Role of Dendritic Cells in Immune Dysfunction

Specific aims include: (1) Application of the bioreactor to enhance cytokine-regulated proliferation and maturation of dendritic cells (DC); (2) Based on clues from spaceflight: compare the frequency and function of DC in normal donors and immunocompromised cancer patients; and (3) Initiate studies on the efficiency of cytokine therapy and DC-assisted immunotherapy (using bioreactor-expanded DC) in animal models of experimental fungal infections

Role of Dendritic Cells in Immune Dysfunction

The specific aims of the project were: (1) Application of the NASA bioreactor to enhance cytokine-regulated proliferation and maturation of dendritic cells (DC). (2) Compare the frequency and function of DC in normal donors and immunocompromised cancer patients. (3) Analyze the effectiveness of cytokine therapy and DC-assisted immunotherapy (using bioreactor-expanded DC) in a murine model of experimental fungal disease. Our investigations have provided new insight into DC immunobiology and have led to the development of methodology to evaluate DC in blood of normal donors and patients. Information gained from these studies has broadened our understanding of possible mechanisms involved in the immune dysfunction of space travelers and earth-bound cancer patients, and could contribute to the design of novel therapies to restore/preserve immunity in these individuals. Several new avenues of investigation were also revealed. The results of studies completed during Round 2 are summarized

Metrology of the LHC Dipole Cold Masses

In order to provide the largest possible mechanical aperture for the LHC beam, the dipole cold masses have to match the circular trajectory of the particle beam. The requirements on the dipole cold mass geometry are dictated by the beam optics of the LHC machine and by the mechanical deformation limits of the interconnection zone. The geometry of the approximately 15 m long, 0.57 m diameter and 30 t weight dipole cold mass is verified by the measurement of the axes of the cold bore tubes. The tight tolerances imposed, necessitate the use of a high accuracy 3D measuring system based on optical methods. During the last 2 years, 6 prototypes and 4 pre-series magnets have been assembled at CERN. The summary of the results obtained on these cold masses is presented, as well as the evolution of the tooling and the measuring method

Definitive Evidence for Order-by-Quantum-Disorder in Er2Ti2O7

Here we establish the systematic existence of a U(1) degeneracy of all symmetry-allowed Hamiltonians quadratic in the spins on the pyrochlore lattice, at the mean-field level. By extracting the Hamiltonian of Er2Ti2O7 from inelastic neutron scattering measurements, we then show that the U(1)-degenerate states of Er2Ti2O7 are its classical ground states, and unambiguously show that quantum fluctuations break the degeneracy in a way which is confirmed by experiment. This is the first definitive observation of order-by-disorder in any material. We provide further verifiable consequences of this phenomenon, and several additional comparisons between theory and experiment.Comment: 4.5 pages, 3 figures, 7.5 pages of Supplemental Material, 8 supplemental figure

Synthesis of perfluoroalkylated bulky triarylamines

The synthesis of two new triarylamine compounds bearing perfluoroalkylated side chains is described. Good thermal stabilities combined with a blue emission make these compounds promising candidates for materials applications

Formation des ions bromate dans une colonne à bulles: Effets du peroxyde d'hydrogène lors de l'ozonation

L'utilisation de l'ozone, aujourd'hui très répandue dans les filières de potabilisation, n'est pas sans effet secondaire. De nombreux sous-produits peuvent se former comme notamment les ions bromates, sous produits finaux d'oxydation des bromures contenus dans les eaux. Malheureusement, le mécanisme de production de cette espèce est complexe et dépend de nombreux paramètres difficiles à appréhender.Sur une installation pilote de type colonne à bulles fonctionnant à contre-courant, nous avons étudié l'influence de différents paramètres, comme le pH, le temps de contact, la dose d'ozone et la dose de peroxyde d'hydrogène, sur la formation des bromates et la dégradation des pesticides, représentée par l'atrazine.Les résultats de la littérature ont été confirmés lors de l'emploi unique de l'ozone. La formation des ions bromate est influencée par la présence du peroxyde d'hydrogène. Cet oxydant intervient de manière non négligeable sur la consommation des entités intermédiaires. Le couple HOBr/OBr- peut être oxydé par l'ozone moléculaire et le radical OH° mais peut également être réduit par l'ozone et par le peroxyde sous sa forme acide ou sa base conjuguée. En ce qui concerne la dégradation des pesticides, l'utilisation de peroxyde d'hydrogène couplé à l'ozone favorise l'oxydation de la molécule d'atrazine grâce à la présence plus importante de radicaux hydroxyles.Une pollution accidentelle en pesticides pourra être traitée par l'ajout ponctuel de peroxyde d'hydrogène avec une augmentation de pH, la formation des bromates sera, dans ce cas, faible. La désinfection sera alors assurée par l'étape de chloration.In drinking water treatment plants, ozonation is often used to disinfect, to remove micropollutants and to improve water taste and odour. Ozonation increases organic matter biodegradability before filtration through granular active carbon and reduces the concentration of haloform precursors that react in the final chlorination step. However, by-products that could be detrimental to human health could be formed. For example, bromates, which are classified as carcinogenic compounds by the I.A.R.C, are produced during the ozonation of bromide-containing water. The mechanism of bromate formation is complex, due to the participation of molecular ozone and radical (hydroxyl and carbonate) reactions. The optimisation of the process should allow for a good disinfection and a reduction in the levels of micropollutants, together with low by-product formation.Using a pilot-scale counter-current bubble column, we have measured the bromate concentration in relation to pesticide removal. Water spiked with bromide and atrazine was stored in a completely stirred-tank (2 m3) before being pumped to the top of the column. The inlet gaseous ozone was measured by an analyser using UV detection, the outlet gaseous ozone was monitored by the potassium iodide method, and the dissolved ozone concentration was determined by the indigo trisulfonate method. Bromides and bromates were quantified by ion chromatography with a conductimetric detector, with a sodium carbonate solution as the eluant. Samples for bromate analysis were pretreated by OnGuard-Ag and OnGuard-H cartridges in series before injection. Atrazine degradation was measured by high performance liquid chromatography with a diode array detector, with a CH3CN/H2O mixture as the eluant. The linearisation of atrazine removal allowed us to calculate the hydroxyl radical concentration in a series of a completely-stirred tank reactors and in a plug-flow reactor.We have studied the influence of several parameters on bromate formation, including pH, bromide concentration and hydrogen peroxide concentration. As bromate production is a function of bromide concentration, we have chosen to calculate the ratio between the real bromate concentration and the theoretical bromate concentration if all bromide were oxidised to bromate. The pH affects bromate formation: an increase in pH in the absence of hydrogen peroxide increases bromate production, but when this oxidant is applied bromate production decreases when the pH increases. If reaction progress is represented as a function of [O3]*TC, we note that the presence of hydrogen peroxide increases bromate formation because of the increase in hydroxyl radical concentration, which favours radical formation. Nevertheless, if we represent reaction progress as a function of [OH∘]*TC, hydrogen peroxide seems to be an initiator and a scavenger in the mechanism of bromate formation. If we calculate the rates of all the oxidation and reduction reactions for HOBr/OBr- species, the contribution to the reduction of HOBr/OBr- species by peroxide is very important in comparison to the oxidation reactions, which inhibits bromate production. Without the hydrogen peroxide, the contribution of oxidation is equal to that of the reduction reaction, and in this case bromate formation is effective. When, under the same initial operational conditions, we apply hydrogen peroxide with an increase in pH, we observe a decrease in bromate formation with a decrease of the dissolved ozone concentration, which hinders the desired disinfection. The main contribution to atrazine oxidation is from the free-radical reactions, which explains why removal is better when we apply hydrogen peroxide than when we use ozone alone. However, if we want to respect a low bromate level in drinking water, atrazine degradation should not be greater than 90% for the operational conditions on our pilot-scale.If an accidental high pesticide concentration is observed, an addition of hydrogen peroxide with a concurrent increase of pH, could treat the pollution. In this case, a subsequent chlorination step would then have to be used to assure the disinfection alone

The LHC Dipole Geometry as Built in Industry

The LHC dipoles magnets are produced in 5 industrial production sites in Europe. The production is well underway and more than half of the total quantity has been delivered to CERN. One of the important characteristics of the dipole magnets is their geometry. To achieve the requested mechanical tolerances on the magnets, which are 15 m long and have a 28 t mass, the final assembly operations includes precise optical measurements. To ensure the good quality and high production rate, the final assembly procedure has been automated as much as possible. The authors report here about the assembly procedure, the features of the software that guides the optical measurements (and consequently the assembly operations) and the results obtained on the geometry in the different sites

Détection hors contexte des émotions à partir du contenu linguistique d'énoncés oraux : le système EmoLogus

The ANR Emotirob project aims at detecting emotions in an original application context: realizing an emotional companion robot for weakened children. This paper presents a system which aims at characterizing emotions by only considering linguistic content. It is based on the assumption that emotions can be compound: simple lexical words have an intrinsic emotional value, while verbal and adjectival predicates act as a function on the emotional values of their arguments. The paper describes the algorithm of compositional computation of the emotion and the lexical emotional norm used by this algorithm. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the differences between system outputs and expert annotations is given, which shows satisfactory results, with a good detection of emotional valency in 90.0% of the test utterances

Stocking activities for the Arctic charr in Lake Geneva: Genetic effects in space and time

Artificial stocking practices are widely used by resource managers worldwide, in order to sustain fish populations exploited by both recreational and commercial activities, but their benefits are controversial. Former practices involved exotic strains, although current programs rather consider artificial breeding of local fishes (supportive breeding). Understanding the complex genetic effects of these management strategies is an importan t challenge with economic and conservation implications, especially in the context of population declines. In this study, we focus on the declining Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) population from Lake Geneva (Switzerland and France), which has initially been restocked with allochtonous fishes in the early eighties, followed by supportive breeding. In this context, we conducted a genetic survey to document the evolution of the genetic diversity and structure throughout the last 50 years, before and after the initiation of hatchery supplementation, using contemporary and historical samples. We show that the introduction of exotic fishes was associated with a genetic bottleneck in the 1980–1990s, a break of Hardy–Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE), a reduction in genetic diversity, an increase in genetic structure among spawning sites, and a change in their genetic composition. Together with better environmental conditions, three decades of subsequent supportive breeding using local fishes allowed to re-establish HWE and the initial levels of genetic variation. However, current spawning sites have not fully recovered their original genetic composition and were extensively h omogenized across the lake. Our study demonstrates the drastic genetic consequ e nces of different restocking tactics in a comprehensive spatiotemporal framewo rk and suggests that genetic alteration by nonlocal stocking may be partly reversible through supportive breeding. We recommend that conservation-based programs consider local diversity and implement adequate protocols to limit the genetic homogenization of this Arctic charr population

Emologus - A Compositional Model of Emotion Detection based on the Propositionnal Content of Spoken Utterances

International audienceThe ANR EmotiRob project aims at detecting emotions in an original application context: realizing an emotional companion robot for weakened children. This paper presents a system which aims at characterizing emotions by only considering the linguistic content of utterances. It is based on the assumption of compositionality: simple lexical words have an intrinsic emotional value, while verbal and adjectival predicates act as a function on the emotional values of their arguments. The paper describes the semantic component of the system, the algorithm of compositional computation of the emotion value and the lexical emotional norm used by this algorithm. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the dierences between system outputs and expert annotations is given, which shows satisfactory results, with the right detection of emotional valency in 90% of the test utterances