1,383 research outputs found
Development and Role in Therapy of Canakinumab in Adult-Onset Still's Disease
Adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) is a rare inflammatory disease of unknown etiology typically characterized by episodes of spiking fever, evanescent rash, arthralgia, leukocytosis, and hyperferritinemia. The pivotal role of interleukin (IL)-1 and other pro-inflammatory cytokines gives rise to the development of new targeted therapies. Currently, AOSD patients can benefit from efficient and well tolerated biologic agents, such as IL-1, IL-6, and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-\u3b1 antagonists. Canakinumab, a human monoclonal anti-IL-1\u3b2 antibody, is indicated for the treatment of different autoinflammatory syndromes in adults, adolescents, and children and it has recently been approved for AOSD treatment. In this article, we summarize the structural and biochemical data describing the molecular interactions between Canakinumab and its target antigen. Some special considerations of the pharmacological properties of Canakinumab are included. We also review the safety, efficacy and tolerability of this drug for the treatment of AOSD
Correlation between Gamma-Ray bursts and Gravitational Waves
The cosmological origin of -ray bursts (GRBs) is now commonly
accepted and, according to several models for the central engine, GRB sources
should also emit at the same time gravitational waves bursts (GWBs). We have
performed two correlation searches between the data of the resonant
gravitational wave detector AURIGA and GRB arrival times collected in the BATSE
4B catalog. No correlation was found and an upper limit \bbox{} on the averaged amplitude of gravitational waves
associated with -ray bursts has been set for the first time.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Dynamics and stability of vortex-antivortex fronts in type II superconductors
The dynamics of vortices in type II superconductors exhibit a variety of
patterns whose origin is poorly understood. This is partly due to the
nonlinearity of the vortex mobility which gives rise to singular behavior in
the vortex densities. Such singular behavior complicates the application of
standard linear stability analysis. In this paper, as a first step towards
dealing with these dynamical phenomena, we analyze the dynamical stability of a
front between vortices and antivortices. In particular we focus on the question
of whether an instability of the vortex front can occur in the absence of a
coupling to the temperature. Borrowing ideas developed for singular bacterial
growth fronts, we perform an explicit linear stability analysis which shows
that, for sufficiently large front velocities and in the absence of coupling to
the temperature, such vortex fronts are stable even in the presence of in-plane
anisotropy. This result differs from previous conclusions drawn on the basis of
approximate calculations for stationary fronts. As our method extends to more
complicated models, which could include coupling to the temperature or to other
fields, it provides the basis for a more systematic stability analysis of
nonlinear vortex front dynamics.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure
Training-induced inversion of spontaneous exchange bias field on La1.5Ca0.5CoMnO6
In this work we report the synthesis and structural, electronic and magnetic
properties of La1.5Ca0.5CoMnO6 double-perovskite. This is a re-entrant spin
cluster material which exhibits a non-negligible negative exchange bias effect
when it is cooled in zero magnetic field from an unmagnetized state down to low
temperature. X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and
magnetometry results indicate mixed valence state at Co site, leading to
competing magnetic phases and uncompensated spins at the magnetic interfaces.
We compare the results for this Ca-doped material with those reported for the
resemblant compound La1.5Sr0.5CoMnO6, and discuss the much smaller spontaneous
exchange bias effect observed for the former in terms of its structural and
magnetic particularities. For La1.5Ca0.5CoMnO6, when successive magnetization
loops are carried, the spontaneous exchange bias field inverts its sign from
negative to positive from the first to the second measurement. We discuss this
behavior based on the disorder at the magnetic interfaces, related to the
presence of a glassy phase. This compound also exhibits a large conventional
exchange bias, for which there is no sign inversion of the exchange bias field
for consecutive cycles
Exchange-spring behavior in bimagnetic CoFe2O4/CoFe2 nanocomposite
In this work we report a study of the magnetic behavior of ferrimagnetic
oxide CoFe2O4 and ferrimagnetic oxide/ferromagnetic metal CoFe2O4/CoFe2
nanocomposites. The latter compound is a good system to study hard
ferrimagnet/soft ferromagnet exchange coupling. Two steps were used to
synthesize the bimagnetic CoFe2O4/CoFe2 nanocomposites: (i) first preparation
of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles using the a simple hydrothermal method and (ii) second
reduction reaction of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles using activated charcoal in
inert atmosphere and high temperature. The phase structures, particle sizes,
morphology, and magnetic properties of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles have been
investigated by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Mossbauer spectroscopy (MS),
transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM)
with applied field up to 3.0 kOe at room temperature and 50K. The mean diameter
of CoFe2O4 particles is about 16 nm. Mossbauer spectra reveal two sites for
Fe3+. One site is related to Fe in an octahedral coordination and the other one
to the Fe3+ in a tetrahedral coordination, as expected for a spinel crystal
structure of CoFe2O4. TEM measurements of nanocomposite show the formation of a
thin shell of CoFe2 on the cobalt ferrite and indicate that the nanoparticles
increase to about 100 nm. The magnetization of nanocomposite showed hysteresis
loop that is characteristic of the exchange spring systems. A maximum energy
product (BH)max of 1.22 MGOe was achieved at room temperature for CoFe2O4/CoFe2
nanocomposites, which is about 115% higher than the value obtained for CoFe2O4
precursor. The exchange-spring interaction and the enhancement of product
(BH)max in nanocomposite CoFe2O4/CoFe2 have been discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure
Chi-square test on candidate events from CW signal coherent searches
In a blind search for continuous gravitational wave signals scanning a wide
frequency band one looks for candidate events with significantly large values
of the detection statistic. Unfortunately, a noise line in the data may also
produce a moderately large detection statistic.
In this paper, we describe how we can distinguish between noise line events
and actual continuous wave (CW) signals, based on the shape of the detection
statistic as a function of the signal's frequency. We will analyze the case of
a particular detection statistic, the F statistic, proposed by Jaranowski,
Krolak, and Schutz.
We will show that for a broad-band 10 hour search, with a false dismissal
rate smaller than 1e-6, our method rejects about 70 % of the large candidate
events found in a typical data set from the second science run of the Hanford
LIGO interferometer.Comment: proceedings of GWDAW8, 2003 conference, 12pages, 6 figure
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