High-resolution microwave frequency dissemination on an 86-km urban optical link

We report the first demonstration of a long-distance ultra stable frequency dissemination in the microwave range. A 9.15 GHz signal is transferred through a 86-km urban optical link with a fractional frequency stability of 1.3x10-15 at 1 s integration time and below 10-18 at one day. The optical link phase noise compensation is performed with a round-trip method. To achieve such a result we implement light polarisation scrambling and dispersion compensation. This link outperforms all the previous radiofrequency links and compares well with recently demonstrated full optical links.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Duality cascades and duality walls

We recast the phenomenon of duality cascades in terms of the Cartan matrix associated to the quiver gauge theories appearing in the cascade. In this language, Seiberg dualities for the different gauge factors correspond to Weyl reflections. We argue that the UV behavior of different duality cascades depends markedly on whether the Cartan matrix is affine ADE or not. In particular, we find examples of duality cascades that can't be continued after a finite energy scale, reaching a "duality wall", in terminology due to M. Strassler. For these duality cascades, we suggest the existence of a UV completion in terms of a little string theory.Comment: harvmac, 24 pages, 4 figures. v2: references added. v3: reference adde

Primordial nucleosynthesis with a varying fine structure constant: An improved estimate

We compute primordial light-element abundances for cases with fine structure constant alpha different from the present value, including many sources of alpha dependence neglected in previous calculations. Specifically, we consider contributions arising from Coulomb barrier penetration, photon coupling to nuclear currents, and the electromagnetic components of nuclear masses. We find the primordial abundances to depend more weakly on alpha than previously estimated, by up to a factor of 2 in the case of ^7Li. We discuss the constraints on variations in alpha from the individual abundance measurements and the uncertainties affecting these constraints. While the present best measurements of primordial D/H, ^4He/H, and ^7Li/H may be reconciled pairwise by adjusting alpha and the universal baryon density, no value of alpha allows all three to be accommodated simultaneously without consideration of systematic error. The combination of measured abundances with observations of acoustic peaks in the cosmic microwave background favors no change in alpha within the uncertainties.Comment: Phys. Rev. D accepted version; minor changes in response to refere

The First Detection of Cobalt in a Damped Lyman Alpha System

We present the first ever detection of Cobalt in a Damped Lyman Alpha system (DLA) at z = 1.92. In addition to providing important clues to the star formation history of these high redshift galaxies, we discuss how studying the Co abundance in DLAs may also help to constrain models of stellar nucleosynthesis in a regime not probed by Galactic stars.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in the proceedings of `New Quests in Stellar Astrophysics: The Link Between Stars and Cosmology', eds. M. Chavez, A. Bressan, A. Buzzoni, D. Mayy

Early subretinal allograft rejection is characterized by innate immune activity

Successful subretinal transplantation is limited by considerable early graft loss, despite pharmacological suppression of adaptive immunity. We postulated that early innate immune activity is a dominant factor in determining graft survival and chose a non-immunosuppressed mouse model of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell transplantation to explore this. Expression of almost all measured cytokines by DH01 RPE cells increased significantly following graft preparation and the neutrophil chemoattractant, KC/GRO/CINC, was most significantly increased. Subretinal allografts of DH01 cells (C57BL/10 origin) into healthy, non-immunosuppressed C57BL/6 murine eyes were harvested and fixed at 1, 3, 7 and 28 days post-operatively and subsequently cryosectioned and stained. Graft cells were detected using SV40 large T antigen (SV40T) immunolabeling and apoptosis/necrosis by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). Sections were also immunolabeled for macrophage (CD11b & F4/80), neutrophil (Gr1 Ly-6G), and T-lymphocyte (CD3-ε) infiltration. Images captured with an Olympus FV1000 confocal microscope were analyzed using Imaris software. The proportion of the subretinal bolus comprising graft cells (SV40T+) was significantly (p<0.001) reduced between post-operative day (POD) 3 (90% ± 4%) and POD 7 (20% ± 7%). CD11b+, F4/80+ and Gr1 Ly-6G+ cells increased significantly (p<0.05) from POD 1 and predominated over SV40T+ cells by POD 7. Co-labeling confocal microscopic analysis demonstrated graft engulfment by neutrophils and macrophages at POD 7 and reconstruction of z-stacked confocal images confirmed SV40T inside Gr1 Ly-6G+ cells. Expression of CD3-ε was low and did not differ significantly between time-points. By POD 28, no graft cells were detectable and few inflammatory cells remained. These studies reveal for the first time a critical role for innate immune mechanisms early in subretinal graft rejection. The future success of subretinal transplantation will require more emphasis on techniques to limit innate immune-mediated graft loss, rather than focusing exclusively on suppression of the adaptive immune response

An investigation of the potential application of chitosan/aloe-based membranes for regenerative medicine

A significant number of therapeutics derived from natural polymers and plants have been developed to replace or to be used in conjunction with existing dressing products. The use of the therapeutic properties of aloe vera could be very useful in the creation of active wound dressing materials. The present work was undertaken to examine issues concerning structural features, topography, enzymatic degradation behavior, antibacterial activity and cellular response of chitosan/aloe vera-based membranes. The chitosan/aloe vera-based membranes that were developed displayed satisfactory degradation, roughness, wettability and mechanical properties. A higher antibacterial potency was displayed by the blended membranes. Moreover, in vitro assays demonstrated that these blended membranes have good cell compatibility with primary human dermal fibroblasts. The chitosan/aloe vera-based membranes might be promising wound dressing materials.The authors acknowledge financial support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (grants SFRH/BPD/45307/2008 and SFRH/BD/64601/2009), the "Fundo Social Europeu", and the "Programa Diferencial de Potencial Humano". This work was partially supported by the FEDER through POCTEP 0330_IBEROMARE_1_P

Risk Categorization Using New American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guidelines for Cholesterol Management and Its Relation to Alirocumab Treatment Following Acute Coronary Syndromes

BACKGROUND: The 2018 US cholesterol management guidelines recommend additional lipid-lowering therapies for secondary prevention in patients with lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol ≥70 mg/dL or non−high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ≥100 mg/dL despite maximum tolerated statin therapy. Such patients are considered at very high risk (VHR) based on a history of >1 major atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) event or a single ASCVD event and multiple high-risk conditions. We investigated the association of US guideline-defined risk categories with the occurrence of ischemic events after acute coronary syndrome and reduction of those events by alirocumab, a PCSK9 (proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9) inhibitor. METHODS: In the ODYSSEY OUTCOMES trial (Evaluation of Cardiovascular Outcomes After an Acute Coronary Syndrome During Treatment With Alirocumab), patients with recent acute coronary syndrome and residual dyslipidemia despite optimal statin therapy were randomly assigned to alirocumab or placebo. The primary trial outcome (major adverse cardiovascular events, ie, coronary heart disease death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, is

Lipoprotein(a) and benefit of PCSK9 inhibition in patients with nominally controlled LDL cholesterol

BACKGROUND Guidelines recommend nonstatin lipid-lowering agents in patients at very high risk for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) if low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) remains >= 70 mg/dL on maximum tolerated statin treatment. It is uncertain if this approach benefits patients with LDL-C near 70 mg/dL. Lipoprotein(a) levels may influence residual risk.OBJECTIVES In a post hoc analysis of the ODYSSEY Outcomes (Evaluation of Cardiovascular Outcomes After an Acute Coronary Syndrome During Treatment With Alirocumab) trial, the authors evaluated the benefit of adding the proprotein subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitor alirocumab to optimized statin treatment in patients with LDL-C levels near 70 mg/dL. Effects were evaluated according to concurrent lipoprotein(a) levels.METHODS ODYSSEY Outcomes compared alirocumab with placebo in 18,924 patients with recent acute coronary syndromes receiving optimized statin treatment. In 4,351 patients (23.0%), screening or randomization LDL-C was = 70 mg/dL (median 94.0 mg/dL; interquartile range: 83.2-111.0 mg/dL).RESULTS In the lower LDL-C subgroup, MACE rates were 4.2 and 3.1 per 100 patient-years among placebo-treated patients with baseline lipoprotein(a) greater than or less than or equal to the median (13.7 mg/dL). Corresponding adjusted treatment hazard ratios were 0.68 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.52-0.90) and 1.11 (95% CI: 0.83-1.49), with treatment-lipoprotein(a) interaction on MACE (P-interaction = 0.017). In the higher LDL-C subgroup, MACE rates were 4.7 and 3.8 per 100 patient-years among placebo-treated patients with lipoprotein(a) >13.7 mg/dL or <= 13.7 mg/dL; corresponding adjusted treatment hazard ratios were 0.82 (95% CI: 0.72-0.92) and 0.89 (95% CI: 0.75-1.06), with P-interaction = 0.43.CONCLUSIONS In patients with recent acute coronary syndromes and LDL-C near 70 mg/dL on optimized statin therapy, proprotein subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibition provides incremental clinical benefit only when lipoprotein(a) concentration is at least mildly elevated. (ODYSSEY Outcomes: Evaluation of Cardiovascular Outcomes After an Acute Coronary Syndrome During Treatment With Alirocumab; NCT01663402) (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier on behalf of the American College of Cardiology Foundation.Cardiolog

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe