Cycling Joule Thomson refrigerator

A symmetrical adsorption pump/compressor system having a pair of mirror image legs and a Joule Thomson expander, or valve, interposed between the legs thereof for providing a, efficient refrigeration cycle is described. The system further includes a plurality of gas operational heat switches adapted selectively to transfer heat from a thermal load and to transfer or discharge heat through a heat projector, such as a radiator or the like. The heat switches comprise heat pressurizable chambers adapted for alternate pressurization in response to adsorption and desorption of a pressurizing gas confined therein

Miniature Long-life Space Cryocoolers

TRW has designed, built, and tested a miniature integral Stirling cooler and a miniature pulse tube cooler intended for long-life space application. Both efficient, low-vibration coolers were developed for cooling IR sensors to temperatures as low as 50 K on lightsats. The vibrationally balanced nonwearing design Stirling cooler incorporates clearance seals maintained by flexure springs for both the compressor and the drive displacer. The design achieved its performance goal of 0.25 W at 65 K for an input power to the compressor of 12 W. The cooler recently passed launch vibration tests prior to its entry into an extended life test and its first scheduled flight in 1995. The vibrationally balanced, miniature pulse tube cooler intended for a 10-year long-life space application incorporates a flexure bearing compressor vibrationally balanced by a motor-controlled balancer and a completely passive pulse tube cold head

Proceedings of the Cold Electronics Workshop

The benefits and problems of the use of cold semiconductor electronics and the research and development effort required to bring cold electronics into more widespread use were examined

A closed cycle cascade Joule Thomson refrigerator for cooling Josephson junction magnetometers

A closed cycle cascade Joule Thomson refrigerator designed to cool Josephson Junction magnetometers to liquid helium temperature is being developed. The refrigerator incorporates 4 stages of cooling using the working fluids CF4 and He. The high pressure gases are provided by a small compressor designed for this purpose. The upper stages have been operated and performance will be described

Cascade Joule-Thomson refrigerators

The design criteria for cascade Joule-Thomson refrigerators for cooling in the temperature range from 300 K to 4.2 K were studied. The systems considered use three or four refrigeration stages with various working gases to achieve the low temperatures. Each stage results in cooling to a progressively lower temperature and provides cooling at intermediate temperatures to remove the substantial amount of parasitic heat load encountered in a typical dewar. With careful dewar design considerable cooling can be achieved with moderate gas flows. For many applications, e.g., in the cooling of sensitive sensors, the fact that the refrigerator contains no moving parts and may be remotely located from the gas source is of considerable advantage. A small compressor suitable for providing the gas flows required was constructed

Identification of the alternative oxidase gene and its expression in the copepod Tigriopus californicus

In addition to the typical electron transport system (ETS) in animal mitochondria responsible for oxidative phosphorylation, in some species there exists an alternative oxidase (AOX) pathway capable of catalyzing the oxidation of ubiquinol and the reduction of oxygen to water. The discovery of AOX in animals is recent and further investigations into its expression, regulation, and physiological role have been hampered by the lack of a tractable experimental model organism. Our recent DNA database searches using bioinformatics revealed an AOX sequence in several marine copepods including Tigriopus californicus. This species lives in tidepools along the west coast of North America and is subject to a wide variety of daily environmental stresses. Here we verify the presence of the AOX gene in T. californicus and the expression of AOX mRNA and AOX protein in various life stages of the animal. We demonstrate that levels of the AOX protein increase in T. californicus in response to cold and heat stress compared to normal rearing temperature. We predict that a functional AOX pathway is present in T. californicus, propose that this species will be a useful model organism for the study of AOX in animals, and discuss future directions for animal AOX research

Superconductor-sapphire cavity for an all-cryogenic SCSO

To develop a superconducting cavity stabilized oscillator (SCSO) as a frequency standard, we are studying the properties of cavities consisting of a single crystal of sapphire surrounded by a superconducting film. Measurements of quality factors of spherical and cylindrical samples of sapphire are reported. Loss values less than 2 × 10^-9 have been measured at a temperature of 1.45K. A design for an all-cryogenic SCSO is described, with particular emphasis on the cavity requirements. We conclude that such a design would allow greatly enhanced stability of operation due substantially to the thermal and physical properties of the sapphire substrate. Cavity Q requirements are relatively modest, with better than 10^-16 frequency stability predicted for a Q of 10^8

Reciprocal Interaction of Wnt and RXR-alpha Pathways in Hepatocyte Development and Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Genomic analysis of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is potentially confounded by the differentiation state of the hepatic cell-of-origin. Here we integrated genomic analysis of mouse HCC (with defined cell-of-origin) along with normal development. We found a major shift in expression of Wnt and RXR-alpha pathway genes (up and down, respectively) coincident with the transition from hepatoblasts to hepatocytes. A combined Wnt and RXR-alpha gene signature categorized HCCs into two subtypes (high Wnt, low RXR-alpha and low Wnt, high RXR-alpha), which matched cell-of-origin in mouse models and the differentiation state of human HCC. Suppression of RXR-alpha levels in hepatocytes increased Wnt signaling and enhanced tumorigenicity, whereas ligand activation of RXR-alpha achieved the opposite. These results corroborate that there are two main HCC subtypes that correspond to the degree of hepatocyte differentation and that RXR-alpha, in part via Wnt signaling, plays a key functional role in the hepatocyte-like subtype and potentially could serve as a selective therapeutic target

Trends in non-metastatic prostate cancer management in the Northern and Yorkshire region of England, 2000–2006

Background: Our objective was to analyse variation in non-metastatic prostate cancer management in the Northern and Yorkshire region of England. Methods: We included 21 334 men aged ⩾55, diagnosed between 2000 and 2006. Principal treatment received was categorised into radical prostatectomy (11%), brachytherapy (2%), external beam radiotherapy (16%), hormone therapy (42%) and no treatment (29%). Results: The odds ratio (OR) for receiving a radical prostatectomy was 1.53 in 2006 compared with 2000 (95% CI 1.26–1.86), whereas the OR for receiving hormone therapy was 0.57 (0.51–0.64). Age was strongly associated with treatment received; radical treatments were significantly less likely in men aged ⩾75 compared with men aged 55–64 years, whereas the odds of receiving hormone therapy or no treatment were significantly higher in the older age group. The OR for receiving radical prostatectomy, brachytherapy or external beam radiotherapy were all significantly lower in the most deprived areas when compared with the most affluent (0.64 (0.55–0.75), 0.32 (0.22–0.47) and 0.83 (0.74–0.94), respectively) whereas the OR for receiving hormone therapy was 1.56 (1.42–1.71). Conclusions: This study highlights the variation and inequalities that exist in the management of non-metastatic prostate cancer in the Northern and Yorkshire region of England