Study of Solar Energetic Particle Events with Ulysses, ACE Observations and Numerical Simulations

We study the latitudinal extent of the near-relativistic electron events of 10 June 2000 and 26 December 2001, observed by both Ulysses and ACE. From the observations it is shown that the intensity of ACE was quite different from that of Ulysses. Through the numerical simulations, we obtain the SEPs time-intensity profiles, which generally fit well to the observations. To compare the observations we obtained the best fit parameters for the simulations. We suggest that the transport effects, especially the perpendicular diffusion effect, can cause the difference between the intensity profiles of ACE and Ulysses, which is dominated by particle transport at a large radial distance and high-latitude when a spacecraft has poor magnetic connection to the particle source. Furthermore, we present the particle source from the best fit parameters to show that the start and peak times of the particle sources are between the onset and max times of a flare in all the energy channels. Moreover, we propose models for the peak intensity and half width of the particle source, and the time interval from the flare onset to the particle source peak time. We show that the models generally agree with the best fit parameters

Modeling of the Magnetic Turbulence Level and Source Function of Particle Injection from Multiple SEP Events

Solar energetic particles (SEPs) are produced by solar eruptions and are harmful to spacecraft and astronauts. The four source function parameters of particle injection for SEP events and the magnetic turbulence level can be collectively referred to as key parameters. We reproduce the electron intensity-time profiles with simulations for five SEP events observed by multispacecraft such as ACE, STEREO-A, and STEREO-B, so we can obtain the five fitted key parameters for each of the events. We analyze the relationship among the five fitted key parameters, and also the relationship between these parameters and the observed event features. Thus, the model of key parameters are established. Next, we simulate another 12 SEP events with the key parameters model. Though the predicted electron intensity-time profiles do not fit the observed ones well, the peak flux and event-integrated fluence can be predicted accurately. Therefore, the model can be used to estimate the radiation hazards

Association of Plasma C1q/TNF-Related Protein 3 (CTRP3) in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a highly prevalent cardiac arrhythmia characterized by atrial remodeling. Complement C1q tumor necrosis factor-related protein 3 (CTRP3) is one of the adipokines associated with obesity, diabetes, and coronary heart disease. The association between plasma CTRP3 levels and AF is uncertain. The aim of this study was to investigate whether plasma CTRP3 concentrations were correlated with AF. Our study included 75 AF patients who underwent catheter ablation at our hospital and 47 sinus rhythm patients to determine the difference in plasma CTRP3 concentrations. Blood samples before the ablation were collected, and ELISA was used to measure the concentrations of CTRP3. Plasma CTRP3 concentrations were significantly lower in AF patients compared with control group (366.9±105.2 ng/ml vs. 429.1±100.1 ng/ml, p=0.002). In subgroup studies, patients with persistent AF had lower plasma CTRP3 concentrations than those with paroxysmal AF (328.3±83.3 ng/ml vs. 380.0±109.2 ng/ml, p=0.037). The concentrations of plasma CTRP3 in the recurrence group after radiofrequency catheter ablation of AF were lower than those in the nonrecurrence group (337.9±77.3 ng/ml vs. 386.6±108.1 ng/ml, p=0.045). Multivariate regression analysis revealed the independent correlation between plasma CTRP3 level and AF. Plasma CTRP3 concentrations were correlated with the presence of AF and AF recurrence

Study of the EAS size spectrum in thermal neutrons measured by the PRISMA-YBJ array

An Extensive Air Shower array of a novel type has been constructed in Tibet at an altitude of 4300 m above sea level. It consists of specially designed scintillator en-detectors capable of measuring two main EAS components: hadrons (n) and electrons (e). Results of the experiment are presented. It is demonstrated that the EAS integral distribution in the number of thermal neutrons can be well fitted by a single power law function. Comparison with detailed Monte-Carlo simulations using CORSIKA6.9 and GEANT4.10 codes are also shown

Study of the EAS size spectrum in thermal neutrons measured by the PRISMA-YBJ array

An Extensive Air Shower array of a novel type has been constructed in Tibet at an altitude of 4300 m above sea level. It consists of specially designed scintillator en-detectors capable of measuring two main EAS components: hadrons (n) and electrons (e). Results of the experiment are presented. It is demonstrated that the EAS integral distribution in the number of thermal neutrons can be well fitted by a single power law function. Comparison with detailed Monte-Carlo simulations using CORSIKA6.9 and GEANT4.10 codes are also shown

Self-illuminating NIR-II bioluminescence imaging probe based on silver sulfide quantum dots

Bioluminescence (BL) imaging has emerged to tackle the potential challenges of fluorescence (FL) imaging including the autofluorescence background, inhomogeneous illumination over a wide imaging field, and the light-induced overheating effect. Taking advantage of the bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) mechanism between a conventional luciferin compound and a suitable acceptor, the visible light of the former can be extended to photons with longer wavelengths emitting from the latter. Although BRET-based self-illuminating imaging probes have already been prepared, employing potentially cytotoxic elements as the acceptor with the emission wavelengths which hardly reach the first near-infrared (NIR-I) window, has limited their applications as safe and high performance in vivo imaging agents. Herein, we report a biocompatible, self-illuminating, and second near-infrared (NIR-II) emissive probe to address the cytotoxicity concerns as well as improve the penetration depth and spatiotemporal resolution of BL imaging. To this end, NanoLuc luciferase enzyme molecules were immobilized on the surface of silver sulfide quantum dots to oxidize its luciferin substrate and initiate a single-step BRET mechanism, resulting in NIR-II photons from the quantum dots. The resulting dual modality (BL/FL) probes were successfully applied to in vivo tumor imaging in mice, demonstrating that NIR-II BL signals could be easily detected from the tumor sites, giving rise to ∼2 times higher signal-to-noise ratios compared to those obtained under FL mode. The results indicated that nontoxic NIR-II emitting nanocrystals deserve more attention to be tailored to fill the growing demands of preparing appropriate agents for high quality BL imaging