Origin of Thermal and Non-Thermal Hard X-ray Emission from the Galactic Center

We analyse new results of Chandra and Suzaku which found a flux of hard X-ray emission from the compact region around Sgr A$^\ast$ (r ~ 100 pc). We suppose that this emission is generated by accretion processes onto the central supermassive blackhole when an unbounded part of captured stars obtains an additional momentum. As a result a flux of subrelativistic protons is generated near the Galactic center which heats the background plasma up to temperatures about 6-10 keV and produces by inverse bremsstrahlung a flux of non-thermal X-ray emission in the energy range above 10 keV.Comment: to be published in PASJ, v.61, No.5, 200

A spatial contrast retina with on-chip calibration for neuromorphic spike-based AER vision systems

We present a 32 32 pixels contrast retina microchip that provides its output as an address event representation (AER) stream. Spatial contrast is computed as the ratio between pixel photocurrent and a local average between neighboring pixels obtained with a diffuser network. This current-based computation produces an important amount of mismatch between neighboring pixels, because the currents can be as low as a few pico-amperes. Consequently, a compact calibration circuitry has been included to trimm each pixel. Measurements show a reduction in mismatch standard deviation from 57% to 6.6% (indoor light). The paper describes the design of the pixel with its spatial contrast computation and calibration sections. About one third of pixel area is used for a 5-bit calibration circuit. Area of pixel is 58 m 56 m, while its current consumption is about 20 nA at 1-kHz event rate. Extensive experimental results are provided for a prototype fabricated in a standard 0.35- m CMOS process.This work was supported by Spanish Research Grants TIC2003-08164-C03-01 (SAMANTA), TEC2006-11730-C03-01 (SAMANTA-II), and EU grant IST-2001-34124 (CAVIAR). JCS was supported by the I3P program of the Spanish Research Council. RSG was supported by a national grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.Peer reviewe

Attenuated Disease in SIV-Infected Macaques Treated with a Monoclonal Antibody against FasL

Acute SIVmac infection in macaques is accompanied by high levels of plasma viremia that decline with the appearance of viral immunity and is a model for acute HIV disease in man. Despite specific immune responses, the virus establishes a chronic, persistent infection. The destruction of CD4+ and CD4- lymphocyte subsets in macaques contributes to viral persistence and suggests the importance of mechanisms for depleting both infected and uninfected (bystander) cells. Bystander cell killing can occur when FasL binds the Fas receptor on activated lymphocytes, which include T and B cell subpopulations that are responding to the infection. Destruction of specific immune cells could be an important mechanism for blunting viral immunity and establishing persistent infection with chronic disease. We inhibited the Fas pathway in vivo with a monoclonal antibody against FasL (RNOK203). Here we show that treatment with anti-FasL reduced cell death in circulating T and B cells, increased CTL and antibody responses to viral proteins, and lowered the setpoint viremia. By blocking FasL during only the first few weeks after infection, we attenuated SIVmac disease and increased the life span for infected and treated macaques

Origin of thermal and non-thermal hard X-ray emission from the Galactic center

Topic: An INTEGRAL View of Compact ObjectsWe analyse new results of CHANDRA and SUZAKU which found a flux of hard X-ray emission from the compact region around Sgr A* (r∼ 100 pc). We propose that this emission is a consequence of a special transient accretion process when a part of captured star obtains an additional angular momentum. As a result a flux of subrelativistic protons is ejected from the Galactic black hole, which heats up the background plasma in the Galactic center up to temperature about 6-10 keV and produces by inverse bremsstrahlung a flux of non-thermal X-ray emission in the energy range above 10 keV.published_or_final_versio

H2-reduction Behavior of FeS-CaO Mixture during Microwave Heating

[EN] Microwave irradiation is an energy-efficient and a rapid-heating method to decrease the activation energy of chemical reactions via both thermal and non-thermal effects of microwave photons 1). Recently, hydrogen-reduction during microwave heating has been proposed for magnetite reduction to combine the advantages of microwave irradiation and using H2 as a reducing agent during iron production 2). In the present study, as a novel idea, the traditional microwave heating system was equipped with thermobalance to investigate the kinetics of H2-reduction of FeS-CaO mixture (FeS(s) + CaO(s) + H2(g) = Fe(s) + CaS(s) + H2O(g)) under microwave heating at 2.45 GHz to further mitigate CO2 emission and prevent SO2 release during iron production from a sulfide mineral. Microscope observations revealed that the un-reacted core model can be employed for such a kinetic study. Linearity (R2) of different rate-controlling mechanisms after a 10-minute reduction reaction demonstrated that the gas diffusion in micropores of reduced metallic Fe is a dominant rate-controlling mechanism while the interfacial chemical reaction is progressed rapidly. This is attributed to extraordinary effects of microwave irradiation on speeding up the chemical reactions 3), while the formation of Fe shell on the surface of FeS/FeO particles decreases the accessibility of gas to un-reacted parts, resulting in a lower rate of gas diffusion in micropores. Moreover, the diffusion coefficients (De) at 460, 570, and 750 °C were calculated from the plot of the gas diffusion, as illustrated in Fig. 1, wherein the X is reduction degree: where Wi (g) is the initial weight of the sample, Wt (g) is the weight of the sample after treatment for t seconds, Wht (g) is the weight change of the sample owing to the dehydration reaction, and WO (-) is the stoichiometric weight ratio of oxygen in the sample, which is 0.111. Consequently, the activation energy of 22.3 kJ.mol-1 was attained from the Arrhenius equation for the hydrogen-reduction reaction of FeS-CaO mixture under microwave heating.Amini, A.; Ohno, K.; Maeda, T.; Kunitomo, K.; Kashimura, K. (2019). H2-reduction Behavior of FeS-CaO Mixture during Microwave Heating. En AMPERE 2019. 17th International Conference on Microwave and High Frequency Heating. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 357-364. https://doi.org/10.4995/AMPERE2019.2019.9755OCS35736

Micropapillary Lung Cancer with Breast Metastasis Simulating Primary Breast Cancer due to Architectural Distortion on Images

A 47-year-old Korean woman with right middle lobe lung adenocarcinoma, malignant pleural effusion, and multiple lymph node and bone metastases, after three months of lung cancer diagnosis, presented with a palpable right breast mass. Images of the right breast demonstrated architectural distortion that strongly suggested primary breast cancer. Breast biopsy revealed metastatic lung cancer with a negative result for estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and mammaglobin, and a positive result for thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1). We present a case of breast metastasis from a case of lung cancer with an extensive micropapillary component, which was initially misinterpreted as a primary breast cancer due to unusual image findings with architectural distortion

All-sky Galactic radiation at 45 MHz and spectral index between 45 and 408 MHz

Aims: We study the Galactic large-scale synchrotron emission by generating a reliable all-sky spectral index map and temperature map at 45 MHz. Methods: We use our observations, the published all-sky map at 408 MHz, and a bibliographical compilation to produce a map corrected for zero-level offset and extragalactic contribution. Results: We present full sky maps of the Galactic emission at 45 MHz and the Galactic spectral index between 45 and 408 MHz with an angular resolution of 5\degs. The spectral index varies between 2.1 and 2.7, reaching values below 2.5 at low latitude because of thermal free-free absorption and its maximum in the zone next to the Northern Spur.Comment: A&A accepte

Development of thiol-responsive amide bond cleavage device and its application for peptide nucleic acid-based DNA releasing system

To develop a thiol-responsive DNA releasing system, a thiol-responsive amino acid capable of inducing an amide bond cleavage in the presence of a thiol was developed. It was successfully combined with peptide nucleic acid (PNA), and thiol-induced release of DNA from the thiol-responsive PNA/DNA complex was observed