Crossflow microfiltration of gum arabic solutions: Comparison of the classical system with the co-current permeate flow system

Gum arabic is a natural gum exuded mainly by the trees Acacia senegal , currently used in the food industries for its emulsifying, thickening and stabilizing properties. Its present processing includes various operations providing a quite turbid product. Crossflow microfiltration could be interesting for the clarification and the cold-pasteurization of the gum arabic solutions. Several experiments were therefore made with the crossflow microfiltration unit at ENSIA, using two different systems: the classical one (without permeate circulation), and the co-current permeate flow system (CCPF) allowing the exploration of the low transmembrane pressures range. With gum arabic solutions of 0.17g solids g⁻¹ solution and 70°C, the best results after 60 min of filtration (105.7 L h⁻¹ m⁻², 4.4% of solids retention and 83.4% of clarification) were obtained with the CCPF system at low transmembrane pressure and high crossflow velocity (0.3 bar and 7.5ms⁻¹).     

Genetic Elements Orchestrating Lactobacillus crispatus Glycogen Metabolism in the Vagina

Glycogen in the female lower reproductive tract is a major carbon source for colonization and acidification by common vaginal Lactobacillus species, such as Lactobacillus crispatus. Previously, we identified the amylopullulanase encoding gene pulA of Lactobacillus crispatus to correlate with the ability to autonomously utilize glycogen for growth. Here, we further characterize genetic variation and differential regulation of pulA affecting the presence of its gene product on the outer surface layer. We show that alpha-glucan degrading activity dissipates when Lactobacillus crispatus is grown on glucose, maltose and maltotriose, in agreement with carbon catabolite repression elements flanking the pulA gene. Proteome analysis of the S-layer confirmed that the amylopullulanase protein is highly abundant in an S-layer enriched fraction, but not in a strain with a defective amylopullulanase variant or in an amylopullulanase-sufficient strain grown on glucose. In addition, we provide evidence that Lactobacillus crispatus pulA mutants are relevant in vivo, as they are commonly observed in metagenome datasets of human vaginal microbial communities. Analysis of the largest publicly available dataset of 1507 human vaginal metagenomes indicates that among the 270 samples that contain a Lactobacillus crispatus pulA gene, 62 samples (23%) had a defective variant of this gene. Taken together, these results demonstrate that both environmental, as well as genetic factors explain the variation of Lactobacillus crispatus alpha-glucosidases in the vaginal environment.     

The Endothelium and COVID-19: An Increasingly Clear Link Brief Title: Endotheliopathy in COVID-19

The endothelium has a fundamental role in the cardiovascular complications of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) particularly affects endothelial cells. The virus binds to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) receptor (present on type 2 alveolar cells, bronchial epithelial cells, and endothelial cells), and induces a cytokine storm. The cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-1 beta, and interleukin-6 have particular effects on endothelial cells—leading to endothelial dysfunction, endothelial cell death, changes in tight junctions, and vascular hyperpermeability. Under normal conditions, apoptotic endothelial cells are removed into the bloodstream. During COVID-19, however, endothelial cells are detached more rapidly, and do not regenerate as effectively as usual. The loss of the endothelium on the luminal surface abolishes all of the vascular responses mediated by the endothelium and nitric oxide production in particular, which results in greater contractility. Moreover, circulating endothelial cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 act as vectors for viral dissemination by forming clusters that migrate into the circulation and reach distant organs. The cell clusters and the endothelial dysfunction might contribute to the various thromboembolic pathologies observed in COVID-19 by inducing the formation of intravascular microthrombi, as well as by triggering disseminated intravascular coagulation. Here, we review the contributions of endotheliopathy and endothelial-cell-derived extracellular vesicles to the pathogenesis of COVID-19, and discuss therapeutic strategies that target the endothelium in patients with COVID-19.     

Is there functional vascular information in anatomical MR sequences? A preliminary in vivo study

According to the type of sequences used, either morphological or dynamic functional study can be performed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The aim of this study is to find out if vascular information found, in dynamic MR sequences, already exists in anatomical MR sequences in the particular case of Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease (LCPD). LCPD is due to a loss of circulation to the femoral head in a growing child resulting in avascular necrosis and leading to possible distortion of size and shape of the proximal femur. MRI acquisitions consist in performing two anatomical sequences and one dynamic sequence with a gadolinium-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA) injection. Five new parametric images characterizing hyper- and hypo-vascularized areas are computed from the dynamic MR sequence. For each new image, the two corresponding anatomical images are found and registered. Then, four types of regions of interest (ROIs) are extracted: healthy hyper- and hypo-vascularized areas and pathological hyper- and hypo-vascularized areas. First-order statistical parameters and texture parameters (Haralick's method, run length method, fractal parameters, autoregressive factors and Laws' texture energy method) are computed in each ROI. Then, a statistical study based on a T test is performed. Results show that some parameters could discriminate the four ROI types. Hence, dynamic vascular image and intrinsic anatomical image characteristics seem to be correlated. Finally, the disease can be evaluated with objective parameters using only anatomical sequences.     

Smart gateways switching control algorithms based on tropospheric propagation forecasts

The use Q/V band spectrum for the feeder links of high throughput satellites and the need to cope with the significant propagation impairments at those frequencies motivate the development of smart diversity techniques. Those techniques aim at improving the availability level of the overall feeder link with a limited level of redundancy. The combinatorial gain of availability provided by those techniques can be obtained only if efficient switching methodologies are developed, performing the best trade‐off between system flexibility and channel prediction accuracy. This paper proposes various propagation forecast mechanisms for the control of switching between gateways in smart diversity, corresponding to various system assumptions in terms of required anticipation time for the triggering of the switches. The performances of those algorithms are then assessed against measured attenuation and meteorological data. It enables to evaluate the performance degradation regarding an idealized case.     

Variational principles compete with numerical iterative methods for analyzing distributed electromagnetic structures

An explicit variational principle (Evp) for the propagation constant of em waves is compared with four numerical tools: the Newton-Raphson algorithm solving a transcendental equation, the spectral domain approach (Sda) applied to the Galerkin method, the 3-D simulatorHfss fromHp, and the finite element method (Fem). Each tool analyses a different planar topology: a lossy dielectric slab supporting surface waves, a planar slotline modelled by transmission line parameters (Tlp), a multilayered high-loss co-planar waveguide, and a shielded microstrip line. For these various structures, the evp is more efficient than previous tools yielding the propagation constant; its explicit form and variational nature yield a drastic reduction of the number of iterations.     

Surface activation using oxygen and nitrogen radical for Ge-Si Avalanche photodiode integration

In this work, an alternative method for producing the single crystalline Ge-Si Avalanche photodiodes (APD) with low thermal budget was investigated. Structural and electrical investigations show that low temperature Ge to Si wafer bonding can be used to achieve successful APD integration. Based on the surface chemistry of the Ge layer, the buried interfaces were investigated using high resolution transmission electron microscopy as a function of surface activation after low temperature annealing at 200 and 300 °C. The hetero-interface was characterized by measuring forward and reverse currents.     

A stochastic continuation approach to piecewise constant reconstruction.

We address the problem of reconstructing a piecewise constant 3-D object from a few noisy 2-D line-integral projections. More generally, the theory developed here readily applies to the recovery of an ideal n-D signal (n > or =1) from indirect measurements corrupted by noise. Stabilization of this ill-conditioned inverse problem is achieved with the Potts prior model, which leads to a challenging optimization task. To overcome this difficulty, we introduce a new class of hybrid algorithms that combines simulated annealing with deterministic continuation. We call this class of algorithms stochastic continuation (SC). We first prove that, under mild assumptions, SC inherits the finite-time convergence properties of generalized simulated annealing. Then, we show that SC can be successfully applied to our reconstruction problem. In addition, we look into the concave distortion acceleration method introduced for standard simulated annealing and we derive an explicit formula for choosing the free parameter of the cost function. Numerical experiments using both synthetic data and real radiographic testing data show that SC outperforms standard simulated annealing.