Progress with PXIE MEBT Chopper

A capability to provide a large variety of bunch patterns is crucial for the concept of the Project X serving MW-range beam to several experiments simultaneously. This capability will be realized by the Medium Energy Beam Transport's (MEBT) chopping system that will divert 80% of all bunches of the initially 5mA, 2.1 MeV CW 162.5 MHz beam to an absorber according to a pre-programmed bunch-by-bunch selection. Being considered one of the most challenging components, the chopping system will be tested at the Project X Injector Experiment (PXIE) facility that will be built at Fermilab as a prototype of the Project X front end. The bunch deflection will be made by two identical sets of travelling-wave kickers working in sync. Currently, two versions of the kickers are being investigated: a helical 200 Ohm structure with a switching-type 500 V driver and a planar 50 Ohm structure with a linear 250 V amplifier. This paper will describe the chopping system scheme and functional specifications for the kickers, present results of electromagnetic measurements of the models, discuss possible driver schemes, and show a conceptual mechanical design.Comment: 3 pp. 3rd International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC 2012) 20-25 May 2012. New Orleans, Louisian

Conditions currently associated with erythema nodosum in Swiss children

A review was made of the 36 paediatric patients in whom the diagnosis of erythema nodosum had been established between 1977 and 1996 at the Department of Paediatrics, University of Bern, Switzerland. Infectious diseases were associated with erythema nodosum in 20 (including 10 streptococcal infections) and non-infectious inflammatory diseases in 8 patients. None of the 36 patients had tuberculosis or had been exposed to sulphonamides, phenytoin or hormonal contraceptives. There were eight patients in whom either the associated disease was not diagnosed, or there was no other disease. Conclusion Most cases of erythema nodosum are nowadays caused by non-mycobacterial infectious diseases or by non-infectious inflammatory disease

Facing up to bias in healthcare: The influence of familiarity appearance on hiring decisions

Associations between facial appearance and hiring decisions are well-documented within job literature as a source of decision misjudgment with economic and human costs. Notwithstanding, this aspect is yet to be investigated in healthcare. We collected 90 pictures of new-graduates nurses faces to be judged on different facial appearance-based traits by an independent sample. Six months after graduation, the same new-graduates were interviewed about their job situation. Binomial logistic regression was conducted to examine whether facial appearance ratings would predict the probability to be hired as nurse. Results showed that applicants with a face conveying a feeling of familiarity were more likely to be hired. Considering that people might be inclined to these biases during societal crises and the exceptional need to quickly recruit health professionals during COVID-19 pandemic, our study recommends special attention to prevent the influence of facial appearance-based evaluations not reflecting real skills to limit potentially adverse consequences

Cryopreservation of Ovarian Tissue in Pediatric Patients

Cancer treatments improve the survival rate of children and adolescents; however chemo- and radiotherapy result in gonadal damage leading to acute ovarian failure and sterility. Ovarian tissue cryopreservation allows long-term storage of primordial follicles and represents the only possibility of preserving the potential fertility in prepubertal girls. The aim of the present study is to describe our experience in ovarian tissue cryopreservation in 45 pediatric patients. The number of follicles per square millimeter of the overall section area and follicle quality were evaluated histologically. A strong negative correlation was found between age and follicular density in patients both prior to and after chemotherapy (P < 0.0001). Damage in follicular quality, that is, increased oocyte vacuolization and detachment of the oocyte from granulosa cells, was found after chemotherapy. Ovarian tissue cryopreservation, preferably performed before initiation of chemotherapy, should be offered to pediatric patients, including prepubertal girls, at risk of sterility

New Equalizers for Antiproton Stochastic Cooling at Fermilab

In the continuous effort to improve antiproton stacking rate, a new type of equalizers has been developed and installed in antiproton accumulator. The R&amp;D of these new equalizers is described in this paper. Equalizers are used in Fermilab antiproton stochastic cooling to compensate frequency response of the cooling system. Usually both amplitude and phase compensations are needed. However in most cases it is difficult to achieve a satisfactory compensation for both because of their interdependence. To make it more difficult is that in some cases large compensations (10 to 20 db of amplitude compensation or more than 100 degree of phase compensation) are needed near the low or high ends of a frequency band. Recently a new compensation scheme of equalizers is proposed for Fermilab antiproton accumulator. This scheme originated from the requirement to maximize the system performance resulting in a request for the phase of the cooling system transfer function to be extremely flat. For this kind of phase correction, a new type of equalizers has been developed

Beam Based Measurements for Stochastic Cooling Systems at Fermilab

Improvement of antiproton stacking rates has been pursued for the last twenty years at Fermilab. The last twelve months have been dedicated to improving the computer model of the Stacktail system. The production of antiprotons encompasses the use of the entire accelerator chain with the exception of the Tevatron. In the Antiproton Source two storage rings, the Debuncher and Accumulator are responsible for the accumulation of antiprotons in quantities that can exceed 2 x 10{sup 12}, but more routinely, stacks of 5 x 10{sup 11} antiprotons are accumulated before being transferred to the Recycler ring. Since the beginning of this recent enterprise, peak accumulation rates have increased from 2 x 10{sup 11} to greater than 2.3 x 10{sup 11} antiprotons per hour. A goal of 3 x 10{sup 11} per hour has been established. Improvements to the stochastic cooling systems are but a part of this current effort. This paper will discuss Stacktail system measurements and experienced system limitations

The study of calcified atherosclerotic arteries: an alternative to evaluate the composition of a problematic tissue reveals new insight including metakaryotic cells

Background Calcifications of atherosclerotic plaques represent a controversial issue as they either lead to the stabilization or rupture of the lesion. However, the cellular key players involved in the progression of the calcified plaques have not yet been described. The primary reason for this lacuna is that decalcification procedures impair protein and nucleic acids contained in the calcified tissue. The aim of our study was to preserve the cellular content of heavily calcified plaques with a new rapid fixation in order to simplify the study of calcifications. Methods Here we applied a fixation method for fresh calcified tissue using the Carnoy’s solution followed by an enzymatic tissue digestion with type II collagenase. Immunohistochemistry was performed to verify the preservation of nuclear and cytoplasmic antigens. DNA content and RNA preservation was evaluated respectively with Feulgen staining and RT-PCR. A checklist of steps for successful image analysis was provided. To present the basic features of the F-DNA analysis we used descriptive statistics, skewness and kurtosis. Differences in DNA content were analysed with Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn’s post tests. The value of P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results Twenty-four vascular adult tissues, sorted as calcified (14) or uncalcified (10), were processed and 17 fetal tissues were used as controls (9 soft and 8 hard). Cells composing the calcified carotid plaques were positive to Desmin, Vimentin, Osteocalcin or Ki-67; the cellular population included smooth muscle cells, osteoblasts and osteoclasts-like cells and metakaryotic cells. The DNA content of each cell type found in the calcified carotid artery was successfully quantified in 7 selected samples. Notably the protocol revealed that DNA content in osteoblasts in fetal control tissues exhibits about half (3.0 ng) of the normal nuclear DNA content (6.0 ng). Conclusion Together with standard histology, this technique could give additional information on the cellular content of calcified plaques and help clarify the calcification process during atherosclerosis.United Therapeutics Corporatio