DISTRIBUTION OF BIOCHEMICAL AND MOLECULAR-GENETIC MARKERS OF GENES IN WORKERS OF COAL MINING ENTERPRISES OF KUZBASS REGION SUFFERING FROM CHRONIC DUST BRONCHITIS

Distribution of genotypes of biochemical markers of HP, GC, EsD, АсР genes, genotypes on polymorphic variants of the genes coding enzymes of biotransformation GSTT1 (GST-ɵ1) and GSTM1 (GST-μ1) and NOS3 (VNTR4 polymorphism) in the miners with chronic mechanic bronchitis, and in persons without this occupational pathology is investigated. It is shown that the owners of EsD 1-2, АсР bb genotypes are most subject to development of chronic mechanic bronchitis. Endogen factors of resistance to this disease are GC 1-1, EsD 1-1, АсР bc genotypes

Intercalibration of the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS experiment at start-up

Calibration of the relative response of the individual channels of the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS detector was accomplished, before installation, with cosmic ray muons and test beams. One fourth of the calorimeter was exposed to a beam of high energy electrons and the relative calibration of the channels, the intercalibration, was found to be reproducible to a precision of about 0.3%. Additionally, data were collected with cosmic rays for the entire ECAL barrel during the commissioning phase. By comparing the intercalibration constants obtained with the electron beam data with those from the cosmic ray data, it is demonstrated that the latter provide an intercalibration precision of 1.5% over most of the barrel ECAL. The best intercalibration precision is expected to come from the analysis of events collected in situ during the LHC operation. Using data collected with both electrons and pion beams, several aspects of the intercalibration procedures based on electrons or neutral pions were investigated

First measurements of the performance of the Barrel RPC system in CMS

During the summer 2006, a first integrated test of a part of the CMS experiment was performed at CERN collecting a data sample of several millions of cosmic rays events. A fraction of the Resistive Plate Chambers system was successfully operated. Results on the RPC performance are reported

An RPC-based Technical Trigger for the CMS Experiment

In the CMS experiment, sub-detectors may send special trigger signals, called "Technical Triggers", for special purposes like test and calibration. The Resistive Plate Chambers are part of the Muon Trigger System of the experiment, but might also produce a cosmic muon trigger as Technical Trigger to be used during the commissioning to the detectors, the CMS magnet Test Cosmic Challenge and the later running of CMS. The proposed implementation is based on the development of a new board, the RBC Balcony Collector (RBC); the test results on prototypes and their performance during the recent CMS Cosmic Challenge are presented

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe

Methods of computer prediction of hot cracking susceptibility of welded joints

Translated from Russian (Report of the E.O. Paton Electric Welding Inst., Kiev 1999)Available from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:9023.190(10061)T / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Early effects of low benzene exposure on blood cell counts in Bulgarian petrochemical workers

OBJECTIVES: Only few studies have examined early hematological effects in human populations exposed to low benzene levels and their findings are controversial. We evaluated hematological outcomes (WBC, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, basophils, RBC, Hb, HCT MCV, platelets and MPV) in a population of 153 Bulgarian petrochemical workers exposed to benzene (range 0.01-23.9 ppm) and 50 unexposed subjects. METHODS: Written informed consent was obtained and a self-administered questionnaire used to collect information on current smoking habits, lifestyle, and occupational activities. Exposure assessment was based on personal monitoring sampling the day before phlebotomy. Urinary trans-trans-muconic acid (t,t-MA) was determined at the beginning and end of the work shift. Based on individual airborne benzene measurements, study subjects were categorized in three exposure categories (referents, or =1 ppm). Mean values of each hematologic outcomes in each exposure category were compared with the referent group using a multiple linear regression model adjusted for age, gender, current smoking habits and environmental toluene level. The influence of the CYP2E1 (RsaI and DraI) and NQO1 609C>T genetic polymorphisms on differential hematological parameters was also investigated. RESULTS: No dose-response effect was observed for most of the examined hematological outcomes (WBC, lymphocytes, neutrophils, monocytes, RBC, Hb, HCT, MCV, platelets and MPV). The eosinophil count was inversely related to benzene exposure only among smokers. Conversely, basophils increased with increasing exposure. No effect on benzene hematotoxicity was found for any of the investigated polymorphisms. CONCLUSION: In our study we did not find a decline in WBC and lymphocytes related to benzene exposure. A myeloproliferative effect of benzene is highly unlikely to explain the observed reduction in eosinophils and increase in basophils as it would lead to a concordant depression in all granulocyte subpopulations. Whether benzene effects at low doses are present in Caucasian populations remains uncertain, thus warranting further investigation