High-resolution Compton spectroscopy using x-ray microcalorimeters.

X-ray Compton spectroscopy is one of the few direct probes of the electron momentum distribution of bulk materials in ambient and operando environments. We report high-resolution inelastic x-ray scattering experiments with high momentum and energy transfer performed at a storage-ring-based high-energy x-ray light source facility using an x-ray transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeter detector. The performance was compared with a silicon drift detector (SDD), an energy-resolving semiconductor detector, and Compton profiles were measured for lithium and cobalt oxide powders relevant to lithium-ion battery research. Spectroscopic analysis of the measured Compton profiles demonstrates the high-sensitivity to the low-Z elements and oxidation states. The line shape analysis of the measured Compton profiles in comparison with computed Hartree-Fock profiles is usually limited by the resolution of the semiconductor detector. We have characterized an x-ray TES microcalorimeter detector for high-resolution Compton scattering experiments using a bending magnet source at the Advanced Photon Source with a double crystal monochromator, providing monochromatic photon energies near 27.5 keV. The momentum resolution below 0.16 atomic units (a.u.) was measured, yielding an improvement of more than a factor of 7 over a state-of-the-art SDD for the same scattering geometry. Furthermore, the lineshapes of narrow valence and broad core electron profiles of sealed lithium metal were clearly resolved using an x-ray TES compared to smeared and broadened lineshapes observed when using the SDD. High-resolution Compton scattering using the energy-resolving area detector shown here presents new opportunities for spatial imaging of electron momentum distributions for a wide class of materials with applications ranging from electrochemistry to condensed matter physics.

[The experience of using the Russian biosimilar of the original drug eculizumab for the treatment of patients with atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome].

Atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome (aHUS) is a chronic systemic disease of a genetic nature, which is based on uncontrolled activation of the alternative complement pathway, leading to generalized thrombosis in the vessels of the microvasculature (complement-mediated thrombotic microangiopathy). To date, therapy with eculizumab is the most effective and pathogenetically substantiated method of treating patients with ASH. Using the example of three clinical cases of patients with a verified diagnosis of aHUS, the high efficiency and safety of the worlds first bioanalogue of eculizumab in the treatment of adult patients with aHUS (complement-mediated thrombotic microangiopathy) was demonstrated.

An enhanced clot growth rate before in vitro fertilization decreases the probability of pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: The shift towards hypercoagulation during in vitro fertilization (IVF) can lead to the impairment of embryo implantation and placental blood circulation, which is believed to be a factor in an unsuccessful IVF cycle. OBJECTIVES: To assess coagulation in women with infertility before the start of an IVF cycle and during treatment to reveal the association between coagulation imbalance and IVF outcome. PATIENTS/METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort observational study including 125 participants who underwent fresh IVF cycles. Blood samples were collected at five time points: before IVF, one week after the start of controlled ovarian stimulation (COS), on the day of follicular puncture, on the day of embryo transfer (ET) and one week after ET. Coagulation tests (clotting times: activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and prothrombin; fibrinogen and D-dimer concentrations; thrombodynamics) were performed. RESULTS: Women with an elevated clot growth velocity (>32.3 µm/min, detected by thrombodynamics) before IVF demonstrated a higher risk of negative IVF outcomes (adjusted RR = 1.38; 95% CI 1.28-1.49; P<0.001). During the procedure, we observed increases in prothrombin, fibrinogen and D-dimer concentrations, a slight shortening of APTT and a hypercoagulation shift in the thrombodynamics parameters. The hemostasis assay values during COS and after ET had no associations with IVF outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Hypercoagulation in the thrombodynamics before the start of IVF treatment was associated with negative IVF outcomes. After the start of COS, all tests demonstrated a hypercoagulation trend, but the hypercoagulation did not influence IVF outcome. This research is potentially beneficial for the application of thrombodynamics assay for monitoring hemostasis in infertile women prior to an IVF procedure with the goal of selecting a group requiring hemostasis correction to increase the chances of pregnancy.

Emergent nanoscale superparamagnetism at oxide interfaces.

Atomically sharp oxide heterostructures exhibit a range of novel physical phenomena that are absent in the parent compounds. A prominent example is the appearance of highly conducting and superconducting states at the interface between LaAlO3 and SrTiO3. Here we report an emergent phenomenon at the LaMnO3/SrTiO3 interface where an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator abruptly transforms into a nanoscale inhomogeneous magnetic state. Upon increasing the thickness of LaMnO3, our scanning nanoSQUID-on-tip microscopy shows spontaneous formation of isolated magnetic nanoislands, which display thermally activated moment reversals in response to an in-plane magnetic field. The observed superparamagnetic state manifests the emergence of thermodynamic electronic phase separation in which metallic ferromagnetic islands nucleate in an insulating antiferromagnetic matrix. We derive a model that captures the sharp onset and the thickness dependence of the magnetization. Our model suggests that a nearby superparamagnetic-ferromagnetic transition can be gate tuned, holding potential for applications in magnetic storage and spintronics.

[The cytoprotective drug rebamipide in therapy for inflammatory and erosive-ulcerative lesions of the gastrointestinal tract]. / Tsitoprotektor rebamipid v terapii vospalitel'nykh i erozivno-yazvennykh porazhenii zheludochno-kishechnogo trakta.

Rebamipide is a cytoprotесtive drug that stimulates the generation of endogenous prostaglandins in the gastric and small intestinal mucosa and accelerates the healing of erosions and ulcers caused by Helicobacter pylori infection and NSAID administration. The major properties of rebamipide include stimulation of prostaglandins and synthesis of muсus glycoproteins, inhibition of reactive oxygen species, inflammatory cytokines, and chemokines, and suppression of neutrophil activation. This paper shows the ability of rebamipide to enhance the efficiency of therapy for Helicobacter pylori-induced infection, to reduce inflammation, including that after infection eradication, to accelerate ulcer healing, and to prevent the progression of preneoplastic lesions.

Probing dynamics and pinning of single vortices in superconductors at nanometer scales.

The dynamics of quantized magnetic vortices and their pinning by materials defects determine electromagnetic properties of superconductors, particularly their ability to carry non-dissipative currents. Despite recent advances in the understanding of the complex physics of vortex matter, the behavior of vortices driven by current through a multi-scale potential of the actual materials defects is still not well understood, mostly due to the scarcity of appropriate experimental tools capable of tracing vortex trajectories on nanometer scales. Using a novel scanning superconducting quantum interference microscope we report here an investigation of controlled dynamics of vortices in lead films with sub-Angstrom spatial resolution and unprecedented sensitivity. We measured, for the first time, the fundamental dependence of the elementary pinning force of multiple defects on the vortex displacement, revealing a far more complex behavior than has previously been recognized, including striking spring softening and broken-spring depinning, as well as spontaneous hysteretic switching between cellular vortex trajectories. Our results indicate the importance of thermal fluctuations even at 4.2 K and of the vital role of ripples in the pinning potential, giving new insights into the mechanisms of magnetic relaxation and electromagnetic response of superconductors.