The surrounding microenvironment limits tumour expansion, imposing a compressive stress on the tumour, but little is known how pressure propagates inside the tumour. Here we present non-destructive ...cell-like microsensors to locally quantify mechanical stress distribution in three-dimensional tissue. Our sensors are polyacrylamide microbeads of well-defined elasticity, size and surface coating to enable internalization within the cellular environment. By isotropically compressing multicellular spheroids (MCS), which are spherical aggregates of cells mimicking a tumour, we show that the pressure is transmitted in a non-trivial manner inside the MCS, with a pressure rise towards the core. This observed pressure profile is explained by the anisotropic arrangement of cells and our results suggest that such anisotropy alone is sufficient to explain the pressure rise inside MCS composed of a single cell type. Furthermore, such pressure distribution suggests a direct link between increased mechanical stress and previously observed lack of proliferation within the spheroids core.
A double-phase argon Time Projection Chamber (TPC), with an active mass of 185 g, has been designed and constructed for the Recoil Directionality (ReD) experiment. The aim of the ReD project is to ...investigate the directional sensitivity of argon-based TPCs via columnar recombination to nuclear recoils in the energy range of interest (20–
200
keV
nr
) for direct dark matter searches. The key novel feature of the ReD TPC is a readout system based on cryogenic Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs), which are employed and operated continuously for the first time in an argon TPC. Over the course of 6 months, the ReD TPC was commissioned and characterised under various operating conditions using
γ
-ray and neutron sources, demonstrating remarkable stability of the optical sensors and reproducibility of the results. The scintillation gain and ionisation amplification of the TPC were measured to be
g
1
=
(
0.194
±
0.013
)
photoelectrons/photon and
g
2
=
(
20.0
±
0.9
)
photoelectrons/electron, respectively. The ratio of the ionisation to scintillation signals (S2/S1), instrumental for the positive identification of a candidate directional signal induced by WIMPs, has been investigated for both nuclear and electron recoils. At a drift field of 183 V/cm, an S2/S1 dispersion of 12% was measured for nuclear recoils of approximately 60–
90
keV
nr
, as compared to 18% for electron recoils depositing 60 keV of energy. The detector performance reported here meets the requirements needed to achieve the principal scientific goals of the ReD experiment in the search for a directional effect due to columnar recombination. A phenomenological parameterisation of the recombination probability in LAr is presented and employed for modeling the dependence of scintillation quenching and charge yield on the drift field for electron recoils between 50–500 keV and fields up to 1000 V/cm.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The internal and external mechanical environment plays an important role in tumorogenesis. As a proxy of an avascular early state tumor, we use multicellular spheroids, a composite material made of ...cells, extracellular matrix and permeating fluid. We characterize its effective rheology at the timescale of minutes to hours by compressing the aggregates with osmotic shocks and modeling the experimental results with an active poroelastic material that reproduces the stress and strain distributions in the aggregate. The model also predicts how the emergent bulk modulus of the aggregate as well as the hydraulic diffusion of the percolating interstitial fluid are modified by the preexisting active stress within the aggregate. We further show that the value of these two phenomenological parameters can be rationalized by considering that, in our experimental context, the cells are effectively impermeable and incompressible inclusions nested in a compressible and permeable matrix.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Recently, Flying Ad Hoc Networks (FANET) have been proposed to empower 5G networks to support complex missions and provide ubiquitous connectivity to heterogeneous devices. However, it is needed to ...cope with the limited UAV capabilities (e.g., limited available energy to supply engines and computing elements, limited computing capabilities), as well as with the need to provide network and application services as foreseen in highly dynamic and time varying 5G ecosystems. This paper presents for the first time a comprehensive framework that integrates a FANET with a 5G network, with the aim of providing services that can be even chained with each other. This model is comprehensive in the sense that it takes into account physical constraints of the devices, as well as features and requirements of traffic flows. For this framework, the paper proposes a mathematical optimization model, allowing Virtual Function (VF) placement and chaining, aimed at minimizing energy consumption and service unsatisfaction probabilities of the FANET as a whole without employing heuristics for the solution of the problem. Two placement strategies named MLP and WMP are introduced and compared with the standard placement strategy named NoShP. An extensive numerical analysis shows that MLP and WMP allow us to well catch network dynamics and to reduce the number of virtual functions needed while decreasing the power consumption, so increasing UAV flight time and network lifetime.
Abstract Introduction The use of peppermint oil in treating the irritable bowel syndrome has been studied with variable results probably due to the presence of patients affected by small intestinal ...bacterial overgrowth, lactose intolerance or celiac disease that may have symptoms similar to irritable bowel syndrome. Aim The aim of the study was to test the effectiveness of enteric-coated peppermint oil in patients with irritable bowel syndrome in whom small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, lactose intolerance and celiac disease were excluded. Methods Fifty-seven patients with irritable bowel syndrome according to the Rome II criteria, with normal lactose and lactulose breath tests and negative antibody screening for celiac disease, were treated with peppermint oil (two enteric-coated capsules twice per day or placebo) for 4 weeks in a double blind study. The symptoms were assessed before therapy (T0 ), after the first 4 weeks of therapy (T4 ) and 4 weeks after the end of therapy (T8 ). The symptoms evaluated were: abdominal bloating, abdominal pain or discomfort, diarrhoea, constipation, feeling of incomplete evacuation, pain at defecation, passage of gas or mucus and urgency at defecation. For each symptom intensity and frequency from 0 to 4 were scored. The total irritable bowel syndrome symptoms score was also calculated as the mean value of the sum of the average of the intensity and frequency scores of each symptom. Results At T4 , 75% of the patients in the peppermint oil group showed a >50% reduction of basal (T0 ) total irritable bowel syndrome symptoms score compared with 38% in the placebo group ( P < 0.009). With peppermint oil at T4 and at T8 compared with T0 a statistically significant reduction of the total irritable bowel syndrome symptoms score was found (T0 : 2.19 ± 0.13, T4 : 1.07 ± 0.10*, T8 : 1.60 ± 0.10*, * P < 0.01 compared with T0 , mean ± S.E.M.), while no change was found with the placebo. Conclusion A 4 weeks treatment with peppermint oil improves abdominal symptoms in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
In the direct searches for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) as Dark Matter candidates, the sensitivity of the detector to the incom- ing particle direction could provide a smoking gun ...signature for an interesting event. The SCENE collaboration firstly suggested the possible directional de- pendence of a dual-phase argon Time Projection Chamber through the columnar recombination effect. The Recoil Directionality project (ReD) within the Global Argon Dark Matter Collaboration aims to characterize the light and charge re- sponse of a liquid Argon dual-phase TPC to neutron-induced nuclear recoils to probe for the hint by SCENE. In this work, the directional sensitivity of the de- tector in the energy range of interest for WIMPs (20-100 keV) is investigated with a data-driven analysis involving a Machine Learning algorithm.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
Directional sensitivity to nuclear recoils would provide a smoking gun for a possible discovery of dark matter in the form of WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). A hint of ...directional dependence of the response of a dual-phase argon Time Projection Chamber (TPC) was found in the SCENE experiment. Given the potential importance of such a capability in the framework of dark matter searches, a new dedicated experiment, ReD (Recoil Directionality), was designed by the Global Argon Dark Matter Collaboration, in order to scrutinise this hint. A small dual-phase argon TPC was irradiated with neutrons produced by the p(
7
Li,
7
Be)n reaction using the 15 MV TANDEM accelerator of the INFN - Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Catania, Italy, so as to produce argon nuclear recoils in the range (20 - 100) keV of interest for dark matter searches. Energy and direction of nuclear recoils are inferred by the detection of the elastically-scattered neutron by a set of scintillation detectors. Events were selected by gating of the associated
7
Be, which is detected by a telescope of Si detectors.
Diffusion and transport of small molecules within hydrogel networks are of high interest for biomedical and pharmaceutical research. Herein, using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), we ...experimentally showed that the diffusion time in the hydrogel was directly related to the mechanical state (compression or swelling) and thus to the volume fraction of the gel. Following this observation, we developed cell-like barometers in the form of PAA microbeads, which when incorporated between cells and combined with a diffusion-based optical readout could serve as the first biosensors to measure the local pressure inside the growing biological tissues. To illustrate the potential of the present method, we used multicellular spheroids (MCS) as a tissue model, and it was observed that the growth-associated tissue stress was lower than 1 kPa, but significantly increased when an external compressive stress was applied.
A compton spectrometer to monitor the ELI-NP gamma beam energy Borgheresi, R.; Adriani, O.; Albergo, S. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
08/2019, Volume:
936
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The ELI-NP facility (Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics) will deliver an intense and almost monochromatic gamma beam for frontier research in nuclear physics. Peculiar devices and ...techniques have been developed to measure and monitor the beam parameters during the commissioning and the operational phase. In this work we will present the Compton Spectrometer, designed to reconstruct the γ beam energy spectrum, by measuring the energy and the position of Compton scattered electrons. The energy and the angle of the scattered electron are measured by a High Purity Germanium detector and a double sided silicon strip detector. The associated photon is detected in coincidence with the electron by barium fluoride (BaF2) crystals for trigger purpose. In this work we report the status of the characterization carried out on the detectors composing the spectrometer.
•Compton spectrometer, designed to reconstruct the ELI-NP γ beam energy spectrum.•Energy of the scattered e− measured with a High Purity Germanium detector.•Scattered angle determined by a double sided silicon strip detector.•Scattered photon detected in coincidence by BaF2 crystals for trigger purpose.•Tests carried out on the components of the spectrometer are presented.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
10.
The Recoil Directionality (ReD) Experiment Sanfilippo, S; Agnes, P; Albergo, S ...
Journal of physics. Conference series,
11/2022, Volume:
2374, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Directional sensitivity to nuclear recoils would provide a smoking gun for a possible discovery of dark matter in the form of WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). A hint of directional ...dependence of the response of a dual-phase argon Time Projection Chamber (TPC) was found in the SCENE experiment. Given the potential importance of such a capability in the framework of dark matter searches, a new dedicated experiment, ReD (Recoil Directionality), was designed by the Global Argon Dark Matter Collaboration, in order to scrutinize this hint. Prior to the irradiation with a neutron beam, the ReD TPC underwent a long campaign of characterization and optimization: some selected results are presented in this contribution.
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