Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding in adolescents: Results at two years including psychosocial aspects

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Obesity now affects 3%-4% of the pediatric population and contributes to the increase in cardiac mortality in adulthood. Bariatric surgery is the best treatment for weight loss and the obesity-associated comorbidities in adults. We report here our experience of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) in adolescents. METHODS: The medical charts of the first 16 patients operated on in our center were reviewed. Data were compiled concerning weight loss, physical and biological comorbidities, health-related quality of life (QOL) and surgical complications before surgery and during 24months of follow-up. RESULTS: The maximal pre-operative median body mass index was 43.0kg·m(-2), decreasing to 33.0kg·m(-2) at 2years post-LAGB, which corresponded to a 49.2% excess body weight loss (p<0.001). Most comorbidities (glucose intolerance, hypertension and sleep apnea) resolved within the first year post-LAGB and QOL was improved on the PedsQL™ scales. No severe surgical complications were noted, with only three re-interventions for device failure (2) or band removal (1). CONCLUSION: LAGB is well tolerated in adolescents and shows a beneficial impact on weight loss and obesity-related comorbidities. Associated with global management, it may have a positive impact on patients\u27 QOL and social and psychological status

The methods to detect vacuum polarization by evanescent modes

We propose the evanescent-mode-sensing methods to probe the electrodynamics (QED) vacuum polarization. From our methods, high-sensitivity can be achieved even though the external field is much smaller than the Schwinger critical field and may be realizable in contemporary experimental conditions. The methods are based on the effect of phase change and time delay of evanescent wave which is transmitted in QED vacuum. These methods can also be widely used in sensitive probing of tiny dissipation in other fields

U-series and radiocarbon cross dating of speleothems from Nerja Cave (Spain): Evidence of open system behavior. Implication for the Spanish rock art chronology

Two stalagmites from Nerja cave (Andalusia, Spain) were studied. The cave is well known because of its long human occupation from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Chalcolithic and its abundant parietal prehistoric Art. The aims of this study were twofold: i) to compare uranium/thorium (Th/U) and Carbon-14 (C) ages obtained all along the growth axis of the stalagmites in order to understand the consequences of diagenetic processes on the validity of radiometric ages; ii) as one of the stalagmites contains black layers, attributed to combustion soot, to establish when these intense hearths were used and by which culture. Th/U and C ages were coupled with mineralogical studies using FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy) and thin section observations. The first stalagmite (GN16-9b) displays Th/U ages in stratigraphic order, and compatible with C ages corrected for a few percent of dead carbon. Homogeneous composition of aragonitic crystals characterized by their needle-like texture is observed throughout this speleothem. For the second stalagmite (GN16-7), in contrast, Th/U ages display large significant inversions and discordant results on the upper part and at the base of the stalagmite, suggesting a possible open system behavior for this chronometer. Interestingly, C ages are in stratigraphic order all along the stalagmite and are compatible with Th/U ages only in its central part. Mineralogical studies display evidence of aragonite to calcite transformation at the top and a complex mineralogical assemblage with interlayered silicates (possibly clays) and calcitic mineralogy for the base of GN16-7. In these parts, discordant Th/U ages were measured. In the middle part of the stalagmite, however, where the fibrous aragonite is well preserved, the C and Th/U ages agree. Our data suggest that in the case of aragonite to calcite transformation as shown here, Th/U ages are biased, but C ages seem to remain accurate, as already observed in aragonitic marine bio minerals. C ages obtained are used for the chronology of the soot layer, determined here between 7900 and 5500 years Cal BP, coherent with previous analysis of charcoals in the same sector of the cave. This study highlights the importance of working with at least two chronometers when stratigraphic age verification is not possible, as is the case of some parietal CaCO thin layers used for rock art dating. Recent Th/U ages published for carbonate deposits on Spanish parietal Art are discussed in light of this demonstration.This research was funded by ANR (grant number ANR-18-CE27- 0004, ApART project) and supported by the Paris Ile-de-France Region – DIM “matérieux Anciens et Patrimoniaux” for FTIR analysis. The authors thank LMC14 staff (Laboratoire de Mesure du Carbone-14), ARTEMIS national facility, for the results obtained with the Accelerator Mass Spectroscopy method, and the PANOPLY analytical platform. This research is part of the “Proyecto General de Investigación aplicada a la conservación de Cueva de Nerja” authorised by the Junta de Andalucía and financed by the Fundación de Servicios Cueva de Nerja. The authors also wish to thank the “Instituto de Investigación Cueva de Nerja” for supporting this research. M.A.Medina-Alcaide has a Postdoctoral Fyssen Grant; the results presented in this paper are included in the PID2019-107262GB-I00 and PDC2021-121501-I00 grants funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033

A Simple Protocol to Compare EMFI Platforms

Several electromagnetic fault injection (EMFI) platforms have been developed these last years. They rely on different technical solutions and figures of merit used in the related datasheets or publications are also different. This renders difficult the comparison of the various EMFI platforms and the choice of the one adapted to its own usage. This paper suggests a characterization protocol which application is fast and requires equipment usually available in labs involved in security characterization. It also introduces an effective solution to enhance (by a factor 5) the timing resolution of EMFI platforms built around a commercial voltage pulse generator designed to drive 50 Ohm termination

Radiocarbon Dating of Small-sized Foraminifer Samples: Insights into Marine sediment Mixing

Radiocarbon (14C) can be used to build absolute chronologies and reconstruct ocean ventilation over the last 40 ka. Sample size requirements have restricted 14C measurements in marine cores with low foraminifer content, impeding 14C-based studies focused on abrupt climate events. Recent developments have demonstrated that small-sized foraminifer samples can now be dated using a gas introduction system at the cost of a small decrease in precision. We explore the potential of gas measurements on benthic and planktonic foraminifers from core SU90-08 (43°03′1″N, 30°02′5″W, 3080 m). Gas measurements are accurate, reproducible within 2σ uncertainty and comparable to graphite measurements. Both techniques yield negative 14C benthic-planktonic (B-P) age-offsets after Heinrich event 1. We argue that negative B-P ages result from bioturbation and changes in foraminifer abundances, with the chance of negative B-P especially increased when the 14C age gradient between the deep and surface waters is decreased. Small-sized 14C measurements seem to capture the variance of the foraminifera age distribution, revealing the active mixing in those archives. Sediment deposition and mixing effects possibly pose a greater obstacle for past 14C-based dating and ocean ventilation reconstructions than the measurement precision itself, particularly in relatively low sedimentation rate settings

A new multimethod approach for dating cave calcite: application to the cave of Trou du Renard (Soyons, France)

A multimethod approach aimed at characterizing carbonate parietal deposits and at proposing a chronology for these carbonate crusts is described. Dating was performed by radiometric methods (C-14 for recent samples and U series) on samples that had been characterized beforehand using optical and cathodoluminescence microscopy and Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy. For the U series, high precision on U–Th ages was achieved using liquid phase multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) applied to large samples, while laser ablation single collector inductively coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometry (ICP-SFMS) provided information on the reliability of the sampling with a high spatial resolution. This methodology, based on the combination of these two techniques reinforced by the information obtained by the calcite characterization methods, was applied to carbonate deposits from the cave of Trou du Renard (Soyons, France). The ages obtained with the two U–Th dating techniques are comparable and illustrate that different laminae were deposited at different rates in the samples. In the future, this procedure, based on the mineralogical and geochemical characterization of the samples and their dating by radiometric methods, will be applied to the layers of parietal carbonates deposited on Palaeolithic decorated walls. When the crystallization is slow, the U/Th dating method by imaging technique is of interest, as well as that by multicollector ICP-MS in liquid phase. The development of robust dating methods on very small quantities of material will make it possible to define the chronological framework of cave rock art.</p

Past temperature reconstructions from deep ice cores: relevance for future climate change

Ice cores provide unique archives of past climate and environmental changes based only on physical processes. Quantitative temperature reconstructions are essential for the comparison between ice core records and climate models. We give an overview of the methods that have been developed to reconstruct past local temperatures from deep ice cores and highlight several points that are relevant for future climate change. We first analyse the long term fluctuations of temperature as depicted in the long Antarctic record from EPICA Dome C. The long term imprint of obliquity changes in the EPICA Dome C record is highlighted and compared to simulations conducted with the ECBILT-CLIO intermediate complexity climate model. We discuss the comparison between the current interglacial period and the long interglacial corresponding to marine isotopic stage 11, about 400 kyr BP. Previous studies had focused on the role of precession and the thresholds required to induce glacial inceptions. We suggest that, due to the low eccentricity configuration of MIS 11 and the Holocene, the effect of precession on the incoming solar radiation is damped and that changes in obliquity must be taken into account. The EPICA Dome C alignment of terminations I and VI published in 2004 corresponds to a phasing of the obliquity signals. A conjunction of low obliquity and minimum northern hemisphere summer insolation is not found in the next tens of thousand years, supporting the idea of an unusually long interglacial ahead. As a second point relevant for future climate change, we discuss the magnitude and rate of change of past temperatures reconstructed from Greenland (NorthGRIP) and Antarctic (Dome C) ice cores. Past episodes of temperatures above the present-day values by up to 5°C are recorded at both locations during the penultimate interglacial period. The rate of polar warming simulated by coupled climate models forced by a CO2 increase of 1% per year is compared to ice-core-based temperature reconstructions. In Antarctica, the CO2-induced warming lies clearly beyond the natural rhythm of temperature fluctuations. In Greenland, the CO2-induced warming is as fast or faster than the most rapid temperature shifts of the last ice age. The magnitude of polar temperature change in response to a quadrupling of atmospheric CO2 is comparable to the magnitude of the polar temperature change from the Last Glacial Maximum to present-day. When forced by prescribed changes in ice sheet reconstructions and CO2 changes, climate models systematically underestimate the glacial-interglacial polar temperature change

Systems-wide analysis of manganese deficiency-induced changes in gene activity of Arabidopsis roots

Manganese (Mn) is pivotal for plant growth and development, but little information is available regarding the strategies that evolved to improve Mn acquisition and cellular homeostasis of Mn. Using an integrated RNA-based transcriptomic and high-throughput shotgun proteomics approach, we generated a comprehensive inventory of transcripts and proteins that showed altered abundance in response to Mn deficiency in roots of the model plant Arabidopsis. A suite of 22,385 transcripts was consistently detected in three RNA-seq runs; LC-MS/MS-based iTRAQ proteomics allowed the unambiguous determination of 11,606 proteins. While high concordance between mRNA and protein expression (R = 0.87) was observed for transcript/protein pairs in which both gene products accumulated differentially upon Mn deficiency, only approximately 10% of the total alterations in the abundance of proteins could be attributed to transcription, indicating a large impact of protein-level regulation. Differentially expressed genes spanned a wide range of biological functions, including the maturation, translation, and transport of mRNAs, as well as primary and secondary metabolic processes. Metabolic analysis by UPLC-qTOF-MS revealed that the steady-state levels of several major glucosinolates were significantly altered upon Mn deficiency in both roots and leaves, possibly as a compensation for increased pathogen susceptibility under conditions of Mn deficiency

Limpet Shells from the Aterian Level 8 of El Harhoura 2 Cave (Témara, Morocco): Preservation State of Crossed-Foliated Layers

International audienceThe exploitation of mollusks by the first anatomically modern humans is a central question for archaeologists. This paper focuses on level 8 (dated around * 100 ka BP) of El Har-houra 2 Cave, located along the coastline in the Rabat-Témara region (Morocco). The large quantity of Patella sp. shells found in this level highlights questions regarding their origin and preservation. This study presents an estimation of the preservation status of these shells. We focus here on the diagenetic evolution of both the microstructural patterns and organic components of crossed-foliated shell layers, in order to assess the viability of further investigations based on shell layer minor elements, isotopic or biochemical compositions. The results show that the shells seem to be well conserved, with microstructural patterns preserved down to sub-micrometric scales, and that some organic components are still present in situ. But faint taphonomic degradations affecting both mineral and organic components are nonetheless evidenced, such as the disappearance of organic envelopes surrounding crossed-foliated lamellae, combined with a partial recrystallization of the lamellae. Our results provide a solid case-study of the early stages of the diagenetic evolution of crossed-foliated shell layers. Moreover, they highlight the fact that extreme caution must be taken before using fossil shells for palaeoenvironmental or geochronological reconstructions. Without thorough investigation, the alteration patterns illustrated here would easily have gone unnoticed. However, these degradations are liable to bias any proxy based on the elemental, isotopic or biochemical composition of the shells. This study also provides significant data concerning human subsistence behavior: the presence of notches and the good preservation state of limpet shells (no dissolution/recrystallization, no bioerosion and no abrasion/fragmentation aspects) would attest that limpets were gathered alive with tools by Middle Palaeolithic (Aterian) populations in North Africa for consumption

Angiotensin-2 receptors (AT1-R and AT2-R), new prognostic factors for renal clear-cell carcinoma?

International audienceBackground: The growth factor Angiotensin-2 signals through Angiotensin receptor type 1 (AT1-R) in a broad range of cell types and tumours and through the type-2 receptor (AT2-R) in a more restricted group of cell types. Although numerous forms of cancer have been shown to overexpress AT1-R, expression of AT1-R and AT2-R by human renal clear-cell carcinoma (RCCC) is not well understood. In this study, the expression of both angiotensin receptors was quantified in a retrospective series of RCCC and correlated with prognostic factors.Methods: Angiotensin receptor type 1 and AT2-R expressions were quantified on tumour tissues by immunohistochemistry (IHC), western blot and quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR (qRT–PCR). IHC results were correlated to Fuhrman's grade and patient progression-free survival (PFS).Results: A total of 84 RCCC were analysed. By IHC, AT1-R and AT2-R were expressed to a greater level in high-grade tumours (AT1-R: P<0.001, AT2-R: P<0.001). Univariate analysis showed a correlation between PFS and AT1-R or AT2-R expression (P=0.001). By multivariate analysis, only AT2-R expression correlated with PFS (HR 1.021, P=0.006) and cancer stage (P<0.001). By western blot, AT1-R and AT1-R were also found to be overexpressed in higher Fuhrman's grade (P<0.01 and P=0.001 respectively). By qRT–PCR, AT1-R but not AT2-R mRNA were downregulated (P=0.001 and P=0.118, respectively).Conclusion: Our results show that AT1-R and AT2-R proteins are overexpressed in the most aggressive forms of RCCC and that AT2-R expression correlates with PFS. AT1-R or AT2-R blockage could, therefore, offer novel directions for anti-RCCC therapy