Serum endocan levels in patients with cardiac syndrome X.

BACKGROUND: Endocan is a recently introduced marker of endothelial dysfunction and is also associated with inflammation and atherosclerosis. To date, the relationship between cardiac syndrome X (CSX) and endocan has not been studied. The objective of this study was to compare the serum endocan levels of patients with CSX with those of control subjects. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study, 50 patients were included in the CSX group and 28 patients in the control group. Patients with pathological conditions that could potentially influence endothelial functions were excluded. Endocan serum concentrations were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: The mean endocan level of the CSX group was significantly higher than that of the control group (3051.3 ± 1900.5 ng/l vs. 2088.1 ± 522.2 ng/l; p = 0.002). There was no difference between the two groups in terms of age, gender, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and smoking status. In receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, endocan levels greater than 2072 ng/l had a 72% sensitivity and 54% specificity (p = 0.002) for accurately predicting a diagnosis of CSX. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that patients with CSX have higher endocan levels. Therefore, endocan may be valuable in helping uncover the underlying pathogenesis of CSX.

Diagnostic of charge balance in high-temperature tungsten plasmas using LLNL EBIT.

Diagnostic of high-temperature M-shell W plasmas is challenging because of contribution of numerous ionization stages in a relatively narrow x-ray spectral region. A method using LLNL EBIT data generated at different electron beam energies has been established for the identification of prominent spectral features and for the determination of charge balance in x-ray M-shell W spectra between 3.5 and 8.5 A. It extends previous work [A. S. Safronova et al., Can. J. Phys. 86, 267 (2008)] which used only Ni-like lines to include the neighboring ionization stages. This diagnostic procedure was tested with results from Z-pinch plasmas produced on the 1 MA pulse power generator Zebra at UNR. These results are of particular importance for fusion research.

X-ray diagnostics of imploding plasmas from planar wire arrays composed of Cu and few tracer Al wires on the 1MA pulsed power generator at UNR.

Tracer aluminum alloyed wires (Al5056) are used to provide additional information for x-ray diagnostics of implosions of Cu planar wire arrays (PWAs). Specifically, the analysis of combined PWA experiments using the extensive set of x-ray diagnostics is presented. In these experiments, which were conducted at the 1MA pulsed power generator at University of Nevada, Reno, the Z-pinch load consisted of several (eight) Cu alloyed (main material) and one to two Al alloyed (tracer) wires mounted in a single plane row or double parallel plane rows, single planar wire array (SPWA) or double planar wire array (DPWA), respectively. The analysis of x-ray spatially resolved spectra from the main material indicates the increase in the electron temperature T(e) near the cathode. In general, the axial gradients in T(e) are more pronounced for SPWA than for DPWA due to the more "columnlike" plasma formation for SPWA compared to "hot-spot-like" plasma formation for DPWA. In addition, x-ray spectra from tracer wires are studied, and estimated plasma parameters are compared with those from the main material. It is observed that the x-ray K-shell Al spectra manifest more opacity features for the case of SPWA with about 18% of Al mass (to the total load mass) compared to the case of DPWA with about 11% of Al mass. The analysis of time-gated spectra shows that the relative intensity of the most intense K-shell Al line, small before the x-ray burst, increases with time and peaks close to the maximum of the sub-keV signal.

Extreme ultraviolet spectroscopy diagnostics of low-temperature plasmas based on a sliced multilayer grating and glass capillary optics.

New extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectroscopic diagnostics of relatively low-temperature plasmas based on the application of an EUV spectrometer and fast EUV diodes combined with glass capillary optics is described. An advanced high resolution dispersive element sliced multilayer grating was used in the compact EUV spectrometer. For monitoring of the time history of radiation, filtered fast EUV diodes were used in the same spectral region (>13 nm) as the EUV spectrometer. The radiation from the plasma was captured by using a single inexpensive glass capillary that was transported onto the spectrometer entrance slit and EUV diode. The use of glass capillary optics allowed placement of the spectrometer and diodes behind the thick radiation shield outside the direction of a possible hard x-ray radiation beam and debris from the plasma source. The results of the testing and application of this diagnostic for a compact laser plasma source are presented. Examples of modeling with parameters of plasmas are discussed.

Extreme ultraviolet spectroscopy of low-Z ion plasmas for fusion applications.

The study of impurities is a key component of magnetic fusion research as it is directly related to plasma properties and steady-state operation. Two of the most important low-Z impurities are carbon and oxygen. The appropriate method of diagnosing these ions in plasmas is extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectroscopy. In this work the results of two different sets of experiments are considered, and the spectra in a spectral region from 40 to 300 A are analyzed. The first set of experiments was carried out at the Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment at LLNL, where EUV spectra of oxygen ions were recorded. The second set of experiments was performed at the compact laser-plasma x-ray/EUV facility "Sparky" at UNR. In particular, Mylar and Teflon slabs were used as targets to produce carbon, oxygen, and fluorine ions of different ionization stages. Nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium kinetic models of O, F, and C were applied to identify the most diagnostically important spectral features of low-Z ions between 40 to 300 A and to provide plasma parameters for both sets of experiments.