Expression and activity profiles of DPP IV/CD26 and NEP/CD10 glycoproteins in the human renal cancer are tumor-type dependent

[Background] Cell-surface glycoproteins play critical roles in cell-to-cell recognition, signal transduction and regulation, thus being crucial in cell proliferation and cancer etiogenesis and development. DPP IV and NEP are ubiquitous glycopeptidases closely linked to tumor pathogenesis and development, and they are used as markers in some cancers. In the present study, the activity and protein and mRNA expression of these glycoproteins were analysed in a subset of clear-cell (CCRCC) and chromophobe (ChRCC) renal cell carcinomas, and in renal oncocytomas (RO).[Methods] Peptidase activities were measured by conventional enzymatic assays with fluorogen-derived substrates. Gene expression was quantitatively determined by qRT-PCR and membrane-bound protein expression and distribution analysis was performed by specific immunostaining.Peer reviewe

Direct application of plasmid DNA containing type I interferon transgenes to vaginal mucosa inhibits HSV-2 mediated mortality

The application of naked DNA containing type I interferon (IFN) transgenes is a promising potential therapeutic approach for controlling chronic viral infections. Herein, we detail the application of this approach that has been extensively used to restrain ocular HSV-1 infection, for antagonizing vaginal HSV-2 infection. We show that application of IFN-α1, -α5, and –β transgenes to vaginal mouse lumen 24 hours prior to HSV-2 infection reduces HSV-2 mediated mortality by 2.5 to 3-fold. However, other type I IFN transgenes (IFN- α4, -α5, -α6, and –α9) are non effectual against HSV-2. We further show that the efficacy of IFN-α1 transgene treatment is independent of CD4+ T lymphocytes. However, in mice depleted of CD8+ T lymphocytes, the ability of IFN-α1 transgene treatment to antagonize HSV-2 was lost

A compact and cost-effective hard X-ray free-electron laser driven by a high-brightness and low-energy electron beam

We present the first lasing results of SwissFEL, a hard X-ray free-electron laser (FEL) that recently came into operation at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. SwissFEL is a very stable, compact and cost-effective X-ray FEL facility driven by a low-energy and ultra-low-emittance electron beam travelling through short-period undulators. It delivers stable hard X-ray FEL radiation at 1-Å wavelength with pulse energies of more than 500 μJ, pulse durations of ~30 fs (root mean square) and spectral bandwidth below the per-mil level. Using special configurations, we have produced pulses shorter than 1 fs and, in a different set-up, broadband radiation with an unprecedented bandwidth of ~2%. The extremely small emittance demonstrated at SwissFEL paves the way for even more compact and affordable hard X-ray FELs, potentially boosting the number of facilities worldwide and thereby expanding the population of the scientific community that has access to X-ray FEL radiation

The Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) - 2018 Summary Report

The Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) is a TeV-scale high-luminosity linear $e^+e^-$ collider under development at CERN. Following the CLIC conceptual design published in 2012, this report provides an overview of the CLIC project, its current status, and future developments. It presents the CLIC physics potential and reports on design, technology, and implementation aspects of the accelerator and the detector. CLIC is foreseen to be built and operated in stages, at centre-of-mass energies of 380 GeV, 1.5 TeV and 3 TeV, respectively. CLIC uses a two-beam acceleration scheme, in which 12 GHz accelerating structures are powered via a high-current drive beam. For the first stage, an alternative with X-band klystron powering is also considered. CLIC accelerator optimisation, technical developments and system tests have resulted in an increased energy efficiency (power around 170 MW) for the 380 GeV stage, together with a reduced cost estimate at the level of 6 billion CHF. The detector concept has been refined using improved software tools. Significant progress has been made on detector technology developments for the tracking and calorimetry systems. A wide range of CLIC physics studies has been conducted, both through full detector simulations and parametric studies, together providing a broad overview of the CLIC physics potential. Each of the three energy stages adds cornerstones of the full CLIC physics programme, such as Higgs width and couplings, top-quark properties, Higgs self-coupling, direct searches, and many precision electroweak measurements. The interpretation of the combined results gives crucial and accurate insight into new physics, largely complementary to LHC and HL-LHC. The construction of the first CLIC energy stage could start by 2026. First beams would be available by 2035, marking the beginning of a broad CLIC physics programme spanning 25-30 years

Subwavelength structured surfaces: theory and applications

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rochester. College of Engineering and Applied Science. Institute of Optics, 1993.Detailed theoretical analysis of subwavelength structured (SWS) surfaces is presented. These surfaces are designed for applications in both the visible and infrared (IR) portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Applications presented include antireflection structured (ARS) surfaces, polarization components, narrow-band filters, and phase plates. Experimental results for 2-D binary ARS surfaces are illustrated. Analysis of SWS surfaces is performed using two separate and distinct methods: rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) and effective medium theory (EMT). EMT is used to derive intuitive analytical formulae that describe a surface's reflection and transmission characteristics. Comparisons are made between zeroth-order EMT [theory ignoring the period-to-wavelength (Λ/λ) dependence of the surface's effective optical properties] and higher-order EMT (theory which accounts, to various levels of accuracy, the Λ/λ dependence). It is shown that as the grating period increases, or the substrate index of refraction increases past a certain threshold in relation to the index of refraction of the incident medium, that zeroth-order EMT results are erroneous and that results derived from higher-order EMT must be used. Comparisons between EMT and RCWA results are made. EMT results, particularly those derived using second-order EMT, are shown to match RCWA. The match between EMT and RCWA is best when the electric field E is perpendicular to the grating vector K (E ⊥ K). ARS surfaces with binary and multi-level 1-D and 2-D profiles are analyzed. The 1 -D profiles are shown to be form birefringent and thus better suited for suppressing Fresnel reflections for incident radiation that is linearly-polarized. 2-D profiles, due to their increased surface symmetry, are shown to exhibit near isotropic behavior, and thus are advantageous when randomly-polarized radiation is an issue. As the number of levels the profiles contain increases, the tolerance of both 1-D and 2-D structures to bias angles, wavelength detunings, and errors in etch depth increases. ARS surfaces with 1-D continuous profiles are also investigated. Analysis of these structures is performed using RCWA, as well as using a novel EMT approach which incorporates tapered transmission-line theory to obtain closed-form solutions for the reflection coefficients. Performance analysis is presented versus grating depth, incident wavelength, and angle of incidence, for the specific cases of triangular and sinusoidal profiles. As polarization components, SWS surfaces as wire-grid polarizers and wave plates are illustrated. Examples are given for ZnSe transmission quarter-wave plates designed with binary and continuous 1-D profiles. Although wave plates with continuous profiles are shown to require a deeper grating depth than a corresponding wave plate designed using a binary profile, the continuous-profile wave plates are advantageous due to their increased optical throughput. The increased optical throughput becomes particular significant when high-index substrates (e.g., most IR transmissible materials) are used. For narrow-band filter designs, the novel approach of using EMT to predict the location of the SWS filter's operating wavelength is illustrated. A structure designed for application in the visible region of the spectrum is presented in which the filter possesses a FWHM of -2Å (note that narrower filter linewidths are possible without increasing the complexity of the fabrication process). As phase plates, the novel use of SWS surfaces to compress laser pulses is presented. These phase plates compensate for the frequency-dependent group delay accumulated by the pulse in passing through an optical system. Experimental results are presented for 2-D binary ARS surfaces fabricated on GaAs and silicon wafers. These gratings are designed for operation at CO₂ wavelengths (λ = 10.6 μm) so that the features may be fabricated using optical lithography techniques. These structures are shown to reduce the surface reflectivity by as much as a factor of 40. Lower reflection coefficients are expected for grating structures that more closely fit theoretical design specifications

FOLD project : experimental assessment of the efficiency of an optical fibre to detect a gaseous leak on a buried pipe

In 2015, TOTAL, AIR LIQUIDE, GRTgaz, ENGIE E&P International and INERIS were involved in a collaborative project called FOLD. Its objective was to experimentally assess the capability of an optical fibre based system to detect gaseous leaks occurring on a buried pipe. During this project, several parameters were tested in relation to the release properties (nature of gas, orifice diameter, pressure, direction), to the installation of the optical cable (offset location from the pipe, protection around the cable) and to the scanning means (interrogation distance, interrogator technology). This paper presents the experimental bench that was used during the testing campaign and some of the results obtained with the DTS (Distributed Temperature Sensing) equipment when these latter were interrogating the optical cable on short distance (less than 500 m). By analysing these results, it is already possible to give recommendations regarding the best positioning of the optical cable along the buried pipe to optimise the efficiency of the optical fibre based detection system