Трехкоординатный пьезокерамический сканер на биморфных пьезо-элементах для зондового наномикроскопа

Предложена и исследована конструкция пьезокерамического сканера для наномикроскопов на основе диморфных пьезоэлементов. Построена и исследована модель сканера при помощи программы MicroCap 7.0

Landscape homogenization due to agricultural intensification disrupts the relationship between reproductive success and main prey abundance in an avian predator

Selecting high-quality habitat and the optimal time to reproduce can increase individual fitness and is a strong evolutionary factor shaping animal populations. However, few studies have investigated the interplay between land cover heterogeneity, limitation in food resources, individual quality and spatial variation in fitness parameters. Here, we explore how individuals of different quality respond to possible mismatches between a cue for prey availability (land cover heterogeneity) and the actual fluctuating prey abundance.Peer reviewe

Patrimoine de la santé : vers une méthode de reconversion pour des sites historiques d’envergure urbaine

More than a mere building, a hospital is often a neighbourhood of a city where the major moments in life are to found in condensed form: being born, being looked after, working, sleeping, thinking, giving life, losing it... Almost everybody comes to spend time in a hospital, a institution which acquires a special place in the collective memory. The conversion of these places to new uses, necessary of we want to keep them, is a subject to be addressed, then, with tact. The continual evolution of hospital techniques and norms result in an evolution of architectural forms. The sites can therefore undergo change in situ, renewing themselves without moving and sometimes liberating spaces for new urban activities. More often than not, however, hospitals tend to leave the historic centre of the town where they are short of room, to move out to the periphery and to hospital ‘cities’ which are more efficient and better connected to the major transport axes. The original hospital buildings often have remarkable architecture and are often protected as historic monuments. How can they be reintegrated into urban life, when they were originally conceived autonomous spaces? How can they accommodate new uses without losing their ‘spirit’? Without pretending to offer easy solutions which can be applied anywhere, this article sets out to offer a summary of present-day tendencies and some methodological elements in order to succeed in these conversion projects

Identification of a Variety of Staphylococcus Species by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry ▿

Whole-cell fingerprinting by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) in combination with a dedicated bioinformatic software tool (MALDI Biotyper 2.0) was used to identify 152 staphylococcal strains corresponding to 22 staphylococcal species. Spectra of the 152 isolates, previously identified at the species level using a sodA gene-based oligonucleotide array, were analyzed against the main spectra of 3,030 microorganisms. A total of 151 strains out of 152 (99.3%) were correctly identified at the species level; only one strain was identified at the genus level. The MALDI-TOF MS method revealed different clonal lineages of Staphylococcus epidermidis that were of either human or environmental origin, which suggests that the MALDI-TOF MS method could be useful in the profiling of staphylococcal strains. The topology of the dendrogram generated by the MALDI Biotyper 2.0 software from the spectra of 120 Staphylococcus reference strains (representing 36 species) was in general agreement with that inferred from the 16S rRNA gene-based analysis. Our findings indicate that the MALDI-TOF MS technology, associated with a broad-spectrum reference database, is an effective tool for the swift and reliable identification of Staphylococci

Association of both Langerhans cell histiocytosis and Erdheim-Chester disease linked to the BRAFV600E mutation

Comment in "A common progenitor cell in LCH and ECD. [Blood. 2014]"International audienceHistiocytoses are a group of heterogeneous diseases that mostly comprise Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) and non-LCH. The association of LCH with non-LCH is exceptional. We report 23 patients with biopsy-proven LCH associated with Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) (mixed histiocytosis) and discuss the significance of this association. We compare the clinical phenotypes of these patients with those of 56 patients with isolated LCH and 53 patients with isolated ECD. The average age at diagnosis was 43 years. ECD followed (n = 12) or was diagnosed simultaneously with (n = 11) but never preceded LCH. Although heterogeneous, the phenotype of patients with mixed histiocytosis was closer to that of isolated ECD than to that of isolated LCH (principal component analysis). LCH and ECD improved in response to interferon alpha-2a treatment in only 50% of patients (8 of 16). We found the BRAF(V600E) mutation in 11 (69%) of 16 LCH lesions and in 9 (82%) of 11 ECD lesions. Eight patients had mutations in both ECD and LCH biopsies. Our findings indicate that the association of LCH and ECD is not fortuitous and suggest a link between these diseases involving the BRAF(V600E) mutation