efficiency and safety of human reproductive cell tissue vitrification

Vitrification is a cryopreservation technique increasingly applied in clinical practice for cells and tissue. This review article focuses mainly on the efficiency of vitrification of human reproductive cells and tissue, by analysing the clinical results reported in the literature. The second aspect discussed is safety of vitrification procedure. Different procedures and different types of carriers can be used, and in some cases vitrification requires a direct contact between cell/tissue/carrier and liquid nitrogen; this causes concern regarding the safety of this cryopreservation technique. Although the risk of contamination during cryopreservation remains negligible, this article explains how to overcome the hypothetical risk of contamination when using different types of vitrification carriers, in order to satisfy all existing directives

A new FSA approach for in situ γ\gamma-ray spectroscopy

An increasing demand of environmental radioactivity monitoring comes both from the scientific community and from the society. This requires accurate, reliable and fast response preferably from portable radiation detectors. Thanks to recent improvements in the technology, $\gamma$-spectroscopy with sodium iodide scintillators has been proved to be an excellent tool for in-situ measurements for the identification and quantitative determination of $\gamma$-ray emitting radioisotopes, reducing time and costs. Both for geological and civil purposes not only $^{40}$K, $^{238}$U, and $^{232}$Th have to be measured, but there is also a growing interest to determine the abundances of anthropic elements, like $^{137}$Cs and $^{131}$I, which are used to monitor the effect of nuclear accidents or other human activities. The Full Spectrum Analysis (FSA) approach has been chosen to analyze the $\gamma$-spectra. The Non Negative Least Square (NNLS) and the energy calibration adjustment have been implemented in this method for the first time in order to correct the intrinsic problem related with the $\chi ^2$ minimization which could lead to artifacts and non physical results in the analysis. A new calibration procedure has been developed for the FSA method by using in situ $\gamma$-spectra instead of calibration pad spectra. Finally, the new method has been validated by acquiring $\gamma$-spectra with a 10.16 cm x 10.16 cm sodium iodide detector in 80 different sites in the Ombrone basin, in Tuscany. The results from the FSA method have been compared with the laboratory measurements by using HPGe detectors on soil samples collected in the different sites, showing a satisfactory agreement between them. In particular, the $^{137}$Cs isotopes has been implemented in the analysis since it has been found not negligible during the in-situ measurements.Comment: accepted by Science of Total Environment: 8 pages, 10 figures, 3 table

On Sylow normalizers of finite groups

Electronic version of an article published as Journal of Algebra and Its Applications Vol. 13, No. 3 (2014) 1350116 (20 pages). DOI 10.1142/S0219498813501168. © [copyright World Scientific Publishing Company] http://www.worldscientific.com/[EN] The paper considers the influence of Sylow normalizers, i.e. normalizers of Sylow subgroups, on the structure of finite groups. In the universe of finite soluble groups it is known that classes of groups with nilpotent Hall subgroups for given sets of primes are exactly the subgroup- closed saturated formations satisfying the following property: a group belongs to the class if and only if its Sylow normalizers do so. The paper analyzes the extension of this research to the universe of all finite groups.The second and third authors have been supported by Proyecto MTM2010-19938C03-02, Ministerio de Econom ia y Competitividad, Spain. The first author would like to thank the Universitat de Valencia and the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia for their warm hospitality during the preparation of this paper. He has been also supported by RFBR Project 13-01-00469.Kazarin, L.; Martínez Pastor, A.; Perez Ramos, MD. (2014). On Sylow normalizers of finite groups. Journal of Algebra and Its Applications. 13(3):1-20. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219498813501168S12013

Sol-gel deposited Sb-doped tin oxide films

The structural, electrical and optical properties of single sol-gel derived antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) films sintered at 550°C have been measured. The reproducibility of both the preparation and the characterization procedures have been tested by a round-robin test involving eight laboratories within a Concerted European Action (CEA) project. The resistivity measured as a function of Sb content has been obtained by electric and reflectance and transmission measurements. Their differences are discussed in terms of structural and grain boundary effects. An increase of Sb content results in a decrease of the crystallite size (7.0 to 5.4 nm) and a greater influence of the grain boundary

49Cr: Towards full spectroscopy up to 4 MeV

The nucleus 49Cr has been studied analysing gamma-gamma coincidences in the reaction 46Ti(alpha,n)49Cr at the bombarding energy of 12 MeV. The level scheme has been greatly extended at low excitation energy and several new lifetimes have been determined by means of the Doppler Shift Attenuation Method. Shell model calculations in the full pf configuration space reproduce well negative-parity levels. Satisfactory agreement is obtained for positive parity levels by extending the configuration space to include a nucleon-hole either in the 1d3/2 or in the 2s1/2 orbitals. A nearly one-to-one correspondence is found between experimental and theoretical levels up to an excitation energy of 4 MeV. Experimental data and shell model calculations are interpreted in terms of the Nilsson diagram and the particle-rotor model, showing the strongly coupled nature of the bands in this prolate nucleus. Nine values of K(pi) are proposed for the levels observed in this experiment. As a by-result it is shown that the values of the experimental magnetic moments in 1f7/2 nuclei are well reproduced without quenching the nucleon g-factors.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure

Diabetes Causes Bone Marrow Autonomic Neuropathy and Impairs Stem Cell Mobilization via Dysregulated p66Shc and Sirt1

Diabetes compromises the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment and reduces circulating CD34 + cells. Diabetic autonomic neuropathy (DAN) may impact the BM, because the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is prominently involved in BM stem cell trafficking. We hypothesize that neuropathy of the BM affects stem cell mobilization and vascular recovery after ischemia in diabetes. We report that, in patients, cardiovascular DAN was associated with fewer circulating CD34 + cells. Experimental diabetes (STZ and Ob/Ob ) or chemical sympathectomy in mice resulted in BM autonomic neuropathy, impaired Lin - cKit + Sca1 + (LKS) cell and endothelial progenitor cells (EPC, CD34 + Flk1 + ) mobilization and vascular recovery after ischemia. DAN increased expression of p66Shc and reduced expression of Sirt1 in mice and humans. p66Shc KO in diabetic mice prevented DAN in the BM, and rescued defective LKS cell and EPC mobilization. Hematopoietic Sirt1 KO mimicked the diabetic mobilization defect, while hematopoietic Sirt1 overexpression in diabetes rescued defective mobilization and vascular repair. Through p66Shc and Sirt1 , diabetes and sympathectomy elevated the expression of various adhesion molecules, including CD62L . CD62L KO partially rescued the defective stem/progenitor cell mobilization. In conclusion, autonomic neuropathy in the BM impairs stem cell mobilization in diabetes with dysregulation of the lifespan regulators p66Shc and Sirt1

Ultra-sensitive in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy for nuclear astrophysics at LUNA

Ultra-sensitive in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy studies for nuclear astrophysics are performed at the LUNA (Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics) 400 kV accelerator, deep underground in Italy's Gran Sasso laboratory. By virtue of a specially constructed passive shield, the laboratory gamma-ray background for E_\gamma < 3 MeV at LUNA has been reduced to levels comparable to those experienced in dedicated offline underground gamma-counting setups. The gamma-ray background induced by an incident alpha-beam has been studied. The data are used to evaluate the feasibility of sensitive in-beam experiments at LUNA and, by extension, at similar proposed facilities.Comment: accepted, Eur. Phys. J.