The Crosstalk of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells (ADSC), Oxidative Stress,and Inflammation in Protective and Adaptive Responses

The potential use of stem cell-based therapies for the repair and regeneration of various tissues and organs is a major goal in repair medicine. Stem cells are classified by their potential to differentiate into functional cells. Compared with other sources, adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) have the advantage of being abundant and easy to obtain. ADSCs are considered to be tools for replacing, repairing, and regenerating dead or damaged cells. The capacity of ADSCs to maintain their properties depends on the balance of complex signals in their microenvironment. Their properties and the associated outcomes are in part regulated by reactive oxygen species, which mediate the oxidation-reduction state of cells as a secondary messenger. ADSC therapy has demonstrated beneficial effects, suggesting that secreted factors may provide protection. There is evidence that ADSCs secrete a number of cytokines, growth factors, and antioxidant factors into their microenvironment, thus regulating intracellular signaling pathways in neighboring cells. In this review, we introduce the roles of ADSCs in the protection of cells by modulating inflammation and immunity, and we develop their potential therapeutic properties.     

Minimizing the number of tool switches on a flexible machine

This article analyzes a tool switching problem arising in certain flexible manufacturing environments. A batch of jobs have to be successively processed on a single flexible machine. Each job requires a subset of tools, which have to be placed in the tool magazine of the machine before the job can be processed. The tool magazine has a limited capacity, and, in general, the number of tools needed to produce all the jobs exceeds this capacity. Hence, it is sometimes necessary to change tools between two jobs in a sequence. The problem is then to determine a job sequence and an associated sequence of loadings for the tool magazine, such that the total number of tool switches is minimized. This problem has been previously considered by several authors; it is here revisited, both from a theoretical and from a computational viewpoint. Basic results concerning the computational complexity of the problem are established. Several heuristics are proposed for its solution, and their performance is computationally assessed.     

A URI-based approach for addressing fragments of media resources on the Web

To make media resources a prime citizen on the Web, we have to go beyond simply replicating digital media files. The Web is based on hyperlinks between Web resources, and that includes hyperlinking out of resources (e.g., from a word or an image within a Web page) as well as hyperlinking into resources (e.g., fragment URIs into Web pages). To turn video and audio into hypervideo and hyperaudio, we need to enable hyperlinking into and out of them. The W3C Media Fragments Working Group is taking on the challenge to further embrace W3C??s mission to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing a Media Fragment protocol and guidelines that ensure the long-term growth of the Web. The major contribution of this paper is the introduction of Media Fragments as a media-format independent, standard means of addressing media resources using URIs. Moreover, we explain how the HTTP protocol can be used and extended to serve Media Fragments and what the impact is for current Web-enabled media formats.     

TEM characterization of some crude or air heat-treated SiC Nicalon fibres

Commercial Nicalon fibres were prepared by thin transverse sectioning and studied by transmission electron microscopy. A progressive tilting of the incident beam allows us to explore the selected-area diffraction (SAD) pattern along two orthogonal directions, increasing the tilting angle (dark-field (DF) imaging). The lattice fringes technique was also used. The samples were Nicalon 001, 101 and 201 fibres, the latter also being studied after heat treatment in air at 1300° C for 48 h. The SAD pattern of the 001 fibre only shows the SiC, 1 1 intense halo whereas the other samples show all the SiC (1 1 1, 2 2 0 and 31 1) strongly scattered beams, indicating a microcrystalline state. Correspondingly, DF imaging does not indicate any localized measurable scattering domain for 001. Only bright dots can be seen, less than 1 nm in size. The other fibres show SiC microcrystals respectively 2 nm (1 01 ), 3 nm (201 ) and up to 7 nm (heat-treated 201) in extent. Free aromatic carbon, shaped in small units less than 1 nm in size fills up the interstices between SiC. These units tend to lie flat on SiC. In heat-treated fibres, they form incomplete layers around the edges. In addition, the heat-treated 2 01 fibre show a 1m thick layer of cristobalite at the fibre surface. These crystals are polytypes.     

Conception assistée par ordinateur des circuits intégrés monolithiques hyperfréquences

Computer aided design of microwave monolithic integrated circuits must combine two different fields. The first domain is the simulation of microwave circuits taking into account non linear aspects development of time domain and harmonic balance simulation algorithms specialized for microwave circuits. In the second place are found, the layout algorithms which were developed for logic circuits (on Si or GaAs). The association of these two types of algorithms leads to the constitution of aCad workstation for microwave monolithic integrated circuits. Two examples of design and realization of integrated circuits with these tools are presented.     

Refining Genotypes and Phenotypes in KCNA2-Related Neurological Disorders

Pathogenic variants in KCNA2, encoding for the voltage-gated potassium channel K_v1.2, have been identified as the cause for an evolving spectrum of neurological disorders. Affected individuals show early-onset developmental and epileptic encephalopathy, intellectual disability, and movement disorders resulting from cerebellar dysfunction. In addition, individuals with a milder course of epilepsy, complicated hereditary spastic paraplegia, and episodic ataxia have been reported. By analyzing phenotypic, functional, and genetic data from published reports and novel cases, we refine and further delineate phenotypic as well as functional subgroups of KCNA2-associated disorders. Carriers of variants, leading to complex and mixed channel dysfunction that are associated with a gain- and loss-of-potassium conductance, more often show early developmental abnormalities and an earlier onset of epilepsy compared to individuals with variants resulting in loss- or gain-of-function. We describe seven additional individuals harboring three known and the novel KCNA2 variants p.(Pro407Ala) and p.(Tyr417Cys). The location of variants reported here highlights the importance of the proline(405)–valine(406)–proline(407) (PVP) motif in transmembrane domain S6 as a mutational hotspot. A novel case of self-limited infantile seizures suggests a continuous clinical spectrum of KCNA2-related disorders. Our study provides further insights into the clinical spectrum, genotype–phenotype correlation, variability, and predicted functional impact of KCNA2 variants.     

Rheological properties of hyperbranched polymer/poly(ethylene terephthalate) reactive blends

The rheological properties in solution, in shear and in uniaxial elongation of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) reacted together with hyperbranched polymers (HBPs) were investigated. Two different PET grades, of low and high molecular weights, were compounded with sub‐ to over‐stoichiometric concentrations of HBPs of second and fourth pseudo‐generation, and subsequently subjected to a solid‐state polycondensation (SSP). The formation of microgels, which occurs at high HBP concentration, gave rise to a large increase in melt elasticity and a related decrease in melt strength. At low HBP concentrations, the complex viscosity of the unreacted HBP/PET was considerably reduced, thus demonstrating a lubrication effect of the HBP molecules. During SSP, the intrinsic and shear viscosities exhibited a gradual increase, which was similar for both PET and HBP/PET blends, and was correlated to an increase in molecular weight, through linear‐chain extension and branching reactions. The elongational viscosity of the reactive blends was also increased as a function of reaction time, and this increase was much larger in the case of the HBP/PET blends. A 400% increase in melt strength of the PET was obtained by combining SSP and trace amounts of an HBP of second generation, without any decrease in drawability.     

Étude expérimentale du mélange réactif au sein d'un réacteur torique ondulé (RTO)

Reactive mixing in a wavy torus reactor (WTR) has been examined experimentally. Its performances are compared to these of two other reactors: a plane torus reactor (PTR) and a baffled stirred tank reactor (BSTR). hydrodynamics of mixing has been studied using a plug flow model with axial dispersion for the WTR and PTR. The effect of axial dispersion on the kinetic of a chemical reaction was then analysed for the WTR, PTR and BSTR. Mixing times were slightly longer for the WTR due to a weaker axial dispersion. We also noticed an improvement of the convertion rate for low dissipated power.