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.     

The factorial structure of the Dutch translation of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems: A test of the long and short versions.

In this article, the authors study the factorial structure of 2 versions (64 items and 32 items) of the Dutch translation of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP; L. M. Horowitz, L. E. Alden, J. S. Wiggins, & A. L. Pincus, 2000) in both a clinical sample (n = 382) and a student sample (n = 287). First, the authors test whether both inventories are constituted by correlated uni-dimensional subscales, and they conclude that this is true only for the short version. Second, the authors study whether the correlations between the subscales follow a circumplex pattern. This proves to be true for both versions. Coefficients alpha and correlations between the IIP-64 and IIP-32 subscales are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Family of Far‐Infrared‐Transmitting Glasses in the Ga–Ge–Te System for Space Applications

Conditions of formation of bulk tellurium chalcogenide glasses, containing 70–80 at % Te associated to Ga and Ge are described. The characteristic temperatures are measured: the glass‐transition temperature, T_g, is situated in the range 140–185 °C and the difference T_x – T_g, where T_x is the onset crystallization temperature, is in the range 76–113 °C. Moreover, the optical transmission window is exceptional, ranging from 1.99 μm in the bandgap up to 28 μm in the phonon region. Developed within the framework of requirements for the Darwin mission (a search for and study of extrasolar planets), feasibility of infrared optical fibers formed from these glasses is studied. Drawing experiments are conducted with the glass Ga₂‐Ge₃Te₁₅, which possesses the maximum T_x – T_g, and a first optical fiber is presented.     

Early detection of ageing in solder joints through laser probe thermal analysis of the peltier effect

We have recently developed an optical contactless method for testing the quality of solder joints during accelerated thermal cycling ageing processes.¹ The method was based upon the measurement of the dynamic thermal behaviour of the joint to short bursts of Joule heating. It has proved to be efficient in revealing the formation of cracks at the lead-solder interface. We present a method to evaluate ageing at a much earlier stage in the cycling process. We have observed in earlier work,¹ that before cracks appear, structural changes occur in the solder at the lead-solder interface. The thermal response of the solder joint is recorded over time to a Peltier heat perturbation produced by flowing a current pulse through the interface where structural changes occur. The key point in this method is to discriminate the Peltier effect from the Joule thermal response because both effects generate heat. The variation of the early Peltier response in the thermal cycling ageing tests is seen as a quantitative signature of the structural changes in the lead-solder interface.     

Modeling of Moisture Behavior of Wood Planks in Nonvented Flat Roofs

A computer model was extended and adapted to simulate the hygrothermal behavior of building envelope-wood components. The model was used to predict moisture movement in wood planks forming the decks of nonvented flat roofs insulated with cellulose. The gradient of water potential was considered as the driving force for moisture movement in wood. The model required the determination of convective heat- and mass-transfer coefficients, the sorption curves, the effective water conductivity for different wood species, and the hygrothermal conditions within the assembly to characterize the mass-conservation equation. Once these parameters were integrated in the computer model, this approach was then validated by carrying a simulation of the drying process of wood planks using experimental data from a large-scale test.     

L'échelle des Orientations Générales à la Causalité: Validation canadienne fran?aise du General Causality Orientations Scale.

Conducted a reliability and validity study of the French version of E. L. Deci and R. M. Ryan's (1985) General Causality Orientations Scale (GCOS), which measures the extent to which people are oriented toward the autonomy, control, and impersonal aspects of the initiation and regulation of behavior. Findings support the psychometric and construct validity of the French version of the GCOS; suggestions for its use in French-Canadian psychological research are discussed. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Raman studies of structural rearrangements induced in human plasma lipoprotein carotenoids by malondialdehyde

Raman and resonance Raman spectra of plasma lipoproteins ± malondialdehyde were studied at concentrations which block the normal receptor-mediated uptake by cells. The strong resonance Raman bands at about 1010, 1162 and 1530 cm⁻¹, due to the presence of carotenoids in the lipoproteins, are envisaged as structural probes. High resolution resonance Raman spectra of the 1500–1600 cm⁻¹ region reveal multiple features suggesting the coexistence of several structural populations of β-carotene whose precise assignment is complex. When plasma lipoproteins are reacted with malondialdehyde, a complex change occurs in the resonance Raman banding of β-carotene in the 1500–1600 cm⁻¹ region. Malonaldehyde (MDA) also modifies the acoustical region (70–200 cm⁻¹ of low density lipoprotein (LDL) lipids. We suggest that malondialdehyde association with plasma lipoproteins alters the lipid structure via apoprotein or apoprotein/lipid associations.     

Electroluminescence spectroscopy for reliability investigations of 1.55 μm bulk semiconductor optical amplifier

This paper demonstrates the complementary relation between functional parameters and electroluminescence spectroscopy for reliability investigations of 1550 nm Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers of 700 μm length active region. Ageing tests have been set to 270 mA-100 °C-1500 h and realized on two different wafers showing more impact on wafer 1 than on wafer 2. Our investigations are particularly focused on interpretation of electroluminescence spectra, from reference and aged SOAs of wafer 1, leading to an improvement of degradation mechanisms understanding. The shift rate to lower energies of the recombination energy peak at 1550 nm, as reported by electroluminescence spectra between reference and aged SOAs in relation with the decrease of optical power measured at 200 mA for the degraded SOA and completed by I(V) characterizations, suggest occurrence of non radiative deep centers near the buried ridge structure in relation with the cleaning process uniformity of interfaces before epitaxial overgrowth. These defects mainly trap majority injected carriers instead of minority carriers reducing the luminescence in the active zone. By monitoring the most sensitive failure indicator (pseudo-threshold current), lifetime distributions are also calculated to determine failure rate, between 150 and 200 FITs over 15 years for operating conditions (25 °C-200 mA) using experimental degradation laws and statistic computations, demonstrating the overall robustness of this technology.     

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.