Acidic pH of the lateral intercellular spaces of MDCK cells cultured on permeable supports

The pH of the lateral intercellular space (LIS) of Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell monolayers grown on permeable supports was investigated by microspectrofluorimetry using BCECF (2',7'-bis(carboxyethyl)-5,6-carboxyfluorescein). The permeability of the support was selectively reduced by growing Zn-Al-silicate crystals inside its pores. The diffusion of BCECF across the filter was sufficiently retarded to allow measurements of fluorescence in the LIS. The LIS pH and intracellular pH of the cells surrounding them were determined in HEPES-buffered solutions. When the perfusate pH was 7.4, the LIS pH was more acidic (7.06 +/- 0.02) and equaled the cytoplasmic pH (7.08 +/- 0.05). When perfusate was changed to pH 7.0 or 7.8, the LIS changed linearly by about half the magnitude of the perfusate pH. Intracellular pH followed LIS pH variations between perfusate pH 7.0 and 7.4 but was significantly higher when perfusate pH was 7.8. Tight junctional H+ permeability was undetectably low. The low steady-state pH in the LIS was not altered by inhibitors of acid transport or low temperature. Rapid perturbations of pH in the LIS showed that protons were not immobilized in the LIS. The acidic microenvironment within the LIS may be the result of buffering by the cell surface proteins.     

Fibroblast growth factor-2 alters the effect of eroding polylactide-polyglycolide on osteogenesis in the bone chamber

The effects of recombinant human fibroblast growth factor-2 (rhFGF-2) in the presence of eroding 50:50 poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) (PDLLG) on acute bone healing were studied in the optical bone chamber (BCI). BCIs were loaded with disks of PDLLG surrounded by one of four rhFGF-2 doses. Fifty-two female rabbit right tibias were implanted. Commencing the third week post implantation (W3) healing in the BCI compartment was observed weekly, using intravital microscopy, until W8. The doses were: unloaded, loaded with polymer only, and polymer plus 0.5, 1.0, and 10 microg rhFGF-2. Videotaped and photographed bone images were measured and analyzed using a frame-grabber digitizing system. Comparison with controls revealed that ossification rates were significantly above normal in rabbits loaded with polymer plus any of the rhFGF-2 doses. Comparison with polymer-only BCIs showed that PDLLG plus any of the three rhFGF-2 doses was linked with ossification rates significantly higher than baseline. The results indicated that FGF-2 in the dose range studied effectively can overcome the retarding effects of eroding polymer on ossification that has been reported by this laboratory. Interpretation of the retarding effects of the polymer disks, although consistent with previously studied washer-shaped devices of the same material, was complicated by a difference in erosion rate. This result supports the notion that erodible device geometry is a major factor in determining biocompatibility and must be considered in the design of carriers. Accordingly, programming of dose specificity for delivering a given polypeptide cytokine to a given host site must allow for the inhibitory effects of an eroding carrier and the influence of device geometry on these effects and erosion.     

Comparison of autologous bone marrow transplantation and intensive chemotherapy as postremission therapy in adult acute myeloid leukemia. The Groupe Ouest Est Leucémies Aigu?s Myéloblastiques (GOELAM)

Three intensive consolidation strategies are currently proposed to younger adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in first complete remission (CR): allogeneic or autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and intensive consolidation chemotherapy (ICC). Patients aged 15 to 50 years with de novo AML received an induction treatment with 7 days of cytarabine and either idarubicin or rubidazone. After achievement of a CR, patients up to the age of 40 and having an HLA-identical sibling were assigned to undergo an allogeneic BMT. All the other patients received a first course of ICC with high-dose cytarabine and the same anthracycline as for induction. They were then randomly assigned to either receive a second course of ICC with amsacrine and etoposide or a combination of busulfan and cyclosphosphamide followed by an unpurged autologous BMT. Of 517 eligible patients, 367 had a CR, but only 219 (59.5%) actually received the planned intensive postremission treatment (73 allogeneic BMT, 75 autologous BMT, and 71 ICC). With a median follow-up of 62 months, the 4-year disease-free survival (DFS) of the 367 patients in CR was 39.5%. The 4-year overall survival (OS) of the 517 eligible patients was 40.5%. In multivariate analysis, DFS and OS were influenced only by the initial white blood cell count and by the French-American-British classification. The type of postremission therapy had no significant impact on the outcome. There was no difference in the 4-year DFS and OS between 88 patients for whom an allogeneic BMT was scheduled (respectively, 44% and 53%) and 134 patients of the same age category and without an HLA-identical sibling (respectively, 38% and 53%). Similarly, there was no difference in the outcome between autologous BMT and ICC. The 4-year DFS was 44% for the 86 patients randomly assigned to autologous BMT and 40% for the 78 patients assigned to ICC (P = .41). The 4-year OS was similar in the two groups (50% v 54.5%, P = .72). The median duration of hospitalization and thrombocytopenia were longer after autologous BMT (39 v 32 days, P = .006, and 109.5 v 18.5 days, P = .0001, respectively). After a first course of ICC, a second course of chemotherapy is less myelotoxic than an unpurged autologous BMT but yields comparable DFS and OS rates.     

Ion bombardment effects in plasma deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide films: A comparative study of d.c. and r.f. discharges

The structure and the properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide films produced at room temperature by d.c. and r.f. glow discharge decomposition of silane and ethylene were studied with a systematic control of the ion flux at the surface of the growing film. The composition and structure of the films were monitored by measuring their IR absorption, their refractive index and their optical gap. The ion fluxes were determined from the saturation current of a small grid probe located in the substrate holder.It was found that d.c. cathodic and r.f. films show an inorganic structure with a dispersed carbon phase while d.c. anodic films exhibit mainly hydrogenated carbon clusters. These structural changes are thought to result from differences in the energies of the bombarding ions.The versatility of the r.f. and d.c. proximity discharges in comparison with d.c. discharges (anodic and cathodic films) is also emphasized.     

Secondary cracking process during fatigue crack propagation

Using the scanning electron microscope, fatigue striations in secondary microcracks normal to the main fatigue cracks have been observed on fracture surfaces of fatigue specimens made from 2024 and 2618 aluminium alloys, a Ti-6A1-V titanium alloy, and an Incolloy 901 nickel-base refractory alloy. Tentative explanations of these observations are presented in the paper together with a short discussion.     

Macroporous biphasic calcium phosphate ceramics versus injectable bone substitute: a comparative study 3 and 8 weeks after implantation in rabbit bone

Macroporous biphasic calcium phosphate ceramics (MBCP) and a calcium phosphate injectable bone substitute (IBS), obtained by the association of biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) ceramic granules and an aqueous solution of a cellulosic polymer, were compared in the same animal model. The two tested biomaterials were implanted in distal femoral osseous defects in rabbits. Qualitative and quantitative histological evaluation was performed three and eight weeks after implantation to investigate bone colonization and ceramic biodegradation associated with the two bone substitutes.Both biomaterials expressed osteoconduction properties and supported the apposition of a well-mineralized lamellar newly-formed bone. Bone colonization occurred much earlier and faster for IBS than for MBCP implants, although the respective rates of newly-formed bone after eight weeks of implantation did not differ significantly. For both biomaterials, ceramic resorption occurred regularly throughout the implantation period, though to a greater extent with IBS than with MBCP implants.The associated polymer in IBS produced intergranular spaces allowing body fluids to reach each BCP ceramic granule immediately after implantation, which may have favored osteoblastic activity, new bone formation and ceramic resorption. This completely interconnected open macroporosity could account for the earlier and more satisfactory bone substitution achieved with IBS. © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers     

Time and temperature dependence of the scratch properties of poly(methylmethacrylate) surfaces

Most existing models describing the scratch properties of materials take into account forces acting at the interface between the material and a grooving tip, but do not consider the stress and strain properties of the material far beneath or ahead of the tip. In the case of polymer scratches, there are no models at all which take into account the viscoelastic viscoplastic behaviour of the material. In standard indentation tests with a non moving tip, the elastic plastic boundary and the limits of the region subjected to hydrostatic pressure beneath the tip are known. These models were used to analyse the geometry of the grooves left on the surface of a viscoelastic viscoplastic body by a moving cone-shaped diamond tip having a radius of about 40 m. A new apparatus was built to control the velocity of the tip over the range 1 to 10⁴ m/s, at several different temperatures from –10°C to 100°C. The material was a commercial grade of cast poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA). The normal and tangential loads and groove size were used to evaluate the dynamic hardness, which behaved like a stress and temperature activated process. Values of the activation energy and volume of the dynamic hardness and of the interfacial shear stress were in good agreement with those usually attributed to the mechanical properties of PMMA.     

SIFER: Scale-Invariant Feature Detector with Error Resilience

We present a new method to extract scale-invariant features from an image by using a Cosine Modulated Gaussian (CM-Gaussian) filter. Its balanced scale-space atom with minimal spread in scale and space leads to an outstanding scale-invariant feature detection quality, albeit at reduced planar rotational invariance. Both sharp and distributed features like corners and blobs are reliably detected, irrespective of various image artifacts and camera parameter variations, except for planar rotation. The CM-Gaussian filters are approximated with the sum of exponentials as a single, fixed-length filter and equal approximation error over all scales, providing constant-time, low-cost image filtering implementations. The approximation error of the corresponding digital signal processing is below the noise threshold. It is scalable with the filter order, providing many quality-complexity trade-off working points. We validate the efficiency of the proposed feature detection algorithm on image registration applications over a wide range of testbench conditions.     

Sensor fault reconstruction and observability for unknown inputs,with an application to wastewater treatment plants

In this article, we propose a general methodology for identifying and reconstructing sensor faults on dynamical processes. This methodology is issued from the general identification theory developed in the previous papers (Busvelle, E., and Gauthier, J.-P. (2003), ‘On Determining Unknown Functions in Differential Systems, with an Application to Biological Reactor’, ESAIM: Control, Optimisation and Calculus of Variations, 9, 509–553; Busvelle, E., and Gauthier, J.-P. (2004), ‘New Results on Identifiability of Nonlinear Systems’, in 2nd Symposium on Systems, Structure and Control, Oaxaca, Mexico; Busvelle, E., and Gauthier, J.-P. (2005), ‘Observation and Identification Tools for Non Linear Systems. Application to a Fluid Catalytic Cracker’, International Journal of Control, 78, 208–234): in fact, this identification theory also provides a general framework for the problem of ‘observability with unknown inputs’. Indeed, many problems of fault detection can be formulated as such observability problems, the (eventually additive) faults being just considered as unknown inputs. Our application to ‘sensor fault detection’ for wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) constitutes an ideal academic context to apply the theory: first, in this 3-5 case (3 sensors, 5 states), the theory applies generically and, second, any system is naturally under the ‘observability canonical form’ required to apply the basic high-gain observer from Gauthier and Kupka (Gauthier, J.-P., and Kupka, I. (1994), ‘Observability and Observers for Nonlinear Systems’, SIAM Journal on Control, 32, 975–994). A simulation study on the Bleesbrük WWTP is proposed to show the effectiveness of this approach.