Age of red cells for transfusion and outcomes in patients with ARDS

Packed red blood cells (PRBCs), stored for prolonged intervals, might contribute to adverse clinical outcomes in critically ill patients. In this study, short-term outcome after transfusion of PRBCs of two storage duration periods was analyzed in patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Patients who received transfusions of PRBCs were identified from a cohort of 1044 ARDS patients. Patients were grouped according to the mean storage age of all transfused units. Patients transfused with PRBCs of a mean storage age ≤ 28 days were compared to patients transfused with PRBCs of a mean storage age > 28 days. The primary endpoint was 28-day mortality. Secondary endpoints included failure-free days composites. Two hundred and eighty-three patients were eligible for analysis. Patients in the short-term storage group had similar baseline characteristics and received a similar amount of PRBC units compared with patients in the long-term storage group (five units (IQR, 3-10) vs. four units (2-8), p = 0.14). The mean storage age in the short-term storage group was 20 (±5.4) days compared with 32 (±3.1) days in the long-term storage group (mean difference 12 days (95%-CI, 11-13)). There was no difference in 28-day mortality between the short-term storage group compared with the long-term storage group (hazard ratio, 1.36 (95%-CI, 0.84-2.21), p = 0.21). While there were no differences in ventilator-free, sedation-free, and vasopressor-free days composites, patients in the long-term storage group compared with patients in the short-term storage group had a 75% lower chance for successful weaning from renal replacement therapy (RRT) within 28 days after ARDS onset (subdistribution hazard ratio, 0.24 (95%-CI, 0.1-0.55), p < 0.001). Further analysis indicated that even a single PRBC unit stored for more than 28 days decreased the chance for successful weaning from RRT. Prolonged storage of PRBCs was not associated with a higher mortality in adults with ARDS. However, transfusion of long-term stored PRBCs was associated with prolonged dependence of RRT in critically ill patients with an ARDS

The ANTARES Telescope Neutrino Alert System

The ANTARES telescope has the capability to detect neutrinos produced in astrophysical transient sources. Potential sources include gamma-ray bursts, core collapse supernovae, and flaring active galactic nuclei. To enhance the sensitivity of ANTARES to such sources, a new detection method based on coincident observations of neutrinos and optical signals has been developed. A fast online muon track reconstruction is used to trigger a network of small automatic optical telescopes. Such alerts are generated for special events, such as two or more neutrinos, coincident in time and direction, or single neutrinos of very high energy.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures submitted to Astroparticle Physic

Measurement of Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations with the ANTARES Neutrino Telescope

The data taken with the ANTARES neutrino telescope from 2007 to 2010, a total live time of 863 days, are used to measure the oscillation parameters of atmospheric neutrinos. Muon tracks are reconstructed with energies as low as 20 GeV. Neutrino oscillations will cause a suppression of vertical upgoing muon neutrinos of such energies crossing the Earth. The parameters determining the oscillation of atmospheric neutrinos are extracted by fitting the event rate as a function of the ratio of the estimated neutrino energy and reconstructed flight path through the Earth. Measurement contours of the oscillation parameters in a two-flavour approximation are derived. Assuming maximum mixing, a mass difference of $\Delta m_{32}^2=(3.1\pm 0.9)\cdot 10^{-3}$ eV$^2$ is obtained, in good agreement with the world average value.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007

We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy, particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access area to figures, tables at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

Time calibration of the ANTARES neutrino telescope

The ANTARES deep-sea neutrino telescope comprises a three-dimensional array of photomultipliers to detect the Cherenkov light induced by upgoing relativistic charged particles originating from neutrino interactions in the vicinity of the detector. The large scattering length of light in the deep sea facilitates an angular resolution of a few tenths of a degree for neutrino energies exceeding 10 TeV. In order to achieve this optimal performance, the time calibration procedures should ensure a relative time calibration between the photomultipliers at the level of similar to 1 ns. The methods developed to attain this level of precision are described

Predicting Solar Cell Performance from Terahertz and Microwave Spectroscopy

Mobilities and lifetimes of photogenerated charge carriers are core properties of photovoltaic materials and can both be characterized by contactless terahertz or microwave measurements. Here, the expertise from fifteen laboratories is combined to quantitatively model the current voltage characteristics of a solar cell from such measurements. To this end, the impact of measurement conditions, alternate interpretations, and experimental inter laboratory variations are discussed using a Cs,FA,MA Pb I,Br 3 halide perovskite thin film as a case study. At 1 sun equivalent excitation, neither transport nor recombination is significantly affected by exciton formation or trapping. Terahertz, microwave, and photoluminescence transients for the neat material yield consistent effective lifetimes implying a resistance free JV curve with a potential power conversion efficiency of 24.6 . For grainsizes above amp; 8776;20 nm, intra grain charge transport is characterized by terahertz sum mobilities of amp; 8776;32 cm2 V amp; 8722;1 s amp; 8722;1. Drift diffusion simulations indicate that these intra grain mobilities can slightly reduce the fill factor of perovskite solar cells to 0.82, in accordance with the best realized devices in the literature. Beyond perovskites, this work can guide a highly predictive characterization of any emerging semiconductor for photovoltaic or photoelectrochemical energy conversion. A best practice for the interpretation of terahertz and microwave measurements on photovoltaic materials is presente

The positioning system of the ANTARES Neutrino Telescope

The ANTARES neutrino telescope, located 40km off the coast of Toulon in the Mediterranean Sea at a mooring depth of about 2475m, consists of twelve detection lines equipped typically with 25 storeys. Every storey carries three optical modules that detect Cherenkov light induced by charged secondary particles (typically muons) coming from neutrino interactions. As these lines are flexible structures fixed to the sea bed and held taut by a buoy, sea currents cause the lines to move and the storeys to rotate. The knowledge of the position of the optical modules with a precision better than 10cm is essential for a good reconstruction of particle tracks. In this paper the ANTARES positioning system is described. It consists of an acoustic positioning system, for distance triangulation, and a compass-tiltmeter system, for the measurement of the orientation and inclination of the storeys. Necessary corrections are discussed and the results of the detector alignment procedure are described