Tracking the Molecular Fingerprint of Head and Neck Cancer for Recurrence Detection in Liquid Biopsies

The 5-year relative survival for patients with head and neck cancer, the seventh most common form of cancer worldwide, was reported as 67% in developed countries in the second decade of the new millennium. Although surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or combined treatment often elicits an initial satisfactory response, relapses are frequently observed within two years. Current surveillance methods, including clinical exams and imaging evaluations, have not unambiguously demonstrated a survival benefit, most probably due to a lack of sensitivity in detecting very early recurrence. Recently, liquid biopsy monitoring of the molecular fingerprint of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma has been proposed and investigated as a strategy for longitudinal patient care. These innovative methods offer rapid, safe, and highly informative genetic analysis that can identify small tumors not yet visible by advanced imaging techniques, thus potentially shortening the time to treatment and improving survival outcomes. In this review, we provide insights into the available evidence that the molecular tumor fingerprint can be used in the surveillance of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Challenges to overcome, prior to clinical implementation, are also discussed.     

“Greening Up” Cross-Coupling Chemistry

New methodologies that enable palladium catalyzed cross-coupling reactions to be performed under environmentally benign conditions (in water and/or at room temperature) have been developed. Described approaches involve in situ activation of carbon–halogen or carbon–hydrogen bonds using zinc metal, or cationic palladium, respectively.     

Construction of microbial cell factories for industrial bioprocesses

The development of industrial microbial processes is gaining unprecedented momentum. Increased concern for environmental issues and the prospect of declining petroleum resources has shifted the industrial focus increasingly to microorganisms as biocatalysts. At the same time systems biology and synthetic biology supply industry and academia with new tools to design optimal microbial cell factories. Among the tools are systems biology approaches allowing the modelling of cellular networks for rational strain design, single cell analyses methods for gaining insight into population hetereogeneity, and an exciting combination of tools from structural biology and synthetic biology, permitting the catalysis of new (unnatural) enzymatic reactions or the production of new (unnatural) chemicals. This perspective article outlines recent advances and new developments within the field of microbial cell factory design. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

Mechanical Property of HVOF Inconel 718 Coating for Aeronautic Repair

The module of elasticity is one of the most important mechanical properties defining the strength of a material which is a prerequisite to design a component from its early stage of conception to its field of application. When a material is to be thermally sprayed, mechanical properties of the deposited layers differ from the bulk material, mainly due to the anisotropy of the highly textured coating microstructure. The mechanical response of the deposited layers significantly influences the overall performance of the coated component. It is, therefore, of importance to evaluate the effective module of elasticity of the coating. Conventional experimental methods such as microindentation, nanoindentation and four-point bending tests have been investigated and their results vary significantly, mainly due to inhomogeneous characteristics of the coating microstructure. Synchrotron radiation coupled with a tensile test rig has been proposed as an alternative method to determine the coating anisotropic elastic behavior dependence on crystallographic orientations. The investigation was performed on Inconel 718 (IN718) HVOF coatings sprayed on IN718 substrates. Combining these experimental techniques yield a deeper understanding of the nature of the HVOF coating Young’s modulus and thus a tool for Design Practice for repair applications.     

5-Axis tool path smoothing based on drive constraints

In high speed machining, the real feedrate is often lower than the programmed one. This reduction of the feedrate is mainly due to the physical limits of the drives, and affects machining time as well as the quality of the machined surface. Indeed, if the tool path presents sharp geometrical variations the feedrate has to be decreased to respect the drive constraints in terms of velocity, acceleration and jerk. Thus, the aim of this paper is to smooth 5-axis tool paths in order to maximize the real feedrate and to reduce the machining time.Velocity, acceleration and jerk limits of each drive allow to compute an evaluation of the maximum reachable feedrate which is then used to localize the areas where the tool path has to be smoothed. So starting from a given tool path, the proposed algorithm iteratively smoothes the joint motions in order to raise the real feedrate. This algorithm has been tested in 5-axis end milling of an airfoil and in flank milling of an impeller for which a N-buffer algorithm is used to control the geometrical deviations. An important reduction of the measured machining time is demonstrated in both examples.     

Retail competition in electricity markets

The introduction of competition into retail electricity supply gave rise to great expectations. However, to date, its performance has proven less than stellar, owing primarily to the theoretical concepts underpinning this reform, which draw heavily on the Austrian school. Neither consumers’ decision processes nor this sector's technical paradigm were adequately accounted for, leading to an uncorrect estimation of the expected impact of opening to competition. Short- and medium-term prospects for the evolution of retail markets must be reconsidered from the perspective of greater stability: not a generalization of competition, but rather a persistent segmentation between active and inactive clients; not a large and rapid diffusion of radical innovations in commercialisation, with the potential for undermining the incumbents’ positions.     

开关电源环路中的TL431

在此前一系列的3篇文章中，指出了如何采用TL431来实现1类和2类补偿器。如果前述补偿器类型适合大多数电流模式控制配置工作，其它控制模式则可能需要3类补偿器。举例来说，如果需要对连续导电模式（CCM）电压模式转换器进行补偿，就需要额外的极点和零点。在这3类配置中，TL431并不太有利于实践这样的设计：眼前的快通道（fast lane）显然会使设计工作复杂化。本文提出了简单的构想，以与所观测到交流输入完全解耦的外部直流偏置来消除快通道。这样一来，设计工作被简化，类似于采用运放来构建传统的3类补偿器。     

Isolation and analysis of macromolecular fractions responsible for the surface properties in native Champagne wines

Macromolecules present in Champagne wines from the three grape varieties Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay, were isolated by ultra-concentration on 10 K molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) membranes, then purified by dia-filtration and freeze-dried. Measurements of the surface activity of reconstituted wines from the resulting dry ultra-concentrates by ellipsometry showed the formation of adsorption layers analogous to those observed at the surface of native wines, and responsible for their foam stability. Sequential fractionation of Pinot Noir at decreasing MWCO within the 10–30 K and 30–100 K molecular weight range showed the formation of adsorption layers with both fractions. NMR and chemical analysis indicated that all fractions were mainly composed of polysaccharides and proteins. Monosaccharide analysis gave mannose, galactose, arabinose and glucose as the prominent constituting sugars. Careful bottle rinsing was found to enable thorough macromolecule recovery.