Prospectives of the Hadron Program in ATLAS

One of the first measurements will be made at the LHC by ATLAS on properties of inelastic collisions, analysing the central charged particle density and transverse momentum distributions. Current predictions of these distributions by models have large uncertainties in the LHC energy range. We describe the ATLAS minimum bias triggers, designed to select all kinds of inelastic interactions, and the performance of the track reconstruction software which was adpapted to soft particle track reconstruction. The precision with which the minimum bias distributions can be measured with early data is presented and the uncertainties on the inelastic distributions due to trigger bias is discussed

pi N --> Multi-pi N Scattering in the 1/N_c Expansion

We extend the 1/N_c expansion meson-baryon scattering formalism to cases in which the final state contains more than two particles. We first show that the leading-order large N_c processes proceed through resonant intermediate states (e.g., rho N or pi Delta). We then tabulate linear amplitude expressions for relevant processes and find that the pole structure of baryon resonances can be uniquely identified by their (non)appearance in eta N or mixed partial-wave pi Delta final states. We also show that quantitative predictions of pi N to pi Delta branching ratios predicted at leading order alone do not agree with measurements, but the inclusion of 1/N_c corrections is ample to explain the discrepancies.Comment: 23 pages, 3 eps figures, ReVTeX4, added reference and discussion, identical to PRD versio

Stabilized High Power Laser for Advanced Gravitational Wave Detectors

Second generation gravitational wave detectors require high power lasers with several 100W of output power and with very low temporal and spatial fluctuations. In this paper we discuss possible setups to achieve high laser power and describe a 200W prestabilized laser system (PSL). The PSL noise requirements for advanced gravitational wave detectors will be discussed in general and the stabilization scheme proposed for the Advanced LIGO PSL will be described. Special emphasis will be given to the most demanding power stabilization requiremets and new results (RIN ≤ 4×10-9/surdHz) will be presented

Conversion of brain cytosol profile from fetal to adult type during the perinatal period: Taurine-NAA exchange

Mammals face drastic environmental changes at birth. Appropriate adjustments of various systems must take place rapidly to accommodate this once in a life time event. The brain undergoes significant adjustments as well, the most obvious of which is in its need to meet the drastic increase in energy consumption at the neuronal cell membrane due to the explosive increase in neural activities after birth. Actual changes were found to be taken place in two systems, namely, acid base balance control and cytosolic energy transport. The adjustments are accomplished by converting cytosol microenvironment from a taurine rich fetal type environment to an N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) rich adult type environment during the post-natal period. High concentrations of taurine are necessary to provide effective buffering in the fetal brain, because the fetus cannot utilize the adult type of pCO2 dependent acid–base balance control system, namely respiration driven pCO2 changes. To accommodate the significantly higher demand of energy consumption at the membrane due to the increased neuronal activities, taurine has to be replaced by NAA, since the latter facilitates HEP transport from mitochondria to the membrane by passive diffusion

A Cucurbit[8]uril Sponge

This paper describes a convenient approach to quantitative removal of the synthetic host cucurbit[8]uril (Q8) from aqueous mixtures using a sepharose resin coated in memantine groups to selectively sequester Q8 in the presence of competing hosts and guests. The “Q8 sponge” can separate Q8 from Q6 and reverse the Q8-mediated dimerization of peptides

Stabilized high-power laser system for the gravitational wave detector advanced LIGO

An ultra-stable, high-power cw Nd:YAG laser system, developed for the ground-based gravitational wave detector Advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory), was comprehensively characterized. Laser power, frequency, beam pointing and beam quality were simultaneously stabilized using different active and passive schemes. The output beam, the performance of the stabilization, and the cross-coupling between different stabilization feedback control loops were characterized and found to fulfill most design requirements. The employed stabilization schemes and the achieved performance are of relevance to many high-precision optical experiments

Multimodal therapy in an inpatient setting

Inpatient Multimodal Therapy (imt) is a residential treatment program, lasting a maximum of 36 weeks, for patients with severe neurotic symptoms. A group of 44 chronic obsessive-compulsive patients and a group of 40 chronic phobic patients were treated in order to assess the outcome and the process of treatment and to identify prognostic factors associated with the effect. At follow-up-on average, eight months after discharge-it was found that 60% had improved, 32% had remained the same, and 8% had deteriorated, indicating that, in general, the treatment was beneficial. That these effects were long-lasting is supported by the fact that, at follow-up, 78% of all patients were no longer receiving treatment, 18% were receiving outpatient or day treatment, and 4% were receiving inpatient treatment. Phobic patients appear to have gained more from the multimodal approach than did obsessive-compulsive patients, as indicated by the fact that the severity of symptoms decreased as they improved in rational thinking, assertiveness, and arousal. By contrast, obsessive-compulsive patients relapsed more than phobic patients did. This was attributed to the fact that the former gained less from the rational-emotive training, denied problems with assertiveness, and did not practice the acquired relaxation skills. It further appeared that a favorable outcome could be induced in patients who (1) expressed relatively mild symptoms in this otherwise severe group, (2) reported relatively few additional complaints, (3) could clearly indicate interpersonal problems, and (4) did not use psychotropic drugs. These prognostic factors are so widespread that not much weight can be ascribed to them. Yet they are useful for indication of imt until better predictors are found

Stabilized lasers for advanced gravitational wave detectors

Second generation gravitational wave detectors require high power lasers with more than 100 W of output power and with very low temporal and spatial fluctuations. To achieve the demanding stability levels required, low noise techniques and adequate control actuators have to be part of the high power laser design. In addition feedback control and passive noise filtering is used to reduce the fluctuations in the so-called prestabilized laser system (PSL). In this paper, we discuss the design of a 200 W PSL which is under development for the Advanced LIGO gravitational wave detector and will present the first results. The PSL noise requirements for advanced gravitational wave detectors will be discussed in general and the stabilization scheme proposed for the Advanced LIGO PSL will be described

Nanomolar Binding of Peptides Containing Noncanonical Amino Acids by a Synthetic Receptor

This paper describes the molecular recognition of phenylalanine derivatives and their peptides by the synthetic receptor cucurbit[7]uril (Q7). The 4-tert-butyl and 4-aminomethyl derivatives of phenylalanine (tBuPhe and AMPhe) were identified from a screen to have 20–30-fold higher affinity than phenylalanine for Q7. Placement of these residues at the N-terminus of model tripeptides (X-Gly-Gly), resulted in no change in affinity for tBuPhe-Gly-Gly, but a remarkable 500-fold increase in affinity for AMPhe-Gly-Gly, which bound to Q7 with an equilibrium dissociation constant (Kd) value of 0.95 nM in neutral phosphate buffer. Structure–activity studies revealed that three functional groups work in a positively cooperative manner to achieve this extraordinary stability (1) the N-terminal ammonium group, (2) the side chain ammonium group, and (3) the peptide backbone. Addition of the aminomethyl group to Phe substantially improved the selectivity for peptide versus amino acid and for an N-terminal vs nonterminal position. Importantly, Q7 binds to N-terminal AMPhe several orders of magnitude more tightly than any of the canonical amino acid residues. The high affinity, single-site selectivity, and small modification in this system make it attractive for the development of minimal affinity tags

FDG-PET/CT for diagnosis of cyst infection in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease

Purpose: Cyst infections are a common complication in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). Diagnosing these infections often remains challenging. Conventional imaging techniques such as ultrasonography, computed tomography (CT), and standard magnetic resonance imaging have several drawbacks and disadvantages. The purpose of this pictorial essay was to illustrate and discuss the potential value of18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET)/CT in diagnosing cyst infection in ADPKD. Methods: Exemplary (ADPKD) patients who underwent FDG-PET/CT as part of their routine clinical work-up in our institution are presented to show the potential value and drawbacks of this imaging technique in diagnosing cyst infection. In addition, the current literature and guidelines on this topic were reviewed. Results: FDG-PET/CT appears to be a sensitive method for the detection of cyst infection, but it is not infallible. Furthermore, FDG uptake in cysts and cyst-like lesions is not specific and clinical and radiological correlations are essential to improve specificity and minimize the risk of falsely discarding other diseases, in particular malignancy. Conclusion: FDG-PET/CT seems to be a useful imaging modality to diagnose cyst infections in ADPKD. However, its exact diagnostic value has not been established yet due to the lack of a reliable reference standard in previous studies on this topic