RDA, perquè i com?

Podeu consultar el programa complet de la jornada: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/10542

Understanding the wear behaviour of non-doped and Si,O-doped diamond-like carbon films

Two diamond-like carbon coatings have been examined, both prior to, and post tribotesting. Physical–chemical characterisation allows the elucidation of both the physical and tribochemical mechanisms underpinning the respective wear behaviours. The wear of the undoped a-C:H DLC coating is far lower than that of the Si,O-doped DLC. Both coatings show formation of protective tribofilms with tribochemically-relevant elements derived from the lubricant additives; however the tribofilms on the two coatings exhibit key differences, with one containing pyrophosphate. The undoped a-C:H DLC coating shows an increase in non-planar sp2 carbon content during wear testing which appears to be at the expense of sp3-hybridised carbon. In comparison, the Si,O-doped DLC undergoes comparatively little change in carbon hybridisation state

Las reglas de normalización de registros RDA y la visualización en PRIMO

La presentació tracta sobre l'experiència del CSUC/UB en la creació de regles de normalització en el context del LPS ALMA per revisar o millorar els registres bibliogràfics en RDA, i la seva visualització en PRIMO VE

Wear and frictional mechanisms of copper-based bearing alloys

The present study investigated the role of alloy microstructure and surface roughness on wear and friction behavior of leaded and unleaded tin bronzes. Ball-on-disk experiments were carried out under dry conditions with steel balls sliding against bronze disks. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive electron microscopy (EDX), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy were performed to analyze the sliding tracks and the ball scars. The wear reducing effect of lead was associated to the formation of an oxidized lead rich layer. When no such film formed on the leaded bronze wear was more severe than in case of unleaded bronze. Nevertheless, the presence of lead in the alloy was a necessary but not sufficient condition to obtain a smeared layer and thus a lubricating effect of the leaded alloy. Two mechanistic hypotheses were formulated to explain the formation of the smeared layer. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Data Analytics for Uncovering Fraudulent Behaviour in Elite Sports

Sports officials around the world are facing societal challenges due to the unfair nature of fraudulent practices performed by unscrupulous athletes. Recently, sample swapping has been raised as a potential practice where some athletes exchange their doped sample with a clean one to evade a positive test. The current detection method for such cases includes laboratory testing like DNA analysis. However, these methods are costly and time-consuming, which goes beyond the budgetary limits of anti-doping organisations. Therefore, there is a need to explore alternative methods to improve decision-making. We presented a data analytical methodology that supports anti-doping decision-makers on the task of athlete disambiguation. Our proposed model helps identify the swapped sample, which outperforms the current state-of-the-art method and different baseline models. The evaluation on real-world sample swapping cases shows promising results that help advance the research on the application of data analytics in the context of anti-doping analysis

Tenascin-C inactivation impacts lung structure and function beyond lung development

Tenascin-C (TNC) is an extracellular matrix protein expressed at high levels during lung organogenesis. Later, TNC is only transiently de novo expressed to orchestrate tissue repair in pathological situations. We previously showed that TNC inactivation affects lung development and thus evaluated here the implications on lung function in newborn/adult mice. Respiratory function parameters were measured in anesthetized and mechanically ventilated wild-type (WT) and TNC-deficient mice at 5 (P5) and 90 (P90) days of age under basal conditions, as well as following high tidal volume (HTV) ventilation. At P5, TNC-deficient mice showed an increased static compliance (Cst) and inspiratory capacity (IC) relative to WT at baseline and throughout HTV. At P90, however, Cst and IC were only elevated at baseline. Control non-ventilated newborn and adult TNC-deficient mice showed similar lung morphology, but less alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) around small airways. SMA + cells were decreased by 50% in adult TNC-deficient lungs and collagen layer thickened around small airways. Increased surfactant protein C (SP-C) and altered TGFβ and TLR4 signaling pathways were also detected. Thus, TNC inactivation-related defects during organogenesis led to persisting functional impairment in adulthood. This might be of interest in the context of pulmonary diseases with thickened airway smooth muscle layer or ventilation heterogeneity, like asthma and COPD

Serum Ascorbic Acid and Thiamine Concentrations in Sepsis: Secondary Analysis of the Swiss Pediatric Sepsis Study.

OBJECTIVES To determine circulating levels of ascorbic acid (VitC) and thiamine (VitB1) in neonates and children with blood culture-proven sepsis. DESIGN Nested single-center study of neonates and children prospectively included in the Swiss Pediatric Sepsis Study. SETTING One tertiary care academic hospital. PATIENTS Sixty-one neonates and children 0-16 years old. INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS VitC and VitB1 were quantified in serum of patients (median age, 10.5 mo; interquartile range [IQR], 0.5-62.1 mo) with blood culture-proven sepsis. Median time between sepsis onset and sampling for measurement of vitamins was 3 days (IQR, 2-4 d). Median serum levels of VitC and VitB1 were 32.4 μmol/L (18.9-53.3 μmol/L) and 22.5 nmol/L (12.6-82 nmol/L); 36% of the patients (22/61) had low VitC and 10% (6/61) had VitC deficiency; and 72% (44/61) had low VitB1 and 13% (8/61) had VitB1 deficiency. Children with low VitC were older (p = 0.007) and had higher C-reactive protein (p = 0.004) compared with children with VitC within the normal range. Children with low VitB1 levels were older (p = 0.0009) and were less frequently receiving enteral or parenteral vitamin supplementation (p = 0.0000003) compared with children with normal VitB1 levels. CONCLUSIONS In this cohort of newborns and children with sepsis, low and deficient VitC and VitB1 levels were frequently observed. Age, systemic inflammation, and vitamin supplementation were associated with vitamin levels during sepsis

Quelle est l'importance du sommeil dans la prise en charge des patients diabétiques de type 2 et quelles recommandations pour la pratique clinique d'un diététicien ?: travail de Bachelor

Introduction : Le diabète de type 2 est une maladie non transmissible touchant près de 360’000 individus en Suisse. Les troubles du sommeil touchent près d’un quart de la population suisse. L’American Diabetes Association recommande que l’évaluation du sommeil fasse partie intégrante de l’anamnèse du patient diabétique de type 2. But : Le but de ce travail de Bachelor est de déterminer quelle est l’importance du sommeil dans la prise en charge des patients diabétiques de type 2 et, le cas échéant, d’en tirer des recommandations de pratique clinique pour un diététicien. Nous avons choisi 5 axes de recherche : influence du sommeil sur le développement du diabète de type 2, influence du sommeil sur le contrôle glycémique du diabétique de type 2, influence des glycémies sur le sommeil, influence du sommeil sur le poids et influence de l’alimentation sur le sommeil. Méthode : Nous avons procédé à une recherche d’articles dans les bases de données Medline via PubMed, CINAHL Complete, The Cochrane Library Cochrane via 4 équations de mots-clés, reprenant nos 5 axes. Nous avons retenu uniquement les revues de littérature, datant de moins de 10 ans, traitant des populations adultes. Nous avons sélectionné individuellement les articles avant de confronter nos résultats. Nous avons ensuite extrait individuellement les résultats dans un tableau d’extraction de données prédéfini avant de confronter nos résultats. Nous avons analysé individuellement la qualité des articles, puis avons confronté leurs résultats. A chaque étape, les divergences ont été résolues par consensus. Nous avons procédé à une revue des publications des sociétés savantes. Nous avons recherché ensemble les publications des savantes, puis analysé ensemble la pertinence des publications afin de décider de leur inclusion ou non. Les auteures ont extrait individuellement les données, puis ont confronté leurs résultats. Résultats : Trois méta-analyses concluent qu’une mauvaise qualité et quantité de sommeil sont des facteurs de risque de développer un diabète de type 2. Une méta-analyse conclut que la qualité et la quantité de sommeil influencent le contrôle glycémique du diabétique de type 2. Deux méta-analyses traitant de l’influence du sommeil sur les composants de la balance énergétique aboutissent à des résultats mitigés. Une revue traitant de l’influence de la composition en macronutriments de l’alimentation sur le sommeil ne montre pas de résultat significatif. Une revue traitant des stratégies nutritionnelles de prévention des hypoglycémies nocturnes ne montre pas de résultats significatifs. Conclusion : Le sommeil joue un rôle dans le développement et la gestion du diabète de type 2. Le rôle des diététiciens dans cet axe de prise en charge est cependant limité

Yearly intrasubject variability of hematological biomarkers in elite athletes for the Athlete Biological Passport

Confounding factors including exercise and environments challenge the interpretation of individual Athlete Biological Passports (ABPs). This study aimed to investigate the natural variability of hematological ABP parameters over 1 year in elite athletes compared with healthy control subjects and the validity of a multiparametric model estimating plasma volume (PV) shifts to correct individual ABP thresholds. Blood samples were collected monthly with full blood counts performed by flow cytometry (Sysmex XN analyzers) in 20 elite xc-skiers (ELITE) and 20 moderately trained controls. Individual ABP profiles were generated through Anti-Doping Administration & Management System Training, a standalone version of the ABP's adaptive model developed by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Additionally, eight serum parameters were computed as volume-sensitive biomarkers to run a multiparametric model to estimate PV. Variability in ELITE compared with controls was significantly higher for the Abnormal Blood Profile Scores (P = 0.003). Among 12 Atypical Passport Findings (ATPF) initially reported, six could be removed after correction of PV shifts with the multiparametric modeling. However, several ATPF were additionally generated (n = 19). Our study outlines a larger intraindividual variability in elite athletes, likely explained by more frequent exposure to extrinsic factors altering hematological biomarkers. PV correction for individual ABP thresholds allowed to explain most of the atypical findings while generating multiple new ATPF occurrences in the elite population. Overall, accounting for PV shifts in elite athletes was shown to be paramount in this study outlining the opportunity to consider PV variations with novel approaches when interpreting individual ABP profiles.publishedVersio