Position-Selected Molecular Ruler

The molecular ruler method allows the precise control of the gap between a parent gold structure and a deposited daughter structure using a conveniently grown self-assembled molecular multilayer as a lithographic mask. However, we cannot choose a position where the gap should be placed, since the ruler attaches to all exposed gold surfaces. In this work, a convenient method of selecting the position of nanogaps by further patterning the molecular multilayer using low-energy electron beam irradiation and piranha etchant is described

Local Radiotherapy Intensification for Locally Advanced Non–small-cell Lung Cancer – A Call to Arms

Chemoradiotherapy, the standard of care for locally advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), often fails to eradicate all known disease. Despite advances in chemotherapeutic regimens, locally advanced NSCLC remains a difficult disease to treat, and locoregional failure remains common. Improved radiographic detection can identify patients at significant risk of locoregional failure after definitive treatment, and newer methods of escalating locoregional treatment may allow for improvements in locoregional control with acceptable toxicity. This review addresses critical issues in escalating local therapy, focusing on using serial positron emission tomography-computed tomography to select high-risk patients and employing stereotactic radiotherapy to intensify treatment. We further propose a clinical trial concept that incorporates the review's findings

Optimization of over-summer snow storage at midlatitudes and low elevation

Climate change, including warmer winter temperatures, a shortened snowfall season, and more rain-on-snow events, threatens nordic skiing as a sport. In response, oversummer snow storage, attempted primarily using woodchips as a cover material, has been successfully employed as a climate change adaptation strategy by high-elevation and/or high-latitude ski centers in Europe and Canada. Such storage has never been attempted at a site that is both low elevation and midlatitude, and few studies have quantified storage losses repeatedly through the summer. Such data, along with tests of different cover strategies, are prerequisites to optimizing snow storage strategies. Here, we assess the rate at which the volume of two woodchip-covered snow piles (each ∼ 200 m3), emplaced during spring 2018 in Craftsbury, Vermont (45° N and 360 m a.s.l.), changed. We used these data to develop an optimized snow storage strategy. In 2019, we tested that strategy on a much larger, 9300 m3 pile. In 2018, we continually logged air-to-snow temperature gradients under different cover layers including rigid foam, open-cell foam, and woodchips both with and without an underlying insulating blanket and an overlying reflective cover. We also measured ground temperatures to a meter depth adjacent to the snow piles and used a snow tube to measure snow density. During both years, we monitored volume change over the melt season using terrestrial laser scanning every 10- 14 d from spring to fall. In 2018, snow volume loss ranged from 0.29 to 2.81 m3 d-1, with the highest rates in midsummer and lowest rates in the fall; mean rates of volumetric change were 1.24 and 1.50 m3 d-1, 0.55 % to 0.72 % of initial pile volume per day. Snow density did increase over time, but most volume loss was the result of melting. Wet woodchips underlain by an insulating blanket and covered with a reflective sheet were the most effective cover combination for minimizing melt, likely because the aluminized surface reflected incoming short-wave radiation while the wet woodchips provided significant thermal mass, allowing much of the energy absorbed during the day to be lost by long-wave emission at night. The importance of the pile surface-area-tovolume ratio is demonstrated by 4-fold lower rates of volumetric change for the 9300 m3 pile emplaced in 2019; it lost \u3c 0:16 % of its initial volume per day between April and October, retaining ∼ 60 % of the initial snow volume over summer. Together, these data demonstrate the feasibility of oversummer snow storage at midlatitudes and low elevations and suggest efficient cover strategies

Trapped Ar isotopes in meteorite ALH 84001 indicate Mars did not have a thick ancient atmosphere

Water is not currently stable in liquid form on the martian surface due to the present mean atmospheric pressure of ∼7 mbar and mean global temperature of ∼220 K. However, geomorphic features and hydrated mineral assemblages suggest that Mars’ climate was once warmer and liquid water flowed on the surface. These observations may indicate a substantially more massive atmosphere in the past, but there have been few observational constraints on paleoatmospheric pressures. Here we show how the [superscript 40]Ar/[superscript 36]Ar ratios of trapped gases within martian meteorite ALH 84001 constrain paleoatmospheric pressure on Mars during the Noachian era [∼4.56–3.8 billion years (Ga)]. Our model indicates that atmospheric pressures did not exceed ∼1.5 bar during the first 400 million years (Ma) of the Noachian era, and were <400 mbar by 4.16 Ga. Such pressures of CO[subscript 2] are only sufficient to stabilize liquid water on Mars’ surface at low latitudes during seasonally warm periods. Other greenhouse gases like SO[superscript 2] and water vapor may have played an important role in intermittently stabilizing liquid water at higher latitudes following major volcanic eruptions or impact events.United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Mars Fundamental Research Program (Grant MFRP05-0108)Ann and Gordon Getty Foundatio

Aureobacterium resistens sp. nov., exhibiting vancomycin resistance and teicoplanin susceptibility

Two similar strains of a coryneform bacterium were isolated from human clinical material. Both strains were resistant to vancomycin but susceptible to teicoplanin. Detailed biochemical, chemotaxonomical, and molecular genetic investigations revealed that both isolates were members of a hitherto undescribed species of the genus Aureobacterium. The name Aureobacterium resistens sp. nov. is proposed for the new bacterium and the type strain is CCUG 3831

Cross-genetic determination of maternal and neonatal immune mediators during pregnancy.

BACKGROUND:The immune system plays a fundamental role in development during pregnancy and early life. Alterations in circulating maternal and neonatal immune mediators have been associated with pregnancy complications as well as susceptibility to autoimmune and neurodevelopmental conditions in later life. Evidence suggests that the immune system in adults not only responds to environmental stimulation but is also under strong genetic control. METHODS:This is the first genetic study of &gt; 700 mother-infant pairs to analyse the circulating levels of 22 maternal mid-gestational serum-derived and 42 neonatal bloodspot-derived immune mediators (cytokines/chemokines) in the context of maternal and fetal genotype. We first estimated the maternal and fetal genome-wide SNP-based heritability (h2g) for each immune molecule and then performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify specific loci contributing to individual immune mediators. Finally, we assessed the relationship between genetic immune determinants and ASD outcome. RESULTS:We show maternal and neonatal cytokines/chemokines displaying genetic regulation using independent methodologies. We demonstrate that novel fetal loci for immune function independently affect the physiological levels of maternal immune mediators and vice versa. The cross-associated loci are in distinct genomic regions compared with individual-specific immune mediator loci. Finally, we observed an interaction between increased IL-8 levels at birth, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) status, and a specific maternal genotype. CONCLUSIONS:Our results suggest that maternal and fetal genetic variation influences the immune system during pregnancy and at birth via distinct mechanisms and that a better understanding of immune factor determinants in early development may shed light on risk factors for developmental disorders

Image restoration using sparse approximations of spatially varying blur operators in the wavelet domain

6 pagesInternational audienceRestoration of images degraded by spatially varying blurs is an issue of increasing importance in the context of photography, satellite or microscopy imaging. One of the main difficulty to solve this problem comes from the huge dimensions of the blur matrix. It prevents the use of naive approaches for performing matrix-vector multiplications. In this paper, we propose to approximate the blur operator by a matrix sparse in the wavelet domain. We justify this approach from a mathematical point of view and investigate the approximation quality numerically. We finish by showing that the sparsity pattern of the matrix can be pre-defined, which is central in tasks such as blind deconvolution