The effect of EGR on HCCI combustion – impact of diluting, thermal and chemical aspects: experimental and numerical approaches

peer reviewe

Climate changes and farmers’ endogenous adaptation strategies: Socio economic analysis of the dynamic use of agricultural lands in central region of Benin

There is an increasing consensus that in the next decades climate changes will generate yield decrease in low income countries. So will it be in Benin. It has been claimed that climate changes impact studies often assumecertain adaptations and little explicit examination of how, when, why, and under what conditions they occur. This research aims at analysing the endogenous strategies developed by farmers in agricultural land and crop management. With random stratified sampling, 70 farmers of two villages were selected according to their level of vulnerability. Actors based mapping and R-coefficients of Ruthenberg were used to analyse the evolution of existing farming systems. This paper shows that poor farmers of the central region of Benin are developing many endogenous coping strategies: adopting new crops and cultivating more waterlogged ecologies. Though, adaptation options are determined by vulnerability level of farmers. Management and valorisation skills of farmers in low land are to be enhanced for a sustainable agriculture in the future

The role of antibiotics in the treatment of chronic prostatitis: A consensus statement

Practical guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic prostatitis are presented. Chronic prostatitis is classified as chronic bacterial prostatitis (culture-positive) and chronic inflammatory prostatitis (culture-negative). If chronic bacterial prostatitis is suspected, based on relevant symptoms or recurrent UTIs, underlying urological conditions should be excluded by the following tests: rectal examination, midstream urine culture and residual urine. The diagnosis should be confirmed by the Meares and Stamey technique. Antibiotic therapy is recommended for acute exacerbations of chronic prostatitis, chronic bacterial prostatitis and chronic inflammatory prostatitis, if there is clinical, bacteriological or supporting immunological evidence of prostate infection. Unless a patient presents with fever, antibiotic treatment should not be initiated immediately except in cases of acute prostatitis or acute episodes in a patient with chronic bacterial prostatitis. The work-up, with the appropriate investigations should be done first, within a reasonable time period which, preferably, should not be longer than 1 week. During this period, nonspecific treatment, such as appropriate analgesia to relieve symptoms, should be given. The minimum duration of antibiotic treatment should be 2-4 weeks. If there is no improvement in symptoms, treatment should be stopped and reconsidered. However, if there is improvement, it should be continued for at least a further 2-4 weeks to achieve clinical cure and, hopefully, eradication of the causative pathogen. Antibiotic treatment should not be given for 6-8 weeks without an appraisal of its effectiveness. Currently used antibiotics are reviewed. Of these, the fluoroquinolones ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin are recommended because of their favourable antibacterial spectrum and pharmacokinetic profile. A number of clinical trials are recommended and a standard study design is proposed to help resolve some outstanding issues

DENIS-P J104814.7-395606.1: An M9 dwarfs at about 4 pc

We present the discovery of a previously unknown member of the immediate solar neighbourhood, DENIS-P J104814.7-395606.1 (hereafter DENIS 1048-39), identified while mining the DENIS database for new nearby stars. A HIRES echelle spectrum obtained with the 10-m Keck telescope shows that it is an M9 dwarf. DENIS 1048-39 has a very bright apparent magnitude (I=12.67) for its spectral type and colour (I-J=3.07), and is therefore very nearby. If it is single its distance is only 4.1 +- 0.6pc, ranking it as between our twelfth and fortyth closest neighbour. It is also the closest star or brown dwarf with a spectral type later than M7V. Its proper motion was determined through comparison of Sky atlas Schmidt plates, scanned by the MAMA microdensitometer, with the DENIS images. At 1.53"/yr it further attests the closeness of DENIS 1048-39, and hence its dwarf status. These characteristics make it an obvious target for further detailed studies.Comment: In press in A&A Letter

The Role of Pressure in GMC Formation II: The H_2 - Pressure Relation

We show that the ratio of molecular to atomic gas in galaxies is determined by hydrostatic pressure and that the relation between the two is nearly linear. The pressure relation is shown to be good over three orders of magnitude for 14 galaxies including dwarfs, HI-rich, and H_2-rich galaxies as well as the Milky Way. The sample spans a factor of five in mean metallicity. The rms scatter of individual points of the relation is only about a factor of two for all the galaxies, though some show much more scatter than others. Using these results, we propose a modified star formation prescription based on pressure determining the degree to which the ISM is molecular. The formulation is different in high and low pressure regimes defined by whether the gas is primarily atomic or primarily molecular. This formulation can be implemented in simulations and provides a more appropriate treatment of the outer regions of spiral galaxies and molecule-poor systems such as dwarf irregulars and damped Lyman-alpha systems.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, Accepted to the Astrophysical Journa

Extended cold storage of cultured hepatocytes impairs endocytic uptake during normothermic rewarming

During hypothermic preservation of cells (0-4°C), metab¬olism is diminished and energy-dependent transport processes are arrested. The effect of hypothermic preservation of hepatocytes in endocytic transport following rewarming has not been previously reported. We evaluated the uptake of EGF (Epidermal Growth Factor) ligand conjugated to fluorescent Quantum Dots (QDs) probes in rat hepatocytes after 24 and 72 h cold storage in University of Wisconsin (UW) solution at 4°C. QDs uptake was visualized during rewarming to 37°C under air or, in a second approach, at the end of rewarming under 5% CO2. After 24 h in UW solution, QDs were internalized under both rewarming conditions similar to non-preserved hepatocytes and cells maintained a normal cytoskeleton distribution. However, in hepatocytes preserved 72 h none of the cells internalized QDs, which remained bound to the membranes. After rewarming, this group showed diminished actin staining while viability was maintained at ~70%. Our results present evidence that, hypothermic preservation for 72 h in UW solution at 4°C does not prevent EGFR (Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor) activation but irreversibly impairs endocytic uptake upon EGF stimulation; presumably due to actin cytoskeleton disassembling. Our approach can be applied on other membrane receptor systems and with other hypothermic preservation solutions to understand the effect of cooling in endocytic transport and to determine the optimal cold storage period.Fil: Hovanyecz, P.. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Secretaria de Ciencia y Tecnica. Centro Binacional de Investigación en Criobiologia Clinica y Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: Guibert, Edgardo Elvio. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Secretaria de Ciencia y Tecnica. Centro Binacional de Investigación en Criobiologia Clinica y Aplicada; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; ArgentinaFil: Pellegrino, Jose Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Instituto de Fisiología Experimental (i); ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez, Joaquin Valentin. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Secretaria de Ciencia y Tecnica. Centro Binacional de Investigación en Criobiologia Clinica y Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: Sigot, Valeria. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Secretaria de Ciencia y Tecnica. Centro Binacional de Investigación en Criobiologia Clinica y Aplicada; Argentin

Pharmacokinetics and dosage adjustment of cefotiam in renal impaired patients

The pharmacokinetics of cefotiam were investigated after intravenous administration of 1 g to 2 healthy volunteers with normal renal function and to 16 patients whose creatinine clearance ranged from 4.7 to 0.11/h (78 to 1.66 ml/min). The elimination half-life varied from 1.1 h in normal subjects to 13 h in patients and the total plasma clearance from 21 to 0.6 1/h (350 to 10 ml/min). The urinary recovery decreased from 62% of the dose in normal subjects to 1.1% in patients, and the renal clearance from 15 to 0.03 l/h (250 to 0.5 ml/min). Plasma and renal clearances of cefotiam correlated well with the creatinine clearance. The dosage schedule for cefotiam in patients with normal renal function can be used in the presence of renal failure when the creatinine clearance is equal to or greater than 1 1/h (16.6 ml/min). For patients whose creatinine clearance is less than 1 1/h, the dose must be decreased to 75% of that for a patient with normal renal function only when it is given every 6 or 8

Determination of proper motions and membership of the open star cluster NGC2548

Absolute proper motions, their corresponding errors and membership probabilities of 501 stars in the intermediate-age open cluster NGC2548 region are determined from MAMA measurements of 10 photographic plates. The plates have the maximum epoch difference of 82 years and they were taken with the double astrograph at Zo-Se station of Shanghai Observatory, which has an aperture of 40 cm and a plate scale of 30"/mm. The average proper motion precision is 1.18 mas/yr. These proper motions are used to determine the membership probabilities of stars in the region. The number of stars with membership probabilities higher than 0.7 is 165