Apoptosis in the pre-implantation embryo

It has been well shown that apoptosis occurs in mammalian embryos as early as the blastocyst stage, in order to regulate the importance of the inner cell mass. We have looked for apoptosis at the cleavage stage, in human embryos that could not be transferred because of a high degree of fragmentation (grade IV) or a blockage in embryo development. Most of these embryos had blastomeres with condensed or fragmented chromatin, evocating apoptosis. Two markers of programmed cell death, detecting either early (Annexin V) or late (TUNEL technique) apoptosis events, were positive in our study: 100% and 30% of embryos were marked by Annexin V and TUNEL, respectively. Therefore, it seems that apoptosis occurs very early in human embryos conceived in vitro; this could represent a response to suboptimal culture conditions.     

Effect of gastrin-releasing peptide on sperm functions

Male infertility can be related to defects in motility, capacitation, acrosome reaction, binding and penetration of the zona pellucida. While different in-vitro techniques (such as micromanipulation which is complicated and expensive) are available for the treatment of male infertility, several pharmacological agents have been shown to increase fertilizing capacity under accurate experimental conditions. Gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP, the mammalian homologue of the amphibian skin peptide bombesin) is present in the reproductive tract and expressed by the pregnant ovine endometrium prior to attachment and throughout the pregnancy. A bombesin-like peptide resulting from alternate splicing of the GRP gene in testis has been detected in primates. In this study, we have tested the ability of GRP to enhance human sperm functions such as motility, capacitation, zona binding and acrosome reaction. Analysis of sperm motility was performed with the ATS 20 computer-assisted semen analysis (CASA) system. Zona binding was analysed using intact human unfertilized oocytes and selective labelling of spermatozoa with two fluorochromes. Our results did not show any positive effect of GRP on these parameters under our experimental conditions. However, when GRP at the concentration of 100 nM was added after ionophore treatment, the percentage of reacted cells increased. significantly (P < 0.05) compared with situations where each agent was used alone. This led us to suppose that the role of bombesin in the different stages of fertilization might not exclude other unknown factors.     

Annexin V labelling and terminal transferase-mediated DNA end labelling (TUNEL) assay in human arrested embryos

Confocal laser scanning microscopy was used to observe human arrested and fragmented preimplantation embryos obtained by in-vitro fertilization. Observation of the cellular actin cortex and chromatin showed a high frequency of embryos with blastomeres exhibiting two or more nuclei, while others had nuclei displaying chromatin condensation and fragmentation patterns. Many of the abnormal chromatin images could be due to the process of programmed cell death (apoptosis). The possible link between abnormalities of the blastomeres and apoptosis was investigated using two detection methods for cells undergoing apoptosis. Detection of phosphatidylserine exposure was performed using annexin V; the chromosomal breakdown preceding the nuclear collapse of apoptotic nuclei was tested using the terminal transferase-mediated DNA end labelling (TUNEL) assay. Annexin V staining was observed in all arrested and/or fragmented human embryos, but not in cryopreserved embryos which continued to develop normally after thawing. The TUNEL assay was positive in 30% (15/50) of arrested embryos, all of which had cytoplasmic fragments. In contrast, embryos showing regular size blastomeres without fragments were TUNEL negative.     

Cdk1 is a marker of proliferation in human lymphoid cells

To better understand the relationship between the proliferation of human lymphoid cells and the expression of cdk1, a catalytic subunit of the histone H1 kinase (H1K), we examined its mRNA and protein content in 3 B-cell lines: Ramos, Reh-6 and IARC 963. Cells were elutriated according to their position in the cell cycle. Cell fractions were analyzed for cdk1 mRNA and protein cellular content by Northern blot and immunoblot, respectively, as well as for H1K activity. Both mRNA and protein amounts and H1K activity varied according to cell cycle phase, the lowest values being observed in G1-enriched fractions. For comparison, elutriated fractions were also tested for the expression of cdk2 and cdk4 proteins. Both showed some variations among fractions, but they were less clear than those of cdk1. We also tested 29 samples of lymphoid neoplastic and non-neoplastic tissues for proliferative activity (percentage of S and G2/M cells estimated by flow cytometry) and expression of cdk1, cdk2 and cdk4 proteins. We found a significant correlation between the percentage of cells in S or S + G2/M phases and cdk1 protein content but not cdk2 or cdk4 content. We conclude that cdk1 expression in human lymphoid cells varies during the cell cycle at both mRNA and protein levels.     

动态电压恢复器H2鲁棒控制设计

动态电压恢复器（dynamic voltage restorer,DVR）,作为一种主要的客户端电压补偿设备,在保护敏感负载免受电压凹陷影响方面具有良好的效果。针对已有DVR控制系统在控制效果方面存在的一些缺陷,将H2最优鲁棒控制技术设计应用于DVR控制系统中,提出了含有反馈增益结构的新型H2控制器。在建立了三相一体的DVR仿真模型,以及对H2控制原理和实现算法进行深入阐述的基础上,给出了与DVR状态空间模型匹配的H2控制构架图及其状态空间实现方法。Matlab／Simulink的仿真结果显示,采用H2控制技术的DVR闭环系统具有高响应速度及稳定度,并且其控制算法相比传统PID算法也更为精确。     

Sliding mode input-output linearization and field orientation forreal-time control of induction motors

This paper deals with real-time control of an induction motor based on a digital signal processor (DSP) TMS320C31/40-MHz-based system. A sliding mode controller (SMC) is presented and compared with the well-known field orientation and input-output linearization techniques. To estimate the rotor flux, a sliding mode observer is used. Experimental results are given to highlight the performances and disadvantages of these methods with respect to rotor resistance variations     

Cervico-mediastinal recurrences of differentiated thyroid cancers: value of MRI

AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of MRI to detect recurrent differentiated thyroid carcinomas developed in the neck or the upper mediastinum. RESULTS: MRI was performed in 25 patients, and was compared in 5 cases with surgery. In 20 cases it was compared with I-131 scintigraphy (100 mCi in 14 cases and 5 mCi in 6 cases). The sensibility, specificity and overall accuracy of MRI was respectively: 100%, 66.6%, 82.6%. COMMENTARY: MRI is a good technique to detect recurrent thyroid carcinomas. It is specially interesting to investigate patients with a biological suspicion of recurrence and a negative scintigraphy. Mediastinal localisations that cannot be detected by US can be detected by MRI.     

Real-time sliding-mode observer and control of an induction motor

This paper deals with the control and observation of an induction motor using a sliding-mode technique. The authors' aim is to regulate the speed and the square of the rotor flux magnitude to specified references. Assuming that all the states are measured, sliding surfaces are proposed within a sliding-mode control framework. Then, the stator voltages are derived such that the sliding surfaces are asymptotically attractive since, in practice, the rotor fluxes are not usually measurable, a sliding-mode observer is derived to estimate the rotor fluxes. Furthermore, it is shown that their observer is robust against modeling uncertainties and measurement noise. To illustrate their purpose, they present experimental results for a 0.37-kW induction motor obtained on a digital-signal-processor-based system (TMS 320C31/40 MHz). The experimental results show that the proposed control system is robust against rotor resistance variations     

Detection of broken bars in induction motors using an extendedKalman filter for rotor resistance sensorless estimation

This paper deals with broken bars detection in induction motors. The hypothesis on which detection is based is that the apparent rotor resistance of an induction motor will increase when a rotor bar breaks. To detect broken bars, measurements of stator voltages and currents are processed by an extended Kalman filter for the speed and rotor resistance simultaneous estimation. In particular, rotor resistance is estimated and compared with its nominal value to detect broken bars. In the proposed extended Kalman filter approach, the state covariance matrix is adequacy weighted leading to a better states estimation dynamic. Its main advantage is the correct rotor resistance estimation even for an unloaded induction motor. As part of this estimation process, it is necessary to compensate for the thermal variation in the rotor resistance. Computer simulations, carried out for a 4 kW four-pole squirrel cage induction motor, provide an encouraging validation of the proposed sensorless broken bars detection technique