1,665 research outputs found
A device to characterize optical fibres
ATLAS is a general purpose experiment approved for the LHC collider at CERN.
An important component of the detector is the central hadronic calorimeter; for
its construction more than 600,000 Wave Length Shifting (WLS) fibres
(corresponding to a total length of 1,120 Km) have been used.
We have built and put into operation a dedicated instrument for the
measurement of light yield and attenuation length over groups of 20 fibres at a
time.
The overall accuracy achieved in the measurement of light yield
(attenuation length) is 1.5% (3%).
We also report the results obtained using this method in the quality control
of a large sample of fibres.Comment: 17 pages 20 figeres submitted to NIM journa
Alignment procedure for the VIRGO Interferometer: experimental results from the Frascati prototype
A small fixed-mirror Michelson interferometer has been built in Frascati to
experimentally study the alignment method that has been suggested for VIRGO.
The experimental results fully confirm the adequacy of the method. The minimum
angular misalignment that can be detected in the present set-up is 10
nrad/sqrt{Hz}Comment: 10 pages, LaTex2e, 4 figures, 5 tables. Submitted to Phys. Lett.
Linearization of Cohomology-free Vector Fields
We study the cohomological equation for a smooth vector field on a compact
manifold. We show that if the vector field is cohomology free, then it can be
embedded continuously in a linear flow on an Abelian group
Obesity and Breast Cancer: Interaction or Interference with the Response to Therapy?
Background: Aromatase inhibitors (AI) are widely used for treating hormone-sensitive breast cancer (BC). Obesity, however, due to aromatase-mediated androgen conversion into estradiol in the peripheral adipose tissue, might impair AI inhibitory capacity. We aimed at identifying a cut-off of body mass index (BMI) with significant prognostic impact, in a cohort of stage I-II BC patients on systemic adjuvant therapy with AI.
Methods: we retrospectively evaluated routinely collected baseline parameters. The optimal BMI cut-off affecting disease-free survival (DFS) in AI-treated BC patients was identified through maximally selected rank statistics; non-linear association between BMI and DFS in the AI cohort was assessed by hazard-ratio-smoothed curve analysis using BMI as continuous variable. The impact of the BMI cut-off on survival outcomes was estimated through Kaplan-Meier plots, with log-rank test and hazard ratio estimation comparing patient subgroups.
Results: A total of 319 BC patients under adjuvant endocrine therapy and/or adjuvant chemotherapy were included. Curve-fitting analysis showed that for a BMI cut-off >29 in AI-treated BC patients (n = 172), DFS was increasingly deteriorating and that the impact of BMI on 2-year DFS identified a cut-off specific only for the cohort of postmenopausal BC patients under adjuvant therapy with AI.
Conclusion: in radically resected hormone-sensitive BC patients undergoing neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy and treated with AI, obesity represents a risk factor for recurrence, with a significantly reduced 2-year DFS
2D photonic-crystal optomechanical nanoresonator
We present the optical optimization of an optomechanical device based on a
suspended InP membrane patterned with a 2D near-wavelength grating (NWG) based
on a 2D photonic-crystal geometry. We first identify by numerical simulation a
set of geometrical parameters providing a reflectivity higher than 99.8 % over
a 50-nm span. We then study the limitations induced by the finite value of the
optical waist and lateral size of the NWG pattern using different numerical
approaches. The NWG grating, pierced in a suspended InP 265 nm-thick membrane,
is used to form a compact microcavity involving the suspended nano-membrane as
end mirror. The resulting cavity has a waist size smaller than 10 m and a
finesse in the 200 range. It is used to probe the Brownian motion of the
mechanical modes of the nanomembrane
The effect of CpG-ODN on antigen presenting cells of the foal
BACKGROUND: Cytosine-phosphate-guanosine oligodeoxynucleotide (CpG-ODN) has been used successfully to induce immune responses against viral and intracellular organisms in mammals. The main objective of this study was to test the effect of CpG-ODN on antigen presenting cells of young foals.
METHODS: Peripheral blood monocytes of foals (n = 7) were isolated in the first day of life and monthly thereafter up to 3 months of life. Adult horse (n = 7) monocytes were isolated and tested once for comparison. Isolated monocytes were stimulated with IL-4 and GM-CSF (to obtain dendritic cells, DC) or not stimulated (to obtain macrophages). Macrophages and DCs were stimulated for 14-16 hours with either CpG-ODN, LPS or not stimulated. The stimulated and non-stimulated cells were tested for cell surface markers (CD86 and MHC class II) using flow cytometry, mRNA expression of cytokines (IL-12, IFNalpha, IL-10) and TLR-9 using real time quantitative RT-PCR, and for the activation of the transcription factor NF-kappaB p65 using a chemiluminescence assay.
RESULTS: The median fluorescence of the MHC class II molecule in non-stimulated foal macrophages and DCs at birth were 12.5 times and 11.2 times inferior, respectively, than adult horse cells (p = 0.009). That difference subsided at 3 months of life (p = 0.3). The expression of the CD86 co-stimulatory molecule was comparable in adult horse and foal macrophages and DCs, independent of treatment. CpG-ODN stimulation induced IL-12p40 (53 times) and IFNalpha (23 times) mRNA expression in CpG-ODN-treated adult horse DCs (p = 0.078), but not macrophages, in comparison to non-stimulated cells. In contrast, foal APCs did not respond to CpG-ODN stimulation with increased cytokine mRNA expression up to 3 months of age. TLR-9 mRNA expression and NF-kB activation (NF-kB p65) in foal DCs and macrophages were comparable (p \u3e 0.05) to adult horse cells.
CONCLUSION: CpG-ODN treatment did not induce specific maturation and cytokine expression in foal macrophages and DCs. Nevertheless, adult horse DCs, but not macrophages, increased their expression of IL-12 and IFNalpha cytokines upon CpG-ODN stimulation. Importantly, foals presented an age-dependent limitation in the expression of MHC class II in macrophages and DCs, independent of treatment
High flux polarized gamma rays production: first measurements with a four-mirror cavity at the ATF
The next generation of e+/e- colliders will require a very intense flux of
gamma rays to allow high current polarized positrons to be produced. This can
be achieved by converting polarized high energy photons in polarized pairs into
a target. In that context, an optical system consisting of a laser and a
four-mirror passive Fabry-Perot cavity has recently been installed at the
Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) at KEK to produce a high flux of polarized
gamma rays by inverse Compton scattering. In this contribution, we describe the
experimental system and present preliminary results. An ultra-stable
four-mirror non planar geometry has been implemented to ensure the polarization
of the gamma rays produced. A fiber amplifier is used to inject about 10W in
the high finesse cavity with a gain of 1000. A digital feedback system is used
to keep the cavity at the length required for the optimal power enhancement.
Preliminary measurements show that a flux of about /s with
an average energy of about 24 MeV was generated. Several upgrades currently in
progress are also described
INTERNAL FRICTION AND YOUNG'S MODULUS MEASUREMENTS ON SiO2 AND Ta2O5 FILMS DONE WITH AN ULTRA-HIGH Q SILICON-WAFER SUSPENSION
International audienceIn order to study the internal friction of thin films a nodal suspension system called GeNS (Gentle Nodal Suspension) has been developed. The key features of this system are: i) the possibility to use substrates easily available like silicon wafers; ii) extremely low excess losses coming from the suspension system which allows to measure Q factors in excess of 2×10^8 on 3 " diameter wafers; iii) reproducibility of measurements within few percent on mechanical losses and 0.01% on resonant frequencies; iv) absence of clamping; v) the capability to operate at cryogenic temperatures. Measurements at cryogenic temperatures on SiO 2 and at room temperature only on Ta2O5 films deposited on silicon are presented
- …