212 research outputs found
Improved Collective Thomson Scattering measurements of fast ions at ASDEX Upgrade
Understanding the behaviour of the confined fast ions is important in both
current and future fusion experiments. These ions play a key role in heating
the plasma and will be crucial for achieving conditions for burning plasma in
next-step fusion devices. Microwave-based Collective Thomson Scattering (CTS)
is well suited for reactor conditions and offers such an opportunity by
providing measurements of the confined fast-ion distribution function resolved
in space, time and 1D velocity space. We currently operate a CTS system at
ASDEX Upgrade using a gyrotron which generates probing radiation at 105 GHz. A
new setup using two independent receiver systems has enabled improved
subtraction of the background signal, and hence the first accurate
characterization of fast-ion properties. Here we review this new dual-receiver
CTS setup and present results on fast-ion measurements based on the improved
background characterization. These results have been obtained both with and
without NBI heating, and with the measurement volume located close to the
centre of the plasma. The measurements agree quantitatively with predictions of
numerical simulations. Hence, CTS studies of fast-ion dynamics at ASDEX Upgrade
are now feasible. The new background subtraction technique could be important
for the design of CTS systems in other fusion experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Proc. of "Fusion Reactor
Diagnostics", eds. F. P. Orsitto et al., AIP Conf. Pro
Seasonal influenza split vaccines confer partial cross-protection against heterologous influenza virus in ferrets when combined with the CAF01 adjuvant
Influenza epidemics occur annually, and estimated 5â10% of the adult population and 20â30% of children will become ill from influenza infection. Seasonal vaccines primarily work through the induction of neutralizing antibodies against the principal surface antigen hemagglutinin (HA). This important role of HA-specific antibodies explains why previous pandemics have emerged when new HAs have appeared in circulating human viruses. It has long been recognized that influenza virus-specific CD4(+) T cells are important in protection from infection through direct effector mechanisms or by providing help to B cells and CD8(+) T cells. However, the seasonal influenza vaccine is poor at inducing CD4(+) T-cell responses and needs to be combined with an adjuvant facilitating this response. In this study, we applied the ferret model to investigate the cross-protective efficacy of a heterologous trivalent influenza split-virion (TIV) vaccine adjuvanted with the CAF01 adjuvant, with proven ability to induce CD4(+) T-cell and antibody responses in mice, ferrets, pigs, primates, and humans. Our results indicate that CAF01-adjuvanted vaccine induces HA inhibition (HAI)-independent protection after heterologous challenge, manifested as reduced viral load and fever. On the other hand, we observe increased inflammation in the airways and more neutrophil and mononuclear cell infiltration in these ferrets when compared with optimally protected animals, i.e., ferrets receiving the same vaccine but a homologous challenge. This suggest that HAI-independent immunity induced by TIVâ+âCAF01 can reduce viral shedding and systemic disease symptoms, but does not reduce local inflammation in the nasal cavity
Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project: Report of the 2002 Season
The Rough Cilicia Archaeological Project conducted archaeological and geoarchaeological research in the GazipaĆa area from July 20 through 1 September 2001. Several goals were met this season. Under the direction of Michael Hoff and Rhys Townsend, detailed plans were completed of monumental structures at the sites of Asar Tepe, Lamos, and Selinus. At Lamos, in particular, the team made a number of finds, including the discovery of an inscribed statue base of large size in a small podium complex on a hill above the so-called stadium
Inference of -particle density profiles from ITER collective Thomson scattering
The primary purpose of the collective Thomson scattering (CTS) diagnostic at
ITER is to measure the properties of fast-ion populations, in particular those
of fusion-born -particles. Based on the present design of the
diagnostic, we compute and fit synthetic CTS spectra for the ITER baseline
plasma scenario, including the effects of noise, refraction, multiple fast-ion
populations, and uncertainties on nuisance parameters. As part of this, we
developed a model for CTS that incorporates spatial effects of
frequency-dependent refraction. While such effects will distort the measured
ITER CTS spectra, we demonstrate that the true -particle densities can
nevertheless be recovered to within ~10% from noisy synthetic spectra, using
existing fitting methods that do not take these spatial effects into account.
Under realistic operating conditions, we thus find the predicted performance of
the ITER CTS system to be consistent with the ITER measurement requirements of
a 20% accuracy on inferred -particle density profiles at 100 ms time
resolution.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Nucl. Fusio
Illustrative cases from the pathfinder clinical trials of patients with hemophilia A treated with turoctocog alfa pegol (N8-GP)
Purpose: To illustrate the benefits of the extended half-life (EHL) recombinant factor VIII product N8-GP (EsperoctÂź, turoctocog alfa pegol) by describing individual cases of patients with severe hemophilia A treated with N8-GP in the pathfinder clinical trial program.
Patients and Methods: This manuscript presents selected patient cases from the pivotal pathfinder clinical trial program, which included a number of clinical studies in adults (pathfinder 2 and 3) and children (pathfinder 5); overall results published previously. Clinical data and outcomes described in this manuscript are more detailed and derived from several interesting patient cases (five adults from pathfinder 2 and two children from pathfinder 5), who received N8-GP as prophylaxis (PPX) for their severe hemophilia A. Three of the five adults described here also underwent multiple major surgeries (for which they moved from pathfinder 2 into pathfinder 3 and later returned to pathfinder 2). New analyses on pediatric joint health from pathfinder 5 are also summarized here. Outcomes assessed included bleeding complications, improvements in quality of life, intraoperative hemostatic response, blood loss during surgery, number of blood transfusions, and annualized bleeding rates. For the pediatric patients, target joint resolution, adverse events, and annualized joint bleeding rate were also assessed, all by the treating physician.
Results: Considerable improvements in treatment adherence, bleeding rates, and overall physical activity levels were demonstrated in two adult cases from the pathfinder 2 trial. N8-GP demonstrated good or excellent hemostatic coverage in three adult patients undergoing multiple major surgeries. The benefits of N8-GP for joint health and in support of children and adolescents with evolving active lifestyles were reported for several pediatric cases.
Conclusion: These patient cases highlight the benefits of EHL products, such as N8-GP, for patients with severe hemophilia A. They include more challenging scenarios relating to improvements in previously poor adherence to PPX, children with active sporting lifestyles, and patients requiring multiple major surgeries
Measurement of a 2D fast-ion velocity distribution function by tomographic inversion of fast-ion D-alpha spectra
We present the first measurement of a local fast-ion 2D velocity distribution function f(v||, vâ„). To this end, we heated a plasma in ASDEX Upgrade by neutral beam injection and measured spectra of fast-ion Dα (FIDA) light from the plasma centre in three views simultaneously. The measured spectra agree very well with synthetic spectra calculated from a TRANSP/NUBEAM simulation. Based on the measured FIDA spectra alone, we infer f(v||, vâ„) by tomographic inversion. Salient features of our measurement of f(v||, vâ„) agree reasonably well with the simulation: the measured as well as the simulated f(v||, vâ„) are lopsided towards negative velocities parallel to the magnetic field, and they have similar shapes. Further, the peaks in the simulation of f(v||, vâ„) at full and half injection energies of the neutral beam also appear in the measurement at similar velocity-space locations. We expect that we can measure spectra in up to seven views simultaneously in the next ASDEX Upgrade campaign which would further improve measurements of f(v||, vâ„) by tomographic inversion
- âŠ