Experiments on the MHD Effect on the Drainage of a LiPb Channel and Supporting Numerical Computations with the Level Set Method

To analyze the impact of the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) effect on the fast draining of a LiPb channel (lithium-lead eutectic, 15.7 at. % Li) for a liquid metal fusion blanket such as the water-cooled lithium-lead test blanket system of ITER or DEMO, an experimental campaign was carried out with the support of the Integrated European Lead Lithium LOop experimental facility (IELLLO), installed at the ENEA Brasimone research center, Italy. The experiments were carried out by measuring the drainage time of the internal permanent magnet pump channel, normally used to circulate the LiPb in the loop, with and without the magnetic field. Moreover, this paper proposes a new numerical methodology to study the time delay induced by the MHD by using the commercial software COMSOL Multiphysics. In this way, it was possible to evaluate the LiPb fraction present at each time step in the computational domain and to estimate the time necessary for the complete drainage of the channel. The level set method was used to describe the transient behavior of the MHD flow under low-Rm approximation. The developed code was compared with the experimental results and showed good agreement, and it constitutes the first step in model validation as a possible application to ITER and DEMO. The experimental and numerical analyses performed in this work can be used as a benchmark case for MHD code development

Wavepacket reconstruction via local dynamics in a parabolic lattice

We study the dynamics of a wavepacket in a potential formed by the sum of a periodic lattice and of a parabolic potential. The dynamics of the wavepacket is essentially a superposition of ``local Bloch oscillations'', whose frequency is proportional to the local slope of the parabolic potential. We show that the amplitude and the phase of the Fourier transform of a signal characterizing this dynamics contains information about the amplitude and the phase of the wavepacket at a given lattice site. Hence, {\em complete} reconstruction of the the wavepacket in the real space can be performed from the study of the dynamics of the system.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, RevTex

Determination of entangled quantum states of a trapped atom

We propose a method for measuring entangled vibronic quantum states of a trapped atom. It is based on the nonlinear dynamics of the system that appears by resonantly driving a weak electronic transition. The proposed technique allows the direct sampling of a Wigner-function matrix, displaying all knowable information on the quantum correlations of the motional and electronic degrees of freedom of the atom. It opens novel possibilities for testing fundamental predictions of the quantum theory concerning interaction phenomena.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. A 56 (Aug

A novel oral micellar fenretinide formulation with enhanced bioavailability and antitumour activity against multiple tumours from cancer stem cells

Background: An increasing number of anticancer agents has been proposed in recent years with the attempt to overcome treatment-resistant cancer cells and particularly cancer stem cells (CSC), the major culprits for tumour resistance and recurrence. However, a huge obstacle to treatment success is the ineffective delivery of drugs within the tumour environment due to limited solubility, short circulation time or inconsistent stability of compounds that, together with concomitant dose-limiting systemic toxicity, contribute to hamper the achievement of therapeutic drug concentrations. The synthetic retinoid Fenretinide (4-hydroxy (phenyl)retinamide; 4-HPR) formerly emerged as a promising anticancer agent based on pre-clinical and clinical studies. However, a major limitation of fenretinide is traditionally represented by its poor aqueous solubility/bioavailability due to its hydrophobic nature, that undermined the clinical success of previous clinical trials. Methods: Here, we developed a novel nano-micellar fenretinide formulation called bionanofenretinide (Bio-nFeR), based on drug encapsulation in an ion-pair stabilized lipid matrix, with the aim to raise fenretinide bioavailability and antitumour efficacy. Results: Bio-nFeR displayed marked antitumour activity against lung, colon and melanoma CSC both in vitro and in tumour xenografts, in absence of mice toxicity. Bio-nFeR is suitable for oral administration, reaching therapeutic concentrations within tumours and an unprecedented therapeutic activity in vivo as single agent. Conclusion: Altogether, our results indicate Bio-nFeR as a novel anticancer agent with low toxicity and high activity against tumourigenic cells, potentially useful for the treatment of solid tumours of multiple origin

Preparation of nonclassical states in cavities with a moving mirror

Published versio

Incidence and Outcome of Invasive Fungal Diseases after Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Prospective Study of the Gruppo Italiano Trapianto Midollo Osseo (GITMO).

AbstractEpidemiologic investigation of invasive fungal diseases (IFDs) in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) may be useful to identify subpopulations who might benefit from targeted treatment strategies. The Gruppo Italiano Trapianto Midollo Osseo (GITMO) prospectively registered data on 1858 consecutive patients undergoing allo-HSCT between 2008 and 2010. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors for proven/probable IFD (PP-IFD) during the early (days 0 to 40), late (days 41 to 100), and very late (days 101 to 365) phases after allo-HSCT and to evaluate the impact of PP-IFDs on 1-year overall survival. The cumulative incidence of PP-IFDs was 5.1% at 40 days, 6.7% at 100 days, and 8.8% at 12 months post-transplantation. Multivariate analysis identified the following variables as associated with PP-IFDs: transplant from an unrelated volunteer donor or cord blood, active acute leukemia at the time of transplantation, and an IFD before transplantation in the early phase; transplant from an unrelated volunteer donor or cord blood and grade II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in the late phase; and grade II-IV acute GVHD and extensive chronic GVHD in the very late phase. The risk for PP-IFD was significantly higher when acute GVHD was followed by chronic GVHD and when acute GVHD occurred in patients undergoing transplantation with grafts from other than matched related donors. The presence of PP-IFD was an independent factor in long-term survival (hazard ratio, 2.90; 95% confidence interval, 2.32 to 3.62; P < .0001). Our findings indicate that tailored prevention strategies may be useful in subpopulations at differing levels of risk for PP-IFDs

Tuning spin-charge interconversion with quantum confinement in ultrathin bismuth films

Spin-charge interconversion (SCI) phenomena have attracted a growing interest in the field of spintronics as means to detect spin currents or manipulate the magnetization of ferromagnets. The key ingredients to exploit these assets are a large conversion efficiency, the scalability down to the nanometer scale and the integrability with opto-electronic and spintronic devices. Here we show that, when an ultrathin Bi film is epitaxially grown on top of a Ge(111) substrate, quantum size effects arising in nanometric Bi islands drastically boost the SCI efficiency, even at room temperature. Using x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spin- and angle-resolved photoemission (S-ARPES) we obtain a clear picture of the film morphology, crystallography and electronic structure. We then exploit the Rashba-Edelstein effect (REE) and inverse Rashba-Edelstein effect (IREE) to directly quantify the SCI efficiency using optical and electrical spin injection.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure