A new design of a detector plane of sub-millimetre thickness for an electromagnetic sampling calorimeter is presented. It is intended to be used in the luminometers LumiCal and BeamCal in future ...linear e
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collider experiments. The detector planes were produced utilising novel connectivity scheme technologies. They were installed in a compact prototype of the calorimeter and tested at DESY with an electron beam of energy 1–5 GeV. The performance of a prototype of a compact LumiCal comprising eight detector planes was studied. The effective Molière radius at 5 GeV was determined to be (8.1 ± 0.1 (stat) ± 0.3 (syst)) mm, a value well reproduced by the Monte Carlo (MC) simulation (8.4 ± 0.1) mm. The dependence of the effective Molière radius on the electron energy in the range 1–5 GeV was also studied. Good agreement was obtained between data and MC simulation.
We report measurements of Υ meson production in p + p, d + Au, and Au+Au collisions using the STAR detector at RHIC. We compare the Υ yield to the measured cross section in p + p collisions in order ...to quantify any modifications of the yield in cold nuclear matter using d + Au data and in hot nuclear matter using Au+Au data separated into three centrality classes. Our p + p measurement is based on three times the statistics of our previous result. We obtain a nuclear modification factor for Upsilon (1S + 2S + 3S) in the rapidity range |y| < 1 in d + Au collisions of RdAu = 0.79 ± 0.24(stat.) ± 0.03(syst.) ± 0.10(p + p syst.). A comparison with models including shadowing and initial state parton energy loss indicates the presence of additional cold-nuclear matter suppression. Similarly, in the top 10% most-central Au + Au collisions, we measure a nuclear modification factor of R AA = 0.49 ±0.1(stat.) ±0.02(syst.) ±0.06(p + p syst.), which is a larger suppression factor than that seen in cold nuclear matter. Our results are consistent with complete suppression of excited-state Upsilon mesons in Au + Au collisions. The additional suppression in Au + Au is consistent with the level expected in model calculations that include the presence of a hot, deconfined Quark–Gluon Plasma. However, understanding the suppression seen in d + Au is still needed before any definitive statements about the nature of the suppression in Au + Au can be made.
The prevalence of autoantibodies in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and their clinical associations differ between various studies. This study investigated antiphospholipid and antinuclear ...antibodies in 85 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) with regard to their association with demographic features, MS specific clinical features and symptoms of connective tissue diseases. Autoantibodies tested included antinuclear antibodies (ANA) with their specificities and anticardiolipin (aCL) and anti-beta-2-glycoprotein I (anti-β2GPI) antibodies.
Antinuclear antibodies were more prevalent in MS patients than in controls (63.5% vs. 3.3%; p < 0.01) and in 19% of patients specific antinuclear antibodies were detected. Anti-β2GPI IgM antibodies were more frequent in MS patients than in the control group (20% vs. 3.3%; p < 0.05). The frequency of anticardiolipin antibodies did not differ between MS patients and controls.
MS patients seropositive for ANA and extractable nuclear antigens (ENA) had significantly shorter disease duration than seronegative patients (p < 0.05) and a lower disability score (Expanded Disability Status Score; EDSS) (p < 0.05). Anti-β2GPI antibodies were more frequent in patients with secondary progressive MS (SP-MS) and specific ANA antibodies were more frequent in patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) (p < 0.05). The presence of autoantibodies was not associated with the predominant site of neurological involvement or the clinical features of connective tissue diseases.
To report the clinicopathologic features in a series of patients after ineffective glaucoma surgery with gold micro shunts (GMS) 2 years after the procedure.
This was an interventional case series ...study including two cases of GMS and two of GMS+ removal. Each specimen was sectioned into three portions: proximal, middle, and distal, and embedded into paraffin blocks, cut into 3 μm sections and stained with hematoxylin and eosin and Masson's trichrome. In the case of inflammatory infiltrations a reaction with an LCA (CD45) monoclonal antibody was performed.
Mean IOP before GMS removal was 28.8 ± 4.3 mm Hg, and the patients were administered 2.3 ± 0.5 anti-glaucoma drugs. The progression of changes in the visual field was observed in all cases. In three cases different grade intensification of corneal decompression was observed. Colonization of the connective tissue was found in the channels and around the microimplant in all cases. In two cases infiltration was detected from giant polynuclear and mononuclear cells.
Connective tissue colonization was the cause of GMS obstruction. This can be a non-inflammatory process, but it may also result from chronic inflammation occurring in the suprachoroidal space.
A prototype of a luminometer, designed for a future
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collider detector, and consisting at present of a four-plane module, was tested in the CERN PS accelerator T9 beam. The objective of this ...beam test was to demonstrate a multi-plane tungsten/silicon operation, to study the development of the electromagnetic shower and to compare it with MC simulations. The Molière radius has been determined to be 24.0 ± 0.6 (stat.) ± 1.5 (syst.) mm using a parametrization of the shower shape. Very good agreement was found between data and a detailed Geant4 simulation.
We present the first measurement of the proton–Ω correlation function in heavy-ion collisions for the central (0–40%) and peripheral (40–80%) Au + Au collisions at sNN=200 GeV by the STAR experiment ...at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). Predictions for the ratio of peripheral collisions to central collisions for the proton–Ω correlation function are sensitive to the presence of a nucleon–Ω bound state. These predictions are based on the proton–Ω interaction extracted from (2+1)-flavor lattice QCD calculations at the physical point. The measured ratio of the proton–Ω correlation function between the peripheral (small system) and central (large system) collisions is less than unity for relative momentum smaller than 40 MeV/c. Comparison of our measured correlation ratio with theoretical calculation slightly favors a proton–Ω bound system with a binding energy of ∼ 27 MeV.
The STAR Collaboration presents for the first time two-dimensional di-hadron correlations with identified leading hadrons in 200 GeV central Au+Au and minimum-bias d+Au collisions to explore ...hadronization mechanisms in the quark gluon plasma. The enhancement of the jet-like yield for leading pions in Au+Au data with respect to the d+Au reference and the absence of such an enhancement for leading non-pions (protons and kaons) are discussed within the context of a quark recombination scenario. The correlated yield at large angles, specifically in the ridge region, is found to be significantly higher for leading non-pions than pions. The consistencies of the constituent quark scaling, azimuthal harmonic model and a mini-jet modification model description of the data are tested, providing further constraints on hadronization.
Hearing loss is the most frequent sensorineural disorder affecting 1 in 1000 newborns. In more than half of these babies, the hearing loss is inherited. Hereditary hearing loss is a very ...heterogeneous trait with about 100 gene localizations and 44 gene identifications for non‐syndromic hearing loss. Transmembrane channel‐like gene 1 (TMC1) has been identified as the disease‐causing gene for autosomal dominant and autosomal recessive non‐syndromic hearing loss at the DFNA36 and DFNB7/11 loci, respectively. To date, 2 dominant and 18 recessive TMC1 mutations have been reported as the cause of hearing loss in 34 families. In this report, we describe linkage to DFNA36 and DFNB7/11 in 1 family with dominant and 10 families with recessive non‐syndromic sensorineural hearing loss. In addition, mutation analysis of TMC1 was performed in 51 familial Turkish patients with autosomal recessive hearing loss. TMC1 mutations were identified in seven of the families segregating recessive hearing loss. The pathogenic variants we found included two known mutations, c.100C>T and c.1165C>T, and four new mutations, c.2350C>T, c.776+1G>A, c.767delT and c.1166G>A. The absence of TMC1 mutations in the remaining six linked families implies the presence of mutations outside the coding region of this gene or alternatively at least one additional deafness‐causing gene in this region. The analysis of copy number variations in TMC1 as well as DNA sequencing of 15 additional candidate genes did not reveal any proven pathogenic changes, leaving both hypotheses open.
“First line” defence mechanisms, such as phytochelatin biosynthesis, and “second line” mechanisms, such as stress protein induction, were investigated in cadmium-exposed cells of
Trebouxia impressa ...Ahmadjian, a green microalgal species that is a common photobiont of the lichen
Physcia adscendens (Fr.) H. Olivier. When
T. impressa cells were exposed to 0, 9 and 18
μM Cd for 6, 18 and 48
h, glutathione and phytochelatins efficiently protected the cells against Cd damage. By contrast, the highest Cd concentration (36
μM) at the longest exposure-time (48
h) caused marked drops in glutathione and phytochelatin content, several types of ultrastructural damage, and decreases in cell density and total chlorophyll concentration. In this case, induction of stress proteins was observed, but only long after the induction of phytochelatins. Thus, stress proteins could represent a “second line” mechanism to counteract Cd stress, activated when there is a decline in the “first line” mechanism of Cd detoxification given by phytochelatins.
Trebouxia impressa photobionts protect themselves against cadmium stress by means of phytochelatins and stress proteins.
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