The development of different muscles and adipose tissues during growth was investigated in commercial Japanese Black (JB) cattle and compared with breeds of the largest variation to be found in ...Europe. Animals, reared under typical conditions for Japanese and European beef production systems, gained similar body weights but different carcass composition at 24
months of age. The carcass of JB contained more adipose tissue and the least proportion of muscle. The
longissimus muscle of JB developed extraordinary amounts of 23.3% intramuscular fat (IMF) at 24
months of age, compared from 0.6% to 4.7% in European breeds. The relationships between IMF content in the
longissimus muscle and different adipose tissue weights indicate that a large amount of “waste fat” is accreted with every percent of IMF. However in JB, the good ability of IMF deposition is associated with relatively least development of “waste fat”, as a result of unique breed characteristics combined with special feeding system.
A Beam Induced Fluorescence (BIF) monitor is being developed as an essential part of the monitor update toward MW beam power operation at the J-PARC neutrino beam line, where a 30 GeV proton beam is ...extracted, bent and struck onto a 90-cm-long graphite target to produce an intense and nearly pure muon (anti-)neutrino beam for the Tokai-to-Kamioka(T2K) experiment. A BIF monitor can measure the proton beam profile non-destructively and continuously spill-by-spill with fluorescence light produced by proton-N2 interactions. In order to generate enough light to measure the profile precisely, it is necessary to temporarily increase the vacuum pressure near the BIF interaction point up to ~ 10−2 Pa during each beam spill while keeping the average pressure low (10−4 to 10−6 Pa) at other locations to protect vacuum equipment. Therefore, R&D of a pulsed gas injection system satisfying these requirements is in progress. We will report the recent R&D status of the gas injection system and prospects toward operation of a prototype monitor which we plan to install this fall 2019.
Background and Objectives
Allergic transfusion reactions (ATRs) and febrile non‐haemolytic transfusion reactions (FNHTRs) are the two major types of transfusion‐related adverse reactions (TRARs). ...Although prestorage leucocyte reduction and diversion of the first aliquot of blood (LR/D) could reduce FNHTRs and bacterial contamination in adult transfusion, ATRs are still problematic. In addition, there is little information about TRARs in paediatric population.
Materials and Methods
We conducted a single‐centre retrospective analysis of all transfusions, except washing products, and TRARs for 153 months to evaluate related factors such as delivery of treatment and the characteristics of recipients.
Results
Most TRARs were FNHTRs and/or ATRs in children. In delivering blood products with LR/D, the frequencies of not only FNHTRs but also ATRs were significantly reduced with both platelet concentrates (PCs) and red cell concentrates (RCCs). TRARs of fresh‐frozen plasma were infrequent in children. In addition, even after the introduction of LR/D, ATRs were significantly more frequent in patients with primary haematological and malignant diseases who received PCs and RCCs, older patients who received PCs and patients who received frequent RCCs.
Conclusion
These results suggest that leucocytes or mediators from leucocytes are underlying cause of ATRs in addition to FNHTRs in children. Furthermore, particular characteristics of patients would be other risk factors for ATRs.
Background and Objectives
Adverse reactions to platelet transfusions are a problem. Children with primary haematological and malignant diseases may experience allergic transfusion reactions (ATRs) to ...platelet concentrates (PCs), which can be prevented by giving washed PCs. A new platelet additive solution, using bicarbonated Ringer's solution and acid–citrate–dextrose formula A (BRS‐A), may be better for platelet washing and storage, but clinical data are scarce.
Materials and Methods
A retrospective cohort study for consecutive cases was performed between 2013 and 2017. For 24 months, we transfused washed PCs containing BRS‐A to children with primary haematological and malignant diseases and previous adverse reactions. Patients transfused with conventional PCs (containing residual plasma) were assigned as controls, and results were compared in terms of frequency of ATRs, corrected count increment (CCI) and occurrence of bleeding. We also studied children transfused with PCs washed by a different system as historical controls.
Results
Thirty‐two patients received 377 conventional PC transfusions. ATRs occurred in 12 (37·5%) patients from transfused with 18 (4·8%) bags. Thirteen patients, who experienced reactions to regular PCs in plasma, then received 119 transfusion bags of washed PCs containing BRS‐A, and none had ATRs to washed PCs containing BRS‐A. Before study period, six patients transfused 137 classical washed PCs with different platelet additive solution, under same indication, ATRs occurred in one (16·7%) patient from transfused with one (0·7%) bags. CCIs (24 h) in were lower with classical washed PCs (1·26 ± 0·54) compared to regular PCs in plasma (2·07 ± 0·76) (P < 0·001), but there was no difference between washed PCs containing BRS‐A (2·14 ± 0·77) and regular PCs (2·21 ± 0·79) (P = 0·769), and we saw no post‐transfusion bleeding.
Conclusion
Washed PCs containing BRS‐A appear to prevent ATRs without loss of transfusion efficacy in children with primary haematological and malignant diseases. Their efficacy should be further evaluated through larger prospective clinical trials.
Abstract
Muon beam monitoring is indispensable for indirectly monitoring accelerator-produced neutrino beams in real time. Though Si photodiodes and ionization chambers have been successfully used as ...muon monitors at the T2K experiment, sensors that are more radiation tolerant are desired for future operation. We have investigated the electron-multiplier tube (EMT) as a new sensor for muon monitoring. Secondary electrons produced by the passage of muons at dynodes are multiplied in the tube and produce signal. Two prototype detectors were installed at the T2K muon monitor location, and various EMT properties were studied based on in situ data taken with the T2K muon beam. The signal size is as expected based on calculation, and the EMTs show a sufficiently fast time response for bunch-by-bunch beam monitoring. The spill-by-spill intensity resolution is 0.4%, better than the required value (1%). Signal linearity within $\pm$1% is achieved at proton beam powers up to 460 kW (with +250 kA focusing horn operation). A gradual signal decrease was observed during the initial exposure, due to the stabilization of dynode materials, before the response became stable within $\pm$1%. This work demonstrates that EMTs are a good candidate for future muon monitoring at T2K, and may also have other more general applications.
Neutrino neutral-current (NC) induced single photon production is a sub-leading order process for accelerator-based neutrino beam experiments including T2K. It is, however, an important process to ...understand because it is a background for electron (anti)neutrino appearance oscillation experiments. Here, we performed the first search of this process below 1 GeV using the fine-grained detector at the T2K ND280 off-axis near detector. By reconstructing single photon kinematics from electron-positron pairs, we achieved 95% pure gamma ray sample from 5.738 × 10 20 protons-on-targets neutrino mode data. We do not find positive evidence of NC induced single photon production in this sample. We set the model-dependent upper limit on the cross-section for this process, at 0.114 × 10 − 38 cm2 (90% C.L.) per nucleon, using the J-PARC off-axis neutrino beam with an average energy of E ∼ 0.6 GeV. This is the first limit on this process below 1 GeV which is important for current and future oscillation experiments looking for electron neutrino appearance oscillation signals.
Using serum-containing culture, we examined whether AGM-S3 stromal cells, alone or in combination with hematopoietic growth factor(s), stimulated the proliferation of CD34(+) cells from patients with ...juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML). AGM-S3 cells in concert with stem cell factor plus thrombopoietin increased the numbers of peripheral blood CD34(+) cells to approximately 20-fold of the input value after 2 weeks in nine JMML patients with either PTPN11 mutations or RAS mutations, who received allogeneic hematopoietic transplantation. Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) also augmented the proliferation of JMML CD34(+) cells on AGM-S3 cells. The expansion potential of CD34(+) cells was markedly low in four patients who achieved spontaneous hematological improvement. A large proportion of day-14-cultured CD34(+) cells were negative for CD38 and cryopreservable. Cultured JMML CD34(+)CD38(-) cells expressed CD117, CD116, c-mpl, CD123, CD90, but not CXCR4, and formed GM and erythroid colonies. Day-7-cultured CD34(+) cells from two of three JMML patients injected intrafemorally into immunodeficient mice stimulated with human GM-CSF after transplantation displayed significant hematopoietic reconstitution. The abilities of OP9 cells and MS-5 cells were one-third and one-tenth, respectively, of the value obtained with AGM-S3 cells. Our culture system may provide a useful tool for elucidating leukemogenesis and for therapeutic approaches in JMML.
Abstract
A high-pressure xenon gas time projection chamber, with a unique cellular readout structure based on electroluminescence, has been developed for a large-scale neutrinoless double-beta decay ...search. In order to evaluate the detector performance and validate its design, a 180 L size prototype is being constructed and its commissioning with partial detector has been performed. The obtained energy resolution at 4.0 bar is 1.73 $\pm$ 0.07% (FWHM) at 511 keV. The energy resolution at the $^{136}$Xe neutrinoless double-beta decay $Q$-value is estimated to be between 0.79 and 1.52% (FWHM) by extrapolation. Reconstructed event topologies show patterns peculiar to the track endpoint that can be used to distinguish $0\nu\beta\beta$ signals from gamma-ray backgrounds.
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