A QUANTITATIVE MAPPING OF ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE IN THE BRAIN OF THE RHESUS MONKEY *

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65477/1/j.1471-4159.1966.tb07513.x.pd

Antiinflammatory Therapy with Canakinumab for Atherosclerotic Disease

Background: Experimental and clinical data suggest that reducing inflammation without affecting lipid levels may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Yet, the inflammatory hypothesis of atherothrombosis has remained unproved. Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind trial of canakinumab, a therapeutic monoclonal antibody targeting interleukin-1β, involving 10,061 patients with previous myocardial infarction and a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level of 2 mg or more per liter. The trial compared three doses of canakinumab (50 mg, 150 mg, and 300 mg, administered subcutaneously every 3 months) with placebo. The primary efficacy end point was nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or cardiovascular death. RESULTS: At 48 months, the median reduction from baseline in the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level was 26 percentage points greater in the group that received the 50-mg dose of canakinumab, 37 percentage points greater in the 150-mg group, and 41 percentage points greater in the 300-mg group than in the placebo group. Canakinumab did not reduce lipid levels from baseline. At a median follow-up of 3.7 years, the incidence rate for the primary end point was 4.50 events per 100 person-years in the placebo group, 4.11 events per 100 person-years in the 50-mg group, 3.86 events per 100 person-years in the 150-mg group, and 3.90 events per 100 person-years in the 300-mg group. The hazard ratios as compared with placebo were as follows: in the 50-mg group, 0.93 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.80 to 1.07; P = 0.30); in the 150-mg group, 0.85 (95% CI, 0.74 to 0.98; P = 0.021); and in the 300-mg group, 0.86 (95% CI, 0.75 to 0.99; P = 0.031). The 150-mg dose, but not the other doses, met the prespecified multiplicity-adjusted threshold for statistical significance for the primary end point and the secondary end point that additionally included hospitalization for unstable angina that led to urgent revascularization (hazard ratio vs. placebo, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.73 to 0.95; P = 0.005). Canakinumab was associated with a higher incidence of fatal infection than was placebo. There was no significant difference in all-cause mortality (hazard ratio for all canakinumab doses vs. placebo, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.06; P = 0.31). Conclusions: Antiinflammatory therapy targeting the interleukin-1β innate immunity pathway with canakinumab at a dose of 150 mg every 3 months led to a significantly lower rate of recurrent cardiovascular events than placebo, independent of lipid-level lowering. (Funded by Novartis; CANTOS ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01327846.

Radiography And Tomography Using Fission Neutrons

oS(FNDA2006)033 © Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Licence

Search for A = 60 fragments from neutron-induced fission with accelerator mass spectrometry

Abstract The high sensitivity of the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) method has been utilized to measure the extremely low yields for super asymmetric neutron-induced fission of uranium. From a high level radioactive waste concentrate (HAWC) of the reprocessing plant WAK in Karlsruhe, Germany, iron has been chemically extracted and investigated by means of AMS for possible 60 Fe from nuclear fission. The fission yield is masked due to the competing 60 Fe production via double neutron capture on 58 Fe. Therefore, only an upper limit for the A = 60 fission chain yield of 1 × 10 −8 % could be determined. To estimate this branch, the cross section for the 59 Fe(n, γ ) 60 Fe reaction has been measured to (6.0 ± 1.3) barn

Analytical method for the determination of Np and Pu in sea water by AMS with respect to the Fukushima accident.

A chemical separation procedure for plutonium (Pu) and neptunium (Np) was developed using extraction chromatography, mass spectrometry and radiometric analysis to determine their concentrations and isotopic ratios in sea water. 241Am, which causes isobaric background to 241Pu in mass spectrometric measurements, was successfully separated from the Pu fraction by this method. Water samples which were spiked with 242Pu and 237Np or 239Np, respectively, were used for chemical yield determination. The chemical yields of Pu and Np, which were determined by alpha and gamma spectrometry at the Radiochemie München (RCM), of more than 85% were obtained. The developed method was applied to analyze the concentration of Pu and Np in the certified reference material, IAEA-443, by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) at the Maier-Leibnitz-Laboratory (MLL) to check the applicability of the method to sea water samples. The concentrations of 240Pu, 241Pu and 237Np obtained in this study are in agreement with the certified and literature values within the uncertainties. Due to strong isotopic interference of 239Pu with 238U, it was not possible to analyze the concentration of 239Pu. Some modifications of the chemical separation method to suppress the uranium (U) fraction are under consideration. This method can be used for the analysis of Pu and Np in Pacific Ocean water samples collected after the Fukushima accident

Attempt to detect primordial ²⁴⁴Pu on Earth.

With a half-life of 81.1 Myr, (244)Pu could be both the heaviest and the shortest-lived nuclide present on Earth as a relic of the last supernova(e) that occurred before the formation of the Solar System. Hoffman et al. [Nature (London) 234, 132 (1971)] reported on the detection of this nuclide (1.0 x 10(-18) g (244)Pu/g) in the rare-earth mineral bastnasite with the use of a mass spectrometer. Up to now these findings were never reassessed. We describe the search for primordial (244)Pu in a sample of bastnasite with the method of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). It was performed with a highly sensitive setup, identifying the ions by the determination of their time-of-flight and energy. Using AMS, the stripping to high charge states allows the suppression of any molecular interference. During our measurements we observed no event of (244)Pu. Therefore, we can give an upper limit for the abundance of (244)Pu in our sample of the mineral bastnasite of 370 atoms per gram (1.5 x 10(-19) g (244)Pu/g). The concentration of (244)Pu in our sample of bastnasite is significantly lower than the previously determined value