A randomized controlled trial comparing behavioral, educational, and pharmacological treatments in youths with chronic tic disorder or Tourette syndrome

Context: The existing literature on the treatment of pediatric chronic tic disorder (CTD) and Tourette syndrome (TS) indicates that both behavioral therapy (BT) and pharmacotherapy (PT) are effective for reducing symptoms. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of BT compared to psychoeducation (PE) or PT for reducing tics and co-occurring symptoms and for improving quality of life (QoL) in a sample of youths with CTD and TS. Design: A 10 weeks, 2 sites (Catania, Rome) randomized controlled trial. Participants were randomized to receive one of the following treatments: BT, PE, or PT. Participants: 110 outpatients aged between 8 and 17 years affected by CTD or TS. Results: Patients in the BT and PT groups showed a significant reduction in the severity of tic symptoms, while the PE group did not show any improvement. PT was more effective for reducing obsessive compulsive symptoms than BT, while PE group did not show any improvement. Both BT and PT groups showed an improvement in most QoL domains, whereas no differences were found in the PE group. Conclusions: BT is as effective as pharmacological therapy in the treatment of tic disorders in children and adolescents, thus offering an alternative to medications for CTD and TS

The FNAL injector upgrade

The present FNAL H- injector has been operational since the 1970s and consists of two magnetron H- sources and two 750 keV Cockcroft-Walton Accelerators. In the upgrade, both slit-type magnetron sources will be replaced with circular aperture sources, and the Cockcroft-Waltons with a 200 MHz RFQ (radio frequency quadrupole). Operational experience at BNL (Brookhaven National Laboratory) has shown that the upgraded source and RFQ will be more reliable, improve beam quality and require less manpower than the present system.Comment: 3 pp. Particle Accelerator, 24th Conference (PAC'11) 2011. 28 Mar - 1 Apr 2011. New York, US

Momentum Cogging at the Fermilab Booster

The Fermilab booster has an intensity upgrade plan called the Proton Improvement plan (PIP). The flux throughput goal is 2E17 protons/hour which is almost double the current operation at 1.1E17 protons/hour. The beam loss in the machine is going to be an issue. The booster accelerates beam from 400 MeV to 8GeV and extracts to The Main Injector (MI). Cogging is the process that synchronizes the extraction kicker gap to the MI by changing radial position of the beam during the cycle. The gap creation occurs at about 700MeV which is 6msec into the cycle. The variation of the revolution frequency from cycle to cycle is larger at lower energy and it is hard to control by changing the radial position because of aperture limitations. Momentum cogging is able to move the gap creation earlier by using dipole correctors and radial position feedback, and controlling the revolution frequency and radial position at the same time. The new cogging is going to save energy loss and aperture. The progress of the momentum cogging system development is going to be discussed in this paper.Comment: 3 pp. 3rd International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC 2012) 20-25 May 2012, New Orleans, Louisian

Alignment and Aperture Scan at the Fermilab Booster

The Fermilab booster has an intensity upgrade plan called the Proton Improvement plan (PIP). The flux throughput goal is 2E17 protons/hour, which is almost double the current operation at 1.1E17 protons/hour. The beam loss in the machine is going to be the source of issues. The booster accelerates beam from 400 MeV to 8 GeV and extracts to the Main Injector. Several percent of the beam is lost within 3 msec after the injection. The aperture at injection energy was measured and compared with the survey data. The magnets are going to be realigned in March 2012 in order to increase the aperture. The beam studies, analysis of the scan and alignment data, and the result of the magnet moves will be discussed in this paper.Comment: 3 pp. 3rd International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC 2012) 20-25 May 2012, New Orleans, Louisian