Depletion of New Neurons by Image Guided Irradiation

Ionizing radiation continues to be a relevant tool in both imaging and the treatment of cancer. Experimental uses of focal irradiation have recently been expanded to studies of new neurons in the adult brain. Such studies have shown cognitive deficits following radiation treatment and raised caution as to possible unintentional effects that may occur in humans. Conflicting outcomes of the effects of irradiation on adult neurogenesis suggest that the effects are either transient or permanent. In this study, we used an irradiation apparatus employed in the treatment of human tumors to assess radiation effects on rat neurogenesis. For subjects we used adult male rats (Sprague-Dawley) under anesthesia. The irradiation beam was directed at the hippocampus, a center for learning and memory, and the site of neurogenic activity in adult brain. The irradiation was applied at a dose-rate 0.6 Gy/min for total single-fraction, doses ranging from 0.5 to 10.0 Gy. The animals were returned to home cages and recovered with no sign of any side effects. The neurogenesis was measured either 1 week or 6 weeks after the irradiation. At 1 week, the number of neuronal progenitors was reduced in a dose-dependent manner with the 50% reduction at 0.78 Gy. The dose–response curve was well fitted by a double exponential suggesting two processes. Examination of the tissue with quantitative immunohistochemistry revealed a dominant low-dose effect on neuronal progenitors resulting in 80% suppression of neurogenesis. This effect was partially reversible, possibly due to compensatory proliferation of the remaining precursors. At higher doses (>5 Gy) there was additional, nearly complete block of neurogenesis without compensatory proliferation. We conclude that notwithstanding the usefulness of irradiation for experimental purposes, the exposure of human subjects to doses often used in radiotherapy treatment could be damaging and cause cognitive impairments

Topological String Defect Formation During the Chiral Phase Transition

We extend and generalize the seminal work of Brandenberger, Huang and Zhang on the formation of strings during chiral phase transitions(berger) and discuss the formation of abelian and non-abelian topological strings during such transitions in the early Universe and in the high energy heavy-ion collisions. Chiral symmetry as well as deconfinement are restored in the core of these defects. Formation of a dense network of string defects is likely to play an important role in the dynamics following the chiral phase transition. We speculate that such a network can give rise to non-azimuthal distribution of transverse energy in heavy-ion collisions.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, minor correction

Stability of the Black Hole Horizon and the Landau Ghost

The stability of the black hole horizon is demanded by both cosmic censorship and the generalized second law of thermodynamics. We test the consistency of these principles by attempting to exceed the black hole extremality condition in various process in which a U(1) charge is added to a nearly extreme Reissner--Nordstr\"om black hole charged with a {\it different\/} type of U(1) charge. For an infalling spherical charged shell the attempt is foiled by the self--Coulomb repulsion of the shell. For an infalling classical charge it fails because the required classical charge radius exceeds the size of the black hole. For a quantum charge the horizon is saved because in order to avoid the Landau ghost, the effective coupling constant cannot be large enough to accomplish the removal.Comment: 12 pages, RevTe

Second Stage String Fragmentation Model

A string model, advocated by Bowler, provides a physical and intuitive picture of heavy quark fragmentation. When supplemented by an ad hoc factor of (1-z), to suppress fragmentation near z=1, it supplies an excellent fit to the data. We extend Bowler's model by accounting for the further decay of the massive mesonic states produced by the initial string breaking. We find that each subsequent string break and cascade decay beyond the first, introduces a factor of (1-z). Furthermore we find that including a finite mass for the quarks, which pop out of the vacuum and split the string, forces the first string breaking to produce massive states requiring further decay. This sequence terminates at the second stage of fragmentation where only relatively "light" heavy meson systems are formed. Thus we naturally account for the phenomenologically required factor of (1-z). We also predict that the ratio of (primary) fragments-vector/(vector plus scalar) should be .61. Our second stage string fragmentation model provides an appealing picture of heavy quark fragmentation.Comment: 15 page

Progress on the hybrid gun project at UCLA

UCLA/INFN-LNF/Univ. Rome has been developing the hybrid gun which has an RF gun and a short linac for velocity bunching in one structure. After the cavity was manufactured at INFN-LNF in 2012, tests of the gun was carried out at UCLA. The field in the standing wave part was 20 % smaller than the simulation but the phase advance was fine. The cavity was commissioned successfully up to 13 MW. The beam test was performed at 11.5 MW and demonstrated the bunch compression

Semiclassical Decay of Excited String States on Leading Regge Trajectories

We study the decay of hadrons based on a semiclassical string model. By including quark mass effects we find that the width to mass ratio \G/m is an increasing function of $m$, which increases most rapidly for massive quarks. This is consistent with the available data. The decay probability of hadrons on the leading Regge trajectories is computed taking the effect of the string rotation into account. The resulting decay probability is no longer uniform along the length of the string but varies in a manner that is in qualitative agreement with the available data. We argue in favour of possible experiments that would test our predictions more accurately and help open a window to the nonperturbative aspects of QCD.Comment: 15 PAGES, UR-1326, ER-40685-776, SU-4240-55

TNFR1 contributes to activation-induced cell death of pathological CD4+ T lymphocytes during ischemic heart failure

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Determinants of Survival in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: A Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Study of 14,228 Patients

INTRODUCTION: Left untreated, malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is associated with uniformly poor prognosis. Better survival has been reported with surgery-based multimodality therapy, but to date, no trial has demonstrated survival benefit of surgery over other therapies. We evaluated whether cancer-directed surgery influenced survival independently from other predictors in a large population-based dataset. METHODS: The SEER database was explored from 1973 to 2009 to identify all cases of pathologically-proven MPM. Age, sex, race, year of diagnosis, histology stage, cancer-directed surgery, radiation, and vital status were analyzed. The association between prognostic factors and survival was estimated using Cox regression and propensity matched analysis. RESULTS: There were 14,228 patients with pathologic diagnosis of MPM. On multivariable analysis, female gender, younger age, early stage, and treatment with surgery were independent predictors of longer survival. In comparison to no treatment, surgery alone was associated with significant improvement in survival [adjusted hazard ratio (adj HR) 0.64 (0.61-0.67)], but not radiation [adj HR 1.15 (1.08-1.23)]. Surgery and radiation combined had similar survival as surgery alone [adj HR 0.69 (0.64-0.76)]. Results were similar when cases diagnosed between 1973 and 1999 were compared to cases diagnosed between 2000 and 2009. CONCLUSIONS: Despite developments in surgical and radiation techniques, the prognosis for MPM patients has not improved over the past 4 decades. Cancer-directed surgery is independently associated with better survival, suggesting that multimodal surgery-based therapy can benefit these patients. Further research in adjuvant treatment is necessary to improve prognosis in this challenging disease