The MLH1 c.1852_1853delinsGC (p.K618A) Variant in Colorectal Cancer: Genetic Association Study in 18,723 Individuals

Colorectal cancer is one of the most frequent neoplasms and an important cause of mortality in the developed world. Mendelian syndromes account for about 5% of the total burden of CRC, being Lynch syndrome and familial adenomatous polyposis the most common forms. Lynch syndrome tumors develop mainly as a consequence of defective DNA mismatch repair associated with germline mutations in MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2. A significant proportion of variants identified by screening these genes correspond to missense or noncoding changes without a clear pathogenic consequence, and they are designated as "variants of uncertain significance'', being the c.1852_1853delinsGC (p.K618A) variant in the MLH1 gene a clear example. The implication of this variant as a low-penetrance risk variant for CRC was assessed in the present study by performing a case-control study within a large cohort from the COGENT consortium-COST Action BM1206 including 18,723 individuals (8,055 colorectal cancer cases and 10,668 controls) and a case-only genotype-phenotype correlation with several clinical and pathological characteristics restricted to the Epicolon cohort. Our results showed no involvement of this variant as a low-penetrance variant for colorectal cancer genetic susceptibility and no association with any clinical and pathological characteristics including family history for this neoplasm or Lynch syndrome.

Edge-defined, film-fed growth (EFG) technique for the preparation of alpha-Al2O3 : C crystal with highly sensitive thermoluminescence response

In this work, alpha-Al2O3:C, a highly sensitive thermoluminescence dosimetry crystal, was grown by the EFG method in which a graphite heating unit and shield acted as the carbon source during the growth process. The optical, luminescent properties and dosimetric characteristics of the crystal were investigated. The as-grown crystal shows a single glow peak at 536 K, which is associated with Cr3+ ions. After annealing in H-2 at 1673 K for 80 h, the crystal shows a single glow peak at 460 K and a blue emission band at 415 nm. The thermoluminescent response of the annealed crystal shows linear-sublinear-saturation characteristics in the dose range from 5 x 10(-6) to 100 Gy.

Growth of highly sensitive thermoluminescent crystal alpha-Al2O3 : C by the temperature gradient technique

In this work, an alpha-Al2O3:C crystal with highly sensitive thermoluminescence was directly grown by the temperature gradient technique (TGT) using Al2O3 and graphite powders as raw materials. The optical and luminescent properties and the dosimetric characteristics of the crystal were investigated. An as-grown alpha-Al2O3:C crystal shows a single glow peak at 462 K and a blue emission peak at 415 nm. The thermoluminescence (TL) response of the crystal shows a linear-sublinear-saturation characteristic. In the dose range from 5 x 10(-6) to 10Gy, the alpha-Al2O3:C crystal shows excellent linearity, and saturation was observed at about 30Gy. The sensitivity of the crystal decreases as the heating rate increases. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of carbon on the thermoluminescence and optically stimulated luminescence of &alpha; -Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf>:C crystals

alpha-Al2O3:C crystal shows excellent thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) properties but the real role carbon plays in this crystal is still not clearly understood so far. In this work, alpha-Al2O3:C crystal doping with different amounts of carbon were grown by the temperature gradient technique, and TL and OSL properties of as-grown crystals were investigated. Additionally, a mechanism was proposed to explain the role of carbon in forming the TL and OSL properties of alpha-Al2O3:C. TL and OSL intensities of as-grown crystals increase with the increasing amount of carbon doping in the crystal, but no shift is found in the glow peak location at 465 K. As the amount of carbon doping in the crystals decreases, OSL decay rate becomes faster. With the increase in heating rate, the integral TL response of as-grown crystals decreases and glow peak shifts to higher temperatures. TL response decrease rate increases with the increasing amount of carbon doping in the crystals. All the TL and OSL response curves of as-grown crystals show linear-sublinear-saturation characteristic, and OSL dose response exhibits higher sensitivity and wider linear dose range than that of TL. The crystal doping with 5000 ppm carbon shows the best dosimetric properties. Carbon plays the role of a dopant in alpha-Al2O3:C crystal and four-valent carbon anions replace the two-valent anions of oxygen during the crystal growth process, and large amounts of oxygen vacancies were formed, which corresponds to the high absorption coefficient of F and F+ centers in the crystals.

��-Al_2O_3:C������������������������������������

�����������-Al2O3������������������,��������������������������-Al2O3:C������,������Ris��TL/OSL-DA-15������������������������������������������������������������������.��-Al2O3:C���������462K���������������������������,������������������410nm.���������������������������,���������������������������,462K���������������������������������������.��-Al2O3:C������������������������������������������������������������������������,���������������������������,���������������������������������������,������������������������������������.���5��10-6���10Gy���������������,��-Al2O3:C���������������������������������������������������������,30Gy���������������;������������������������5��10-6���60Gy������������������������������������������,100Gy���������������.������������������,���������������������������������������������������������������������������������.

Diode-pumped continuous wave and Q-switched operation of a c-cut Tm,Ho:YAlO<inf>3</inf> laser

We report on a diode-pumped, cryogenic and room temperature operation of a Tm,Ho:YAlO3 (c-cut) laser. In a temperature of 77 K, an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 27% and a slope efficiency of 29% were achieved with the maximum continuous-wave (CW) output power of 5.0 W at 2.13 mu m. Acousto-optic switched operation was performed at pulse repetition frequency (PRF) from 1 kHz to 10 kHz, the highest pulse energy of 3.3 mJ in a pulse duration of 40 ns was obtained. In room temperature (RT), the maximum CW power of Tm,Ho:YAlO3 laser was 160 mW with a slope efficiency of 11% corresponding to the absorbed pump power. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.

Low temperature growth of c-axis oriented AlN films on gamma-LiAlO2 by radio frequency magnetron sputtering

Aluminum nitride (AlN) films were prepared on gamma-LiAlO2 substrates by radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering. The influence of substrate temperature (T-s) and nitrogen (N-2) concentration on film growth was investigated. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results reveal that highly c-axis oriented AlN films can be obtained in the temperature range from room temperature (RT) to 300 degrees C. A smoother surface and a crystalline quality decrease with increasing N-2 concentration have been observed by XRD and atomic force microscopy (AFM) for the films deposited at lower substrate temperature. On the contrary, the degradation of the surface smoothness and the higher crystalline quality can be observed for the films deposited at a higher substrate temperature with N-2-rich ambient. The growth mechanism which leads to different crystalline quality of the films is discussed. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Growth of alpha-Al2O3:C crystal with highly sensitive optically stimulated luminescence

In this work. an alpha-Al2O3:C crystal was directly grown by the temperature gradient technique (TGT) using Al2O3 and graphite powders as the raw materials. The optical, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) properties and dosimetric characteristics of as-grown crystal were investigated. As-grown alpha-Al2O3:C crystal shows strong absorption band at 205, 230 and 256 nm. Three-dimensional thermoluminescence (TL) emission spectrum of the crystal shows a single emission peak at similar to 415 nm. The OSL decay curve can be fitted to two exponentials, the faster component and the slower component. The OSL response of the crystal shows a linear-sublinear-saturation characteristic. As-grown alpha-Al2O3:C crystal shows excellent linearity in the dose range from 5 x 10(-6) to 50 Gy. For doses higher than the saturation dose (100 Gy). the OSL sensitivity decreases as the dose increases. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pour les vingt ans du C.R.O.

Founded in 1959, the Centre de Recherches Oc��anographiques is now twenty years old. During its existence, its administrative structure and its internal organization have considerably changed. It is now a research center placed under the supervision of the State Secretary for Scientific Research but, for management, it has been committed to the care of Orstom, a French organization specialized into scientific and technological research in the developing countries. Orstom also partially finances the research work, whose aims are decided by special commissions, which in their choices take into account the fundamental options of the plans of development of the government of C��te d'Ivoire.

M��thodes des mesures des biovolumes, poids secs, poids secs sans cendres et des ��l��ments C, N, P du m��sozooplancton utilis��es au C.R.O. d'Abidjan

Methods for the estimation of zooplankton biomasses, used in the Oceanographic Research Center of Abidjan are presented. They deal with settled and displacement volumes, dry weight and ash-free dry weight, elementary carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus composition. The dry weight method is detailed: elimination of salt by a fresh water stream, preservation of dry samples at -20 degrees Celsius, rehydration during weighing. A few comments on the 'CHN' analysed values are made: at 1,100 degrees Celsius, most of the carbon is organic, only 10% of the mineral fraction being analysed.

A chemically inert Rashba split interface electronic structure of C-60, FeOEP and PTCDA on BiAg2/Ag(111) substrates

The fields of organic electronics and spintronics have the potential to revolutionize the electronics industry. Finding the right materials that can retain their electrical and spin properties when combined is a technological and fundamental challenge. We carry out the study of three archetypal organic molecules in intimate contact with the BiAg2 surface alloy. We show that the BiAg2 alloy is an especially suited substrate due to its inertness as support for molecular films, exhibiting an almost complete absence of substrate-molecular interactions. This is inferred from the persistence of a completely unaltered giant spin-orbit split surface state of the BiAg2 substrate, and from the absence of significant metallic screening of charged molecular levels in the organic layer. Spin-orbit split states in BiAg2 turn out to be far more robust to organic overlayers than previously thought.

Custo-efetividade do tratamento da infec����o pelo v��rus da hepatite C em candidatos a transplante renal submetidos �� di��lise

O estudo tem como objetivo geral avaliar a raz��o de custo-utilidade do tratamento da infec����o pelo v��rus da hepatite C (VHC) em pacientes dialisados, candidatos a transplante renal, tendo como esquemas terap��uticos alternativos o interferon-_ em monoterapia; o interferon peguilado em monoterapia; o interferon-_ em terapia combinada com ribavirina e o interferon peguilado em terapia combinada com ribavirina, comparando-os com o n��otratamento. A perspectiva do estudo foi a do Sistema ��nico de Sa��de(SUS), que tamb��m serviu de base para estimar o impacto or��ament��rio da estrat��gia de tratamento mais custo efetiva. Para o alcance dos objetivos, foi constru��do um modelo de Makov para simula����o de custos e resultados de cada estrat��gia avaliada. Para subsidiar o modelo, foi realizada uma revis��o de literatura, a fim de definir os estados de sa��de relacionados �� infec����o pelo v��rus da hepatite C em transplantados e a probabilidade de transi����o entre os estados. Medidas de utilidade foram derivadas de consultas a especialistas. Os custos foram derivados da tabela de procedimentos do SUS. Os resultados do estudo demonstraram que o tratamento da infec����o pelo VHC antes do transplante renal �� mais custo-efetivo que o n��o tratamento, apontando o interferon-a como a melhor op����o. O impacto or��ament��rio para ado����o dessa estrat��gia pelo SUS corresponde a 0,3% do valor despendido pelo SUS com terapia renal substitutiva ao longo do ano de 2007.

R��gime alimentaire de la phase lagunaire de Elops lacerta (C.V. 1846)

Elops lacerta is a juvenil's predator of all the fish species living in the same biotope. its preys follow three systematic orders: 1 - Fishes: they are the most important in the stomachal contents of Elops lacerta, and are dominated by clupeidae, mainly by Ethmalosa fimbriata; 2 - Shrimps: mainly the Peneidae, are not very important; 3 - Molluscs: they are the less important preys and are represented by only one Pelecypoda family: the Corbulidae. This earlier predator feeds rather at night than during the day. It has neither preferential prey nor apparent seasonal variations in its food habits.