Breed-Specific Hematological Phenotypes in the Dog: A Natural Resource for the Genetic Dissection of Hematological Parameters in a Mammalian Species

Remarkably little has been published on hematological phenotypes of the domestic dog, the most polymorphic species on the planet. Information on the signalment and complete blood cell count of all dogs with normal red and white blood cell parameters judged by existing reference intervals was extracted from a veterinary database. Normal hematological profiles were available for 6046 dogs, 5447 of which also had machine platelet concentrations within the reference interval. Seventy-five pure breeds plus a mixed breed control group were represented by 10 or more dogs. All measured parameters except mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) varied with age. Concentrations of white blood cells (WBCs), neutrophils, monocytes, lymphocytes, eosinophils and platelets, but not red blood cell parameters, all varied with sex. Neutering status had an impact on hemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), MCHC, and concentrations of WBCs, neutrophils, monocytes, lymphocytes and platelets. Principal component analysis of hematological data revealed 37 pure breeds with distinctive phenotypes. Furthermore, all hematological parameters except MCHC showed significant differences between specific individual breeds and the mixed breed group. Twenty-nine breeds had distinctive phenotypes when assessed in this way, of which 19 had already been identified by principal component analysis. Tentative breed-specific reference intervals were generated for breeds with a distinctive phenotype identified by comparative analysis. This study represents the first large-scale analysis of hematological phenotypes in the dog and underlines the important potential of this species in the elucidation of genetic determinants of hematological traits, triangulating phenotype, breed and genetic predisposition

The 10th VLTI School of Interferometry: Premiering a Fully Online Format

International audienceVery Large Telescope Inerferometer (VLTI) schools have nearly a 20-year history and have trained a significant fraction of today's optical interferometrists who use high-angular-resolution techniques on a regular basis. Very early in the development of the VLTI, training was identified by the community as a necessary tool, as the expertise in optical long-baseline interferometry was limited to a few groups in France and Germany (in those early years the UK was not an ESO member state). The first VLTI school took place in Les Houches, France, in 2002 and since then VLTI schools have been organised in several locations (France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal) roughly every two years, the previous one being held in 2018 in Lisbon. The VLTI schools are funded and coordinated through the European Interferometry Initiative (Eii)

Conservação e restauro de uma urna em vidro do século I d.C., encontrada em Mértola (Portugal)

International audienceThe evolution of capillary forces during evap-oration and the corresponding changes in the geometrical characteristics of liquid (water) bridges between two glass spheres with constant separation are examined experimen-tally. For comparison, the liquid bridges were also tested for mechanical extension (at constant volume). The obtained results reveal substantial differences between the evolution of capillary force due to evaporation and the evolution due to extension of the liquid bridges. During both evaporation and extension, the change of interparticle capillary forces consists in a force decrease to zero either gradually or via rupture of the bridge. At small separations between the grains (short & wide bridges) during evaporation and at large volumes during extension, there is a slight initial increase of force. During evaporation, the capillary force decreases slowly at the begin-ning of the process and quickly at the end of the process; during extension, the capillary force decreases quickly at the beginning and slowly at the end of the process. Rup-ture during evaporation of the bridges occurs most abruptly for bridges with wider separations (tall and thin), sometimes occurring after only 25 % of the water volume was evapo-rated. The evolution (pinning/depinning) of two geometri-cal characteristics of the bridge, the diameter of the three-phase contact line and the "apparent" contact angle at the solid/liquid/gas interface, seem to control the capillary force evolution. The findings are of relevance to the mechanics of unsaturated granular media in the final phase of drying

Evaporation of Droplets on Strongly Hydrophobic Substrates

The manner in which the extreme modes of droplet evaporation (namely the constant contact radius and the constant contact angle modes) become indistinguishable on sufficiently hydrophobic substrates is described. Simple asymptotic expressions are obtained which provide good approximations to the evolutions of the contact radius, the contact angle, and the volume of droplets evaporating in the extreme modes for a wide range of hydrophobic substrates. As a consequence, on sufficiently hydrophobic substrates it is appropriate to use the so-called "2/3 power law" to extrapolate the lifetimes of droplets evaporating in the constant contact radius mode as well as in the constant contact angle mode

Infrared thermotransmittance-based temperature field measurements in semitransparent media

Contactless temperature field measurements in or at the surfaces of semitransparent media are a scientific challenge as classical thermography techniques based on proper material emission cannot be used. In this work, an alternative method using infrared thermotransmittance for contactless temperature imaging is proposed. To overcome the weakness of the measured signal, a lock-in acquisition chain is developed and an imaging demodulation technique is used to retrieve the phase and amplitude of the thermotransmitted signal. These measurements, combined with an analytical model, enable the estimation of the thermal diffusivity and conductivity of an infrared semitransparent insulator (wafer of Borofloat 33 glass) and the monochromatic thermotransmittance coefficient at 3.3 µm. The obtained temperature fields are in good agreement with the model, and a detection limit of ±2 °C is estimated with this method. The results of this work open new opportunities in the development of advanced thermal metrology for semitransparent media

Photothermoelectric (PTE) detection of phase transitions. Application to triglycinesulphate (TGS)

International audienceA recently introduced photothermal method, the photothermoelectric (PTE) calorimetry is proposed for the first time in order to detect phase transitions. The capability of both back (BPTE) and front (FPTE) detection configurations in detecting phase transitions is analyzed. It was found that the back detection configuration, with optically opaque sample and thermally thick sample and TE sensor, is very suitable for phase transitions detection; the information, in this configuration, can be collected from both amplitude and phase of the BPTE signal and the amplitude has the possibility of amplifying the critical anomaly of the thermal parameters. In the FPTE configuration, the information about phase transition is contained only in the amplitude of the signal. Using the PTE method, the well-known ferro-paraelectric phase transition of triglycinesulphate (TGS), tacking place at about 49 °C, was investigated. Comparison with the photopyroelectric (PPE) method is performed. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Photothermoelectric (PTE) detection of phase transitions. Application to triglycinesulphate (TGS)

A recently introduced photothermal method, the photothermoelectric (PTE) calorimetry is proposed for the first time in order to detect phase transitions. The capability of both back (BPTE) and front (FPTE) detection configurations in detecting phase transitions is analyzed. It was found that the back detection configuration, with optically opaque sample and thermally thick sample and TE sensor, is very suitable for phase transitions detection; the information, in this configuration, can be collected from both amplitude and phase of the BPTE signal and the amplitude has the possibility of amplifying the critical anomaly of the thermal parameters. In the FPTE configuration, the information about phase transition is contained only in the amplitude of the signal. Using the PTE method, the well-known ferro-paraelectric phase transition of triglycinesulphate (TGS), tacking place at about 49 °C, was investigated. Comparison with the photopyroelectric (PPE) method is performed. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Photothermoelectric (PTE) versus photopyroelectric (PPE) detection of phase transitions

International audienceThe photopyroelectric (PPE) technique is one of the photothermal (PT) methods mostly used for phase transitions investigations. In this paper, we want to compare the PPE results with those obtained using another, recently developed PT method [the photothermoelectric (PTE) calorimetry] for the same purpose of detecting phase transitions. The well-known ferro-paraelectric phase transition of TGS, taking place at a convenient temperature (about 49°C), has been selected for demonstration. A comparison of the two PPE and PTE methods, both in the back detection configuration (in the special case of optically opaque sample and thermally thick regime for both sensors and sample) shows that they are equally suitable for phase transitions detection. Performing a proper calibration, the amplitude and phase of the signals can be used in order to obtain the critical behaviour of all sample’s static and dynamic thermal parameters. © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016