Proximal clavicle physeal fracture-separation mimicking an anterior sterno-clavicular dislocation

SummaryProximal physeal fracture-separation of the clavicle is a very rare injury occurring in the adolescent and in the young adult which involves a contact loss with fracture between the clavicle and its cartilaginous ossification center similar in appearance to a sternoclavicular dislocation. The authors report an unusual case of a proximal physeal fracture-separation of the clavicle with avulsion of sternoclavicular periosteal and ligamentous structures without vasculonervous injury in a 16-year-old young person. A CT scan examination is essential. Surgical management consisted in costoclavicular ligament and periosteum reattachment associated with reduction of the fracture-separation and pin fixation.This repair demonstrated a successful outcome at 8-month follow-up

Experimental confirmation of efficient island divertor operation and successful neoclassical transport optimization in Wendelstein 7-X

We present recent highlights from the most recent operation phases of Wendelstein 7-X, the most advanced stellarator in the world. Stable detachment with good particle exhaust, low impurity content, and energy confinement times exceeding 100 ms, have been maintained for tens of seconds. Pellet fueling allows for plasma phases with reduced ion-temperature-gradient turbulence, and during such phases, the overall confinement is so good (energy confinement times often exceeding 200 ms) that the attained density and temperature profiles would not have been possible in less optimized devices, since they would have had neoclassical transport losses exceeding the heating applied in W7-X. This provides proof that the reduction of neoclassical transport through magnetic field optimization is successful. W7-X plasmas generally show good impurity screening and high plasma purity, but there is evidence of longer impurity confinement times during turbulence-suppressed phases.EC/H2020/633053/EU/Implementation of activities described in the Roadmap to Fusion during Horizon 2020 through a Joint programme of the members of the EUROfusion consortium/ EUROfusio

Barley starch

This thesis examined barley amylopectin structure and looked for correlations between the structure and physical properties of starch. The structure of amylopectin and gelatinisation and retrogradation of starch were studied in 10 different barley cultivars/breeding lines with differing genetic background. Amylopectin is built up of thousands of chains of glucose monomers, organised into clusters. The detailed fine structure of amylopectin was studied by isolating clusters of amylopectin and their building blocks, which are the tightly branched units building up the clusters. Barley cultivars/breeding lines possessing the amo1 mutation had fewer long chains of DP≥38 in amylopectin and more large building blocks. The structure of building blocks was rather conserved between the different barley cultivars/breeding lines studied and was categorized into different size groups. These different building blocks were shown to be randomly distributed in the amylopectin molecule. The C-chains in amylopectin can be of any length and are a category of chains different from the B-chains. The backbone in amylopectin consists of a special type of B-chains which, when cleaved by α-amylase, become chains of a similar type to C-chains. Gelatinisation and retrogradation (recrystallisation of gelatinised starch) of barley starch was studied by differential scanning calorimetry. The amo1 mutation resulted in a broader gelatinisation temperature range and a higher enthalpy of retrogradation. Other structural features were also found to influence the physical properties of starch. Small clusters and denser structure of the building blocks resulted in higher gelatinisation temperature. Fast retrogradation was observed in barley which had amylopectin with shorter chains and many large building blocks consisting of many chains. Amylopectin structure was also studied in developing barley kernels. Three barley cultivars/breeding lines were grown in a phytotron and kernels were harvested at 9, 12 and 24 days after flowering. The results showed that amylopectin synthesized at later stages of development had a more tightly branched structure. Expression of the enzymes involved in starch biosynthesis is also known to change during endosperm development

Scenario development for the observation of alpha-driven instabilities in JET DT plasmas

In DT plasmas, toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes (TAEs) can be made unstable by the alpha particles resulting from fusion reactions, and may induce a significant redistribution of fast ions. Recent experiments have been conducted in JET deuterium plasmas in order to prepare scenarios aimed at observing alpha-driven TAEs in a future JET DT campaign. Discharges at low density, large core temperatures associated with the presence of internal transport barriers and characterised by good energetic ion confinement have been performed. ICRH has been used in the hydrogen minority heating regime to probe the TAE stability. The consequent presence of MeV ions has resulted in the observation of TAEs in many instances. The impact of several key parameters on TAE stability could therefore be studied experimentally. Modeling taking into account NBI and ICRH fast ions shows good agreement with the measured neutron rates, and has allowed predictions for DT plasmas to be performed