Ce-doped LuAG single-crystal fibers grown from the melt for high-energy physics

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Interaction of (3-Aminopropyl)triethoxysilane with Pulsed Ar-O 2 Afterglow: Application to Nanoparticles Synthesis

International audienceThe interaction of (3-Aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) with pulsed late Ar-O 2 afterglow is characterized by the synthesis of OH, CO and CO 2 in the gas phase as main by-products. Other minor species like CH, CN and C 2 H are also produced. We suggest that OH radicals are produced in a first step by dehydrogenation of APTES after interaction with oxygen atoms. In a second step, the molecule is oxidized by any O 2 state, to form peroxides that transform into by-products, break thus the precursor CC bonds. If oxidation is limited, i.e. a low duty cycle, fragmentation of the precursor is limited and produced nanoparticles keep the backbone structure of the precursor, but contain amide groups produced from the amine groups initially available in APTES. At high duty cycle, silicon-containing fragments contain some carbon and react together and produce nanoparticles with a non-silica-like structure

Early respiratory viral infections in infants with cystic fibrosis

This article is made available for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.Background Viral infections contribute to morbidity in cystic fibrosis (CF), but the impact of respiratory viruses on the development of airway disease is poorly understood. Methods Infants with CF identified by newborn screening were enrolled prior to 4 months of age to participate in a prospective observational study at 4 centers. Clinical data were collected at clinic visits and weekly phone calls. Multiplex PCR assays were performed on nasopharyngeal swabs to detect respiratory viruses during routine visits and when symptomatic. Participants underwent bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and a subset underwent pulmonary function testing. We present findings through 8.5 months of life. Results Seventy infants were enrolled, mean age 3.1 ± 0.8 months. Rhinovirus was the most prevalent virus (66%), followed by parainfluenza (19%), and coronavirus (16%). Participants had a median of 1.5 viral positive swabs (range 0–10). Past viral infection was associated with elevated neutrophil concentrations and bacterial isolates in BAL fluid, including recovery of classic CF bacterial pathogens. When antibiotics were prescribed for respiratory-related indications, viruses were identified in 52% of those instances. Conclusions Early viral infections were associated with greater neutrophilic inflammation and bacterial pathogens. Early viral infections appear to contribute to initiation of lower airway inflammation in infants with CF. Antibiotics were commonly prescribed in the setting of a viral infection. Future investigations examining longitudinal relationships between viral infections, airway microbiome, and antibiotic use will allow us to elucidate the interplay between these factors in young children with CF

Graft Choice and the Incidence of Osteoarthritis After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Causal Analysis From a Cohort of 541 Patients

BACKGROUND: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is important to prevent knee osteoarthritis. Neither of the 2 most common graft techniques-the patellar tendon (PT) or hamstring tendon (HS) graft-has demonstrated superiority in terms of the long-term osteoarthritis rate. HYPOTHESIS: Based on the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) radiographic grading system, PT grafts decrease the incidence of osteoarthritis by providing better knee stability as compared with HS grafts over 12 years of follow-up. STUDY DESIGN: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. METHODS: All adults with a first ACL rupture who underwent surgery with a PT or HS graft technique between January 2002 and December 2003 were included in the 2014 French Society of Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology Symposium database. Baseline characteristics were collected. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of moderate to severe osteoarthritis in each group. The secondary endpoints included clinical subjective evaluations by the IKDC score and Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score. To control the differences in baseline characteristics, the data were analyzed with propensity score matching. RESULTS: In the cohort, 541 patients from 18 centers were included: 311 PT and 230 HS ACL reconstructions. The baseline characteristics were similar after inverse probability weighting treatment (IPWT). The occurrence of osteoarthritis was similar after IPWT (19.3% for PT and 19.6% for HS, P = .94). Age at surgery >29 years and IKDC osteoarthritis stage B at the index surgery were identified as risk factors for moderate to severe osteoarthritis. Most functional outcomes were significantly higher in the HS group; however, the difference between groups remained <10 points. Of the 106 patients who needed a medial meniscectomy, the proportion of patients with moderate to severe osteoarthritis was much higher in the HS group (43.5% vs 18.3%, P = .006). However, after IPWT, the difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: At 12 years of follow-up, neither graft technique was superior to the other in terms of the rate of osteoarthritis

Properties of pattern formation and selection processes in nonequilibrium systems with external fluctuations

We extend the phase field crystal method for nonequilibrium patterning to stochastic systems with external source where transient dynamics is essential. It was shown that at short time scales the system manifests pattern selection processes. These processes are studied by means of the structure function dynamics analysis. Nonequilibrium pattern-forming transitions are analyzed by means of numerical simulations.Comment: 15 poages, 8 figure

Calculation of The Band Gap Energy and Study of Cross Luminescence in Alkaline-Earth Dihalide Crystals

The band gap energy as well as the possibility of cross luminescence processes in alkaline-earth dihalide crystals have been calculated using the ab initio Perturbed-Ion (PI) model. The gap is calculated in several ways: as a difference between one-electron energy eigenvalues and as a difference between total energies of appropriate electronic states of the crystal, both at the HF level and with inclusion of Coulomb correlation effects. In order to study the possibility of ocurrence of cross luminescence in these materials, the energy difference between the valence band and the upmost core band for some representative crystals has been calculated. Both calculated band gap energies and cross luminescence predictions compare very well with the available experimental results.Comment: LaTeX file containing 8 pages plus 1 postscript figure. Final version accepted for publication in The Journal of the Physical Society of Japan. It contains a more complete list of references, as well as a more detailed comparison with previous theoretical investigations on the subjec

Radiation hardness qualification of PbWO4 scintillation crystals for the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter

This is the Pre-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 IOPEnsuring the radiation hardness of PbWO4 crystals was one of the main priorities during the construction of the electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS experiment at CERN. The production on an industrial scale of radiation hard crystals and their certification over a period of several years represented a difficult challenge both for CMS and for the crystal suppliers. The present article reviews the related scientific and technological problems encountered

Precise measurement of the W-boson mass with the CDF II detector

We have measured the W-boson mass MW using data corresponding to 2.2/fb of integrated luminosity collected in proton-antiproton collisions at 1.96 TeV with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. Samples consisting of 470126 W->enu candidates and 624708 W->munu candidates yield the measurement MW = 80387 +- 12 (stat) +- 15 (syst) = 80387 +- 19 MeV. This is the most precise measurement of the W-boson mass to date and significantly exceeds the precision of all previous measurements combined