Expansion-maximization-compression algorithm with spherical harmonics for single particle imaging with X-ray lasers

In 3D single particle imaging with X-ray free-electron lasers, particle orientation is not recorded during measurement but is instead recovered as a necessary step in the reconstruction of a 3D image from the diffraction data. Here we use harmonic analysis on the sphere to cleanly separate the angu- lar and radial degrees of freedom of this problem, providing new opportunities to efficiently use data and computational resources. We develop the Expansion-Maximization-Compression algorithm into a shell-by-shell approach and implement an angular bandwidth limit that can be gradually raised during the reconstruction. We study the minimum number of patterns and minimum rotation sampling required for a desired angular and radial resolution. These extensions provide new av- enues to improve computational efficiency and speed of convergence, which are critically important considering the very large datasets expected from experiment

Performances des nouvelles formules d’estimation du DFG dérivées de la créatininémie dans des populations européennes, africaines et brésiliennes

peer reviewe

Hydrodynamics and particle motion in upward flowing dense particle suspensions: application in solar receivers

Dense gas–solid suspensions have the potential to be applied as heat transfer fluids (HTF) for energy collection and storage in concentrated solar power plants. At the heart of these systems is the solar receiver, composed of a bundle of tubes which contain the solid suspension used as the thermal energy carrier. In the design investigated here, the particles form a dense upward-flowing suspension. Both density of the suspension of these particles and their movement have a strong influence on the heat transfer. An apparatus was designed to replicate the hydrodynamic and particle motion in the real solar energy plant at ambient temperature. The governing parameters of the flow were established as the solid feeding flow rate, the fluidisation velocity, the solids holdup, the freeboard pressure and the secondary air injection (aeration) velocity. In the case studied, aeration was applied with air introduced into the uplift transport tube some way up its length. This study finds that the amount of this secondary air injection is the most important parameter for the stability and the uniform distribution of the solids flow in the tubes. Solids motion was measured using the non-invasive positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) technique to follow the movement of a 60 µm tracer particle, onto which was adsorbed the positron emitting 18F radioisotope. Analysis of the resulting three-dimensional trajectories provides information on solids flow pattern and solids velocity. Results show the overall behaviour of the bulk material in detail: small step-wise movements associated with bubble motion superimposed on a general trend of upward flow in the centre and downward flow close to the walls. These findings suggest that this particular type of flow is ideal for transporting energy from the walls of the solar receiver tubes

Water isotopic characterisation of the cloud–circulation coupling in the North Atlantic trades – Part 1: A process-oriented evaluation of COSMOiso simulations with EUREC4A observations

Naturally available, stable, and heavy water molecules such as HDO and HO have a lower saturation vapour pressure than the most abundant light water molecule HO; therefore, these heavy water molecules preferentially condense and rain out during cloud formation. Stable water isotope observations thus have the potential to provide information on cloud processes in the trade-wind region, in particular when combined with high-resolution model simulations. In order to evaluate this potential, nested COSMOiso (isotope-enabled Consortium for Small Scale Modelling; Steppeler et al., 2003; Pfahl et al., 2012) simulations with explicit convection and horizontal grid spacings of 10, 5, and 1 km were carried out in this study over the tropical Atlantic for the time period of the EUREC4A (Elucidating the role of clouds-circulation coupling in climate; Stevens et al., 2021) field experiment. The comparison to airborne in situ and remote sensing observations shows that the three simulations are able to distinguish between different mesoscale cloud organisation patterns as well as between periods with comparatively high and low rain rates. Cloud fraction and liquid water content show a better agreement with aircraft observations with higher spatial resolution, because they show strong spatial variations on the scale of a few kilometres. A low-level cold-dry bias, including too depleted vapour in the subcloud and cloud layer and too enriched vapour in the free troposphere, is found in all three simulations. Furthermore, the simulated secondary isotope variable d-excess in vapour is overestimated compared to observations. Special attention is given to the cloud base level, which is the formation altitude of shallow cumulus clouds. The temporal variability of the simulated isotope variables at cloud base agrees reasonably well with observations, with correlations of the flight-to-flight data as high as 0.7 for δ2H and d-excess. A close examination of isotopic characteristics under precipitating clouds, non-precipitating clouds, clear-sky and dry-warm patches at the altitude of cloud base shows that these different environments are represented faithfully in the model with similar frequencies of occurrence, isotope signals, and specific-humidity anomalies as found in the observations. Furthermore, it is shown that the δ2H of cloud base vapour at the hourly timescale is mainly controlled by mesoscale transport and not by local microphysical processes, while the d-excess is mainly controlled by large-scale drivers. Overall, this evaluation of COSMOiso, including the isotopic characterisation of different cloud base environments, suggests that the simulations can be used for investigating the role of atmospheric circulations on different scales for controlling the formation of shallow cumulus clouds in the trade-wind region, as will be done in part 2 of this study

Rescaling creatinine makes GFR estimation equations generally applicable across populations - validation results for the Lund-Malmö equation in a French cohort of sub-Saharan ancestry.

peer reviewed[en] OBJECTIVES: To make glomerular filtration rate (GFR) estimating equations applicable across populations with different creatinine generation by using rescaled serum creatinine (sCr/Q) where sCr represents the individual creatinine level and Q the average creatinine value in healthy persons of the same population. METHODS: GFR measurements (mGFR, plasma clearance of 51Cr-EDTA) were conducted in 964 adult Black Europeans. We established the re-expressed Lund-Malmö revised equation (r-LMR) by replacing serum creatinine (sCr) with rescaled creatinine sCr/Q. We evaluated the r-LMR equation based on Q-values of White Europeans (r-LMRQ-white; Q-values females: 62 μmol/L, males: 80 μmol/L) and Black Europeans (r-LMRQ-Black; Q-values females: 65 μmol/L, males: 90 μmol/L), and the European Kidney Function Consortium equation (EKFCQ-White and EKFCQ-Black) regarding bias, precision (interquartile range, IQR) and accuracy (percentage of estimates within ±10 % [P10] and ±30 % [P30] of mGFR). RESULTS: Median bias of r-LMRQ-White/r-LMRQ-Black/EKFCQ-White/EKFCQ-Black were -9.1/-4.5/-6.3/-0.9 mL/min/1.73 m2, IQR 14.7/14.5/14.5/15.6 mL/min/1.73 m2, P10 25.1 %/34.8 %/30.3 %/37.2 % and P30 74.2 %/84.1 %/80.6 %/83.6 %. The improvement of bias and accuracy when using proper Q-values was most pronounced in men. Similar improvements were obtained above and below mGFR 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 and at various age and BMI intervals, except for BMI<20 kg/m2 where bias increased, and accuracy decreased. CONCLUSIONS: GFR estimating equations may be re-expressed to include rescaled creatinine (sCr/Q) and used across populations with different creatinine generation if population-specific average creatinine concentrations (Q-values) for healthy persons are established

Validation of Aeolus wind products over the tropical Atlantic using radiosondes

Since its launch by the European Space Agency in 2018, the Aeolus satellite has been using the first Doppler wind lidar in space to acquire three-dimensional atmospheric wind profiles around the globe. Especially in the tropics, these observations compensate for the currently limited number of other wind observations, making an assessment of the quality of Aeolus wind products in this region crucial for numerical weather prediction. To evaluate the quality of the Aeolus L2B wind products across the tropical Atlantic Ocean, 20 radiosondes corresponding to Aeolus overpasses were launched from the islands of Sal, Saint Croix and Puerto Rico during August-September 2021 as part of the Joint Aeolus Tropical Atlantic Campaign. During this period, Aeolus sampled winds within a complex environment with a variety of cloud types in the vicinity of the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone and aerosol particles from Saharan dust outbreaks. On average, the validation for Aeolus Rayleigh-clear revealed a random error of 3.8 – 4.3 m s–1 between 2–16 km and 4.3 – 4.8 m s–1 between 16–20 km, with a systematic error of -0.5±0.2 m s–1. For Mie-cloudy, the random error between 2–16 km is 1.1 – 2.3 m s–1 and the systematic error is -0.9 ±0.3 m s–1. It is therefore concluded that Rayleigh-clear winds do not satisfy the random error requirement of the mission, whereas Mie-cloudy winds do so, when considering the standard error. Below clouds or within dust layers, the quality of Rayleigh-clear observations are degraded when the useful signal is reduced. In these conditions, we also noticed an underestimation of the L2B estimated error. Gross outliers which we define with large deviations from the radiosonde but low error estimates account for less than 5% of the data. These outliers appear at all altitudes and under all environmental conditions; however, their root-cause remains unknown. Finally, we confirm the presence of an orbital-dependent bias observed with both radiosondes and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model equivalents. The results of this study contribute to a better characterization of the Aeolus wind product in different atmospheric conditions and provide valuable information for further improvement of the wind retrieval algorithm

Lateralization of uric acid stones on the left side

The analysis of 35,087 kidney stones revealed that 60% of uric acid stones originate from the left kidney whereas other stones are homogeneously distributed ($p<0.001$). The analysis of (i) lateralized urine samples collected during ureteroscopy and (ii) urine from patients grafted with left or right kidney, did not reveal any difference in urine from left and right kidney. Patients affected by uric acid stones had significantly more cysts, predominating in the left kidney, than patients affected by calcium oxalate stones ($p<0.001$). This set of experiments suggests that renal cysts are associated to uric acid stone lateralization on the left side