Although irreversible reaction of NO with the oxyheme of hemoglobin (producing nitrate and methemoglobin) is extremely rapid, it has been proposed that, under normoxic conditions, NO binds ...preferentially to the minority deoxyheme to subsequently form S-nitrosohemoglobin (SNOHb). Thus, the primary reaction would be conservation, rather than consumption, of nitrogen oxide. Data supporting this conclusion were generated by using addition of a small volume of a concentrated aqueous solution of NO to a normoxic hemoglobin solution. Under these conditions, however, extremely rapid reactions can occur before mixing. We have thus compared bolus NO addition to NO generated homogeneously throughout solution by using NO donors, a more physiologically relevant condition. With bolus addition, multiple hemoglobin species are formed (as judged by visible spectroscopy) as well as both nitrite and nitrate. With donor, only nitrate and methemoglobin are formed, stoichiometric with the amount of NO liberated from the donor. Studies with increasing hemoglobin concentrations reveal that the nitrite-forming reaction (which may be NO autoxidation under these conditions) competes with reaction with hemoglobin. SNOHb formation is detectable with either bolus or donor; however, the amounts formed are much smaller than the amount of NO added (less than 1%). We conclude that the reaction of NO with hemoglobin under normoxic conditions results in consumption, rather than conservation, of NO.
We report evidence for the simultaneous production of J/ψ and ϒ mesons in 8.1 fb^{-1} of data collected at sqrts=1.96 TeV by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab ppover ¯ Tevatron Collider. Events ...with these characteristics are expected to be produced predominantly by gluon-gluon interactions. In this analysis, we extract the effective cross section characterizing the initial parton spatial distribution, σ_{eff}=2.2±0.7(stat)±0.9(syst) mb.
Gastric teratoma is a rare tumor, accounting for less than 1 % of all teratomas in infants & children. To date, only about 102 cases have been reported in the literature. A 10 month old infant was ...brought with a history of upper abdominal mass which was otherwise asymptomatic. On evaluation it was diagnosed as gastric teratoma. On laparotomy the mass was found to be originating from lesser curvature of stomach. Mass was excised and histopathologically it was a mature cystic teratoma. No recurrence after 18 months of follow-up.
We describe an analysis comparing the p¯p elastic cross section as measured by the D0 Collaboration at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV to that in pp collisions as measured by the TOTEM ...Collaboration at 2.76, 7, 8, and 13 TeV using a model-independent approach. The TOTEM cross sections, extrapolated to a center-of-mass energy of √s=1.96 TeV, are compared with the D0 measurement in the region of the diffractive minimum and the second maximum of the pp cross section. The two data sets disagree at the 3.4σ level and thus provide evidence for the t-channel exchange of a colorless, C-odd gluonic compound, also known as the odderon. We combine these results with a TOTEM analysis of the same C-odd exchange based on the total cross section and the ratio of the real to imaginary parts of the forward elastic strong interaction scattering amplitude in pp scattering for which the significance is between 3.4σ and 4.6σ. The combined significance is larger than 5σ and is interpreted as the first observation of the exchange of a colorless, C-odd gluonic compound.
We have used a combination of molecular and classical genetic approaches to delineate the relationship between a specific HSP member and cell viability under heat stress. Using recombinant inbred ...lines (RILs) of wheat, derived from a cross of the thermotolerant cultivar 'Mustang' and the thermosusceptible cultivar 'Sturdy,' we have identified a unique HSP and a differentially expressed cDNA sequence, both related to the plastic-localized HSP26 gene family. that are closely associated with acquired thermotolerance in wheat. An isoform of HSP26 was synthesized under heat stress in all examined thermotolerant RILs and 'Mustang', and was absent in all examined thermosusceptible RILs and 'Sturdy.' Using a modified differential-display method, we have also identified a gene-specific cDNA sequence that is similar to other known members of the wheat HSP26 gene family and is selectively expressed in 'Mustang' and most of the examined thermotolerant RILs, but not expressed in 'Sturdy' and all the thermosusceptible RILs. These results suggest a genetic linkage between the acquired thermotolerance trait and the differential expression of a unique member of the HSP26 gene family.
IEEE We present an experimental demonstration of Additive Point Source Localization (APSL), a sparse parametric imaging algorithm that reconstructs the 3D positions and activities of multiple ...gamma-ray point sources. Using a handheld gamma-ray detector array and up to four 8 μCi 137Cs gamma-ray sources, we performed both source-search and source-separation experiments in an indoor laboratory environment. In the majority of the source-search measurements, APSL reconstructed the correct number of sources with position accuracies of ~20 cm and activity accuracies (unsigned) of ~20%, given measurement times of two to three minutes and distances of closest approach (to any source) of ~20 cm. In source-separation measurements where the detector could be moved freely about the environment, APSL was able to resolve two sources separated by 75 cm or more given only ~60 s of measurement time. In these source-separation measurements, APSL produced larger total activity errors of ~40%, but obtained source separation distances accurate to within 15 cm. We also compare our APSL results against traditional Maximum Likelihood-Expectation Maximization (ML-EM) reconstructions, and demonstrate improved image accuracy and interpretability using APSL over ML-EM. These results indicate that APSL is capable of accurately reconstructing gamma-ray source positions and activities using measurements from existing detector hardware.
The addition of contextual sensors to mobile radiation sensors provides valuable information about radiological source encounters that can assist in adjudication of alarms. This study explores how ...computer-vision based object detection and tracking analyses can be used to augment radiological data from a mobile detector system. We study how contextual information (streaming video and LiDAR) can be used to associate dynamic pedestrians or vehicles with radiological alarms to enhance both situational awareness and detection sensitivity. Possible source encounters were staged in a mock urban environment where participants included pedestrians and vehicles moving in the vicinity of an intersection. Data was collected with a vehicle equipped with 6 NaI(Tl) 2 inch times 4 inch times 16 inch detectors in a hexagonal arrangement and multiple cameras, LiDARs, and an IMU. Physics-based models that describe the expected count rates from tracked objects are used to correlate vehicle and/or pedestrian trajectories to measured count-rate data through the use of Poisson maximum likelihood estimation and to discern between source-carrying and non-source-carrying objects. In this work, we demonstrate the capabilities of our source-object attribution approach as applied to a mobile detection system in the presence of moving sources to improve both detection sensitivity and situational awareness in a mock urban environment.
Static gamma-ray detector systems that are deployed outdoors for radiological monitoring purposes experience time- and spatially-varying natural backgrounds and encounters with man-made nuisance ...sources. In order to be sensitive to illicit sources, such systems must be able to distinguish those sources from benign variations due to, e.g., weather and human activity. In addition to fluctuations due to non-threats, each detector has its own response and energy resolution, so providing a large network of detectors with predetermined background and source templates can be an onerous task. Instead, we propose that static detectors use simple physics-informed algorithms to automatically learn the background and nuisance source signatures, which can them be used to bootstrap and feed into more complex algorithms. Specifically, we show that non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) can be used to distinguish static background from the effects of increased concentrations of radon progeny due to rainfall. We also show that a simple process of using multiple gross count rate filters can be used in real time to classify or ``triage'' spectra according to whether they belong to static, rain, or anomalous categories for processing with other algorithms. If a rain sensor is available, we propose a method to incorporate that signal as well. Two clustering methods for anomalous spectra are proposed, one using Kullback-Leibler divergence and the other using regularized NMF, with the goal of finding clusters of similar spectral anomalies that can be used to build anomaly templates. Finally we describe the issues involved in the implementation of some of these algorithms on deployed sensor nodes, including the need to monitor the background models for long-term drifting due to physical changes in the environment or changes in detector performance.
PDF
