Sinusite récidivante due à Schizophyllum commune. À propos de deux nouveaux cas

Schizophyllum commune is a basidiomycete fungus of the agaricomycetes class. It is usually found in forest habitats in the form of saprophytic and lignicolous fungus. Its implication in human pathology is rare, only 50 clinical cases among which 18 cases of sinusitis have been described in the last 60 years. We report two new cases of sinusitis. The first was a 57-year-old woman with chronic sinusitis and the second was a 56-year-old man suffering from an allergic sinusitis. This basidiomycete was identified after isolation in culture both by macroscopic and microscopic aspect and molecular biology. In both cases, evacuation and drainage by surgical debridment were sufficient to obtain a cure. The main bioclinical characteristics of Schizophyllum commune infection are provided

Revisiting Digital Straight Segment Recognition

This paper presents new results about digital straight segments, their recognition and related properties. They come from the study of the arithmetically based recognition algorithm proposed by I. Debled-Rennesson and J.-P. Reveill\`es in 1995 [Debled95]. We indeed exhibit the relations describing the possible changes in the parameters of the digital straight segment under investigation. This description is achieved by considering new parameters on digital segments: instead of their arithmetic description, we examine the parameters related to their combinatoric description. As a result we have a better understanding of their evolution during recognition and analytical formulas to compute them. We also show how this evolution can be projected onto the Stern-Brocot tree. These new relations have interesting consequences on the geometry of digital curves. We show how they can for instance be used to bound the slope difference between consecutive maximal segments

Preparation of Long-Lived, Non-Autoionizing Circular Rydberg States of Strontium

Alkaline earth Rydberg atoms are very promising tools for quantum technologies. Their highly excited outer electron provides them with the remarkable properties of Rydberg atoms and, notably, with a huge coupling to external fields or to other Rydberg atoms while the ionic core retains an optically active electron. However, low angular-momentum Rydberg states suffer almost immediate autoionization when the core is excited. Here, we demonstrate that strontium circular Rydberg atoms with a core excited in a $4D$ metastable level are impervious to autoionization over more than a few millisecond time scale. This makes it possible to trap and laser-cool Rydberg atoms. Moreover, we observe singlet to triplet transitions due to the core optical manipulations, opening the way to a quantum microwave to optical interface

The SVOM gamma-ray burst mission

We briefly present the science capabilities, the instruments, the operations, and the expected performance of the SVOM mission. SVOM (Space-based multiband astronomical Variable Objects Monitor) is a Chinese-French space mission dedicated to the study of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) in the next decade. The SVOM mission encompasses a satellite carrying four instruments to detect and localize the prompt GRB emission and measure the evolution of the afterglow in the visible band and in X-rays, a VHF communication system enabling the fast transmission of SVOM alerts to the ground, and a ground segment including a wide angle camera and two follow-up telescopes. The pointing strategy of the satellite has been optimized to favor the detection of GRBs located in the night hemisphere. This strategy enables the study of the optical emission in the first minutes after the GRB with robotic observatories and the early spectroscopy of the optical afterglow with large telescopes to measure the redshifts. The study of GRBs in the next decade will benefit from a number of large facilities in all wavelengths that will contribute to increase the scientific return of the mission. Finally, SVOM will operate in the era of the next generation of gravitational wave detectors, greatly contributing to searches for the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave triggers at Xray and gamma-ray energies.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, published by PoS, proceedings of the conference Swift: 10 Years of Discovery, 2-5 December 2014, La Sapienza University, Rome, Ital

Improved genome editing in human cell lines using the CRISPR method

The Cas9/CRISPR system has become a popular choice for genome editing. In this system, binding of a single guide (sg) RNA to a cognate genomic sequence enables the Cas9 nuclease to induce a double-strand break at that locus. This break is next repaired by an error-prone mechanism, leading to mutation and gene disruption. In this study we describe a range of refinements of the method, including stable cell lines expressing Cas9, and a PCR based protocol for the generation of the sgRNA. We also describe a simple methodology that allows both elimination of Cas9 from cells after gene disruption and re-introduction of the disrupted gene. This advance enables easy assessment of the off target effects associated with gene disruption, as well as phenotype-based structure-function analysis. In our study, we used the Fan1 DNA repair gene as control in these experiments. Cas9/CRISPR-mediated Fan1 disruption occurred at frequencies of around 29%, and resulted in the anticipated spectrum of genotoxin hypersensitivity, which was rescued by re-introduction of Fan1

Abrupt Convergence and Escape Behavior for Birth and Death Chains

We link two phenomena concerning the asymptotical behavior of stochastic processes: (i) abrupt convergence or cut-off phenomenon, and (ii) the escape behavior usually associated to exit from metastability. The former is characterized by convergence at asymptotically deterministic times, while the convergence times for the latter are exponentially distributed. We compare and study both phenomena for discrete-time birth-and-death chains on Z with drift towards zero. In particular, this includes energy-driven evolutions with energy functions in the form of a single well. Under suitable drift hypotheses, we show that there is both an abrupt convergence towards zero and escape behavior in the other direction. Furthermore, as the evolutions are reversible, the law of the final escape trajectory coincides with the time reverse of the law of cut-off paths. Thus, for evolutions defined by one-dimensional energy wells with sufficiently steep walls, cut-off and escape behavior are related by time inversion.Comment: 2 figure

A New Approach To Light-Weight Ablators Analysis: From Micro-Tomography Measurements to Statistical Analysis and Modeling

The morphology characteristics and ablation behavior of a highly porous carbon fiber preform are studied using a combined experimental/numerical approach. Morphological characterization of the three-dimensional structure of the material is performed by hard X-rays synchrotron micro-tomography at the Advanced Light Source of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The resulting micro-tomography voxels are used to compute geometrical properties of the carbon preform, like porosity, specific surface area and tortuosity, that are otherwise indirectly measured through experimental techniques. The reconstructed volumes are used to build a computational grid for numerical simulations of the fibers\u27 ablation. By modeling the diffusion of oxygen through the porous medium using Lagrangian methods, and the oxidation at the carbon fibers\u27 surface using a reactivity model, the ablation of the carbon fibers are simulated for a range of Thiele numbers. It is shown that in the diffusion limited regime (large Thiele number), the ablation of the fibers occurs at the surface of the material. In the reaction limited regime (low Thiele number), the oxygen penetrates into the fibers, resulting in volumetric ablation and high material spallation

An exploratory study looking at the relationship marketing techniques used in the music festival industry

There are current issues and trends in the music festival market, which may affect the success of an event, and market saturation is at the forefront of these issues. Previous literature, maintaining the need for a marketing approach to festivals, identifi es the need for maintaining strong stakeholder relationships in order to succeed in a business environment; attention has been focused to the theory of relationship marketing (RM) because of the recognition that this practice is complementary to the marketing of festivals. The very nature of the music festival as an annual, usually, 4-day event means that effective marketing is needed to keep connections with the consumer throughout the year. This article focuses on the RM techniques utilised within the music festival industry from the viewpoint of the festival organiser in an attempt to establish how festival organisations value and monitor organisational relationships. This article explores the extent to which these relationships are valued and managed; furthermore, the variations between these intricate relationships are considered by focusing on those held with the organisation ’ s consumers and sponsors, the results of which have provided the ability to establish the importance and relevance of RM to the industry and further identify the marketing communication methods employed to establish and maintain such relationships. In-depth, convergent interviews have been conducted with a segment of music festival organisers from a range of events. The results have been integrated with the study of current literature to best exemplify these issues. It has been established that RM has a strong role in today ’ s commercial and independent music festival industry; technological advances are enabling the organiser to support online relationships further and increase consumer loyalty. There is a need to expand the research further because of the complexity of organisational relationships and the varying categories of festivals