Evaluation qualitative macroscopique et microscopique du grasset chez un modèle expérimental d'arthrose canine 90 jours après section du ligament croisé crânial

La transection du ligament croisé crânial (CCLT) est une méthode couramment admise d'induction expérimentale d'arthrose (OA) au niveau du grasset chez le chien. Le but principal de cette étude était d'évaluer qualitativement les lésions d'arthrose induites par la CCLT par macroscopie et histologie 90 jours après chez 21 jeunes femelles de race beagle. Les lèvres de la trochlée fémorale présentaient le plus haut score ostéophytique tandis que la patelle présentait le plus bas et celui du condyle fémoral médial était supérieur à celui du condyle latéral. Les lésions méniscales ont été observées uniquement sur le ménisque médial de 5 genoux opérés. Les lésions macroscopiques du cartilage (stade de fibrillation) ont été notées dans un ordre de fréquence décroissant sur les condyles tibiaux médial et latéral, le condyle fémoral latéral, la trochlée fémorale, le condyle fémoral médial et enfin la patelle. L'examen histologique a révélé que la couche superficielle du cartilage était fibrillée et discontinue. La plupart des cellules étaient rondes et disposées tangentiellement à la surface. Dans les zones transitionnelle et profonde, quelques chondrocytes étaient modérément hypertrophiques et des amas de chondrocytes ont été uniquement observés dans la couche profonde. Concernant la membrane synoviale, un épaississement du mésothélium et une importante densité de collagène ont été notés et le rapport des épaisseurs mésothélium/fibres était entre 1/0.15 et 1/0.10 sur les genoux opérés et 1/0.05 sur les genoux témoins. Les images fournies ici pourront servir de références pour des travaux ultérieurs portant notamment sur les thérapies contre l'arthrose

PPH dendrimers grafted on silica nanoparticles: surface chemistry, characterization, silver colloids hosting and antibacterial activity

Polyphosphorhydrazone (PPH) dendrimers have been grafted on silica nanoparticles, and the surface functions of the dendrimers have been derivatized to phosphonates with lateral poly(ethyleneglycol) (PEG) chains. All materials have been thoroughly characterized by MAS NMR, FT-IR, electron microscopy, TGA and elemental analysis. These materials successfully hosted silver and silver oxide nanoparticles. The resulting composites exhibit antibacterial activity

A LATIN-based model reduction approach for the simulation of cycling damage

International audienceThe objective of this article is to introduce a new method including model order reduction for the life prediction of structures subjected to cycling damage. Contrary to classical incremental schemes for damage computation, a non-incremental technique, the LATIN method, is used herein as a solution framework. This approach allows to introduce a PGD model reduction technique which leads to a drastic reduction of the computational cost. The proposed framework is exemplified for structures subjected to cyclic loading, where damage is considered to be isotropic and micro-defect closure effects are taken into account. A difficulty herein for the use of the LATIN method comes from the state laws which can not be transformed into linear relations through an internal variable transformation. A specific treatment of this issue is introduced in this work

A multi-temporal scale model reduction approach for the computation of fatigue damage

International audienceOne of the challenges of fatigue simulation using continuum damage mechanics framework over the years has been reduction of numerical cost while maintaining acceptable accuracy. The extremely high numerical expense is due to the temporal part of the quantities of interest which must reflect the state of a structure that is subjected to exorbitant number of load cycles. A novel attempt here is to present a non-incremental LATIN-PGD framework incorporating temporal model order reduction. LATIN-PGD method is based on separation of spatial and temporal parts of the mechanical variables, thereby allowing for separate treatment of the temporal problem. The internal variables, especially damage, although extraneous to the variable separation, must also be treated in a tactical way to reduce numerical expense. A temporal multi-scale approach is proposed that is based on the idea that the quantities of interest show a slow evolution along the cycles and a rapid evolution within the cycles. This assumption boils down to a finite element like discretisation of the temporal domain using a set of "nodal cycles" defined on the slow time scale. Within them, the quantities of interest must satisfy the global admissibility conditions and constitutive relations with respect to the fast time scale. Thereafter, information of the "nodal cycles" can be interpolated to simulate the behaviour on the whole temporal domain. This numerical strategy is tested on different academic examples and leads to an extreme reduction in numerical expense

A Model Reduction Technique in Space and Time for Fatigue Simulation

International audienceThe simulation of mechanical responses of structures subjected to cyclic loadings for a large number of cycles remains a challenge. The goal herein is to develop an innovative computational scheme for fatigue computations involving non-linear mechanical behaviour of materials, described by internal variables. The focus is on the Large Time Increment (LATIN) method coupled with a model reduction technique, the Proper Generalized Decomposition (PGD). Moreover, a multi-time scale approach is proposed for the simulation of fatigue involving large number of cycles. The quantities of interest are calculated only at particular pre-defined cycles called the “nodal cycles” and a suitable interpolation is used to estimate their evolution at the intermediate cycles. The proposed framework is exemplified for a structure subjected to cyclic loading, where damage is considered to be isotropic and micro-defect closure effects are taken into account. The combination of these techniques reduce the numerical cost drastically and allows to create virtual S-N curves for large number of cycles

Synthesis and electrical characterization of monocrystalline nickel nanorods and Ni-CNT composites

Aerospace vessels require electrically conductive, light weight frames to minimize damage from electromagnetic radiation, electrostatic discharge and lightning strikes while economizing fuel. Nickel nanowires and hybrid nickel-carbon nanotube materials are suitable nanostructures to ensure high conductivity at low mass loading. Monocrystalline nickel structures have even better conduction properties than the polycrystalline equivalent due to possessing less particle-particle junctions. We have developed a solutionbased method that produces monocrystalline nickel nanowires via the decomposition of metalorganic precursors in the presence of self-assembled surfactants. The resulting wires are approximately 20 nm wide by 1.5 µm in length. These wires have a morphology consisting of semi-flattened rods with pyramidal ends. Despite the changing dimensions between the nanorod body and its head, there was no disruption in the crystallographic orientation, as observed with HRTEM and diffraction patterns. The nickel nanostructures were exposed to air for several weeks, but no oxidation was detectable by magnetic measurement, i.e. the saturation magnetization corresponds to Ni0 and no bias is observed in the hysteresis loops. It seems that the long alkyl chain amine surfactant, in addition to being a structuration agent, remains at the surface of the Ni wires after washing and acts as a protective layer. The magnetic field around Ni nanowires was imaged using electron holography. Each Ni wire is a magnetic monodomain. Routes to prepare hybrid nickel-CNT materials were explored using chemical vapor deposition in a fluidized bed, solution chemistry and dry preparation in a Fisher-Porter reactor. Different nickel compositions and material morphologies resulted, depending on the preparation technique. The nickel nanorods and hybrid materials were incorporated into carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites. The electrical conductivity as a function of wt% loading was measured, showing promise for these materials in discharging electrostatic charges

Chemical ordering in bimetallic FeCo nanoparticles: From a direct chemical synthesis to application as efficient high-frequency magnetic material

Single-crystalline FeCo nanoparticles with tunable size and shape were prepared by co-decomposing two metal-amide precursors under mild conditions. The nature of the ligands introduced in this organometallic synthesis drastically affects the reactivity of the precursors and, thus, the chemical distribution within the nanoparticles. The presence of the B2 short-range order was evidenced in FeCo nanoparticles prepared in the presence of HDAHCl ligands, combining 57Fe Mössbauer, zero-field 59Co ferromagnetic nuclear resonance (FNR), and X-ray diffraction studies. This is the first time that the B2 structure is directly formed during synthesis without the need of any annealing step. The as-prepared nanoparticles exhibit magnetic properties comparable with the ones for the bulk (Ms = 226 Am2·kg¿1). Composite magnetic materials prepared from these FeCo nanoparticles led to a successful proof-of-concept of the integration on inductor-based filters (27% enhancement of the inductance value at 100 MHz).This work was performed in the frame of TOURS 2015, and the project was supported by the French “Programme de l’économie numérique des Investissements d’Avenir”. We gratefully acknowledge the International Associated Laboratory (LIA)-M2OZART for financial support. Some of the HR-STEM and EELS studies were conducted at the Laboratorio de Microscopias Avanzadas, Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragon, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain. R.A. gratefully acknowledges the support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) through project MAT2016-79776-P (AEF/FEDER. UE). In IPCMS Strasbourg, the work was supported by the CNRS LIA “NANOFUNC” and the LABEX NIE (no. ANR-11-LABX-0058_NIE)

ATHLETIC: Pseudo Anthropometric Exoskeleton with a Semi Passive Actuation System for Countermeasure

This paper presents the ongoing ESA project ATHLETIC (AstronauT HeaLtH EnhancemenT Integrated Countermeasure) which aims to develop a new approach of integrated countermeasure device in the shape of an exoskeleton. It focuses primarily on the training of the lower limbs, which are the most heavily affected body parts while astronauts are exposed to microgravity. The ATHLETIC system enables High Intense Resistive Training exercises (HIRT), as well as plyometric exercises such as hopping and jumping. Development and validation shall give an answer to the question if exoskeleton technology is suitable for countermeasure in zero gravity and how such a system performs compared to existing countermeasure devices for zero gravity applications

A Novel Method for the Metallization of 3D Silicon Induced by Metastable Copper Nanoparticles

The development of efficient copper deposition processes in high-aspect-ratio silicon structures is still a key technological issue for the microelectronic industry. We describe here a new process for the deposition of copper thin films in three-dimensional (3D) structures induced by the decomposition of a copper amidinate precursor in solution under a moderate H2 pressure. The reduction of a metal precursor under soft conditions (3 bar, 110 °C) affords the preparation of a high-purity, conformal metallic layer. We unveil a novel deposition mechanism driven by colloidal copper nanoparticles (NPs) in solution that behave as a reservoir of metastable metallic NPs that eventually condense as a solid film on all immersed surfaces. The film growth process is characterized by time-resolved analyses of the NPs in the colloidal state (nuclear magnetic resonance NMR and UV–vis spectra) and of the NPs and metallic layer on substrates (transmission electron microscopy TEM, and scanning electron microscopy SEM). Major deposition stages of this process are proposed and the conformal metallization of 3D silicon substrates is successfully achieved. This method is transposable to other metallic layers such as silver or nickel

Impact of community-acquired paediatric rotavirus gastroenteritis on family life: data from the REVEAL study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Rotavirus is the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) and the most frequent cause of severe diarrhoea in children aged less than 5 years. Although the epidemiology of rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE) is well documented, there are few data on the impact of RVGE on the families of affected children.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data associated with the burden of RVGE, including number of working days lost, levels of parental stress, the need for alternative childcare arrangements and additional nappies used, were extracted from questionnaires completed by parents of children participating in a prospective, multicentre, observational study (Rotavirus gastroenteritis Epidemiology and Viral types in Europe Accounting for Losses in public health and society, REVEAL), conducted during 2004-2005 in selected areas of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom to estimate the incidence of RVGE in children aged less than 5 years seeking medical care as a result of AGE.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>1102 children with RVGE were included in the present analysis. The proportion of RVGE cases that required at least one parent or other person to be absent from work was 39%-91% in the hospital setting, 44%-64% in the emergency department, and 20%-64% in primary care. Self-reported levels of parental stress were generally high (mean stress levels, ≥ 5 on a 10-point visual analogue scale). Additional childcare arrangements were required in up to 21% of RVGE episodes. The mean number of nappies used per day during RVGE episodes was approximately double that used when the child was not ill.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Paediatric RVGE cases cause disruption to families and parental stress. The burden of RVGE on children and their families could be substantially reduced by routine rotavirus vaccination of infants.</p