Search for Boosted Dark Matter in COSINE-100.

We search for energetic electron recoil signals induced by boosted dark matter (BDM) from the galactic center using the COSINE-100 array of NaI(Tl) crystal detectors at the Yangyang Underground Laboratory. The signal would be an excess of events with energies above 4 MeV over the well-understood background. Because no excess of events are observed in a 97.7 kg·yr exposure, we set limits on BDM interactions under a variety of hypotheses. Notably, we explored the dark photon parameter space, leading to competitive limits compared to direct dark photon search experiments, particularly for dark photon masses below 4 MeV and considering the invisible decay mode. Furthermore, by comparing our results with a previous BDM search conducted by the Super-Kamionkande experiment, we found that the COSINE-100 detector has advantages in searching for low-mass dark matter. This analysis demonstrates the potential of the COSINE-100 detector to search for MeV electron recoil signals produced by the dark sector particle interactions.

First Direct Search for Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter with COSINE-100.

A search for inelastic boosted dark matter (IBDM) using the COSINE-100 detector with 59.5 days of data is presented. This relativistic dark matter is theorized to interact with the target material through inelastic scattering with electrons, creating a heavier state that subsequently produces standard model particles, such as an electron-positron pair. In this study, we search for this electron-positron pair in coincidence with the initially scattered electron as a signature for an IBDM interaction. No excess over the predicted background event rate is observed. Therefore, we present limits on IBDM interactions under various hypotheses, one of which allows us to explore an area of the dark photon parameter space that has not yet been covered by other experiments. This is the first experimental search for IBDM using a terrestrial detector.

Search for a Dark Matter-Induced Annual Modulation Signal in NaI(Tl) with the COSINE-100 Experiment.

We present new constraints on the dark matter-induced annual modulation signal using 1.7 years of COSINE-100 data with a total exposure of 97.7 kg yr. The COSINE-100 experiment, consisting of 106 kg of NaI(Tl) target material, is designed to carry out a model-independent test of DAMA/LIBRA's claim of WIMP discovery by searching for the same annual modulation signal using the same NaI(Tl) target. The crystal data show a 2.7 cpd/kg/keV background rate on average in the 2-6 keV energy region of interest. Using a χ-squared minimization method we observe best fit values for modulation amplitude and phase of 0.0092±0.0067 cpd/kg/keV and 127.2±45.9 d, respectively.

Ethical Dilemnia of the Therapeutic Decisions in the Care of the Severe Chronic Anorexia Nervosa: About a Case.

When caring for of patients suffering from severe anorexia, medical teams may feel deprived in the face of the ambivalent behavior of some of these patients who accept medical care but refuse nutrition. We present here the case of a woman suffering from severe chronic anorexia with a state of morbid malnutrition, which presented the ethical question of how to deal with this unreasonable attitude. These extreme cases raise several questions regarding avoiding malfeasance and when to provide palliative care in a management of psychiatric pathology.

Nestmate and kin recognition in interspecific mixed colonies of ants.

Recognition of nestmates and discrimination against aliens is the rule in the social insects. The principal mechanism of nestmate recognition in carpenter ants (Camponotus) appears to be odor labels or "discriminators" that originate from the queen and are distributed among, and learned by, all adult colony members. The acquired odor labels are sufficiently powerful to produce indiscriminate acceptance among workers of different species raised together in artificially mixed colonies and rejection of genetic sisters reared by different heterospecific queens.

Background model for the NaI(Tl) crystals in COSINE-100.

The COSINE-100 dark matter search experiment is an array of NaI(Tl) crystal detectors located in the Yangyang Underground Laboratory (Y2L). To understand measured backgrounds in the NaI(Tl) crystals we have performed Monte Carlo simulations using the Geant4 toolkit and developed background models for each crystal that consider contributions from both internal and external sources, including cosmogenic nuclides. The background models are based on comparisons of measurement data with Monte Carlo simulations that are guided by a campaign of material assays and are used to evaluate backgrounds and identify their sources. The average background level for the six crystals (70 kg total mass) that are studied is 3.5 counts/day/keV/kg in the (2-6) keV energy interval. The dominant contributors in this energy region are found to be 210 Pb and 3 H.

When can ants discriminate the sex of brood? A new aspect of queen-worker conflict.

The stage in preimaginal ontogeny at which the sexes can first be distinguished has important implications for queen-worker conflict in social insects. If workers are unable to sex larvae at an early instar, their opportunity to control colony reproductive strategies may be limited. In addition, by concealing the sex of her sons for some portion of development, the queen could protect them from the workers' attempts to substitute their own sons or to skew the numerical sex ratio. In a series of choice experiments, workers of the carpenter ant, Camponotus floridanus, failed to discriminate the sex of several stages of larvae but did retrieve female pupae significantly more rapidly than male pupae. Our results suggest that in this species, sex may not become detectable until pupation, which is consistent with sexual deception as an aspect of queen control.

Structural studies of the O-antigenic polysaccharide of Escherichia coli O86, which possesses blood-group B activity.

The O-specific side-chains of the lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli O86:K2:H2 have been investigated using n.m.r. spectroscopy, methylation analysis, and specific degradations, and shown to be composed of the pentasaccharide repeating-unit (formula; see text) which represents the biological repeating-unit. The blood-group B activity was confirmed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

[Patients hospitalized in advanced or terminal phase of a serious life-threatening disease]. / Patients hospitalisés en phase avancée ou terminale d'une maladie grave engageant le pronostic vital. Enquête de prévalence un jpour donné, au Centre hospitalier de Grenpble.

OBJECTIVE: The end-point of this survey was to evaluate the number of patients in advanced or terminal phase of a life-threatening disease and hospitalised in the university hospital in Grenoble on a given day. The secondary end-points were determination of the profile of patients undergoing palliative care and the therapeutic charge they represented for the hospital in order to develop optimal medico-psycho-social responses adapted to the needs of this population, their family and friends and the teams of health professionals who treat them. METHODS: The survey was based on a questionnaire including 106 items and one open question, filled-in by a physician and the nurses of the hospital, together with the interviewer. RESULTS: Out of the 1495 patients hospitalised in the hospital centre (84% occupation), 114 patients were included in the study, i.e., 8% of the total number of patients present. Patients' mean age was of 70 (21

Clinical trial to evaluate safety and immunogenicity of an oral inactivated enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli prototype vaccine containing CFA/I overexpressing bacteria and recombinantly produced LTB/CTB hybrid protein.

We have developed a new oral vaccine against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) diarrhea containing killed recombinant E. coli bacteria expressing increased levels of ETEC colonization factors (CFs) and a recombinant protein (LCTBA), i.e. a hybrid between the binding subunits of E. coli heat labile toxin (LTB) and cholera toxin (CTB). We describe a randomized, comparator controlled, double-blind phase I trial in 60 adult Swedish volunteers of a prototype of this vaccine. The safety and immunogenicity of the prototype vaccine, containing LCTBA and an E. coli strain overexpressing the colonization factor CFA/I, was compared to a previously developed oral ETEC vaccine, consisting of CTB and inactivated wild type ETEC bacteria expressing CFA/I (reference vaccine). Groups of volunteers were given two oral doses of either the prototype or the reference vaccine; the prototype vaccine was administered at the same or a fourfold higher dosage than the reference vaccine. The prototype vaccine was found to be safe and equally well-tolerated as the reference vaccine at either dosage tested. The prototype vaccine induced mucosal IgA (fecal secretory IgA and intestine-derived IgA antibody secreting cell) responses to both LTB and CFA/I, as well as serum IgA and IgG antibody responses to LTB. Immunization with LCTBA resulted in about twofold higher mucosal and systemic IgA responses against LTB than a comparable dose of CTB. The higher dose of the prototype vaccine induced significantly higher fecal and systemic IgA responses to LTB and fecal IgA responses to CFA/I than the reference vaccine. These results demonstrate that CF over-expression and inclusion of the LCTBA hybrid protein in an oral inactivated ETEC vaccine does not change the safety profile when compared to a previous generation of such a vaccine and that the prototype vaccine induces significant dose dependent mucosal immune responses against CFA/I and LTB.

Development and preclinical evaluation of safety and immunogenicity of an oral ETEC vaccine containing inactivated E. coli bacteria overexpressing colonization factors CFA/I, CS3, CS5 and CS6 combined with a hybrid LT/CT B subunit antigen, administered alone and together with dmLT adjuvant.

A first-generation oral inactivated whole-cell enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) vaccine, comprising formalin-killed ETEC bacteria expressing different colonization factor (CF) antigens combined with cholera toxin B subunit (CTB), when tested in phase III studies did not significantly reduce overall (generally mild) ETEC diarrhea in travelers or children although it reduced more severe ETEC diarrhea in travelers by almost 80%. We have now developed a novel more immunogenic ETEC vaccine based on recombinant non-toxigenic E. coli strains engineered to express increased amounts of CF antigens, including CS6 as well as an ETEC-based B subunit protein (LCTBA), and the optional combination with a nontoxic double-mutant heat-labile toxin (LT) molecule (dmLT) as an adjuvant. Two test vaccines were prepared under GMP: (1) A prototype E. coli CFA/I-only formalin-killed whole-cell+LCTBA vaccine, and (2) A "complete" inactivated multivalent ETEC-CF (CFA/I, CS3, CS5 and CS6 antigens) whole-cell+LCTBA vaccine. These vaccines, when given intragastrically alone or together with dmLT in mice, were well tolerated and induced strong intestinal-mucosal IgA antibody responses as well as serum IgG and IgA responses to each of the vaccine CF antigens as well as to LT B subunit (LTB). Both mucosal and serum responses were further enhanced (adjuvanted) when the vaccines were co-administered with dmLT. We conclude that the new multivalent oral ETEC vaccine, both alone and especially in combination with the dmLT adjuvant, shows great promise for further testing in humans.

Structural elucidation of the O-antigen of the Shigella flexneri provisional serotype 88-893: structural and serological similarities with S. flexneri provisional serotype Y394 (1c).

The structure of the repeating unit of the O-antigen polysaccharide from Shigella flexneri provisional serotype 88-893 has been determined. (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy as well as 2D NMR experiments were employed to elucidate the structure. The carbohydrate part of the hexasaccharide repeating unit is identical to the previously elucidated structure of the O-polysaccharide from S. flexneri prov. serotype Y394. The O-antigen of S. flexneri prov. serotype 88-893 carries 0.7 mol O-acetyl group per repeating unit located at O-2 of the 3-substituted rhamnosyl residue, as identified by H2BC and BS-CT-HMBC NMR experiments. The O-antigen polysaccharide is composed of hexasaccharide repeating units with the following structure: →2)-α-L-Rhap-(1→2)-α-L-Rhap-(1→3)-α-L-Rhap2Ac-(1→3)[α-D-Glcp-(1→2)-α-D-Glcp-(1→4)]-ß-D-GlcpNAc-(1→. Serological studies showed that type antigens for the two provisional serotypes are identical; in addition 88-893 expresses S. flexneri group factor 6 antigen. We propose that provisional serotypes Y394 and 88-893 be designated as two new serotypes 7a and 7b, respectively, in the S. flexneri typing scheme.