Experimental evidence of an incomplete thermalization of the energy in an x-ray microcalorimeter with a TaAu absorber.

We have conducted an experimental test at our XACT facility using an x-ray microcalorimeter with TaAu absorber and neutron transmutation doped germanium thermal sensor. The test was aimed at measuring the percentage of energy effectively thermalized after absorption of x-ray photons in superconducting tantalum. Moreover, in general, possible formation of long living quasiparticles implies that by using a superconducting absorber, a fraction of the deposited energy could not be thermalized on the useful time scale of the thermal sensor. To investigate this scenario, we exploited an absorber made of gold, where no energy trapping is expected, with a small piece of superconducting tantalum attached on top. We obtained evidence that the thermalization of photons absorbed in tantalum is delayed by energy trapping from quasiparticles. We compare the experimental results with numerical simulations and derive a value for the intrinsic lifetime of quasiparticles.

[Effect of daily instillations of timolol on the nycthemeral tension in subjects with chronic open-angle glaucoma (author's transl)]. / Action d'une instillation quotidienne de timolol sur la courbe tensionnelle nycthémérale de sujets porteurs d'un glaucome à angle ouvert.

This study included 22 patients with chronic open-angle glaucoma who were treated with either 0.25% or 0.5% timolol. The results showed that a single daily instillation of 0.25% or 0.5% timolol was effective, without producing any side-effects. It was interesting to note that timolol caused the tension peaks to disappear, the nycthemeral graph curve becoming plateau-shaped.

[Timolol maleate: results of its long-term action in the treatment of chronic primary open-angle glaucoma]. / Le maléate de timilol: résultat de son action à long terme dans le traitement du glaucome chronique primitif à angle ouvert.

Three groups of patients with chronic open-angle glaucoma, who had ineluded in the previous study, had been treated with timolol twice daily for more than a year. The long-term results confirm the efficacity noted in the medium-term survey, and the absence of side-effects, especially those related to the pulse rate and blood pressure in some of the patients. Drug associations had been necessary:--pilocarpin,--acetazolamid, seem to have the best synergic action with timolol.