CHEOPS CIS-TEL Straylight Analysis

the Document Describes the results of the straylight analysis of the Cheops Telescop

A pH-sensitive stearoyl-PEG-poly(methacryloyl sulfadimethoxine)-decorated liposome system for protein delivery: an application for bladder cancer treatment

Stealth pH-responsive liposomes for the delivery of therapeutic proteins to the bladder epithelium were prepared using methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol)5kDa-1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (mPEG5kDa-DSPE) and stearoyl-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(methacryloyl sulfadimethoxine) copolymer (stearoyl-PEG-polySDM), which possesses an apparent pKa of 7.2. Liposomes of 0.2:0.6:100, 0.5:1.5:100 and 1:3:100 mPEG5kDa-DSPE/stearoyl-PEG-polySDM/(soybean phosphatidylcholine + cholesterol) molar ratios were loaded with bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a protein model. The loading capacity was 1.3% w/w BSA/lipid. At pH 7.4, all liposome formulations displayed a negative zeta-potential and were stable for several days. By pH decrease or addition to mouse urine, the zeta potential strongly decreased, and the liposomes underwent a rapid size increase and aggregation. Photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses showed that the extent of the aggregation depended on the stearoyl-PEG-polySDM/lipid molar ratio. Cytofluorimetric analysis and confocal microscopy showed that at pH 6.5, the incubation of MB49 mouse bladder cancer cells and macrophages with fluorescein isothiocyanate-labelled-BSA (FITC-BSA) loaded and N-(Lissamine Rhodamine B sulfonyl)-1, 2-dihexadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine triethylammonium salt (rhodamine-DHPE) labelled 1:3:100 mPEG5kDa-DSPE/stearoyl-PEG-polySDM/lipid molar ratio liposomes resulted in a time-dependent liposome association with the cells. At pH 7.4, the association of BSA-loaded liposomes with the MB49 cells and macrophages was remarkably lower than at pH 6.5. Confocal images of bladder sections revealed that 2 h after the instillation, liposomes at pH 7.4 and control non-responsive liposomes at pH 7.4 or 6.5 did not associate nor delivered FITC-BSA to the bladder epithelium. On the contrary, the pH-responsive liposome formulation set at pH 6.5 and soon administered to mice by bladder instillation showed that, 2 h after administration, the pH-responsive liposomes efficiently delivered the loaded FITC-BSA to the bladder epitheliu

MiT Family Translocation Renal Cell Carcinoma: from the Early Descriptions to the Current Knowledge

The new category of MiT family translocation renal cell carcinoma has been included into the World Health Organization (WHO) classification in 2016. The MiT family translocation renal cell carcinoma comprises Xp11 translocation renal cell carcinoma harboring TFE3 gene fusions and t(6;11) renal cell carcinoma harboring TFEB gene fusion. At the beginning, they were recognized in childhood; nevertheless, it has been demonstrated that these neoplasms can occur in adults as well. In the nineties, among Xp11 renal cell carcinoma, ASPL, PRCC, and SFPQ (PSF) were the first genes recognized as partners in TFE3 rearrangement. Recently, many other genes have been identified, and a wide spectrum of morphologies has been described. For this reason, the diagnosis may be challenging based on the histology, and the differential diagnosis includes the most common renal cell neoplasms and pure epithelioid PEComa/epithelioid angiomyolipoma of the kidney. During the last decades, many efforts have been made to identify immunohistochemical markers to reach the right diagnosis. To date, staining for PAX8, cathepsin K, and melanogenesis markers are the most useful identifiers. However, the diagnosis requires the demonstration of the chromosomal rearrangement, and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) is considered the gold standard. The outcome of Xp11 translocation renal cell carcinoma is highly variable, with some patients surviving decades with indolent disease and others dying rapidly of progressive disease. Despite most instances of t(6;11) renal cell carcinoma having an indolent clinical course, a few published cases demonstrate aggressive behavior. Recently, renal cell carcinomas with TFEB amplification have been described in connection with t(6;11) renal cell carcinoma. Those tumors appear to be associated with a more aggressive clinical course. For the aggressive cases of MiT family translocation carcinoma, the optimal therapy remains to be determined; however, new target therapies seem to be promising, and the search for predictive markers is mandatory

Modeling pyramidal sensors in ray-tracing software by a suitable user-defined surface

Following the unprecedented results in terms of performances delivered by the first light adaptive optics system at the Large Binocular Telescope, there has been a wide-spread and increasing interest on the pyramid wavefront sensor (PWFS), which is the key component, together with the adaptive secondary mirror, of the adaptive optics (AO) module. Currently, there is no straightforward way to model a PWFS in standard sequential ray-tracing software. Common modeling strategies tend to be user-specific and, in general, are unsatisfactory for general applications. To address this problem, we have developed an approach to PWFS modeling based on user-defined surface (UDS), whose properties reside in a specific code written in C language, for the ray-tracing software ZEMAX™. With our approach, the pyramid optical component is implemented as a standard surface in ZEMAX™, exploiting its dynamic link library (DLL) conversion then greatly simplifying ray tracing and analysis. We have utilized the pyramid UDS DLL surface-referred to as pyramidal acronyms may be too risky (PAM2R)-in order to design the current PWFS-based AO system for the Giant Magellan Telescope, evaluating tolerances, with particular attention to the angular sensitivities, by means of sequential ray-tracing tools only, thus verifying PAM2R reliability and robustness. This work indicates that PAM2R makes the design of PWFS as simple as that of other optical standard components. This is particularly suitable with the advent of the extremely large telescopes era for which complexity is definitely one of the main challenges

Dispositivo VeeToTee - Controllo di Potenza per carichi non induttivi

Dispositivo di interfaccia tra controller di temperatura a microprocessore LakeShore e elementi riscaldanti di elevata potenza (oltre 1 KW) alimentati dalla tensione di rete. Il sistema converte la tensione di controllo (0 - 5 V) in cicli di on/off sul circuito a tensione di rete. Si sceglie questa tecnologia, piuttosto che quella switching ad alta frequenza, per minimizzare il rumore sulla rete di alimentazion

HD 226766: a hierarchical SB3 system with two twin Am stars

In this paper, we present a detailed revision of the orbital parameters and the first quantitative abundance analysis of the spectroscopic triple system HD 226766. By means of a simultaneous fit of the radial velocities of all the three components, we derived precise orbital parameters for the system, in particular inner pair has P(d) = 31.9187 ± 0.0001, e = 0.28 ± 0.01, and MA/MB = 1.03 ± 0.03, while the C component orbits around the inner pair with a period of P(d) = 1615 ± 59 in a very eccentric orbit (e = 0.54 ± 0.11). From the fit of the Hβ and Hα profiles, we determined the effective temperatures and surface gravities of each component of the inner pair: Teff = 8600 ± 500 K and log g = 3.8 ± 0.2 for HD 226766 A and Teff = 8500 ± 400 K and log g = 4.0 ± 0.2 for HD 226766 B. In the hypothesis that component C is a main sequence star (log g = 4.0) we derived Teff = 8000 ± 500 K. Rotational velocities have been estimated by modeling the profiles of metallic lines: v sin i = 13 ± 1 km s-1 for inner pair and v sin i = 150 ± 20 km s-1 for the C component. We find that the inner pair is heterogeneous from the point of view of the chemical composition: both stars are very similar and show chemical anomalies typical of Am stars. With some hypothesis about the masses of the components, we estimated the orbital inclination angle for the inner binary, i = (47 ± 1)○, and for the outer orbit, i = (54 ± 19)○

The behaviour of chemical elements in 62 Am star candidates

In this paper, we present the results of a spectroscopic campaign devoted to ascertain the actual nature of a sample of 155 objects reported as uncertain peculiar stars in the General catalogue of Ap, Am, and HgMn stars. Spectroscopic observations have been obtained with Catania Astrophysical Observatory Spectropolarimeter. We derive for all the objects that appear to be single stars, effective temperature, gravity, rotational and radial velocities, and chemical abundances by spectral synthesis method, then by using an abundance-based criterion we selected 62 Am star candidates. Further, by using the positions of these stars within the theoretical instability strips for δ Sct and γ Dor in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, we selected 46 out of 62 candidates to be possible pulsating stars, in particular 42 are candidates δ Sct and four candidates hybrid stars