A Critical Review for an Accurate Electrochemical Stability Window Measurement of Solid Polymer and Composite Electrolytes

All-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLB) are very promising for the future development of next generation lithium battery systems due to their increased energy density and improved safety. ASSLB employing Solid Polymer Electrolytes (SPE) and Solid Composite Electrolytes (SCE) in particular have attracted significant attention. Among the several expected requirements for a battery system (high ionic conductivity, safety, mechanical stability), increasing the energy density and the cycle life relies on the electrochemical stability window of the SPE or SCE. Most published works target the importance of ionic conductivity (undoubtedly a crucial parameter) and often identify the Electrochemical Stability Window (ESW) of the electrolyte as a secondary parameter. In this review, we first present a summary of recent publications on SPE and SCE with a particular focus on the analysis of their electrochemical stability. The goal of the second part is to propose a review of optimized and improved electrochemical methods, leading to a better understanding and a better evaluation of the ESW of the SPE and the SCE which is, once again, a critical parameter for high stability and high performance ASSLB applications.     

The MDM2 285G–309G haplotype is associated with an earlier age of tumour onset in patients with Li-Fraumeni syndrome

In the Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) resulting from germline TP53 mutations, the MDM2 SNP309G allele has been shown to be associated with an earlier age of tumour onset, however the significance of this association is controversial. The 285C variation, also located in the MDM2 promoter, has been shown to reduce the strength of Sp1 binding to MDM2 promoter, antagonizing the effect of the 309G variation. In this study, we investigated the interaction of the MDM2 SNP285 and 309 in a large series of 195 LFS patients. Although we observed a lower mean age of tumour onset in patients with MDM2 SNP309 T/G or G/G genotype (23.1 years) than in patients with T/T genotype (27.3 years), the difference was not statistically significant. In contrast, patients with the 285–309 G–G haplotype develop tumours 5 years earlier than patients harbouring other haplotypes (p = 0.044). This result shows that the MDM2 285–309 G–G is a higher risk haplotype in patients with germline TP53 mutations. This study confirms that the MDM2 309G variation is deleterious when its effect is not neutralized by the 285C variation and illustrates the interfering effects of SNPs located within a gene acting as modifier factor in a Mendelian disease.     

Effects of changing jaw height on F1 during babble: a case study at 9 months

An empirical gap exists in our understanding of the extent that mandibular kinematics modulate acoustic changes in natural babble productions of infants. Data were recorded from a normal developing 9-month-old infant. Mandibular position was tracked from the infant during vowel and canonical babble. Linear predictive coding analysis was used to track estimates of formant center-frequency for F1. For each sample, a correlation coefficient was computed between changes in jaw height and formant history for F1. A Mann-Whitney rank sum test reached significance for differences among coefficients for vowel and canonical babble. Coefficients for vowel babble productions were nearest to -1 with a median of r=-0.76, showing the strongest relationship between jaw position and formant history, while the median for canonical babble coefficients was r=-0.54, indicating greater contribution of the tongue and lips. This 9-month-old infant exhibited plasticity for coordinating the jaw, tongue and lips among babble types.     

Towards an Understanding of the Effect of Adding a Foam Core on the Blast Performance of Glass Fibre Reinforced Epoxy Laminate Panels

This paper presents insights into the blast response of sandwich panels with lightweight foam cores and asymmetric (different thicknesses) glass fibre epoxy face sheets. Viscously damped elastic vibrations were observed in the laminates (no core), while the transient response of the sandwich panels was more complex, especially after the peak displacement was observed. The post-peak residual oscillations in the sandwich panels were larger and did not decay as significantly with time when compared to the equivalent mass laminate panel test. Delamination was the predominant mode of failure on the thinner facesheet side of the sandwich panel, whereas cracking and matrix failure were more prominent on the thicker side (which was exposed to the blast). The type of constituent materials used and testing conditions, including the clamping method, influenced the resulting failure modes observed. A probable sequence of damage in the sandwich panels was proposed, based on the transient displacement measurements, a post-test failure analysis, and consideration of the stress wave propagation through the multilayered, multimaterial structure. This work demonstrates the need for detailed understanding of the transient behaviour of multilayered structures with significant elastic energy capacity and a wide range of possible damage mechanisms. The work should prove valuable to structural engineers and designers considering the deployment of foam-core sandwich panels or fibre reinforced polymer laminates in applications when air-blast loading may pose a credible threat.     

Lipid metabolism and HCV infection

Chronic infection by hepatitis C virus (HCV) can lead to severe liver disease and is a global healthcare problem. The liver is highly metabolically active and one of its key functions is to control the balance of lipid throughout the body. A number of pathologies have been linked to the impact of HCV infection on liver metabolism. However, there is also growing evidence that hepatic metabolic processes contribute to the HCV life cycle. This review summarizes the relationship between lipid metabolism and key stages in the production of infectious HCV.     

AccessMod 3.0: computing geographic coverage and accessibility to health care services using anisotropic movement of patients

Background

Access to health care can be described along four dimensions: geographic accessibility, availability, financial accessibility and acceptability. Geographic accessibility measures how physically accessible resources are for the population, while availability reflects what resources are available and in what amount. Combining these two types of measure into a single index provides a measure of geographic (or spatial) coverage, which is an important measure for assessing the degree of accessibility of a health care network.

Results

This paper describes the latest version of AccessMod, an extension to the Geographical Information System ArcView 3.×, and provides an example of application of this tool. AccessMod 3 allows one to compute geographic coverage to health care using terrain information and population distribution. Four major types of analysis are available in AccessMod: (1) modeling the coverage of catchment areas linked to an existing health facility network based on travel time, to provide a measure of physical accessibility to health care; (2) modeling geographic coverage according to the availability of services; (3) projecting the coverage of a scaling-up of an existing network; (4) providing information for cost effectiveness analysis when little information about the existing network is available. In addition to integrating travelling time, population distribution and the population coverage capacity specific to each health facility in the network, AccessMod can incorporate the influence of landscape components (e.g. topography, river and road networks, vegetation) that impact travelling time to and from facilities. Topographical constraints can be taken into account through an anisotropic analysis that considers the direction of movement. We provide an example of the application of AccessMod in the southern part of Malawi that shows the influences of the landscape constraints and of the modes of transportation on geographic coverage.

Conclusion

By incorporating the demand (population) and the supply (capacities of heath care centers), AccessMod provides a unifying tool to efficiently assess the geographic coverage of a network of health care facilities. This tool should be of particular interest to developing countries that have a relatively good geographic information on population distribution, terrain, and health facility locations.     

Small-fibre neuropathies and skin: news and perspectives for dermatologists

Small-fibre neuropathies (SFNs) can be defined as diseases of small nerve fibres. Because their symptoms are mainly located in the skin in the initial stages, dermatologists may frequently be confronted with these diseases. Moreover, skin biopsies and the subsequent measurement of intraepidermal nerve fibre density have become a widely accepted technique to investigate the structural integrity of small nerve fibres. The pathogenesis of injury to small nerve fibres is poorly understood. It probably depends on the cause. SCN9A-gene variants have been reported. Diabetes mellitus is one of the main causes of SFNs. Some causes of SFNs are very well-known to dermatologists: Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome, lupus, sarcoidosis and Fabry disease. We also discuss erythermalgia, prurigo nodularis, nummular eczema, burning mouth syndrome and sensitive skin as SFNs.