Characterization of organic ultra-thin film adhesion on flexible substrate using scratch test technique

International audienceThe mechanical properties of interfaces and more precisely the adhesion are of great importance for the understanding of the reliability of thin film devices. Organic thin film transistors (OTFT) on flexible substrate are a new class of electronic components. Since these devices are flexible and intended for different fields of application like sensors and displays, they will undergo a lot of mechanical and thermal stress during their useful life. Moreover, interfaces play an important role in the electrical stability of these transistors. In this context, the adhesion of two organic submicron thin films, semi conducting and dielectric respectively, deposited on polymeric substrate were investigated by scratch test method. This study demonstrates the feasibility and selectivity of the scratch test as a tool for assessing the adhesion and the damage behaviour of ultra-thin organic film on flexible plastic substrate. The semi-crystalline substrate presents a brittle cracking damage from a given strain, whereas when covered by the semi-conducting thin film, the sample exhibits a more ductile behaviour. Moreover, this technique has proven to be sensitive enough to highlight the effects of a plasma treatment prior to deposition

Short communication: Influence of vitamins C and E on sperm motility of rabbit bucks

[EN] The objective of the study is to investigate the effect of vitamin C and E supplementation on rabbit sperm motility. Forty INAT breed bucks aged 8.5 mo were divided into 2 groups: control group (C) and treated group (T) receiving vitamins C (1 g/L) and E (1 g/L) incorporated in the drinking water. Semen was collected using an artificial vagina over 6 wk (C, total ejaculates=81; T, total ejaculates=76). The massal motility (MM) was evaluated in the fresh and raw semen. Then, the individual motility at 0 (IM0), 2 (IM2) and 4 h (IM4) after semen collection was determined in diluted semen and conserved at +4°C for the 2 groups. MM was higher in T than in C group (P=0.0012). However, the individual motilities IM0, IM2 and IM4 did not vary between the 2 groups. In conclusion, the supplementation of vitamins C and E in the drinking water for rabbit influenced only the MM in both fresh and raw semen.Najjar Ben Maâtoug, A.; Ben Saïd, S.; Najjar, T.; Kalamoun, S.; Ben Khalifa, N.; Ben Aïchae, E.; Ben Mrad, M. (2013). Short communication: Influence of vitamins C and E on sperm motility of rabbit bucks. World Rabbit Science. 21(1):45-48. doi:10.4995/wrs.2013.1174.SWORD454821

Spindle cell oncocytoma of the adenohypophysis in a woman: a case report and review of the literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Spindle cell oncocytoma of the adenohypophysis is a rare tumour recently reported by Roncaroli <it>et al. </it>in 2002. This tumour is considered a grade I tumour by the World Health Organization.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We describe what is, to the best of our knowledge, the 14th case of its kind in the literature. A 45-year-old African woman presented clinical and radiological findings related to a nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma. The diagnosis was made on the basis of histological and immunohistochemical findings.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The purpose of this work is to report a rare pituitary tumour and to describe its histological and immunohistochemical features, which were characterized by the expression of thyroid transcription factor 1 antigen by tumour cells. This fact could support the theory of a possible common origin of these tumours in pituicytomas. In fact, thyroid transcription factor 1 is considered to be a specific marker of pituicytes.</p

The "Ram Effect": A "Non-Classical" Mechanism for Inducing LH Surges in Sheep

During spring sheep do not normally ovulate but exposure to a ram can induce ovulation. In some ewes an LH surge is induced immediately after exposure to a ram thus raising questions about the control of this precocious LH surge. Our first aim was to determine the plasma concentrations of oestradiol (E2) E2 in anoestrous ewes before and after the "ram effect" in ewes that had a "precocious" LH surge (starting within 6 hours), a "normal" surge (between 6 and 28h) and "late» surge (not detected by 56h). In another experiment we tested if a small increase in circulating E2 could induce an LH surge in anoestrus ewes. The concentration of E2 significantly was not different at the time of ram introduction among ewes with the three types of LH surge. "Precocious" LH surges were not preceded by a large increase in E2 unlike "normal" surges and small elevations of circulating E2 alone were unable to induce LH surges. These results show that the "precocious" LH surge was not the result of E2 positive feedback. Our second aim was to test if noradrenaline (NA) is involved in the LH response to the "ram effect". Using double labelling for Fos and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) we showed that exposure of anoestrous ewes to a ram induced a higher density of cells positive for both in the A1 nucleus and the Locus Coeruleus complex compared to unstimulated controls. Finally, the administration by retrodialysis into the preoptic area, of NA increased the proportion of ewes with an LH response to ram odor whereas treatment with the α1 antagonist Prazosin decreased the LH pulse frequency and amplitude induced by a sexually active ram. Collectively these results suggest that in anoestrous ewes NA is involved in ram-induced LH secretion as observed in other induced ovulators

Multiplicity-free theorems of the restrictions of unitary highest weight modules with respect to reductive symmetric pairs

The complex analytic methods have found a wide range of applications in the study of multiplicity-free representations. This article discusses, in particular, its applications to the question of restricting highest weight modules with respect to reductive symmetric pairs. We present a number of multiplicity-free branching theorems that include the multiplicity-free property of some of known results such as the Clebsh--Gordan--Pieri formula for tensor products, the Plancherel theorem for Hermitian symmetric spaces (also for line bundle cases), the Hua--Kostant--Schmid $K$-type formula, and the canonical representations in the sense of Vershik--Gelfand--Graev. Our method works in a uniform manner for both finite and infinite dimensional cases, for both discrete and continuous spectra, and for both classical and exceptional cases

Evidence for Reductive Genome Evolution and Lateral Acquisition of Virulence Functions in Two Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis Strains

Ruiz JC, D'Afonseca V, Silva A, et al. Evidence for Reductive Genome Evolution and Lateral Acquisition of Virulence Functions in Two Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis Strains. PLoS ONE. 2011;6(4): e18551.Background: Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, a Gram-positive, facultative intracellular pathogen, is the etiologic agent of the disease known as caseous lymphadenitis (CL). CL mainly affects small ruminants, such as goats and sheep; it also causes infections in humans, though rarely. This species is distributed worldwide, but it has the most serious economic impact in Oceania, Africa and South America. Although C. pseudotuberculosis causes major health and productivity problems for livestock, little is known about the molecular basis of its pathogenicity. Methodology and Findings: We characterized two C. pseudotuberculosis genomes (Cp1002, isolated from goats; and CpC231, isolated from sheep). Analysis of the predicted genomes showed high similarity in genomic architecture, gene content and genetic order. When C. pseudotuberculosis was compared with other Corynebacterium species, it became evident that this pathogenic species has lost numerous genes, resulting in one of the smallest genomes in the genus. Other differences that could be part of the adaptation to pathogenicity include a lower GC content, of about 52%, and a reduced gene repertoire. The C. pseudotuberculosis genome also includes seven putative pathogenicity islands, which contain several classical virulence factors, including genes for fimbrial subunits, adhesion factors, iron uptake and secreted toxins. Additionally, all of the virulence factors in the islands have characteristics that indicate horizontal transfer. Conclusions: These particular genome characteristics of C. pseudotuberculosis, as well as its acquired virulence factors in pathogenicity islands, provide evidence of its lifestyle and of the pathogenicity pathways used by this pathogen in the infection process. All genomes cited in this study are available in the NCBI Genbank database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/) under accession numbers CP001809 and CP001829

A multi-color quantum well photodetector for mid- and long-wavelength infrared detection

The authors report a two-color quantum well infrared photodetector at room temperature operating in the mid- and long-wavelength infrared detection. To this purpose, the band alignment is tailored and electronic properties are investigated for the proposed structure based on Ga1−xInxAsySb1−y/GaSb and AlxGa1−xAsySb1−y/GaSb. As accurate knowledge of band offsets is required in device modeling, we have proceeded to theoretical investigations of the band offsets for pseudo-morphically strained and lattice-matched Ga1−xInxAsySb1−y/GaSb and AlxGa1−xAsySb1−y/GaSb heterointerfaces in the whole range of alloy compositions 0 ≤ x, y ≤ 1. The carrier effective masses are deduced from the laws extracted from the k.p strain Hamiltonian laws. For the modeled heterostructure, the dark current of about 10−1 A cm−2 at ambient temperature shows the high performance of this multi-color infrared photodetector around 5 and 12.5 µm wavelengths

Modelling of an InAs/GaSb/InSb short-period superlattice laser diode for mid-infrared emission by the k.p method

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