Clogging by sieving in microchannels: Application to the detection of contaminants in colloidal suspensions

We report on a microfluidic method that allows measurement of a small concentration of large contaminants in suspensions of solid micrometer-scale particles. To perform the measurement, we flow the colloidal suspension through a series of constrictions, i.e. a microchannel of varying cross-section. We show and quantify the role of large contaminants in the formation of clogs at a constriction and the growth of the resulting filter cake. By measuring the time interval between two clogging events in an array of parallel microchannels, we are able to estimate the concentration of contaminants whose size is selected by the geometry of the microfluidic device. This technique for characterizing colloidal suspensions offers a versatile and rapid tool to explore the role of contaminants on the properties of the suspensions

Exploring the anomaly in the interaction cross section and matter radius of 23O

New measurements of the interaction cross sections of 22,23O at 900A MeV performed at the GSI, Darmstadt are reported that address the unsolved puzzle of the large cross section previously observed for 23O. The matter radii for these oxygen isotopes extracted through a Glauber model analysis are in good agreement with the new predictions of the ab initio coupled-cluster theory reported here. They are consistent with a 22O+neutron description of 23O as well.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Monoclonal T-Cell Receptors: New Reagents for Cancer Therapy

Adoptive transfer of antigen-specific T lymphocytes is an effective form of immunotherapy for persistent virus infections and cancer. A major limitation of adoptive therapy is the inability to isolate antigen-specific T lymphocytes reproducibly. The demonstration that cloned T-cell receptor (TCR) genes can be used to produce T lymphocyte populations of desired specificity offers new opportunities for antigen-specific T-cell therapy. TCR gene-modified lymphocytes display antigen-specific function in vitro, and were shown to protect against virus infection and tumor growth in animal models. A recent trial in humans demonstrated that TCR gene-modified T cells persisted in all and reduced melanoma burden in 2/15 patients. In future trials, it may be possible to use TCR gene transfer to equip helper and cytotoxic T cells with new antigen-specificity, allowing both T-cell subsets to cooperate in achieving improved clinical responses. Sequence modifications of TCR genes are being explored to enhance TCR surface expression, while minimizing the risk of pairing between introduced and endogenous TCR chains. Current T-cell transduction protocols that trigger T-cell differentiation need to be modified to generate “undifferentiated” T cells, which, upon adoptive transfer, display improved in vivo expansion and survival. Both, expression of only the introduced TCR chains and the production of naïve T cells may be possible in the future by TCR gene transfer into stem cells

"Nanohybrids" based on pH-responsive hydrogels and inorganic nanoparticles for drug delivery and sensor applications.

Allyl-PEG capped inorganic NPs, including magnetic iron oxide (IONPs), fluorescent CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs), and metallic gold (AuNPs of 5 and 10 nm) both individually and in combination, were covalently attached to pH-responsive poly(2-vinylpyridine-co-divinylbenzene) nanogels via a facile and robust one-step surfactant-free emulsion polymerization procedure. Control of the NPs associated to the nanogels was achieved by the late injection of the NPs to the polymerization solution at a stage when just polymeric radicals were present. Remarkably, by varying the total amount of NPs injected, the swelling behavior could be affected. Furthermore, the magnetic response as well as the optical features of the nanogels containing either IONPs or QDs could be modified. In addition, a radical quenching in case of gold nanoparticles was observed, thus affecting the final nanogel geometry

The genetic basis of endometriosis and comorbidity with other pain and inflammatory conditions

Endometriosis is a common condition associated with debilitating pelvic pain and infertility. A genome-wide association study meta-analysis, including 60,674 cases and 701,926 controls of European and East Asian descent, identified 42 genome-wide significant loci comprising 49 distinct association signals. Effect sizes were largest for stage 3/4 disease, driven by ovarian endometriosis. Identified signals explained up to 5.01% of disease variance and regulated expression or methylation of genes in endometrium and blood, many of which were associated with pain perception/maintenance (SRP14/BMF, GDAP1, MLLT10, BSN and NGF). We observed significant genetic correlations between endometriosis and 11 pain conditions, including migraine, back and multisite chronic pain (MCP), as well as inflammatory conditions, including asthma and osteoarthritis. Multitrait genetic analyses identified substantial sharing of variants associated with endometriosis and MCP/migraine. Targeted investigations of genetically regulated mechanisms shared between endometriosis and other pain conditions are needed to aid the development of new treatments and facilitate early symptomatic intervention

The genetic basis of endometriosis and comorbidity with other pain and inflammatory conditions

Endometriosis is a common condition associated with debilitating pelvic pain and infertility. A genome-wide association study meta-analysis, including 60,674 cases and 701,926 controls of European and East Asian descent, identified 42 genome-wide significant loci comprising 49 distinct association signals. Effect sizes were largest for stage 3/4 disease, driven by ovarian endometriosis. Identified signals explained up to 5.01% of disease variance and regulated expression or methylation of genes in endometrium and blood, many of which were associated with pain perception/maintenance (SRP14/BMF, GDAP1, MLLT10, BSN and NGF). We observed significant genetic correlations between endometriosis and 11 pain conditions, including migraine, back and multisite chronic pain (MCP), as well as inflammatory conditions, including asthma and osteoarthritis. Multitrait genetic analyses identified substantial sharing of variants associated with endometriosis and MCP/migraine. Targeted investigations of genetically regulated mechanisms shared between endometriosis and other pain conditions are needed to aid the development of new treatments and facilitate early symptomatic intervention

Observation of Cabibbo-suppressed two-body hadronic decays and precision mass measurement of the Ωc0\Omega_{c}^{0} baryon

The first observation of the singly Cabibbo-suppressed $\Omega_{c}^{0}\to\Omega^{-}K^{+}$ and $\Omega_{c}^{0}\to\Xi^{-}\pi^{+}$ decays is reported, using proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of $13\,{\rm TeV}$, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $5.4\,{\rm fb}^{-1}$, collected with the LHCb detector between 2016 and 2018. The branching fraction ratios are measured to be $\frac{\mathcal{B}(\Omega_{c}^{0}\to\Omega^{-}K^{+})}{\mathcal{B}(\Omega_{c}^{0}\to\Omega^{-}\pi^{+})}=0.0608\pm0.0051({\rm stat})\pm 0.0040({\rm syst})$, $\frac{\mathcal{B}(\Omega_{c}^{0}\to\Xi^{-}\pi^{+})}{\mathcal{B}(\Omega_{c}^{0}\to\Omega^{-}\pi^{+})}=0.1581\pm0.0087({\rm stat})\pm0.0043({\rm syst})\pm0.0016({\rm ext})$. In addition, using the $\Omega_{c}^{0}\to\Omega^{-}\pi^{+}$ decay channel, the $\Omega_{c}^{0}$ baryon mass is measured to be $M(\Omega_{c}^{0})=2695.28\pm0.07({\rm stat})\pm0.27({\rm syst})\pm0.30({\rm ext})\,{\rm MeV}/c^{2}$, improving the precision of the previous world average by a factor of four.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2023-011.html (LHCb public pages

Measurement of ZZ boson production cross-section in pppp collisions at s=5.02\sqrt{s} = 5.02 TeV

The first measurement of the $Z$ boson production cross-section at centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 5.02\,$TeV in the forward region is reported, using $pp$ collision data collected by the LHCb experiment in year 2017, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $100 \pm 2\,\rm{pb^{-1}}$. The production cross-section is measured for final-state muons in the pseudorapidity range $2.0 20\,\rm{GeV/}\it{c}$. The integrated cross-section is determined to be $$\sigma_{Z \rightarrow \mu^{+}\mu^{-}} = 39.6 \pm 0.7\,(\rm{stat}) \pm 0.6\,(\rm{syst}) \pm 0.8\,(\rm{lumi}) \ \rm{pb}$$ for the di-muon invariant mass in the range $60<M_{\mu\mu}<120\,\rm{GeV/}\it{c^{2}}$. This result and the differential cross-section results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions at next-to-next-to-leading order in the strong coupling. Based on a previous LHCb measurement of the $Z$ boson production cross-section in $p$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV, the nuclear modification factor $R_{p\rm{Pb}}$ is measured for the first time at this energy. The measured values are $1.2^{+0.5}_{-0.3}\,(\rm{stat}) \pm 0.1\,(\rm{syst})$ in the forward region ($1.53<y^*_{\mu}<4.03$) and $3.6^{+1.6}_{-0.9}\,(\rm{stat}) \pm 0.2\,(\rm{syst})$ in the backward region ($-4.97<y^*_{\mu}<-2.47$), where $y^*_{\mu}$ represents the muon rapidity in the centre-of-mass frame.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2023-010.html (LHCb public pages

Studies of η\eta and η′\eta' production in pppp and ppPb collisions

The production of $\eta$ and $\eta'$ mesons is studied in proton-proton and proton-lead collisions collected with the LHCb detector. Proton-proton collisions are studied at center-of-mass energies of $5.02$ and $13~{\rm TeV}$, and proton-lead collisions are studied at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon of $8.16~{\rm TeV}$. The studies are performed in center-of-mass rapidity regions $2.5<y_{\rm c.m.}<3.5$ (forward rapidity) and $-4.0<y_{\rm c.m.}<-3.0$ (backward rapidity) defined relative to the proton beam direction. The $\eta$ and $\eta'$ production cross sections are measured differentially as a function of transverse momentum for $1.5<p_{\rm T}<10~{\rm GeV}$ and $3<p_{\rm T}<10~{\rm GeV}$, respectively. The differential cross sections are used to calculate nuclear modification factors. The nuclear modification factors for $\eta$ and $\eta'$ mesons agree at both forward and backward rapidity, showing no significant evidence of mass dependence. The differential cross sections of $\eta$ mesons are also used to calculate $\eta/\pi^0$ cross section ratios, which show evidence of a deviation from the world average. These studies offer new constraints on mass-dependent nuclear effects in heavy-ion collisions, as well as $\eta$ and $\eta'$ meson fragmentation.Comment: All figures and tables, along with machine-readable versions and any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2023-030.html (LHCb public pages