Voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCC) play obligatory roles in diverse physiological functions. Pathological conditions leading to changes in their biophysical properties and expression levels may ...cause malfunctions of VGCC-mediated activities, resulting in disease states. It is believed that changes in VGCC properties under pain-inducing conditions may play a causal role in the development of chronic pain, including nerve injury-induced pain or neuropathic pain. For the past several decades, preclinical and clinical research in developing VGCC blockers or modulators for chronic pain management has been fruitful, leading to some U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs currently available for chronic pain management. However, their efficacy in pain relief is limited in some patients, and their long-term use is limited by their side-effect profiles. Certainly, there is room for improvement in developing more subtype-specific VGCC blockers or modulators for chronic pain conditions. In this review, we summarized the most recent preclinical and clinical studies related to chronic pain medications acting on the VGCC. We also included clinical trials aiming to expand the application of approved VGCC drugs to different pain states derived from various pathological conditions, as well as drug combination therapies trying to improve the efficacies and side-effect profiles of current pain medications.
Context. HD 106906AB is the only young binary system so far around which a planet has been imaged and a debris disk has been shown to exist, thanks to a strong IR excess. As such, it represents a ...unique opportunity for studying the dynamics of young planetary systems. Aims. We aim at further investigating the close (tens of au scales) environment of the HD 106906AB system. Methods. We used the extreme adaptive-optics-fed, high-contrast imager SPHERE that has recently been installed on the VLT to observe HD 106906. Both the IRDIS imager and the Integral Field Spectrometer were used. Results. We discovered a highly inclined, ring-like disk at a distance of 65 au from the star. The disk shows a strong brightness asymmetry with respect to its semi-major axis. It shows a smooth outer edge, compatible with ejection of small grains by the stellar radiation pressure. We show furthermore that the planet’s projected position is significantly above the PA of the disk. Given the determined disk inclination, it is not excluded, however, that the planet could still orbit within the disk plane if at a large separation (2000−3000 au). We identified several additional point sources in the SPHERE/IRDIS field of view that appear to be background objects. We compare this system with other debris disks sharing similarities, and we briefly discuss the present results in the framework of dynamical evolution.
Context.
HD 95086 (A8V, 17 Myr) hosts a rare planetary system for which a multi-belt debris disk and a giant planet of 4–5
M
Jup
have been directly imaged.
Aims.
Our study aims to characterize the ...global architecture of this young system using the combination of radial velocity and direct imaging observations. We want to characterize the physical and orbital properties of HD 95086 b, search for additional planets at short and wide orbits and image the cold outer debris belt in scattered light.
Methods.
We used HARPS at the ESO 3.6 m telescope to monitor the radial velocity of HD 95086 over two years and investigate the existence of giant planets at less than 3 au orbital distance. With the IRDIS dual-band imager and the IFS integral field spectrograph of SPHERE at VLT, we imaged the faint circumstellar environment beyond 10 au at six epochs between 2015 and 2017.
Results.
We do not detect additional giant planets around HD 95086. We identify the nature (bound companion or background contaminant) of all point-like sources detected in the IRDIS field of view. None of them correspond to the ones recently discovered near the edge of the cold outer belt by ALMA. HD 95086 b is resolved for the first time in
J
-band with IFS. Its near-infrared spectral energy distribution is well fitted by a few dusty and/or young L7–L9 dwarf spectral templates. The extremely red 1–4
μ
m spectral distribution is typical of low-gravity objects at the L/T spectral type transition. The planet’s orbital motion is resolved between January 2015 and May 2017. Together with past NaCo measurements properly re-calibrated, our orbital fitting solutions favor a retrograde low to moderate-eccentricity orbit
e
= 0.2
+0.3
−0.2
, with a semi-major axis ~52 au corresponding to orbital periods of ~288 yr and an inclination that peaks at
i
= 141°, which is compatible with a planet-disk coplanar configuration. Finally, we report the detection in polarimetric differential imaging of the cold outer debris belt between 100 and 300 au, consistent in radial extent with recent ALMA 1.3 mm resolved observations.
Summary
Analytical electron microscopy was used to characterize aquatic iron‐rich colloids. We focused our attention on a redox transition medium in the drainage water of a peat soil. In the anoxic ...peat water, observations by transmission electron microscopy and associated energy dispersive analyses (TEM‐EDS) highlight the presence of spherical entities (∼100–600 nm), containing only traces of iron. The increase of dissolved oxygen concentration favours the formation of iron oxy(hydr)oxides. In the oxygenated drain, particles with the same morphology and size range are present. Statistical TEM‐EDS analyses show that they represent the only colloidal form of iron in the drain samples. Nevertheless, although Fe–K peaks appear clearly on EDS spectra, the proportion of iron in these colloids reaches at most 4% at. (whereas C + O > 90% at.). Structural information completes this study. Both electron spectroscopic imaging (ESI) and electron energy‐loss spectroscopy (EELS) reveal the disparity between element distributions within the drain entities. Iron and calcium are preferably distributed on the outer sphere of the particle, whereas carbon and oxygen follow the theoretical variation of the signal intensity within a plain sphere. The implication of organic matter as nucleation site for iron precipitation is spectacularly demonstrated by the presence of nanometre‐sized iron‐rich phases highlighted by EELS line scans.
Context. A low-mass brown dwarf has recently been imaged around HR 2562 (HD 50571), a star hosting a debris disk resolved in the far infrared. Interestingly, the companion location is compatible with ...an orbit coplanar with the disk and interior to the debris belt. This feature makes the system a valuable laboratory to analyze the formation of substellar companions in a circumstellar disk and potential disk-companion dynamical interactions. Aims. We aim to further characterize the orbital motion of HR 2562 B and its interactions with the host star debris disk. Methods. We performed a monitoring of the system over ~10 months in 2016 and 2017 with the VLT/SPHERE exoplanet imager. Results. We confirm that the companion is comoving with the star and detect for the first time an orbital motion at high significance, with a current orbital motion projected in the plane of the sky of 25 mas (~0.85 au) per year. No orbital curvature is seen in the measurements. An orbital fit of the SPHERE and literature astrometry of the companion without priors on the orbital plane clearly indicates that its orbit is (quasi-)coplanar with the disk. To further constrain the other orbital parameters, we used empirical laws for a companion chaotic zone validated by N-body simulations to test the orbital solutions that are compatible with the estimated disk cavity size. Non-zero eccentricities (>0.15) are allowed for orbital periods shorter than 100 yr, while only moderate eccentricities up to ~0.3 for orbital periods longer than 200 yr are compatible with the disk observations. A comparison of synthetic Herschel images to the real data does not allow us to constrain the upper eccentricity of the companion.
Strontium lanthanum manganite (LSM) and lanthanum ferrite (LSF) perovskite cathode and oxygen membrane materials were synthesized using different techniques: spray pyrolysis, a modified citrate ...route, oxalate and carbonate co-precipitations. The use of Ca, a cheaper substituent on the
A-site, was explored along to the substitution of La by Pr. The differently sourced powders were characterized by TG/DTA, XRD, ICP, TEM, XPS, PSD and BET. The co-precipitation of La, Ca and Fe was also possible using the cyanide route. This complexation method allowed the precipitation of a crystalline phase as evidenced by XRD. Among all methods, the cyanide and carbonate co-precipitation allowed the lowest perovskite phase transformation for LSF and LCF, followed by the nitrate (i.e. ‘
spray pyrolysis’). These phase transformation differences affected much the particle size distribution and the surface areas of these materials, the carbonate and the cyanide routes giving rise to very fine powders in the nm range. XPS and TEM analyses indicated uneven composition distributions. These different powder characteristics are expected to affect the catalytic and electrochemical properties of these materials.
Double patterning has become the most promising approach to overcome the 32
nm node challenges. Several schemes have been proposed to simplify the process, each requiring very specific materials that ...still have to be developed and optimized. The resist platform presented here is an image lock material which has been developed to meet the Litho-Litho-Etch (or 2P1E) approach. In this paper, we present the material development of dedicated polymers for the double imaging technique. The lithographic properties of these materials are evaluated, in term of process window (PW) and Line Edge Roughness (LER). Successful patterning of 50 and 45
nm lines at 90
nm pitch has been obtained.
The quantitative determination of the hysteresis loop area developed during viscometer tests on shear rate-shear stress reverse paths, has been used to describe the thixotropic behavior of a clayey ...mud under flow conditions. Tests were conducted for liquidity indexes between 1.8 and 4.0, and for six pore water salinities ranging from 0.1 to 30 g/l. Admitting that a low hysteresis loop area denotes a well-developed thixotropic behavior for a given liquidity index, the thixotropy of the slurry is likely to be more strongly marked for salinities greater than the flocculation threshold. At a constant salinity, the results also indicate the existence of a simple linear relationship between the hysteresis loop area and the yield stress and the viscosity of the slurry. The restrictions of this approach and the possible implications of a strengthening/softening process on mudflow kinematics are also discussed.
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