173 research outputs found
Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells : disrupting cell therapy storage and distribution with hypothermic preservation of adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells
Background & Aim: Cell and gene therapies (CGT) have reached new therapeutic targets but have noticeably high prices. Solutions to reduce production costs might be found in CGT storage and transportation since they typically involve cryopreservation, which is a heavily burdened process. Encapsulation at hypothermic temperatures (e.g.,2–8°C) could be a feasible alternative. In this study, we aim to determine the ability of alginate encapsulation to maintain cell viability, identity, and function in the context of MSC-based therapy manufacturing.
Methods, Results & Conclusion: Adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC(AT)) expanded using fetal bovine serum (FBS)- (MSC-FBS) or human platelet lysate (HPL)-supplemented mediums (MSC-HPL) were encapsulated in alginate beads (BeadReady™ kits kindly provided by Atelerix) for 30 min, 5 days, and 12 days. After bead release, cell recovery and viability were determined to assess encapsulation performance. MSC identity and functional immunophenotype, MSC tri-lineage differentiation potential, metabolic activity, and hematopoietic support capacity were determined and compared between timepoints. MSC(AT) were able to survive encapsulated for a standard transportation period of 5 days, with recovery values of 56 ± 5% for MSC-FBS and 77 ± 6% for MSC-HPL (which is a negligible drop compared to earlier timepoints). Importantly, MSC function did not suffer from encapsulation, with recovered cells showing robust differentiation potential, expression of immunomodulatory molecules, and hematopoietic support capacity. MSC(AT) encapsulation was proven possible for a remarkable 12 day period. There is currently no solution to completely replace cryopreservation in CGT logistics and supply chain, although encapsulation has shown potential to act as a serious competitor.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
DECam integration tests on telescope simulator
The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is a next generation optical survey aimed at
measuring the expansion history of the universe using four probes: weak
gravitational lensing, galaxy cluster counts, baryon acoustic oscillations, and
Type Ia supernovae. To perform the survey, the DES Collaboration is building
the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), a 3 square degree, 570 Megapixel CCD camera
which will be mounted at the Blanco 4-meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo
Inter- American Observatory. DES will survey 5000 square degrees of the
southern galactic cap in 5 filters (g, r, i, z, Y). DECam will be comprised of
74 250 micron thick fully depleted CCDs: 62 2k x 4k CCDs for imaging and 12 2k
x 2k CCDs for guiding and focus. Construction of DECam is nearing completion.
In order to verify that the camera meets technical specifications for DES and
to reduce the time required to commission the instrument, we have constructed a
full sized telescope simulator and performed full system testing and
integration prior to shipping. To complete this comprehensive test phase we
have simulated a DES observing run in which we have collected 4 nights worth of
data. We report on the results of these unique tests performed for the DECam
and its impact on the experiments progress.Comment: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Technology and
Instrumentation in Particle Physics (TIPP 2011). To appear in Physics
Procedia. 8 pages, 3 figure
Measuring the flatness of focal plane for very large mosaic CCD camera
Large mosaic multiCCD camera is the key instrument for modern digital sky
survey. DECam is an extremely red sensitive 520 Megapixel camera designed for
the incoming Dark Energy Survey (DES). It is consist of sixty two 4k2k
and twelve 2k x 2k 250-micron thick fully-depleted CCDs, with a focal plane of
44 cm in diameter and a field of view of 2.2 square degree. It will be attached
to the Blanco 4-meter telescope at CTIO. The DES will cover 5000 square-degrees
of the southern galactic cap in 5 color bands (g, r, i, z, Y) in 5 years
starting from 2011.
To achieve the science goal of constraining the Dark Energy evolution,
stringent requirements are laid down for the design of DECam. Among them, the
flatness of the focal plane needs to be controlled within a 60-micron envelope
in order to achieve the specified PSF variation limit. It is very challenging
to measure the flatness of the focal plane to such precision when it is placed
in a high vacuum dewar at 173 K. We developed two image based techniques to
measure the flatness of the focal plane. By imaging a regular grid of dots on
the focal plane, the CCD offset along the optical axis is converted to the
variation the grid spacings at different positions on the focal plane. After
extracting the patterns and comparing the change in spacings, we can measure
the flatness to high precision. In method 1, the regular dots are kept in high
sub micron precision and cover the whole focal plane. In method 2, no high
precision for the grid is required. Instead, we use a precise XY stage moves
the pattern across the whole focal plane and comparing the variations of the
spacing when it is imaged by different CCDs. Simulation and real measurements
show that the two methods work very well for our purpose, and are in good
agreement with the direct optical measurements.Comment: Presented at SPIE Conference,Ground-based and Airborne
Instrumentation for Astronomy III, San Diego, 201
An additional study of multi-muon events produced in pp- collisions at s=1.96 TeV
We present one additional study of multi-muon events produced at the Fermilab Tevatron collider and
recorded by the CDF II detector. We use a data set acquired with a dedicated dimuon trigger and
corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.9 fb?1. We investigate the distribution of the azimuthal
angle between the two trigger muons in events containing at least four additional muon candidates to
test the compatibility of these events with originating from known QCD processes. We find that this
distribution is markedly different from what is expected from such QCD processes and this observation
strongly disfavors the possibility that multi-muon events result from an underestimate of the rate of
misidentified muons in ordinary QCD events.We thank the Fermilab staff and the technical staffs of the participating institutions for their vital contributions. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and National Science Foundation; the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare; the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan; the National Science Council of the Republic of China; the Swiss National Science Foundation; the A.P. Sloan Foundation; the Korean Science and Engineering Foundation and the Korean Research Foundation; the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Royal Society, UK; the Institut National de Physique Nucleaire et Physique des Particules/CNRS; the Russian Foundation for Basic Research; the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain; the European Community’s Human Potential Programme; the Slovak R&D Agency; and the Academy of Finland
Performance of Glass Resistive Plate Chambers for a high granularity semi-digital calorimeter
A new design of highly granular hadronic calorimeter using Glass Resistive
Plate Chambers (GRPCs) with embedded electronics has been proposed for the
future International Linear Collider (ILC) experiments. It features a 2-bit
threshold semi-digital read-out. Several GRPC prototypes with their electronics
have been successfully built and tested in pion beams. The design of these
detectors is presented along with the test results on efficiency, pad
multiplicity, stability and reproducibility.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figure
Probing the distance and morphology of the Large Magellanic Cloud with RR Lyrae stars
We present a Bayesian analysis of the distances to 15,040 Large Magellanic
Cloud (LMC) RR Lyrae stars using - and -band light curves from the
Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, in combination with new -band
observations from the Dark Energy Camera. Our median individual RR Lyrae
distance statistical error is 1.89 kpc (fractional distance error of 3.76 per
cent). We present three-dimensional contour plots of the number density of LMC
RR Lyrae stars and measure a distance to the core LMC RR Lyrae centre of
,
equivalently . This finding is statistically consistent with and four
times more precise than the canonical value determined by a recent
meta-analysis of 233 separate LMC distance determinations. We also measure a
maximum tilt angle of at a position angle of
, and report highly precise constraints on the , , and RR
Lyrae period--magnitude relations. The full dataset of observed mean-flux
magnitudes, derived colour excess values, and fitted distances for
the 15,040 RR Lyrae stars produced through this work is made available through
the publication's associated online data.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure
Search for Neutral Higgs Bosons in Events with Multiple Bottom Quarks at the Tevatron
The combination of searches performed by the CDF and D0 collaborations at the
Fermilab Tevatron Collider for neutral Higgs bosons produced in association
with b quarks is reported. The data, corresponding to 2.6 fb-1 of integrated
luminosity at CDF and 5.2 fb-1 at D0, have been collected in final states
containing three or more b jets. Upper limits are set on the cross section
multiplied by the branching ratio varying between 44 pb and 0.7 pb in the Higgs
boson mass range 90 to 300 GeV, assuming production of a narrow scalar boson.
Significant enhancements to the production of Higgs bosons can be found in
theories beyond the standard model, for example in supersymmetry. The results
are interpreted as upper limits in the parameter space of the minimal
supersymmetric standard model in a benchmark scenario favoring this decay mode.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
FANCA (Fanconi anemia, complementation group A)
Review on FANCA (Fanconi anemia, complementation group A), with data on DNA, on the protein encoded, and where the gene is implicated
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