Demonstration of active neutron interrogation of special nuclear materials using a high-intensity short-pulse-laser-driven neutron source.

Detecting shielded special nuclear material, such as nuclear explosives, is a difficult challenge pursued by non-proliferation, anti-terrorism, and nuclear security programs worldwide. Interrogation with intense fast-neutron pulses is a promising method to characterize concealed nuclear material rapidly but is limited by suitable source availability and proven instrumentation. In this study we have pioneered a demonstration of such an interrogation method using a high-intensity, short-pulse, laser-driven neutron source that offers potential benefits compared to conventional neutron sources.

Changes of Photosynthetic Parameters in Melatonin-Treated Wheat Subjected to Drought.

Drought stress affects many aspects of plant biochemistry, with photosynthesis being one the most significantly impaired physiological processes. Melatonin is a natural antioxidant with growth-regulating properties in plants. Its diverse physiological functions have been extensively studied in recent decades.

Effects of Melatonin Pre- and Post-Drought Treatment on Oxidative Stress Markers and Expression of Proline-Related Transcripts in Young Wheat Plants.

Wheat can tolerate a mild water deficit, but prolonged drought causes a number of detrimental physiological changes resulting in a substantial decrease in productivity. The present study evaluates the potential of the natural plant growth regulator melatonin to alleviate the negative effects of moderate drought in two Bulgarian winter wheat cultivars at the early vegetative stage. Melatonin doses of 75 µM were root-supplemented 24 h before or after the stress period.

Early Stages of Ex Vivo Collagen Glycation Disrupt the Cellular Interaction and Its Remodeling by Mesenchymal Stem Cells-Morphological and Biochemical Evidence.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), pivotal for tissue repair, utilize collagen to restore structural integrity in damaged tissue, preserving its organization through concomitant remodeling. The non-enzymatic glycation of collagen potentially compromises MSC communication, particularly upon advancing the process, underlying various pathologies such as late-stage diabetic complications and aging. However, an understanding of the impact of early-stage collagen glycation on MSC interaction is lacking.

Additional Guidance on the Use of the PRESERFLO™ MicroShunt in the Treatment of Glaucoma: Insights from a Second Delphi Consensus Panel.

Introduction: The PRESERFLO™ MicroShunt (PMS) has been proven to significantly lower intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with glaucoma and has been available for use since 2019. With increasing published evidence and growing experience of glaucoma surgeons, the aim of this modified Delphi panel was to build on the findings of a previous Delphi panel conducted in 2021 and provide further guidance on the role of the PMS to treat patients with glaucoma in Europe.

Methods: Thirteen European glaucoma surgeons experienced in the PMS procedure participated in a 3-round modified Delphi panel.

Swiss Multicenter Ab Interno XEN45 Gel Stent Study: 2-Year Real-World Data.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the 2-year postoperative efficacy of the XEN45 Gel Stent by evaluating the reduction of intraocular pressure (IOP) and the need for eye pressure-lowering medications in a multicenter setting in Switzerland.

Methods: Patients with various types of glaucoma who received a XEN45 Gel Stent with or without combined phacoemulsification cataract surgery at five hospitals in Switzerland were retrospectively enrolled. Pre- and postoperative IOP, the number of antiglaucoma medications, and the need of subsequent interventions to control IOP were assessed.

A Snapshot Picture of the Fungal Composition of Bee Bread in Four Locations in Bulgaria, Differing in Anthropogenic Influence.

Information about the fungal composition of bee bread, and the fermentation processes to which the fungi contribute significantly, is rather scarce or fragmentary. In this study, we performed an NGS-based metagenomics snapshot picture study of the fungal composition of bee bread in four locations in Bulgaria during the most active honeybee foraging period at the end of June 2020. The sampling locations were chosen to differ significantly in climatic conditions, landscape, and anthropogenic pressure, and the Illumina 2 × 250 paired-end reads platform was used for amplicon metagenomics study of the ITS2 region.

Real-World Study on Patient Satisfaction and Tolerability After Switching to Preservative-Free Latanoprost.

Purpose: Patient satisfaction is important in the treatment of glaucoma. Suboptimal compliance and impaired long-term outcome are a likely result of poor tolerability. The present multicentre, international, transverse, epidemiological survey was conducted to assess the satisfaction of patients who had received preservative-free latanoprost (PFL) for at least 3 months.

Comparative Study Between the SORS and Dynamic Strategy Visual Field Testing Methods on Glaucomatous and Healthy Subjects.

Purpose: To clinically validate the noninferiority of the sequentially optimized reconstruction strategy (SORS) when compared to the dynamic strategy (DS).

Methods: SORS is a novel perimetry testing strategy that evaluates a subset of test locations of a visual field (VF) test pattern and estimates the untested locations by linear approximation. When testing fewer locations, SORS has been shown in computer simulations to bring improvements in speed over conventional perimetry tests, while maintaining acquisition at high-quality acquisition.

Characterizing laser-plasma ion accelerators driving an intense neutron beam via nuclear signatures.

Compact, bright neutron sources are opening up several emerging applications including detection of nuclear materials for national security applications. At Los Alamos National Laboratory, we have used a short-pulse laser to accelerate deuterons in the relativistic transparency regime. These deuterons impinge on a beryllium converter to generate neutrons.

Laser-plasmas in the relativistic-transparency regime: Science and applications.

Laser-plasma interactions in the novel regime of relativistically induced transparency (RIT) have been harnessed to generate intense ion beams efficiently with average energies exceeding 10 MeV/nucleon (>100 MeV for protons) at "table-top" scales in experiments at the LANL Trident Laser. By further optimization of the laser and target, the RIT regime has been extended into a self-organized plasma mode. This mode yields an ion beam with much narrower energy spread while maintaining high ion energy and conversion efficiency.

Retrograde Maculopathy in Patients With Glaucoma.

Purpose: Macular optical coherence tomography (OCT) analysis can be used for quantitative measures of optic nerve atrophy at a location far from the optic nerve head. This recently led to the finding of microcystic macular edema (MME), that is vacuolar inclusions in the macular inner nuclear layer, in some glaucoma patients. The involvement of individual retinal layers is yet unclear in glaucoma.

Study on the Composition of Biogenic Iron-Containing Materials Obtained Under Cultivation of the Leptothrix sp. on Different Media.

The biogenic iron oxide/hydroxide materials possess useful combination of physicochemical properties and are considered for application in various areas. Their production does not require special investments because these compounds are formed during cultivation of neurophilic iron bacteria. Bacteria from genus Leptothrix develop intensively in the Sphaerotilus-Leptothrix group of bacteria isolation medium and feeding media of Fedorov and Lieske.

Biogenic nanosized iron oxides obtained from cultivation of iron bacteria from the genus Leptothrix.

A detailed investigation of nanostructured iron oxides/(oxy)hydroxides gathered after cultivation of bacteria from the genus Leptothrix as iron (II) oxidizers is presented. A specific type of medium is selected for the cultivation of the bacteria. Results for sediment powder and bio-film on glass substrate samples from the same media are discussed.

A combined analysis of four observational studies evaluating the intraocular pressure-lowering ability and tolerability of bimatoprost 0.01% in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension.

Objective: Combine and evaluate data from four clinical practice studies investigating the intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering ability, tolerability of and patient adherence to bimatoprost 0.01% therapy in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension.

Methods: Data were combined from four multicenter, prospective, observational studies.

Spatial-spectral characterization of focused spatially chirped broadband laser beams.

Proper alignment is critical to obtain the desired performance from focused spatially chirped beams, for example in simultaneous spatial and temporal focusing (SSTF). We present a simple technique for inspecting the beam paths and focusing conditions for the spectral components of a broadband beam. We spectrally resolve the light transmitted past a knife edge as it was scanned across the beam at several axial positions.

Broadband interferometric characterization of divergence and spatial chirp.

We demonstrate a spectral interferometric method to characterize lateral and angular spatial chirp to optimize intensity localization in spatio-temporally focused ultrafast beams. Interference between two spatially sheared beams in an interferometer will lead to straight fringes if the wavefronts are curved. To produce reference fringes, we delay one arm relative to another in order to measure fringe rotation in the spatially resolved spectral interferogram.

Nonlinear dynamics of double-pass cross-polarized wave generation in the saturation regime.

The conversion efficiency of cross-polarized wave (XPW) generation can be improved using two separate thinner nonlinear crystals versus a single thick one, due to the evolution of the beam sizes and individual phases after the first crystal. In this paper, we present an alternative scheme in which a curved mirror is used to reimage a plane just after the BaF2 crystal for a second pass. We also develop a simple analytic model for XPW conversion that describes the origin of a nonlinear phase mismatch and nonlinear lensing for both the fundamental wave and XPW.

Investigation of iron-containing products from natural and laboratory cultivated Sphaerotilus-Leptothrix bacteria.

Bacterial biomass collected from sheath-forming bacteria of the genera Sphaerotilus and Leptothrix was collected from a high-mountain natural stream water source. The elemental constitution and oxide phases of the products after selective cultivation of the bacteria on two different elective media using neutron activation analysis (NAA), electron microscopy (SEM, TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were studied. A high enrichment level of iron was revealed by the NAA technique in cultivated isolates as compared to the reference sample from nature.

Measurement of energy contrast of amplified ultrashort pulses using cross-polarized wave generation and spectral interferometry.

We present a method using spectral interferometry (SI) to characterize a pulse in the presence of an incoherent background such as amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). The output of a regenerative amplifier is interfered with a copy of the pulse that has been converted using third-order cross-polarized wave generation (XPW). The ASE shows as a pedestal background in the interference pattern.

Do optic nerve head and visual field parameters in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome differ from those in control individuals?

Background: It has been suggested that sleep apnea syndrome may play a role in normal-tension glaucoma contributing to optic nerve damage. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if optic nerve and visual field parameters in individuals with sleep apnea syndrome differ from those in controls.

Patients And Methods: From the records of the sleep laboratory at the University Hospital in Bern, Switzerland, we recruited consecutive patients with severe sleep apnea syndrome proven by polysomnography, apnea-hypopnea index >20, as well as no sleep apnea controls with apnea-hypopnea index <10.

Second-order Raman scattering in CuO.

Polarized second-order Raman scattering spectra of CuO single crystals are reported. It is shown that for some scattering geometries the second-order processes dominate the inelastic light scattering spectra. Group-theoretical symmetry analysis of the selection rules for the first- and second-order scattering processes is performed and phonon dispersion relations are calculated within density functional theory.

Electronic structure, optical properties and lattice dynamics of MgSO3·6H2O.

The electronic band structure, optical properties and lattice vibrations of MgSO(3)·6H(2)O were studied within density functional theory and compared to the experimental optical data and polarized Raman spectra. Due to the 'molecular' nature of the MgSO(3)·6H(2)O crystal all Γ-point phonon modes could be separated into groups belonging to specific structural blocks: Mg(H(2)O)(6) octahedra, SO(3) units and H(2)O molecules. All Raman lines in the experimental spectra are assigned to definite vibrations of the structure and reasonable agreement is found between theoretical and experimental mode frequencies.

Compliance and knowledge about glaucoma in patients at tertiary glaucoma units.

To document the rate of self-reported compliance and glaucoma-related knowledge in Swiss patients and to identify risk factors for their poor compliance. This was an observational study, including a total of 200 consecutive patients already under glaucoma medication in two Swiss tertiary glaucoma clinics (Geneva and Bern). Personal characteristics, presence of systemic disease, compliance with glaucoma medication, attitude to the ophthalmologist, and glaucoma-related attitudes were ascertained by means of a predetermined questionnaire with 40 questions.