[CAROTID STENTING EXPERIENCE IN THE ACUTE PHASE OF ISCHEMIC STROKE IN PATIENTS OF ELDERLY AND SENILE AGE].

Age has been shown to be a predictor of neurological complications during carotid stenting (CS). However, carotid stenting in acute period of ischemic stroke has recently been demonstrated safely in patients over 70 and even 80 years. Early intervention is desirable in patients presenting with stroke referable to carotid artery stenosis because of the high incidence of recurrent ischemic events. However, he optimal timing to perform CS in the acute phase of ischemic stroke in elderly remains unclear due to the threat of perioperative complications. In our hospital (Aleksandrovskaya) was searched for consecutive cases of extracranial internal CS procedures performed for symptomatic atherosclerotic carotid stenosis in the acute phase of ischemic stroke in a total of 65 elderly patients. The primary outcome was not statistically different among groups stratified based on intervention timing, with a combined incidence of stroke, MI or death of 5.9 % in patients treated within 2 days, 0% in patients treated between days 3 and 7, 15% in patients treated between days 8 and 14 and 0% in patients treated between days 15 and 30. Our results support the conclusion that early CS (within 2 days) carries no additional risks compared with CAS after 2 days or any other timing of the intervention up to 30 days in elderly.

Gamma-ray spectrometry of ultra low levels of radioactivity within the material screening program for the GERDA experiment.

In present and future experiments in the field of rare events physics a background index of 10(-3) counts/(keV kg a) or better in the region of interest is envisaged. A thorough material screening is mandatory in order to achieve this goal. The results of a systematic study of radioactive trace impurities in selected materials using ultra low-level gamma-ray spectrometry in the framework of the GERDA experiment are reported.

First results of the search for neutrinoless double-beta decay with the NEMO 3 detector.

The NEMO 3 detector, which has been operating in the Fréjus underground laboratory since February 2003, is devoted to the search for neutrinoless double-beta decay (beta beta 0v). The half-lives of the two neutrino double-beta decay (beta beta 2v) have been measured for 100Mo and 82Se. After 389 effective days of data collection from February 2003 until September 2004 (phase I), no evidence for neutrinoless double-beta decay was found from approximately 7 kg of 100Mo and approximately 1 kg of 82Se. The corresponding limits are T1/2(beta beta0v) > 4.6 x 10(23) yr for 100Mo and T1/2(beta beta 0v) > 1.0 x 10(23) yr for 82Se (90% C.L.). Depending on the nuclear matrix element calculation, the limits for the effective Majorana neutrino mass are < 0.7-2.8 e/v for 100Mo and < 1.7-4.9 eV for 82Se.