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BACKGROUND: Autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation of cytokine-mobilized peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) is increasingly used to treat patients with hematologic disorders. Different types of vascular access have been exploited for the apheresis procedure, including peripheral veins (PV) and central venous catheter (CVC). In some cases, PV access is unavailable. There are few published data on the efficiency and quality of harvesting with different types of vascular access. This study brings out complications and morbidity of this procedure linked to these different access. METHODS: We performed a comparative, retrospective, single-center study of hematopoietic stem cell collection using these two types of vascular access. We compared the efficiency and complication rate for 617 adults apheresis sessions in 401 patients and healthy donors, for PBSC collection via PV or CVC between 2010 and 2016. The quality of the HSC product was evaluated in terms of the total CD34 + count and neutrophil contamination. RESULTS: The PV and CVC groups did not differ significantly in terms of the quality of the apheresis product, mean ± SD CD34 + cells collected in PV group was 383.1 ± 402.7 × 10e6 and 298.8 ± 372.7 × 10e6 and the level of neutrophil contamination was 21.0 ± 17.8% in the PV group and 20.6 ± 18.4% in the CVC group. The complication rate did not differ between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The type of vascular access for apheresis hematopoietic stem cell harvesting must be determined by trained staff. Successful harvesting can be performed via PV then CVC is not needed or not available.

Metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) such as titanium dioxide (TiO2) are in the center of attention, because of their outstanding properties and relatively low cost of production. However, synthesis and utilization of NPs potentially also involve release and accumulation in the environment. Few data are available concerning the potential toxicity of NPs on ecosystems. In this context, we study the ecotoxicological effects of both native and fluorescently-tagged TiO2 nano-objects with different morphologies (P25 Evonik, nanotubes, nanoneedles) on the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans population. This worm is commonly used in ecotoxicological assays because of its convenient handling in the laboratory, and its sensitivity to different stresses. NPs ingestion by L1 and L4 larvae was studied by fluorescence microscopy and ion beam analysis. NPs were found in the pharynx and in the intestine lumen whatever the larvae stage. The quantity of ingested and detected NPs was dependent of the presence of food during exposure in the medium. Without feeding, an increased NPs ingestion was found in association with a strong intestine anterior dilatation. This phenomenon was also generally observed following starvation and in a longer delay of experiment. The toxicity of TiO2 NPs in C. elegans was evaluated using three different endpoints: lethality, worm length and reproduction. Whatever the NPs and larvae stage, the resulting data obtained showed only mortality in L1 exposed with nanotubes. A significant decrease of worm length was observed for L1 and L4 exposed whatever the morphology of NPs as compared to untreated group. The reproduction of C. elegans was clearly affected with a decrease of the eggs number per worm. Our findings suggest that the NPs toxicity depends very much on their physico-chemical characteristics (size, morphology) and has a different impact on the larvae stage exposed.

Inorganic/organic (hybrid) complementary electrochromic devices (ECDs) of the type [transparent conducting oxide (TCO)//inorganic counter electrode/hydrophobic electrolytic membrane/polymeric working electrode//TCO] were assembled. The working electrodes consisted of spin-coated polymer films prepared by moderator-controlled in situ oxidative chemical polymerisation of 3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene (EDOT). Thin, galvanostatically deposited Prussian Blue (PB) films were employed as counter electrodes. Besides F:SnO2 (FTO)/glass and Sn:In2O3 (ITO)/glass, a flexible ITO/PET film was alternatively used for materials deposition. In order to attain the maximum device performance, the PB charge capacity was monitored and adapted to the capacity of the EDOT polymer films. The two electrochromic electrodes were separated by a novel hydrophobic polymer electrolyte based on a gel of 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (BMI-TFSI) and poly(methylmethacrylat e) (PMMA), with lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) as the salt. The influence of two parameters - ITO sheet resistance and the PMMA content in the electrolyte - on the final device properties was investigated. The ITO sheet resistance value proved to be crucial for the switching kinetics. The variation of the weight ratio of PMMA in the electrolyte showed that the effect on the kinetics is small whereas the change in absorbance is highly affected. The properties of the complementary glass-based devices were eventually compared to the corresponding plastic-based electrochromic elements. First attempts to scale up the technology were made for flexible 12 × 15 cm2 (active area) devices.