Extracellular sheath formation by Sphaeropsis hypodermia and association with its infection in elm trees

Nous avons observé le mode de développement de Sphaeropsis hypodermia (isolé d'une branche d'orme (Ulmus americana) atteinte d'un chancre) dans les milieux suivants : un milieu gélosé (PDA), un tissu essuie-tout (Kimwipes), des blocs de bois d'orme stérilisés à l'autoclave, et des ormes d'Amérique inoculés en serre. Des échantillons de chaque substrat ont été fixés pour les observations en microscopie photonique et en microscopie électronique avec du glutaraldéhyde et du tétroxyde d'osmium. Observés en microscopie électronique, les hyphes accolés au substrat étaient entourés d'une épaisse couche extracellulaire devenant circonscrite par des bandes rigides et contenant des corps opaques simples ou agrégés, ou des masses de matière opaque plus volumineuses dans le cas des blocs de bois d'orme. Sur celui-ci et sur le tissu Kimwipes, la couche extracellulaire s'étendait sur une distance appréciable, loin des cellules fongiques, et avait également pénétré les parois de cellules de parenchyme et des fibres, selon le cas. Dans les ormes inoculés, le champignon a rapidement produit des dommages notables dans les tissus du cambium et colonisé abondamment les régions de l'écorce et du xylème avoisinantes. La pénétration et la dégradation des parois cellulaires de l'écorce étaient marquées, en relation également avec de la matière opaque entourant les cellules du champignon. Cette matière ressemblait à celle liée aux cellules fongiques sur les milieux stérilisés. Bien que les cellules du xylème étaient généralement colonisées, des altérations pariétales n'étaient apparentes que dans les cellules récemment formées. En outre, le passage du champignon d'une cellule à l'autre à travers les parois n'a été observé que dans le cas des éléments de vaisseaux et des cellules de rayon. Concernant les fibres, seule y était visible une bande de matière filamenteuse dans les parois et liant les cellules fongiques présentes dans la lumière de ces fibres. En réponse à la dégradation de parois cellulaires liée à de la matière opaque, l'hypertrophie et l'hyperplasie des cellules du cambium et de l'écorce interne ont été observées, liées possiblement à la formation d'une barrière de protection. On discute du rôle possible de la couche extracellulaire des cellules fongiques in vivo et in vitro.Sphaeropsis hypodermia, isolated from a cankered American elm branch, was grown on agar medium (PDA), on autoclaved wiping paper (Kimwipes), and American elm (Ulmus americana) wood chips, or inoculated into greenhouse-grown American elm saplings. Samples from each treatment were double-fixed with glutaraldehyde and osmium tetroxide and examined with the light and the transmission electron microscopes. Ultrastructurally, the hyphae on PDA and inert substrates appeared surrounded by large extracellular sheaths which were delimited by rigid opaque bands of various thicknesses. The sheaths extended appreciable distances from the fungal cells, as evidenced by their adherence to rigid substrates. Individual or aggregated opaque bodies, even as large masses on elm wood chips, were the main components of the sheath. This opaque material was often associated with penetration and ruptures of the wood cells. Inoculated into elm trees, the fungus rapidly caused pronounced alterations of cambial tissues and colonized the adjoining bark and xylem cells. The prominent penetration and breakdown of the inner and outer bark cells by the fungus were associated with opaque material, particularly in cortical fibres. The material was structurally similar to the sheath formed on the rigid sterilized substrates. In the xylem, only the walls of the recently deposited cells were visibly altered, and although mature fibres were generally colonized, the passage of the fungus from one fibre to another was rarely observed, contrary to the passage from vessel and ray cells to adjoining cells. In that instance, only bands of opaque material present in the walls of fibres were connected with fungal cells in their lumen. In the inner bark and cambial regions, cell hypertrophy and hyperplasia occurred next to host walls that were altered and contained similar opaque material. The extracellular sheath of S. hypodermia under in vitro conditions and the opaque material associated with host wall alterations in vivo are considered to be analogous

Suction-controlled experiments on Boom clay

The understanding of the thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of a clay barrier is needed for the prediction of its final in situ properties after the hydration and thermal transient in a radioactive waste repository. As part of the CEC 1990-1994 R&D programme on radioactive waste management and storage, the CEA (Fr), CIEMAT (Sp). ENRESA (Sp). SCK CEN (B). UPC (Sp) and UWCC (UK) have carried out a joint project on unsaturated clay behaviour (Volckaert et al.. 1996). The aim of the study is to analyse and model the behaviour of a clay-based engineered barrier during its hydration phase under real repository conditions. The hydro-mechanical and thermo-hydraulic models developed in this project have been coupled to describe stress/strain behaviour, moisture migration and heat transfer. A thermo-hydraulic model has also been coupled to a geochemical code to describe the migration and formation of chemical species. In this project. suction-controlled experiments have been performed on Boom clay (B), FoCa clay (Fr) and Almeria bentonite (Sp). The aim of these experiments is to test the validity of the interpretive model developed by Alonso and Gens (Alonso et al., 1990). and to build a database of unsaturated clay thermo-hydro-mechanical parameters. Such a database can then be used for validation exercises in which in situ experiments are simulated. The Boom clay is a moderately swelling clay of Rupellian age. It is studied at the SCK. CEN in Belgium as a potential host rock for a radioactive waste repository. In this paper, suction-controlled experiments carried out on Boom clay by SCK CEN are described. SCK CEN has performed experiments to measure the relation between suction, water content and temperature and the relation between suction, stress and deformation. The applied suctioncontrol techniques and experimental setups are detailed. The results of these experiments are discussed in the perspective of the model of Alonso and Gens. The influence of temperature on water uptake was rather small. The measured swelling-collapse behaviour can be explained by the Alonso and Gens model.Peer Reviewe

U(1) spin liquids and valence bond solids in a large-N three-dimensional Heisenberg model

We study possible quantum ground states of the Sp(N) generalized Heisenberg model on a cubic lattice with nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor exchange interactions. The phase diagram is obtained in the large-N limit and fluctuation effects are considered via appropriate gauge theories. In particular, we find three U(1) spin liquid phases with different short-range magnetic correlations. These phases are characterized by deconfined gapped spinons, gapped monopoles, and gapless ``photons''. As N becomes smaller, a confinement transition from these phases to valence bond solids (VBS) may occur. This transition is studied by using duality and analyzing the resulting theory of monopoles coupled to a non-compact dual gauge field; the condensation of the monopoles leads to VBS phases. We determine the resulting VBS phases emerging from two of the three spin liquid states. On the other hand, the spin liquid state near J_1 \approx J_2 appears to be more stable against monopole condensation and could be a promising candidate for a spin liquid state in real systems.Comment: revtex file 12 pages, 17 figure

Sulphur-bearing molecules in diffuse molecular clouds: new results from SOFIA/GREAT and the IRAM 30 m telescope

We have observed five sulphur-bearing molecules in foreground diffuse molecular clouds lying along the sight-lines to five bright continuum sources. We have used the GREAT instrument on SOFIA to observe the 1383 GHz $^2\Pi_{3/2} J=5/2-3/2$ transitions of SH towards the star-forming regions W31C, G29.96-0.02, G34.3+0.1, W49N and W51, detecting foreground absorption towards all five sources; and the EMIR receivers on the IRAM 30m telescope at Pico Veleta to detect the H$_2$S 1(10)-1(01), CS J=2-1 and SO 3(2)-2(1) transitions. In nine foreground absorption components detected towards these sources, the inferred column densities of the four detected molecules showed relatively constant ratios, with N(SH)/N(H$_2$S) in the range 1.1 - 3.0, N(CS)/N(H$_2$S) in the range 0.32 - 0.61, and N(SO)/N(H$_2$S) in the range 0.08 - 0.30. The observed SH/H$_2$ ratios - in the range (0.5-2.6) $\times 10^{-8}$ - indicate that SH (and other sulphur-bearing molecules) account for << 1% of the gas-phase sulphur nuclei. The observed abundances of sulphur-bearing molecules, however, greatly exceed those predicted by standard models of cold diffuse molecular clouds, providing further evidence for the enhancement of endothermic reaction rates by elevated temperatures or ion-neutral drift. We have considered the observed abundance ratios in the context of shock and turbulent dissipation region (TDR) models. Using the TDR model, we find that the turbulent energy available at large scale in the diffuse ISM is sufficient to explain the observed column densities of SH and CS. Standard shock and TDR models, however, fail to reproduce the column densities of H$_2$S and SO by a factor of about 10; more elaborate shock models - in which account is taken of the velocity drift, relative to H$_2$, of SH molecules produced by the dissociative recombination of H$_3$S$^+$ - reduce this discrepancy to a factor ~ 3.Comment: 30 pages, accepted for publication in A&

Kinetically Inhibited Order in a Diamond-Lattice Antiferromagnet

Frustrated magnetic systems exhibit highly degenerate ground states and strong fluctuations, often leading to new physics. An intriguing example of current interest is the antiferromagnet on a diamond lattice, realized physically in A-site spinel materials. This is a prototypical system in three dimensions where frustration arises from competing interactions rather than purely geometric constraints, and theory suggests the possibility of unusual magnetic order at low temperature. Here we present a comprehensive single-crystal neutron scattering study of CoAl2O4, a highly frustrated A-site spinel. We observe strong diffuse scattering that peaks at wavevectors associated with Neel ordering. Below the temperature T*=6.5 K, there is a dramatic change in the elastic scattering lineshape accompanied by the emergence of well-defined spin-wave excitations. T* had previously been associated with the onset of glassy behavior. Our new results suggest instead that T* signifies a first-order phase transition, but with true long-range order inhibited by the kinetic freezing of domain walls. This scenario might be expected to occur widely in frustrated systems containing first-order phase transitions and is a natural explanation for existing reports of anomalous glassy behavior in other materials.Comment: 40 pages, 9 figures, Introduction and discussion altered and expanded. Additional section and figure added to Supplementary Informatio

Hydrogen maser clocks in space for solid-Earth research and time-transfer applications: Experiment overview and evaluation of Russian miniature sapphire loaded cavity

The Observatoire Cantonal de Neuchatel (ON) is developing for ESTEC a compact H-maser for space use based upon a miniature sapphire loaded microwave cavity, a technique pioneered at VNIIFTRI. Various contacts between West-European parties, headed by ESA, and the Russian parties, headed by ESA, led to the proposal for flying two H-masers on Meteor 3M, a Russian meteorology satellite in low polar orbit. The experiment will include two masers, one provided by ON and the other by VNIIFTRI. T/F transfer and precise positioning will be performed by both a microwave link, using PRARE equipment, and an optical link, using LASSO-like equipment. The main objectives of the experiment are precise orbit determination and point positioning for geodetic/geophysical research, ultra-accurate time comparison and dissemination as well as in-orbit demonstration of operation and performance of H-masers. Within the scope of a preliminary space H-maser development phase performed for ESTEC at ON in preparation to the joint experiment, a Russian miniature sapphire loaded microwave cavity, on loan from VNIIFTRI, was evaluated in a full-size EFOS hydrogen maser built by ON. The experimental evaluation confirmed the theoretical expectation that with a hydrogen storage volume of only 0.65 liter an atomic quality factor of 1.5 x 10(exp 9) can be obtained for a -105 dBm output power. This represents a theoretical Allan deviation of 1.7 x 10(exp -15) averaged on a 1000 s time interval. From a full-size design to a compact one, therefore, the sacrifice in performance due to the reduction of the storage volume is very small

Management of radiation dermatitis in patients receiving cetuximab and radiotherapy for locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: proposals for a revised grading system and consensus management guidelines

Background: Radiation dermatitis developing in patients receiving cetuximab concomitantly with radiotherapy for locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (LA SCCHN) is now recognized to have different pathophysiological and clinical characteristics to the radiation dermatitis associated with radiotherapy or concomitant chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Current grading tools were not designed to grade this type of radiation dermatitis; their use may lead to misclassification of reactions and inappropriate management strategies, potentially compromising cancer treatment. Patients and methods: An advisory board of seven leading European specialists (three medical oncologists, three radiation oncologists and a dermatologist) with extensive experience of the use of cetuximab plus radiotherapy produced consensus guidelines for the grading and management of radiation dermatitis in patients receiving cetuximab plus radiotherapy. Results: Modifications to the current, commonly used National Cancer Institute—Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 4.3 for grading radiation dermatitis were proposed. Updated management guidelines, building on previously published guidelines from 2008, were also proposed. Conclusions: The proposed revisions to the grading system and updated management guidelines described here represent important developments toward the more appropriate grading and effective management of radiation dermatitis in patients receiving cetuximab plus radiotherapy for LA SCCH