Simultaneous electronphoton excitation of helium in a CO2 laser field

International audienceThe R-matrix Floquet method is used to study electron-impact excitation of helium in the presence of a CO 2 laser field, for collision energies between 19 and 21.5 eV and laser intensities of 10 7 and 10 8 W cm −2. Collision geometries with the electron incident at various angles to the laser polarization axis are considered. The signal for production of metastable states is in good agreement with the results of a low-frequency approximation and a semi-classical approach, while agreement with experiment is reasonable

R-matrix Floquet theory for laser-assisted electron-atom scattering

A new version of the R-matrix Floquet theory for laser-assisted electron-atom scattering is presented. The theory is non-perturbative and applicable to a non-relativistic many-electron atom or ion in a homogeneous linearly polarized field. It is based on the use of channel functions built from field-dressed target states, which greatly simplifies the general formalism.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX2e, submitted to J.Phys.

Inventory of Behaviours - What conditions (cultural, sociological, economic, political) shape artists’ behaviours, and how can they help us to rethink the ways in which we work, teach, and learn?

What conditions (cultural, sociological, economic, political) shape artists’ behaviours, and how can they help us to rethink the ways in which we work, teach and learn? IOB was initiated in 2017 to investigate the largely unseen and undiscussed behaviours, embodied tacit knowledge, that surround the making of art. The lead artists of this evolving artwork collected over 400 artists' instructions that document the behaviours, preparations, patterns, neuroses, and procrastinations of artists when they are not actively creating. These behaviours have formed the basis for a series of events in which art students and members of the public have enacted these behaviours in a gallery setting (Tate Modern). Artists and expert witnesses from a range of disciplines, including ethnography, physics, and neuroscience, observed events as they unfolded and interviewed participants, presenting their findings during closing debrief seminars. IOB research has illuminated the fundamental need artists have to engage in peripheral behaviours – to pause, to linger, to look away – as a means of maintaining their creative resources and their capacity to make art. Employing practice-led research methods, the project team asks how these behaviours, that are so crucial to artists’ continued creativity and wellbeing, might be of benefit to others. This project sits under MPF: An international network of transdisciplinary, practice-based researchers dedicated to querying our positions and agencies as artist-teachers

Safety of the use of gold nanoparticles conjugated with proinsulin peptide and administered by hollow microneedles as an immunotherapy in Type 1 diabetes

Antigen-specific immunotherapy is immunomodulatory strategy for autoimmune diseases, such as Type 1 diabetes, in which patients are treated with autoantigens to promote immune tolerance, stop autoimmune beta-cell destruction and prevent permanent dependence on exogenous insulin. In this study, human proinsulin peptide C19-A3 (known for its positive safety profile) was conjugated to ultrasmall gold nanoparticles (GNP), an attractive drug delivery platform due to the potential anti-inflammatory properties of gold. We hypothesised that microneedle intradermal delivery of C19-A3 GNP may improve peptide pharmacokinetics and induce tolerogenic immunomodulation and proceeded to evaluate its safety and feasibility in a first-in-human trial. Allowing for the limitation of the small number of participants, intradermal administration of C19-A3 GNP appears safe and well-tolerated in participants with Type 1 diabetes. The associated prolonged skin retention of C19-A3 GNP after intradermal administration offers a number of possibilities to enhance its tolerogenic potential, which should be explored in future studies

Loss of CXCR3 expression on memory B cells in individuals with long-standing type 1 diabetes

Aims/hypothesis Islet-specific autoantibodies can predict the development of type 1 diabetes. However, it remains unclear if B cells, per se, contribute to the causal pancreatic immunopathology. We aimed to identify phenotypic signatures of disease progression among naive and memory B cell subsets in the peripheral blood of individuals with type 1 diabetes. Methods A total of 69 participants were recruited across two separate cohorts, one for discovery purposes and the other for validation purposes. Each cohort comprised two groups of individuals with type 1 diabetes (one with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes and the other with long-standing type 1 diabetes) and one group of age- and sex-matched healthy donors. The phenotypic characteristics of circulating naive and memory B cells were investigated using polychromatic flow cytometry, and serum concentrations of various chemokines and cytokines were measured using immunoassays. Results A disease-linked phenotype was detected in individuals with long-standing type 1 diabetes, characterised by reduced C-X-C motif chemokine receptor 3 (CXCR3) expression on switched (CD27+IgD−) and unswitched (CD27intermediateIgD+) memory B cells. These changes were associated with raised serum concentrations of B cell activating factor and of the CXCR3 ligands, chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand (CXCL)10 and CXCL11. A concomitant reduction in CXCR3 expression was also identified on T cells. Conclusions/interpretation Our data reveal a statistically robust set of abnormalities that indicate an association between type 1 diabetes and long-term dysregulation of a chemokine ligand/receptor system that controls B cell migration

Ustekinumab for type 1 diabetes in adolescents: a multicenter, double-blind, randomized phase 2 trial

Immunotherapy targeting the autoimmune process in type 1 diabetes (T1D) can delay the loss of β-cells but needs to have minimal adverse effects to be an adjunct to insulin in the management of T1D. Ustekinumab binds to the shared p40 subunit of interleukin (IL)-12 and IL-23, targeting development of T helper 1 cells and T helper 17 cells (TH1 and TH17 cells) implicated in the pathogenesis of T1D. We conducted a double-blind, randomized controlled trial of ustekinumab in 72 adolescents aged 12–18 years with recent-onset T1D. Treatment was well tolerated with no increase in adverse events. At 12 months, β-cell function, measured by stimulated C-peptide, was 49% higher in the intervention group (P = 0.02), meeting the prespecified primary outcome. Preservation of C-peptide correlated with the reduction of T helper cells co-secreting IL-17A and interferon-γ (TH17.1 cells, P = 0.04) and, in particular, with the reduction in a subset of TH17.1 cells co-expressing IL-2 and granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor (IL-2+ GM-CSF+ TH17.1 cells, P = 0.04). A significant fall in β-cell-targeted (proinsulin-specific) IL-17A-secreting T cells was also seen (P = 0.0003). Although exploratory, our data suggest a role for an activated subset of TH17.1 cells in T1D that can be targeted with minimal adverse effects to reduce C-peptide loss, which requires confirmation in a larger study. (International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number Registry: ISRCTN 14274380)

Absolute cross sections and asymmetry parameters for photodetachment of excited C−^-(2^2D)

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Photodetachment of C− in the ground state

Absolute total cross sections and asymmetry parameters for photodetachment of C−(4So) have been measured using animated-crossed-beam and velocity map imaging techniques, for photon energies from threshold up to 6eV. The cross sections are 15% to 25% larger than earlier experimental results above 2.2 eV. They are in very good agreement with those from a new R-matrix calculation using polarized pseudostates

The two-photon detachment of O−^-

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