The Laser of the ALICE Time Projection Chamber

The large TPC ($95 \mathrm{m}^3$) of the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC was commissioned in summer 2006. The first tracks were observed both from the cosmic ray muons and from the laser rays injected into the TPC. In this article the basic principles of operating the $266 \mathrm{nm}$ lasers are presented, showing the installation and adjustment of the optical system and describing the control system. To generate the laser tracks, a wide laser beam is split into several hundred narrow beams by fixed micro-mirrors at stable and known positions throughout the TPC. In the drift volume, these narrow beams generate straight tracks at many angles. Here we describe the generation of the first tracks and compare them with simulations.Comment: QM06 poster proceedings, 6 pages, 4 figure

Role of a Transient Receptor Potential Channels in Marfan Syndrome-induced Aortopathy and Cardiomyopathy

Marfan syndrome (MFS) represents a genetic disorder with variable phenotypic expression. The main cardiovascular sequelae of MFS include aortic aneurysm/dissection and cardiomyopathy. While significant advances in the understanding of TGF-β signaling have led to promising therapeutic targets for the treatment of aortopathy, clinical studies have tempered this optimism. In particular, these studies suggest additional signaling pathways that play a significant role in aortic disease progression. Furthermore, even less is known with respect to effectors involved in MFS-induced cardiomyopathy. To date, studies aimed at elucidating molecular mechanisms involved in MFS-induced disease progression have been hampered by the lack of an accelerated disease model. Meanwhile, transient receptor potential (TRP) channels have been implicated as key effectors in other vascular smooth muscle and cardiomyocyte pathologies, yet there is a paucity of investigation focused on their involvement in the aortopathy and cardiomyopathy of MFS. In these studies, we investigate the importance of TRP channels in the pathogenesis of MFS-induced aortopathy and cardiomyopathy by evaluating differential expression in a novel murine model of accelerated MFS etiolog

PRM51 From Clinical Trial to Real-World Evidence: A Systematic Approach to Identifying Data Sources for Observational Research

Edifici industrial de dos cossos de planta baixa i tres plantes pis acabades amb mansarda. Destaca el nombre i dimensions de les obertures que permeten una gran entrada de llum a l'interior i l'amplitud de les plantes diàfanes.Digitalitzat per Tecnodo

Towards Multi-Modality Therapy for Marfan Syndrome: Synergistic Effect of Angiotensin and TRPC4 Receptor Blockade on Ascending Aortic Aneurysms

Background: Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a genetic disease that commonly presents with aortopathy. While promising therapies have been studied, complete attenuation of MFS-induced aortic aneurysms in the clinical arena has been elusive. The presence of significant, not-yet described MFS signaling pathways has been suggested as a reason for the less than ideal clinical response to single drug therapy. Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels have emerged as likely regulators of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) activity. In this regard, they are abundantly found in VSMCs and are associated with increased matrix metalloproteinase 9 activity. The current study seeks to explore the role of TRP channels in MFS. Methods: A Fbn1C1039G/+ heterozygous mouse, with a mutation in fibrillin-1, was supplemented with angiotensin II (4.5 mg/kg/day) to accelerate aneurysmal formation. Mice analyzed were wild type (wt) (saline +/- angiotensin II) and heterozygous (saline +/- angiotensin II). Quantitative PCR and western blotting was used to examine differential expression of TRP channels across the various cohorts. The TRPC4 antagonist, ML204 (10mg/kg/day), was given daily during two weeks of angiotensin II infusion. Mice were echoed before and after to assess aortic diameter. Results: Quantitative PCR of the accelerated model revealed a near 10-fold increase in TRPC4 transcription with respect to wt mice. ML204 and losartan worked synergistically to ameliorate aortic dilation. Conclusions: These studies suggest a complementary role for TRPC4 in MFS-induced aortic pathology. Antagonism of this novel target shows promise toward multi-drug therapy for the treatment of aortic aneurysms in MFS

An Infrastructure for Cost-Effective Testing of Operational Support Algorithms Based on Colored Petri Nets

Operational support is a specific type of process mining that assists users while process instances are being executed. Examples are predicting the remaining processing time of a running insurance claim and recommending the action that minimizes the treatment costs of a particular patient. Whereas it is easy to evaluate prediction techniques using cross validation, the evaluation of recommendation techniques is challenging as the recommender influences the execution of the process. It is therefore impossible to simply use historic event data. Therefore, we present an approach where we use a colored Petri net model of user behavior to drive a real workflow system and real implementations of operational support, thereby providing a way of evaluating algorithms for operational support before implementation and a costly test using real users. In this paper, we evaluate algorithms for operational support using different user models. We have implemented our approach using Access/CPN 2.0

Testicular cancer risk and maternal parity: a population-based cohort study.

The aim was to study, in a population-based cohort design, whether first-born sons run a higher risk of testicular cancer than later born sons; to investigate whether this difference in risk was affected by birth cohort, age of the son, maternal age, interval to previous delivery and other reproductive factors; and, finally, to evaluate to what extent changes in women's parity over time might explain the increasing incidence of testicular cancer. By using data from the Civil Registration System, a database was established of all women born in Denmark since 1935 and all their children alive in 1968 or born later. Sons with testicular cancer were identified in the Danish Cancer Registry. Among 1015994 sons followed for 15981 967 person-years, 626 developed testicular cancer (443 non-seminomas, 183 seminomas). Later born sons had a decreased risk of testicular cancer (RR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.67-0.95) compared with first-born sons. The RR was 0.79 (95% CI = 0.64-0.98) for non-seminomas and 0.81 (95% CI = 0.58-1.13) for seminomas. There was no association between testicular cancer risk and overall parity of the mother, maternal or paternal age at the birth of the son, or maternal age at first birth. The decreased risk of testicular cancer among later born sons was not modified by age, birth cohort, interval to the previous birth, sex of the first-born child, or maternal age at birth of the son or at first birth. The increased proportion of first-borns from birth cohort 1946 to birth cohort 1969 only explained around 3% of an approximated two-fold increase in incidence between the cohorts. Our data document a distinctly higher risk of testicular cancer in first-born compared with later born sons and suggest that the most likely explanation should be sought among exposures in utero. The increase in the proportion of first-borns in the population has only contributed marginally to the increase in testicular cancer incidence

Ultraviolet Absorption Spectra at Reduced Temperatures. I. Principles and Methods

Low temperature absorption and fluorescence spectra of solids, liquids, and solutions often reveal increased spectral detail of use in analytical procedures and molecular structure studies. Nevertheless, while qualitative observations of the influence of liquid air temperatures upon optical properties were undertaken very early, investigations of the absorption and fluorescence of organic compounds at the temperature of liquid nitrogen (-195.6°; 77.4 °K.) and below have appeared only sporadically. Because of the potential usefulness of the technique we have undertaken a systematic study of the low temperature spectra of substances of biochemical interest. The present paper discusses the methods employed; subsequent papers will deal with the experimental results. In this work, we have emphasized the wave-length location of absorption bands and the accurate determination of relative optical densities rather than precision in the determination of absolute optical densities, thus permitting the use of simpler methods than would otherwise be necessary