Thoracic Duct Fistula after Thyroid Cancer Surgery: Towards a New Treatment?

The use of somatostatin analogs is a new conservative therapeutic approach for the treatment of chyle fistulas developing after thyroid cancer surgery. The combination therapy with a total parenteral nutrition should avoid the high morbidity of a re-intervention with an uncertain outcome. This promising trend is supported by the present case report of a chyle leak occurring after total thyroidectomy with central and lateral neck dissection for a papillary carcinoma, which was treated successfully without immediate or distant sequelae

Segregation of a major gene influencing ovulation in progeny of Lacaune meat sheep

Inheritance of the ovulation rate (OR) in the Lacaune meat breed was studied through records from a small nucleus of 36 hyper-prolific ewes screened on farms on the basis of their natural litter size, and from progeny data of three selected Lacaune sires. These sires were chosen at the AI centre according to their breeding values estimated for the mean and the variability of their daughters' litter size. Non-carrier Lacaune dairy ewes were inseminated to produce 121 F1 daughters and 27 F1 sons. Twelve sons (four from each sire) were used in turn to inseminate non-carrier Lacaune dairy ewes providing 260 BC progeny ewes. F1 and BC progeny were brought from private farms and gathered after weaning on an experimental farm where ovulation rates were recorded in the first and second breeding seasons. With an average of 6.5 records each, the mean OR of hyper-prolific ewes was very high (5.34), and 38.4% of records showed a rate of 6 or more. F1 data showed high repeatability of OR (r = 0.54) within ewe, with significant variability among ewes. High OR (≥ 4) were observed in each family. A segregation analysis provided a significant likelihood ratio and classified the three founders as heterozygous. BC ewes also displayed high repeatability of OR (r = 0.47) and the mean OR varied considerably between families (from 1.24 to 1.78). Seven of the 12 BC families presented high-ovulating ewes (at least one record ≥ 4) and segregation analysis yielded a highly significant likelihood ratio as compared to an empirical test distribution. The high variability of the mean ovulation rate shown by a small group of daughters of BC ewes inseminated by putative carrier F1 rams, and the very high ovulation rate observed for some of these ewe lambs, confirmed the segregation of a major gene with two co-dominant alleles borne by an autosome. The difference between homozygous non-carriers and heterozygous ewes was about one ovulation on the observed scale and 2.2 standard deviations on the underlying scale

α,β-D-Constrained Nucleic Acids Are Strong Terminators of Thermostable DNA Polymerases in Polymerase Chain Reaction

(SC5′, RP) α,β-D- Constrained Nucleic Acids (CNA) are dinucleotide building blocks that can feature either B-type torsional angle values or non-canonical values, depending on their 5′C and P absolute stereochemistry. These CNA are modified neither on the nucleobase nor on the sugar structure and therefore represent a new class of nucleotide with specific chemical and structural characteristics. They promote marked bending in a single stranded DNA so as to preorganize it into a loop-like structure, and they have been shown to induce rigidity within oligonucleotides. Following their synthesis, studies performed on CNA have only focused on the constraints that this family of nucleotides introduced into DNA. On the assumption that bending in a DNA template may produce a terminator structure, we investigated whether CNA could be used as a new strong terminator of polymerization in PCR. We therefore assessed the efficiency of CNA as a terminator in PCR, using triethylene glycol phosphate units as a control. Analyses were performed by denaturing gel electrophoresis and several PCR products were further analysed by sequencing. The results showed that the incorporation of only one CNA was always skipped by the polymerases tested. On the other hand, two CNA units always stopped proofreading polymerases, such as Pfu DNA polymerase, as expected for a strong replication terminator. Non-proofreading enzymes, e.g. Taq DNA polymerase, did not recognize this modification as a strong terminator although it was predominantly stopped by this structure. In conclusion, this first functional use of CNA units shows that these modified nucleotides can be used as novel polymerization terminators of proofreading polymerases. Furthermore, our results lead us to propose that CNA and their derivatives could be useful tools for investigating the behaviour of different classes of polymerases

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Mild air oxidation of boron nitride nanotubes. Application as nanofillers for thermally conductive polycarbonate nanocomposites.

International audienceBoron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) have experienced considerable growth in recent years due to their unique intrinsic properties, in particular for the fabrication of polymer nanocomposites. Dispersion of pure BNNTs in nanocomposites is often difficult due to their poor compatibility with most polymer matrices. An approach involving the creation of hydroxyl groups on their surface could improve their dispersion. While some harsh oxidation processes have been reported so far, a mild oxidation of BNNTs using air as the oxidant is reported here. This new catalytic reaction leads to slightly oxidized BNNTs, which were characterized by scanning electron microscope, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. Polycarbonate nanocomposites were then fabricated using pristine and oxidized BNNTs as nanofillers. The measured thermal conductivity increased linearly with the mildly oxidized BNNTs content. It reached a five-fold increase up to 1.19Wm.K-1 at 15% vol. content which is significantly improved over nanocomposites fabricated with severely oxidized BNNTs, while the electrically insulating character remained unchanged

The LCPC's ALT facility contribution to pavement cracking knowledge

International audienceThe full scale observation of damage and failure mechanisms of pavements dueto traffic is quite essential for the improvement of road materials and construction methods, aswell as for the development and the validation of modelling tools and pavement design methods.An alternative to the survey of real roads over long periods consists in performing acceleratedpavement tests (APT). LCPC has today more than 20 years of experience in APT applied to studyof pavement deterioration and cracking. Since 2006, in relation with an LCPC research programto update the French pavement design method, a detailed analysis of existing data of LCPC APTtests is being carried out. The objective of this work is to improve the understanding and modellingof the development of rutting and fatigue in different types of pavements. This paper presents thefirst conclusions of this synthesis, in relation to fatigue cracking, for the purpose of the RILEMTechnical Committee – Cracking in Asphalt Pavements (TC-CAP)

Quantification des opiacés, cocaïniques et amphétaminiques par chromatographie liquide haute performance / spectrométrie de masse en tandem aprés préparation en ligne de l'échantillon

Objectif : Une méthode de dosage de substances stupéfiantes et de médicaments morphiniques par chromatographie liquide couplée à la spectrométrie de masse en tandem (CL-SM/SM), après déprotéinisation acide et extraction-purification en ligne, a été développée au sein de notre laboratoire. Méthodes : Le système utilise deux pompes (Alliance 2795 et 1525 Micro, Waters), une vanne 6 voies de commutation, une colonne de concentration-purification Oasis HLB (Waters) et une colonne analytique en phase inverse (C18 Atlantis, Waters). Les différents composés retenus sur l'Oasis HLB, sont élués à contre courant sur la colonne analytique puis séparés par chromatographie. L'acquisition des données en spectrométrie de masse s'effectue en mode MRM (multiple reaction monitoring). La durée totale d'un cycle analytique est de 16 minutes. Résultats : La méthode développée est sensible, spécifique et linéaire de 2,5 à 200 ng/mL pour les molécules non conjuguées, et de 5 à 200 ng/mL pour les métabolites glucuroconjugués. Les limites de détection s'échelonnent de 0,2 à 1,3 ng/mL pour les molécules non conjuguées, et de 1,5 à 2,5 ng/mL pour les glucuroconjugués. Conclusion : Cette méthode, simple et rapide, de préparation en ligne des échantillons couplée à la CL-SM/SM permet de quantifier simultanément, dans le plasma, sérum, sang total, ou les urines, des molécules de différentes familles : opiacés et glucuroconjugués, amphétaminiques, cocaïniques, buprénorphine et norbuprénorphine