Leukocyte adhesion involves the leukocyte-specific integrins CD11a/CD18, CD11b/CD18 and CD11c/CD18, which bind to intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAM). Three ICAM have been described, and are ...expressed on leukocytes and various other cells, but are absent from red cells. Here, we show that the red cell Landsteiner-Wiener (LW) blood group glycoprotein is an ICAM which binds to the leukocyte-specific integrins. This finding has important implications in red cell physiology.
Ion stopping in warm dense matter is a process of fundamental importance for the understanding of the properties of dense plasmas, the realization and the interpretation of experiments involving ...ion-beam-heated warm dense matter samples, and for inertial confinement fusion research. The theoretical description of the ion stopping power in warm dense matter is difficult notably due to electron coupling and degeneracy, and measurements are still largely missing. In particular, the low-velocity stopping range, that features the largest modelling uncertainties, remains virtually unexplored. Here, we report proton energy-loss measurements in warm dense plasma at unprecedented low projectile velocities. Our energy-loss data, combined with a precise target characterization based on plasma-emission measurements using two independent spectroscopy diagnostics, demonstrate a significant deviation of the stopping power from classical models in this regime. In particular, we show that our results are in closest agreement with recent first-principles simulations based on time-dependent density functional theory.
Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a carcinogenic mycotoxin produced by Aspergilli of the section Flavi that may contaminate food, in the field or during storage. Cassava represents an important staple food in ...sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis of aflatoxigenic fungi in 36 cassava samples obtained from producers in Benin indicated that 40% were contaminated by Aspergilli of the section Flavi. Upon morphological and molecular characterization of the 20 isolates, 16 belonged to Aspergillus flavus, 2 to Aspergillus parvisclerotigenus and 2 to Aspergillus novoparasiticus. This is the first time that this latter species is isolated from food. Although most of these isolates were toxigenic on synthetic media, no AFB1 contamination was observed in these cassava samples. In order to determine the action of cassava on AFB1 synthesis, a highly toxigenic strain of A. flavus, was inoculated onto fresh cassava and despite a rapid development, no AFB1 was produced. The anti-aflatoxin property was observed with cassava from different geographical origins and on other aflatoxigenic strains of the section Flavi, but it was lost after heating, sun drying and freezing.
Our data suggest that fresh cassava is safe regarding AFB1 contamination, however, processing may alter its ability to block toxinogenesis leading to secondary contamination.
•Cassava is contaminated with toxigenic Aspergillus flavus but not by aflatoxin B1.•Cassava can be contaminated with Aspergillus novoparasiticus.•Fresh cassava is able to block AFB1 synthesis by A. flavus.•But cassava does not modify A. flavus development.•Thermal treatment of cassava leads to a loss of the anti-aflatoxin ability.
Pretransplantation adaptation of the daily dose of tacrolimus to CYP3A5 genotype is associated with improved achievement of target trough concentration (C0), but whether this improvement affects ...clinical outcomes is unknown. In the present study, we have evaluated the long‐term clinical impact of the adaptation of initial tacrolimus dosing according to CYP3A5 genotype: The transplantation outcomes of the 236 kidney transplant recipients included in the Tactique study were retrospectively investigated over a period of more than 5 years. In the Tactique study, patients were randomly assigned to receive tacrolimus at either a fixed dosage or a dosage determined by their genotype, and the primary efficacy end point was the proportion of patients for whom tacrolimus C0 was within target range (10–15 ng/mL) at day 10. Our results indicate that the incidence of biopsy‐proven acute rejection and graft survival were similar between the control and the adapted tacrolimus dose groups, as well as between the patients who achieve the tacrolimus C0 target ranges earlier. Patients' death, cancer, cardiovascular events, and infections were also similar, and renal function did not change. We conclude that optimization of initial tacrolimus dose using pharmacogenetic testing does not improve clinical outcomes.
This study of the long‐term clinical impact of the adaptation of tacrolimus dosing according to CYP3A5 genotype suggests that optimization of the initial tacrolimus dose using pharmacogenetic testing does not improve clinical outcomes after kidney transplantation.
The origin of the catalytic activity of gold nanoparticles remains debated despite extensive studies. This in operando work investigates the relationship between catalytic activity and size/shape of ...gold nanoparticles supported on TiO2(110) during CO oxidation. The nanoparticles were synthesized by vapor deposition in ultrahigh vacuum. Their geometry was monitored in the presence of O2, Ar, or a mixture of O2 + CO and of Ar + CO by grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering simultaneously with the catalytic activity. The occurrence of CO oxidation induces a sintering directly correlated to the reaction rate. The catalytic activity is optimum for a nanoparticle’s diameter of 2.1 ± 0.3 nm and a height of about six atomic layers. Below this size, the activity drop corresponds to a height decrease. Rescaling of activities obtained in different experimental conditions shows consistency of these results with published data using both “model” and “real” catalysts.
Liquid waste from olive oil mills was digested following inoculation with soil microorganisms and fractionated through various grades of gel. The fractionation showed the range of sizes of the ...molecules in the waste. In addition, the disappearance of the low molecular weight fraction, which is retained by the gel, and the increase of the high molecular weight fraction, which is excluded by the gel, during the last stages of the microbial treatment, indicates polymerisation of the low-molecular-weight subunits. Characterization of the fractions by UV–visible and FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the increase in their degree of polymerisation during the treatment. This is paralleled by a reduction in the amount of aliphatic components and a concomitant increase in aromatic structures.
Intense lasers interacting with dense targets accelerate relativistic electron beams, which transport part of the laser energy into the target depth. However, the overall laser-to-target energy ...coupling efficiency is impaired by the large divergence of the electron beam, intrinsic to the laser-plasma interaction. Here we demonstrate that an efficient guiding of MeV electrons with about 30 MA current in solid matter is obtained by imposing a laser-driven longitudinal magnetostatic field of 600 T. In the magnetized conditions the transported energy density and the peak background electron temperature at the 60-μm-thick target's rear surface rise by about a factor of five, as unfolded from benchmarked simulations. Such an improvement of energy-density flux through dense matter paves the ground for advances in laser-driven intense sources of energetic particles and radiation, driving matter to extreme temperatures, reaching states relevant for planetary or stellar science as yet inaccessible at the laboratory scale and achieving high-gain laser-driven thermonuclear fusion.
The relationship between thermodynamic Brønsted basicity and reactivity of basic sites of MgO samples was investigated by means of methanol deprotonation followed by IR and the conversion of ...2-methylbut-3-yn-2-ol (MBOH), respectively. The relative distribution of basic oxide ions, O
2−
LC, in low coordination (where LC
=
3C, 4C, and 5C refer to tri-, tetra-, and penta-coordinated oxide ions, respectively) was modulated using different preparation routes. The resulting samples were classified on the basis of the relative distributions of O
2−
LC ions determined by photoluminescence. The influence of the coordination of O
2−
LC ions on the basic properties was studied for clean surfaces obtained after high-temperature (⩾1023 K) evacuation of CO
2 and water; the lower the coordination of O
2−
LC ions, the higher the deprotonation ability and the reactivity of basic sites of the catalyst. The hydroxylation of clean MgO surfaces was studied and its influence on Brønsted basicity determined. Despite a low deprotonation ability, hydroxylated surfaces are more reactive than clean surfaces. The direct influence of OH groups on reactivity of basic sites was evidenced by correlating the latter and the amount of isolated OH groups evaluated by in situ diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. It can be inferred that the peculiar reactivity of OH groups compared with O
2−
LC ions is due to the variable stability of the alcoholate intermediate formed on both kinds of basic sites. On hydroxylated surfaces, because OH groups are poor Brønsted bases, the number of alcoholate species is lower than on clean surfaces, but these intermediates are less stabilized and so are more reactive.
Purpose
The best renal replacement therapy (RRT) modality remains controversial. We compared mortality and short- and long-term renal recovery between patients treated with continuous RRT and ...intermittent hemodialysis.
Methods
Patients of the prospective observational multicenter cohort database OUTCOMEREA™ were included if they underwent at least one RRT session between 2004 and 2014. Differences in patients’ baseline and daily characteristics between treatment groups were taken into account by using a marginal structural Cox model, allowing one to substantially reduce the bias resulting from confounding factors in observational longitudinal data analysis. The composite primary endpoint was 30-day mortality and dialysis dependency.
Results
Among 1360 included patients with RRT, 544 (40.0 %) and 816 (60.0 %) were initially treated by continuous RRT and intermittent hemodialysis, respectively. At day 30, 39.6 % patients were dead. Among survivors, 23.8 % still required RRT. There was no difference between groups for the primary endpoint in global population (HR 1.00, 95 % CI 0.77–1.29;
p
= 0.97). In patients with higher weight gain at RRT initiation, mortality and dialysis dependency were significantly lower with continuous RRT (HR 0.54, 95 % CI 0.29–0.99;
p
= 0.05). Conversely, this technique appeared to be deleterious in patients without shock (HR 2.24, 95 % CI 1.24–4.04;
p
= 0.01). Six-month mortality and persistent renal dysfunction were not influenced by the RRT modality in patients with dialysis dependence at ICU discharge.
Conclusion
Continuous RRT did not appear to improve 30-day and 6-month patient outcomes. It seems beneficial for patients with fluid overload, but might be deleterious in the absence of hemodynamic failure.
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