Tip‐induced lifting of the Au{100} (hex)‐phase reconstruction in a low temperature ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscope

The clean Au{100} surface is known to be reconstructed, forming a pseudohexagonal (5×27) outermost layer. This structure is observed both in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) and in the electrochemical environment at potentials corresponding to small negative surface electronic charges. Using a UHV scanning tunneling microscope (STM) at 77 K we have observed that the reconstruction can be lifted at large positive sample biases. The 20% less dense bulk‐terminated surface is produced and the excess material appears as irregularly shaped gold clusters. Over a period of a few minutes, however, the surface relaxes back to the pseudo‐hexagonal phase, a process that can also be followed with the STM

Adsorbate site determination with the scanning tunneling microscope: C₂H₄ on Cu{110}

Scanning tunneling microscopy at T=4 K has been used to determine directly the binding site of a molecule chemisorbed on a metal surface, namely, ethene on Cu〈110〉, by simultaneous imaging of the adsorbate and the underlying lattice. The molecule is found to bond in the short bridge site on the close-packed rows with its C-C axis oriented in the 〈110〉 direction

Metabolomic Profiling of Aqueous Humor in Glaucoma Points to Taurine and Spermine Deficiency: Findings from the Eye-D Study

We compared the metabolomic profile of aqueous humor from patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG; n = 26) with that of a group of age- and sex-matched non-POAG controls (n = 26), all participants undergoing cataract surgery. Supervised paired partial least-squares discriminant analysis showed good predictive performance for test sets with a median area under the receiver operating characteristic of 0.89 and a p-value of 0.0087. Twenty-three metabolites allowed discrimination between the two groups. Univariate analysis after the Benjamini-Hochberg correction showed significant differences for 13 of these metabolites. The POAG metabolomic signature indicated reduced concentrations of taurine and spermine and increased concentrations of creatinine, carnitine, three short-chain acylcarnitines, 7 amino acids (glutamine, glycine, alanine, leucine, isoleucine, hydroxyl-proline, and acetyl-ornithine), 7 phosphatidylcholines, one lysophosphatidylcholine, and one sphingomyelin. This suggests an alteration of metabolites involved in osmoprotection (taurine and creatinine), neuroprotection (spermine, taurine, and carnitine), amino acid metabolism (7 amino acids and three acylcarnitines), and the remodeling of cell membranes drained by the aqueous humor (hydroxyproline and phospholipids). Five of these metabolic alterations, already reported in POAG plasma, concern spermine, C3 and C4 acylcarnitines, PC aa 34:2, and PC aa 36:4, thus highlighting their importance in the pathogenesis of glaucoma

14 new eclipsing white dwarf plus main-sequence binaries from the SDSS and Catalina surveys

We report on the search for new eclipsing white dwarf plus main-sequence (WDMS) binaries in the light curves of the Catalina surveys. We use a colour-selected list of almost 2000 candidate WDMS systems from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, specifically designed to identify WDMS systems with cool white dwarfs and/or early M-type main-sequence stars. We identify a total of 17 eclipsing systems, 14 of which are new discoveries. We also find three candidate eclipsing systems, two main-sequence eclipsing binaries and 22 non-eclipsing close binaries. Our newly discovered systems generally have optical fluxes dominated by the main-sequence components, which have earlier spectral types than the majority of previously discovered eclipsing systems. We find a large number of ellipsoidally variable binaries with similar periods, near 4 h, and spectral types M2–3, which are very close to Roche lobe filling. We also find that the fraction of eclipsing systems is lower than found in previous studies and likely reflects a lower close binary fraction among WDMS binaries with early M-type main-sequence stars due to their enhanced angular momentum loss compared to fully convective late M-type stars, hence causing them to become cataclysmic variables quicker and disappear from the WDMS sample. Our systems bring the total number of known detached, eclipsing WDMS binaries to 71

A Plasma Metabolomic Signature of the Exfoliation Syndrome Involves Amino Acids, Acylcarnitines, and Polyamines

Purpose: To determine the plasma metabolomic signature of the exfoliative syndrome (XFS), the most common cause worldwide of secondary open-angle glaucoma. Methods: We performed a targeted metabolomic study, using the standardized p180 Biocrates Absolute IDQ p180 kit with a QTRAP 5500 mass spectrometer, to compare the metabolomic profiles of plasma from individuals with XFS (n = 16), and an age- and sex-matched control group with cataract (n = 18). Results: A total of 151 metabolites were detected correctly, 16 of which allowed for construction of an OPLS-DA model with a good predictive capability (Q2cum = 0.51) associated with a low risk of over-fitting (permQ2 = -0.48, CV-ANOVA P-value <0.001). The metabolites contributing the most to the signature were octanoyl-carnitine (C8) and decanoyl-carnitine (C10), the branched-chain amino acids (i.e., isoleucine, leucine, and valine), and tyrosine, all of which were at higher concentrations in the XFS group, whereas spermine and spermidine, together with their precursor acetyl-ornithine, were at lower concentrations than in the control group. Conclusions: We identified a significant metabolomic signature in the plasma of individuals with XFS. Paradoxically, this signature, characterized by lower concentrations of the neuroprotective spermine and spermidine polyamines than in controls, partially overlaps the plasma metabolomic profile associated with insulin resistance, despite the absence of evidence of insulin resistance in XFS

La recherche de l'excellence dans la réalisation des arrêts pour rechargement

Le bon niveau de sûreté des réacteurs, la compétitivité des installations nucléaires françaises sont aujourd'hui, plus qu'hier, des conditions impératives pour faire face à l'ouverture du marché de l'énergie. Dans ce contexte, il est indispensable que l'exploitant cherche à rejoindre les meilleurs exploitants mondiaux dans tous les domaines : sûreté, disponibilité et coûts. Cet objectif ambitieux nécessite la mobilisation de tous les acteurs et en particulier tous ceux et celles qui, de près ou de loin, participent aux arrêts de tranche. En effet, la maîtrise des arrêts de tranche constitue un enjeu incontournable pour lequel le Parc nucléaire français s'est organisé et a réussi, depuis 1993, un redressement de situation qui, s'il est maintenu et amplifié, lui permettra d'atteindre les objectifs qu'il s'est fixé

Adsorption site determination with scanning tunnelling microscopy

By using a very stable, high resolution scanning tunnelling microscope we have imaged the molecules CO, C2H2, C2H4 and C6H6 adsorbed at 4 K on a Cu{110} surface. By simultaneously determining the substrate corrugation and the position of the molecule under conditions of weak tip–surface interaction, it was found that CO occupies the atop site and that C2H2 is probably adsorbed in the short bridge site. For C2H2, a stable (probably chemisorbed) species could only be imaged after increasing the tunnel voltage above 1 V. Energy transfer is obviously required before the molecule ‘locks’ into the short-bridge site. As expected, C6H6 appears to adsorb with its molecular plane parallel to the surface but only an indirect determination of the adsorption site was possible. These experiments demonstrate the potential, and some of the limitations, of adsorption-site determination with the scanning tunnelling microscope