Management plan to save the eel. Optimising the design and management of installations

The European eel was until recently an abundant species in most European freshwaters, but its numbers have fallen sharply since the 1970s and 1980s. The causes of the rapid decline, which now threatens the very existence of the species, are clear for the most part and include fishing, poor quality of water and habitats, fragmentation of rivers by weirs and dams, and death in hydroelectric turbines. To meet the restocking goals set by the European Union (EU), France has initiated a management plan addressing each of the factors responsible for the decline of the species. Concerning river obstacles and turbines, the Ecology ministry launched an R&D programme bringing together a number of partners, including Ademe, Onema and five hydroelectric companies, namely Compagnie nationale du Rhône, EDF, France Hydro Electricité, GDF Suez and Société hydroélectrique du Midi. The programme, managed by a steering committee comprising the partners mentioned above and placed under the responsibility of the Ecology ministry, targeted a number of operational goals that resulted in the development and testing of technical solutions designed for rapid implementation in the field. All programme results were presented on 28 and 29 November 2011 at the feedback symposium which brought together 160 persons, including researchers, water managers, associations and hydroelectric companies

Plan de sauvegarde de l'anguille. Quelles solutions pour optimiser la conception et la gestion des ouvrages ?

Hier encore très répandue dans plupart des eaux douces d’Europe, l'anguille européenne connaît une régression rapide depuis les années 1970-1980. Les causes de ce déclin brutal, qui menace désormais la pérennité de l’espèce, sont pour l'essentiel connues : prélèvements par la pêche, dégradation de la qualité des eaux et des habitats, fragmentation des rivières sous l'effet des seuils et barrages et mortalités lors des passages dans les turbines hydroélectriques. Pour répondre aux objectifs de restauration des stocks fixés par l'Union européenne, la France s'est engagée dans un plan de gestion visant à agir sur chacun des facteurs de déclin de l'espèce. Sur le volet «ouvrages», le Ministère en charge de Développement durable a initié un programme de recherche & développement multi-partenarial, réunissant l'Ademe, l'Onema et cinq acteurs français de l’hydoéléctricité : Compagnie Nationale du Rhône, EDF, France Hydro Électricité, GDF Suez, Société hydroélectrique du Midi. Résolument opérationnel, ce programme, encadré par un comité de pilotage rassemblant les acteurs précédemment cités et placé sous l'autorité du MEDDE, s'est traduit par la mise au point et le test de solutions techniques en vue d’une mise en oeuvre directe sur les territoires. L'ensemble de ces acquis ont été présentés lors d’un colloque les 28 et 29 novembre 2011 qui a rassemblé près de 160 personnes : scientifiques, gestionnaires de l’eau, associations, producteurs d’hydroélectricité

Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition: a double-edged sword

Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a physiological process necessary to normal embryologic development. However in genesis of pathological situations, this transition can be perverted and signaling pathways have different regulations from those of normal physiology. In cancer invasion, such a mechanism leads to generation of circulating tumor cells. Epithelial cancer cells become motile mesenchymal cells able to shed from the primary tumor and enter in the blood circulation. This is the major part of the invasive way of cancer. EMT is also implicated in chronic diseases like fibrosis and particularly renal fibrosis. In adult organisms, healing is based on EMT which is beneficial to repair wounds even if it can sometimes exceed its goal and elicit fibrosis. In this review, we delineate the clinical significance of EMT in both physiological and pathological circumstances

Sinterability of macrocrystalline and cryptocrystalline magnesite to refractory magnesia

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to present the results of an investigation aiming at obtaining high quality sintered magnesia from two well-known Chinese magnesite. Two types of natural magnesite have been considered, one macrocrystalline, from Liaoning, with the grain size of 60-100 μm and one cryptocrystalline, from Tibet, with 2-4 μm grains. Calcining characteristics to transform the two magnesite to caustic magnesia have been studied at first. Subsequently, the calcining-sintering characteristics using a two- and a three-step process for both raw materials at different temperatures have been determined. A DTA–TGA study reveals that the minimum endothermic peak during the calcining step differs by 28°C (624 vs 652°C between the crypto- and macrocrystalline magnesite). It has also been observed that by using a two-step sintering process, it is possible to obtain a magnesia with a bulk density of 3.26 and 3.14 g/cm3, respectively, for cryptocrystalline and macrocrystalline, while with a three-step process, it is possible to reach a bulk density of 3.48 g/cm 3, even at a temperature <1750°C

Hardware Engines for Bus Encryption: a Survey of Existing Techniques

International audienceHardware Engines for Bus Encryption: a Survey of Existing Technique

Design of a duplicated fault-detecting AES chip and yet using clock set-up time violations to extract 13 out of 16 bytes of the secret key

International audienceThe secret keys manipulated by cryptographic circuits can be extracted using fault injections associated with differential cryptanalysis techniques [1]. Such faults can be induced by different means such as lasers, voltage glitches, electromagnetic perturbations or clock skews. Several counter-measures have been proposed such as random delay insertions, circuit duplications or error correcting codes. In this paper, we focus on an AES chip in which the circuit duplication principle has been implemented to detect fault injection. We show that faults based on clock set-up time violations can nevertheless be used to defeat the implemented counter-measure

Nivolumab and brentuximab vedotin with or without bendamustine for R/R Hodgkin lymphoma in children, adolescents, and young adults

Children, adolescents, and young adults (CAYA) with relapsed/refractory (R/R) classic Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) without complete metabolic response (CMR) before autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (auto-HCT) have poor survival outcomes. CheckMate 744, a phase 2 study for CAYA (aged 5-30 years) with R/R cHL, evaluated a risk-stratified, response-adapted approach with nivolumab plus brentuximab vedotin (BV) followed by BV plus bendamustine for patients with suboptimal response. Risk stratification was primarily based on time to relapse, prior treatment, and presence of B symptoms. We present the primary analysis of the standard-risk cohort. Data from the low-risk cohort are reported separately. Patients received 4 induction cycles with nivolumab plus BV; those without CMR (Deauville score &gt;3, Lugano 2014) received BV plus bendamustine intensification. Patients with CMR after induction or intensification proceeded to consolidation (high-dose chemotherapy/auto-HCT per protocol). Primary end point was CMR any time before consolidation. Forty-four patients were treated. Median age was 16 years. At a minimum follow-up of 15.6 months, 43 patients received 4 induction cycles (1 discontinued), 11 of whom received intensification; 32 proceeded to consolidation. CMR rate was 59% after induction with nivolumab plus BV and 94% any time before consolidation (nivolumab plus BV ± BV plus bendamustine). One-year progression-free survival rate was 91%. During induction, 18% of patients experienced grade 3/4 treatment-related adverse events. This risk-stratified, response-adapted salvage strategy had high CMR rates with limited toxicities in CAYA with R/R cHL. Most patients did not require additional chemotherapy (bendamustine intensification). Additional follow-up is needed to confirm durability of disease control. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT02927769.</p

Nivolumab and brentuximab vedotin with or without bendamustine for R/R Hodgkin lymphoma in children, adolescents, and young adults

Children, adolescents, and young adults (CAYA) with relapsed/refractory (R/R) classic Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) without complete metabolic response (CMR) before autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (auto-HCT) have poor survival outcomes. CheckMate 744, a phase 2 study for CAYA (aged 5-30 years) with R/R cHL, evaluated a risk-stratified, response-adapted approach with nivolumab plus brentuximab vedotin (BV) followed by BV plus bendamustine for patients with suboptimal response. Risk stratification was primarily based on time to relapse, prior treatment, and presence of B symptoms. We present the primary analysis of the standard-risk cohort. Data from the low-risk cohort are reported separately. Patients received 4 induction cycles with nivolumab plus BV; those without CMR (Deauville score &gt;3, Lugano 2014) received BV plus bendamustine intensification. Patients with CMR after induction or intensification proceeded to consolidation (high-dose chemotherapy/auto-HCT per protocol). Primary end point was CMR any time before consolidation. Forty-four patients were treated. Median age was 16 years. At a minimum follow-up of 15.6 months, 43 patients received 4 induction cycles (1 discontinued), 11 of whom received intensification; 32 proceeded to consolidation. CMR rate was 59% after induction with nivolumab plus BV and 94% any time before consolidation (nivolumab plus BV ± BV plus bendamustine). One-year progression-free survival rate was 91%. During induction, 18% of patients experienced grade 3/4 treatment-related adverse events. This risk-stratified, response-adapted salvage strategy had high CMR rates with limited toxicities in CAYA with R/R cHL. Most patients did not require additional chemotherapy (bendamustine intensification). Additional follow-up is needed to confirm durability of disease control. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT02927769.</p

Mesenchymal and stemness circulating tumor cells in early breast cancer diagnosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a crucial event likely involved in dissemination of epithelial cancer cells. This process enables them to acquire migratory/invasive properties, contributing to tumor and metastatic spread. To know if this event is an early one in breast cancer, we developed a clinical trial. The aim of this protocol was to detect circulating tumor cells endowed with mesenchymal and/or stemness characteristics, at the time of initial diagnosis. Breast cancer patients (n = 61), without visceral or bone metastasis were enrolled and analysis of these dedifferentiated circulating tumor cells (ddCTC) was realized.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p><it>AdnaGen </it>method was used for enrichment cell selection. Then, ddCTC were characterized by RT-PCR study of the following genes: PI3Kα, Akt-2, Twist1 (EMT markers) and ALDH1, Bmi1 and CD44 (stemness indicators).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among the studied primary breast cancer cohort, presence of ddCTC was detected in 39% of cases. This positivity is independant from tumor clinicopathological factors apart from the lymph node status.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data uniquely demonstrated that <it>in vivo </it>EMT occurs in the primary tumors and is associated with an enhanced ability of tumor cells to intravasate in the early phase of cancer disease. These results suggest that analysis of circulating tumor cells focused on cells showing mesenchymal or stemness characteristics might facilitate assessment of new drugs in clinical trials.</p