Bike2Work

Members of the team Bike2Chocolate themself on the CERN site

The Vital Role of Thanatochemistry in the Postmortem Diagnostic of Diabetic Ketoacidosis—Case Report

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a lethal acute hyperglycemic complication of diabetes mellitus (DM) and it represents the initial manifestation of DM in about 15–20% of cases in adults and about 30–40% of cases in children. Postmortem diagnosis of DKA can only be made by applying thanatochemistry. Biochemistry applied postmortem is viewed with skepticism by many practitioners in the forensic field, completely lacking in many forensic services around the world, and especially in the national ones. This article aims to underline the importance of the postmortem application of biochemistry by reviewing the case of a person in the third decade of life who died suddenly at home due to diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), whose autopsy was performed at an early PMI of approximately 24 h. Routine postmortem examinations (macroscopic, anatomopathological, and toxicological) could not establish a clear cause of death. When attention was turned to biochemical determinations (i.e., determination of glycated hemoglobin, glucose and ketone bodies (acetone, beta-hydroxybutyrate) in the blood, vitreous humor, and cerebrospinal fluid), the identified values clarified the thanatogenic mechanisms by establishing the diagnosis of DKA

ADVANCED ENGINEERING SIMULATION METHODS DEVELOPED IN THE EN-MME ENGINEERING UNIT

The Engineering Unit within EN-MME is in charge of CERN-wide advanced computations and simulations. The team, currently composed of 15 engineers (staff, fellows, MPA, industrial support) from the EN-MME-EDS and EN-MME-EDM sections, has a strong connection and interaction with the other sections of the group (FS, FW, MA and MM). The Engineering Unit is responsible for complex analyses with a high impact on fabrication, operation and safety of equipment, for a diverse user’s community which includes, on top of the other sections of the EN-MME group, other CERN groups and departments, as well as projects and experiments. This contribution will highlight the competences developed within the Engineering Unit in the recent years, on analytical and numerical techniques, including implicit and explicit Finite Element Method (FEM) calculations, multiphysics studies, semiempirical methods, materials modelling, as well as safety standards concerning pressure vessels, handling and structural elements. The contribution will also give examples on the application of such methods to specific projects managed by CERN and the experimental community

Design and Fabrication of FRESCA2 Cryostat

In the framework of the High Field Magnet activities, a new FRESCA2 test station (Facility for Reception of Superconducting Cables 2) was designed and fabricated at CERN to measure superconducting cables in background magnetic fields. This new facility relies on a Nb3Sn dipole magnet for generating a field of 13 T at temperatures in the range from 1.9 K to 50 K. The requirement to perform measurements twice a week entailed a double cryostat nested solution. TE-MSC prepared a functional specification including cryogenic processes and operation parameters for the nested cryostats; then gave mandate to EN-MME for the detailed design, fabrication and assembly. All MME services contributed to the project to face challenges brought by the electromechanical design of FRESCA2: advanced calculations following Pressure Equipment Directive PED standards), mechanical and cryogenic design, fabrication of large vacuum and pressure vessels with full QA-QC of the welding processes (including vacuum and pressure tests), high precision machining of large components and subassemblies, subcontracting, qualification of specific coating and metrology of components, complex assembly and manipulations with the support of EN-HE, integration of cryogenic (TE-CRG) and mechanical instrumentation. The paper reports all these activities