Transdermal Drug Delivery Aided by an Ultrasound Contrast Agent: An In Vitro Experimental Study

Sonophoresis temporarily increases skin permeability such that medicine can be delivered transdermally. Cavitation is believed to be the predominant mechanism in sonophoresis. In this study, an ultrasound contrast agent (UCA) strategy was adopted instead of low frequency ultrasound to assure that cavitation occurred, and the efficacy of sonophoresis with UCA was quantitatively analyzed by optical measurements. The target drug used in this study was 0.1 % Definity® in 70% glycerol, which was delivered into porcine skin samples. Glycerol was used because it is an optical clearing agent, and the efficiency of glycerol delivery could be analyzed with optical measurements. The applied acoustic pressure was approximately 600 kPa at 1 MHz ultrasound with a 10% duty cycle for 60 minutes. Experimental results indicated that the measured relative contrast (RC) after sonophoresis with UCA was approximately 80% higher than RC after sonophoresis without UCA. In addition, the variance of RC was also reduced by more than 50% with the addition of a UCA. The use of a UCA appeared to increase cavitation, demonstrating that the use of a UCA can be effective in transdermal drug delivery (TDD)

Prospects for observing and localizing gravitational-wave transients with Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo and KAGRA

We present possible observing scenarios for the Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo and KAGRA gravitational-wave detectors over the next decade, with the intention of providing information to the astronomy community to facilitate planning for multi-messenger astronomy with gravitational waves. We estimate the sensitivity of the network to transient gravitational-wave signals, and study the capability of the network to determine the sky location of the source. We report our findings for gravitational-wave transients, with particular focus on gravitational-wave signals from the inspiral of binary neutron star systems, which are the most promising targets for multi-messenger astronomy. The ability to localize the sources of the detected signals depends on the geographical distribution of the detectors and their relative sensitivity, and 90% credible regions can be as large as thousands of square degrees when only two sensitive detectors are operational. Determining the sky position of a significant fraction of detected signals to areas of 5– 20 deg2 requires at least three detectors of sensitivity within a factor of ∼2 of each other and with a broad frequency bandwidth. When all detectors, including KAGRA and the third LIGO detector in India, reach design sensitivity, a significant fraction of gravitational-wave signals will be localized to a few square degrees by gravitational-wave observations alone

Socioeconomic disparities in behavioral risk factors and health outcomes by gender in the Republic of Korea

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Few studies have examined socioeconomic disparities in health and behavioral risk factors by gender in Asian countries and in South Korea, specifically. We investigated the relationship between socioeconomic position (education, income, and occupation) and subjective and acute and chronic health outcomes and behavioral risk factors by gender, and compared results from 1998 and 2005, in the Republic of Korea.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We examined data from a nationally representative stratified random sample of 4213 men and 4618 women from the 1998 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and 8289 men and 8827 women from the 2005 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey using General Linear Modeling and multiple logistic regression methods.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Controlling for behavioral risk factors (smoking, drinking, obesity, exercise, and sleep), those in lower socioeconomic positions had poorer health outcomes in both self-reported acute and chronic disease and subjective measures; differences were especially pronounced among women. A socioeconomic gradient for education and income was found for both men and women for morbidity and self-reported health status, but the gradient was more pronounced in women. In 1998, the odds ratios (ORs) of higher morbidity for illiterate vs. college educated females was 5.4:1 and 1.9:1 for females in the lowest income quintile vs. the highest. The OR for education decreased in 2005 to 2.9:1 and that for income quintiles remained the same at 1.9:1. The OR of lower self-reported health status for illiterate vs. college educated females was 2.9:1 and 1.6:1 for females in the lowest income quintile vs. the highest in 1998, and 3.3:1 and 2.3:1 in 2005.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Among Korean adults, men and women in lower socioeconomic position, as denoted by education, income, and somewhat less by occupation, experience significantly higher levels of morbidity and lower self-reported health status, even after controlling for standard behavioral risk factors. Disparities were more pronounced for women than for men. Efforts to reduce health disparities in South Korea require attention to the root causes of socioeconomic inequality and gender differences in the impact of socioeconomic position on health.</p

Spin alignment measurements using vector mesons with ALICE detector at the LHC

We present new measurements related to spin alignment of K*(0) vector mesons at mid-rapidity for Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 and 5.02 TeV. The spin alignment measurements are carried out with respect to production plane and 2nd order event plane. At low p(T) the spin density matrix element rho(00) for K*(0) is found to have values slightly below 1/3, while it is consistent with 1/3, i.e. no spin alignment, at high p(T). Similar values of rho(00) are observed with respect to both production plane and event plane. Within statistical and systematic uncertainties, rho(00) values are also found to be independent of root s(NN). rho(00) also shows centrality dependence with maximum deviation from 1/3 for mid-central collisions with respect to both the kinematic planes. The measurements for K*(0) in pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV and for K-s(0) (a spin 0 hadron) in 20-40\% central Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV are consistent with no spin alignment

Muon physics at forward rapidity with the ALICE detector upgrade

ALICE is the experiment specifically designed to study the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) in heavy-ion collisions at the CERN LHC. The ALICE detector will be upgraded during the Long Shutdown 2, planned for 2019-2020, in order to cope with the maximum interaction rate of 50 kHz of Pb-Pb collisions foreseen for Runs 3 and 4. The ambitious programme of high-precision measurements, expected for muon physics after 2020, requires an upgrade of the front-end and readout electronics of the existing Muon Spectrometer. This concerns the Cathode Pad Chambers (CPC) used for tracking and the Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) used for triggering and for muon identification. The Muon Forward Tracker (MFT), an internal tracker added in front of the front absorber of the existing Muon Spectrometer, is also part of the ALICE detector upgrade programme. It is based on an assembly of circular planes made of Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS), covering the pseudorapidity range 2.5 < eta < 3.6. The MFT will improve present measurements and enable new ones. A selection of results from physics performance studies will be presented, together with an overview of the technical aspects of the upgrade project

Direct photon elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76 TeV

The elliptic flow of inclusive and direct photons was measured at mid-rapidity in two centrality classes 0-20% and 20-40% in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV by ALICE. Photons were detected with the highly segmented electromagnetic calorimeter PHOS and via conversions in the detector material with the e(broken vertical bar)e pairs reconstructed in the central tracking system. The results of the two methods were combined and the direct-photon elliptic flow was extracted in the transverse momentum range 0.9 < p(T) < 6.2 GeV/c. A comparison to RHIC data shows a similar magnitude of the measured direct-photon elliptic flow. Hydrodynamic and transport model calculations are systematically lower than the data, but are found to be compatible. (C) 2018 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Higher moment fluctuations of identified particle distributions from ALICE

Cumulants of conserved charges fluctuations are regarded as a potential tool to study the criticality in the QCD phase diagram and to determine the freeze-out parameters in a model-independent way. At LHC energies, the measurements of the ratio of the net-baryon (net-proton) cumulants can be used to test the lattice QCD predictions. In this work, we present the first measurements of cumulants of the net-proton number distributions up to $4^{th}$ order in Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 2.76 and 5.02 TeV as a function of collision centrality. We compare our cumulant ratios results with the STAR experiment net-proton results measured in the first phase of the Beam Energy Scan program at RHIC. The results can be used to obtain the chemical freeze-out parameters at LHC.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of XXVIIth International Conference on Ultrarelativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (Quark Matter 2018

Measuring (KSK +/-)-K-0 interactions using pp collisions at root s=7 TeV

We present the first measurements of femtoscopic correlations between the K-S(0) and K-+/- particles in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV measured by the ALICE experiment. The observed femtoscopic correlations are consistent with final-state interactions proceeding solely via the a(0)(980) resonance. The extracted kaon source radius and correlation strength parameters for (KSK-)-K-0 are found to be equal within the experimental uncertainties to those for (KSK+)-K-0. Results of the present study are compared with those from identical-kaon femtoscopic studies also performed with pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV by ALICE and with a (KSK +/-)-K-0 measurement in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV. Combined with the Pb-Pb results, our pp analysis is found to be compatible with the interpretation of the a (980) having a tetraquark structure instead of that of a diquark. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Light (anti-)nuclei production and elliptic flow at the LHC with ALICE

Results on the production of stable light nuclei, including deuterons, He-3, He-4 and the corresponding anti-nuclei, in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV and root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV are presented and compared with theoretical predictions and with the results in small systems to provide insight into the production mechanisms of (anti-)nuclei at colliders. The experimental results are presented giving a critical view of their comparison to the expectations from coalescence and hydrodynamic models that aim at describing both the p(T)-spectra and the elliptic flow

Open heavy-flavour production and elliptic flow in p-Pb collisions at the LHC with ALICE

Measurements of open heavy flavour production in p-A collisions allow the investigation of Cold Nuclear Matter effects. In addition, they are an important tool for a complementary investigation of the long-range correlations found in small systems in the light flavour sector. In this work, production measurements of D mesons at mid-rapidity in p-Pb collisions at root S-NN = 5.02 TeV are reported. Production yields are also reported for the heavy-flavour hadron decay electrons at central rapidity at root(SNN) = 5.02 and 8.16 TeV. The elliptic flow (nu(2)) of heavy-flavour hadron decay electrons in high multiplicity p-Pb collisions at root(SNN) = 5.02 TeV is found to be positive with a significance larger than 5 sigma