227 research outputs found
Evaluating kernels on Xeon Phi to accelerate Gysela application
This work describes the challenges presented by porting parts ofthe Gysela
code to the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor, as well as techniques used for
optimization, vectorization and tuning that can be applied to other
applications. We evaluate the performance of somegeneric micro-benchmark on Phi
versus Intel Sandy Bridge. Several interpolation kernels useful for the Gysela
application are analyzed and the performance are shown. Some memory-bound and
compute-bound kernels are accelerated by a factor 2 on the Phi device compared
to Sandy architecture. Nevertheless, it is hard, if not impossible, to reach a
large fraction of the peek performance on the Phi device,especially for
real-life applications as Gysela. A collateral benefit of this optimization and
tuning work is that the execution time of Gysela (using 4D advections) has
decreased on a standard architecture such as Intel Sandy Bridge.Comment: submitted to ESAIM proceedings for CEMRACS 2014 summer school version
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Anomalous transport in Charney-Hasegawa-Mima flows
Transport properties of particles evolving in a system governed by the
Charney-Hasegawa-Mima equation are investigated. Transport is found to be
anomalous with a non linear evolution of the second moments with time. The
origin of this anomaly is traced back to the presence of chaotic jets within
the flow. All characteristic transport exponents have a similar value around
, which is also the one found for simple point vortex flows in the
literature, indicating some kind of universality. Moreover the law
linking the trapping time exponent within jets to the transport
exponent is confirmed and an accumulation towards zero of the spectrum of
finite time Lyapunov exponent is observed. The localization of a jet is
performed, and its structure is analyzed. It is clearly shown that despite a
regular coarse grained picture of the jet, motion within the jet appears as
chaotic but chaos is bounded on successive small scales.Comment: revised versio
Clinical Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates induce differing CXCL8 responses from human nasopharyngeal epithelial cells which are reduced by liposomes
BACKGROUND:
Streptococcus pneumoniae causes several human diseases, including pneumonia and meningitis, in which pathology is associated with an excessive inflammatory response. A major inducer of this response is the cholesterol dependent pneumococcal toxin, pneumolysin. Here, we measured the amount of inflammatory cytokine CXCL8 (interleukin (IL)-8) by ELISA released by human nasopharyngeal epithelial (Detroit 562) cells as inflammatory response to a 24 h exposure to different pneumococcal strains.
RESULTS:
We found pneumolysin to be the major factor influencing the CXCL8 response. Cholesterol and sphingomyelin-containing liposomes designed to sequester pneumolysin were highly effective at reducing CXCL8 levels from epithelial cells exposed to different clinical pneumococcal isolates. These liposomes also reduced CXCL8 response from epithelial cells exposed to pneumolysin knock-out mutants of S. pneumoniae indicating that they also reduce the CXCL8-inducing effect of an unidentified pneumococcal virulence factor, in addition to pneumolysin.
CONCLUSION:
The results indicate the potential of liposomes in attenuating excessive inflammation as a future adjunctive treatment of pneumococcal diseases
Genetic Determinism vs. Phenotypic Plasticity in Protist Morphology
Untangling the relationships between morphology and phylogeny is key to building a reliable taxonomy, but is especially challenging for protists, where the existence of cryptic or pseudocryptic species makes finding relevant discriminant traits difficult. Here we use Hyalosphenia papilio (a testate amoeba) as a model species to investigate the contribution of phylogeny and phenotypic plasticity in its morphology. We study the response of H. papilio morphology (shape and pores number) to environmental variables in (i) a manipulative experiment with controlled conditions (water level), (ii) an observational study of a within-site natural ecological gradient (water level), and (iii) an observational study across 37 European peatlands (climate). We showed that H. papilio morphology is correlated to environmental conditions (climate and water depth) as well as geography, while no relationship between morphology and phylogeny was brought to light. The relative contribution of genetic inheritance and phenotypic plasticity in shaping morphology varies depending on the taxonomic group and the trait under consideration. Thus, our data call for a reassessment of taxonomy based on morphology alone. This clearly calls for a substantial increase in taxonomic research on these globally still under-studied organisms leading to a reassessment of estimates of global microbial eukaryotic diversity.</p
The Problem of Marginality in Model Reductions of Turbulence
Reduced quasilinear (QL) and nonlinear (gradient-driven) models with scale
separations, commonly used to interpret experiments and to forecast turbulent
transport levels in magnetised plasmas are tested against nonlinear models
without scale separations (flux-driven). Two distinct regimes of turbulence --
either far above threshold or near marginal stability -- are investigated with
Boltzmann electrons. The success of reduced models especially hinges on the
reproduction of nonlinear fluxes. Good agreement between models is found above
threshold whilst reduced models would significantly underpredict fluxes near
marginality, overlooking mesoscale flow organisation and turbulence
self-advection. Constructive prescriptions whereby to improve reduced models is
discussed
PoPe (Projection on Proper elements) for code control: verification, numerical convergence and reduced models. Application to plasma turbulence simulations
The Projection on Proper elements (PoPe) is a novel method of code control dedicated to 1) checking the correct implementation of models, 2) determining the convergence of numerical methods and 3) characterizing the residual errors of any given solution at very low cost. The basic idea is to establish a bijection between a simulation and a set of equations that generate it. Recovering equations is direct and relies on a statistical measure of the weight of the various operators. This method can be used in any dimensions and any regime, including chaotic ones. This method also provides a procedure to design reduced models and quantify the ratio costs to benefits. PoPe is applied to a kinetic and a fluid code of plasma turbulence
Meningitis-associated pneumococcal serotype 8, ST 53, strain is hypervirulent in a rat model and has non-haemolytic pneumolysin which can be attenuated by liposomes
Introduction: Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria cause life-threatening invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), including meningitis. Pneumococci are classified into serotypes, determined by differences in capsular polysaccharide and both serotype and pneumolysin toxin are associated with disease severity. Strains of serotype 8, ST 53, are increasing in prevalence in IPD in several countries.
Methods: Here we tested the virulence of such an isolate in a rat model of meningitis in comparison with a serotype 15B and a serotype 14 isolate. All three were isolated from meningitis patients in South Africa in 2019, where serotype 8 is currently the most common serotype in IPD.
Results and Discussion: Only the serotype 8 isolate was hypervirulent causing brain injury and a high mortality rate. It induced a greater inflammatory cytokine response than either the serotype 15B or 14 strain in the rat model and from primary mixed-glia cells isolated from mouse brains. It had the thickest capsule of the three strains and produced non-haemolytic pneumolysin. Pneumolysin-sequestering liposomes reduced the neuroinflammatory cytokine response in vitro indicating that liposomes have the potential to be an effective adjuvant therapy even for hypervirulent pneumococcal strains with non-haemolytic pneumolysin
Klebsiella pneumoniae peptide hijacks a Streptococcus pneumoniae permease to subvert pneumococcal growth and colonization.
Treatment of pneumococcal infections is limited by antibiotic resistance and exacerbation of disease by bacterial lysis releasing pneumolysin toxin and other inflammatory factors. We identified a previously uncharacterized peptide in the Klebsiella pneumoniae secretome, which enters Streptococcus pneumoniae via its AmiA-AliA/AliB permease. Subsequent downregulation of genes for amino acid biosynthesis and peptide uptake was associated with reduction of pneumococcal growth in defined medium and human cerebrospinal fluid, irregular cell shape, decreased chain length and decreased genetic transformation. The bacteriostatic effect was specific to S. pneumoniae and Streptococcus pseudopneumoniae with no effect on Streptococcus mitis, Haemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus or K. pneumoniae. Peptide sequence and length were crucial to growth suppression. The peptide reduced pneumococcal adherence to primary human airway epithelial cell cultures and colonization of rat nasopharynx, without toxicity. We identified a peptide with potential as a therapeutic for pneumococcal diseases suppressing growth of multiple clinical isolates, including antibiotic resistant strains, while avoiding bacterial lysis and dysbiosis
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