Improving D&D Planning and Waste Management with Cutting and Packaging Simulation

The increased amount of decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) being performed throughout the world not only strains nuclear cleanup budgets, but places severe demands on the capacities of nuclear waste disposal sites. Although budgets and waste disposal sites have been able to accommodate the demand thus far, the increasing number of large facilities being decommissioned will cause major impacts to the waste disposal process. It is thus imperative that new and innovative technologies are applied within the D&D industry to reduce costs and waste disposal requirements for the decommissioning of our inventory of large and aging nuclear facilities. One of the most significant problems reactor owner’s deal with is the accurate determination of the types and volumes of wastes that will be generated during decommissioning of their facilities. Waste disposal costs, restrictions, and transportation issues can account for as much as 30% of the total costs to decommission a facility and thus it is very important to have accurate waste volume estimates. The use of simulation technologies to estimate and reduce decommissioning waste volumes provides a new way to manage risks associated with this work. Simulation improves the process by allowing facility owners to obtain accurate estimates of the types and amounts of waste prior to starting the actual D&D work. This reduces risk by permitting earlier and better negotiations with the disposal sites, and more time to resolve transportation issues. While simulation is a tool to be used by the D&D contractors, its real value is in reducing risks and costs to the reactor owners

Low parathyroid hormone status induced by high dialysate calcium is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular death in hemodialysis patients

Here we studied a possible association between low parathyroid hormone (PTH) status and mortality in incident patients undergoing hemodialysis . A total of 1983 patients were included at baseline and prospectively followed for 24 months. Patients were classified according to their Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes PTH status at baseline and at 12 months, and mortality evaluated at 12 to 24 months using adjusted Cox analysis. Factors potentially involved in PTH status variability between baseline and 12 months were analyzed. A decrease in serum PTH from normal or high to low values between baseline and 12 months was associated with significantly increased cardiovascular mortality at 12 to 24 months (hazard ratio, 2.03; 95% confidence interval, 1.22–3.36). For patients with high or normal baseline PTH levels, the main independent factor at 6 months for a decrease to low PTH levels at 12 months was high dialysate calcium (1.75 mmol/L), whereas prescription of non–calcium-based phosphate binders was associated with a lower risk of PTH decrease. In the high cardiovascular (CV) mortality risk subgroup of patients who acquired a low PTH status at 12 months, the main independent factor at 12 months associated with significant 12- to 24-month CV mortality was high dialysate calcium (odds ratio, 5.44; 95% CI, 2.52–11.75). Thus, patients with a serum PTH decrease to low values after 1 year of hemodialysis treatment are at high risk of short-term CV death. High dialysate calcium was an important contributor to PTH oversuppression, and continued use was associated with increased CV mortality

Improvement of leucocytic Na+K+ pump activity in uremic patients on low protein diet

Improvement of leucocytic Na+ K+ pump activity in uremic patients on low protein diet. Leucocytic Na+K+ pump activity was assessed in 20 patients with advanced renal failure. Na+K+-ATPase activity was reduced when compared with the values obtained from normal subjects (101.8 ± 48.6 versus 165.13 ± 8.9 µM of Pi hr-1 · g-1 P < 0.001) and the mean 86Rb uptake by U 937 cells was depressed by 38% after the addition of patients' sera. Subsequently, patients were put on a diet providing 0.3g protein/kg body weight daily and supplemented with ketoacids. After three months of dietary treatment Na+K+-ATPase activity increased to 142 ± 48.3 (P < 0.01) and reached normal values at the sixth month (162.8 ± 54.70 µM of Pi hr-1 · g-1; P < 0.001) whereas 86Rb uptake increased by 23 percent when compared to initial values. These data suggest that among the different mechanisms which have been advanced to explain the defects in the Na+ pump observed in uremic patients, circulating inhibitors deriving from alimentary protein intake may affect cation transport

Transition numérique et pratiques de recherche et d’enseignement supérieur en agronomie, environnement, alimentation et sciences vétérinaires à l’horizon 2040.

Pour citer ce document:Barzman M. (Coord.), Gerphagnon M. (Coord.), Mora O. (Coord.),Aubin-Houzelstein G., Bénard A., Martin C., Baron G.L, Bouchet F., Dibie-Barthélémy J., Gibrat J.F., Hodson S., Lhoste E., Moulier-Boutang Y., Perrot S., Phung F., Pichot C., Siné M., Venin T. 2019. Transition numérique et pratiques de recherche et d’enseignement supérieur en agronomie, environnement, alimentation et sciences vétérinaires à l’horizon 2040.INRA, France, 161pagesTransition numérique et pratiques de recherche et d’enseignement supérieur en agronomie, environnement, alimentation et sciences vétérinaires à l’horizon 2040

The European union’s 2010 target: Putting rare species in focus

P. 167-185The European Union has adopted the ambitious target of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010. Several indicators have been proposed to assess progress towards the 2010 target, two of them addressing directly the issue of species decline. In Europe, the Fauna Europaea database gives an insight into the patterns of distribution of a total dataset of 130,000 terrestrial and freshwater species without taxonomic bias, and provide a unique opportunity to assess the feasibility of the 2010 target. It shows that the vast majority of European species are rare, in the sense that they have a restricted range. Considering this, the paper discusses whether the 2010 target indicators really cover the species most at risk of extinction. The analysis of a list of 62 globally extinct European taxa shows that most contemporary extinctions have affected narrow-range taxa or taxa with strict ecological requirements. Indeed, most European species listed as threatened in the IUCN Red List are narrow-range species. Conversely, there are as many wide-range species as narrow-range endemics in the list of protected species in Europe (Bird and Habitat Directives). The subset of biodiversity captured by the 2010 target indicators should be representative of the whole biodiversity in terms of patterns of distribution and abundance. Indicators should not overlook a core characteristic of biodiversity, i.e. the large number of narrow-range species and their intrinsic vulnerability. With ill-selected indicator species, the extinction of narrowrange endemics would go unnoticedS

Investigating orphan cytochromes P450 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis : the search for potential drug targets

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease that the World Health Organisation (WHO) regards as a global pandemic. There is a great need for new drugs to combat this threat. Drug resistant strains of the causative agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), have increased the urgency of this quest for novel anti-mycobacterial medicines. Publication of the Mtb genome sequence revealed a large number of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes [Cole, S. T. et al. 1998]. These mono-oxygenase enzymes have been studied for many years and are responsible for metabolic functions in every kingdom of life. Research on the Mtb P450s to date has highlighted several of them as having critcal roles within the organism. CYP121 and CYP128 have been implicated as essential through gene knockout studies. It has been demonstrated that CYP125 is not essential for viability. However, it is part of a gene cluster highly important for Mtb infectivity and virulence. Due to the prospective importance of P450s to Mtb, this group of enzymes is under investigation as a source of novel drug targets. CYP142 was discovered as a potential drug target after it was located to a gene cluster involved in cholesterol catabolism during Mtb dormancy. As part of this PhD project, it was demonstrated that CYP142 performs an almost identical role to that reported for CYP125. These enzymes both perform C27 hydroxylation and carboxylation of the cholesterol side chain. However, variations in the level of oxidation have been identified, dependent upon the redox system with which these P450s are associated. A crystal structure of CYP142 showing high similarity in active site architecture to CYP125 supports the physiological role of CYP142 in cholesterol catabolism. Combining this with in vitro data which demonstrates that CYP142 possesses high affinity for a range of azole anti-fungal agents [Ahmad, Z. et al. 2005, 2006] supports the suggestion that it is a candidate target for the next generation of anti-mycobacterial drugs. CYP144 was highlighted as being important during the latent phase of Mtb growth, a phase that is not targeted by any of the current antimycobacterials. Work performed as part of this PhD has shown that many characteristics of CYP144 are highly comparable to those reported for other MtbP450s. CYP144 shows high affinity and specificity towards many azole molecules. Econazole, clotrimazole and miconazole have repeatedly been shown to bind to MtbP450s, including CYP144 and CYP142, with high affinity and are excellent potential candidates as novel anti-mycobacterial agents. An N-terminally truncated form of CYP144, CYP144-T, has been investigated in the pursuit of a CYP144 crystal structure. It is hoped that this will enable the elucidation of a physiological role for CYP144. Both CYP142 and CYP144 have demonstrated biochemical and biophysical characteristics that contribute to our knowledge of P450 enzymes. This PhD has established that CYP142 exhibits an equilibrium between P450 and P420 species in its CO-bound, ferrous form. A conversion from P420, and stabilisation of P450, upon substrate binding was also demonstrated. CYP144 displays unusual azole coordination characteristics when examined by EPR and removal of the CYP144 gene from Mtb increased sensitivity of the strain to clotrimazole. Studies of these enzymes has advanced knowledge of P450 and Mtb redox chemistry, established roles for the MtbP450 cohort and identified the potential of anti-mycobacterial drugs and associated targets.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Microwave spectro-polarimetry of matter and radiation across space and time

From Springer Nature via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2020-07-29, accepted 2021-03-02, registration 2021-03-03, pub-print 2021-06, pub-electronic 2021-07-03, online 2021-07-03Publication status: PublishedAbstract: This paper discusses the science case for a sensitive spectro-polarimetric survey of the microwave sky. Such a survey would provide a tomographic and dynamic census of the three-dimensional distribution of hot gas, velocity flows, early metals, dust, and mass distribution in the entire Hubble volume, exploit CMB temperature and polarisation anisotropies down to fundamental limits, and track energy injection and absorption into the radiation background across cosmic times by measuring spectral distortions of the CMB blackbody emission. In addition to its exceptional capability for cosmology and fundamental physics, such a survey would provide an unprecedented view of microwave emissions at sub-arcminute to few-arcminute angular resolution in hundreds of frequency channels, a data set that would be of immense legacy value for many branches of astrophysics. We propose that this survey be carried out with a large space mission featuring a broad-band polarised imager and a moderate resolution spectro-imager at the focus of a 3.5 m aperture telescope actively cooled to about 8K, complemented with absolutely-calibrated Fourier Transform Spectrometer modules observing at degree-scale angular resolution in the 10–2000 GHz frequency range. We propose two observing modes: a survey mode to map the entire sky as well as a few selected wide fields, and an observatory mode for deeper observations of regions of specific interest

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome associated with COVID-19: An Emulated Target Trial Analysis.

RATIONALE: Whether COVID patients may benefit from extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) compared with conventional invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) remains unknown. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the effect of ECMO on 90-Day mortality vs IMV only Methods: Among 4,244 critically ill adult patients with COVID-19 included in a multicenter cohort study, we emulated a target trial comparing the treatment strategies of initiating ECMO vs. no ECMO within 7 days of IMV in patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (PaO2/FiO2 <80 or PaCO2 ≥60 mmHg). We controlled for confounding using a multivariable Cox model based on predefined variables. MAIN RESULTS: 1,235 patients met the full eligibility criteria for the emulated trial, among whom 164 patients initiated ECMO. The ECMO strategy had a higher survival probability at Day-7 from the onset of eligibility criteria (87% vs 83%, risk difference: 4%, 95% CI 0;9%) which decreased during follow-up (survival at Day-90: 63% vs 65%, risk difference: -2%, 95% CI -10;5%). However, ECMO was associated with higher survival when performed in high-volume ECMO centers or in regions where a specific ECMO network organization was set up to handle high demand, and when initiated within the first 4 days of MV and in profoundly hypoxemic patients. CONCLUSIONS: In an emulated trial based on a nationwide COVID-19 cohort, we found differential survival over time of an ECMO compared with a no-ECMO strategy. However, ECMO was consistently associated with better outcomes when performed in high-volume centers and in regions with ECMO capacities specifically organized to handle high demand. This article is open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)