XMASS, a low-background, large liquid-xenon detector, was used to search for solar axions that would be produced by bremsstrahlung and Compton effects in the Sun. With an exposure of 5.6 ton days of ...liquid xenon, the model-independent limit on the coupling for mass ≪1 keV is |gaee|<5.4×10−11 (90% C.L.), which is a factor of two stronger than the existing experimental limit. The bounds on the axion masses for the DFSZ and KSVZ axion models are 1.9 and 250 eV, respectively. In the mass range of 10–40 keV, this study produced the most stringent limit, which is better than that previously derived from astrophysical arguments regarding the Sun to date.
Summary
What is known and objective
Niemann‐Pick C1‐Like 1 (NPC1L1) plays a pivotal role in intestinal cholesterol absorption. Ezetimibe is known as an inhibitor for NPC1L1 and decreases ...concentration of low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C) in blood. Responses of the decrease of serum LDL‐C levels to ezetimibe have been reported to be different among NPC1L1 variants. However, there are still limited data concerning the genetic variation in the NPC1L1 gene, specifically, in Japanese patients with dyslipidemia. The purpose of this study is to elucidate genotype and allele frequencies of the NPC1L1 gene in Japanese patients with dyslipidemia.
Methods
Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. All patients were administered ezetimibe at the dose of 10 mg for once a day either alone or coadministered with statins. Patient's data were retrospectively obtained from their medical records. Genomic DNA was extracted from whole blood samples and analysed three NPC1L1 SNPs (rs2072183, rs217428 and rs217434) by the direct sequencing method.
Results and discussion
We found that there is a significant difference of genotype frequencies between healthy Japanese and dyslipidemic subjects in rs2072183. No significant differences were observed in rs217428 and rs217434; however, comparison of our data with literature reports suggests that there are significant differences in the frequencies of rs217428 and rs217434 between Canadian and Japanese dyslipidemic patients.
What is new and conclusion
Our study is the first report concerning the genotype and allele frequencies of the gene coding for NPC1L1 in Japanese patients with dyslipidemia. The most notable result was to demonstrate that there exists a significant difference in rs2072183 variant between healthy Japanese and dyslipidemic subjects and also found that there exists genetic variation of rs2072183 between Japanese and Canadian patients with dyslipidemia. Our results are expected to facilitate research in the proper use of ezetimibe‐based mono‐ or combination therapies. Further studies will be required to evaluate the effects of rs2072183 on the efficacy of LDL cholesterol reduction by ezetimibe.
The purpose of this study is to elucidate genotype and allele frequencies of the NPC1L1 gene (rs2072183, rs217428 and rs217434) in Japanese patients with dyslipidemia. We found that there is a significant difference between healthy Japanese and dyslipidemic subjects in rs2072183. Our results are expected to facilitate research in the proper use of ezetimibe‐based therapies.
Bosonic superweakly interacting massive particles (super-WIMPs) are a candidate for warm dark matter. With the absorption of such a boson by a xenon atom, these dark matter candidates would deposit ...an energy equivalent to their rest mass in the detector. This is the first direct detection experiment exploring the vector super-WIMPs in the mass range between 40 and 120 keV. With the use of 165.9 day of data, no significant excess above background was observed in the fiducial mass of 41 kg. The present limit for the vector super-WIMPs excludes the possibility that such particles constitute all of dark matter. The absence of a signal also provides the most stringent direct constraint on the coupling constant of pseudoscalar super-WIMPs to electrons. The unprecedented sensitivity was achieved exploiting the low background at a level 10(-4) kg-1 keVee-1 day-1 in the detector.
The coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) plays a crucial role at the final evolution of stars. The detection of it would be of importance in astroparticle physics. Among all available ...neutrino sources, galactic supernovae give the highest neutrino flux in the MeV range. Among all liquid xenon dark matter experiments, XMASS has the largest sensitive volume and light yield. The possibility to detect galactic supernova via the CEvNS-process on xenon nuclei in the current XMASS detector was investigated. The total number of events integrated in about 18 s after the explosion of a supernova 10 kpc away from the Earth was expected to be from 3.5 to 21.1, depending on the supernova model used to predict the neutrino flux, while the number of background events in the same time window was measured to be negligible. All lead to very high possibility to detect CEvNS experimentally for the first time utilizing the combination of galactic supernovae and the XMASS detector. In case of a supernova explosion as close as Betelgeuse, the total observable events can be more than ∼ 104, making it possible to distinguish different supernova models by examining the evolution of neutrino event rate in XMASS.
A search for light dark matter using low-threshold data from the single phase liquid xenon scintillation detector XMASS, has been conducted. Using the entire 835 kg inner volume as target, the ...analysis threshold can be lowered to 0.3 keVee (electron-equivalent) to search for light dark matter. With low-threshold data corresponding to a 5591.4 kg day exposure of the detector and without discriminating between nuclear-recoil and electronic events, XMASS excludes part of the parameter space favored by other experiments.
The isotonic, nonionic, contrast medium iodixanol, as a test substance, was compared with the conventional glomerular filtration rate (GFR) tracer inulin to establish a simplified procedure for ...estimating the GFR in Holstein dairy cows. First, inulin and iodixanol were coadministered as a bolus intravenous injection to clinically healthy cows at 30mg/kg and 10mg of I/kg of body weight, respectively, followed by blood collection for multisample strategies. Serum iodixanol and inulin concentrations were separately determined by using HPLC and colorimetry, respectively, and blood urea nitrogen and creatinine concentrations in sera were measured. In the multisample method, the GFR values estimated by iodixanol were consistent with those estimated by inulin. No effects of body weight, age, or parity on GFR estimates were noted with either protocol used. No difference was observed between the GFR values obtained from nonlactating and lactating cows, suggesting that no transfer of iodixanol to milk occurred. An equation for calculating the GFR in the single-sample method was derived from the injected dose, sampling time, serum concentration, and estimated volume of distribution based on data from the multisample method in clinically healthy cows and cows with reduced renal function. The GFR values estimated by the single-sample method were in good agreement with those calculated by using the multisample method. These results demonstrate that the single-sample method using iodixanol can be applied as an alternative procedure for screening GFR in dairy cows.
In a dedicated test setup at the Kamioka Observatory we studied pulse shape discrimination (PSD) in liquid xenon (LXe) for dark matter searches in the absence of an externally applied electric field. ...PSD in LXe was based on the observation that scintillation light from electron events was emitted over a longer period of time than that of nuclear recoil events, and our method used a simple ratio of early to total scintillation light emission in a single scintillation event. Requiring an efficiency of 50% for nuclear recoil retention we reduced the electron background by a factor of 7.7±1.1(stat)±0.61.2(sys)×10−2 at energies between 4.8 and 7.2keVee and 7.7±2.8(stat)±2.82.5(sys)×10−3 at energies between 9.6 and 12keVee for a scintillation light yield of 20.9photoelectrons/keVee. Further study was done by masking some of that light to reduce this yield to 4.6photoelectrons/keVee. Under these conditions the same method results in an electron event reduction by a factor of 2.4±0.2(stat)±0.20.3(sys)×10−1 for the lower of the energy regions above. We also observe that in contrast to nuclear recoils the fluctuations in our early to total ratio for electron events are larger than expected from statistical fluctuations.
Radon removal from gaseous xenon with activated charcoal Abe, K.; Hieda, K.; Hiraide, K. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
2012, 2012-01-00, 20120101, Volume:
661, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Many low background experiments using xenon need to remove radioactive radon to improve their sensitivities. However, no method of continually removing radon from xenon has been described in the ...literature. We studied a method to remove radon from xenon gas through an activated charcoal trap. From our measurements we infer a linear relationship between the mean propagation velocity
v
Rn
of radon and
v
Xe
of xenon in the trap with
v
Rn
/
v
Xe
=
(
0.96
±
0.10
)
×
10
−
3
at −85
°C. As the mechanism for radon removal in this charcoal trap is its decay, knowledge of this parameter allows us to design an efficient radon removal system for the XMASS experiment. The verification of this system found that it reduces radon by a factor of 0.07, which is in line with its expected average retention time of 14.8 days for radon.
Background
Application of a multisample method using inulin to estimate glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in cats is cumbersome.
Objectives
To establish a simplified procedure to estimate GFR in cats, ...a single‐blood‐sample method using inulin was compared with a conventional 3‐sample method.
Animals
Nine cats including 6 clinically healthy cats and 3 cats with spontaneous chronic kidney disease.
Methods
Retrospective study. Inulin was administered as an intravenous bolus at 50 mg/kg to cats, and blood was collected at 60, 90, and 120 minutes later for the 3‐sample method. Serum inulin concentrations were colorimetrically determined by an autoanalyzer method. The GFR in the single‐blood‐sample method was calculated from the dose injected, serum concentration, sampling time, and estimated volume of distribution on the basis of the data of the 3‐sample method.
Results
An excellent correlation was observed (r = 0.99, P = .0001) between GFR values estimated by the single‐blood‐sample and 3‐sample methods.
Conclusions and Clinical Importance
The single‐blood‐sample method using inulin provides a practicable and ethical alternative for estimating glomerular filtration rate in cats.
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