication factors were calculated for several electrode structures. Based
on those studies, we analyzed the optimization of the electrode structure of
the mu-PIC, in order to obtain a high gas gain of more than 10^4 and a
simultaneous suppression of discharges. Consequently, we found that these
characteristics strongly depend on the substrate thickness and the anode
diameter of the mu-PIC. In addition, a gas gain of 10^5 would be expected for a
mu-PIC having a thick substrate of > 150um.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, Submitted to Nucl. Instr. Methods
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