Wet Refractivity tomographic reconstruction over small areas using an ad-hoc GPS receivers network

One of the most attractive scientific issues in the use of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) signal from a meteorological point of view, is the retrieval of high resolution tropospheric water vapour maps. The real-time (or quasi real-time) knowledge of such distributions could be very useful for several applications, from operative meteorology to atmospheric modeling. Moreover, the exploitation of wet refractivity field reconstruction techniques can be used for atmospheric delay compensation purposes and, as a very promising activity, it could be applied for example to calibrate SAR or Interferometric-SAR (In-SAR) observations for land remote sensing. This is in fact one of the objectives of the European Space Agency project METAWAVE (Mitigation of Electromagnetic Transmission errors induced by Atmospheric Water vapour Effects), in which several techniques were investigated and results were compared to identify a strategy to remove the contribution of water vapour induced propagation delays in In-SAR products. Within this project, the tomographic reconstruction of three dimensional wet refractivity fields on a small atmospheric volume (16km x 20 km x 10 km height, from 2 km to 4 km horizontal resolution and 1 km vertical resolution), was performed considering real tropospheric delays observations acquired by a GNSS network (9 dual frequency GPS receivers) deployed over Como area (Italy), during 12-18 October, 2008. Acquired L1 and L2 carrier phase observations have been processed in terms of hourly averaged Zenith Wet Delays. These vertical informations have been mapped along the correspondent line of sights (by up-sampling at 30 second sample times the 15 minutes GPS satellites positions obtained from IGS files) and inverted using a tomographic procedure. The used algorithm performs a first reconstruction (namely, the tomographic pre-processing) based on generalized inversion mechanisms, in order to define a low resolution first guess for the following step. This second step inverts GPS observables using a more refined algebraic tomographic reconstruction algorithm, in order to improve both vertical and horizontal resolution. Despite limitations due to the network design, internal consistency tests prove the efficiency of the adopted tomographic approach: the rms of the difference between reconstructed and GNSS observed Zenith Wet Delays (ZWD) are in the order of 4 mm. A good agreement is also observed between our ZWDs and corresponding delays obtained by vertically integrating independent wet refractivity fields, taken by co-located meteorological analysis. Finally, during the observing period, reconstructed vertical wet refractivity profiles evolution reveals water vapour variations induced by simple cloud covering. Even if our main goal was to demonstrate the effectiveness in adopting tomographic reconstruction procedures for the evaluation of propagation delays inside water vapour fields, the actual water vapour vertical variability and its evolution with time is well reproduced, demonstrating also the effectiveness of the inferred 3D wet refractivity fields. Even if results obtained were satisfactory, limitations due to the observation geometry, to the GNSS propagation delay information extraction form observables and to the applied tomographic technique will be highlighted, in order to trace the road-map toward future improvements in this challenging fiel

Genetic and Immune Predictors for Hypersensitivity Syndrome to Antiepileptic Drugs

Hypersensitivity syndrome reactions (HSR) to antiepileptic drugs (AED) are associated with severe clinical cutaneous adverse reactions (SCAR).Our aims are: to assess HSRs to AEDs using the in vitro lymphocyte toxicity assay (LTA) in patients who manifested HSRs clinically, to correlate LTA results with the clinical syndrome, to correlate LTA results with the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele B*1502 (HLA-B*1502) positivity in a Han Chinese-Canadian population, and to determine the cytokine network in this population. HSR patients developed fever and cutaneous eruptions in the presence or absence of organ involvement within 8 weeks of exposure to carbamazepine (CBZ), phenytoin (PHY) or lamotrigine (LTG). Control patients received AEDs without presenting HSR. We investigated 10 CBZ-HSR (4 presented with Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS)), 24 CBZ-controls, 10 PHY-HSR (4 presented with drug-induced liver injury (DILI)), 24 PHY-controls, 6 LTG-HSR (1 SJS and 1 DILI) and 24 LTG-controls. There were 30 Han Chinese individuals (14 HSR patients and 16 controls) in our cohort. LTA toxicity greater than 12.5%±2.5% was considered positive. Differences among groups were determined by analysis of variance. In addition, we measured cytokine secretion in the patient sera between 1 month and 3 years after the event. All Han Chinese individuals and 30% of Caucasians were genotyped for HLA-B*1502.A perfect correlation (r=0.92) was observed between positive LTA and clinical diagnosis of DILI and SJS/toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN). HLA-B*1502 positivity in Han Chinese is a predictor of CBZ-HSR and PHY-HSR. HLA-B*1502-negative Han Chinese receiving only CBZ or a combination of CBZ-PHY tolerated the drug(s) clinically, presenting negative CBZ-LTA and PHY-LTA. However, 3 patients presenting negative CBZ-LTA and PHY-LTA, as well as negative HLA-B*1502, showed positive LTG-LTA (38%, 28% and 25%, respectively), implying that they should not be prescribed LTG. Three patients had LTA positive to both PHY and CBZ, and 3 others had LTA positive to both PHY and LTG. Clinically, all six patients presented HSR to both drugs that they tested positive to (cross-reactivity). Patients were grouped based on the clinical presentation of their symptoms as only rash and fever or a triad that characterizes "true" HSR (rash, fever and DILI or SJS/TEN). Levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were significantly higher in patient sera compared to control sera. More specifically, the highest levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α was measured in patients presenting "true" HSR, as were the apoptotic markers Fas, caspase 8 activity and M30. We concluded that LTA is sensitive for DILI and SJS/TEN regardless of drug or ethnicity. HSR prediction will prevent AED-induced morbidity. In Han Chinese, HLA-B*1502 positivity is a predictor for CBZ-HSR and PHY-HSR. Its negativity does not predict a negative LTG-HSR. There is cross-reactivity between AEDs. Additionally, T-cell cytokines and chemokines control the pathogenesis of SJS/TEN and DILI, contributing to apoptotic processes in the liver and in the skin

Photofrin II as an efficient radiosensitizing agent in an experimental tumor

Background and Objective: The use of ionizing irradiation as radiation therapy (RT) for tumor treatment represents a well-established method. The use of photodynamic therapy (PDT), especially with Photofrin II, for tumor treatment is also known. Chemical modifiers enhancing the action of radiation therapy are well known and widely used in medicine. None of these compounds, however, is a selective radiosensitizer. Materials and Methods: Several series of animal experiments were performed, The highly differentiated human bladder cancer cell line RT4 was implanted subcutaneously in nude mice. The mice were injected 10 mg/kg Photofrin II and irradiated with 5 Gy. Results: Photofrin II has proved to be a chemical modifier of ionizing irradiation, enhancing the tumor doubling time (tumor growth) from 6.2 to 10.9 days in the control group with the use of irradiation and injection of porphyrin. Conclusion: Photofrin II shows a high activity as radiosensitizer and, in the future, can be used as a selective radiosensitizer for tumor treatment with ionizing radiation

Large Merger Recoils and Spin Flips From Generic Black-Hole Binaries

We report the first results from evolutions of a generic black-hole binary, i.e. a binary containing unequal mass black holes with misaligned spins. Our configuration, which has a mass ratio of 2:1, consists of an initially non-spinning hole orbiting a larger, rapidly spinning hole (specific spin a/m = 0.885), with the spin direction oriented -45 degrees with respect to the orbital plane. We track the inspiral and merger for ~2 orbits and find that the remnant receives a substantial kick of 454 km/s, more than twice as large as the maximum kick from non-spinning binaries. The remnant spin direction is flipped by 103 degrees with respect to the initial spin direction of the larger hole. We performed a second run with anti-aligned spins, a/m = +-0.5 lying in the orbital plane that produces a kick of 1830 km/s off the orbital plane. This value scales to nearly 4000 km/s for maximally spinning holes. Such a large recoil velocity opens the possibility that a merged binary can be ejected even from the nucleus of a massive host galaxy.Comment: 4 pages. Accepted for publication in ApJ

Music education as extra-curricular activity in Portuguese primary schools

Although music has always been part of the Portuguese primary school curriculum, musical practice has been scarce, because classroom teachers have little training, and only few schools have music specialists. In 2006, the Ministry of Education directive for primary schools offers extracurricular activities (English, Music and Sports) besides curricular areas (Portuguese, Mathematics, Sciences, Music, Sports, Arts). Its implementation, demanding a strong collaboration among all those involved, led to considerable changes in local schools and communities. This study has investigated the implementation of the programme, and identified its main problems. We visited primary schools and interviewed promoters of 29 municipalities in different regions, about following questions: organization of music lessons (frequency, duration, resources), profile of music teachers (qualifications, age, experience), opinions about positive and negative aspects, and further suggestions. The results showed different practices and similar problems across schools. The main difficulties were the shortage of qualified music teachers, inflexible timetables, and little collaboration between classroom and music teachers. In municipalities that already offered music in primary schools, the programme generated instability. The most positive aspect was the overall free provision for music in primary schools. Suggestions for improvement included teachers’ training and better working conditions, and better overall organization.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Formylation, dicyanovinylation and tricyanovinylation on 5-alkoxy- and 5-amino-substituted-2,2´-bithiophenes

Several donor-acceptor-substituted bithiophenes were synthesized by functionalization of the corresponding 5-alkoxy- or 5-aminobithiophenes 1 by different methods: Vilsmeier formylation, metalation followed by reaction with DMF, direct tricyanovinylation reaction using TCNE or Knoevenagel condensation starting from the corresponding 5-formyl- derivatives of 1.ICCTI/French Embassy (Technical and Scientific Cooperation Programme). Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - POCTI/QUI/37816/2001, FMRH / BSAB / 134/99

A combination of friedel-crafts and lawesson reactions to 5-substituted-2,2´-bithiophenes

Gama-Keto esters (2) derivatives of thiophene were obtained from hemi-succinic esters and transformed to the corresponding amides (4). Lawesson´s treatment of 2 and 4 gave the corresponding bithiophenes (5) with alkoxy or amino substituents.Fundação para a Ci~Encia e Tecnologia. ICCTI/French Embassy - Technical and Scientific~Cooperation Programme