Influence of surrounding plates on 3D subduction dynamics

International audienceOur 3D modelling study shows that the presence of lithospheric plates around a subducting plate has a significant influence on subduction dynamics, in particular on trench retreat rate, slab dip, and lateral shortening of the subducting plate. Neighbouring plates prevent unrealistic plate behaviour with no need for complex rheologies. Because, at the Earth's surface, plates form a continuous shell, they should not be neglected

Subducting slabs: jellyfishes in the Earth mantle

International audienceThe constantly improving resolution of geophysical data, seismic tomography and seismicity in particular, shows that the lithosphere does not subduct as a slab of uniform thickness but is rather thinned in the upper mantle and thickened around the transition zone between the upper and lower mantle. This observation has traditionally been interpreted as evidence for the buckling and piling of slabs at the boundary between the upper and lower mantle, where a strong contrast in viscosity may exist and cause resistance to the penetration of slabs into the lower mantle. The distribution and character of seismicity reveal, however, that slabs undergo vertical extension in the upper mantle and compression near the transition zone. In this paper, we demonstrate that during the subduction process, the shape of low viscosity slabs (1 to 100 times more viscous than the surrounding mantle) evolves toward an inverted plume shape that we coin jellyfish. Results of a 3D numerical model show that the leading tip of slabs deform toward a rounded head skirted by lateral tentacles that emerge from the sides of the jellyfish head. The head is linked to the body of the subducting slab by a thin tail. A complete parametric study reveals that subducting slabs may achieve a variety of shapes, in good agreement with the diversity of natural slab shapes evidenced by seismic tomography. Our work also suggests that the slab to mantle viscosity ratio in the Earth is most likely to be lower than 100. However, the sensitivity of slab shapes to upper and lower mantle viscosities and densities, which remain poorly constrained by independent evidence, precludes any systematic deciphering of the observations

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age  6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score  652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

The Temporal Evolution Of A Subducting Plate In The Lower Mantle

International audienc

Bridging static and dynamic modeling: an application to high energy geothermal reservoir modeling

International audienceWhen mass and energy transfers are involved, bridging static and dynamic modeling in a seamless way is a milestone to build reliable conceptual models of the subsurface in order to efficiently exploit its resources or use it as a storage space (energy, gas, waste…). Our purpose here is to be able to build interactive conceptual models of high energy geothermal reservoirs. As these reservoirs are always located in complex geological settings (faults and fractures are ubiquitous features) and involve the circulation of hot brines over a wide range of thermodynamical parameters, we must be able:#1 to quickly build structural models involving geological bodies of any shape and with the occurrence of discontinuities,#2 to produce conformable meshes of such models,#3 to perform multiphase thermo-hydraulic simulations with phase change on these meshes without numerical artefacts.Over the years, iso-potential surface mapping has proved an efficient framework to achieve goal #1 and it is now implemented in several commercial softwares (e.g. GeoModeller). Yet, when it comes to goal #2 the implicit nature of surfaces make volumic meshing a non-trivial task. We recently used the Computational Geometry Algorithms Library (CGAL) to build conformal simplicial (tetrahedral) meshes that exactly match any geological 3D object and its boundaries or internal 2D features such as fault surfaces. A crucial issue of this process is to provide the mesher with sharp features of dimension 1 (surface intersections) to avoid local over-refinement (or even crash of the algorithm). Finally, to reach goal #3 we used the Vertex Approximate Gradient finite volume scheme which has been adapted to model mass and energy over any polyhedral meshes with the possibility to take into account objects of codimension 1 such as fault surfaces which may act as corridors for fluid flows.We think that the proposed workflow and computing tools can be easily adapted to any other thematic field than geothermal reservoir modeling both for engineering purposes and the simulation of geological processes over very large timescales

Conduction system pacing in France in 2022: A snapshot survey from the Working Group of Pacing and Electrophysiology of the French Society of Cardiology

Background: Conduction system pacing (CSP) is an emerging and promising approach for physiological ventricular pacing. While data from randomized controlled trials are scarce, use of His-bundle pacing (HBP) and left bundle branch area pacing (LBBAP) has increased in France.Aim: To perform a national snapshot survey for cardiac electrophysiologists to evaluate adoption of CSP in France.Methods: An online survey, distributed to every senior cardiac electrophysiologist in France, was conducted in November 2022.Results: A total of 120 electrophysiologists completed the survey. Eighty-three (69%) respondents reported experience in undertaking CSP procedures and 27 (23%) were planning to start performing CSP in the coming 2 years. The implantation techniques and criteria used for successful implantation differed significantly among operators. The most frequent indications for HBP and LBBAP were high-degree atrioventricular block with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) < 40% (24 and 82%, respectively) or with LVEF ≥ 40% (27 and 74%, respectively), and after failure of a coronary sinus left ventricular lead (27 and 71%, respectively). The limitations respondents most frequently perceived when performing HBP were bad sensing/pacing parameters (45%), increased procedure duration (41%) and risk of lead dislodgement (30%). The most frequently perceived limitations to performing LBBAP were absence of guidelines or consensus (31%), lack of medical training (23%) and increased procedure duration (23%).Conclusions: Our national survey-based study supports wide adoption of CSP in France. CSP is currently used as a second-line approach for both antibradycardia and resynchronization indications, with important variations regarding implantation techniques and criteria for measuring success

Low-energy states in 11N and the two-proton emission of 12O

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Integrated Prototyping in View of the 100 MeV Linac for Myrrha Phase 1

International audienceThe MYRRHA project borne by SCK•CEN, the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, aims at realizing a pre-industrial Accelerator Driven System (ADS) for exploring the transmutation of long lived nuclear waste. The linac for this ADS will be a High Power Proton Accelerator delivering 2.4 MW CW beam at 600 MeV. It has to satisfy stringent requirements for reliability and availability: a beam-MTBF of 250h is targeted. The reliability goal is pursued through a phased approach. During Phase 1, expected till 2024, the MYRRHA linac up to 100 MeV will be constructed. It will allow to evaluate the reliability potential of the 600 MeV linac. It will also feed a Proton Target Facility in which radioisotopes of interest will be collected through an ISOL system. This contribution will focus on the transition to integrated prototyping, which will emphasize (i) a test platform consisting of the initial section of the normal conducting injector (5.9 MeV), (ii) the realization of a complete cryomodule for the superconducting linac and of its cryogenic valve box. The cryomodule will house two 352 MHz single spoke cavities operated at 2K