An experimental survey of the production of alpha decaying heavy elements in the reactions of 238^{238}U +232^{232}Th at 7.5-6.1 MeV/nucleon

The production of alpha particle decaying heavy nuclei in reactions of 7.5-6.1 MeV/nucleon $^{238}$U +$^{232}$Th has been explored using an in-beam detection array composed of YAP scintillators and gas ionization chamber-Si telescopes. Comparisons of alpha energies and half-lives for the observed products with those of the previously known isotopes and with theoretically predicted values indicate the observation of a number of previously unreported alpha emitters. Alpha particle decay energies reaching as high as 12 MeV are observed. Many of these are expected to be from decay of previously unseen relatively neutron rich products. While the contributions of isomeric states require further exploration and specific isotope identifications need to be made, the production of heavy isotopes with quite high atomic numbers is suggested by the data.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure

A novel experimental setup for rare events selection and its potential application to super-heavy elements search

The paper presents a novel instrumentation for rare events selection which was tested in our research of short-lived super-heavy elements production and detection. The instrumentation includes an active catcher multi-elements system and dedicated electronics. The active catcher located in the forward hemisphere is composed of 63 scintillator detection modules. Reaction products of damped collisions between heavy-ion projectiles and heavy-target nuclei are implanted in the fast plastic scintillators of the active catcher modules. The acquisition system trigger delivered by logical branch of the electronics allows to record the reaction products which decay via the alpha-particle emissions or spontaneous fission which take place between beam bursts. One microsecond wave form signal from FADCs contains information on heavy implanted nucleus as well as its decays

A novel approach to the island of stability of super-heavy elements search

It is expected that the cross section for super-heavy nuclei production of Z > 118 is dropping into the region of tens of femto barns. This creates a serious limitation for the complete fusion technique that is used so far. Moreover, the available combinations of the neutron to proton ratio of stable projectiles and targets are quite limited and it can be difficult to reach the island of stability of super heavy elements using complete fusion reactions with stable projectiles. In this context, a new experimental investigation of mechanisms other than complete fusion of heavy nuclei and a novel experimental technique are invented for our search of super- and hyper-nuclei. This contribution is focused on that technique

tabczar

Combination of doxorubicin (DOX) and docetaxel (DTX) is clinically effective against many drug-refractory cancers, nevertheless, enhanced side effects, e.g. cardiotoxicity related to oxidative damage of tissue macromolecules is observed. Nitroxides represent an attractive class of synthetic compounds to ameliorate DOX-DTX toxicity in nontargeted tissues due to their antioxidant and iron-oxidizing properties. The aim of the study was to define the ability of 3-carbamoylpyrroline nitroxyl derivative pirolin (PL) to mitigate oxidative damage to blood plasma proteins and lipids induced by DOX-DTX chemotherapy in Sprague-Dawley rats bearing DMBA-induced mammary tumor. Additionally we also evaluated: i) pro-oxidant and antioxidant activity of pirolin administered as a single agent according to different regimens and ii) differences in biomarkers of the oxidative stress between healthy rats and rats with DMBA-induced mammary tumors. The extent of oxidative stress was evaluated on the basis of its foremost biomarkers: thiol and carbonyl groups, lipid peroxidation products (hydroperoxides, TBARS), activity of antioxidant defense enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) and non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (NEAC). We have found that pirolin alone displayed dual, antioxidant and pro-oxidant activity depending on the regimen of treatment. Daily treatment for 2 weeks increased the amount of thiols, and decreased the protein carbonyl groups. Three administrations of pirolin at 3-week intervals did not influence thiol content but increased hydroperoxides, TBARS and carbonyl groups. Chemotherapy employing DOX-DTX combination caused considerable oxidative stress in the plasma. Significant and dose-dependent oxidative damage to lipids and proteins with concomitant thiol depletion were evident in treated animals. Drugs also increased SOD activity and NEAC. Association of pirolin with DOX-DTX chemotherapy resulted in a partial amelioration of oxidative stress generated by anticancer drugs. This study indicates that a nitroxyl compound pirolin applied as a single agent in vivo can display both antioxidant and pro-oxidant properties but in conjunction with DOX-DTX it is able to protect partially blood plasma against oxidative stress generated by chemotherapy. The outcome, however, seems to be highly dependent on the ratio between the doses of employed anticancer drugs and the nitroxide. K e y w o r d s : chemotherapy, docetaxel, doxorubicin, nitroxide, pirolin, oxidative stress, superoxide dismutase, reactive oxygen specie

A novel approach to the island of stability of super-heavy elements search

It is expected that the cross section for super-heavy nuclei production of Z > 118 is dropping into the region of tens of femto barns. This creates a serious limitation for the complete fusion technique that is used so far. Moreover, the available combinations of the neutron to proton ratio of stable projectiles and targets are quite limited and it can be difficult to reach the island of stability of super heavy elements using complete fusion reactions with stable projectiles. In this context, a new experimental investigation of mechanisms other than complete fusion of heavy nuclei and a novel experimental technique are invented for our search of super- and hyper-nuclei. This contribution is focused on that technique

Δ\DeltaE–E detector system for searching long lived heaviest nuclei in activated scintillators

We present a dedicated experimental setup that has been built in Institute of Physics of the Jagiellonian University and is currently used to search long lived super heavy elements (LLSHE) that could be produced in the reaction between heavy ions and then deposited in the active catcher (AC) scintillation material. The collisions between heavy nuclei $^{197}Au$ (7.5 A.MeV) and $^{232}Th$ have been performed during our experiment at the Cyclotron Institute, Texas A&M in 2015. An innovative apparatus, which consists of ΔE–E detectors, enables the registration and identification of spontaneous decays (α or fission - SF) of heavy products, which were deposited in the scintillation material of the AC. Unique feature of the apparatus is that the AC scintillators are at the same time ΔE part of each of ΔE–E detector. The other part, E part, is a silicon detector. This construction largely eliminates background events in the region where alpha particles emitted by decaying reaction products are expected. Our measurements should be sensitive to search for super heavy elements (SHE) which could be deposited in irradiated scintillators and which have lifetimes of a year till over a dozen of years. Some results of the continuous measurement that already lasts 1.5 year will be shown

miR-150 regulates HIF-1α and VEGFA by direct targeting

<p>(A) A wt-HIF-1α 3’UTR luciferase reporter vector (wt-HIF-1α), a wt-VEGFA 3’UTR luciferase reporter vector (wt-VEGFA), a mut-HIF-1α 3’UTR luciferase reporter vector (mut-HIF-1α) and a mut-VEGFA 3’UTR luciferase reporter vector (mut-VEGFA) with mutations on miR-150 binding sites of the 3’UTR of HIF-1α or VEGFA was constructed. (B, C) The indicated luciferase reporter gene vectors were co-transfected into HaCaT cells with NC mimics/miR-150 mimics or NC inhibitor/miR-150 inhibitor, and the luciferase activity was monitored in each group using dual luciferase assays. The data are presented as mean ± SD of three independent experiments. *<i>P</i><0.05, **<i>P</i><0.01.</p