University of Lorraine

About: University of Lorraine is a education organization based out in Nancy, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Nonlinear system. The organization has 11942 authors who have published 25010 publications receiving 425227 citations. The organization is also known as: Lorraine University.

Acoustic perfect absorbers via spiral metasurfaces with embedded apertures

Abstract: In this work, we analytically and experimentally present perfect acoustic absorbers via spiral metasurfaces composed of coiled channels and embedded apertures. Perfect absorption (reaching 0.999 in experiments) is realized with an ultra-thin thickness down to ∼1/100th of the operating wavelength. Owing to the superior impedance manipulation provided by the embedded apertures, perfect absorption with tunable frequencies is demonstrated. Our results would contribute to paving a way towards designing thin and light absorbers for the low frequency absorption challenge.

Plant seed mucilage as emerging biopolymer in food industry applications

Abstract: The demand for sustainable, eco-green and minimally processed food ingredients of innate technological (structuring, texturising, stabilising) and functional potential is on the growth. Plant seed mucilage (PSM) constitutes a polysaccharide hydrocolloid of particular physicochemical and structure conformational diversity which endows a broad range of functional and health relevant aspects. Many studies have demonstrated the peculiar structuring and stabilising role of crude and fractionated PSM in model and real food matrices. In addition, PSMs intake through the orogastrointestinal route has been associated with several health benefits such as modulation of postprandial glycaemic and insulinaemic response, hyperlipidaemia counteracting, satiety enhancement, regulation of gut microbiota function. This concise review discusses the most recent advancements in the field of PSM extraction and characterisation as well as their exploitation as alternative hydrocolloids for food and nutraceutical industry applications.

A review of open source ventilators for COVID-19 and future pandemics

Abstract: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) threatens to overwhelm our medical infrastructure at the regional level causing spikes in mortality rates because of shortages of critical equipment, like ventilators. Fortunately, with the recent development and widespread deployment of small-scale manufacturing technologies like RepRap-class 3-D printers and open source microcontrollers, mass distributed manufacturing of ventilators has the potential to overcome medical supply shortages. In this study, after providing a background on ventilators, the academic literature is reviewed to find the existing and already openly-published, vetted designs for ventilators systems. These articles are analyzed to determine if the designs are open source both in spirit (license) as well as practical details (e.g. possessing accessible design source files, bill of materials, assembly instructions, wiring diagrams, firmware and software as well as operation and calibration instructions). Next, the existing Internet and gray literature are reviewed for open source ventilator projects and designs. The results of this review found that the tested and peer-reviewed systems lacked complete documentation and the open systems that were documented were either at the very early stages of design (sometimes without even a prototype) and were essentially only basically tested (if at all). With the considerably larger motivation of an ongoing pandemic, it is assumed these projects will garner greater attention and resources to make significant progress to reach a functional and easily-replicated system. There is a large amount of future work needed to move open source ventilators up to the level considered scientific-grade equipment, and even further work needed to reach medical-grade hardware. Future work is needed to achieve the potential of this approach by developing policies, updating regulations, and securing funding mechanisms for the development and testing of open source ventilators for both the current COVID19 pandemic as well as for future pandemics and for everyday use in low-resource settings.

Hereditary Angioedema Attacks Resolve Faster and Are Shorter after Early Icatibant Treatment

Abstract: Background: Attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE) are unpredictable and, if affecting the upper airway, can be lethal. Icatibant is used for physician- or patient self-administered symptomatic treatment of HAE attacks in adults. Its mode of action includes disruption of the bradykinin pathway via blockade of the bradykinin B2 receptor. Early treatment is believed to shorten attack duration and prevent severe outcomes; however, evidence to support these benefits is lacking. Objective: To examine the impact of timing of icatibant administration on the duration and resolution of HAE type I and II attacks. Methods: The Icatibant Outcome Survey is an international, prospective, observational study for patients treated with icatibant. Data on timings and outcomes of icatibant treatment for HAE attacks were collected between July 2009–February 2012. A mixed-model of repeated measures was performed for 426 attacks in 136 HAE type I and II patients. Results: Attack duration was significantly shorter in patients treated ,1 hour of attack onset compared with those treated $1 hour (6.1 hours versus 16.8 hours [p,0.001]). Similar significant effects were observed for ,2 hours versus $2 hours (7.2 hours versus 20.2 hours [p,0.001]) and ,5 hours versus $5 hours (8.0 hours versus 23.5 hours [p,0.001]). Treatment within 1 hour of attack onset also significantly reduced time to attack resolution (5.8 hours versus 8.8 hours [p,0.05]). Selfadministrators were more likely to treat early and experience shorter attacks than those treated by a healthcare professional. Conclusion: Early blockade of the bradykinin B2 receptor with icatibant, particularly within the first hour of attack onset, significantly reduced attack duration and time to attack resolution.

The CAFA challenge reports improved protein function prediction and new functional annotations for hundreds of genes through experimental screens

Abstract: The Critical Assessment of Functional Annotation (CAFA) is an ongoing, global, community-driven effort to evaluate and improve the computational annotation of protein function. Here we report on the results of the third CAFA challenge, CAFA3, that featured an expanded analysis over the previous CAFA rounds, both in terms of volume of data analyzed and the types of analysis performed. In a novel and major new development, computational predictions and assessment goals drove some of the experimental assays, resulting in new functional annotations for more than 1000 genes. Specifically, we performed experimental whole-genome mutation screening in Candida albicans and Pseudomonas aureginosa genomes, which provided us with genome-wide experimental data for genes associated with biofilm formation and motility (P. aureginosa only). We further performed targeted assays on selected genes in Drosophila melanogaster, which we suspected of being involved in long-term memory. We conclude that, while predictions of the molecular function and biological process annotations have slightly improved over time, those of the cellular component have not. Term-centric prediction of experimental annotations remains equally challenging; although the performance of the top methods is significantly better than expectations set by baseline methods in C. albicans and D. melanogaster, it leaves considerable room and need for improvement. We finally report that the CAFA community now involves a broad range of participants with expertise in bioinformatics, biological experimentation, biocuration, and bioontologies, working together to improve functional annotation, computational function prediction, and our ability to manage big data in the era of large experimental screens.