Injection seeded, diode pumped regenerative ring Nd:YAG amplifier for spaceborne laser ranging technology development

A small, all solid state, regenerative ring amplifier designed as a prototype for space application is discussed. Novel features include dual side pumping of the Nd:YAG crystal and a triangular ring cavity design which minimizes the number of optical components and losses. The amplifier is relatively small (3 ns round trip time) even though standard optical elements are employed. The ring regeneratively amplifies a 100 ps single pulse by approximately 10(exp 5) at a repetition rate of 10 to 100 Hz. The amplifier is designed to be injection seeded with a pulsed, 100 ps laser diode at 1.06 microns, but another Nd:YAG laser system supplying higher pulse energies was employed for laboratory experiment. This system is a prototype laser oscillator for the Geoscience Laser Ranging System (GLRS) platform. Results on measurements of beam quality, astigmatism, and gain are given

First-in-man evaluation of 124I-PGN650: A PET tracer for detecting phosphatidylserine as a biomarker of the solid tumor microenvironment

Purpose: PGN650 is a F(ab′) 2 antibody fragment that targets phosphatidylserine (PS), a marker normally absent that becomes exposed on tumor cells and tumor vasculature in response to oxidative stress and increases in response to therapy. PGN650 was labeled with 124 I to create a positron emission tomography (PET) agent as an in vivo biomarker for tumor microenvironment and response to therapy. In this phase 0 study, we evaluated the pharmacokinetics, safety, radiation dosimetry, and tumor targeting of this tracer in a cohort of patients with cancer. Methods: Eleven patients with known solid tumors received approximately 140 MBq (3.8 mCi) 124 I-PGN650 intravenously and underwent positron emission tomography–computed tomography (PET/CT) approximately 1 hour, 3 hours, and either 24 hours or 48 hours later to establish tracer kinetics for the purpose of calculating radiation dosimetry (from integration of the organ time-activity curves and OLINDA/EXM using the adult male and female models). Results: Known tumor foci demonstrated mildly increased uptake, with the highest activity at the latest imaging time. There were no unexpected adverse events. The liver was the organ receiving the highest radiation dose (0.77 mGy/MBq); the effective dose was 0.41 mSv/MBq. Conclusion: Although 124 I-PGN650 is safe for human PET imaging, the tumor targeting with this agent in patients was less than previously observed in animal studies

HIVpositive people\u27s perspectives on Canadian criminal law and non-disclosure

The largest survey to date of people living with HIV regarding attitudes toward criminalization of HIV non-disclosure, this study investigates: sources of legal information available to HIV-positive people; perceptions of how criminal prosecutions and media coverage affect understanding of rights and responsibilities of self and others; and where HIV-positive people themselves stand on the role the criminal justice system should play. While mainstream media constructions of criminal iconography do affect PHA views, those who have higher levels of formal education, are active in the dating scene, and have been living longer with HIV hold less punitive views than those who do not. While the overall pattern of agreement on where to draw the line in criminal prosecution holds regardless of demographic characteristics, there is some statistically significant variation in degree of punitiveness according to sexual orientation and gender as well

Nimbus 7 solar backscatter ultraviolet (SBUV) ozone products user's guide

Three ozone tape products from the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV) experiment aboard Nimbus 7 were archived at the National Space Science Data Center. The experiment measures the fraction of incoming radiation backscattered by the Earth's atmosphere at 12 wavelengths. In-flight measurements were used to monitor changes in the instrument sensitivity. Total column ozone is derived by comparing the measurements with calculations of what would be measured for different total ozone amounts. The altitude distribution is retrieved using an optimum statistical technique for the inversion. The estimated initial error in the absolute scale for total ozone is 2 percent, with a 3 percent drift over 8 years. The profile error depends on latitude and height, smallest at 3 to 10 mbar; the drift increases with increasing altitude. Three tape products are described. The High Density SBUV (HDSBUV) tape contains the final derived products - the total ozone and the vertical ozone profile - as well as much detailed diagnostic information generated during the retrieval process. The Compressed Ozone (CPOZ) tape contains only that subset of HDSBUV information, including total ozone and ozone profiles, considered most useful for scientific studies. The Zonal Means Tape (ZMT) contains daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly averages of the derived quantities over 10 deg latitude zones

Discrete mode laser diodes with ultra narrow linewidth emission <3kHz

Ex-facet, free-running ultra-low linewidth (<3 kHz), single mode laser emission is demonstrated using low cost, regrowth-free ridge waveguide discrete mode Fabry-Perot laser diode chips