Rupture of a sinus of Valsalva aneurysm into the right ventricle. A case report in the cardiology clinic at the University Hospital Center of Dakar]

Human cytolytic T lymphocytes specific for autologous Burkitt's lymphoma express the gamma, delta T cell receptor and recognize immunoglobulin idiotype in an MHC-unrestricted manner. Antibodies against a member of the heat shock protein 70 family inhibit this specific cytotoxicity, implicating these molecules in tumor recognition and antigen presentation. Such data is relevant to the design of novel immunotherapies for cancer and provides new insights into target recognition by gamma, delta T cells.     

C-C chemokines, pivotal in protection against HIV type 1 infection

Exposure to HIV type 1 (HIV-1) does not usually lead to infection. Although this could be because of insufficient virus titer, there is now abundant evidence that some individuals resist infection even when directly exposed to a high titer of HIV. This protection recently has been correlated with homozygous mutations of an HIV-1 coreceptor, namely CCR5, the receptor for the beta-chemokines. Moreover, earlier results already had shown that the same chemokines markedly suppress the nonsyncitial inducing variants of HIV-1, the chief virus type transmitted from person to person. CCR5 mutation, as a unique mechanism of protection, is, however, suspect because HIV-1 variants can use other chemokine receptors as their coreceptor. Moreover, recent results have established that infection can indeed sometimes occur with such mutations. Here, we report on transient natural resistance over time of most of 128 hemophiliacs who were inoculated repeatedly with HIV-1-contaminated Factor VIII concentrate from plasma during 1980-1985 before the development of the HIV blood test. Furthermore, and remarkably, 14 subjects remain uninfected to this date, and in these subjects we found homozygous CCR5 mutations in none but in most of them overproduction of beta chemokines. In vitro experiments confirmed the potent anti-HIV suppressive effect of these chemokines.     

Enhancing the CSMA/CA of IEEE 802.15.4 for better coexistence with IEEE 802.11

Wireless Networks - Wireless technologies are very often used simultaneously for different applications in the same deployment area. This is more and more the case with the massive use of the...     

Cyclodextrin‐dendrimer functionalized polysulfone membrane for the removal of humic acid in water

Commercial polysulfone (PSf) membranes were crosslinked with a β‐cyclodextrin‐poly (propyleneimine) (β‐CD‐PPI) conjugate which had β‐CD pendant arms using trimesoyl chloride (TMC) by interfacial polymerization. The morphology and physicochemical properties of the nanofiltration membranes were characterized using Fourier transform infrared/attenuated total reflectance (FT‐IR/ATR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and cross‐flow filtration system. Water‐contact angle, water‐intake capacity, and rejection capacities of the membranes were evaluated. The β‐CD‐G4 (generation 4)‐PPI‐PSf and β‐CD‐G3 (generation 3)‐PPI‐PSf membranes both exhibited high humic acid rejection of 72% as compared to the commercial PSf which exhibited 57%. The modified membranes were also more hydrophilic (36° to 41°) than PSf (76°). These results suggest that β‐CD‐PPI nanostructures are promising materials for the synthesis of membranes for the removal of humic acid from water. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 4428–4439, 2013     

Influence of dams on river water‐quality signatures at event and seasonal scales: The Sélune River (France) case study

Dams and reservoirs are known to disturb river‐water composition, among other impacts, with potential implications for downstream river ecosystems and water uses. Existing studies have emphasized the variable influence of dams on water composition according to the element, its speciation (dissolved vs. particulate), reservoir properties (residence times), reservoir functions (e.g., hydropower, irrigation), and management (water releases). A now common approach to analyzing hydrological, geochemical, and biological controls on element export from unregulated rivers is to study hydrochemical signatures such as concentration‐flow relationships. We investigated a case study to analyze hydrochemical signatures of a regulated river (Sélune River, western France) upstream and downstream of a chain of two hydropower dams, assuming that the dams disturbed the river's signatures, and that those disturbances would provide information about processes occurring in the reservoirs. Both seasonal and event‐scale signatures were analyzed over two contrasting hydrological years and a range of storm events. The dams induced a chemostatic downstream response to storm events whenever elements were diluted or concentrated upstream. Dams did not disturb the seasonality of major anions but did modify silica and phosphorus concentration‐flow relationships, especially during low flow. Such changes in dynamics of river‐water composition may affect downstream biological communities. This study presents an initial state of the hydrochemical signature of the downstream river, before the removal of the two dams.     

Coupled extruder-headspace,a new method for analysis of the essential oil components of Coriandrum sativum fruits

A new method involving concurrent single screw extruder combined with continuous headspace dynamic for the extraction and identification of the essential oil of Coriandrum sativum L. fruit was developed. The effect of six different nozzle diameters (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 mm) on the content and chemical composition of the essential oil of coriander fruit was studied. The oils from fruit samples were obtained by OMEGA 20 extruder.     

Algebraic change-point detection

Elementary techniques from operational calculus, differential algebra, and noncommutative algebra lead to a new approach for change-point detection, which is an important field of investigation in various areas of applied sciences and engineering. Several successful numerical experiments are presented.     

Analysis of aperture evolution in a rock joint using a complex network approach

A complex network approach to characterize a rough fracture is developed. Some metric spaces (similarity measurements) between apertures profiles are set up, and a general evolutionary network in two directions (parallel and perpendicular to the shear direction) is constructed. Evaluation of the network shows the connectivity degree (distribution of edges) of network, after a transition step, falls into a stable state that coincides with a Gaussian distribution. Based on this event, and real observations of the complex network changes, an algorithm is proposed in which evolution of a network is accomplished using preferential and random attachments of edges, while the number of nodes is fixed. Evolution of clustering coefficients and number of edges display similar patterns observed in shear stress, hydraulic conductivity and dilation changes, which can be engaged to estimate shear strength distribution of asperities. Distinguishing the contact profiles and their changes, despite the former case, disclosed growing networks, which can shed light on the details of changes within intra-topology of profiles.     

Pettis-Sugeno integral

0　ＩＮＴＲＯＤＵＣＴＩＯＮＦｕｚｚｙｍｅａｓｕｒｅａｎｄｆｕｚｚｙｉｎｔｅｇｒａｌｓｗｅｒｅｉｎｔｒｏ ｄｕｃｅｄｂｙＳｕｇｅｎｏ[1] ｔｏｅｖａｌｕｔｅｎｏｎ ａｄｄｉｔｉｖｅｏｒｎｏｎ ｌｉｎ ｅａｒｑｕａｎｔｉｔｙｉｎｓｙｓｔｅｍｓｅｎｇｉｎｅｅｒｉｎｇ .ＴｈｅＰｅｔｔｉｓｉｎｔｅ ｇｒａｌｈａｓｂｅｅｎｄｅｅｐｌｙｓｔｕｄｉｅｄｉｎｆｕｎｃｔｉｏｎａｌａｎａｌｙ ｓｉｓ[2 ,3] ,ｓｏｉｔｉｓｎａｔｕｒａｌｔｏａｓｋｗｈｅｔｈｅｒｗｅｃａｎｅｓｔａｂ ｌｉｓｈｂｙｕｓｉｎｇａｆｕｚｚｙｍｅａｓｕｒｅ…     

Derivation of Supersaturation and Nucleation Flux in a Stirred Tank from Tracer Concentration Measurements

The PLIF (Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence Technique) method is applied to determine experimentally the field of supersaturation in a separate double jet reactive precipitator from the local instantaneous field of concentrations of an inert tracer. The nucleation flux in the mixing region is derived.