To meet the tremendous world energy needs, systematic R&D has to be pursued to replace fossil fuels. Nuclear energy, which produces no green house gases and no air pollution, should be a leading ...candidate. How nuclear energy, based on thorium rather than uranium, could be an acceptable solution is discussed. Thorium can be used both to produce energy and to destroy nuclear waste. The thorium conference, organized by iThEC at CERN in October 2013, has shown that thorium is seriously considered by some major developing countries as a key element of their energy strategy. However, developed countries do not seem to move fast enough in that direction, while global cooperation is highly desirable in this domain. Thorium is not fissile. Various possible ways of using thorium will be reviewed. However, an elegant option is to drive an "Accelerator Driven System (ADS)" with a proton accelerator, as suggested by Nobel Prize laureate Carlo Rubbia .
The antimicrobial, insecticidal, and hemolytic properties of peptides isolated from the venom of the predatory ant Pachycondyla goeldii, a member of the subfamily Ponerinae, were investigated. ...Fifteen novel peptides, named ponericins, exhibiting antibacterial and insecticidal properties were purified, and their amino acid sequences were characterized. According to their primary structure similarities, they can be classified into three families: ponericin G, W, and L. Ponericins share high sequence similarities with known peptides: ponericins G with cecropin-like peptides, ponericins W with gaegurins and melittin, and ponericins L with dermaseptins. Ten peptides were synthesized for further analysis. Their antimicrobial activities against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria strains were analyzed together with their insecticidal activities against cricket larvae and their hemolytic activities. Interestingly, within each of the three families, several peptides present differences in their biological activities. The comparison of the structural features of ponericins with those of well-studied peptides suggests that the ponericins may adopt an amphipathic α-helical structure in polar environments, such as cell membranes. In the venom, the estimated peptide concentrations appear to be compatible with an antibacterial activity in vivo. This suggests that in the ant colony, the peptides exhibit a defensive role against microbial pathogens arising from prey introduction and/or ingestion.P82414P82415P82416P82417P82418P82419P82420P82421P82422P82423P82424P82425P82426P82427P82428
The identified risks of smoking with regard to operated tissues are so elevated that it is clearly dangerous to operate a smoker when the proposed intervention is neither vital nor urgent.
The aim of ...this prospective study was to evaluate a simple method of screening patients who smoke, with the evaluation carried out before agreeing to carry out free tissue transfer. The purpose of the testing was to hold the patient responsible for his actions and minimize smoking-related complications by canceling or postponing the planned operation if the patient continued to smoke. Screening included use of a standardized questionnaire at the first consultation and detection of cotinine using a urine test strip 7 days before the scheduled surgery. Patients were informed that in the event of positive results, the operation would not take place. A six-week preoperative smoking cessation period was mandatory.
Seventy-six patients were included in this study. Among them, 25 (32.9%) reported being former smokers and 11 (14.5%) admitted in the initial questionnaire to being active smokers. Six patients (7.9%), including one self-reported non-smoker, tested positive for cotinine, and their operations were cancelled.
Screening using a questionnaire and cotinine detection appeared to constitute a simple, inexpensive, rapid and reliable test. It allowed us to refuse to operate 6 non-compliant patients and was thereby likely to diminish morbidity in the free tissue transfers carried out in our ward.
Les risques établis du tabagisme sur les tissus opérés sont tels qu’il est clairement dangereux d’opérer une personne fumeuse lorsque l’intervention envisagée n’est ni vitale ni urgente.
Le but de cette étude prospective était d’évaluer une méthode de dépistage simple des patients fumeurs avant un transfert tissulaire libre. L’objectif de ce dépistage était de responsabiliser le patient et de réduire au maximum les complications liées au tabagisme en récusant ou en reportant l’intervention prévue en cas de poursuite du tabagisme. Le dépistage comprenait un questionnaire standardisé lors de la première consultation et une détection par bandelette urinaire de la cotinine 7jours avant l’intervention. Les patients étaient informés de l’annulation de l’intervention en cas de test positif. Un délai de 6 semaines de sevrage préopératoire devait être respecté.
Soixante-seize patients ont été inclus dans cette étude. Parmi eux, 25 (32,9 %) ont déclaré être d’anciens fumeurs et 11 (14,5 %) ont admis être fumeurs actifs lors du questionnaire initial. Six patients (7,9 %) dont un qui se disait non-fumeur ont été contrôlés positifs au test de cotininurie et leur intervention a été annulée.
Ce dépistage associant un questionnaire et un test de cotininurie nous a paru être un test simple, fiable, rapide, peu coûteux qui aura permis de récuser 6 patients non observants, et par là de diminuer probablement la morbidité de nos transferts tissulaires libres.
The aim of this study was to analyze our technique of intraoperative venous compromise management based on conservation of the superficial inferior epigastric vein (SIEV), and to undertake a ...retrospective review of our series of breast reconstructions by deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap, followed by a review of other techniques reported in the literature.
This retrospective study involves 198 breast reconstructions by DIEP flap performed between January 2010 and September 2017. Our surgical technique is related in detail, with a focus on venous compromise management. Operative time, re-intervention rate, hospital stay, and complications were all noted and analyzed, and a literature review dealt with other techniques of prevention and management of flap venous congestion.
Among breast reconstructions by DIEP, 7.5% contained an episode of intraoperative venous compromise, as opposed to 6.5% postoperatively. The SIEV was used in 65% of cases of venous congestion. In our series, 15.1% of cases presented postoperative complications, and we observed a 2.5% flap failure rate (2%: venous thrombosis; 0.5%: arterial thrombosis). In all patients for whom venous drainage augmentation was performed, the flaps survived without partial loss. While average length of hospital stay in the group having undergone intraoperative secondary anastomosis was 7.5 days, in the group having undergone postoperative secondary anastomosis, it was 13.5 days.
In cases of intraoperative venous congestion, while a second venous anastomosis may immediately increase duration of an initial intervention by 1hour and 45minutes, it is nonetheless likely to pronouncedly decrease need for surgical revision, cases of failure, rate of partial necrosis and overall hospital stay.
Le but de notre étude est l’analyse de notre technique de prise en charge de la congestion veineuse peropératoire en préservant la veine superficielle épigastrique inférieure (SIEV), ainsi qu’une revue rétrospective de notre série de reconstructions mammaires autologues par lambeau de perforateur épigastrique inférieure profond (DIEP). Par ailleurs, nous avons effectué une revue d’autres techniques dans la littérature.
Il s’agit d’une étude rétrospective de 198 reconstructions mammaires par lambeau DIEP réalisées entre janvier 2010 et septembre 2017, notre technique chirurgicale est décrite avec une mise au point sur la prise en charge de la congestion veineuse. Le temps opératoire, le taux de reprise, la durée de séjour et les complications ont été enregistrés, puis une revue de la littérature a été réalisée pour d’autres techniques de prise en charge de la congestion veineuse.
Parmi les reconstructions mammaires réalisées par DIEP, 7,5 % ont eu un épisode de drainage veineux insuffisant peropératoire contre 6,5 % en postopératoire. La SIEV a été utilisée dans 65 % des cas. Notre taux de reprise globale est de 15,1 % pour toutes les complications postopératoires, le taux d’échec est de 2,5 %, divisé entre 2 % pour la thrombose veineuse et 0,5 % pour la thrombose artérielle. Chez les patientes ayant bénéficié d’une augmentation du drainage veineux, les lambeaux ont survécu sans nécrose partielle. La durée moyenne d’hospitalisation chez le groupe ayant eu une anastomose secondaire peropératoire est de 7,8jours, contre 13,5jours dans le groupe ayant subi une anastomose secondaire postopératoire.
En cas de congestion veineuse peropératoire, la réalisation immédiate d’une seconde anastomose veineuse semble augmenter la durée d’intervention initiale de 1h45h, mais pourrait permettre de réduire à la fois le nombre de reprise chirurgicale, le taux d’échec, le taux de nécrose partielle et la durée d’hospitalisation globale.
Skin tumors surgery is common and well established. There is discrepancy between recommendations on macroscopic margins to apply and therapeutic decisions taken on histological margins. The purpose ...of this study is to examine skin shrinkage upon exeresis, then in formalin, to understand the anatomo-clinical discrepancy, which is often found.
It was a prospective study, lasting a month, including patients receiving skin surgery. For each tumor, the surgeon carried out 4 margins measurements before and after exeresis ; margins measured again in histology. The evaluation criterion was the difference between preoperative, postoperative and histological margins measurement. These data was weighting according to factors linked to the patient and the tumor.
Seventy-nine tumors for 61 patients had been studied. The study showed a significant shrinkage between preoperative measurements and postoperative, from 0.4 to 0.6mm. It is correlated with no one tested factors. Significant shrinkage between 0.4 and 0.5mm was also established between preoperative and histological measurements. However, there is a significant augmentation between postoperative and histological measurements.
This last result could be linked to the inflammatory peri-wound skin that surgeon consider as tumoral process so exclude of his margin, while histology could show a healthy area. In front of these results, an expert committee leading a more important study could include histological margins recommendations to the actual clinical recommendations.
We present a cost-effective in vivo two-photon microscope with a highly flexible frontend for in vivo research. Our design ensures fast and reproducible access to the area of interest, including ...rotation of imaging plane, and maximizes space for auxiliary experimental equipment in the vicinity of the animal. Mechanical flexibility is achieved with large motorized linear stages that move the objective in the X, Y, and Z directions up to 130 mm. 360° rotation of the frontend (rotational freedom for one axis) is achieved with the combination of a motorized high precision bearing and gearing. Additionally, the modular design of the frontend, based on commercially available optomechanical parts, allows straightforward updates to future scanning technologies. The design exceeds the mobility of previous movable microscope designs while maintaining high optical performance.
Background: Several recent reports have connected protein methylation with differentiation. Furthermore, the BTG/TOB proteins have also been implicated in such control. BTG1 and 2 have been shown to ...interact with PRMT1 (predominant cellular arginine N‐methyltransferase of type I).
Results: First, we have studied the interaction between PRMT1 and the proteins of the BTG/TOB family. We show that boxC, a sequence present only in BTG1 and BTG2, is essential for this association. Using boxC peptide, we have investigated the importance of PRMT1/BTG protein association during type I protein methylation reactions. Finally, we show that the addition of boxC fused to penetratin interferes with the neuronal differentiation of PC12 cells and ES cell‐derived neurones.
Conclusions: Taken together, these results indicate that PRMT1/BTG proteins could play a key role in the arginine methylation‐mediated signalling pathway as well as in neuronal differentiation.
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