Lifetime measurements in the lead region and the emergence of collectivity in 98Zr

The evolution from the single-particle, seniority-like structure to the emergence of collectivity has been investigated in the lead region through lifetime measurements. The fast-timing, the recoil-distance Doppler shift (RDDS), and the Doppler-shift attenuation (DSA) methods have been employed in the scope of this thesis. Lifetimes of low-lying states in 211At were measured in the 208Pb( 6Li,3n) fusion-evaporation reaction via the fast-timing method and in the 209Bi( 16O, 14C) two-proton transfer reaction via the RDDS and DSA methods. The deduced transition probabilities have been interpreted by two shell-model calculations. One was a multi-j shell-model calculation done using the Kuo-Herling residual interaction. The other one was done using a semi-empirical interaction for protons confined to the single-j 0h9/2 orbital. The Kuo-Herling calculations overestimate some of the ground-state transitions, which has been interpreted as a presence of particle-hole excitation in the ground-state wave function. However, the discrepancy between the calculated values and the measured ones is smaller than in the case of 210Po. This shows that the effects of the particle-hole excitations are reduced when moving away from the 208Pb core. The results from the single-j calculations describe the reduced transition probabilities well, which shows that seniority could be regarded as a good quantum number. The 209Po nucleus was studied in the electron-capture decay of 209At via the fast-timing technique. The deduced transition probabilities were compared to shell-model calculations done using the V low−k approach based on the Bonn nucleon-nucleon potential. The results show that some of the states in 209Po could be interpreted as single-particle neutron-hole states coupled to a 210Po core. However, some additional contributions in the wave functions are needed to describe the experimental data better. The onset of collectivity in the region was studied via fast-timing measurements of the lifetimes of the 4+1 states in 204Po and 206 Po. The nuclei were studied via the 197Au( 11B,3n) and the 198Pt(12C,4n)206Po reactions, respectively. The results indicate that the transition to a collective behavior of the 4+1 states happens below N=122. Additionally, the rapid onset of collectivity in the A ≈ 100 region was investigated in the scope of this thesis. The low-spin structure of the 98Zr nucleus was studied in the 96Zr( 18O, 16O) two-neutron transfer reaction. Lifetimes were deduced using the RDDS and DSA techniques. The results were interpreted by a Monte Carlo shell model and an inter-acting boson model with configuration mixing calculations. Both calculations reproduce most of the data but there are still some open questions regarding the low-spin structure of 98Zr

A Unified Approach for the Enantioselective Synthesis of the Brominated Chamigrene Sesquiterpenes

The brominated chamigrene sesquiterpenes constitute a large subclass of bromocyclohexane‐containing natural products, yet no general enantioselective strategy for the synthesis of these small molecules exists. Herein we report a general strategy for accessing this family of secondary metabolites, including the enantioselective synthesis of (−)‐α‐ and (−)‐ent‐β‐bromochamigrene, (−)‐dactylone, and (+)‐aplydactone. Access to these molecules is enabled by a stereospecific bromopolyene cyclization initiated by the solvolysis of an enantiomerically enriched vicinal bromochloride.Dihalides light the way: A stereospecific bromopolyene cyclization of an enantiomerically enriched bromochloride was developed as a highly general approach to the brominated chamigrene sesquiterpenes (see scheme). The total synthesis of (+)‐aplydactone was completed by an intramolecular [2+2] cycloaddition.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137372/1/anie201605722.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137372/2/anie201605722_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137372/3/anie201605722-sup-0001-misc_information.pd

The GG rs292001 genotype prevails in seronegative for ANA and anti-dsDNA antibodies patients with lupus nephritis

Rs292001 is single nucleotide polymorphism in non-coding regions of C1QA gene. C1q is subcomponent of the C1 first component of the classical pathway of complement activation. Rs292001 was investigated for association with some conventional immunological markers of lupus nephritis activity in SLE patients - levels of C1q, C3, C4, anti-C1q, anti-nuclear (ANA) and anti-dsDNA autoantibodies.Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood of 18 patients with biopsy-proven lupus nephritis (LN). SNP genotyping for the presence of rs292001 was performed by quantitive real-time PCR method. Presence of complement C1q, C3 and C4 and anti-C1q autoantibodies was screened by ELISA. ANA and anti-dsDNA antibodies were detected by indirect immunofluorescence.We found that GG rs292001 genotype prevailed in seronegative for ANA and anti-dsDNA antibodies LN patients (p=0.008; p<0.012). The AA rs292001 genotype showed a trend towards lower serum C1q levels.These results reaffirm a previously established probable protective role of G allele against the clinical activity of the SLE

ANEMIC SYNDROME ASSOCIATED TO PARVOVIRUS B19 INFECTION IN PATHOLOGY PREGNANCY WOMEN

Viral infections during pregnancy on a world scale are one of the main reasons for severe complications and mortality of the mother and fetus. The post-infectious anemic syndrome is characterized by low serum iron and increased hepcidin, which is the cause for iron accumulation in the endothelial macrophage system and iron deficiency for the needs of erythropoiesis. Probably the increased hepcidin plays a protective role against the growth of microorganisms by reducing extracellular iron. On the other hand, the increased hepcidin may lead to iron deficiency and to inability for effective compensation upon oral supplementation because it suppressed intestinal iron absorption. This study aims to determine the involvement of parvovirus B19 in the anemic syndrome development in the course of/during pathological pregnancy. Materials and Methods: In total 47 serum samples of pregnant women with anemia hospitalized in University Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital “Maichin Dom”,were tested. Three newborn babies were also included in the study. Serological (ELISA), molecular (PCR), and immunological (CLIA) methods were used. The statistical processing of the results is based on paired Student's t-test and Pearson's correlation. Results and discussion: 9/47 (19.1%) of patients showed presence of B19V-IgM antibodies. B19-IgG antibodies were detected in 19/47 (40.4%) women. The PCR analysis showed presence of viral DNA in all patients with positive B19V-IgM antibodies. B19V-IgM antibodies were proved in one of the newborn and viral DNA was detected. All three babies were positive for B19V-IgG antibodies. In four of the positive patients with the three diagnostic markers for acute infection, the anemia was determined as iron-deficiency according to the low serum levels of hepcidin 2.54 ± 0.4 μg/L compared to control group of pregnant women without anemia (21.7 ± 3.1 μg/L: P<0.001). In the remaining women with a proven acute B19V infection, we found a statistically significant increased level of serum hepcidin (65.3 ± 5.7 μg/L; P<0.001) compared to non anemic pregnant women. Conclusion: Assessment of the frequency and the grade of involvement of parvovirus B19 in the anemic syndrome development during pregnancy and determination of the serum level of hepcidin would contribute to the etiological clarification of the occurred anemic syndrome and would prevent improper iron supplementation by pregnant women

Učestalost goveđe enzootske leukoze u jugoistočnoj Bugarskoj tijekom razdoblja od 1998. do 2000.

During the period 1998-2000, 200518 individual bovine blood sera were tested using the immunodiffusion test for detection of antibodies against the bovine leukosis virus in South-eastern Bulgaria. The results showed that this infection was widespread – 17.02% on average (from 2.78% in the region of Haskovo to 33.07% in the region of Burgas). Those data are evidence that enzootic bovine leukosis is an important epidemiological problem in the light of new conditions for the development of cattle breeding. The incidence of enzootic bovine leukosis must be limited and eventually eradicated through strict execution of the national EBL eradication programme.U razdoblju od 1998. do 2000. pretraženo je 200518 uzoraka seruma metodom imunodifuzije radi dokazivanja protutijela za virus goveđe enzootske leukoze u jugoistočnoj Bugarskoj. Rezultati su pokazali da je zaraza proširena u prosječno u 17,02% goveda (u rasponu od 2,78% na području Haskova pa sve do 33,07% na području Burgasa). Ovi podaci potvrđuju da bolest predstavlja veoma važan epizootiološki problem posebice u uvjetima suvremenog uzgoja goveda. Za suzbijanje i iskorjenjivanje bolesti važno je provoditi sve propisane programe

Colorectal resections - clinical and immunological results

INTRODUCTION: Surgery induces a generalized state of postoperative immunosuppression responsible for a lot of complications in postoperative period. Magnitude and type of the intraoperative injury depend on the extent and duration of postoperative immune suppression. This study compared clinical outcomes and immune changes after minimally invasive and open colorectal resections in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).MATERIAL AND METHODS: Study included 40 patients with CRC who underwent colorectal resections in our clinic last year. Twenty one of them underwent minimally invasive surgery, with a mean age of 64.8 years (49-86). The rest 19 patients underwent conventional surgery, with a mean age of 66.2 years (56-84). Blood tests were performed 24 hours prior to surgery, 24 hours and 7 days after surgery. Analysis included full blood count, total protein, albumin and markers of inflammation (CRP, ESR, fibrinogen). T- (CD3+), B- (CD19+) and NK-cell lymphocyte populations were studied by means of flow cytometry, as well as activation of leucocytes, according to the expression of HLA-DR, CD38, CD279, CD163 and some clinical parameters. All data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.RESULTS: There was no significant difference in preoperative results between minimally invasive group and conventional group. At 24 hours after surgery there were significant decrease in lymphocyte percentages and increased leucocyte count, granulocyte percentages and CRP levels in conventional group. This ratio maintained at 7 days after surgery. Activated monocyte (CD 163+), total protein and albumin, eosinophiles, percentage of monocytes, lymphocytes and NKT-cells (CD3+ CD16/CD56+) were significant decrease in conventional group compared with minimally invasive group at first postoperative day.CONCLUSIONS: Minimally invasive colorectal cancer resection is a technically feasible option, with comparable results in terms of oncologic clearance, lesser degrees of tissue injury, surgical metabolic stress, and immunosuppressive response to conventional open surgery. Patients undergoing minimally invasive resections demonstrated improved clinical recovery and shorter hospital stay than patients undergoing open surgery. 

Autoantibodies Against C3b—Functional Consequences and Disease Relevance

The complement component C3 is at the heart of the complement cascade. It is a complex protein, which generates different functional activated fragments (C3a, C3b, iC3b, C3c, C3d). C3b is a constituent of the alternative pathway C3 convertase (C3bBb), binds multiple regulators, and receptors, affecting thus the functioning of the immune system. The activated forms of C3 are a target for autoantibodies. This review focuses on the discovery, disease relevance, and functional consequences of the anti-C3b autoantibodies. They were discovered about 70 years ago and named immunoconglutinins. They were found after infections and considered convalescent factors. At the end of the twentieth century IgG against C3b were found in systemic lupus erythematosus and recently in lupus nephritis, correlating with the disease severity and flare. Cases of C3 glomerulopathy and immune complex glomerulonephritis were also reported. These antibodies recognize epitopes, shared between C3(H2O)/C3b/iC3b/C3c and have overt functional activity. They correlate with low plasmatic C3 levels in patients. In vitro, they increase the activity of the alternative pathway C3 convertase, without being C3 nephritic factors. They perturb the binding of the negative regulators Complement Receptor 1 and Factor H. The clear functional consequences and association with disease severity warrant further studies to establish the link between the anti-C3b autoantibodies and tissue injury. Comparative studies with such antibodies, found in patients with infections, may help to uncover their origin and epitopes specificity. Patients with complement overactivation due to presence of anti-C3b antibodies may benefit from therapeutic targeting of C3

Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP) 2012

Cling (http://cern.ch/cling) is a C++ interpreter, built on top of clang (http://clang.llvm.org) and LLVM (http://llvm.org). Like its predecessor CINT, cling offers an interactive, terminal-like prompt. It enables exploratory programming with rapid edit / run cycles. The ROOT team has more than 15 years of experience with C++ interpreters, and this has been fully exploited in the design of cling. However, matching the concepts of an interpreter to a compiler library is a non-trivial task; we will explain how this is done for cling, and how we managed to implement cling as a small (10,000 lines of code) extension to the clang and llvm libraries. The resulting features clearly show the advantages of basing an interpreter on a compiler. Cling uses clang's praised concise and easy to understand diagnostics. Building an interpreter on top of a compiler library makes the transition between interpreted and compiled code much easier and smoother. We will present the design, e.g. how cling treats the C++ extensions that used to be available in CINT. We will also present the new features, e.g. how C++11 will come to cling, and how dictionaries will be simplified due to cling. We describe the state of cling's integration in the ROOT Framework