946 research outputs found
Un modÚle de cinétique d'évolution de populations de bulles dans un fluide à seuil
International audienceThe context of this study is to predict the swelling of bitumen drums in which radioactive salts are mixed (60 wt% of bitumen and 40 wt% of salts). Radioactivity generates uniform volume production of hydrogen by radiolysis of bitumen chains. The creation of gas occurs on very large time scales (more than a hundred years), hence the need to provide model in order to predict the swelling. It has been shown that bitumen is a yield stress fluid. Therefore this work proposes to study the influence of a continuous gas generation and a yield stress on the kinetic evolution of a bubble population. Usually, when a gas is dissolved beyond its solubility limit without yield stress or gas creation, one observes a nucleation-growth-ripening scenario (growth of large bubbles to the detriment of small ones). It selects a distribution of large bubbles over long times, independently of the initial distribution of nuclei. Our work shows that in some cases the gas creation competes with the ripening kinetics and the yield stress can make the bubble population bimodal during its evolution.Le contexte de cette Ă©tude est de dĂ©crire les processus physico-chimiques Ă©lĂ©mentaires de base conduisant au gonflement dâenrobĂ©s de bitume (suspensions de sels dans une matrice bitume) dans lequel sont conditionnĂ©s des sels de coprĂ©cipitation de radionuclĂ©ides. La radioactivitĂ© gĂ©nĂšre une production volumique uniforme de dihydrogĂšne par radiolyse des chaĂźnes de bitume. Ce taux de crĂ©ation de gaz perdure sur des Ă©chelles de temps trĂšs grandes (plus de cent ans), bien que dĂ©croissant au cours du temps. LâĂ©tude scientifique vise Ă conforter les modĂšles actuels de prĂ©diction du gonflement sous radiolyse des enrobĂ©s bitume. Il a Ă©tĂ© montrĂ© que les enrobĂ©s de bitume sont des fluides Ă seuil. Ces travaux proposent donc d'aborder l'influence dâune gĂ©nĂ©ration continue de gaz (appelĂ©e terme source dans la suite de cet article) et dâun seuil dâĂ©coulement sur la cinĂ©tique d'Ă©volution d'une population de bulles. Classiquement, pour un gaz dissous au delĂ de sa limite de solubilitĂ© et en lâabsence de seuil et de terme source, on observe un scĂ©nario de germination-croissance-mĂ»rissement (croissance des grosses bulles au dĂ©triment des petites) qui sĂ©lectionne aux temps longs une distribution de grosses bulles, indĂ©pendante de la distribution initiale de germes. Nos travaux montrent quâil existe des rĂ©gimes oĂč le terme source entre en compĂ©tition avec la cinĂ©tique de mĂ»rissement et oĂč le seuil dâĂ©coulement peut Ă©taler ou rendre bidisperse la distribution de taille de bulles au cours de son Ă©volution
Diaphragmatic Endometriosis-A Single-Center Retrospective Analysis of the Patients' Demographics, Symptomatology, and Long-Term Treatment Outcomes
Diaphragmatic endometriosis is rare and forms 0.67-4.7% of all endometriosis cases. Evidence regarding its optimal management is lacking. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the patient characteristics and long-term treatment outcomes of diaphragmatic endometriosis patients. Over a 4-year period, 23 patients were diagnosed with diaphragmatic endometriosis. The majority of patients had coexisting deep pelvic endometriosis. Cyclic upper abdominal pain was reported by 60.9% of patients, while cyclic chest and shoulder pain were reported by 43.5% and 34.8% of patients, respectively. Most patients were treated with laparoscopic lesion ablation, while 21.1% were treated with minimally invasive excision. The mean follow-up time was 23.7 months. Long-lasting resolution of the chest, abdominal, and shoulder pain occurred in 50%, 35.7%, and 25% of patients, respectively. Nonetheless, 78.9% of patients reported major improvement in their symptoms postoperatively. Significantly higher rates of postoperative shoulder, abdominal, and chest pain were observed in patients who received postoperative hormonal therapy compared with those who did not. All patients treated expectantly remained stable. Therefore, we recommend treating diaphragmatic endometriosis only in symptomatic patients. The risk of incomplete surgery should be minimized by a multidisciplinary diagnostic and therapeutic approach with a careful assessment of the diaphragm and the thoracic cavity
ALMA-IMF VIII -- Combination of Interferometric Continuum Images with Single-Dish Surveys and Structural Analysis of Six Protoclusters
We present the combination of ALMA-IMF and single-dish continuum images from
the Mustang-2 Galactic Plane Survey (MGPS90) at 3 millimeters and the Bolocam
Galactic Plane Survey (BGPS) at 1 millimeter. Six and ten out of the fiffteen
ALMA-IMF fields are combined with MGPS90 and BGPS, respectively. The
combination is made via the feathering technique. We used the dendrogram
algorithm throughout the combined images, and performed further analysis in the
six fields with combination in both bands (G012.80, W43-MM1, W43-MM2, W43-MM3,
W51-E, W51-IRS2). In these fields, we calculated spectral index maps and used
them to separate regions dominated by dust or free-free emission, and then
performed further structural analysis. We report the basic physical parameters
of the dust-dominated (column densities, masses) and ionized (emission
measures, hydrogen ionization photon rates) structures. We also searched for
multi-scale relations in the dust-dominated structures across the analyzed
fields, finding that the fraction of mass in dendrogram leaves (which we label
as "Leaf Mass Eficiency", LME) as a function of molecular gas column density
follows a similar trend: a rapid, exponential-like growth, with maximum values
approaching 100% in most cases. The observed behaviour of the LME with gas
column is tentatively interpreted as an indicator of large star formation
activity within the ALMA-IMF protoclusters. W51-E and G012.80 stand out as
cases with comparatively large and reduced potential for further star
formation, respectively.Comment: Accepted to The Astrophysical Journal Supplemen
Molecular Evolution of the Two-Component System BvgAS Involved in Virulence Regulation in Bordetella
The whooping cough agent Bordetella pertussis is closely related to Bordetella bronchiseptica, which is responsible for chronic respiratory infections in various mammals and is occasionally found in humans, and to Bordetella parapertussis, one lineage of which causes mild whooping cough in humans and the other ovine respiratory infections. All three species produce similar sets of virulence factors that are co-regulated by the two-component system BvgAS. We characterized the molecular diversity of BvgAS in Bordetella by sequencing the two genes from a large number of diverse isolates. The response regulator BvgA is virtually invariant, indicating strong functional constraints. In contrast, the multi-domain sensor kinase BvgS has evolved into two different types. The pertussis type is found in B. pertussis and in a lineage of essentially human-associated B. bronchiseptica, while the bronchiseptica type is associated with the majority of B. bronchiseptica and both ovine and human B. parapertussis. BvgS is monomorphic in B. pertussis, suggesting optimal adaptation or a recent population bottleneck. The degree of diversity of the bronchiseptica type BvgS is markedly different between domains, indicating distinct evolutionary pressures. Thus, absolute conservation of the putative solute-binding cavities of the two periplasmic Venus Fly Trap (VFT) domains suggests that common signals are perceived in all three species, while the external surfaces of these domains vary more extensively. Co-evolution of the surfaces of the two VFT domains in each type and domain swapping experiments indicate that signal transduction in the periplasmic region may be type-specific. The two distinct evolutionary solutions for BvgS confirm that B. pertussis has emerged from a specific B. bronchiseptica lineage. The invariant regions of BvgS point to essential parts for its molecular mechanism, while the variable regions may indicate adaptations to different lifestyles. The repertoire of BvgS sequences will pave the way for functional analyses of this prototypic system
Detection of small RNAs in Bordetella pertussis and identification of a novel repeated genetic element
Background: Small bacterial RNAs (sRNAs) have been shown to participate in the regulation of gene expression and have been identified in numerous prokaryotic species. Some of them are involved in the regulation of virulence in pathogenic bacteria. So far, little is known about sRNAs in Bordetella, and only very few sRNAs have been identified in the genome of Bordetella pertussis, the causative agent of whooping cough. Results: An in silico approach was used to predict sRNAs genes in intergenic regions of the B. pertussis genome. The genome sequences of B. pertussis, Bordetella parapertussis, Bordetella bronchiseptica and Bordetella avium were compared using a Blast, and significant hits were analyzed using RNAz. Twenty-three candidate regions were obtained, including regions encoding the already documented 6S RNA, and the GCVT and FMN riboswitches. The existence of sRNAs was verified by Northern blot analyses, and transcripts were detected for 13 out of the 20 additional candidates. These new sRNAs were named Bordetella pertussis RNAs, bpr. The expression of 4 of them differed between the early, exponential and late growth phases, and one of them, bprJ2, was found to be under the control of BvgA/BvgS two-component regulatory system of Bordetella virulence. A phylogenetic study of the bprJ sequence revealed a novel, so far undocumented repeat of ~90 bp, found in numerous copies in the Bordetella genomes and in that of other Betaproteobacteria. This repeat exhibits certain features of mobil
Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences
The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & NemĂ©sio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; NemĂ©sio 2009aâb; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported
by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on
18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based
researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016
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