The Quark and Gluon Structure of the Proton

In this article we present a review of the structure of the proton and the current status of our knowledge of the parton distribution functions (PDFs). The lepton-nucleon scattering experiments which provide the main constraints in PDF extractions are introduced and their measurements are discussed. Particular emphasis is given to the HERA data which cover a wide kinematic region. Hadron-hadron scattering measurements which provide supplementary information are also discussed. The methods used by various groups to extract the PDFs in QCD analyses of hard scattering data are presented and their results are compared. The use of existing measurements allows predictions for cross sections at the LHC to be made. A comparison of these predictions for selected processes is given. First measurements from the LHC experiments are compared to predictions and some initial studies of the impact of this new data on the PDFs are presented

Self-Powered Conformable Deformation Sensor Exploiting the Collective Piezoelectric Effect of Self-Organised GaN Nanowires

International audienceWe present a novel integration-driven approach to the design of multi-scale multi-physics sensors and systems. We implement this method to model, design, fabricate and characterize a thin, conformable low-cost impact detection sensor based on assemblies of piezoelectric GaN nanowires. When suitably assembled, the latter demonstrate a macroscale additivity of their nanoscale intrinsic properties, which enables to appeal to classical fabrication techniques and exploitable electronic readouts at the system level. We also exploit multi-level simulations to provide useful insights of adapted application-driven integration solutions for these new forms of sensors. We demonstrate the potential of such application-targeted, fully-integrated and modular systems to accommodate to the stringent requirements of structural health monitoring (SHM)

Cdc123, a Cell Cycle Regulator Needed for eIF2 Assembly, Is an ATP-Grasp Protein with Unique Features

International audienceEukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF2), a heterotrimeric guanosine triphosphatase, has a central role in protein biosynthesis by supplying methionylated initiator tRNA to the ribosomal translation initiation complex and by serving as a target for translational control in response to stress. Recent work identified a novel step indispensable for eIF2 function: assembly of eIF2 from its three subunits by the cell proliferation protein Cdc123. We report the first crystal structure of a Cdc123 representative, that from Schizosaccharomyces pombe, both isolated and bound to domain III of Saccharomyces cerevisiae eIF2 gamma. The structures show that Cdc123 resembles enzymes of the ATP-grasp family. Indeed, Cdc123 binds ATP-Mg2+, and conserved residues contacting ATP-Mg2+ are essential for Cdc123 to support eIF2 assembly and cell viability. A docking of eIF2 alpha gamma onto Cdc123, combined with genetic and biochemical experiments, allows us to propose a model explaining how Cdc123 participates in the biogenesis of eIF2 through facilitating assembly of eIF2 gamma to eIF2 alpha

Drugs associated with restless legs syndrome: A case/noncase study in the French pharmacovigilance database

BACKGROUND: Several case reports have suggested that drugs could induce restless legs syndrome. However, no systematic review of this adverse drug reaction (ADR) in a pharmacovigilance database has been published. OBJECTIVE: To assess the frequency of restless legs syndrome in the French Pharmacovigilance Database. METHODS: We selected all ADR reports from January 1, 1984 to December 31, 2009 coded as restless legs syndrome. Restless legs syndrome diagnosis was validated from case descriptions. Using a case/noncase approach, reporting odds ratio and 95% confidence interval were calculated for ''suspected'' drugs with 2 or more observations. RESULTS: Twenty-six ADR reports were found. Four cases were excluded because of alternative diagnosis. Fourteen cases were women (64%). Median age was 57. Most frequently suspected drugs were antidepressants (reporting odds ratio, 15.9 [6.4-39.7]; amitriptyline, escitalopram, mianserine, mirtazapine, duloxetine), neuroleptics (17.8 [6.1-51.7]; thioridazine, loxapine, risperidone, aripiprazole) or tramadol (18.2 [6.3-52.8]). CONCLUSIONS: Restless legs syndrome is a very rare ADR that was more frequently reported in association with antidepressants, neuroleptics, or tramadol.Fil: Perez Lloret, Santiago. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Francia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Rey, María Verónica. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Bondon Guitton, Emmanuelle. Inserm; FranciaFil: Rascol, Olivier. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Montastruc, And Jean-Louis. Inserm; Franci

From dilute to entangled fibre suspensions involved in the flow of reinforced polymers: A unified framework

Most suspension descriptions nowadays employed are based on Jeffery model and some of its phenomenological adaptations that do not take into account the possible existence of a relative velocity between the fibres and the suspending fluid when the fibre interactions increase. It is expected that at very low density of contacts, as predicted by standard suspension models, fibres move with the suspending fluid velocity. When the density of fibre interactions becomes extremely high and a percolated network of fibre contacts is established within the suspension, fibres cannot move anymore and then the fluid flows throughout the rigid or moderately deformable entangled fibre skeleton, like a fluid flowing through a porous medium. In between these two limit cases, one could expect that fibres move but with a velocity lower than the one of the suspending fluid. Thus, two contributions are expected, one coming from standard suspension theory in which fibres and fluid move with the same velocity, and the other resulting in a Darcy contribution consisting of the relative fibre/fluid velocity. In this paper, we elaborate a general model able to adapt continuously to all these flow regimes

Multi-scale modeling and simulation of thermoplastic automated tape placement: Effects of metallic particles reinforcement on part consolidation

This paper concerns engineered composites integrating metallic particles to enhance thermal and electrical properties. However, these properties are strongly dependent on the forming process itself that determines the particle distribution and orientation. At the same time, the resulting enhanced thermal properties affect the reinforced resin viscosity whose flow is involved in the intimate contact evolution. Thus, a subtle and intricate coupling appears, and the process cannot be defined by ignoring it. In this paper, we analyze the effects of particle concentration and orientation on the process and processability. For this purpose, three main models are combined: (i) a multi-scale surface representation and its evolution, by using an appropriate numerical model; (ii) flow-induced orientation, and (iii) the impact of the orientation state on the homogenized thermal conductivity

Burden of injury of serious road injuries in six EU countries

BACKGROUND: Information about the burden of (non-fatal) road traffic injury is very useful to further improve road safety policy. Previous studies calculated the burden of injury in individual countries. This paper estimates and compares the burden of non-fatal serious road traffic injuries in six EU countries/regions: Austria, Belgium, England, The Netherlands, the Rhône region in France and Spain. METHODS: It is a cross-sectional study based on hospital discharge databases. POPULATION: of study are patients hospitalized with MAIS3+ due to road traffic injuries. The burden of injury (expressed in years lived with disability (YLD)) is calculated applying a method that is developed within the INTEGRIS study. The method assigns estimated disability information to the casualties using the EUROCOST injury classification. RESULTS: The average burden per MAIS3+ casualty varies between 2.4 YLD and 3.2 YLD per casualty. About 90% of the total burden of injury of MAIS3+ casualties is due to lifelong consequences that are experienced by 19% to 33% of the MAIS3+ casualties. Head injuries, spinal cord injuries and injuries to the lower extremities are responsible for more than 90% of the total burden of MAIS3+ road traffic injuries. Results per transport mode differ between the countries. Differences between countries are mainly due to differences in age distribution and in the distribution over EUROCOST injury groups of the casualties. CONCLUSION: The analyses presented in this paper can support further improvement of road safety policy. Countermeasures could for example be focused at reducing skull and brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and injuries to the lower extremities, as these injuries are responsible for more than 90% of the total burden of injury of MAIS3+ casualties

Reporting road traffic serious injuries in Europe. Guidelines from the SafetyCube project (H2020)

Reporting road traffic serious injuries in Europe. Guidelines from the SafetyCube project (H2020

Practical guidelines for the registration and monitoring of serious traffic injuries, D7.1 of the H2020 project SafetyCube

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Crashes also cause numerous serious traffic injuries, resulting in considerable economic and human costs. Given the burden of injury produced by traffic, using only fatalities as an indicator to monitor road safety gives a very small picture of the health impact of traffic crashes, just the tip of the iceberg. Moreover, in several countries during the last years the number of serious traffic injuries has not been decreasing as fast as the number of fatalities. In other countries the number of serious traffic injuries has even been increasing (Berecki-Gisolf et al., 2013; IRTAD Working Group on Serious Road Traffic Casualties, 2010; Weijermars et al., 2015).Therefore, serious traffic injuries are more commonly being adopted by policy makers as an additional indicator of road safety. Reducing the number of serious traffic injuries is one of the key priorities in the road safety programme 2011-2020 of the European Commission (EC, 2010). To be able to compare performance and monitor developments in serious traffic injuries across Europe, a common definition of a serious road injury was necessary. In January 2013, the High Level Group on Road Safety, representing all EU Member States, established the definition of serious traffic injuries as road casualties with an injury level of MAIS ≥ 3. The Maximum AIS represents the most severe injury obtained by a casualty according to the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS). Traditionally the main source of information on traffic accidents and injuries has been the police registration. This provides the official data for statistics at national and European level (CARE Database). Data reported by police usually is very detailed about the circumstances of the crash particularly if there are people injured or killed. But on the other hand police cannot assess the severity of injuries in a reliable way, due, obviously to their training. Therefore, police based data use to classify people involved in a crash as fatality, severe injured if hospitalised more than 24 hours and slight injured if not hospitalised. Moreover, it is known that even a so clear definition as a fatality is not always well reported and produces underreporting. This is due to several factors such as lack of coverage of police at the scene or people dying at hospital not followed by police (Amoros et al., 2006; Broughton et al., 2007; Pérez et al., 2006). Hospital records of patients with road traffic injuries usually include very little information on circumstances of the crash but it does contain data about the person, the hospitalisation (date of hospitalisation and discharge, medical diagnosis, mechanism or external cause of injury, and interventions). Hospital inpatient Discharge Register (HDR) offers an opportunity to complement police data on road traffic injuries. Medical diagnoses can be used to derive information about severity of injuries. Among others, one of the possible scales to measure injury severity is the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS). The High Level group identified three main ways Member States can collect data on serious traffic injuries (MAIS ≥ 3): 1) by applying a correction on police data, 2) by using hospital data and 3) by using linked police and hospital data. Once one of these three ways is selected, several additional choices need to be made. In order to be able to compare injury data across different countries, it is important to understand the effects of methodological choices on the estimated numbers of serious traffic injuries. A number of questions arise: How to determine the correction factors that are to be applied to police data? How to select road traffic casualties in the hospital data and how to derive MAIS ≥ 3 casualties? How should police and hospital data be linked and how can the number of MAIS ≥ 3 casualties be determined on the basis of the linked data sources? Currently, EU member states use different procedures to determine the number of MAIS ≥ 3 traffic injuries, dependent on the available data. Given the major differences in the procedures being applied, the quality of the data differs considerably and the numbers are not yet fully comparable between countries. In order to be able to compare injury data across different countries, it is important to understand the effects of methodological choices on the estimated numbers of serious traffic injuries. Work Package 7 of SafetyCube project is dedicated to serious traffic injuries, their health impacts and their costs. One of the aims of work package 7 is to assess and improve the estimation of the number of serious traffic injuries. The aim of this deliverable (D7.1) is to report practices in Europe concerning the reporting of serious traffic injuries and to provide guidelines and recommendations applied to each of the three main ways to estimate the number of road traffic serious injuries. Specific objectives for this deliverable are to: Describe the current state of collection of data on serious traffic injuries across Europe Provide practical guidelines for the estimation of the number of serious traffic injuries for each of the three ways identified by the High Level Group Examine how the estimated number of serious traffic injuries is affected by differences in methodology

MiR130b from Schlafen4+ MDSCs stimulates epithelial proliferation and correlates with preneoplastic changes prior to gastric cancer

The myeloid differentiation factor Schlafen4 (Slfn4) marks a subset of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in the stomach during Helicobacter-induced spasmolytic polypeptide-expressing metaplasia (SPEM). OBJECTIVE: To identify the gene products expressed by Slfn4+-MDSCs and to determine how they promote SPEM. DESIGN: We performed transcriptome analyses for both coding genes (mRNA by RNA-Seq) and non-coding genes (microRNAs using NanoString nCounter) using flow-sorted SLFN4+ and SLFN4- cells from Helicobacter-infected mice exhibiting metaplasia at 6 months postinfection. Thioglycollate-elicited myeloid cells from the peritoneum were cultured and treated with IFNα to induce the T cell suppressor phenotype, expression of MIR130b and SLFN4. MIR130b expression in human gastric tissue including gastric cancer and patient sera was determined by qPCR and in situ hybridisation. Knockdown of MiR130b in vivo in Helicobacter-infected mice was performed using Invivofectamine. Organoids from primary gastric cancers were used to generate xenografts. ChIP assay and Western blots were performed to demonstrate NFκb p65 activation by MIR130b. RESULTS: MicroRNA analysis identified an increase in MiR130b in gastric SLFN4+ cells. Moreover, MIR130b colocalised with SLFN12L, a human homologue of SLFN4, in gastric cancers. MiR130b was required for the T-cell suppressor phenotype exhibited by the SLFN4+ cells and promoted Helicobacter-induced metaplasia. Treating gastric organoids with the MIR130b mimic induced epithelial cell proliferation and promoted xenograft tumour growth. CONCLUSION: Taken together, MiR130b plays an essential role in MDSC function and supports metaplastic transformation.Open access articleThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]