By dilatometry, it is shown that vanadium microalloying additions to eutectoid carbon steels, which also contain an increased level of nitrogen, cause a marked decrease in hardenability when ...transforming from fine grained austenite.
Summary Iatrogenic transmission of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) has been demonstrated via surgical instruments and there is concern over the efficacy of conventional ...decontamination techniques used to reprocess reusable instruments. This paper describes the development of a novel cleaning method, ‘electro-elution’, to remove TSE disease-specific abnormal protein PrPSc from the surface of stainless steel surgical instruments. The electro-elution process subjects the stainless steel instrument to an electrical current in the presence of an electrolytic buffer to remove protein deposits. Stainless steel discs were contaminated with infectious brain homogenate and subjected to a range of conditions to determine the ability of electro-elution to remove the deposits. To determine whether there was any residual PrPSc remaining on the disc after electro-elution, a novel detection method, ‘direct blotting’, was also developed. Direct blotting utilizes a process of passive transfer of proteins directly from the surface of the instrument to a proteophilic membrane for detection. Our study shows that electro-elution has the ability to effectively remove, and possibly degrade, disease-associated PrPSc from the surface of stainless steel surgical instruments.
The Majorana Demonstrator is an array of natural and enriched high purity germanium detectors that will search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of Germanium-76 and perform a search for weakly ...interacting massive particles with masses below 10 GeV. To reach the background rate goal in the neutrinoless double-beta decay region of interest of 4 counts/keV/t/y, the DEMONSTRATOR will utilize a number of background reduction strategies, including a time-correlated event cut for 68Ge that requires a sub-keV energy threshold. This low energy threshold allows the DEMONSTRATOR to extend its physics reach to include a search for light WIMPs. We will discuss the detector systems and data analysis techniques required to achieve sub-keV thresholds as well as present the projected dark matter sensitivities of the Majorana Demonstrator.
Francisella tularensis, the aetiological agent of tularemia, is an important pathogen throughout much of the Northern hemisphere. We have carried out sample sequencing of its genome in order to gain ...a greater insight into this organism about which very little is known, especially at the genetic level. Nucleotide sequence data from a genomic DNA shotgun library of the virulent F. tularensis strain Schu 4 has been partially assembled to provide 1.83 Mb of the genome sequence. A preliminary analysis of the F. tularensis genome sequence has been performed and the data compared with 20 fully sequenced and annotated bacterial genomes. Plasmid-encoded genes, previously isolated from low virulence strains of F. tularensis, were not identified. A total of 1289 potential coding ORFs were identified in the data set. An analysis of this data revealed 413 ORFs which would encode proteins with no homology to known proteins. ORFs which could encode proteins involved in amino acid and purine biosynthesis were also identified. These biosynthetic pathways provide targets for the construction of a defined attenuated mutant of F. tularensis for use as a vaccine against tularemia.
Measurements of double-differential charged pion production cross-sections in interactions of 12
GeV/c protons on O
2 and N
2 thin targets are presented in the kinematic range 0.5
GeV/c
⩽
p
π
<
8
...GeV/c and 50
mrad
⩽
θ
π
<
250
mrad (in the laboratory frame) and are compared with p–C results. For p–N
2 (p–O
2) interactions the analysis is performed using 38576 (7522) reconstructed secondary pions. The analysis uses the beam instrumentation and the forward spectrometer of the HARP experiment at CERN PS. The measured cross-sections have a direct impact on the precise calculation of atmospheric neutrino fluxes and on the improved reliability of extensive air shower simulations by reducing the uncertainties of hadronic interaction models in the low energy range. In particular, the present results allow the common hypothesis that p–C data can be used to predict the p–N
2 and p–O
2 pion production cross-sections to be tested.
Abstract
Background
Mexico does not have comprehensive care services for members of the LGBT+ community, who also still suffer from a social context that still develops between traditions of ...inequality and lack of inclusion. Objective: To determine the factors associated with the perception of good quality of medical care in patients from the LGBT+ community
Methods
A cross-sectional, observational, prospective and analytical study was carried out between November and April 2023. Members of the LGBT+ community of Veracruz, Mexico were included; Subjects with visual or hearing disabilities or some psychological disorder that affects the perception of behavior were excluded. Data collection was done through Google Forms. The SPSS v22 program was used, X2 test, Odds Ratio (OR) and confidence interval (CI95%).
Results
489 subjects were included, 295 (60.6%) use the public medical system, 155 (31.7%) consider a medical specialty is necessary to care for the LGBT+ community and 150 (30.7 %) indicates that the specialty should only be for care of patients with gender change; 297 (60.7%) perceive that they receive good quality medical care and 69 (14.1%) have perceived that they have been denied consultation because they belong to the LGBT+ community. The factors associated (OR/CI95%) to the perception of good medical care is the lack of: a family doctor (0.4/0.3-0.6), discomfort on physical examination (13.1/6.9-24.0), verbal abuse (13.3 /6.7-26.0), sexual harassment (5.1/2.7-9.5), physical harassment (11.5/4.7-28.0), discomfort of the doctor during the consultation (10/6.0-19.2), breach of confidentiality (7.2/3.7-14.1), denying care (12.7/6.3-25.6) (p < 0.05).
Conclusions
The factors associated with the perception of a good quality of care in patients from the LGBT+ community are similar to those reported in the literature within any community, which invites health institutions to reinforce their inclusion programs, to reduce acts of discrimination.
Key messages
• Health systems need to consider care for the LGBT+ community from specialists who can make a comprehensive assessment that favors adequate medical care.
• Discrimination is still present within the medical care of patients from the LGBT+ community, so it is essential that the doctor is trained and sensitized in the processes of inclusion.
To help constrain the algorithms used in reconstructing high-energy muon events incident on the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO), a muon tracking system was installed. The system consisted of four ...planes of wire chambers, which were triggered by scintillator panels. The system was integrated with SNO's main data acquisition system and took data for a total of 95 live days. Using cosmic-ray events reconstructed in both the wire chambers and in SNO's water Cherenkov detector, the external muon tracking system was able to constrain the uncertainty on the muon direction to better than 0.6°.
► This paper describes a novel technique for calibrating tracking algorithms. ► The experimental accuracy achieved by this system was better than 1°. ► The principle behind the technique can be used in future underground experiments.
SNO+ is a large liquid scintillator-based experiment located 2 km underground at SNOLAB, Sudbury, Canada. It reuses the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory detector, consisting of a 12 m diameter acrylic ...vessel which will be filled with about 780 tonnes of ultra-pure liquid scintillator. Designed as a multipurpose neutrino experiment, the primary goal of SNO+ is a search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ) of 130Te. In Phase I, the detector will be loaded with 0.3% natural tellurium, corresponding to nearly 800 kg of 130Te, with an expected effective Majorana neutrino mass sensitivity in the region of 55–133 meV, just above the inverted mass hierarchy. Recently, the possibility of deploying up to ten times more natural tellurium has been investigated, which would enable SNO+ to achieve sensitivity deep into the parameter space for the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy in the future. Additionally, SNO+ aims to measure reactor antineutrino oscillations, low energy solar neutrinos, and geoneutrinos, to be sensitive to supernova neutrinos, and to search for exotic physics. A first phase with the detector filled with water will begin soon, with the scintillator phase expected to start after a few months of water data taking. The 0νββ Phase I is foreseen for 2017.
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