We present our new measurement of the cross-section for charm dimuon production in neutrino–iron interactions based upon the full statistics collected by the NOMAD experiment. After background ...subtraction we observe 15 344 charm dimuon events, providing the largest sample currently available. The analysis exploits the large inclusive charged current sample – about 9×106 events after all analysis cuts – and the high resolution NOMAD detector to constrain the total systematic uncertainty on the ratio of charm dimuon to inclusive Charged Current (CC) cross-sections to ∼2%. We also perform a fit to the NOMAD data to extract the charm production parameters and the strange quark sea content of the nucleon within the NLO QCD approximation. We obtain a value of mc(mc)=1.159±0.075 GeV/c2 for the running mass of the charm quark in the MS¯ scheme and a strange quark sea suppression factor of κs=0.591±0.019 at Q2=20 GeV2/c2.
Cell or tissue stretching and strain are present in any in vivo environment, but is difficult to reproduce in vitro. Here, we describe a simple method for casting a thin (about 500 μm) and soft ...(about 0.3 kPa) hydrogel of gelatin and a method for characterizing the mechanical properties of the hydrogel simply by changing pressure with a water column. The gelatin is crosslinked with mTransglutaminase and the area of the resulting hydrogel can be increased up 13‐fold by increasing the radial water pressure. This is far beyond physiological stretches observed in vivo. Actuating the hydrogel with a radial force achieves both information about stiffness, stretchability, and contractability, which are relevant properties for tissue engineering purposes. Cells could be stretched and contracted using the gelatin membrane. Gelatin is a commonly used polymer for hydrogels in tissue engineering, and the discovered reversible stretching is particularly interesting for organ modeling applications.
Urban runoff from traffic areas is a major source of pollution that degrades the quality of adjacent surface waters. Green infrastructure provided by the substantial amount of roadside land at urban ...fringe areas can be used to better manage and infiltrate this urban runoff. When establishing urban green areas, recycled materials should be preferred in order to achieve economically feasible and environmentally responsible solutions. Wastewater treatment plants within e.g. the EU yield substantial amounts of solids containing nutrients and metals that need to be utilised in a sustainable way. However, soil composted from such sewage sludge is being used widely in constructing green infrastructure, such as parks and road verges, which may jeopardise their use for stormwater management even though the effects of sewage sludge at road verges on the quality of runoff waters have not been subjected to scientific examination. Biochar has been suggested to retain pollutants and may also meet the criteria of being recycled material. We established artificial biofilter structures, mimicking road verges, in large-scale field lysimeters under cold climatic conditions in southern Finland to study the ability of biochar to retain pollutants leaching from composted sewage sludge and from infiltrating artificial stormwater. The topmost 15 cm consisted of an organic layer of either natural peat (Peat) or soil composted from sewage sludge either mixed with birch-derived biochar (3% by volume) or without this biochar (Comp+bc and Comp, respectively). At the end of the 1st growing period grasses growing in the lysimeters had taken up to 32% of phosphorus in the top soil containing compost. Leaching of phosphorus did not differ between the treatments, while nitrogen (N) leaching was ten time larger from Comp than Peat. Leaching of heavy metals, such as nickel and copper, was also significantly higher from compost soils than peat, but biochar significantly reduced metal leaching from compost (up to 50%). Two years after establishment, lysimeters were irrigated with artificial stormwater mimicking runoff from roads with heavy traffic. Comp leached more N compared to Peat. However, biochar significantly reduced N load infiltrated through the compost by 44%. Mixing sewage sludge-originated compost with biochar, and adding a 5 cm thick layer of biochar underneath the organic soil layer can substantially reduce leaching of N and heavy metals. However, given the substantial amount of roadsides in urban fringe areas, the extensive use of sewage sludge and other N-rich materials in such areas should be considered carefully.
•Soil composted from sewage sludge is a source of pollutants.•Nitrogen leaching decreased while metal leaching increased over time.•Birch-biochar substantially reduces leaching of nitrogen and metals.•Road verges can efficiently reduce traffic-derived phosphorus loading.•Metals in road runoff were retained by 99%, while nitrogen retention was negative.
Functional outcomes following delayed peripheral nerve repair are poor. Schwann cells (SCs) play key roles in supporting axonal regeneration and remyelination following nerve injury, thus ...understanding the impact of chronic denervation on SC function is critical toward developing therapies to enhance regeneration. To improve our understanding of SC function following acute versus chronic-denervation, we performed functional assays of SCs from adult rodent sciatic nerve with acute- (Day 5 post) or chronic-denervation (Day 56 post), versus embryonic nerves. We also compared Schwann cells derived from adult skin-derived precursors (aSKP-SCs) as an accessible, autologous alternative to supplement the distal (denervated) nerve. We found that acutely-injured SCs and aSKP-SCs exhibited superior proliferative capacity, promotion of neurite outgrowth and myelination of axons, both in vitro and following transplant into a sciatic nerve crush injury model, while chronically-denervated SCs were severely impaired. Acute injury caused re-activation of transcription factors associated with an immature and pro-myelinating SC state (Oct-6, cJun, Sox2, AP2α, cadherin-19), but was diminished with prolonged denervation in vivo and could not be rescued following expansion in vitro suggesting that this is a permanent deficiency. Interestingly, aSKP-SCs closely resembled acutely injured and embryonic SCs, exhibiting elevated expression of these same transcription factors. In summary, prolonged denervation resulted in SC deficiency in several functional parameters that may contribute to impaired regeneration. In contrast, aSKP-SCs closely resemble the regenerative attributes ascribed to acutely-denervated or embryonic SCs emphasizing their potential as an accessible and autologous source of glia cells to enhance nerve regeneration, particularly following delays to surgical repair.
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•Acute nerve injury re-activates early glial lineage genes in Schwann cells (SCs).•Regenerative function is diminished in SCs after chronic denervation.•Adult SKP-SCs resemble acutely injured SCs gene expression.•SKP-SCs exhibit greater axon growth support and myelination compared to denervated SCs.•SKP-SCs may be an accessible source of myelinating glia for nerve repair.
A
bstract
Heavy Neutral Leptons (HNLs) are hypothetical particles predicted by many extensions of the Standard Model. These particles can, among other things, explain the origin of neutrino masses, ...generate the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe and provide a dark matter candidate.
The SHiP experiment will be able to search for HNLs produced in decays of heavy mesons and travelling distances ranging between
O
(50 m) and tens of kilometers before decaying. We present the sensitivity of the SHiP experiment to a number of HNL’s benchmark models and provide a way to calculate the SHiP’s sensitivity to HNLs for arbitrary patterns of flavour mixings. The corresponding tools and data files are also made publicly available.
We have studied the muon neutrino and antineutrino quasi-elastic (QEL) scattering reactions (
ν
μ
n
→
μ
−
p
and
) using a set of experimental data collected by the NOMAD Collaboration. We have ...performed measurements of the cross-section of these processes on a nuclear target (mainly carbon) normalizing it to the total
ν
μ
(
) charged-current cross section. The results for the flux-averaged QEL cross sections in the (anti)neutrino energy interval 3–100 GeV are
and
for neutrino and antineutrino, respectively. The axial mass parameter
M
A
was extracted from the measured quasi-elastic neutrino cross section. The corresponding result is
M
A
=1.05±0.02(stat)±0.06(syst) GeV. It is consistent with the axial mass values recalculated from the antineutrino cross section and extracted from the pure
Q
2
shape analysis of the high purity sample of
ν
μ
quasi-elastic 2-track events, but has smaller systematic error and should be quoted as the main result of this work. Our measured
M
A
is found to be in good agreement with the world average value obtained in previous deuterium filled bubble chamber experiments. The NOMAD measurement of
M
A
is lower than those recently published by K2K and MiniBooNE Collaborations. However, within the large errors quoted by these experiments on
M
A
, these results are compatible with the more precise NOMAD value.
The OPERA experiment was designed to search for ν_{μ}→ν_{τ} oscillations in appearance mode, i.e., by detecting the τ leptons produced in charged current ν_{τ} interactions. The experiment took data ...from 2008 to 2012 in the CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso beam. The observation of the ν_{μ}→ν_{τ} appearance, achieved with four candidate events in a subsample of the data, was previously reported. In this Letter, a fifth ν_{τ} candidate event, found in an enlarged data sample, is described. Together with a further reduction of the expected background, the candidate events detected so far allow us to assess the discovery of ν_{μ}→ν_{τ} oscillations in appearance mode with a significance larger than 5σ.
Summary
Overall asthmatic symptoms can be controlled with diverse therapeutic agents. However, certain symptomatic individuals remain at risk for serious morbidity and mortality, which prompts the ...identification of novel therapeutic targets and treatment strategies. Thus, using an adjuvant‐free T helper type 2 (Th2) murine model, we have deciphered the role of interleukin (IL)‐1 signalling during allergic airway inflammation (AAI). Because functional IL‐1β depends on inflammasome activation we first studied asthmatic manifestations in specific inflammasome‐deficient NACHT, LRR and PYD domains‐containing protein 3 (NLRP3−/−) and apoptosis‐associated speck‐like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC−/−) and IL‐1 receptor type 1−/− (IL‐1R1−/−) mice on the BALB/c background. To verify the onset of disease we assessed cellular infiltration in the bronchial regions, lung pathology, airway hyperresponsiveness and ovalbumin (OVA)‐specific immune responses. In the absence of NLRP3 inflammasome‐mediated IL‐1β release all symptoms of AAI were reduced, except OVA‐specific immunoglobulin levels. To address whether manipulating IL‐1 signalling reduced asthmatic development, we administered the IL‐1R antagonist anakinra (Kineret®) during critical immunological time‐points: sensitization or challenge. Amelioration of asthmatic symptoms was only observed when anakinra was administered during OVA challenge. Our findings indicate that blocking IL‐1 signalling could be a potential complementary therapy for allergic airway inflammation.
The COBRA demonstrator at the LNGS underground laboratory Ebert, J.; Fritts, M.; Gehre, D. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
01/2016, Letnik:
807
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The COBRA demonstrator, a prototype for a large-scale experiment searching for neutrinoless double beta-decay, was built at the underground laboratory Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in ...Italy. It consists of an array of 64 monolithic, calorimetric CdZnTe semiconductor detectors with a coplanar-grid design and a total mass of 380g. It is used to investigate the experimental challenges faced when operating CdZnTe detectors in low-background mode, to identify potential background sources and to show the long-term stability of the detectors. The first data-taking period started in 2011 with a subset of the detectors, while the demonstrator was completed in November 2013. To date, more than 250kgd of data have been collected. This paper describes the technical details of the experimental setup and the hardware components.
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