Progress Report on Target Development

The present document is the D08 deliverable report of work package 1 (Target Development) from the MEGAPIE TEST project of the 5th European Framework Program. Deliverable D08 is the progress report on the activities performed within WP 1. The due date of this deliverable was the 5th month after the start of the EU project. This coincided with a technical status meeting of the MEGAPIE Initiative, that was held in March 2002 in Bologna (Italy). The content of the present document reflects the status of the MEGAPIE target development at that stage. It gives an overview of the Target Design, the related Design Support activities and the progress of the work done for the safety assessment and licensing of the target

Nociceptors: a phylogenetic view

The ability to react to environmental change is crucial for the survival of an organism and an essential prerequisite is the capacity to detect and respond to aversive stimuli. The importance of having an inbuilt “detect and protect” system is illustrated by the fact that most animals have dedicated sensory afferents which respond to noxious stimuli called nociceptors. Should injury occur there is often sensitization, whereby increased nociceptor sensitivity and/or plasticity of nociceptor-related neural circuits acts as a protection mechanism for the afflicted body part. Studying nociception and nociceptors in different model organisms has demonstrated that there are similarities from invertebrates right through to humans. The development of technology to genetically manipulate organisms, especially mice, has led to an understanding of some of the key molecular players in nociceptor function. This review will focus on what is known about nociceptors throughout the Animalia kingdom and what similarities exist across phyla; especially at the molecular level of ion channels

A MSFD complementary approach for the assessment of pressures, knowledge and data gaps in Southern European Seas : the PERSEUS experience

PERSEUS project aims to identify the most relevant pressures exerted on the ecosystems of the Southern European Seas (SES), highlighting knowledge and data gaps that endanger the achievement of SES Good Environmental Status (GES) as mandated by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). A complementary approach has been adopted, by a meta-analysis of existing literature on pressure/impact/knowledge gaps summarized in tables related to the MSFD descriptors, discriminating open waters from coastal areas. A comparative assessment of the Initial Assessments (IAs) for five SES countries has been also independently performed. The comparison between meta-analysis results and IAs shows similarities for coastal areas only. Major knowledge gaps have been detected for the biodiversity, marine food web, marine litter and underwater noise descriptors. The meta-analysis also allowed the identification of additional research themes targeting research topics that are requested to the achievement of GES. 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license.peer-reviewe

Ferrotoroidic ground state in a heterometallic {Cr^IIIDy^III<inf>6</inf>} complex displaying slow magnetic relaxation

© 2017 The Author(s). Toroidal quantum states are most promising for building quantum computing and information storage devices, as they are insensitive to homogeneous magnetic fields, but interact with charge and spin currents, allowing this moment to be manipulated purely by electrical means. Coupling molecular toroids into larger toroidal moments via ferrotoroidic interactions can be pivotal not only to enhance ground state toroidicity, but also to develop materials displaying ferrotoroidic ordered phases, which sustain linear magneto-electric coupling and multiferroic behavior. However, engineering ferrotoroidic coupling is known to be a challenging task. Here we have isolated a {CrIIIDyIII6} complex that exhibits the much sought-after ferrotoroidic ground state with an enhanced toroidal moment, solely arising from intramolecular dipolar interactions. Moreover, a theoretical analysis of the observed sub-Kelvin zero-field hysteretic spin dynamics of {CrIIIDyIII6} reveals the pivotal role played by ferrotoroidic states in slowing down the magnetic relaxation, in spite of large calculated single-ion quantum tunneling rates

Implementation and Performance Evaluation of a Home Network Platform with QoS support

As the number of broadband residential connections is growing very rapidly around the globe, more and more people are looking for a simple and easy way to connect their different home devices to the broadband connection. Home networks are a simple evolution of the office LAN networks that answer the need for residential distribution of broadband services. Unlike the office, home networks have to be at a very low cost and easy to install and maintain. This paper presents the Home Network architectural model defined in the European IST ePerSpace project1 based on a centralized Residential Gateway (RG) connecting and coordinating different network technologies to support home data services. Emphasis is given to testing and evaluating simple but effective mechanisms to support different flows in the home, each with given priorities and Quality of Service (QoS) characteristics. Performance results derived in the measurement campaign are shown and discussed. The prioritization mechanism in the RG results simple to be implemented and effective in achieving the desired flow differentiation and QoS

Etiology of avascular osteonecrosis of the femoral head

International audienceAvascular osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is one of the causes of hip pain that clinicians need to know about. In many cases, it is a fortuitous discovery when pelvic X-rays is performed for another reason. In the other cases, pain reveals the disease. For the rheumatologist, a major part of the job is to look for a cause. An etiology can be found to ONFH in about 70% of the cases. Some of them are evident and the context give the diagnosis (corticosteroids, alcohol abuse…). However, in many cases, additional tests to imaging are required to make the causal diagnosis. In some cases, the treatment of the cause can prevent the recurrence of the disease

Methotrexate osteopathy: five cases and systematic literature review

International audienceIntroduction - Methotrexate (MTX)-related osteopathy is rare, defined by the triad of pain, osteoporosis, and "atypical fractures" when it was first described in the 1970s in children treated with high doses MTX for acute leukemia. Since then, several cases have been reported in patients treated with low-dose MTX for inflammatory diseases. Methods - A systematic research of cases of MTX-related osteopathy was performed in records of Rheumatology Department of Rennes University Hospital. Data collection focused on demographic data, corticosteroid doses, MTX doses and intake method, cumulative doses, year of diagnosis, fracture location, bone densitometry value, and osteoporosis treatment if necessary. A literature review was also conducted to identify other cases in literature and try to understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of this rare entity. Results - We report 5 cases identified between 2011 and 2019, which represents the largest cohort described excluding oncology cases. Fracture locations were atypical for osteoporotic fractures. All patients improved in the following months with MTX withdrawal. All patients except one were treated with antiresorptives (bisphosphonates, denosumab). Two patients, treated with bisphosphonates, had a recurrence of fracture, once again of atypical location. Twenty-five cases were collected in literature with similar clinical presentation. The cellular studies that investigated the bone toxicity of MTX mainly showed a decrease in the number of osteoblasts, osteocytes, and chondrocytes in the growth plate and an increase in the number and activity of osteoclasts. In vitro, consequences of mechanical stimulation on human trabecular bone cells in the presence of MTX showed an alteration in mechano-transduction, with membrane hyperpolarization, acting on the integrin pathway. In contrast with our report, the cases described in the literature were not consistently associated with a decrease in bone mineral density (BMD). Conclusion - MTX osteopathy while rare must be known by the rheumatologist, especially when using this treatment for inflammatory conditions. The mechanisms are still poorly understood, raising the question of a possible remnant effect of MTX on osteo-forming bone cells, potentially dose-dependent. Methotrexate (MTX) osteopathy, described as a clinical triad, pain, osteoporosis, and atypical stress fractures, while rare, must be known by the rheumatologist. Our cohort of 5 cases represent the largest series of the literature. Pathophysiological studies raised the question of a dose-dependent remnant effect of MTX on osteo-forming bone cells