Caractérisation biomécanique des anévrismes de l'aorte thoracique ascendante

L épidémiologie des anévrismes de l aorte est un problème de santé publique majeur dans les pays industrialisés. Cette pathologie peut engendrer la mort du patient en cas de rupture de l anévrisme. Actuellement les critères d intervention chirurgicale sont basés sur la morphologie de l anévrisme et il existe des difficultés à évaluer correctement le risque de rupture pour chaque patient. L objectif de cette thèse était de développer une méthode d identification des propriétés mécaniques de la paroi artérielle de manière personnalisée permettant d affiner les critères d intervention chirurgicale. Des essais de gonflement utilisant des mesures de champs et le développement d une méthodologie d analyse ont permis de quantifier la distribution des contraintes des anévrismes de manière expérimentale et de mettre en évidence l apparition des affaiblissements ponctuels dans la paroi afin de prédire la localisation de la rupture de l anévrisme. Ensuite, une méthode d identification de propriétés mécaniques a été mise en place pour mettre en évidence l hétérogénéité du tissu artériel et pour localiser les endroits à l origine de la rupture du tissu. L identification des lois de comportement à partir de données expérimentales issues de patients permettra d améliorer les modèles numériques artériels utilisées aujourd hui. De plus, la méthodologie créée pour l analyse de la rupture d anévrismes pendant cette thèse ouvre la porte à une étape qui vise à développer la caractérisation mécanique in-vivo par l utilisation de l imagerie médicale. L objectif final sera d évaluer le risque de rupture de l anévrisme de chaque patient de manière non-invasive.Epidemiology of aortic aneurysms is a major public health issue that affects a significant proportion of the population in industrialized countries and can cause the death of the patient in case of rupture of the aneurysm.Currently the only criteria for surgery are based on the morphology of the aneurysm, and there are problems to accurately assess the risk of rupture for each patient.The aim of this thesis was to develop a method to identify the mechanical properties of the arterial wall in a personalized way to refine the criteria for surgery.Inflation tests, full-field measurements and a methodology developed were used in order to quantify experimentally the stress distribution of aneurysms. It was possible to highlight the appearance of localized weakening in the wall which will let us predict the location of the rupture on the aneurysm. Then a method was developed to identify the mechanical properties of the aortic tissue. It was possible to highlight the heterogeneity of arterial tissue and locate the places where the rupture of the tissue may occur.The identification of the aneurysm s mechanical properties from experimental data will improved arterial numerical models used today. In addition, the methodology developed for the analysis of the rupture of aneurysms during this thesis opens the door to a step that aims to develop the in vivo mechanical characterization by the use of medical imaging. The ultimate goal will be to assess the risk of rupture of the aneurysm of each patient in a noninvasive manner.ST ETIENNE-ENS des Mines (422182304) / SudocSudocFranceF

Mechanical characterization of the thoracic ascending aortae

International audienceIn this study the digital image correlation technique is used for characterizing the mechanical and fracture properties of aneurysmal tissues. The tissues which have been taken from the thoracic ascending aorta of diseased patients are tested in a bulge inflation test. The approach is original in the sense that it gives access to the local stress fields in the tissue and to local analysis of fracture. Applications to the dynamic behavior and fracture of vascular tissues are envisaged

Sensing with the Motor Cortex

The primary motor cortex is a critical node in the network of brain regions responsible for voluntary motor behavior. It has been less appreciated, however, that the motor cortex exhibits sensory responses in a variety of modalities including vision and somatosensation. We review current work that emphasizes the heterogeneity in sensorimotor responses in the motor cortex and focus on its implications for cortical control of movement as well as for brain-machine interface development

Perceived intensity of somatosensory cortical electrical stimulation

Artificial sensations can be produced by direct brain stimulation of sensory areas through implanted microelectrodes, but the perceptual psychophysics of such artificial sensations are not well understood. Based on prior work in cortical stimulation, we hypothesized that perceived intensity of electrical stimulation may be explained by the population response of the neurons affected by the stimulus train. To explore this hypothesis, we modeled perceived intensity of a stimulation pulse train with a leaky neural integrator. We then conducted a series of two-alternative forced choice behavioral experiments in which we systematically tested the ability of rats to discriminate frequency, amplitude, and duration of electrical pulse trains delivered to the whisker barrel somatosensory cortex. We found that the model was able to predict the performance of the animals, supporting the notion that perceived intensity can be largely accounted for by spatiotemporal integration of the action potentials evoked by the stimulus train

Susceptibility of carrion crows to experimental infection with lineage 1 and 2 West Nile viruses

West Nile virus (WNV) outbreaks in North America have been characterized by substantial die-offs of American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos). In contrast, a low incidence of bird deaths has been observed during WNV epidemic activity in Europe. To examine the susceptibility of the western European counterpart of American crows, we inoculated carrion crows (Corvus corone) with WNV strains isolated in Greece (Gr-10), Italy (FIN and Ita09), and Hungary (578/10) and with the highly virulent North American genotype strain (NY99). We also inoculated American crows with a selection of these strains to examine the strains’ virulence in a highly susceptible bird species. Infection with all strains, except WNV FIN, resulted in high rates of death and high-level viremia in both bird species and virus dissemination to several organs. These results suggest that carrion crows are highly susceptible to WNV and may potentially be useful as part of dead bird surveillance for early warning of WNV activity in Europe

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Caractérisation biomécanique des anévrismes de l'aorte thoracique ascendante

Epidemiology of aortic aneurysms is a major public health issue that affects a significant proportion of the population in industrialized countries and can cause the death of the patient in case of rupture of the aneurysm.Currently the only criteria for surgery are based on the morphology of the aneurysm, and there are problems to accurately assess the risk of rupture for each patient.The aim of this thesis was to develop a method to identify the mechanical properties of the arterial wall in a personalized way to refine the criteria for surgery.Inflation tests, full-field measurements and a methodology developed were used in order to quantify experimentally the stress distribution of aneurysms. It was possible to highlight the appearance of localized weakening in the wall which will let us predict the location of the rupture on the aneurysm. Then a method was developed to identify the mechanical properties of the aortic tissue. It was possible to highlight the heterogeneity of arterial tissue and locate the places where the rupture of the tissue may occur.The identification of the aneurysm’s mechanical properties from experimental data will improved arterial numerical models used today. In addition, the methodology developed for the analysis of the rupture of aneurysms during this thesis opens the door to a step that aims to develop the in vivo mechanical characterization by the use of medical imaging. The ultimate goal will be to assess the risk of rupture of the aneurysm of each patient in a noninvasive manner.L’épidémiologie des anévrismes de l’aorte est un problème de santé publique majeur dans les pays industrialisés. Cette pathologie peut engendrer la mort du patient en cas de rupture de l’anévrisme. Actuellement les critères d’intervention chirurgicale sont basés sur la morphologie de l’anévrisme et il existe des difficultés à évaluer correctement le risque de rupture pour chaque patient. L’objectif de cette thèse était de développer une méthode d’identification des propriétés mécaniques de la paroi artérielle de manière personnalisée permettant d’affiner les critères d’intervention chirurgicale. Des essais de gonflement utilisant des mesures de champs et le développement d’une méthodologie d’analyse ont permis de quantifier la distribution des contraintes des anévrismes de manière expérimentale et de mettre en évidence l’apparition des affaiblissements ponctuels dans la paroi afin de prédire la localisation de la rupture de l’anévrisme. Ensuite, une méthode d’identification de propriétés mécaniques a été mise en place pour mettre en évidence l’hétérogénéité du tissu artériel et pour localiser les endroits à l’origine de la rupture du tissu. L’identification des lois de comportement à partir de données expérimentales issues de patients permettra d’améliorer les modèles numériques artériels utilisées aujourd’hui. De plus, la méthodologie créée pour l’analyse de la rupture d’anévrismes pendant cette thèse ouvre la porte à une étape qui vise à développer la caractérisation mécanique in-vivo par l’utilisation de l’imagerie médicale. L’objectif final sera d’évaluer le risque de rupture de l’anévrisme de chaque patient de manière non-invasive