On the Mechanisms of Haemodialysis-induced Neutropenia: A Study with Five New and Re-used Membranes

A prospective study was undertaken in 12 haemodialysed patients successively treated on five new as well as re-used dialyser membranes, that is cuprophane, cellulose acetate, polysulphone, polycarbonate, and polyacrylonitrile. A significant reduction of neutrophils occurred with every membrane during their first use, which improved only with cuprophane upon re-use. Thrombocytopenia was noted only when neutropenia reached very low values. Monocyte reduction occurred on cuprophane, cellulose acetate and polycarbonate, but did not improve during second use. C3d accumulation paralleled the time course of neutropenia only with cuprophane and cellulose acetate. Plasma collected at the extreme of neutropenia induced aggregation of control and predialysis cells, but did not aggregate autologous dialysed neutrophils collected at 5 min. Our data indicate that the mechanism linking complement activation to neutropenia is probably triggered by more than one facto

Collapsing granular suspensions

A 2D contact dynamics model is proposed as a microscopic description of a collapsing suspension/soil to capture the essential physical processes underlying the dynamics of generation and collapse of the system. Our physical model is compared with real data obtained from in situ measurements performed with a natural collapsing/suspension soil. We show that the shear strength behavior of our collapsing suspension/soil model is very similar to the behavior of this collapsing suspension soil, for both the unperturbed and the perturbed phases of the material.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in EPJ

Toilet training: what can the cookstove sector learn from improved sanitation promotion?

Within the domain of public health, commonalities exist between the sanitation and cookstove sectors. Despite these commonalities and the grounds established for cross-learning between both sectors, however, there has not been much evidence of knowledge exchange across them to date. Our paper frames this as a missed opportunity for the cookstove sector, given the capacity for user-centred innovation and multi-scale approaches demonstrated in the sanitation sector. The paper highlights points of convergence and divergence in the approaches used in both sectors, with particular focus on behaviour change approaches that go beyond the level of the individual. The analysis highlights the importance of the enabling environment, community-focused approaches and locally-specific contextual factors in promoting behavioural change in the sanitation sector. Our paper makes a case for the application of such approaches to cookstove interventions, especially in light of their ability to drive sustained change by matching demand-side motivations with supply-side opportunities

Protection des monuments préhistoriques en France

Heierli J., Dresch . Protection des monuments préhistoriques en France. In: Revue des Études Anciennes. Tome 12, 1910, n°4. pp. 411-413

Anticrack nucleation as triggering mechanism for snow slab avalanches

Snow slab avalanches are believed to begin by the gravity- driven shear failure of weak layers in stratified snow. The critical crack length for shear crack propagation along such layers should increase without bound as the slope decreases. However, recent experiments show that the critical length of artificially introduced cracks remains constant or, if anything, slightly decreases with decreasing slope. This surprising observation can be understood in terms of volumetric collapse of the weak layer during failure, resulting in the formation and propagation of mixed- mode anticracks, which are driven simultaneously by slope-parallel and slope-normal components of gravity. Such fractures may propagate even if crack- face friction impedes downhill sliding of the snowpack, indicating a scenario in which two separate conditions have to be met for slab avalanche release

Anticrack-type fracture in brittle foam under compressive stress

Fracture events initiating and propagating under negative mode I stress intensity factor, K-I, have been observed in laboratory experiments on cellular foam glass. The material at the crack tip collapses almost instantly in the event of fracture, leaving behind an accumulation of debris packing denser than the intact material. The fracture behavior comes close to that of anticracks, but essential differences remain. The fracture energy under negative K-I was evaluated to be nearly 10-fold that under positive K-I