All the recent DEMO design studies for helium cooled divertors utilize tungsten materials and alloys, mainly due to their high temperature strength, good thermal conductivity, low erosion, and ...comparably low activation under neutron irradiation. The long-term objective of the EFDA fusion materials programme is to develop structural as well as armor materials in combination with the necessary production and fabrication technologies for future divertor concepts. The programmatic roadmap is structured into four engineering research lines which comprise fabrication process development, structural material development, armor material optimization, and irradiation performance testing, which are complemented by a fundamental research programme on “Materials Science and Modeling”. This paper presents the current research status of the EFDA experimental and testing investigations, and gives a detailed overview of the latest results on fabrication, joining, high heat flux testing, plasticity, modeling, and validation experiments.
In this paper we report a new transiting warm giant planet: KOI-1257 b. It was first detected in photometry as a planet-candidate by the Kepler space telescope and then validated thanks to a radial ...velocity :follow-up with the SOPHIE spectrograph. It orbits its host star with a period of 86,647661 d +/- 3 s and a high eccentricity of 0.772 +/- 0.045. The planet transits the main star of a metal-rich, relatively old binary system With stars of mass of 0.99 +/- 0.05 M-circle dot and 0.70 +/- 0.07 M-circle dot for the primary and secondary, respectively. This binary system is constrained thanks to a self-consistent modelling of the Kepler transit light curve; the SOPHIE radial velocities; line bisector and full-width half maximum (FWHM) variations, and the spectral energy distribution. However, future observations are needed to confirm it. The PASTIS fully-Bayesian software was used to validate the nature of the planet and to determine which star of the binary system is the transit host. By accounting for the dilution from the binary both in photometry and in radial velocity, we find that the planet has a mass of 1.45 +/- 0.35 M-4, and a radius of 0.94(4) +/- 0.12 R-4 and thus a bulk density of 2.1 +/- 1.2 g cm(-3). The planet has an equilibrium temperature of 511 +/- 50K, making it one of the few known members of the warm-Jupiter population. The HARPS-N spectrograph was also used to observe a transit of KOI-1257 b, simultaneously with a joint amateur and professional photometric follow up, with the aim of constraining the orbital obliquity of the planet. However, the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect was not clearly detected, resulting in poor constraints on the orbital obliquity of the planet.
The emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) substantially challenges TB control, especially in the European Region of the World Health ...Organization, where the highest prevalence of MDR/XDR cases is reported. The current management of patients with MDR/XDR-TB is extremely complex for medical, social and public health systems. The treatment with currently available anti-TB therapies to achieve relapse-free cure is long and undermined by a high frequency of adverse drug events, suboptimal treatment adherence, high costs and low treatment success rates. Availability of optimal management for patients with MDR/XDR-TB is limited even in the European Region. In the absence of a preventive vaccine, more effective diagnostic tools and novel therapeutic interventions the control of MDR/XDR-TB will be extremely difficult. Despite recent scientific advances in MDR/XDR-TB care, decisions for the management of patients with MDR/XDR-TB and their contacts often rely on expert opinions, rather than on clinical evidence. This document summarises the current knowledge on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of adults and children with MDR/XDR-TB and their contacts, and provides expert consensus recommendations on questions where scientific evidence is still lacking.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of three concentrations of anethole (30, 300, and 2000 μg/mL) on survival, antrum formation, follicular diameter, and oocyte maturation in the ...caprine species. The study also evaluated the effects of anethole on transcripts of ICAM-1, CAV-1, TIMP-2, and PAI-1 genes and levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in isolated goat preantral ovarian follicles before and after in vitro culture for 18 days. Preantral follicles were isolated from goat ovaries and individually cultured in alpha minimum essential medium modified (α-MEM+), defined as the control treatment, α-MEM+ supplemented with ascorbic acid at a concentration of 100 μg/mL (AA), or α-MEM+ supplemented with three different concentrations of anethole (30, 300, 2000 μg/mL) for a period of 18 days. Treatments were named as α-MEM+, AA, AN30, AN300, and AN2000, respectively. After culture, the follicles were opened, the cumulus oocytes complex (COCs) were removed and matured in vitro. The walls of the follicles were used for the quantitation of mRNA by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Finally, the medium collected at the end of culture was used for the measurements of ROS. After 18 days of culture, the AA treatment showed the percentage of intact follicles and follicular diameter significantly higher compared with the other treatments. However, daily growth rate, antrum formation, and also oocyte diameter were similar among the treatments. In addition, compared with AA, the rate of oocytes for in vitro maturation (diameter ≥ 110 μm) and the meiosis resumption rate were significantly higher in the treatments AN30 and AN2000, respectively. When assessing gene related to remodeling of the basement membrane, significant differences in mRNA levels for ICAM-1, CAV-1, TIMP-2, and PAI-1 were observed in comparison with Day 0, i.e., in the noncultured control. In addition, the ROS from Day 12, all treatments with the addition of anethole have significantly lower values of ROS than α-MEM+ and AA. In conclusion, the addition of anethole to the in vitro culture medium was able to improve the development of goat preantral follicles by reducing concentrations of ROS and increasing the percentage of oocytes able to resume meiosis.
Radioactive ^{27}Mg (t_{1/2}=9.5 min) was implanted into GaN of different doping types at CERN's ISOLDE facility and its lattice site determined via β^{-} emission channeling. Following ...implantations between room temperature and 800 °C, the majority of ^{27}Mg occupies the substitutional Ga sites; however, below 350 °C significant fractions were also found on interstitial positions ∼0.6 Å from ideal octahedral sites. The interstitial fraction of Mg was correlated with the GaN doping character, being highest (up to 31%) in samples doped p type with 2×10^{19} cm^{-3} stable Mg during epilayer growth, and lowest in Si-doped n-GaN, thus giving direct evidence for the amphoteric character of Mg. Implanting above 350 °C converts interstitial ^{27}Mg to substitutional Ga sites, which allows estimating the activation energy for migration of interstitial Mg as between 1.3 and 2.0 eV.
We report the discovery and characterisation of a giant transiting planet orbiting a nearby M3.5V dwarf ( d = 80.4pc, G = 15.1 mag, K =11.2mag, R * = 0.358 ± 0.015 R ⊙ , M * = 0.340 ± 0.009 M ⊙ ). ...Using the photometric time series from TESS sectors 10, 36, 46, and 63 and near-infrared spectrophotometry from ExTrA, we measured a planetary radius of 0.77 ± 0.03 R J and an orbital period of 1.52 days. With high-resolution spectroscopy taken by the CFHT/SPIRou and ESO/ESPRESSO spectrographs, we refined the host star parameters (Fe/H = 0.27 ± 0.12) and measured the mass of the planet (0.273 ± 0.006 M J ). Based on these measurements, TOI-4860 b joins the small set of massive planets (>80 M E ) found around mid to late M dwarfs (<0.4 R ⊙ ), providing both an interesting challenge to planet formation theory and a favourable target for further atmospheric studies with transmission spectroscopy. We identified an additional signal in the radial velocity data that we attribute to an eccentric planet candidate ( e = 0.66 ± 0.09) with an orbital period of 427 ± 7 days and a minimum mass of 1.66 ± 0.26 M J , but additional data would be needed to confirm this.
Serine hydrolases are a large family of multifunctional enzymes known to influence obesity. Here, we performed activity-based protein profiling to assess the functional level of serine hydrolases in ...liver biopsies from lean and obese humans in order to gain mechanistic insight into the pathophysiology of metabolic disease. We identified reduced hepatic activity of carboxylesterase 2 (CES2) and arylacetamide deacetylase (AADAC) in human obesity. In primary human hepatocytes, CES2 knockdown impaired glucose storage and lipid oxidation. In mice, obesity reduced CES2, whereas adenoviral delivery of human CES2 reversed hepatic steatosis, improved glucose tolerance, and decreased inflammation. Lipidomic analysis identified a network of CES2-regulated lipids altered in human and mouse obesity. CES2 possesses triglyceride and diacylglycerol lipase activities and displayed an inverse correlation with HOMA-IR and hepatic diacylglycerol concentrations in humans. Thus, decreased CES2 is a conserved feature of obesity and plays a causative role in the pathogenesis of obesity-related metabolic disturbances.
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•Obesity decreases hepatic activity of AADAC and CES2 in humans•CES2 depletion impairs lipid and glucose metabolism in primary human hepatocytes•Human CES2 expression reverses hepatic steatosis and glucose intolerance in mice•CES2 controls a hepatic lipid network dysregulated in human and mouse obesity
Ruby et al. utilize activity-based protein profiling to discover decreased arylacetamide deacetylase and carboxylesterase 2 activities in livers from obese humans. Carboxylesterase 2 controls a lipid network dysregulated in human obesity to reverse hepatic steatosis, glucose intolerance, and decrease inflammation in high-fat fed mice.
The influence of polydopamine- and polydopamine-graft-poly(ethylene glycol)-coated feed spacers and membranes, copper-coated feed spacers, and commercially-available biostatic feed spacers on ...biofouling has been studied in membrane fouling simulators. Feed spacers and membranes applied in practical membrane filtration systems were used; biofouling development was monitored by feed channel pressure drop increase and biomass accumulation. Polydopamine and polydopamine-g-PEG are hydrophilic surface modification agents expected to resist protein and bacterial adhesion, while copper feed spacer coatings and biocides infused in feed spacers are expected to restrict biological growth. Our studies showed that polydopamine and polydopamine-g-PEG coatings on feed spacers and membranes, copper coatings on feed spacers, and a commercial biostatic feed spacer did not have a significant impact on feed channel pressure drop increase and biofilm accumulation as measured by ATP and TOC content. The studied spacer and membrane modifications were not effective for biofouling control; it is doubtful that feed spacer and membrane modification, in general, may be effective for biofouling control regardless of the type of applied coating.
► Effect of feed spacer modification on biofouling was studied in membrane fouling simulator. ► Polydopamine coated feed spacers and membranes. ► Poly(ethylene glycol) grafted polydopamine coated feed spacers and membranes. ► Copper coated and biostatic feed spacer. ► Spacer and membrane modifications were not effective for biofouling control.
Objective
White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are areas of increased signal on T2‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans that most commonly reflect small vessel cerebrovascular disease. ...Increased WMH volume is associated with risk and progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). These observations are typically interpreted as evidence that vascular abnormalities play an additive, independent role contributing to symptom presentation, but not core features of AD. We examined the severity and distribution of WMH in presymptomatic PSEN1, PSEN2, and APP mutation carriers to determine the extent to which WMH manifest in individuals genetically determined to develop AD.
Methods
The study comprised participants (n = 299; age = 39.03 ± 10.13) from the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network, including 184 (61.5%) with a mutation that results in AD and 115 (38.5%) first‐degree relatives who were noncarrier controls. We calculated the estimated years from expected symptom onset (EYO) by subtracting the affected parent's symptom onset age from the participant's age. Baseline MRI data were analyzed for total and regional WMH. Mixed‐effects piece‐wise linear regression was used to examine WMH differences between carriers and noncarriers with respect to EYO.
Results
Mutation carriers had greater total WMH volumes, which appeared to increase approximately 6 years before expected symptom onset. Effects were most prominent for the parietal and occipital lobe, which showed divergent effects as early as 22 years before estimated onset.
Interpretation
Autosomal‐dominant AD is associated with increased WMH well before expected symptom onset. The findings suggest the possibility that WMHs are a core feature of AD, a potential therapeutic target, and a factor that should be integrated into pathogenic models of the disease. Ann Neurol 2016;79:929–939
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