Diagnosis of a case of acute chloroquine poisoning using 1H NMR spectroscopy: characterisation of drug metabolites in urine

The compromised optima for high intensity chemiluminescence (CL), using superoxide generators, were all above pH 9.0 for the CL probes luminol and lucigenin. With luminol the optima were at pH 9.0 and 9.4 for the generators KO2 and hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase (HX/XO), respectively. Lucigenin, with the same generators, produced optima at pH 9.5 and 10.0, respectively. The probe methyl-Cypridina-luciferin analogue (MCLA) produced optima closer to neutral pH, which is preferred for physiological assessments. MCLA had optima at pH 6.0, 8.7 and 9.5 with KO2 and with HX/XO optima at pH 4.8, 6.0, 7.0 and 8.7. When CL was assessed at physiological pH, MCLA observed superoxide radicals with a sensitivity of 100- and 330-fold more than luminol or luicigenin respectively. For singlet oxygen, the sensitivity of MCLA at this pH was 45- and 5465-fold more than for the said probes respectively. H2O2 did not elicit CL between pH 4 and 9.5 with any of the probes and did not influence the production of superoxide or singlet oxygen when co-assessed. Therefore CL could only be obtained when enzymes were used as converters. The optima for the enzyme-conversion system horseradish peroxidase (HRP)/H2O2, and luminol, were at pH 8.0 and 9.2. Lucigenin and HRP/H2O2 also had a biphasic CL profile with optima at pH 7.4 and 9.6. MCLA and HRP/H2O2 had five optima, with the major ones at pH 6.1 and beyond 10. The optima for the myeloperoxidase/H2O system were at 8.6 and beyond 10.0 when luminol and 0.15 mol/L NaBr were used.     

Rhodium deposits on pyrolytic graphite substrate: Physico-chemical properties and electrocatalytic activity towards nitrate reduction in neutral medium

The electrodeposition of metallic rhodium on pyrolytic graphite from 10 mM Na₃RhCl₆ + 0.5 M NaCl aqueous solution was studied by potentiostatic method with the use of a double-pulse technique involving nucleation and growth pulses. Physico-chemical properties of Rh deposits were investigated by electrochemical methods and scanning electron microscopy. The activity of Rh-modified graphite electrodes towards nitrate reduction in neutral medium was demonstrated, the activation energy of nitrate reduction and NO₃⁻ Langmuir adsorption constant on Rh deposits were determined.

The use of double-pulse technique resulted in enhanced surface coverage in comparison with usual potentiostatic deposition and in decreasing the mean particle size down to 30 nm, while the specific catalyst surface area attains 32 m² g⁻¹. The increase in the nucleation pulse duration from 20 to 100 ms enhances the mass catalytic activity towards NO₃⁻ reduction, which reaches 175 A g⁻¹ for the best samples. Irrespectively of electrodeposition parameters, only NH₃ and NO₂⁻ were detected as nitrate reduction products. The rate of NO₃⁻ destruction was equal to which is much higher than that of most of Pd/Cu-based nitrate hydrogenation systems and Ag/TiO₂ photocatalysts.     

Isolated febrile intra-alveolar hemorrhage detected in leptospirosis

We report observation of a patient of 25 years who presented with an isolated intra-alveolar haemorrhage occurring during the course of an illness suggestive of septicaemia. Considering the epidemiological context of inhalation of water from the River Saone, the diagnosis of acute leptospirosis ictero-haemorrhagica was considered and was confirmed by serological tests. Several publications draw attention to the pulmonary manifestations of acute leptospirosis which remains rare and poorly understood. Pulmonary disease is characterised not by an infectious alveolitis but by the occurrence of intra-alveolar haemorrhage whose pathogenetic mechanism remains under discussion.     

Spatial and temporal variations of niphargus populations in interstitial aquatic habitat at the karst/floodplain interface

Artificial substrates buried in stream sediments at the karst/floodplain interface were used to examine the spatial and temporal variations of Niphargus populations. The study was carried out at two stations in two different areas of the French Jura. One was mainly supplied by karst water (Verna station), the other by both karst and surface waters (Pissoir station). The occupation of interstitial habitat was found to depend on several interacting factors:

• 1 The waterflow and its changes at the outlet. The correlation between abundance of individuals and discharge was strongest with the discharges two to four days before sampling. The structure and restoration of populations after a spate related to geological characteristics. In particular, restoration was slower and more difficult in the sediments located at the base-level of a massif (Verna) than at an overflow level (Pissoir).
• 2 The location of the sediments. At the Pissoir station, the number of individuals was higher at the main outflow, but also for both stations, on the banks opposite the outlet. Animals drifting from the karst system found refuge in the sediment of the opposite bank. Almost no Niphargus were found upstream from the outlets. At the Verna station, Niphargus were only found inside the cave.
• 3 The variability of the number of animals at different depths in the sediment was more difficult to explain. At the station mainly supplied by karst water, which presented a relatively constant flow during the study, the distribution seemed to be random. At the other station, where discharge varied considerably, the vertical distribution globally presented a gradient in abundance with more individuals in the upper sediment level. This gradient varied according to the samples. Discharge changes partly explained these results.

     

Temperature control in laser brazing of a steel/aluminium assembly using thermographic measurements

One way of making car bodies lighter is to introduce some aluminium parts in place of steel. Steel and aluminium can be joined by laser braze welding. As in other types of thermal joining, inter-metallic phases may weaken the joint. In laser braze welding, these appear as a thin layer of brittle compounds at the steel/seam interface. Their formation is related to temperature. It has been shown that, if the layer is less than 10 μm thick, the joint is not compromised [Kreimeyer M., Sepold G. Laser steel joined aluminium-Hybrid structures, Proceedings of ICALEO'02, Jacksonville, USA; 2002]. Not only can temperature gradient be calculated by numerical simulation, but it is also possible to measure the surface temperature by thermography. We show here how thermography may be used to control temperature during laser braze welding.     

A corrosion study of the main constituent phases of AZ91 magnesium alloys

The different constituents of an AZ91 alloy (α,β, and MnAl phases) were synthesized and their corrosion resistance was studied by electrochemistry in ASTM D1384 water, pH 8.3. The pure phases were characterised through the corrosion potential, the polarisation resistance, and polarisation curves, then systematically coupled to assess the galvanic corrosion occurring in the AZ91 alloy. The aluminium content of the oxide film was obtained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. The corrosion rate of the α solid solution alloys depends closely on their Al content. Aluminium enhances the corrosion resistance of the α-phase through the formation of an Al enriched superficial layer. The β-phase is 150 mV nobler than the α-phase, but their corrosion rates are similar. The galvanic currents are low (below 20 μA cm⁻²) whatever the implemented couples and close to the corrosion current previously measured for the AZ91 alloys.     

Associating and Tuning Sodium and Oxygen Mixed‐Ion Conduction in Niobium‐Based Perovskites

Pure ionic conductors as solid‐state electrolytes are of high interest in electrochemical energy storage and conversion devices. They systematically involve only one ion as the charge carrier. The association of two mobile ionic species, one positively and the other negatively charged, in a specific network should strongly influence the total ion conduction. Nb⁵⁺‐ (4d⁰) and Ti⁴⁺‐based (3d⁰) derived‐perovskite frameworks containing Na⁺ and O^2? as mobile species are investigated as mixed ion conductors by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The design of Na⁺ blocking layers via sandwiched pellet sintered by spark plasma sintering at high temperatures leads to quantified transport number of both ionic charge carriers t_Na+ and t_O2?. In the 350–700 °C temperature range, ionic conductivity can be tuned from major Na⁺ contribution (t_Na+ = 88%) for NaNbO₃ to pure O^2? transport in NaNb_0.9Ti_0.1O_2.95 phase. Such a Ti‐substitution is accompanied with a ≈100‐fold increase in the oxygen conductivity, approaching the best values for pure oxygen conductors in this temperature range. Besides the demonstration of tunable mixed ion conduction with quantifiable cationic and anionic contributions in a single solid‐state structure, a strategy is established from structural analysis to develop other architectures with improved mixed ionic conductivity.