Observation and absolute frequency measurements of the 1S0 - 3P0 optical clock transition in ytterbium

We report the direct excitation of the highly forbidden (6s^2) 1S0 - (6s6p) 3P0 optical transition in two odd isotopes of ytterbium. As the excitation laser frequency is scanned, absorption is detected by monitoring the depletion from an atomic cloud at ~70 uK in a magneto-optical trap. The measured frequency in 171Yb (F=1/2) is 518,295,836,593.2 +/- 4.4 kHz. The measured frequency in 173Yb (F=5/2) is 518,294,576,850.0 +/- 4.4 kHz. Measurements are made with a femtosecond-laser frequency comb calibrated by the NIST cesium fountain clock and represent nearly a million-fold reduction in uncertainty. The natural linewidth of these J=0 to J=0 transitions is calculated to be ~10 mHz, making them well-suited to support a new generation of optical atomic clocks based on confinement in an optical lattice.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Submillimetric GPS distance measurement over short baselines: case study in inner consistency

Distance determination in the open air with submillimetric accuracy is a challenging task usually carried out with the use of submillimetric distancemeters and costly observation campaigns. The present paper represents a first step in the research of the potential use of GPS for submillimetric distance determination for distances up to a few hundred metres consisting in the evaluation of GPS distance determination reproducibility. As will be concluded, reliable submillimetric precision is attainable after some hours of observation if the same equipment in both baseline ends is used, even considering that there still remain some long-term systematic effects of a few tenths of a millimetre. The need for precise absolute antenna calibration values is also shown to be critical for submillimetric distance reproducibility.This research is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (AYA2011-23232). The authors are grateful to the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions, corrections and comments that helped improve the original manuscript.Baselga Moreno, S.; García-Asenjo Villamayor, L.; Garrigues Talens, P. (2013). Submillimetric GPS distance measurement over short baselines: case study in inner consistency. Measurement Science and Technology. 24(7):750011-750018. https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-0233/24/7/075001S750011750018247Amiri-Simkooei, A. R., & Tiberius, C. C. J. M. (2006). Assessing receiver noise using GPS short baseline time series. GPS Solutions, 11(1), 21-35. doi:10.1007/s10291-006-0026-8Bruyninx, C., Altamimi, Z., Boucher, C., Brockmann, E., Caporali, A., Gurtner, W., … Weber, G. (2009). The European Reference Frame: Maintenance and Products. International Association of Geodesy Symposia, 131-136. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-00860-3_20Doloca, N. R., Meiners-Hagen, K., Wedde, M., Pollinger, F., & Abou-Zeid, A. (2010). Absolute distance measurement system using a femtosecond laser as a modulator. Measurement Science and Technology, 21(11), 115302. doi:10.1088/0957-0233/21/11/115302Dow, J. M., Neilan, R. E., & Rizos, C. (2009). The International GNSS Service in a changing landscape of Global Navigation Satellite Systems. Journal of Geodesy, 83(3-4), 191-198. doi:10.1007/s00190-008-0300-3Firuzabadì, D., & King, R. W. (2011). GPS precision as a function of session duration and reference frame using multi-point software. GPS Solutions, 16(2), 191-196. doi:10.1007/s10291-011-0218-8Hyun, S., Kim, Y.-J., Kim, Y., Jin, J., & Kim, S.-W. (2009). Absolute length measurement with the frequency comb of a femtosecond laser. Measurement Science and Technology, 20(9), 095302. doi:10.1088/0957-0233/20/9/095302Koivula, H., Häkli, P., Jokela, J., Buga, A., & Putrimas, R. (2011). GPS Metrology: Bringing Traceable Scale to a Local Crustal Deformation GPS Network. International Association of Geodesy Symposia, 105-112. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-20338-1_13Ray, J., Altamimi, Z., Collilieux, X., & van Dam, T. (2007). Anomalous harmonics in the spectra of GPS position estimates. GPS Solutions, 12(1), 55-64. doi:10.1007/s10291-007-0067-7Schuhler, N., Salvadé, Y., Lévêque, S., Dändliker, R., & Holzwarth, R. (2006). Frequency-comb-referenced two-wavelength source for absolute distance measurement. Optics Letters, 31(21), 3101. doi:10.1364/ol.31.003101Snay, R. A., & Soler, T. (2008). Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS): History, Applications, and Future Enhancements. Journal of Surveying Engineering, 134(4), 95-104. doi:10.1061/(asce)0733-9453(2008)134:4(95

Joint association of polymorphism of the FGFR4 gene and mutation TP53 gene with bladder cancer prognosis

The impact of the fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) Gly388Arg polymorphism on bladder cancer is unknown. We found no clear correlations between the FGFR4 genotype and risk of bladder cancer or pathological parameters. Neither the polymorphism nor TP53 mutation status was an independent predictor of prognosis, but they might act jointly on the disease-specific survival of patients

IL-6 Stabilizes Twist and Enhances Tumor Cell Motility in Head and Neck Cancer Cells through Activation of Casein Kinase 2

BACKGROUND: Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) is the seventh most common cancer worldwide. Unfortunately, the survival of patients with SCCHN has not improved in the last 40 years, and thus new targets for therapy are needed. Recently, elevations in serum level of interleukin 6 (IL-6) and expression of Twist in tumor samples were found to be associated with poor clinical outcomes in multiple types of cancer, including SCCHN. Although Twist has been proposed as a master regulator of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and metastasis in cancers, the mechanisms by which Twist levels are regulated post-translationally are not completely understood. Tumor progression is characterized by the involvement of cytokines and growth factors and Twist induction has been connected with a number of these signaling pathways including IL-6. Since many of the effects of IL-6 are mediated through activation of protein phosphorylation cascades, this implies that Twist expression must be under a tight control at the post-translational level in order to respond in a timely manner to external stimuli. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Our data show that IL-6 increases Twist expression via a transcription-independent mechanism in many SCCHN cell lines. Further investigation revealed that IL-6 stabilizes Twist in SCCHN cell lines through casein kinase 2 (CK2) phosphorylation of Twist residues S18 and S20, and that this phosphorylation inhibits degradation of Twist. Twist phosphorylation not only increases its stability but also enhances cell motility. Thus, post-translational modulation of Twist contributes to its tumor-promoting properties. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our study shows Twist expression can be regulated at the post-translational level through phosphorylation by CK2, which increases Twist stability in response to IL-6 stimulation. Our findings not only provide novel mechanistic insights into post-translational regulation of Twist but also suggest that CK2 may be a viable therapeutic target in SCCHN

A sequence variant at 4p16.3 confers susceptibility to urinary bladder cancer

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links fieldPreviously, we reported germline DNA variants associated with risk of urinary bladder cancer (UBC) in Dutch and Icelandic subjects. Here we expanded the Icelandic sample set and tested the top 20 markers from the combined analysis in several European case-control sample sets, with a total of 4,739 cases and 45,549 controls. The T allele of rs798766 on 4p16.3 was found to associate with UBC (odds ratio = 1.24, P = 9.9 x 10(-12)). rs798766 is located in an intron of TACC3, 70 kb from FGFR3, which often harbors activating somatic mutations in low-grade, noninvasive UBC. Notably, rs798766[T] shows stronger association with low-grade and low-stage UBC than with more aggressive forms of the disease and is associated with higher risk of recurrence in low-grade stage Ta tumors. The frequency of rs798766[T] is higher in Ta tumors that carry an activating mutation in FGFR3 than in Ta tumors with wild-type FGFR3. Our results show a link between germline variants, somatic mutations of FGFR3 and risk of UBC.info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/21807

Assessment of the mechanical errors of a prototype of an optical multilateration system

International audienceWe are developing a multilateration system at a reasonable cost that aims at an accuracy better than 50 μm determined with a consistent metrological approach. In this context, an absolute distance meter, developed in-house, is used as a unique telemetric system to feed the different measurement heads of the multilateration system through a network of optical fibers. The uncertainty contribution for a distance measurement of the telemetric system itself, in a controlled environment, is from 2 μm up to 100 m (k = 1). In this paper, the uncertainty contribution due to mechanical designs of the measurement heads and the target is estimated: the gimbal mechanisms we have designed are presented and their sources of error are identified, experimentally quantified, and minimized. At the end, we demonstrate that the current design of the measurement head does not induce errors higher than 2 μm on the measured distances and the design of the target does not induce errors higher than 9 μm

Heterodyne refractometer and air wavelength reference at 633 nm

This paper presents new developments of the BNM-INM heterodyne compact refractometer. Air refractive index measurements have been made at 633 nm with a relative uncertainty of 10−8 and the realization of a new type of wavelength stabilized laser source has been demonstrated at 633 nm. We now have adapted this source to a commercial interferometric system working at 633 nm. Length variation measurements in air have been made. Results show that the wavelength of our source is insensitive to slow variations of the refractive index of air at a level of 10−8, demonstrating the possibility to make distance measurements in air without the need to make any index correction

Absolute frequency measurement of an I<SUB>2</SUB> stabilized Nd:YAG optical frequency standard

International audienceThe frequency of an I2 stabilized Nd:YAG optical frequency standard, developed at the BNM-INM as a national standard for the `mise en pratique' of the definition of the metre, has been measured with a frequency measurement chain based on a femtosecond laser. A frequency (in-)stability of 2.5×10-13τ-1/2 has been measured in the optical domain against a hydrogen maser. The measured (in-)stability decreases to 1×10-14 without evidence of flicker floor

Frequency measurements of hyperfine splittings in ground rovibronic states of I

Measurements of hyperfine splittings in the ground electronic state of $\rm I_2$ have been performed by stimulated Raman spectroscopy. An argon laser emitting at 514.5 nm, drives the coherence between hyperfine levels of the J''=13 or J''=15 rotational levels of the ground vibronic state, via resonant excitation of the hyperfine transitions of the optical resonances (43-0) P(13) or R(15). We study the influence of the various experimental parameters on the line shape: the beam geometry, the laser modulation spectrum, the laser power, the molecular frequency shifts. We show that only beam aberrations can give rise to a significant asymmetry of the line shape, which contributes to an error in the determination of the resonance frequency. From a theoretical expression of the line shape taking into account the beam geometry, a detailed study of this error is performed. The theoretical predictions and the experimental results are in very good agreement. From the measurements, improved sets of hyperfine interaction constants for the $\rm I_2$ molecule have been calculated for J''=13 and J''=15. These constants are identical for both levels, except for quadrupole coupling constant eqQ which exhibits a J-dependence, which we attribute to the centrifugal distortion of the molecule