| 1. |
- Artigas Soler, María, et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide association and large-scale follow up identifies 16 new loci influencing lung function.
- 2011
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Ingår i: Nature genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1546-1718 .- 1061-4036. ; 43:11, s. 1082-90
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Pulmonary function measures reflect respiratory health and are used in the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We tested genome-wide association with forced expiratory volume in 1 second and the ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 second to forced vital capacity in 48,201 individuals of European ancestry with follow up of the top associations in up to an additional 46,411 individuals. We identified new regions showing association (combined P < 5 × 10(-8)) with pulmonary function in or near MFAP2, TGFB2, HDAC4, RARB, MECOM (also known as EVI1), SPATA9, ARMC2, NCR3, ZKSCAN3, CDC123, C10orf11, LRP1, CCDC38, MMP15, CFDP1 and KCNE2. Identification of these 16 new loci may provide insight into the molecular mechanisms regulating pulmonary function and into molecular targets for future therapy to alleviate reduced lung function.
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| 2. |
- Amole, C., et al.
(författare)
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The ALPHA antihydrogen trapping apparatus
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 735, s. 319-340
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ALPHA collaboration, based at CERN, has recently succeeded in confining cold antihydrogen atoms in a magnetic minimum neutral atom trap and has performed the first study of a resonant transition of the anti-atoms. The ALPHA apparatus will be described herein, with emphasis on the structural aspects, diagnostic methods and techniques that have enabled antihydrogen trapping and experimentation to be achieved.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Amole, C., et al.
(författare)
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Discriminating between antihydrogen and mirror-trapped antiprotons in a minimum-B trap
- 2012
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Ingår i: New Journal of Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 1367-2630. ; 14, s. 015010-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recently, antihydrogen atoms were trapped at CERN in a magnetic minimum (minimum-B) trap formed by superconducting octupole and mirror magnet coils. The trapped antiatoms were detected by rapidly turning off these magnets, thereby eliminating the magnetic minimum and releasing any antiatoms contained in the trap. Once released, these antiatoms quickly hit the trap wall, whereupon the positrons and antiprotons in the antiatoms annihilate. The antiproton annihilations produce easily detected signals; we used these signals to prove that we trapped antihydrogen. However, our technique could be confounded by mirror-trapped antiprotons, which would produce seemingly identical annihilation signals upon hitting the trap wall. In this paper, we discuss possible sources of mirror-trapped antiprotons and show that antihydrogen and antiprotons can be readily distinguished, often with the aid of applied electric fields, by analyzing the annihilation locations and times. We further discuss the general properties of antiproton and antihydrogen trajectories in this magnetic geometry, and reconstruct the antihydrogen energy distribution from the measured annihilation time history.
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| 5. |
- Amole, C., et al.
(författare)
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Silicon vertex detector upgrade in the ALPHA experiment
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 732, s. 134-136
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Silicon Vertex Detector (SVD) is the main diagnostic tool in the ALPHA-experiment. It provides precise spatial and timing information of antiproton (antihydrogen) annihilation events (vertices), and most importantly, the SVD is capable of directly identifying and analysing single annihilation events, thereby forming the basis of ALPHA's analysis. This paper describes the ALPHA SVD and its upgrade, installed in the ALPHA's new neutral atom trap.
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| 6. |
- Andresen, G. B., et al.
(författare)
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Antihydrogen annihilation reconstruction with the ALPHA silicon detector
- 2012
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 684, s. 73-81
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ALPHA experiment has succeeded in trapping antihydrogen, a major milestone on the road to spectroscopic comparisons of antihydrogen with hydrogen. An annihilation vertex detector, which determines the time and position of antiproton annihilations, has been central to this achievement. This detector, an array of double-sided silicon microstrip detector modules arranged in three concentric cylindrical tiers, is sensitive to the passage of charged particles resulting from antiproton annihilation. This article describes the method used to reconstruct the annihilation location and to distinguish the annihilation signal from the cosmic ray background. Recent experimental results using this detector are outlined.
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| 7. |
- Andresen, G. B., et al.
(författare)
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Autoresonant Excitation of Antiproton Plasmas
- 2011
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 106:2, s. 025002-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We demonstrate controllable excitation of the center-of-mass longitudinal motion of a thermal antiproton plasma using a swept-frequency autoresonant drive. When the plasma is cold, dense, and highly collective in nature, we observe that the entire system behaves as a single-particle nonlinear oscillator, as predicted by a recent theory. In contrast, only a fraction of the antiprotons in a warm plasma can be similarly excited. Antihydrogen was produced and trapped by using this technique to drive antiprotons into a positron plasma, thereby initiating atomic recombination
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| 8. |
- Andresen, G. B., et al.
(författare)
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Confinement of antihydrogen for 1,000 seconds
- 2011
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Ingår i: Nature Physics. - 1745-2473 .- 1745-2481. ; 7:7, s. 558-564
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Atoms made of a particle and an antiparticle are unstable, usually surviving less than a microsecond. Antihydrogen, made entirely of antiparticles, is believed to be stable, and it is this longevity that holds the promise of precision studies of matter-antimatter symmetry. We have recently demonstrated trapping of antihydrogen atoms by releasing them after a confinement time of 172 ms. A critical question for future studies is: how long can anti-atoms be trapped? Here, we report the observation of anti-atom confinement for 1,000 s, extending our earlier results by nearly four orders of magnitude. Our calculations indicate that most of the trapped anti-atoms reach the ground state. Further, we report the first measurement of the energy distribution of trapped antihydrogen, which, coupled with detailed comparisons with simulations, provides a key tool for the systematic investigation of trapping dynamics. These advances open up a range of experimental possibilities, including precision studies of charge-parity-time reversal symmetry and cooling to temperatures where gravitational effects could become apparent.
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| 9. |
- Andresen, G. B., et al.
(författare)
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Evaporative Cooling of Antiprotons to Cryogenic Temperatures
- 2010
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 105:1, s. 013003-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report the application of evaporative cooling to clouds of trapped antiprotons, resulting in plasmas with measured temperature as low as 9 K. We have modeled the evaporation process for charged particles using appropriate rate equations. Good agreement between experiment and theory is observed, permitting prediction of cooling efficiency in future experiments. The technique opens up new possibilities for cooling of trapped ions and is of particular interest in antiproton physics, where a precise CPT test on trapped antihydrogen is a long-standing goal.
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| 10. |
- Andresen, G. B., et al.
(författare)
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Search for trapped antihydrogen
- 2011
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Ingår i: Physics Letters B. - : Elsevier BV. - 0370-2693 .- 1873-2445. ; 695:1-4, s. 95-104
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the results of an experiment to search for trapped antihydrogen atoms with the ALPHA antihydrogen trap at the CERN Antiproton Decelerator. Sensitive diagnostics of the temperatures, sizes, and densities of the trapped antiproton and positron plasmas have been developed, which in turn permitted development of techniques to precisely and reproducibly control the initial experimental parameters. The use of a position-sensitive annihilation vertex detector, together with the capability of controllably quenching the superconducting magnetic minimum trap, enabled us to carry out a high-sensitivity and low-background search for trapped synthesised antihydrogen atoms. We aim to identify the annihilations of antihydrogen atoms held for at least 130 ms in the trap before being released over ~30 ms. After a three-week experimental run in 2009 involving mixing of 107 antiprotons with 1.3ￜ109 positrons to produce 6ￜ105 antihydrogen atoms, we have identified six antiproton annihilation events that are consistent with the release of trapped antihydrogen. The cosmic ray background, estimated to contribute 0.14 counts, is incompatible with this observation at a significance of 5.6 sigma. Extensive simulations predict that an alternative source of annihilations, the escape of mirror-trapped antiprotons, is highly unlikely, though this possibility has not yet been ruled out experimentally.
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| 11. |
- Andresen, G. B., et al.
(författare)
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The ALPHA-detector : Module Production and Assembly
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Instrumentation. - 1748-0221. ; 7, s. C01051-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- ALPHA is one of the experiments situated at CERN's Antiproton Decelerator (AD). A Silicon Vertex Detector (SVD) is placed to surround the ALPHA atom trap. The main purpose of the SVD is to detect and locate antiproton annihilation events by means of the emitted charged pions. The SVD system is presented with special focus given to the design, fabrication and performance of the modules.
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| 12. |
- Andresen, G. B., et al.
(författare)
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Trapped antihydrogen
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 468:7324, s. 673-676
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Antimatter was first predicted1 in 1931, by Dirac. Work with high-energy antiparticles is now commonplace, and anti-electrons are used regularly in the medical technique of positron emission tomography scanning. Antihydrogen, the bound state of an antiproton and a positron, has been produced2, 3 at low energies at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) since 2002. Antihydrogen is of interest for use in a precision test of nature’s fundamental symmetries. The charge conjugation/parity/time reversal (CPT) theorem, a crucial part of the foundation of the standard model of elementary particles and interactions, demands that hydrogen and antihydrogen have the same spectrum. Given the current experimental precision of measurements on the hydrogen atom (about two parts in 1014 for the frequency of the 1s-to-2s transition4), subjecting antihydrogen to rigorous spectroscopic examination would constitute a compelling, model-independent test of CPT. Antihydrogen could also be used to study the gravitational behaviour of antimatter5. However, so far experiments have produced antihydrogen that is not confined, precluding detailed study of its structure. Here we demonstrate trapping of antihydrogen atoms. From the interaction of about 107 antiprotons and 7 × 108 positrons, we observed 38 annihilation events consistent with the controlled release of trapped antihydrogen from our magnetic trap; the measured background is 1.4 ± 1.4 events. This result opens the door to precision measurements on anti-atoms, which can soon be subjected to the same techniques as developed for hydrogen.
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| 13. |
- Bonaca, M. P., et al.
(författare)
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Vorapaxar in Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease Results From TRA2 degrees P-TIMI 50
- 2013
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Ingår i: Circulation. - : Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). - 0009-7322 .- 1524-4539. ; 127:14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background—Vorapaxar is a novel antagonist of protease-activated receptor-1, the primary receptor for thrombin on human platelets that is also present on vascular endothelium and smooth muscle. Patients with peripheral artery disease are at risk of systemic atherothrombotic events, as well as acute and chronic limb ischemia and the need for peripheral revascularization. Methods and Results—The Trial to Assess the Effects of SCH 530348 in Preventing Heart Attack and Stroke in Patients With Atherosclerosis (TRA2°P-TIMI 50) was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of vorapaxar in 26 449 patients with stable atherosclerotic vascular disease (myocardial infarction, stroke, or peripheral artery disease). Patients with qualifying peripheral artery disease (n=3787) had a history of claudication and an ankle-brachial index of <0.85 or prior revascularization for limb ischemia. The primary efficacy end point was cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke, and the principal safety end point was Global Utilization of Streptokinase and t-PA for Occluded Coronary Arteries (GUSTO) bleeding. In the peripheral artery disease cohort, the primary end point did not differ significantly with vorapaxar (11.3% versus 11.9%; hazard ratio, 0.94; 95% confidence interval, 0.78–1.14; P=0.53). However, rates of hospitalization for acute limb ischemia (2.3% versus 3.9%; hazard ratio, 0.58; 95% confidence interval, 0.39–0.86; P=0.006) and peripheral artery revascularization (18.4% versus 22.2%; hazard ratio, 0.84; 95% confidence interval, 0.73–0.97; P=0.017) were significantly lower in patients randomized to vorapaxar. Bleeding occurred more frequently with vorapaxar compared with placebo (7.4% versus 4.5%; hazard ratio, 1.62; 95% confidence interval, 1.21–2.18; P=0.001). Conclusions—Vorapaxar did not reduce the risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke in patients with peripheral artery disease; however, vorapaxar significantly reduced acute limb ischemia and peripheral revascularization. The beneficial effects of protease-activated receptor-1 antagonism on limb vascular events were accompanied by an increased risk of bleeding.
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| 14. |
- Dweik, Raed A, et al.
(författare)
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An official ATS clinical practice guideline: interpretation of exhaled nitric oxide levels (FENO) for clinical applications.
- 2011
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Ingår i: American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine. - 1535-4970. ; 184:5, s. 602-15
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Measurement of fractional nitric oxide (NO) concentration in exhaled breath (Fe(NO)) is a quantitative, noninvasive, simple, and safe method of measuring airway inflammation that provides a complementary tool to other ways of assessing airways disease, including asthma. While Fe(NO) measurement has been standardized, there is currently no reference guideline for practicing health care providers to guide them in the appropriate use and interpretation of Fe(NO) in clinical practice.
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| 15. |
- Garbe, Julia, et al.
(författare)
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EndoE from Enterococcus faecalis Hydrolyzes the Glycans of the Biofilm Inhibiting Protein Lactoferrin and Mediates Growth.
- 2014
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 9:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Glycosidases are widespread among bacteria. The opportunistic human pathogen Enterococcus faecalis encodes several putative glycosidases but little is known about their functions. The identified endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase EndoE has activity on the N-linked glycans of the human immunoglobulin G (IgG). In this report we identified the human glycoprotein lactoferrin (hLF) as a new substrate for EndoE. Hydrolysis of the N-glycans from hLF was investigated using lectin blot, UHPLC and mass spectrometry, showing that EndoE releases major glycoforms from this protein. hLF was shown to inhibit biofilm formation of E. faecalis in vitro. Glycans of hLF influence the binding to E. faecalis, and EndoE-hydrolyzed hLF inhibits biofilm formation to lesser extent than intact hLF indicating that EndoE prevents the inhibition of biofilm. In addition, hLF binds to a surface-associated enolase of E. faecalis. Culture experiments showed that the activity of EndoE enables E. faecalis to use the glycans derived from lactoferrin as a carbon source indicating that they could be used as nutrients in vivo when no other preferred carbon source is available. This report adds important information about the enzymatic activity of EndoE from the commensal and opportunist E. faecalis. The activity on the human glycoprotein hLF, and the functional consequences with reduced inhibition of biofilm formation highlights both innate immunity functions of hLF and a bacterial mechanism to evade this innate immunity function. Taken together, our results underline the importance of glycans in the interplay between bacteria and the human host, with possible implications for both commensalism and opportunism.
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| 16. |
- Madsen, N, et al.
(författare)
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Search for trapped antihydrogen in ALPHA
- 2011
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Ingår i: Canadian journal of physics (Print). - 0008-4204 .- 1208-6045. ; 89:1, s. 7-16
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Antihydrogen spectroscopy promises precise tests of the symmetry of matter and antimatter, and can possibly offer new insights into the baryon asymmetry of the universe. Antihydrogen is, however, difficult to synthesize and is produced only in small quantities. The ALPHA collaboration is therefore pursuing a path towards trapping cold antihydrogen to permit the use of precision atomic physics tools to carry out comparisons of antihydrogen and hydrogen. ALPHA has addressed these challenges. Control of the plasma sizes has helped to lower the influence of the multipole field used in the neutral atom trap, and thus lowered the temperature of the created atoms. Finally, the first systematic attempt to identify trapped antihydrogen in our system is discussed. This discussion includes special techniques for fast release of the trapped anti-atoms, as well as a silicon vertex detector to identify antiproton annihilations. The silicon detector reduces the background of annihilations, including background from antiprotons that can be mirror trapped in the fields of the neutral atom trap. A description of how to differentiate between these events and those resulting from trapped antihydrogen atoms is also included.
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| 17. |
- Modig, L., et al.
(författare)
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Short-Term Exposure to Ozone and Levels of Exhaled Nitric Oxide
- 2014
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Ingår i: Epidemiology. - : Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). - 1044-3983. ; 25:1, s. 79-87
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Adverse effects of air pollution include respiratory inflammation. A few epidemiologic studies have shown elevations in the fraction of exhaled nitric oxide, a marker of airway inflammation, after exposure to traffic-related pollutants. Methods: We examined whether short-term exposures to ozone (O-3), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), or particulate matter <10 m (PM10) were associated with proximal and distal airway inflammation. The study included 5841 randomly selected Swedish adults from 25 to 75 years of age. Fraction of exhaled nitrogen was measured at two flow rates: 50 ml/s representing the proximal airways and 270 ml/s representing the distal airways. Air pollution data were obtained from an urban monitoring site. We applied linear regression to estimate short-term associations of O-3, NOx, and PM10 with fractions of exhaled NO at 50 and 270 ml/s. Results: An interquartile range increase in 120-hour average O-3 levels was associated with a 5.1% (95% confidence interval = 1.7% to 8.5%) higher level of fraction of exhaled NO at 270 ml/s and 3.6% (-0.4% to 3.4%) higher level of the fraction of exhaled NO at 50 ml/s. For NOx, a small effect was seen for the 24-hour average on the fraction of exhaled NO at 270 ml/s, while for PM10 no clear effects were seen. There was a tendency for a weaker effect of ozone and a stronger effect of NOx in subjects with asthma. Conclusions: Exposure to O-3 was associated with a marker of distal airway inflammation, while the association was less obvious for inflammation of the proximal airways.
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| 18. |
- Olin, Pontus, et al.
(författare)
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Water Drop Friction on Superhydrophobic Surfaces
- 2013
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Ingår i: Langmuir. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0743-7463 .- 1520-5827. ; 29:29, s. 9079-9089
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To investigate water drop friction on superhydrophobic surfaces, the motion of water drops on three different superhydrophobic surfaces has been studied by allowing drops to slide down an incline and capturing their motion using high-speed video. Two surfaces were prepared using crystallization of an alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) wax, and the third surface was the leaf of a Lotus (Nelumbo Nucifera). The acceleration of the water droplets on these superhydrophobic surfaces was measured as a function of droplet size and inclination of the surface. For small capillary numbers, we propose that the energy dissipation is dominated by intermittent pinning-depinning transitions at microscopic pinning sites along the trailing contact line of the drop, while at capillary numbers exceeding a critical value, energy dissipation is dominated by circulatory flow in the vicinity of the contacting disc between the droplet and the surface. By combining the results of the droplet acceleration with a theoretical model based on energy dissipation, we have introduced a material-specific coefficient called the superhydrophobic sliding resistance, b(sh). Once determined, this parameter is sufficient for predicting the motion of water drops on superhydrophobic surfaces of a general macroscopic topography. This theory also infers the existence of an equilibrium sliding angle, beta(eq), at which the drop acceleration is zero. This angle is decreasing with the radius of the drop and is in quantitative agreement with the measured tilt angles required for a stationary drop to start sliding down an incline.
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| 19. |
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| 20. |
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| 21. |
- Van Der Werf, D. P., et al.
(författare)
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Antimatter transport processes
- 2010
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Ingår i: AAPS Journal. - : IOP Publishing. - 1550-7416. ; 257:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A comparison of the 1S-2S transitions of hydrogen and antihydrogen will yield a stringent test of CPT conservation. Necessarily, the antihydrogen atoms need to be trapped to perform high precision spectroscopy measurements. Therefore, an approximately 0.75 T deep neutral atom trap, equivalent to about 0.5 K for ground state (anti)hydrogen atoms, has been superimposed on a Penning-Malmberg trap in which the anti-atoms are formed. The antihydrogen atoms are produced following a number of steps. A bunch of antiprotons from the CERN Antiproton Decelerator is caught in a Penning-Malmberg trap and subsequently sympathetically cooled and then compressed using rotating wall electric fields. A positron plasma, formed in a separate accumulator, is transported to the main system and also compressed. Antihydrogen atoms are then formed by mixing the antiprotons and positrons. The velocity of the anti-atoms, and their binding energies, will strongly depend on the initial conditions of the constituent particles, for example their temperatures and densities, and on the details of the mixing process. In this paper the complete lifecycle of antihydrogen atoms will be presented, starting with the production of the constituent antiparticles and the description of the manipulations necessary to prepare them appropriately for antihydrogen formation. The latter will also be described, as will the possible fates of the anti-atoms.
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| 22. |
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