85 research outputs found
Temperature-Modulated Differential Scanning Calorimetry Analysis of High-Temperature Silicate Glasses
Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is one of the most versatile probes
for silicate glasses, allowing determination of, e.g., transition temperatures
(glass, crystallization, melting) and the temperature dependence of heat
capacity. However, complications arise for glasses featuring overlapping
transitions and low sensitivity, e.g., arising from SiO2-rich compositions with
small change in heat capacity during glass transition or the low sensitivity of
thermocouples at high temperature. These challenges might be overcome using
temperature-modulated DSC (TM-DSC), which enables separation of overlapping
signals and improved sensitivity at the expense of increased measurement
duration
"Open Sesame" to the complexity of pattern recognition receptors of myeloid-derived suppressor cells in cancer
Pattern recognition receptors are primitive sensors that arouse a preconfigured immune response to broad stimuli, including nonself pathogen-associated and autologous damage-associated molecular pattern molecules. These receptors are mainly expressed by innate myeloid cells, including granulocytes, monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells. Recent investigations have revealed new insights into these receptors as key players not only in triggering inflammation processes against pathogen invasion but also in mediating immune suppression in specific pathological states, including cancer. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells are preferentially expanded in many pathological conditions. This heterogeneous cell population includes immunosuppressive myeloid cells that are thought to be associated with poor prognosis and impaired response to immune therapies in various cancers. Identification of pattern recognition receptors and their ligands increases the understanding of immune-activating and immune-suppressive myeloid cell functions and sheds light on myeloid-derived suppressor cell differences from cognate granulocytes and monocytes in healthy conditions. This review summarizes the different expression, ligand recognition, signaling pathways, and cancer relations and identifies Toll-like receptors as potential new targets on myeloid-derived suppressor cells in cancer, which might help us to decipher the instruction codes for reverting suppressive myeloid cells toward an antitumor phenotype
SAPPHIRE: Search for exotic parity-violation interactions with quantum spin amplifiers
Quantum sensing provides sensitive tabletop tools to search for exotic
spin-dependent interactions beyond the Standard Model, which has attracted
great attention in theories and experiments. Here we develop a technique based
on quantum Spin Amplifier for Particle PHysIcs REsearch (SAPPHIRE) to
resonantly search for exotic interactions, specifically parity-odd spin-spin
interactions. The present technique effectively amplifies the pseudomagnetic
field generated by exotic interactions by a factor of about 200 while being
insensitive to spurious external magnetic fields. Our studies, using such a
quantum amplification technique, open the doors to exploring the
parity-violation interactions mediated by Z' bosons in the challenging
parameter space (force range between 3 mm and 0.1 km) and set the most
stringent constraints on Z'-mediated electron-neutron couplings, significantly
improving previous limits by up to five orders of magnitude. Moreover, our
bounds on Z'-mediated couplings between nucleons reaches into a hitherto
unexplored parameter space (force range below 1 m), complementing the existing
astrophysical and laboratory studies.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
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