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Maintaining durable adhesion between soft tissues and relatively hard implant materials is one of the most elusive technological difficulties in bionic devices due to contact damage between mechanically mismatched materials. Although there are many examples of coexistence of soft and hard tissues in living organisms, relatively little is known about the mechanisms used to overcome mechanical mismatches occurring at the interface between soft and hard tissues. Among the various creatures possessing mechanically mismatched biological tissues, Atrina pectinatais a good model system where the interface between stiff byssal threads and soft tissues is distributed all over an extended organ. In this study, we found a wide distribution of various types of carbohydrates and lectins at the mechanically mismatched interface of the byssus of Atrinausing histological methods and proteomics. Reversible and robust interactions between the carbohydrate and lectins at the interface would play a major role in mitigating the contact damage at the Atrinainterface. Based on these results, the adhesion between sugar and lectin would be useful to overcome a wide range of contact damage observed in research studies on bionic devices.

This study presents a novel approach for Arabic video text recognition based on recurrent neural networks. In fact, embedded texts in videos represent a rich source of information for indexing and automatically annotating multimedia documents. However, video text recognition is a non-trivial task due to many challenges like the variability of text patterns and the complexity of backgrounds. In the case of Arabic, the presence of diacritic marks, the cursive nature of the script and the non-uniform intra/inter word distances, may introduce many additional challenges. The proposed system presents a segmentation-free method that relies specifically on a multi-dimensional long short-term memory coupled with a connectionist temporal classification layer. It is shown that using an efficient pre-processing step and a compact representation of Arabic character models brings robust performance and yields a low-error rate than other recently published methods. The authors’ system is trained and evaluated using the public AcTiV-R dataset under different evaluation protocols. The obtained results are very interesting. They also outperform current state-of-the-art approaches on the public dataset ALIF in terms of recognition rates at both character and line levels.

This study aims at evaluating the effect of different wastewater composition on kinetics, capacities, and mechanisms of P sorption by carbonated bauxite residues (CBR). A series of batch experiments was performed to investigate P sorption behaviors from solutions prepared with different aqueous matrices (deionized water, tap water, and real wastewater) and different initial P concentrations (from 10 to 200 mg P/L). Also, a series of sequential P extractions was performed to investigate P fractionation of CBR before and after its use in P sorption experiments, and hence to elucidate the main P removal mechanisms. The results indicate that initial P concentration is the most influential parameter controlling kinetics, capacities, and mechanisms of P removal in batch experiments. Kinetic constant of P sorption increases exponentially with decreasing initial P concentration below 100 mg P/L, thus indicating a faster achievement of P sorption equilibrium. Equilibrium P sorption capacities increase linearly from about 0.2 to about 3.9 mg P/g CBR with increasing initial P concentration from 10 to 200 mg P/L, thus indicating that P saturation of CBR was not reached. Ca phosphate precipitation is the main P removal mechanism at higher initial P concentrations (> 10 mg P/L), whereas phosphate adsorption on CBR surface becomes more relevant over the total amount of P removed at lower initial P concentrations. Overall, the findings of this study allow to evaluate kinetic constants, sorption capacities, and removal mechanisms under different operating scenarios, thus providing crucial information for the design and operation of P treatment units.

Motivated by the theoretical results on multi-antenna signal processing techniques promising substantial performance gains, a feasible reconfigurable hardware architecture for OFDM-based Wireless LANs is presented in this paper. The ultimate objective of the platform is to support single-antenna links, as well as antenna arrays at the receiver and/or at the transmitter, taking into account the limitations caused by a real-time implementation. After a brief overview of the implemented multi-antenna algorithms, we present the hardware platform that has been built based on both fixed point and floating point DSPs from Texas Instruments, together with the evaluation of the complexity associated to the operations, and their scheduling. The performance indicates that a multi-antenna architecture supporting up to four antennas at the receiver side might accomplish the real-time requirements.Motivated by the theoretical results on multi-antenna signal processing techniques promising substantial performance gains, a feasible reconfigurable hardware architecture for OFDM-based Wireless LANs is presented in this paper. The ultimate objective of the platform is to support single-antenna links, as well as antenna arrays at the receiver and/or at the transmitter, taking into account the limitations caused by a real-time implementation. After a brief overview of the implemented multi-antenna algorithms, we present the hardware platform that has been built based on both fixed point and floating point DSPs from Texas Instruments, together with the evaluation of the complexity associated to the operations, and their scheduling. The performance indicates that a multi-antenna architecture supporting up to four antennas at the receiver side might accomplish the real-time requirements.

Alcohol is one of the most common noxious substance to which fetuses are exposed. The aim of the study was to determine the effects of in utero alcohol exposure on excitotoxin-induced neuronal migration disorders. Female hamsters received alcohol (7%) for 3–5 mo or for the last 9–12 d of gestation. Alcohol diet was continued for 5 d during lactation in both groups. Drinking behavior was monitored. Peak plasma alcohol levels were 104 ± 12 mg/dL and 225 ± 6 mg/dL after 30 min for hamsters receiving an intragastric dose of 3 mL or 5 mL alcohol, respectively. At birth, pups received intrapallial injections ibotenic acid (1 ng, 100 ng, or 10 µg). Histology and N-methyl-d-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor labeling by 3H-MK-801 in the pups cortices were studied. Short-term-alcohol-exposed pups had normal body and brain weights at birth, but their body growth was retarded postnatally. Ibotenic acid induced similar neuronal migration impairments in control and alcohol-exposed pups (nodular heterotopia in the white matter and/or deep cortical layers, subpial ectopia, and micro- or polymicrogyria). The size of lesions induced by 100 ng ibotenic acid was increased in alcohol-exposed pups; the 10 µg dose was lethal. The density of 3H-MK-801 binding sites was similar in the three groups, indicating that exacerbated ibotenic acid excitotoxicity in alcohol-exposed pups did not result from increased NMDA receptor density. This study shows that alcohol exposure at levels that do not induce neuron migration disorders is sufficient to enhance the effects of the hypoxia-ischemia mimicking effects of ibotenic acid.

W. Frey & R. Lösch: Lehrbuch der Geobotanik. Pflanze und Vegetation in Raum und Zeit. 2. Aufl., 528 S., 2004, Elsevier GmbH, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg. ISBN 3-8274-1193-9; Samson, R. A. & Frisvad, J. C.: Penicillium subgenus Penicillium: new taxonomic schemes, mycotoxins and other extrolites. CBS Studies in Mycology 49, 257 pp., soft cover, 2004. Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, P. O. Box 85167, 3508 AD Utrecht, Netherlands. ISBN 90-70351-53-6;

Estrogen receptor (ER) status is an important parameter in breast cancer management. In this study, ER protein contents established by two conventional techniques were confronted to ER mRNA level, to analyze whether the latter may be introduced in routine assay. Eighty-seven breast tumor samples were examined. ER amounts were determined by ligand-binding assay (LBA) and by computer-assisted immunocytochemical assay (ICA), ER mRNA was analysed and quantified by northern blot. Seventy-seven percent of tumor samples examined were positive for ER mRNA and they all expressed the 6.7-kb receptor signal. No trace of small-sized ER mRNA variants was detected in any sample. Following akaike information criterion (AIC) discriminant analysis, a simple linear correlation was found between ER mRNA levels and ER amounts provided by LBA. This was not observed when either mRNA or LBA values were compared to ICA values. These latter were found to rapidly reach a plateau at increasing mRNA or LBA values. In conclusion, our data points to the linear correlation between ER amounts determined in breast tumors at both protein and mRNA levels by quantitative methods; they also indicate that the semi-quantitative computer-associated ICA may complement rather than replace these quantitative methods.

Petrovska-Delacrétaz, Dijana, Černocký, Jan, Hennebert, Jean, and Chollet, Gérard, Segmental Approaches for Automatic Speaker Verification, Digital Signal Processing10(2000), 198–212.

Summary The authors report a series of 41 dissections of the forearm intended to study the orientation of the fibers of the flexor carpi radialis (FCR). This shows that there is a constant torsion of the fibers of the FCR by an average of 180°. Half of this torsion occurs in the forearm and half in the sheath of the FCR at wrist level. Awareness of this torsion is particularly useful surgically when the tendon is employed in ligamentoplasty, particularly after trapeziectomy. Our study of the orientation of the fibers was aimed at the ability to perform subcutaneous splitting of the fibers for use of part of the tendon.

The aim of this work is to describe and interpret well preserved Lower Carboniferous Zoophycos from Belgium. They are compared to other similar Zoophycos studied by the same authors from Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous from France. Finally, some general conclusions are proposed which are also supported by data from the literature. Lower Carboniferous deposits in the Tournai area (Belgium) are characterized by the abundance of well preserved Zoophycos previously described as Spirophyton. The upper unit of the Tournai Limestones, the Antoing Formation (Ivorian), was studied here. It is usually made of fine-grained carbonate mudstones or wackestones, occasionally passing to packstones. The paleoenvironmental setting is typical of the deep part of a carbonate ramp, with occasional storm deposition. The general organization of Tournaisian Zoophycos is the same as that seen in Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous specimens of southeastern France: a single open tube and a lamina with an upward helicoidal growth. This similar organization suggests a similar ethology for the corresponding tracemaker considered as a deep sediment feeder with an efficient mining program. The more simple morphology of the Tournaisian burrow system suggests that this program is less complex than for the Mesozoic equivalents. Zoophycos is best developed in fine-grained sediments. In opposition to the Jurassic examples of southeastern France, this sediment must have still been soft, never slightly firm, when colonized. In addition, the abundance of Zoophycos at the top of locally frequent storm deposits could indicate a fairly opportunistic behavior. Considering the above mentioned assumption, the increasing complexity of the morphology and the modification of the related ethology, a possible evolution from an r-strategy to a K-strategy is suggested for the Zoophycos-creating organism during geologic time.

Phylogenetic relationships of the yeast genus Lipomyces were studied using sequences from fragments of 5.8S rRNA gene and from internal transcribed spacer region ITS2 of 13 strains (7 type strains included) representing five species and subtaxa, and originating from different geographical locations (Japan, Trinidad, Nigeria, North America, Western Europe, Russia, South Africa, Mauritius). Parsimony and distance analyses were performed. Tree topology from the parsimony and distance analyses of the sequences confirmed the results of nDNA reassociation. Results segregate the 13 isolates of Lipomyces into five major clades.

A general solution of the diffusion equation for gas in polymers is developed by a numerical method. This solution allows diffusion to he calculated in all cases, by gas desorption after an incomplete adsorption, which is not the case for analytical solutions. When the analytical solutions are valid, both types of solution give identical results. The effect of equivalent sterilization treatment at different temperatures and gas concentrations on formaldehyde residuals in 9 polymers is calculated. High temperature gives lower residual content. Short sterilization times at high gas concentration produce a higher residual content at the end of the adsorption and a lower residual content during desorption than longer sterilization times with lower gas concentration. This is due to sharper gradients of diffusant in the polymer.

A yeast strainMoniliellapollinisproduces an extracellular highly viscous gum-like polysaccharide of glucan type in a simple mineral medium. Optimum conditions for its production and properties are described. The viscosity decreased after lyophilization.

This is a summary of a report which was the result of an epidemiological investigation, carried out under the sponsorship of the Commission for the European Communities (CEC) and its Committee on Medical and Public Health Research (CRM) in the nine countries of the European Community, in order to determine the prevalence of childhood deafness. The design of the study specified that all children born during the year 1969 would be included if their hearing loss averaged 50 dB or worse in the better ear. Most of the children were enumerated in 1977 when they were eight years old.The prevalence of the degree of deafness in the CEC was 0.9/1000 live births in 1969. There were more deaf children born in the winter than in the summer months. Perceptive hearing loss accounts for 92% of all the cases of deafness and Rubella was the largest single cause of the deafness where the aetiology was known. If perceptive deafness is considered as a whole, in 42% of the children no cause was reported. 29% of the children were reported as having associated handicaps. In 33% of the children there was a mean hearing loss of 100 Db or more. Approximately two-thirds of the children were suspected of being deaf by the time they reached their 3rd birthday and almost 50% had their deafness confirmed by the same age. For 33% of the children there was a delay of up to 12 months between confirmation of their hearing loss and the issue of hearing aids. There were major differences in hearing aid arrangements adopted by the different countries and in aid usage both 'in' and 'out of school'. 10% of the children had no evidence of hearing even when using hearing aids. Approximately two-thirds of the children attend special schools for the deaf and the remainder attend ordinary schools; however there are marked differences between countries in the types of schools attended. Speech that was at least intelligible to strangers, was only reported in 47% of the children and only 32% were stated as being able to read like a normal 8-year-old. There is a possible relationship between hearing aid usage 'out of school and the intelligibility of speech'.

Robert, V., Bien, J.‐E. de, Buyck, B. & Hennebert, G. L.: “ALLEV”, a new program for computer‐assisted identification of yeasts. – Taxon 43: 433‐439. 1994. – ISSN 0040‐0262. ALLEV, an IBM‐PC compatible program for easy, automatic and objective identification of yeasts, is presented. All tests are given equal weight. The program also permits to select or classify all or part of the reference species or registered strains, and to calculate similarity coefficients. For each operation a report file is created which can be visualized on screen or printed. The files are extensible, and data can be added, deleted or modified.

Circulating concentrations of leucocyte elastase were measured in 20 adult patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) with a flat-sheet membrane oxygenator. Eight patients (group I) received the calcium channel blocker, nifedipine (9μg/kg/h), during CPB and 2g methylprednisolone before CPB. Eight patients (group II) received methylprednisolone but not nifedipine infusion. Four patients (group III) received neither nifedipine nor methylprednisolone infusion. In all patients the bypass procedure was associated with elevation in elastase concentrations. Enzyme concentrations correlated with the duration of bypass (r = 0.7, p<0.01). Comparison between groups fails to demonstrate any significant effect of nifedipine infusion or methylprednisolone on elastase release. This study demonstrates moderate elastase release during CPB with a flat-sheet membrane oxygenator and fails to confirm inhibition of elastase release by nifedipine infusion during CPB.

Multiple-quantum filtering NMR sequences were used to study the multiexponential relaxation behaviour of H2¹⁷O in the presence of macromolecules. By this means, the fraction and the correlation time of water in slow motion, or ‘bound’ water, were determined, in addition to the relaxation time of bulk water in the extreme narrowing limit. Experiments were carried out on aqueous solutions of bovine serum albumin, hen egg white lysozyme and intact human red blood cells in which intracellular water properties were studied. The small fraction of bound water of less than 1% seems to correspond to ‘strongly bound’ water, whereas the behaviour of bulk water was different from that of pure water and may be due to weak (or transient) interactions with macromolecules. The experiments and the data analysis gave reproducible results which support the idea that diverse samples could be studied in this way in order to help understand their water properties. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The relationships among 65 basidiomycetous yeast strains were determined by one-dimensional electrophoresis of SDS-solubilized whole-cell proteins. Protein profiles were compared by the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r). The strains investigated represented species from the generaCystofilobasidium, Filobasidium, Filobasidiella, Kondoa, Leucosporidium, Mrakia andRhodosporidium. Except for the genusMrakia, all species constituted separate protein electrophoretic clusters. The species of the genusMrakia (M. frigida, M. gelida, M. nivalis andM. stokesii) show highly similar protein patterns, suggesting that these four species may be synonymous. Strains of two varieties ofFilobasidiella neoformans, F. neoformans var.neoformans andF. neoformans var.bacillispora, could not be differentiated by protein electrophoresis.

The aim of this study was to find a safe, effective sterilization method that does not destroy the bone-inductive capacity of demineralized bone implants. Five sterilizing agents were tested in rats. Implants procured and processed under sterile conditions served as controls. New bone formation was evaluated by determining dry weight, calcium content, and Sr-85 incorporation of the induced ossicles.Glutaraldehyde solution, formaldehyde gas, and ethylene oxide destroyed almost all the bone-inductive capacity. Irradiation by 2.5 Mrads Co-60 resulted in a loss of about half of the inductive capacity. Merthiolate (0.18 per cent) was the only sterilizing agent that did not reduce the bone-inductive capacity of the demineralized implants. Because merthiolate is not sporicidal, gamma irradiation appears to be the most appropriate sterilizing agent for demineralized bone in clinical use.

A homothallic species of Nectria producing a Cylindrocladium-like anamorph was collected from bark of a fallen tree in the Amazonian forest in Ecuador. The anamorph, which is placed in a new genus, Xenocylindrocladium, is characterized by forming straight, cylindrical, 1-septate conidia borne on penicillate conidiophores with coiled, avesiculate stipe extensions. The teleomorph, which is best accommodated in Nectria, is distinct in forming yellow-orange perithecia with red ostiolar regions, ellipsoidal, smooth, hyaline, 1-septate ascospores, and long-stalked, cylindrical asci with apical discharge mechanisms. Both the teleomorph and anamorph states are newly described as Nectria serpens and Xenocylindrocladium serpens.

A new strain of the fungusGlomerellacingulatahas been isolated, which produces an extracellular highly viscous polysaccharide in a simple mineral medium. Optimum conditions for its production and properties are described. The polysaccharide produced was a glucan type. The viscosity remained stable during storage over a period of seven days. Large changes in temperature and pH have no effect on viscosity.

Quinine is a protoplasmotic poison which, in cases of cinchonism, produces tinnitus, hearing loss, dizziness, blurring of vision, photophobia, and hypotension. Administration of a large dose may produce delirium, unconsciousness, respiratory failure, and death.Ototoxicity of quinine seems to be the result of administration of a large dose or prolonged treatment, or it may be a matter of idiosyncrasy. Hearing loss of conductive type is said to occur, by Falbe-Hansen,1 after several clinical and experimental observations, while Forbes2 and Rüedi et al.3 believed it is of perceptive type.The opinions concerning the location and nature of cochlear lesions as observed in experimental animals may be divided in two groups. The first group claims that quinine produced changes in the primary cochlear neurons and hypotonic degeneration in the cochlear receptor. The features and explanation of this phenomenon were put forward by Wittmaack,4 and have been supported by

A study of the physiological and morphological characters of the moulds of the genusMoniliella Stolk et Dakin demonstrated the existence of a new variety ofMoniliella tomentosa (v. Beyma) Stolk, referred to asMoniliella tomentosa var.pollinis. The distinction is based on the green olivaceous tinge of the colonies on agar media and the production, in liquid media with either peptone, potassium nitrate, or yeast extract — maltose, of a diffusable yellow pigment.

A description is given ofChalaropsis punctulata sp.n., a hyphomycete isolated from the roots ofLawsonia inermis. The new species is compared with the type speciesChalaropsis threlavioides, and withCeratocystis radicicola andCeratocystis variospora.

Un champ sonore tournant, constitué de préférence de bruit blanc ou de séries de clics, et réalisable par des moyens techniques simples, provoque des réactions cinétiques : nystagmus, balancement du corps, etc. Ces phénomènes soulèvent des problèmes physiologiques de l'audition et de l' équilibre. lis peuvent etre utilisés en pratique comme moyen d' audiométrie objective, et en particulier dans le dépistage scolaire.

R. Grolle & K. Meister: The liverworts in Baltic and Bitterfeld amber. 91 pp., 23 plates. 2004 Weissdorn-Verlag, Jena. ISBN 3-936055-04-1; CBS Centenary: 100 Years of Fungal Biodiversity and Ecology. Edited by P. W. Crous, R. A. Samson, W. Gams, R. C. Summerbell, T. Boekhut, G. S. de Hoog & J. A. Stalpers. Studies in Mycology n° 50, part 1: ix +1-298, part 2: ix +299-586, 2004. Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Utrecht. Soft cover. ISBN 90-70351-54-4 and 90-70352-54-4, ISSN 0166-0616;

A new species of Chaetomium, C. cuyabenoensis, is described from the Ecuador rain forest. It is similar to Chaetomium longicolleum but differs by having smaller and, in face view, strongly limonifom to quadrangular ascospores.

In our study, 71 normal-hearing ears from adults and 39 from neonates (n = 110) were tested by the advanced echo test technique devised and described by Kemp (ILO 88). Almost all ears (97% and 95%) showed emissions. This material is convenient for clinical routine in adults and for neonatal screening.

Adhesive secretions occur in both aquatic and terrestrial animals, in which they perform diverse functions. Biological adhesives can therefore be remarkably complex and involve a large range of components with different functions and interactions. However, being mainly protein based, biological adhesives can be characterized by classical molecular methods. This review compiles experimental strategies that were successfully used to identify, characterize and obtain the full-length sequence of adhesive proteins from nine biological models: echinoderms, barnacles, tubeworms, mussels, sticklebacks, slugs, velvet worms, spiders and ticks. A brief description and practical examples are given for a variety of tools used to study adhesive molecules at different levels from genes to secreted proteins. In most studies, proteins, extracted from secreted materials or from adhesive organs, are analysed for the presence of post-translational modifications and submitted to peptide sequencing. The peptide sequences are then used directly for a BLAST search in genomic or transcriptomic databases, or to design degenerate primers to perform RT-PCR, both allowing the recovery of the sequence of the cDNA coding for the investigated protein. These sequences can then be used for functional validation and recombinant production. In recent years, the dual proteomic and transcriptomic approach has emerged as the best way leading to the identification of novel adhesive proteins and retrieval of their complete sequences.

White matter (WM) lesions in preterm newborns may lead to cerebral palsy. To study WM lesions in a mouse model, we used intrapallial stereotactic injections of ibotenic acid, an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor agonist. Previous studies support a contribution of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) to the brain lesions seen in various adult excitotoxic models. Therefore, we studied both 5-day-old (P5) wild-type mice and t-PA knock-out (t-PA−/−) mice. The ibotenic acid doses required to induce WM cysts were lower in the wild-type mice (EC50 < 0.01 μg/animal) than in the t-PA−/− mice (EC50 = 2.5 μg/animal) (p < 0.01), indicating the existence of t-PA–dependent and t-PA–independent mechanisms. Dose-dependent prolonged cyst growth occurred in the wild-type mice only. Early microglial activation and astrogliosis were similar in the wild-type and t-PA−/− mice. In adult mice (P45), demyelination occurred at the injection site in both groups but the astroglial scar was denser in the wild-type than in the t-PA−/− mice. These data support involvement of t-PA at several stages of WM lesion formation. Inactivation of t-PA might confer protection by prolonged hemostasis. The role of t-PA in cyst expansion suggests a new approach to the development of neuroprotective strategies in infants with developing WM lesions.