A method for determining catalytic efficiency of surfaces

Catalytic efficiency calculations for surface heat flux and heat transfer during atmospheric reentr

Extending Finite-state Models of Reduplication to Tone in Thai

Languages exhibiting both tonal and reduplication processes pose a challenge for finite-state technologies. In this sense, Markowska et al. (2021) propose a combination of 2-way FSTs and multi-tape FSTs in order to simultaneously deal with total reduplication on the segmental level and independent tonal processes on the autosegmental level. Here, we evaluate this model for reduplication processes in Thai, which shows total reduplication both for tones and segments, and we suggest that the expressivity of 2-way FSTs is needed at both levels

Bioprocess design to produce resveratrol

Conté: Part 1 : Preliminary /G. Nadal. Part 2 : Strain, upstream and reaction / D. Doménech. Part 3 : Downstream / S. Sellés / Part 4 : Sustainability analysis / M. Santo Doming

Ordered interfaces for dual easy axes in liquid crystals

International audienceUsing nCB films adsorbed on MoS 2 substrates studied by x-ray diffraction, optical microscopy and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, we demonstrate that ordered interfaces with well-defined orientations of adsorbed dipoles induce planar anchoring locked along the adsorbed dipoles or the alkyl chains, which play the role of easy axes. For two alternating orientations of the adsorbed dipoles or dipoles and alkyl chains, bi-stability of anchoring can be obtained. The results are explained using the introduction of fourth order terms in the phenomenological anchoring potential, leading to the demonstration of first order anchoring transition in these systems. Using this phenomenological anchoring potential, we finally show how the nature of anchoring in presence of dual easy axes (inducing bi-stability or average orientation between the two easy axes) can be related to the microscopical nature of the interface. Introduction Understanding the interactions between liquid crystal (LC) and a solid substrate is of clear applied interest, the vast majority of LC displays relying on control of interfaces. However this concerns also fundamental problems like wetting phenomena and all phenomena of orientation of soft matter bulk induced by the presence of an interface. In LCs at interfaces, the so-called easy axes correspond to the favoured orientations of the LC director close to the interface. If one easy axis only is defined for one given interface, the bulk director orients along or close to this axis [1]. It is well known that, in anchoring phenomena, two major effects compete to impose the anchoring directions of a liquid crystal, first, the interactions between molecules and the interface, second, the substrate roughness whose role has been analyzed by Berreman [2]. The influence of adsorbed molecular functional groups at the interface is most often dominant with, for example in carbon substrates, a main influence of unsaturated carbon bonds orientation at the interface [3]. In common LC displays, there is one unique easy axis, but modifications of surfaces have allowed for the discovery of promising new anchoring-related properties. For instance, the first anchoring bi-stability has been established on rough surfaces, associated with electric ordo-polarization [4] and the competition between a stabilizing short-range term and a destabilizing long-range term induced by an external field, can induce a continuous variation of anchoring orientation [5]. More recently, surfaces with several easy axes have been studied extensively. It has been shown that control of a continuous variation of director pretilt, obtained in several systems [6, 7], is associated with the presence of two different easy axes, one perpendicular to the substrate (homeotropic) and one planar [7, 8]. Similar models can explain the continuous evolution of anchoring between two planar orientations observed on some crystalline substrates [9]. However, in the same time, two easy axes can also lead to anchoring bi-stability [10, 11] or discontinuous transitions of anchoring [9], which is not compatible with the model established to interpret observed control of pretilt. In order to be able to predict if bi-stability or continuous combination of the two easy axes occurs for one given system, it becomes necessary to understand the microscopic origin of the easy axes

Metabolic therapy with PEG-arginase induces a sustained complete remission in immunotherapy-resistant melanoma

Background Metastatic melanoma is an aggressive skin cancer with a poor prognosis. Current treatment strategies for high-stage melanoma are based around the use of immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors such as anti-PDL1 or anti-CTLA4 antibodies to stimulate anti-cancer T cell responses, yet a number of patients will relapse and die of disease. Here, we report the first sustained complete remission in a patient with metastatic melanoma who failed two immunotherapy strategies, by targeting tumour arginine metabolism. Case presentation A 65-year-old patient with metastatic melanoma who progressed through two immunotherapy strategies with immune checkpoint inhibitor antibodies was enrolled in a phase I study (NCT02285101) and treated with 2 mg/kg intravenously, weekly pegylated recombinant arginase (BCT-100). The patient experienced no toxicities > grade 2 and entered a complete remission which is sustained for over 30 months. RNA-sequencing identified a number of transcriptomic pathway alterations compared to control samples. The tumour had absent expression of the recycling enzymes argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS) and ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) indicating a state of arginine auxotrophy, which was reconfirmed by immunohistochemistry, and validation in a larger cohort of melanoma tumour samples. Conclusions Targeting arginine metabolism with therapeutic arginase in arginine auxotrophic melanoma can be an effective salvage for the treatment of patients who fail immunotherapy