Using chloride to trace water movement in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain

The nonwelded Paintbrush Tuff (PTn) hydrogeologic unit is postulated as playing a critical role in the redistribution of moisture in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Fracture-dominated flow in the overlying low-permeability, highly fractured Tiva Canyon welded (TCw) unit is expected to transition to matrix-dominated flow in the high-permeability, comparatively unfractured PTn. The transition process from fracture to matrix flow in the PTn, as well as the transition from low to high matrix storage capacity, is expected to damp out most of the seasonal, decadal, and secular variability in surface infiltration. This process should also result in the homogenization of the variable geochemical and isotopic characteristics of pore water entering the top of the PTn. In contrast, fault zones that provide continuous fracture pathways through the PTn may damp climatic and geochemical variability only slightly and may provide fast paths from the surface to the sampled depths, whether within the PTn or in underlying welded tuffs. Chloride (Cl) content and other geochemical data obtained from PTn pore-water samples can be used to independently derive infiltration rates for comparison with surface infiltration estimates, to evaluate the role of structural features as fast paths, and to assess the prevalence and extent to which water may be laterally diverted in the PTn due to contrasting hydrologic properties of its subunits

Improvement of cast nephropathy with plasma exchange depends on the diagnosis and on reduction of serum free light chains

Cast nephropathy is the most common cause of renal disease in multiple myeloma, however, treatment with plasma exchange remains controversial even after 3 randomized controlled studies. We sought to determine the importance of diagnostic confirmation and goal directed therapy in the treatment of cast nephropathy in forty patients with confirmed multiple myeloma and renal failure who underwent plasma exchange. A positive renal response was defined as a decrease by half in the presenting serum creatinine and dialysis independence. No baseline differences were noted between eventual renal responders and non-responders. Three quarters of the patients with biopsy proven cast nephropathy resolved their renal disease when the free light chains present in the serum were reduced by half or more but there was no significant response when the reduction was less. The median time to a response was about 2 months. In patients without cast nephropathy, renal recovery occurred despite reductions in free light chain levels of the serum. No association was found between free light chains in the serum, urinary monoclonal proteins, overall proteinuria and cast nephropathy. We found that the relationship between renal recovery and free light chain reduction was present only in patients with biopsy proven cast nephropathy showing the importance of extracorporeal light chain removal in this disease

Distribution of fast hydrologic paths in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain

Development and testing of conceptual flow and transport models for hydrologic systems are strengthened when natural environmental tracers are incorporated into the process. One such tracer is chlorine-36 ({sup 36}Cl, half-life, 301,000 years), a radioactive isotope produced in the atmosphere and carried underground with percolating groundwater. High concentrations of this isotope were also added to meteoric water during a period of global fallout from atmospheric testing of nuclear devices, primarily in the 1950s. This bomb-pulse signal has been used to test for the presence of fast transport paths in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain and to provide the basis for a conceptual model for their distribution. Yucca Mountain is under investigation by the US Department of Energy as a potential site at which to host an underground high-level radioactive waste repository. Under wetter climatic conditions, fast-flow pathways will respond quickly to increases in infiltration and have the potential to become seeps in the tunnel drifts. The {sup 36}Cl data are also being used in numerical flow and transport models to establish lower bounds on infiltration rates, estimate ground water ages, and establish bounding values for hydrologic flow parameters governing fracture transport

Mechanistic target of rapamycin (MTOR) protein expression in the tumor and its microenvironment correlates with more aggressive pathology at cystectomy

Background: The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) has been implicated in driving tumor biology in multiple malignancies, including urothelial carcinoma (UC). We investigate how mTOR and phosphorylated mTOR (pmTOR) protein expression correlate with chemoresponsiveness in the tumor and its microenvironment at final pathologic staging after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Methods: A single-institution retrospective analysis was performed on 62 patients with cT2–4Nany UC undergoing NAC followed by radical cystectomy. Diagnostic (transurethral resection specimens, TURBT) and postchemotherapy radical cystectomy specimens were evaluated for mTOR and pmTOR protein expression using immunohistochemistry of the tumor, peritumoral stroma, and normal surrounding stroma. Protein expression levels were compared between clinical and pathologic stage. Whole transcriptome analysis was performed to evaluate mRNA expression relative to mTOR pathway activation. Results: Baseline levels of mTOR and pmTOR within TURBT specimens were not associated with clinical stage and response to chemotherapy overall. Nonresponders with advanced pathologic stage at cystectomy (ypT2–4/ypTanyN+) had significantly elevated mTOR tumor staining (P = 0.006) and a sustained mTOR and pmTOR staining in the peritumoral and surrounding normal stroma (NS). Several genes relevant to mTOR activity were found to be up-regulated in the tumors of nonresponders. Remarkably, complete responders at cystectomy (ypT0) had significant decreases in both mTOR and pmTOR protein expression in the peritumoral and normal stroma (P = 0.01–0.03). Conclusions: Our results suggest that mTOR pathway activity is increased in tumor and sustained in its microenvironment in patients with adverse pathologic findings at cystectomy. These findings suggest the relevance of targeting this pathway in bladder cancer

Towards a new image processing system at Wendelstein 7-X: From spatial calibration to characterization of thermal events

Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) is the most advanced fusion experiment in the stellarator line and is aimed at proving that the stellarator concept is suitable for a fusion reactor. One of the most important issues for fusion reactors is the monitoring of plasma facing components when exposed to very high heat loads, through the use of visible and infrared (IR) cameras. In this paper, a new image processing system for the analysis of the strike lines on the inboard limiters from the first W7-X experimental campaign is presented. This system builds a model of the IR cameras through the use of spatial calibration techniques, helping to characterize the strike lines by using the information given by real spatial coordinates of each pixel. The characterization of the strike lines is made in terms of position, size, and shape, after projecting the camera image in a 2D grid which tries to preserve the curvilinear surface distances between points. The description of the strike-line shape is made by means of the Fourier Descriptors

Forward modeling of collective Thomson scattering for Wendelstein 7-X plasmas: Electrostatic approximation

In this paper, we present a method for numerical computation of collective Thomson scattering (CTS). We developed a forward model, eCTS, in the electrostatic approximation and benchmarked it against a full electromagnetic model. Differences between the electrostatic and the electromagnetic models are discussed. The sensitivity of the results to the ion temperature and the plasma composition is demonstrated. We integrated the model into the Bayesian data analysis framework Minerva and used it for the analysis of noisy synthetic data sets produced by a full electromagnetic model. It is shown that eCTS can be used for the inference of the bulk ion temperature. The model has been used to infer the bulk ion temperature from the first CTS measurements on Wendelstein 7-X

Experimental confirmation of efficient island divertor operation and successful neoclassical transport optimization in Wendelstein 7-X

We present recent highlights from the most recent operation phases of Wendelstein 7-X, the most advanced stellarator in the world. Stable detachment with good particle exhaust, low impurity content, and energy confinement times exceeding 100 ms, have been maintained for tens of seconds. Pellet fueling allows for plasma phases with reduced ion-temperature-gradient turbulence, and during such phases, the overall confinement is so good (energy confinement times often exceeding 200 ms) that the attained density and temperature profiles would not have been possible in less optimized devices, since they would have had neoclassical transport losses exceeding the heating applied in W7-X. This provides proof that the reduction of neoclassical transport through magnetic field optimization is successful. W7-X plasmas generally show good impurity screening and high plasma purity, but there is evidence of longer impurity confinement times during turbulence-suppressed phases.EC/H2020/633053/EU/Implementation of activities described in the Roadmap to Fusion during Horizon 2020 through a Joint programme of the members of the EUROfusion consortium/ EUROfusio