The incidence of Oropharyngeal Squampus Cell Carcinoma (OPSCC) cases is increasing especially in the Western countries due to the spreading of human papilloma virus (HPV) infection. Radiological ...investigations, MRI in particular, are used in the daily clinical practice to stage OPSCC. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of quantitative MR imaging features including diffusion-weighted imaging and human papillomavirus status in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.
We retrospectively analyzed 59 patients with untreated histologically proved T2-T4 oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Human papillomavirus status was determined by viral DNA detection on tissue samples. MR imaging protocol included T2-weighted, contrast-enhanced T1-weighted (volumetric interpolated brain examination), and DWI sequences. Parametric maps of apparent diffusion coefficient were obtained from DWI sequences. Texture analysis was performed on T2 and volumetric-interpolated brain examination sequences and on ADC maps. Differences in quantitative MR imaging features between tumors positive and negative for human papillomavirus and among subgroups of patients stratified by smoking status were tested using the nonparametric Mann-Whitney
test; the false discovery rate was controlled using the Benjamini-Hochberg correction; and a predictive model for human papillomavirus status was built using multivariable logistic regression.
Twenty-eight patients had human papillomavirus-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, while 31 patients had human papillomavirus-negative oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Tumors positive for human papillomavirus had a significantly lower mean ADC compared with those negative for it (median, 850.87 versus median, 1033.68;
< .001). Texture features had a lower discriminatory power for human papillomavirus status. Skewness on volumetric interpolated brain examination sequences was significantly higher in the subgroup of patients positive for human papillomavirus and smokers (
= .003). A predictive model based on smoking status and mean ADC yielded a sensitivity of 83.3% and specificity 92.6% in classifying human papillomavirus status.
ADC is significantly lower in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma positive for human papillomavirus compared with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma negative for it. ADC and smoking status allowed noninvasive prediction of human papillomavirus status with a good accuracy. These results should be validated and further investigated on larger prospective studies.
Antihydrogen, a positron bound to an antiproton, is the simplest antiatom. Its counterpart-hydrogen--is one of the most precisely investigated and best understood systems in physics research. ...High-resolution comparisons of both systems provide sensitive tests of CPT symmetry, which is the most fundamental symmetry in the Standard Model of elementary particle physics. Any measured difference would point to CPT violation and thus to new physics. Here we report the development of an antihydrogen source using a cusp trap for in-flight spectroscopy. A total of 80 antihydrogen atoms are unambiguously detected 2.7 m downstream of the production region, where perturbing residual magnetic fields are small. This is a major step towards precision spectroscopy of the ground-state hyperfine splitting of antihydrogen using Rabi-like beam spectroscopy.
The ASACUSA antihydrogen and hydrogen program: results and prospects Malbrunot, C.; Amsler, C.; Arguedas Cuendis, S. ...
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences,
03/2018, Letnik:
376, Številka:
2116
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The goal of the ASACUSA-CUSP collaboration at the Antiproton Decelerator of CERN is to measure the ground-state hyperfine splitting of antihydrogen using an atomic spectroscopy beamline. A milestone ...was achieved in 2012 through the detection of 80 antihydrogen atoms 2.7 m away from their production region. This was the first observation of 'cold' antihydrogen in a magnetic field free region. In parallel to the progress on the antihydrogen production, the spectroscopy beamline was tested with a source of hydrogen. This led to a measurement at a relative precision of 2.7×10−9 which constitutes the most precise measurement of the hydrogen hyperfine splitting in a beam. Further measurements with an upgraded hydrogen apparatus are motivated by CPT and Lorentz violation tests in the framework of the Standard Model Extension. Unlike for hydrogen, the antihydrogen experiment is complicated by the difficulty of synthesizing enough cold antiatoms in the ground state. The first antihydrogen quantum states scan at the entrance of the spectroscopy apparatus was realized in 2016 and is presented here. The prospects for a ppm measurement are also discussed.
This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Antiproton physics in the ELENA era'.
Systematic measurements of the annihilation cross sections of low energy antinucleons were performed at CERN in the 80's and 90's. However the antiproton data on medium-heavy and heavy nuclear ...targets are scarce. The ASACUSA Collaboration at CERN has measured the antiproton annihilation cross section on carbon at 5.3 MeV: the value is (1.73 ± 0.25) barn. The result is compared with the antineutron experimental data and with the theoretical previsions.
We report here the first successful synthesis of cold antihydrogen atoms employing a cusp trap, which consists of a superconducting anti-Helmholtz coil and a stack of multiple ring electrodes. This ...success opens a new path to make a stringent test of the CPT symmetry via high precision microwave spectroscopy of ground-state hyperfine transitions of antihydrogen atoms.
The ASACUSA (Atomic Spectroscopy And Collisions Using Slow Antiprotons) collaboration plans to measure the ground-state hyperfine splitting of antihydrogen in a beam at the CERN Antiproton ...Decelerator with initial relative precision of
10
-
6
or better, to test the fundamental CPT (combination of charge conjugation, parity transformation and time reversal) symmetry between matter and antimatter. This challenging goal requires a polarised antihydrogen beam with a sufficient number of antihydrogen atoms in the ground state. The first measurement of the quantum state distribution of antihydrogen atoms in a low magnetic field environment of a few mT is described. Furthermore, the data-driven machine learning analysis to identify antihydrogen events is discussed.
Graphic Abstract
Some experimental limits on the annihilation cross sections σann of antiprotons on carbon, palladium, and platinum targets were determined at the previously unexplored kinetic energy region E≈125 ...keV. Information on σann at such low antiproton energies is important in understanding the dynamics of the annihilation process, and provides useful data for models that attempt to describe the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe by assuming the existence of islands of antimatter concentration.
Direct detection of antihydrogen atoms using a BGO crystal Nagata, Y.; Kuroda, N.; Ohtsuka, M. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
12/2016, Letnik:
840
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The ASACUSA collaboration has developed a detector consisting of a large size BGO crystal to detect an atomic antihydrogen beam, and performed the direct detection of antihydrogen atoms. Energy ...spectra from antihydrogen annihilation on the BGO crystal are discussed in comparison to simulation results from the GEANT4 toolkit. Background mainly originating from cosmic rays were strongly suppressed by analyzing the energy deposited in the BGO and requiring a multiplicity of charged pions. Thus antihydrogen events were identified.
Light dark matter searches with positrons Battaglieri, M.; Bianconi, A.; Bisio, P. ...
The European physical journal. A, Hadrons and nuclei,
08/2021, Letnik:
57, Številka:
8
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
We discuss two complementary strategies to search for light dark matter (LDM) exploiting the positron beam possibly available in the future at Jefferson Laboratory. LDM is a new compelling hypothesis ...that identifies dark matter with new sub-GeV “hidden sector” states, neutral under standard model interactions and interacting with our world through a new force. Accelerator-based searches at the intensity frontier are uniquely suited to explore it. Thanks to the high intensity and the high energy of the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) beam, and relying on a novel LDM production mechanism via positron annihilation on target atomic electrons, the proposed strategies will allow us to explore new regions in the LDM parameters space, thoroughly probing the LDM hypothesis as well as more general hidden sector scenarios.