110 research outputs found
Neutron imaging with a Micromegas detector
The micropattern gaseous detector Micromegas has been developed for several
years in Saclay and presents good performance for neutron detection. A
prototype for neutron imaging has been designed and new results obtained in
thermal neutron beams are presented. Based on previous results demonstrating a
good 1D spatial resolution, a tomographic image of a multiwire cable has been
performed using a 1D Micromegas prototype. The number of pillars supporting the
micromesh is too large and leads to local losses of efficiency that distort the
tomographic reconstruction. Nevertheless, this first tomographic image achieved
with this kind of detector is very encouraging. The next worthwhile development
for neutron imaging is to achieve a bi-dimensional detector, which is presented
in the second part of this study. The purpose of measurements was to
investigate various operational parameters to optimize the spatial resolution.
Through these measurements the optimum spatial resolution has been found to be
around 160 microns (standard deviation) using Micromegas operating in double
amplification mode. Several 2D imaging tests have been carried out. Some of
these results have revealed fabrication defects that occurred during the
manufacture of Micromegas and that are limiting the full potential of the
present neutron imaging system.Comment: 6 pages, 10 figures, presented at IEEE 2004 conference in Roma, Ital
The Drift Chambers Of The Nomad Experiment
We present a detailed description of the drift chambers used as an active
target and a tracking device in the NOMAD experiment at CERN. The main
characteristics of these chambers are a large area, a self supporting structure
made of light composite materials and a low cost. A spatial resolution of 150
microns has been achieved with a single hit efficiency of 97%.Comment: 42 pages, 26 figure
Second Generation Leptoquark Search in p\bar{p} Collisions at = 1.8 TeV
We report on a search for second generation leptoquarks with the D\O\
detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider at = 1.8 TeV.
This search is based on 12.7 pb of data. Second generation leptoquarks
are assumed to be produced in pairs and to decay into a muon and quark with
branching ratio or to neutrino and quark with branching ratio
. We obtain cross section times branching ratio limits as a function
of leptoquark mass and set a lower limit on the leptoquark mass of 111
GeV/c for and 89 GeV/c for at the 95%\
confidence level.Comment: 18 pages, FERMILAB-PUB-95/185-
Jet Production via Strongly-Interacting Color-Singlet Exchange in Collisions
A study of the particle multiplicity between jets with large rapidity
separation has been performed using the D{\O}detector at the Fermilab Tevatron
Collider operating at TeV. A significant excess of
low-multiplicity events is observed above the expectation for color-exchange
processes. The measured fractional excess is , which is consistent with a strongly-interacting
color-singlet (colorless) exchange process and cannot be explained by
electroweak exchange alone. A lower limit of 0.80% (95% C.L.) is obtained on
the fraction of dijet events with color-singlet exchange, independent of the
rapidity gap survival probability.Comment: 15 pages (REVTeX), 3 PS figs (uuencoded/tar compressed, epsf.sty)
Complete postscript available at http://d0sgi0.fnal.gov/d0pubs/journals.html
Submitted to Physical Review Letter
Bacterial infection profiles in lung cancer patients with febrile neutropenia
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The chemotherapy used to treat lung cancer causes febrile neutropenia in 10 to 40% of patients. Although most episodes are of undetermined origin, an infectious etiology can be suspected in 30% of cases. In view of the scarcity of data on lung cancer patients with febrile neutropenia, we performed a retrospective study of the microbiological characteristics of cases recorded in three medical centers in the Picardy region of northern France.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We analyzed the medical records of lung cancer patients with neutropenia (neutrophil count < 500/mm<sup>3</sup>) and fever (temperature > 38.3°C).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The study included 87 lung cancer patients with febrile neutropenia (mean age: 64.2). Two thirds of the patients had metastases and half had poor performance status. Thirty-three of the 87 cases were microbiologically documented. Gram-negative bacteria (mainly enterobacteriaceae from the urinary and digestive tracts) were identified in 59% of these cases. <it>Staphylococcus </it>species (mainly <it>S. aureus</it>) accounted for a high proportion of the identified Gram-positive bacteria. Bacteremia accounted for 60% of the microbiologically documented cases of fever. 23% of the blood cultures were positive. 14% of the infections were probably hospital-acquired and 14% were caused by multidrug-resistant strains. The overall mortality rate at day 30 was 33% and the infection-related mortality rate was 16.1%. Treatment with antibiotics was successful in 82.8% of cases. In a multivariate analysis, predictive factors for treatment failure were age >60 and thrombocytopenia < 20000/mm<sup>3</sup>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Gram-negative species were the most frequently identified bacteria in lung cancer patients with febrile neutropenia. Despite the success of antibiotic treatment and a low-risk neutropenic patient group, mortality is high in this particular population.</p
The cytoprotective drug amifostine modifies both expression and activity of the pro-angiogenic factor VEGF-A
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
The material soul: Strategies for naturalising the soul in an early modern epicurean context
We usually portray the early modern period as one characterised by the âbirth of subjectivityâ with Luther and Descartes as two alternate representatives of this radical break with the past, each ushering in the new era in which âIâ am the locus of judgements about the world. A sub-narrative called âthe mind-body problemâ recounts how Cartesian dualism, responding to the new promise of a mechanistic science of nature, âsplit offâ the world of the soul/mind/self from the world of extended, physical substanceâa split which has preoccupied the philosophy of mind up until the present day. We would like to call attention to a different constellation of textsâneither a robust âtraditionâ nor an isolated âepisodeâ, somewhere in betweenâwhich have in common their indebtedness to, and promotion of an embodied, Epicurean approach to the soul. These texts follow the evocative hint given in Lucretiusâ De rerum natura that âthe soul is to the body as scent is to incenseâ (in an anonymous early modern French version). They neither assert the autonomy of the soul, nor the dualism of body and soul, nor again a sheer physicalism in which âintentionalâ properties are reduced to the basic properties of matter. Rather, to borrow the title of one of these treatises (LâĂme MatĂ©rielle), they seek to articulate the concept of a material soul. We reconstruct the intellectual development of a corporeal, mortal and ultimately material soul, in between medicine, natural philosophy and metaphysics, including discussions of Malebranche and Willis, but focusing primarily on texts including the 1675 Discours anatomiques by the Epicurean physician Guillaume Lamy; the anonymous manuscript from circa 1725 entitled LâĂme MatĂ©rielle, which is essentially a compendium of texts from the later seventeenth century (Malebranche, Bayle) along with excerpts from Lucretius; and materialist writings such Julien Offray de La Mettrieâs LâHomme-Machine (1748), in order to articulate this concept of a âmaterial soulâ with its implications for notions of embodiment, materialism and selfhood
Differential modulatory effects of GSK-3ÎČ and HDM2 on sorafenib-induced AIF nuclear translocation (programmed necrosis) in melanoma
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>GSK-3ÎČ phosphorylates numerous substrates that govern cell survival. It phosphorylates p53, for example, and induces its nuclear export, HDM2-dependent ubiquitination, and proteasomal degradation. GSK-3ÎČ can either enhance or inhibit programmed cell death, depending on the nature of the pro-apoptotic stimulus. We previously showed that the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib activated GSK-3ÎČ and that this activation attenuated the cytotoxic effects of the drug in various BRAF-mutant melanoma cell lines. In this report, we describe the results of studies exploring the effects of GSK-3ÎČ on the cytotoxicity and antitumor activity of sorafenib combined with the HDM2 antagonist MI-319.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>MI-319 alone increased p53 levels and p53-dependent gene expression in melanoma cells but did not induce programmed cell death. Its cytotoxicity, however, was augmented in some melanoma cell lines by the addition of sorafenib. In responsive cell lines, the MI-319/sorafenib combination induced the disappearance of p53 from the nucleus, the down modulation of Bcl-2 and Bcl-x<sub>L</sub>, the translocation of p53 to the mitochondria and that of AIF to the nuclei. These events were all GSK-3ÎČ-dependent in that they were blocked with a GSK-3ÎČ shRNA and facilitated in otherwise unresponsive melanoma cell lines by the introduction of a constitutively active form of the kinase (GSK-3ÎČ-S9A). These modulatory effects of GSK-3ÎČ on the activities of the sorafenib/MI-319 combination were the exact reverse of its effects on the activities of sorafenib alone, which induced the down modulation of Bcl-2 and Bcl-x<sub>L </sub>and the nuclear translocation of AIF only in cells in which GSK-3ÎČ activity was either down modulated or constitutively low. In A375 xenografts, the antitumor effects of sorafenib and MI-319 were additive and associated with the down modulation of Bcl-2 and Bcl-x<sub>L</sub>, the nuclear translocation of AIF, and increased suppression of tumor angiogenesis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data demonstrate a complex partnership between GSK-3ÎČ and HDM2 in the regulation of p53 function in the nucleus and mitochondria. The data suggest that the ability of sorafenib to activate GSK-3ÎČ and alter the intracellular distribution of p53 may be exploitable as an adjunct to agents that prevent the HDM2-dependent degradation of p53 in the treatment of melanoma.</p
The NOMAD Experiment at the CERN SPS
The NOMAD experiment is a short base-line search for Îœ<sub>ÎŒ</sub> â Îœ<sub>Ï</sub> oscillations in the CERN neutrino beam. The Îœ<sub>Ï</sub>'s are searched for through their charged current interactions followed by the observation of the resulting Ïâ through its electronic, muonic or hadronic decays. These decays are recognized using kinematical criteria necessitating the use of a light target which enables the reconstruction of individual particles produced in the neutrino interactions. This paper describes the various components of the NOMAD detector: the target and muon drift chambers, the electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters, the preshower and transition radiation detectors and the veto and trigger scintillation counters. The beam and data acquisition system are also described. The quality of the reconstruction and individual particles is demonstrated through the ability of NOMAD to observe K<sub>s</sub><sup>0</sup>'s, Î<sup>0</sup>'s and Ï<sup>0</sup>'s. Finally, the observation of Ïâ through its electronic decay being one of the most promising channels in the search, the identification of electrons in NOMAD is discussed
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