The CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) is a space experiment, currently under development by Japan in collaboration with Italy and the United States, which will measure the flux of cosmic-ray ...electrons (and positrons) up to 20 TeV energy, of gamma rays up to 10 TeV, of nuclei with Z from 1 to 40 up to 1 PeV energy, and will detect gamma-ray bursts in the 7 keV to 20 MeV energy range during a 5 year mission. These measurements are essential to investigate possible nearby astrophysical sources of high energy electrons, study the details of galactic particle propagation and search for dark matter signatures. The main detector of CALET, the Calorimeter, consists of a module to identify the particle charge, followed by a thin imaging calorimeter (3 radiation lengths) with tungsten plates interleaving scintillating fibre planes, and a thick energy measuring calorimeter (27 radiation lengths) composed of lead tungstate logs. The Calorimeter has the depth, imaging capabilities and energy resolution necessary for excellent separation between hadrons, electrons and gamma rays. The instrument is currently being prepared for launch (expected in 2015) to the International Space Station ISS, for installation on the Japanese Experiment Module - Exposure Facility (JEM-EF).
Oscillatory magnetoresistance as a function of iron layer thickness has been found in Fe/Cr(100) multilayers deposited on MgO(100). It is mainly attributed to an oscillatory interlayer exchange ...coupling between adjacent Fe layers as a function of the Fe layer thickness. Further, oscillatory variation of the saturation resistivity with Fe layer thickness was also observed. Both the oscillation periods are approx 8 A. These two oscillations can be understood in terms of the partial confinement of the perpendicular motion to the layer plane of Fe majority spin electrons.
Huntington's disease (HD) is a hereditary dominant neurodegenerative disorder and the progression of the disease may be associated with apoptosis and altered expression of apoptotic proteins. The aim ...of this study was to investigate gene expression of bax and bcl-2 in tissues from R6/1 transgenic (TGN) mice of different ages (3, 6 and 9 months). The mRNA expression was investigated and related to apoptotic cells measured by TUNEL. Results showed a significant and progressive increase in bax levels in the cortex of TGN (from 10 to 33%) when compared to control (CT) (8 to 20%) mice with 3, 6 and 9-month-old. The increase in bax was correlated with the elevation in the number of apoptotic nuclei, especially in the cortex of 6 (10%) and 9 (18%)-month-old mice. Increase in bax expression might be related to an apoptotic induction which contributes to the HD progression.
Cinacalcet, an allosteric modulator of the calcium sensing receptor, effectively reduces serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) in patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism. It is not well known whether ...bone mineral density (BMD) of hemodialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism is altered after cinacalcet treatment.
The BMD in the distal 1/3 of the radius and in the ultradistal radius, which are enriched with cortical and cancellous bone, respectively, was examined by dual X-ray absorptiometry, 1 year prior to, at the start, and 1 year after cinacalcet treatment, in 61 patients.
The BMD of both the distal 1/3 and ultradistal radius decreased significantly in the year prior to cinacalcet treatment (p < 0.01). However, the BMD at either site did not change significantly in the year after cinacalcet treatment. The annual changes in the BMD of the distal 1/3 radius increased significantly from -0.023 ± 0.029 g/cm2/year to -0.002 ± 0.033 g/cm2/year, prior to and after cinacalcet treatment, respectively; however, the annual changes in the BMD of the ultradistal radius did not change significantly prior to and after cinacalcet treatment.
There was a significant association between cinacalcet treatment and reduction in BMD loss in patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism. Cortical bone, rather than cancellous bone, was particularly affected by cinacalcet treatment.
Epidemiologic and clinical studies have suggested that urate-lowering therapy may slow the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, definitive evidence is lacking.
Randomized, ...double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
467 patients with stage 3 CKD and asymptomatic hyperuricemia at 55 medical institutions in Japan.
Participants were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive febuxostat or placebo for 108 weeks.
The primary end point was the slope (in mL/min/1.73m2 per year) of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Secondary end points included changes in eGFRs and serum uric acid levels at 24, 48, 72, and 108 weeks of follow-up and the event of doubling of serum creatinine level or initiation of dialysis therapy.
Of 443 patients who were randomly assigned, 219 and 222 assigned to febuxostat and placebo, respectively, were included in the analysis. There was no significant difference in mean eGFR slope between the febuxostat (0.23±5.26mL/min/1.73m2 per year) and placebo (−0.47±4.48mL/min/1.73m2 per year) groups (difference, 0.70; 95% CI, −0.21 to 1.62; P=0.1). Subgroup analysis demonstrated a significant benefit from febuxostat in patients without proteinuria (P=0.005) and for whom serum creatinine concentration was lower than the median (P=0.009). The incidence of gouty arthritis was significantly lower (P=0.007) in the febuxostat group (0.91%) than in the placebo group (5.86%). Adverse events specific to febuxostat were not observed.
GFR was estimated rather than measured, and patients with stages 4 and 5 CKD were excluded.
Compared to placebo, febuxostat did not mitigate the decline in kidney function among patients with stage 3 CKD and asymptomatic hyperuricemia.
Funded by Teijin Pharma Limited.
Registered at the UMIN (University Hospital Medical Information Network) Clinical Trials Registry with study number UMIN000008343.
Background. Although vitamin D has been reported to be useful in the treatment of patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism, it is not effective in some of them. The goal of this study was to see ...whether a relationship could be found between maxacalcitol responsiveness and parathyroid gland size. Methods. Parathyroid gland size was measured by ultrasonography in 25 patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism serum intact parathyroid hormone (PTH) >300 pg/ml, 58.1 ± 2.8 years old, 15 males and 10 females, who were treated with maxacalcitol. Patients were divided into two groups according to the mean value of the maximum diameter of the glands: group S with a diameter <11.0 mm and group L with a diameter ≥11.0 mm. Between the two groups there were no significant differences in serum intact PTH, calcium or phosphate level or duration of haemodialysis. Results. Mean (± SE) maximal diameter of detectable parathyroid glands was 11.0 ± 0.7 mm before treatment. At 4–24 weeks after administration of maxacalcitol, intact PTH concentrations decreased significantly in group S (from 546 ± 39 to 266 ± 34 pg/ml at 24 weeks; P < 0.01), but did not significantly change in group L (from 481 ± 39 to 403 ± 49 pg/ml at 24 weeks). At 24 weeks after maxacalcitol administration, the number of detectable parathyroid glands was significantly decreased in group S (from 2.2 ± 0.3 to 1.8 ± 0.4; P < 0.05), but not in group L. Serum calcium increased significantly in group L (from 9.6 ± 0.2 to 10.2 ± 0.3 mg/dl; P < 0.05), but not in group S. There was a significant correlation between reduction in PTH and parathyroid gland size (r = −0.42, P < 0.05). Conclusions. These results indicate that the responsiveness to maxacalcitol therapy of secondary hyperparathyroidism is dependent on parathyroid gland size and that the simple measurement of maximum parathyroid gland diameter by ultrasonography may be useful for predicting responsiveness to maxacalcitol treatment.
First results of a cosmic-ray electron and positron spectrum from 10 GeV to 3 TeV is presented based upon observations with the CALET instrument on the International Space Station starting in ...October, 2015. Nearly a half million electron and positron events are included in the analysis. CALET is an all-calorimetric instrument with total vertical thickness of 30 X_{0} and a fine imaging capability designed to achieve a large proton rejection and excellent energy resolution well into the TeV energy region. The observed energy spectrum over 30 GeV can be fit with a single power law with a spectral index of -3.152±0.016 (stat+syst). Possible structure observed above 100 GeV requires further investigation with increased statistics and refined data analysis.
An eddy-current-based SQUID-NDE system has been developed to detect shallow surface flaws of less than 50 mum in depth on heat-exchanger copper tubes using an HTS-SQUID gradiometer and an ...Helmholtz-coil-type inducer. In this study, detectable flaw sizes on the tubes were investigated by experiments and simulation. Copper tube specimens with flaws of various sizes were inspected by the system with an excitation field of 5.6 muT at 3 kHz. A magnetic anomaly due to the shallowest flaw of 10 mum depth, 100 mum width and 15 mm length was successfully detected. The experimental results showed that the magnetic signal amplitude due to a flaw was proportional to the effective flaw size given by the product of flaw depth, width and length. A numerical simulation was carried out to calculate the magnetic signal from a flaw on a copper tube to determine the dependence on the flaw size. It is concluded that a flaw with a volume of 10 6 mum 3 should be detectable by improving the system parameters.
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