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FIPPS is the new nuclear physics instrument of ILL for the spectroscopy of nuclei produced in neutron-induced reactions. The performance of the first implementation of the setup will be shown, together with an overview of the first experimental campaign (December 2016-March 2017). Future perspectives and physics opportunities will then be discussed.

Fission yields are essential for nuclear reactor studies (decay heat, fuel inventory…) and constitute also one of the main observables needed to improve our understanding of the fission process. The symmetric mass region is of particular interest due to various intriguing properties of the fission fragments already reported in the literature : inversion of the nuclear charge polarization, large width of the fission fragment kinetic energy distribution, strong change of the prompt neutron multiplicity, etc. Recently, measurements of fission yields and kinetic energy distributions in the symmetric mass region were achieved at the LOHENGRIN mass spectrometer of the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL). This experimental work is challenging due to the low counting rate and the appearance of contaminant masses, leading to pronounced components in the fission fragment kinetic energy distribution. Despite removing the undesirable contributions, the fission fragment kinetic energy distributions still show two components, indicating that the fission process could be modal. To go further and better characterize these components a comparison between our experimental data and Monte Carlo calculations (FIFRELIN code) simulating the de-excitation of the fission fragments for different fission channels will be presented and discussed.

Endothelial dysfunction is a critical feature of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) associated with higher disease severity and worse outcomes. Preclinical in vivo models of sepsis and ARDS have failed to yield useful therapies in humans, perhaps due to interspecies differences in inflammatory responses and heterogeneity of human host responses. Use of microphysiological systems (MPS) to investigate lung endothelial function may shed light on underlying mechanisms and targeted treatments for ARDS. We assessed the response to plasma from critically ill sepsis patients in our lung endothelial MPS through measurement of endothelial permeability, expression of adhesion molecules, and inflammatory cytokine secretion. Sepsis plasma induced areas of endothelial cell (EC) contraction, loss of cellular coverage, and luminal defects. EC barrier function was significantly worse following incubation with sepsis plasma compared to healthy plasma. EC ICAM-1 expression, IL-6 and soluble ICAM-1 secretion increased significantly more after incubation with sepsis plasma compared with healthy plasma. Plasma from sepsis patients who developed ARDS further increased IL-6 and sICAM-1 compared to plasma from sepsis patients without ARDS and healthy plasma. Our results demonstrate the proof of concept that lung endothelial MPS can enable interrogation of specific mechanisms of endothelial dysfunction that promote ARDS in sepsis patients., (© 2024 The Author(s). Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Physiological Society and the American Physiological Society.)

Circulating nucleic acids, alone and in complex with histones as nucleosomes, have been proposed to link systemic inflammation and coagulation after trauma to acute kidney injury (AKI). We sought to determine the association of circulating nucleic acids measured at multiple time points after trauma with AKI risk., Design: We conducted a prospective cohort study of trauma patients, collecting plasma on presentation and at 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours, defining AKI over the first 6 days by Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes serum creatinine and dialysis criteria. We determined kinetics of plasma mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), nuclear DNA (nDNA), and nucleosome levels across time points and associations with AKI using multivariable linear mixed-effects models, adjusted for injury characteristics and blood transfusions. We evaluated the association of presentation nucleic acid damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMP) concentrations with subsequent AKI, adjusting for injury severity using multivariable logistic regression., Setting: Academic level I trauma center., Patients: Trauma patients ( n = 55) requiring intensive care for greater than or equal to 24 hours after presentation., Interventions: None., Measurements and Main Results: AKI developed in 17 patients (31%), a median of 12.0 hours (interquartile range, 6.2-24.1 hr) after presentation. mtDNA demonstrated a time-varying association with AKI ( p = 0.022, interaction with time point), with differences by AKI status not emerging until 24 hours (β = 0.97 [95% CI, 0.03-1.90] log copies/uL; p = 0.043). Patients who developed AKI had higher nDNA across all time points (overall β = 1.41 log copies/uL [0.86-1.95 log copies/uL]; p < 0.001), and presentation levels were significantly associated with subsequent AKI (odds ratio [OR], 2.55 [1.36-4.78] per log copy/uL; p = 0.003). Patients with AKI had higher nucleosome levels at presentation (β = 0.32 [0.00-0.63] arbitrary unit; p = 0.048), a difference that was more pronounced at 24 hours (β = 0.41 [0.06-0.76]; p = 0.021) and 48 hours (β = 0.71 [0.35-1.08]; p < 0.001) ( p = 0.075, interaction with time point)., Conclusions: Plasma nucleic acid DAMPs have distinct kinetics and associations with AKI in critically ill trauma patients. nDNA at presentation predicts subsequent AKI and may be amenable to targeted therapies in this population., Competing Interests: The authors have disclosed that they do not have any potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the Society of Critical Care Medicine.)

Background: Critically ill patients who develop ARDS have substantial associated morbidity and mortality. Circulating mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) released during critical illness causes endothelial dysfunction and lung injury in experimental models. This study hypothesized that elevated plasma mtDNA is associated with ARDS in critically ill patients with trauma and sepsis., Methods: Plasma mtDNA concentrations were measured at ED presentation and approximately 48 h later in separate prospective cohorts of critically ill patients with trauma and sepsis. ARDS was classified according to the Berlin definition. The association of mtDNA with ARDS was tested by using multivariable logistic regression, adjusted for covariates previously shown to contribute to ARDS risk in each population., Results: ARDS developed in 41 of 224 (18%) trauma patients and in 45 of 120 (38%) patients with sepsis. Forty-eight-hour mtDNA levels were significantly associated with ARDS (trauma: OR, 1.58/log copies/μL; 95% CI, 1.14-2.19 [P = .006]; sepsis: OR, 1.52/log copies/μL; 95% CI, 1.12-2.06 [P = .007]). Plasma mtDNA on presentation was not significantly associated with ARDS in either cohort. In patients with sepsis, 48-h mtDNA was more strongly associated with ARDS among those with a nonpulmonary infectious source (OR, 2.20/log copies/μL; 95% CI, 1.36-3.55 [P = .001], n = 69) than those with a pulmonary source (OR, 1.04/log copies/μL; 95% CI, 0.68-1.59 [P = .84], n = 51; P = .014 for interaction)., Conclusions: Plasma mtDNA levels were associated with incident ARDS in two critical illness populations. Given supportive preclinical data, our findings suggest a potential link between circulating mtDNA and lung injury and merit further investigation as a potentially targetable mediator of ARDS., (Copyright © 2019 American College of Chest Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Necroptosis, a form of programmed cell death mediated by receptor interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase-3 (RIPK3), is implicated in murine models of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We hypothesized that plasma RIPK3 concentrations in sepsis and trauma would be associated with ARDS development and that plasma RIPK3 would reflect changes in lung tissue RIPK3 in a murine model of systemic inflammation., Methods: We utilized prospective cohort studies of critically ill sepsis (n = 120) and trauma (n = 180) patients and measured plasma RIPK3 at presentation and 48 h. Patients were followed for 6 days for ARDS by the Berlin definition. We used multivariable logistic regression to determine the association of plasma RIPK3 with ARDS in each cohort, adjusting for confounders. In mice, we determined whether plasma and lung tissue RIPK3 levels rise concomitantly 4 h after injection with lipopolysaccharide and ZVAD-FMK, an apoptosis inhibitor., Results: The change in plasma RIPK3 from presentation to 48 h (ΔRIPK3) was associated with ARDS in sepsis (OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.03-1.63, per ½ standard deviation) and trauma (OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.33-2.40). This association was not evident for presentation RIPK3 levels. Secondary analyses showed similar findings for the association of ΔRIPK3 with acute kidney injury and 30-day mortality. Mice injected with lipopolysaccharide and ZVAD-FMK had significantly higher plasma (p < 0.001) and lung (p = 0.005) RIPK3 than control mice., Conclusions: The change in plasma RIPK3 from presentation to 48 h in both sepsis and trauma patients is independently associated with ARDS, and plasma RIPK3 may reflect RIPK3 activity in lung tissue.