APPORT DE L’IMAGERIE DANS LES DACRYOCELES

The dacryocele is a non regressive cystic dilation often met in the adult. The goal of this work is to point out the interest of the imagery in the diagnosis of this affection. Bringing back to us a series of 7 cases colliged to the service of radiology August 20. One notes a female prevalence with an average age 35 years. Clinically, one often found a tumefaction compared to the lachrymal bag. The imagery showed the presence of a formation of liquid density on the level of the canthus intern, limited well, being raised slightly in periphery by the product of contrast with a widening of the lacrymo-nasal channel. The dacryocèle, rare benign affection, can be secondary with an acquired or congenital mechanical obstruction of the lacrymo-nasal channel. The imagery, thanks to echography and to the dacryoscanner, makes it possible to make the positive diagnosis, to carry out a precise organic assessment, to seek its etiology and to eliminate a tumoral origin.La dacryocèle est une dilatation kystique non régressive souvent rencontrée chez l’adulte. Le but de ce travail est de rappeler l’intérêt de l’imagerie dans le diagnostic de cette affection. Nous rapportant une série de 7 cas colligés au service de radiologie 20 AOUT. On note une prédominance féminine avec une moyenne d’âge de 35 ans. Cliniquement, on retrouvait souvent une tuméfaction en regard du sac lacrymal. L'imagerie a montré la présence d’une formation de densité liquidienne au niveau du canthus interne, bien limitée, se rehaussant faiblement en périphérie par le produit de contraste avec un élargissement du canal lacrymo-nasal. La dacryocèle, affection bénigne rare, peut être secondaire à une obstruction mécanique acquise ou congénitale du canal lacrymo-nasal. L’imagerie, grâce à l’échographie et au dacryoscanner, permet de faire le diagnostic positif, d’effectuer un bilan lésionnel précis, de rechercher son étiologie et d’éliminer une origine tumorale

Genome Sequence of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia PML168, Which Displays Baeyer-Villiger Monooxygenase Activity

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia PML168 was isolated from Wembury Beach on the English Coast from a rock pool following growth and selection on agar plates. Here we present the permanent draft genome sequence, which has allowed prediction of function for several genes encoding enzymes relevant to industrial biotechnology, including a novel flavoprotein monooxygenase

Submersed Micropatterned Structures Control Active Nematic Flow, Topology and Concentration

Coupling between flows and material properties imbues rheological matter with its wide-ranging applicability, hence the excitement for harnessing the rheology of active fluids for which internal structure and continuous energy injection lead to spontaneous flows and complex, out-of-equilibrium dynamics. We propose and demonstrate a convenient, highly tuneable method for controlling flow, topology and composition within active films. Our approach establishes rheological coupling via the indirect presence of fully submersed micropatterned structures within a thin, underlying oil layer. Simulations reveal that micropatterned structures produce effective virtual boundaries within the superjacent active nematic film due to differences in viscous dissipation as a function of depth. This accessible method of applying position-dependent, effective dissipation to the active films presents a non-intrusive pathway for engineering active microfluidic systems.Comment: 13 pages; 5 main-text-figures; 3-supplemental-figure

Extension of the Hamaneh - Taylor model using the macroscopic polarization for the description of chiral smectic liquid crystals

Chiral smectic liquid crystals exhibit a series of phases, including ferroelectric, antiferroelectric and ferrielectric commensurate structures as well as an incommensurate SmCalpha phase. We carried out an extension of the phenomenological model, recently presented by M. B. Hamaneh and P. L. Taylor, based upon the distorted clock model

Salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) showing varying emamectin benzoate susceptibilities differ in neuronal acetylcholine receptor and GABA-gated chloride channel mRNA expression

Background: Caligid copepods, also called sea lice, are fish ectoparasites, some species of which cause significant problems in the mariculture of salmon, where the annual cost of infection is in excess of €300 million globally. At present, caligid control on farms is mainly achieved using medicinal treatments. However, the continued use of a restricted number of medicine actives potentially favours the development of drug resistance. Here, we report transcriptional changes in a laboratory strain of the caligid Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Krøyer, 1837) that is moderately (~7-fold) resistant to the avermectin compound emamectin benzoate (EMB), a component of the anti-salmon louse agent SLICE® (Merck Animal Health).Results: Suppression subtractive hybridisation (SSH) was used to enrich transcripts differentially expressed between EMB-resistant (PT) and drug-susceptible (S) laboratory strains of L. salmonis. SSH libraries were subjected to 454 sequencing. Further L. salmonis transcript sequences were available as expressed sequence tags (EST) from GenBank. Contiguous sequences were generated from both SSH and EST sequences and annotated. Transcriptional responses in PT and S salmon lice were investigated using custom 15 K oligonucleotide microarrays designed using the above sequence resources. In the absence of EMB exposure, 359 targets differed in transcript abundance between the two strains, these genes being enriched for functions such as calcium ion binding, chitin metabolism and muscle structure. γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-gated chloride channel (GABA-Cl) and neuronal acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunits showed significantly lower transcript levels in PT lice compared to S lice. Using RT-qPCR, the decrease in mRNA levels was estimated at ~1.4-fold for GABA-Cl and ~2.8-fold for nAChR. Salmon lice from the PT strain showed few transcriptional responses following acute exposure (1 or 3 h) to 200 μg L-1 of EMB, a drug concentration tolerated by PT lice, but toxic for S lice.Conclusions: Avermectins are believed to exert their toxicity to invertebrates through interaction with glutamate-gated and GABA-gated chloride channels. Further potential drug targets include other Cys-loop ion channels such as nAChR. The present study demonstrates decreased transcript abundances of GABA-Cl and nAChR subunits in EMB-resistant salmon lice, suggesting their involvement in avermectin toxicity in caligids

Problems of Electronic Commerce Applications in a Developing Country: A Descriptive Case Study of the Banking Industry of Oman

ABSTRACT Internet banking is a relatively new area and there are several issues, which have been generally untouched and are therefore open to further investigation, especially in the developing countries. Hence, this study is a step in this direction. This research has been focused on investigating to identify and highlight the main potential factors or impediments that are currently inhibiting the incorporation or adoption of Electronic Commerce (EC) applications expansion in the Omani banking sector. Data, obtained for the first time, were collected using semi-structured interviews and a survey questionnaire as well as by reviewing some bank documents. The study explores the slow uptake of EC application in the banking industry. The objectives of the research, therefore, were to identify factors enabling or inhibiting the successful adoption and use of ecommerce applications within the banking industry of Oman. The results provide a pragmatic picture of the adoption of EC applications in the country's core financial sector domain. One of its main findings is that security and privacy issues were found to be a serious inhibiting factor. Other factors such as power relationships (as conflict between managers can often emerge during the process of IS/IT adoption). Banks adopting and implementing Internet banking services and applications face several management and social problems and challenges. Although the research context is quite specific, it is believed that the findings are of relevance to other industries and other developing countries

A human tau seeded neuronal cell model recapitulates molecular responses associated with Alzheimer's disease

Cellular models recapitulating features of tauopathies are useful tools to investigate the causes and consequences of tau aggregation and the identification of novel treatments. We seeded rat primary cortical neurons with tau isolated from Alzheimer's disease brains to induce a time-dependent increase in endogenous tau inclusions. Transcriptomics of seeded and control cells identified 1075 differentially expressed genes (including 26 altered at two time points). These were enriched for lipid/steroid metabolism and neuronal/glial cell development genes. 50 genes were correlated with tau inclusion formation at both transcriptomic and proteomic levels, including several microtubule and cytoskeleton-related proteins such as Tubb2a, Tubb4a, Nefl and Snca. Several genes (such as Fyn kinase and PTBP1, a tau exon 10 repressor) interact directly with or regulate tau. We conclude that this neuronal model may be a suitable platform for high-throughput screens for target or hit compound identification and validation

Norwich COVID-19 testing initiative pilot: evaluating the feasibility of asymptomatic testing on a university campus

Background: There is a high prevalence of COVID-19 in university-age students, who are returning to campuses. There is little evidence regarding the feasibility of universal, asymptomatic testing to help control outbreaks in this population. This study aimed to pilot mass COVID-19 testing on a university research park, to assess the feasibility and acceptability of scaling up testing to all staff and students. Methods: This was a cross-sectional feasibility study on a university research park in the East of England. All staff and students (5625) were eligible to participate. All participants were offered four PCR swabs, which they self-administered over two weeks. Outcome measures included uptake, drop-out rate, positivity rates, participant acceptability measures, laboratory processing measures, data collection and management measures. Results: 798 (76%) of 1053 who registered provided at least one swab; 687 (86%) provided all four; 792 (99%) of 798 who submitted at least one swab had all negative results and 6 participants had one inconclusive result. There were no positive results. 458 (57%) of 798 participants responded to a post-testing survey, demonstrating a mean acceptability score of 4.51/5, with five being the most positive. Conclusions: Repeated self-testing for COVID-19 using PCR is feasible and acceptable to a university population