Background
Basophils, eosinophils and monocytes may be involved in BCG-induced immune responses and be associated with outcomes of bladder cancer patients receiving intravesical BCG. Our objective ...was to explore the association of baseline counts of basophils, eosinophils and monocytes with outcomes of patients with high-grade T1 bladder cancer receiving a standard course of intravesical BCG.
Methods
We retrospectively reviewed medical records of patients with primary T1 HG/G3 bladder cancer. After re-TURBT, patients were treated with a 6-week course of intravesical BCG induction followed by intravesical BCG every week for 3 weeks given at 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months from initiation of therapy The analysis of potential risk factors for recurrence, muscle invasion and cancer-specific and overall survival was performed using univariable Cox regression models. Those factors that presented, at univariate analysis, an association with the event at a liberal
p
< 0.1, have been selected for the development of a multivariable model.
Results
A total of 1045 patients with primary T1 HG/G3 were included. A total of 678 (64.9%) recurrences, 303 (29.0%) progressions and 150 (14.3%) deaths were observed during follow-up. Multivariate analysis showed that logarithmic transformation of basophils count was associated with a 30% increment in the hazard of recurrence per unit increase of logarithmic basophils count (HR 1.30; 95% confidence interval 1.09–1.54;
p
= 0.0026). Basophil count modeled by quartiles was also significantly associated with time to recurrence second vs. lower quartile HR 1.42 (1.12–1.79);
p
= 0.003, third vs. lower quartile HR 1.26 (1.01–1.57);
p
= 0.041; upper vs. lower quartile HR 1.36 (1.1–1.68);
p
= 0.005. The limitations of a retrospective study are applicable.
Conclusion
Baseline basophil count may predict recurrence in BCG-treated HG/G3 T1 bladder cancer patients. External validation is warranted.
For the High-Luminosity phase of LHC, the ATLAS experiment is proposing the addition of a High Granularity Timing Detector (HGTD) in the forward region, to mitigate the effects of the increased ...pile-up. The chosen detection technology is Low Gain Avalanche Detector (LGAD) silicon sensors that can provide an excellent timing resolution below 50 ps. The front-end read-out ASIC must exploit the large signal derivative and small noise provided by the sensor, while keeping low power consumption. This paper presents the results on the first prototype of a front-end ASIC, named ALTIROC0, which contains the analog stages (preamplifier and discriminator) of the read-out chip. The ASIC was characterised both alone and as part of a module with a 2×2 LGAD array of 1.1×1.1 mm2 pads bump-bonded to it. The various contributions of the electronics to the time resolution were investigated in test-bench measurements with a calibration setup. Both when the ASIC is alone or with a bump-bonded sensor, the jitter of the ASIC is better than 20 ps for an injected charge of 10 fC . The time walk effect, which arises from the different preamplifier response for various injected charges, can be corrected up to 10 ps using a Time Over Threshold measurement. The combined performance of the ASIC and the LGAD sensor, which was measured during a beam test campaign in October 2018 with pions of 120 GeV energy at the CERN SPS, is around 40 ps for all measured modules. All tested modules show good efficiency and time resolution uniformity.
Abstract
The HKROC ASIC was originally designed to readout the photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) for the Hyper-Kamiokande (HK) experiment. HKROC is a very innovative ASIC capable of readout a large number ...of channels satisfying stringent requirements in terms of noise, speed and dynamic range. Each HKROC channel features a low-noise preamplifier and shapers, a 10-bit successive approximation Analog-to-Digital Converter (SAR-ADC) (designed by AGH Krakow) for the charge measurement (up to 2500 pC) and a Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) (designed by CEA IRFU group) for the Time-of-Arrival (ToA) measurement with 25 ps binning. HKROC is auto-triggered and includes all necessary ancillary services as bandgap circuit, PLL (Phase-locked loop) and threshold DACs (Digital to Analog Converters). This paper will describe the ASIC architecture and the experimental results of the first HKROC prototype received in January 2022.
Core-collapse Supernovae (SNe) are one of the most energetic events in the Universe, during which almost all the star’s binding energy is released in the form of neutrinos. These particles are direct ...probes of the processes occurring in the stellar core and provide unique insights into the gravitational collapse. RES-NOVA will revolutionize how we detect neutrinos from astrophysical sources, by deploying the first ton-scale array of cryogenic detectors made from archaeological lead. Pb offers the highest neutrino interaction cross-section via coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS). Such process will enable RES-NOVA to be equally sensitive to all neutrino flavours. For the first time, we propose the use archaeological Pb as sensitive target material in order to achieve an ultra-low background level in the region of interest (O(1 keV)). All these features make possible the deployment of the first cm-scale neutrino telescope for the investigation of astrophysical sources. In this contribution, we will characterize the radiopurity level and the performance of a small-scale proof-of-principle detector of RES-NOVA, consisting in a PbWO4 crystal made from archaeological-Pb operated as cryogenic detector.
•RES-NOVA: first-proposed cryogenic detector made from archaeological lead for background suppression.•Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering: innovative way to detect neutrinos from astrophysical sources.•Radiopurity level measured on kg-scale prototype allows supernovae neutrino detection.
CRESST is a direct dark matter search experiment, aiming for an observation of nuclear recoils induced by the interaction of dark matter particles with cryogenic scintillating calcium tungstate ...crystals. Instead of confining ourselves to standard spin-independent and spin-dependent searches, we re-analyze data from CRESST-II using a more general effective field theory (EFT) framework. On many of the EFT coupling constants, improved exclusion limits in the low-mass region (< 3–4 GeV/
c
2
) are presented.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Purpose
The aim of this study was to investigate homophobic attitudes in three European countries: Italy, Albania, and Ukraine. One thousand and forty-eight students were recruited in Italian (
n
... = 766), Albanian (
n
= 180), and Ukrainian (
n
= 102) university centers.
Methods
A socio-demographic questionnaire and Homophobia Scale (HS) were administered by our staff.
Results
Cross-cultural and significant differences among Italian, Albanian, and Ukrainian students were found on the Homophobia Scale (HS; Italy: mean = 22.26 ± 16.73; Albania: mean = 38.15 ± 17.28; Ukraine: mean = 59.18 ± 16.23). The analysis of socio-demographic characteristics revealed that the male gender emerged as main predictor of homophobic attitude in all the three countries, although also a conservative political orientation and the religious belief predict higher homophobia levels in Italy and Albania, particularly.
Conclusions
This study revealed that in these European countries assessed, attitudes toward homosexuality are different. Ukrainians display higher levels of homophobia than Albanians and Italians, confirming the central role of cultural differences in homophobic attitudes. Nevertheless, some socio-demographic aspects such as identification as male have a similar influence on homophobic attitudes in all assessed populations.
Core-collapse Supernovae (SNe) are one of the most energetic events in the Universe, during which almost all the star's binding energy is released in the form of neutrinos. These particles are direct ...probes of the processes occurring in the stellar core and provide unique insights into the gravitational collapse. RES-NOVA will revolutionize how we detect neutrinos from astrophysical sources, by deploying the first ton-scale array of cryogenic detectors made from archaeological lead. Pb offers the highest neutrino interaction cross-section via coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS). Such process will enable RES-NOVA to be equally sensitive to all neutrino flavours. For the first time, we propose the use archaeological Pb as sensitive target material in order to achieve an ultra-low background level in the region of interest (O(1 keV)). All these features make possible the deployment of the first cm-scale neutrino telescope for the investigation of astrophysical sources. In this contribution, we will characterize the radiopurity level and the performance of a small-scale proof-of-principle detector of RES-NOVA, consisting in a PbWO
crystal made from archaeological-Pb operated as cryogenic detector.
Diamond operated as a cryogenic calorimeter is an excellent target for direct detection of low-mass dark matter candidates. Following the realization of the first low-threshold cryogenic detector ...that uses diamond as absorber for astroparticle physics applications, we now present the resulting exclusion limits on the elastic spin-independent interaction cross-section of dark matter with diamond. We measured two 0.175 g CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) diamond samples, each instrumented with a Transition Edge Sensor made of Tungsten (W-TES). Thanks to the energy threshold of just 16.8 eV of one of the two detectors, we set exclusion limits on the elastic spin-independent interaction of dark matter particles with carbon nuclei down to dark matter masses as low as 0.122 GeV/c
2
. This work shows the scientific potential of cryogenic detectors made from diamond and lays the foundation for the use of this material as target for direct detection dark matter experiments.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The CRESST (Cryogenic Rare Event Search with Superconducting Thermometers) dark matter search experiment aims for the detection of dark matter particles via elastic scattering off nuclei in
CaWO
4
...crystals. To understand the CRESST electromagnetic background due to the bulk contamination in the employed materials, a model based on Monte Carlo simulations was developed using the Geant4 simulation toolkit. The results of the simulation are applied to the TUM40 detector module of CRESST-II phase 2. We are able to explain up to
(
68
±
16
)
%
of the electromagnetic background in the energy range between 1 and
40
keV
.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The use of bent crystals for beam manipulation in particle accelerators is a well-assessed concept rapidly evolving into practical application. The experiments of the UA9 collaboration at the ...CERN-SPS have played a key role for a quantitative understanding of channeling and volume reflection mechanisms. Investigation of the channeling process close to a circulating beam ideally requires in vacuum detectors resolving the single particle, which should be located inside the vacuum pipe itself. Cherenkov radiators are potential candidates for such functionality due the reduced electro-magnetic interaction of the radiator material with the circulating charges and their compatibility with vacuum requirements in the beam pipe. For this purpose, we developed a device called Cherenkov detector for proton Flux Measurement (CpFM) that aims at counting the number of deflected protons of the beam halo surrounding the circulating beam with an accuracy of 15%. After a detailed description of the detection chain and its simulation, we present results of beam tests of different configurations, the calibration of the final device and the results of its first operation in the SPS.