623 research outputs found
Tweeting the meeting. Quantitative and qualitative twitter activity during the 38th ESSO conference
Introduction: Social media is increasingly used to share information with the potential for fast and wide reach. Data on use during surgical oncology conferences is limited. We aimed to monitor twitter usage during a surgical oncology conference to audit impact of activity. Methods: A prospective, time-restricted, observational study of twitter activity using the #ESSO38 hashtag in the week before and during the 38th ESSO conference (10–12 October 2018; Budapest, Hungary). Data on individual tweets and retweets, including date and tweeter or retweeter were collected using NodeXL, FollowTheHashtag, Twitonomy and TAGS. Results: The study period (10–13 October) documented 328 tweets by 58 tweeters with 1167 retweets, with a soaring activity and mentions during the conference days, with a potential reach at over 7.5 million. The nodal network of tweets, the most active tweeters and retweeters are presented as well as the most frequently used hashtags. The top 3 hashtags used were #ESSO38, #SoMe4Surgery# and #EYSAC. A positive influence on the @ESSOweb twitter handle was noted, with the numbers of followers growing from 1.5 K to over 1.8 K representing a 20% growth in just over a week. Conclusions: Activity on tweeter during the conference was considerable, with a potential for a wide reach beyond those attending the conference. A more structured approach to the use of twitter for future conferences may enhance experience, activity and reach
Sub-Pixel Response Measurement of Near-Infrared Sensors
Wide-field survey instruments are used to efficiently observe large regions
of the sky. To achieve the necessary field of view, and to provide a higher
signal-to-noise ratio for faint sources, many modern instruments are
undersampled. However, precision photometry with undersampled imagers requires
a detailed understanding of the sensitivity variations on a scale much smaller
than a pixel. To address this, a near-infrared spot projection system has been
developed to precisely characterize near-infrared focal plane arrays and to
study the effect of sub-pixel non uniformity on precision photometry.
Measurements of large format near-infrared detectors demonstrate the power of
this system for understanding sub-pixel response.Comment: 9 pages, 13 figures, submitted to PAS
Neuronal Agrin Promotes Proliferation of Primary Human Myoblasts in an Age-Dependent Manner
Neuronal agrin, a heparan sulphate proteoglycan secreted by the -motor neurons, promotes the formation and maintenance of the neuromuscular junction by binding to Lrp4 and activating muscle-specific kinase (MuSK). Neuronal agrin also promotes myogenesis by enhancing differentiation and maturation of myotubes, but its effect on proliferating human myoblasts, which are often considered to be unresponsive to agrin, remains unclear. Using primary human myoblasts, we determined that neuronal agrin induced transient dephosphorylation of ERK1/2, while c-Abl, STAT3, and focal adhesion kinase were unresponsive. Gene silencing of Lrp4 and MuSK markedly reduced the BrdU incorporation, suggesting the functional importance of the Lrp4/MuSK complex for myoblast proliferation. Acute and chronic treatments with neuronal agrin increased the proliferation of human myoblasts in old donors, but they did not affect the proliferation of myoblasts in young donors. The C-terminal fragment of agrin which lacks the Lrp4-binding site and cannot activate MuSK had a similar age-dependent effect, indicating that the age-dependent signalling pathways activated by neuronal agrin involve the Lrp4/MuSK receptor complex as well as an Lrp4/MuSK-independent pathway which remained unknown. Collectively, our results highlight an age-dependent role for neuronal agrin in promoting the proliferation of human myoblasts
Long-Range Exciton Diffusion in Two-Dimensional Assemblies of Cesium Lead Bromide Perovskite Nanocrystals
F\"orster Resonant Energy Transfer (FRET)-mediated exciton diffusion through
artificial nanoscale building block assemblies could be used as a new
optoelectronic design element to transport energy. However, so far nanocrystal
(NC) systems supported only diffusion length of 30 nm, which are too small to
be useful in devices. Here, we demonstrate a FRET-mediated exciton diffusion
length of 200 nm with 0.5 cm2/s diffusivity through an ordered, two-dimensional
assembly of cesium lead bromide perovskite nanocrystals (PNC). Exciton
diffusion was directly measured via steady-state and time-resolved
photoluminescence (PL) microscopy, with physical modeling providing deeper
insight into the transport process. This exceptionally efficient exciton
transport is facilitated by PNCs high PL quantum yield, large absorption
cross-section, and high polarizability, together with minimal energetic and
geometric disorder of the assembly. This FRET-mediated exciton diffusion length
matches perovskites optical absorption depth, opening the possibility to design
new optoelectronic device architectures with improved performances, and
providing insight into the high conversion efficiencies of PNC-based
optoelectronic devices
P216 Comparative Assessment C-reactive Protein Between a Point-of-Care Testing and Current Standard of Care (Immunonephelometric testing)
Abstract
Background
C-reactive protein (CRP) is widely used as a biomarker of inflammatory disease activity in hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients. In particular, CRP is commonly used in patients suspected to have an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or with a confirmed diagnosis of IBD diagnosis in order to drive the diagnostic approach, to monitor disease activity and to guide therapeutic adjustments. However, standard laboratory CRP testing (Immunonephelometric assays) present some drawbacks, including a turnaround time of 1–2 hours, and the need of specialized equipment, offices and laboratory personnel. Because of that, point-of care testing (POCT) was recently developed in order to provide results within 2 minutes from blood collection, enabling a rapid response to clinical condition.
Aim
To determine the degree of analytical correlation between a recently developed POCT (ProciseDx) using capillary whole blood and the comparative Immunonephelometric assay using serum samples.
Methods
From October to November 2020, consecutive patients hospitalized at Gastroenterology Unit, Padua University Hospital, aged > 18 years and with clinical evidence of active inflammatory disease or infection, who underwent to a standard of care CRP test (Dimension Vista – Siemens Healthineers) were included in the study (range 2.9–340 g/L). Within 1 hour from blood collection, in each patient, CRP quantitation from capillary whole blood collected by finger stick was performed using the ProciseDx CRP assay, with reportable range between 3.6–100 g/L. A Deming regression test was used to identify the correlation between the two methods.
Results
Eighty-three patients were enrolled (62.5% males with mean age ± SD: 60±18). The most common indications for hospitalisation were liver disease (34.9%), pancreatic disturbance (27.7%) and suspicious or recurrence of IBD (16.7%). ProciseDx POCT with finger prick samples required a turnaround time of 2±0.2 minutes, whereas serum samples analyzed in clinical laboratory with the reference method required a turnaround time of about 180±15 minutes (p<0.001). Overall, the correlation between the two tests was high (R squared of 0.899 (95% CI 0.916–0.968)). In particular, the correlation between the methods was even higher with CRP values between 0–100 g/L with R squared of 0.961 (95% CI 0.958–0.986).
Conclusion
The ProciseDx POCT allows a more rapid and comparable accuracy of CRP assessment in hospitalized patients as compared to the standard laboratory measurement. Moreover, the ProciseDx POCT does not require specialised personnel to be performed. The use of ProciseDx POCT may improve and accelerate the decision-making approach, further reducing the resources required for CRP assessment
The Longitudinal Polarimeter at HERA
The design, construction and operation of a Compton back-scattering laser
polarimeter at the HERA storage ring at DESY are described. The device measures
the longitudinal polarization of the electron beam between the spin rotators at
the HERMES experiment with a fractional systematic uncertainty of 1.6%. A
measurement of the beam polarization to an absolute statistical precision of
0.01 requires typically one minute when the device is operated in the
multi-photon mode. The polarimeter also measures the polarization of each
individual electron bunch to an absolute statistical precision of 0.06 in
approximately five minutes. It was found that colliding and non-colliding
bunches can have substantially different polarizations. This information is
important to the collider experiments H1 and ZEUS for their future
longitudinally polarized electron program because those experiments use the
colliding bunches only.Comment: 21 pages (Latex), 14 figures (EPS
Updated Report Acceleration of Polarized Protons to 120-150 GeV/c at Fermilab
The SPIN@FERMI collaboration has updated its 1991-95 Reports on the
acceleration of polarized protons in Fermilab's Main Injector, which was
commissioned by Fermilab. This Updated Report summarizes some updated Physics
Goals for a 120-150 GeV/c polarized proton beam. It also contains an updated
discussion of the Modifications and Hardware needed for a polarized beam in the
Main Injector, along with an updated Schedule and Budget.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figure
The proton and deuteron F_2 structure function at low Q^2
Measurements of the proton and deuteron structure functions are
presented. The data, taken at Jefferson Lab Hall C, span the four-momentum
transfer range GeV, and Bjorken values from 0.009 to
0.45, thus extending the knowledge of to low values of at low .
Next-to-next-to-leading order calculations using recent parton distribution
functions start to deviate from the data for GeV at the low and
high -values. Down to the lowest value of , the structure function is
in good agreement with a parameterization of based on data that have been
taken at much higher values of or much lower values of , and which is
constrained by data at the photon point. The ratio of the deuteron and proton
structure functions at low remains well described by a logarithmic
dependence on at low .Comment: 3 figures, submitted pape
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