POM@PMO plastic electrode for phosphate electrochemical detection: a further improvement of the detection limit

The development of a highly sensitive electrochemical sensor (E-sensor) is described based on stand-alone plastic electrodes (PE) for phosphate detection, being an essential nutrient in the marine environment. The detection mechanism is based on the chemical affinity between polyoxomolybdate anions (POM) and orthophosphate to form an electroactive phosphomolybdate complex. The custom-made E-sensor was formulated with an organic octamolybdate derivative (TBA4Mo8O26) incorporated with periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO) to obtain a significant improvement in the analytical performances of phosphate determination. This POM@PMO combination was found to be advantageous in the determination of low concentrations of phosphate in standard solutions ranging from 1 to 500 nM, using square wave voltammetry as the detection technique. This sensitivity enhancement can be attributed to the effect of hydrophobic PMO in loading more POM moieties, owing to its highly porous structure and charged shell. Consequently, the POM@PMO-PE sensor achieved a competitive sensitivity of 4.43 ± 0.14 μA.nM−1.cm−2 and a limit of detection of 0.16 nM with good selectivity against silicates. Finally, seawater and treated wastewater samples have been tested to validate the sensor response in comparison to the official method of phosphate determination. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Variantes anatomiques de l’os temporal a preciser au chirurgien

L’os temporal présente plusieurs variantes dont certaines peuvent avoir un impact chirurgical. La chirurgie de l’oreille est non dénuée de risques. Les variantes anatomiques de l’os temporal sont importantes à connaitre et à préciser dans le compte rendu radiologique avant toute intervention sur l’oreille. La TDM est l’examen clé pour le bilan morphologique de toute oreille.Mots Clés : Variantes anatomiques, os temporal, TDM, risques.The temporal bone has several variants, some of which may impact surgical. The ear surgery is not without risks. The anatomic variations of the temporal bone is important to know and specify in the radiological reports before working on the ear. The CT is the key for the morphological assessment of any ear.Keys Words: Anatomic variations, temporal bone, CT, risk

Entanglement distance for arbitrary M -qudit hybrid systems

This is the final version. Available from the American Physical Society via the DOI in this recordThe achievement of quantum supremacy boosted the need for a robust medium of quantum information. In this task, higher-dimensional qudits show remarkable noise tolerance and enhanced security for quantum key distribution applications. However, to exploit the advantages of such states, we need a thorough characterisation of their entanglement. Here, we propose a measure of entanglement which can be computed either for pure and mixed states of a $M$-qudit hybrid system. The entanglement measure is based on a distance deriving from an adapted application of the Fubini-Study metric. This measure is invariant under local unitary transformations and has an explicit computable expression that we derive. In the specific case of $M$-qubit systems, the measure assumes the physical interpretation of an obstacle to the minimum distance between infinitesimally close states. Finally, we quantify the robustness of entanglement of a state through the eigenvalues analysis of the metric tensor associated with it.QuantERA ERA-NET Co-fundEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Red, Gold and Green: Microbial Contribution of Rhodophyta and Other Algae to Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Gut Microbiome

The fitness of the endangered green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) may be strongly affected by its gut microbiome, as microbes play important roles in host nutrition and health. This study aimed at establishing environmental microbial baselines that can be used to assess turtle health under altered future conditions. We characterized the microbiome associated with the gastrointestinal tract of green turtles from Guinea Bissau in different life stages and associated with their food items, using 16S rRNA metabarcoding. We found that the most abundant (% relative abundance) bacterial phyla across the gastrointestinal sections were Proteobacteria (68.1 ± 13.9% “amplicon sequence variants”, ASVs), Bacteroidetes (15.1 ± 10.1%) and Firmicutes (14.7 ± 21.7%). Additionally, we found the presence of two red algae bacterial indicator ASVs (the Alphaproteobacteria Brucella pinnipedialis with 75 ± 0% and a Gammaproteobacteria identified as methanotrophic endosymbiont of Bathymodiolus, with <1%) in cloacal compartments, along with six bacterial ASVs shared only between cloacal and local environmental red algae samples. We corroborate previous results demonstrating that green turtles fed on red algae (but, to a lower extent, also seagrass and brown algae), thus, acquiring microbial components that potentially aid them digest these food items. This study is a foundation for better understanding the microbial composition of sea turtle digestive tracts.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Structural Analysis of Nano Core PCF With Fused Cladding for Supercontinuum Generation in 6G Networks

The Sixth Generation (6G) networks have identified the use of frequency range between 95&nbsp;GHz and 3&nbsp;THz with a targeted data rate of 1 Terabytes/second at the access network for holographic video applications. As is demands broadening of spectrum at the core network, this paper proposes a Supercontinuum Generation (SCG) through photonic crystal fiber (PCF) as it provides excellent broadening of the optical spectrum. Discussed in the paper is supercontinuum generation at high pumping power as per the standards specified by the International Telecommunications Union. The proposed PCF is designed with silicon nanocrystal core and the cladding microstructures is arranged in a fusion approach to effectively optimize the optical parameters such as dispersion, nonlinearity, birefringence, group-velocity dispersion, and confinement loss. The fused cladding comprises of a flower-cladding assembly in which air-holes arrangement is inspired from petals in a pleated structure. Such arrangement is shown here to provide high nonlinearity and negative dispersion for high power supercontinuum generation. The novel nanocore assembly with improved structural constraints delivers a non-linearity of 6.37&nbsp;×&nbsp;106&nbsp;W−1&nbsp;km−1 and a negative dispersion of −142.1 (ps/nm-km) at 1,550&nbsp;nm. Moreover, a supercontinuum spectrum is generated using different pulse widths ranging from 350 to 650&nbsp;ps with 25&nbsp;kW pump power for PCF lengths of 10 and 15&nbsp;mm

Red, gold and green: microbial contribution of Rhodophyta and other Algae to Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Gut Microbiome

The fitness of the endangered green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) may be strongly affected by its gut microbiome, as microbes play important roles in host nutrition and health. This study aimed at establishing environmental microbial baselines that can be used to assess turtle health under altered future conditions. We characterized the microbiome associated with the gastrointestinal tract of green turtles from Guinea Bissau in different life stages and associated with their food items, using 16S rRNA metabarcoding. We found that the most abundant (% relative abundance) bacterial phyla across the gastrointestinal sections were Proteobacteria (68.1 ± 13.9% “amplicon sequence variants”, ASVs), Bacteroidetes (15.1 ± 10.1%) and Firmicutes (14.7 ± 21.7%). Additionally, we found the presence of two red algae bacterial indicator ASVs (the Alphaproteobacteria Brucella pinnipedialis with 75 ± 0% and a Gammaproteobacteria identified as methanotrophic endosymbiont of Bathymodiolus, with <1%) in cloacal compartments, along with six bacterial ASVs shared only between cloacal and local environmental red algae samples. We corroborate previous results demonstrating that green turtles fed on red algae (but, to a lower extent, also seagrass and brown algae), thus, acquiring microbial components that potentially aid them digest these food items. This study is a foundation for better understanding the microbial composition of sea turtle digestive tracts.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Volatile Constituents And Antimicrobial Activity Of Lavandula Stoechas L. Oil From Tunisia

International audienceAn oil obtained from the dried leaves of Lavandula stoechas L. in 0.77% yield was analyzed by capillary GC and GUMS. Fenchone (68.2%) and camphor (11.2%) were the main components of the 28 identified molecules. This oil has been tested for antimicrobial activity against six bacteria, and two fungi. The results showed that this oil was active against all of the tested strains; Staphylococcus aureus was the more sensitive strain

Accuracy of the Arabic HCL - 32 and MDQ in detecting patients with bipolar disorder

Background: Studies about the two most used and validated instruments for the early detection of Bipolar Disorder (BD), the 32 - item Hypomania Checklist (HCL - 32) and the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ), are scarce in non-Western countries. This study aimed to explore the reliability, factor structure, and criterion validity of their Arabic versions in a sample of Tunisian patients diagnosed with mood disorders. Methods: The sample included 59 patients with BD, 86 with unipolar Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and 281 controls. Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to show that a single global score was an appropriate summary measure of the screeners in the sample. Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis was used to assess the capacity of the translated screeners to distinguish patients with BD from those with MDD and controls. Results: Reliability was good for both tools in all samples. The bifactor implementation of the most reported two-factor model had the best fit for both screeners. Both were able to distinguish patients diagnosed with BD from putatively healthy controls, and equally able to distinguish patients diagnosed with BD from patients with MDD. Conclusion: Both screeners work best in excluding the presence of BD in patients with MDD, which is an advantage in deciding whether or not to prescribe an antidepressant

Simulation d’un Circulateur Coplanaire Passif Ayant un Conducteur Central Triangulaire avec une Couche Mince d’Hexaferrite de Baryum Dans la Bande 10-20Ghz

Cet article présente la conception et l'analyse d'une nouvelle structure triangulaire d’un circulateur coplanaire dans la gamme de fréquences de 10 à 20 GHz. Le matériau magnétique utilisé dans ce circulateur est un hexaferrite de baryum avec une faible aimantation de saturation. Les simulations ont été effectuées avec le logiciel HFSS d’Ansoft qui utilise la méthode des éléments finis pour calculer numériquement les paramètres S du circulateur