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Low-grade vesicoureteral-reflux (VUR) are rather treated by endoscopic injection, whereas open or laparoscopic procedures are mainly performed for high-grade VURs. Management of intermediate grades is controversial and no study focused on grade III to date. This study aims to compare the results of open, laparoscopic, and endoscopic approaches in children with grade III VUR.A multicenter comparative retrospective study included children with grade III VUR operated for febrile urinary tract infections (UTIs) from 2007 to 2016. Children without UTI, with reflux of other grades, neurological bladder, duplex system, posterior urethral valves, and bladder exstrophy were excluded. Success was defined as no recurrence of febrile UTI and was presented as event-free survival curves.Out of 806 children operated of VUR, 171 met the inclusion criteria (114 females). Seventy-seven children (45%) underwent an open Cohen procedure, 35 (21%) a laparoscopic Lich-Gregoir and 59 (34%) a submucosal endoscopic injection according to the centers' preference. The mean follow-up was 64 months (24-132). Groups were not different for age, sex, and circumcision status. Compared to Cohen procedure, recurrences of febrile UTI were more frequent after laparoscopic treatment (p = 0,02, 8/35) and endoscopic treatment (p = 0.001, 16/59). Redosurgery was also more frequent after laparoscopy (n = 2) and endoscopic injection (n = 14) than after open surgery (n = 0, p 0.001).Recurrent febrile UTIs and redosurgery are more frequent after endoscopic and laparoscopic procedures in grade III VUR than open reimplantation. Whether the lower morbidity of laparoscopic or endoscopic approaches balances the risk of recurrent febrile UTI remains to be determined for intermediate grade reflux.

Targeted next-generation sequencing (tNGS) and ex vivo drug sensitivity/resistance profiling (DSRP) have laid foundations defining the functional genomic landscape of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and premises of personalized medicine to guide treatment options for patients with aggressive and/or chemorefractory hematological malignancies. Here, we have assessed the feasibility of a tailored treatment strategy (TTS) guided by systematic parallel ex vivo DSRP and tNGS for patients with relapsed/refractory AML (number NCT02619071). A TTS issued by an institutional personalized committee could be achieved for 47/55 included patients (85%), 5 based on tNGS only, 6 on DSRP only, while 36 could be proposed on the basis of both, yielding more options and a better rationale. The TSS was available in

In summer 2012, carrot (Daucus carota L.) plants displaying symptoms of leaf yellowing, stunting and proliferation of dwarfed shoots with bushy tops, and a dense hairy growth of secondary roots were observed. Symptomatic carrots were collected from three fields used for seed production and located in Region Centre of France near Orléans. The presence of psyllids (Psyllidae) in one of the fields was reported but they were not clearly identified. Fifty percent of the field was infected. Due to a large amount of plant debris, the harvested seeds were difficult to separate and the germination rate was low (from 10 to 77%), rendering them unmarketable. The symptoms observed were similar to those described for carrots infected by Aster yellows phytoplasma and ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ in Europe (3). Total DNA was extracted from petiole and root tissue of 16 symptomatic and 6 asymptomatic carrots (cv. Amsterdam, CAC3075), 2 samples of black nightshade leaves (Solanum nigrum) collected from the same fields, and 2 samples of carrot plants (cv Berlicum) grown in a high containment greenhouse, using a cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) buffer extraction method. All DNA extracts were tested for phytoplasmas (1) and for ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ by real-time PCR (2). DNA extracts were also tested for ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ by PCR using primer pairs OA2/OI2c and CL514F/R to amplify a portion of 16S rDNA and rpIJ/rpIL ribosomal protein genes, respectively (4). DNA from greenhouse carrot plants yielded no amplicon with all PCR. Phytoplasma was not detected in any of the tested samples. However, amplification was observed with the real-time PCR assay for ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ (2) for all DNA samples extracted from symptomatic and asymptomatic field carrots (cycle threshold [ct] values between 16.75 and 30.59), and from S. nigrum (ct between 31.62 and 33.25). For field carrot DNA, a 1,168-bp 16S rDNA fragment and a 669-bp rpIJ/rpIL fragment were amplified whereas DNA from S. nigrum yielded no amplicon. Four amplicons obtained from these PCR assays with both primer pairs from symptomatic carrot samples were sequenced directly (Beckmann Coulter Genomics, Grenoble, France). BLAST analysis of the 16S rDNA sequences (KF357911) showed 99% nucleotide identity to those of ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ amplified from carrot in Finland (GU373049). The rpIJ/rpIL nucleotide sequences (KF357912) were 99% identical to sequences of the analogous rpIJ/rpIL ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ ribosomal protein gene from carrot in Spain (JX308305). These results confirmed the presence of ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ in all symptomatic and asymptomatic carrot sampled in Region Centre, France. To our knowledge, this is the first report of this pathogen in carrot in France. These results, in addition to those previously obtained (4), suggest a wider distribution of ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ than previously reported in Europe and should lead plant health managers to consider this pathogen as an emerging threat. References: (1) N. M. Christensen et al. Mol. Plant Microbe Interact. 17:1175, 2004. (2) W. Li et al. J. Microbiol. Methods 78:59, 2009. (3) J. E. Munyaneza et al. Plant Dis. 94:639, 2010. (4) J. E. Munyaneza et al. Plant Dis. 96:453, 2012.

Resume Introduction/objectif Dans les essais cliniques, les promoteurs sont tenus de mettre gratuitement a disposition des investigateurs aussi bien le medicament a l’etude que les traitements de reference utilises dans l’essai. Materiel et methode Nous avons recense sur l’annee 2011 les essais en cours dans notre etablissement et determine si les medicaments etaient fournis ou non par le promoteur. Les medicaments non fournis ont ensuite ete identifies, ainsi que les essais dans lesquels ils etaient utilises et le nombre de dispensations intervenues durant l’annee afin de chiffrer le montant impute a l’hopital et l’Assurance maladie. Resultats et discussion Sur les 269 essais etudies, 388 898 € de medicaments experimentaux ont ete pris en charge par le systeme de sante (CHU : 46 400 € ; Assurance maladie : 342 498 €). Le service d’hematologie a genere la quasi-totalite des couts recenses tous types de promoteurs confondus, representant 364 447 € soit 93 %, dont 241 472 € proviennent d’essais promus par des societes savantes. D’autres etudes menees dans notre etablissement ont montre que l’activite de gestion des essais cliniques genere des benefices pour l’hopital. Conclusion Si le gain pour l’avancee de la recherche biomedicale est incontestable, en revanche, l’economie realisee s’en trouve grevee par des depenses qui devraient, dans la plupart des cas, etre supportees par le promoteur.

Resume Objectif Cette etude a pour but d’analyser les effets de la danse-therapie associee a un programme de perte de poids combinant restriction calorique et exercice, d’une duree de 3 semaines, sur les comportements alimentaires et l’estime de soi de femmes obeses et sedentaires. Methodes Les comportements alimentaires (Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire) et l’estime de soi (echelle de Rosenberg), ainsi que le poids et l’indice de masse corporelle ont ete evalues chez 2 groupes de 11 femmes pairees pour l’âge et le niveau de corpulence : l’un suivait la prise en charge classique et l’autre avait un cours additionnel de danse-therapie a raison d’1 heure, 3 fois par semaine. Resultats Le poids et l’IMC sont significativement reduits chez les deux groupes ( p p p p Conclusion Cette etude-pilote montre l’interet d’inclure un atelier de danse-therapie dans une prise en charge de courte duree, combinant diete et reentrainement a l’effort, afin d’ameliorer l’estime de soi et de diminuer la desinhibition alimentaire de femmes obeses.

Plant functional traits are the features (morphological physiological phenological) that represent ecological strategies and determine how plants respond to environmental factors affect other trophic levels and influence ecosystem properties. Variation in plant functional traits and trait syndromes has proven useful for tackling many important ecological questions at a range of scales giving rise to a demand for standardised ways to measure ecologically meaningful plant traits. This line of research has been among the most fruitful avenues for understanding ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes. It also has the potential both to build a predictive set of local regional and global relationships between plants and environment and to quantify a wide range of natural and human driven processes including changes in biodiversity the impacts of species invasions alterations in biogeochemical processes and vegetation–atmosphere interactions. The importance of these topics dictates the urgent need for more and better data and increases the value of standardised protocols for quantifying trait variation of different species in particular for traits with power to predict plant and ecosystemlevel processes and for traits that can be measured relatively easily. Updated and expanded from the widely used previous version this handbook retains the focus on clearly presented widely applicable step by step recipes with a minimum of text on theory and not only includes updated methods for the traits previously covered but also introduces many new protocols for further traits. This new handbook has a better balance between whole plant traits leaf traits root and stem traits and regenerative traits and puts particular emphasis on traits important for predicting species’ effects on key ecosystem properties.Wehope this new handbook becomes a standard companion in local and global efforts to learn about the responses and impacts of different plant species with respect to environmental changes in the present past and future.

Tobacco smoking and its consequences are one of the major health problems in all regions of the world, regardless of their level of development. The extent of this problem has considerably grown over the last decade. As demand decreases in developed countries, tobacco industries target low- or middle-income developing countries and promote their products with an expected increase in consumption. In Algeria some 30,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed each year; the number of cases increased by 50% between 1986 and 2000. Tobacco prevalence was 43 in male and 6 in female. 50% of smokers are under 27 years. Awareness campaigns during “World no tobacco day”, followed by information caravans, motivated some smokers to ask for help to quit smoking. But then, these people used all sorts of products in unstructured ways, because medicines and cessation techniques in Algeria are still not well known and there is no national global policy on these issues. Responding to this need, the University hospital and the University of Setif, in collaboration with Epidaure-CRLC (Montpellier, France), the committee for French-speaking countries of the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) and the French League against cancer implemented a tobacco-smoking prevention and cessation program in the region of Setif. The objective is to promote prevention and cessation of tobacco in Setif area. The main activities are press campaigns, health formation, communication, information education, and cessation. The results after 2 years show new needs in communication. Heath authorities are favorable to develop this project in all areas in the country. There are some problems in medical, cultural, and economic concepts.

We isolated and characterized 19 polymorphic microsatellite loci in the congeneric parasitoid wasps Megastigmus stigmatizans and Megastigmus dorsalis associated with cynipid oak galls. Loci isolated from species-specific libraries showed extensive cross-amplification, resulting in a total of 15 polymorphic loci for M. stigmatizans and 13 for M. dorsalis.

Semantic dementia (SD) is a syndrome of progressive loss of semantic knowledge for objects and people. International criteria propose that SD be included in the frontotemporal lobar degeneration syndromes, with progressive non-fluent aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). However, several related syndromes have been defined that clinically and conceptually share both similarities and differences with SD: fluent progressive aphasia, progressive prosopagnosia, temporal variant of FTD. In order to establish a French consensus for the diagnosis and modalities of evaluation and follow-up of SD, a working group, composed of neurologists, neuropsychologists and speech-therapists, was established by the Groupe de reflexion sur les evaluations cognitives (GRECO). New criteria were elaborated, based on clinical, neuropsychological, and imaging data. They define typical and atypical forms of SD. A diagnosis of typical SD relies on an isolated and progressive loss of semantic knowledge, attested by a deficit of word comprehension and a deficit of objects and/or people identification, with imaging showing temporal atrophy and/or hypometabolism. SD is atypical if the deficit of semantic knowledge is present only within a single modality (verbal versus visual), or if non-semantic deficits (mild and not present at onset) and/or neurological signs, are associated with the semantic loss.

Resume Introduction Etudier l'influence de l'âge et de l'obesite sur la condition physique, les capacites fonctionnelles et comportements alimentaires de femmes premenopausees, sedentaires. Synthese des faits L'âge augmente la masse grasse et la circonference de la taille chez les femmes obeses et normoponderales. La distance de marche parcourue et les capacites fonctionnelles diminuent chez les femmes obeses, independamment de l'âge. Parmi les comportements alimentaires evalues, le score de desinhibition est plus eleve chez les femmes obeses, peu importe l'âge. Conclusion L'âge et l'obesite diminuent independamment la condition physique et les capacites fonctionnelles, et augmentent la desinhibition alimentaire chez les femmes premenopausees.

Resume Nous rapportons le cas d'un homme de 39 ans, sans antecedent excepte une intoxication alcoolotabagique chronique, ayant presente un accident de velo a l'origine d'une plaie minime du coude gauche qu'il avouera ensuite avoir negligee. Cette plaie a evolue de facon fulgurante vers une fasciite necrosante et s'est compliquee d'un choc septique avec defaillance multiviscerale justifiant une prise en charge en reanimation. Le patient a beneficie d'une triple antibiotherapie (par amoxicilline–acide clavulanique, ornidazole et levofloxacine) ainsi qu'une mise a plat chirurgicale tres delabrante des tissus necroses. L'evolution a ensuite ete lentement favorable. Cette observation illustre la rapidite d'evolution des lesions de fasciite necrosante et rappelle l'importance d'une prise en charge medicochirurgicale precoce.

Small amounts of fluorinated polyethers, and in particular a nonionic fluorinated polyether, can upgrade considerably the cold-water swelling and internal bond strength of wood particleboard bonded with urea–formaldehyde (UF) resins. The effect is maximized at an additive concentration of about 0.1 wt % with respect to the adhesive resin solid content. The effect of the fluorinated polyether appears to be greater with older UF resins, which have a more pronounced colloidal state. The mechanism appears to be somewhat related to the reduction of the interfacial tension of the resins, with improved substrate wetting leading to better adhesion. The addition of a fluorinated polyether well in advance of resin use further enhances the improvement. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2007

Resume Objectifs. – Cette etude s'interesse a l'effet d'une prise en charge pluridisciplinaire sur l'adiposite et la condition physique d'adolescent(e)s. Methodes. – Ces deux parametres ont ete mesures tous les mois, pendant dix mois. Resultats. – L'indice de masse corporelle (IMC) diminue similairement chez les deux sexes. La condition physique augmente au cours du temps. Une difference intersexe apparait en fin de sejour. Par ailleurs, l'evolution du poids des adolescent(e)s, durant le sejour, n'est pas liee a l'âge d'apparition de l'obesite. Aussi, le nombre de parents obeses n'induit pas de differences dans la perte de poids des adolescent(e)s, au cours du sejour. Conclusion. – Notre etude montre qu'une prise en charge pluridisciplinaire a des effets benefiques sur la sante.

Resume Le syndrome de l’anse afferente correspond a l’obstruction de cette anse lors d’une anastomose gastro-jejunale et peut survenir de facon precoce, dite aigue, ou tardivement de facon chronique. Nous decrivons les caracteristiques radiologiques de ce syndrome (radiographie standard, transit radio-opaque œso-gastrique, tomodensitometrie et IRM).

Resume Objectifs Estimer a partir de mesures sur fantomes la dose d’irradiation et la fiabilite d’un pelviscanner helicoidal. Materiels et methodes Huit acquisitions helicoidales utilisant une charge de tube (100, 50, 25 ou 10 mAs) et un pitch (1,125 ou 1,375) variables mais une collimation (2 mm) et une tension de tube (120 kV) identiques ont ete evaluees sur un scanner a 4 canaux et comparees a un pelviscanner conventionnel incluant un topogramme et deux coupes transverses. Un fantome en plexiglas associe a une chambre d’ionisation a ete utilisee pour calculer l’IDSP et le PDL de chaque acquisition. Ensuite, un fantome ex vivo de bassin osseux a ete utilise pour evaluer la fiabilite des acquisitions helicoidales dans la mesure des diametres du bassin (diametres promonto-retro-pubien, transverse median et bi-epineux). Les reconstructions des acquisitions helicoidales ont ete realisees avec les algorithmes 2D MPR, 3D MIP et 3D SSD. Resultats L’IDSP et le PDL du pelviscanner conventionnel etaient respectivement 26 mGy et 42 mGy.cm. La dose d’irradiation des acquisitions helicoidales diminuait lineairement avec la charge du tube (IDSP : de 13 a 1,3 mGy ; PDL : de 218,3 a 18,7 mGy.cm). En comparaison avec le pelviscanner conventionnel, cette dose etait presque identique a 25 mAs et inferieure a 10 mAs. Les acquisitions helicoidales fournissaient des mesures fiables des diametres du bassin en utilisant un pitch de 1,125 et l’algorithme 2D MPR pour evaluer le diametre promonto-retro-pubien et l’algorithme 3D MIP pour calculer les diametres transverse median et bi-epineux. Les variation de charge de tube n’avait pas d’influence sur la fiabilite des mesures. Conclusion Notre etude suggere l’utilisation d’acquisitions helicoidales avec 10 ou 25 mAs et un pitch de 1,125 combinee a des reconstructions 2D MPR et 3D MIP pour obtenir un pelviscanner helicoidal fiable et en basse dose.

This article summarizes the different steps needed for a proper design and monitoring of the solid-state in pharmaceutical industry in order to fulfill the requirements of the guideline dealing with polymorphism of the International Conference of Harmonization.

Tetanus is a vaccine-preventable disease that yearly causes a total of 309,000 deaths. Of particular concern is maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT), which can be prevented through immunization of the mother in pregnancy. In 2000, neonatal tetanus alone was responsible for an estimated 200,000 deaths. While the focus is on 57 priority countries, 90% of the neonatal tetanus deaths occur in 27 countries. UNICEF is spearheading the effort to eliminate MNT by the year 2005, with the support of numerous partners. MNT elimination is defined as less than one case of neonatal tetanus per 1000 live births at district level. The main strategies consist of promotion of clean delivery practices, immunization of women with a tetanus toxoid (TT) containing vaccine, and surveillance. Maternal tetanus immunization is, in most developing countries, implemented as part of the routine immunization program. However, large areas remain underserved, due to logistical, cultural, economical or other reasons. In order to achieve the target of MNT elimination by 2005, and to offer protection to women and children otherwise deprived from regular immunization services, countries are encouraged to adopt the “high risk approach”. This approach implies that, in addition to routine immunization of pregnant women, all women of child bearing age living in high risk areas are targeted for immunization with three doses of a tetanus toxoid containing vaccine (TT or Td), implemented as “supplemental immunization activities” (SIAs). Through SIAs, about 17 million women have been reached with at least two doses of TT vaccine in the past 3 years, and it is estimated that another 200 million need to be targeted in the years to come. SIAs should substantially reduce the burden of disease. Countries will also have to improve their existing immunization and clean delivery programs to ensure that the elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus is maintained.

The gelling and hardening reactions of different, commercial polyflavonoid tannin extracts of the prorobitenedin/profisetinidin, procyanidin, and prodelphinidin types with formaldehyde were studied by parallel-plate rheometry. To do this, methods to determine the rheological characteristics of tannin-formaldehyde polycondensation reactions both before and after the gel point were developed. The validity of some modifications of known methods was checked on the best-known commercial tannin extract, namely, the reaction of the mimosa tannin extract with 5% paraformaldehyde, over a range of different temperatures. The gel point was determined by three different methods, namely, by the crossover point of viscous and elastic moduli, by the extrapolation to ∞ of the zero-frequency viscosity, and by determining the point at which the value of tan δ is constant whatever frequency is used in the measurement. The results obtained were critically compared. The comparisons obtained were good and were reproducible when the first two methods were used, but not when the third one was used. This allowed the determination of the energy of activation at different stages in the tannin-aldehyde polycondensation reaction and the calculation of the degree of conversion of the tannin-aldehyde polycondensation before, at, and after the gel point. Mathematical expressions defining the degree of conversion for tannin-aldehyde reactions before, at, and after the gel point as a function of different moduli were developed and checked with the experimental data obtained. Methods and mathematical expressions for the determination of the rate constants of the different stages of the reaction were also developed and checked. After the gel point, the system was modeled using both a diffusion-controlled model and a second-order kinetic law. The applied results obtained indicated that, although a certain element of diffusion control is present, a second order, diffusion-independent kinetic is more valid under the experimental conditions used. This indicates that the rheometry approach to a polycondensation network is limited mostly by the capability of the equipment to the region after the gel point, where diffusion control does not as yet play a predominant role.

Good correspondence of the gel-time values obtained by two different methods, G′ = G″ and 1/η00, was observed for different types of natural and modified tannin extracts. The pH presents the predominant effect on both the activation energies and the gel times observed, while the proportion of a paraformaldehyde hardener has a much lesser effect on these parameters. The rate constants of the different phases of the reaction of polycondensation with formaldehyde, both before and after the gel point, were obtained for the six commercial tannin extracts tested. The viscoelastic properties of the different tannins/formaldehyde gels were measured. The gel stiffness S, relaxation coefficient n, and relaxation time λ were determined and their dependence on the proportion of the formaldehyde hardener, on the temperature, and on the type of tannin was determined. The gel stiffness S appears to be influenced considerably by the proportion of the formaldehyde hardener. Its value decreased as the percentage of the hardener increased: This was due to early network immobilization and the resulting lower level of crosslinking resulting from it. The influence on S of the temperature is not very pronounced. The relaxation coefficient n appears to depend mainly on the reactivity of the tannin used: The faster the reactivity, the higher was the value of n. This appears to be valid exclusively in tannin extracts where the colloidal state is still present, while it is not valid in extracts where the colloidal state was eliminated by, for example, solvent extraction. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 864–871, 2002

The dehydration mechanism of α-lactose monohydrate was investigated by several techniques and interpreted on the basis of structural data. Whatever the dehydration conditions (heating or use of hygroscopic organic solvents), the departure of water molecules occurs cooperatively in channels parallel to the c axis of the initial structure. Subsequently, the reorganization leads to the closest packing (hygroscopic metastable form, LαH) under heating or to the stable anhydrous form (LαS), probably via a nucleation and growth process in ethanol. The use of acetone as dehydrating solvent on single crystals of α-lactose monohydrate led to the unexpected formation of single crystals of the anomeric β-lactose at room temperature, from which the crystal structure of β-lactose could be accurately re-determined. Recrystallization experiments of anhydrous lactose allowed to prepare N-methylpyrrolidinone and DMSO solvates of α-lactose.

Commercial, industrially produced mimosa, quebracho, pine, and pecan polyflavonoid tannin extracts water solutions of different concentrations were examined by rheometry by measuring dynamic moduli both as a function of strain amplitude and at varying frequency. The water solutions of these materials have been found to behave in general mainly as viscous liquids at the concentrations that are generally used for their main industrial applications. Clear indications of viscoelastic response are also noticeable, among these the crossover of the elastic and viscous moduli curves at the lower concentrations of the range investigated, with some differences being noticeable between each tannin and the others—pine and quebracho tannin extracts showing the more marked viscoelastic behavior. Other than pH dependence (and related structural considerations), the parameters found to be of interest as regards the noticeable viscoelastic behavior of the tannin extracts were the existence in the solutions of labile microstructures that can be broken by applied shear. This is supported by the well-known thixotropic behavior of concentrated, commercial polyflavonoid tannin extracts water solutions. Such microstructures appear to be due (1) to the known colloidal interactions of these materials already reported, or (b) to other types of secondary interactions between tannin oligomers and particularly between tannin and carbohydrate oligomers. The latter is supported by the dependence of this effect from both the average molecular masses of the tannin and of the carbohydrate oligomers. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 81: 1634–1642, 2001

TTT and CHT curing diagrams for tannin-based adhesives were built by thermomechanical analysis (TMA) by following the in situ hardening directly in a wood joint, and the curve trends observed were similar to those previously observed for synthetic polycondensation resins on lignocellulosic substrates. Of the parameters that most influence the relative position of vitrification and gel curves on the diagrams (i.e., where the influence has been quantified), chief among them is the reactivity of the tannin with formaldehyde and any factor influencing it: thus, the inherent higher reactivity of the A-ring of the tannin (such as in procyanidins versus prorobinetinidins) and the pH of the tannin solution. The percentage formaldehyde hardener has some influence in CHT diagrams, especially for the slower-reacting tannins, but practically no influence in TTT diagrams within the 4–10% formaldehyde range used. As in the case of synthetic polycondensation adhesive resins, regression equations relating the internal bond strength of a wood particleboard, prepared under controlled conditions, with the inverse of the minimum deflection, obtained by constant heating rate TMA of a wood joint during resin cure, have been obtained for the two types of tannins of lower reactivity (profisetinidins/prorobinetinidins) but not for the faster-reacting procyanidin and prodelphinidin tannins. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 81: 3220–3230, 2001

Guanidine carbonate is shown to be an accelerator of phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resins that while yielding slightly slower gel times than triacetin when added to a PF resin glue mix, is also capable of giving glue-mix pot lives on the order of several days. Hence, this is long enough to be premixed with the resin long before use. Both triacetin and guanidine carbonate used as simple glue-mix additives are shown to increase the ultimate strength of the resin bond, whatever the length of the curing time used for the purpose. This is shown by thermomechanical analysis and the application to wood particleboard. Triacetin is shown to be usable during PF resin preparation rather than just being added to the glue mix, yielding better resins capable of giving higher bond values without a great acceleration of the geling of the resin itself. The mechanisms involved in the acceleration of PF resins introduced by both compounds appears to be based on facilitating reactions of crosslinking involving carbonic acid ions present in the resin solution. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 77: 249–259, 2000

We are reporting the case of a 78-year-old patient, presenting an acute superior vena cava syndrome, caused by a port catheter, implanted 4 years ago. The outcome was unfavourable, despite of a fibrinolytic treatment.

In many cases of industrial fluid–solid separation process design, a thermodynamic key parameter may be the sublimation pressure of pure components. A new trend in chemical applications is the use of supercritical solvents either in purifying operations on mixtures of complex pharmaceutical molecules or in stripping on polluted stuff. Measurements of very low sublimation pressures of heavy components are very difficult to perform although their values are of most importance in the process evaluation. Unfortunately, the prediction tools available in the literature for the estimation of sublimation pressures are poor. This paper deals with a consistent approach of sublimation pressure estimation, applicable to any pure material using on one hand easy measurements of normal fusion temperature and fusion enthalpy, and on the other hand vapor pressure data. The influence of all the uncertainties is discussed and the method is proposed as a new reference with emphasis on extrapolating reliably to very heavy compounds. By computing vapor liquid equilibrium using a cubic equation of state (EOS), the estimation of sublimation pressures is discussed in a new perspective.

The modelling of solid solubilities in supercritical fluids is usually performed by means of thermodynamic models based on cubic equations of state together with the use of correlations for estimating the solid properties. However, it was shown in the literature, that the sublimation pressure, very low for high molecular weight compound, is in many cases responsible of large deviations between experimental and calculated solubilities. In this work, the sublimation pressure of the solid compound is estimated by using experimental fusion data and liquid-vapour equilibrium properties obtained from the equation of state. The results provided by this method are compared with those obtained using sublimation pressures from literature. It is shown that this method leads to realistic values of binary interaction parameters k12 and allows also satisfactory predictions of the solubility of two solids in supercritical fluids.

The chemical and electrochemical intercalation of lithium ions into the ramsdellite-type structure of Li2Ti3O7 has been carried out by chemical reduction with n-BuLi or by galvanostatic discharge of an electrochemical cell. A maximum lithium uptake has been found to be of 0.60 and 1 per Li2Ti3O7 respectively at room temperature. During this intercalation process the ramsdellite network is preserved as shown either by electrochemical galvanostatic discharge or by X-ray powder diffraction analysis. However it is clearly shown by X-ray diffraction analysis and by electrochemical spectroscopy that two intercalation sites of very close energy are involved in this process. The potential difference between the two peaks observed in the voltammogram is 350 ± 20 mV. The variations of both the charge transfer resistance and the diffusion coefficient observed by a.c. impedance spectroscopy as intercalation proceeds can be explained by the presence of these two different intercalation sites.