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Abstract: Pulsed laser ablation in liquids (PLAL) has become an attractive method for the synthesis of nanodiamond. This work deals with the growth kinetics study of structures of nano-diamonds embedded in sp2 carbon synthetized by this method. The plasma created by the laser pulse has been monitored by time resolved spectroscopy to analyze the evolution of the plume and therefore the transient species created. Typical C 2 vibrational bands appear, as well as a continuous spectrum due to various phenomena. The study of both the background and the vibrational features gives information on the reaction kinetics and on the plasma density. The presence of nanodiamonds has been confirmed by Raman spectroscopy as well as TEM analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Blood donation requires a partnership for its organization between Établissement français du sang and associations. A partnership guide, conceived by and for the operations team in the first rank of which Associations for Altruistic Blood Donation, was worked out to remind or inform conditions necessary for the good sequence of a blood donation. Through this guide, the authors also wanted to clarify the role and the responsibilities of each partner for a better reception of the Candidate for donation. The elaboration of this guide is only a first stage towards an homogenization or even an overhaul of the organization of blood donation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: The objectives of this study are to estimate the prevalence of iron deficiency (ID) among French whole‐blood (WB) donors to identify factors associated with ID and to generate decision trees. Study design and methods: A prospective National multicentre study was performed on WB donors from March 11, to April 5th, 2019. Samples were selected randomly to perform serum ferritin. ID was defined as ferritin value under 26 ng/ml. All results were stratified by sex. Factors associated with ID were analysed using multivariate logistic regression model. CART algorithm was used for decision trees. Results: Eleven thousand two hundred fifty eight WB donors were included. ID was more frequent in women (39·5%) than in men (18·0%). Among 7200 repeated donors, women below 50 yo had a higher risk (OR = 2·37; [1·97–2·85] IC95) than those above 50 yo. Factors associated with ID were: haemoglobin level under the threshold at donation n‐1 except for women and n‐2 donation; a low mean corpuscular haemoglobin at n‐1 and n‐2 donations; a shorter interval since n‐1 donation and between n‐1 and n‐2 donations except for women; and women who had given three or four times in the last year. CART algorithm defined high risk of ID subgroups within three populations of donors, new female donors, repeated male donors and repeated female donors. In these identified subgroups, prevalence of ID was up to 72·1%. Conclusions: Our study showed the high prevalence of ID among French WB donors, identified well‐known and new factors associated with ID and defined algorithms predicting ID in three populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Award ceremonies constitute an insigne mean of promotion among the blood donor population, and also the general population. They contribute to the development of blood donation loyalty. Even so, their organization must be rigorously and perfectly codified. With this aim, the établissement français du sang Auvergne-Loire, in partnership with the departmental representation of the blood donors national federation, worked out a guide for their associations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis) is one of the most injurious pests of sweet and field corn in the United States. We report here on controlled experiments in which an egg parasitoid (Trichogramma ostriniae) was released inoculatively (75,000 females ha−1) early in the growing season (when corn plants were at the early to mid-whorl stage) to test its efficacy as a biological control agent of O. nubilalis. Releases were made in fields of sweet corn and field corn. Numbers of eggs laid in experimental plots, larval tunnels, and larvae and proportion of damaged ears were determined. Mass of ears was determined for field corn plots. In sweet corn, despite greater oviposition by O. nubilalis in T. ostriniae release plots, the number of borer larvae, stalk tunnels, and damaged ears was reduced by ∼50% compared with those in nonrelease plots. This reduction in damage was consistent for early and late-planted sweet corn. In the field corn plots, larger numbers of O. nubilalis eggs were again laid in some release plots than in control plots. However, O. nubilalis damage appeared to be suppressed in T. ostriniae release plots, although no significant differences were found in most. These results were promising, but further work is required in field corn. The results for sweet corn demonstrated that inoculative releases of T. ostriniae provide suppression of O. nubilalis populations adequate to reduce damage significantly. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

La carence en fer (CF) chez les donneurs de sang (DDS) est un problème sous-estimé et peut entraîner des symptômes, même en l'absence d'anémie. La prévention de la CF repose principalement sur la prévention de l'anémie chez les donneurs de sang total (ST), en ajournant lorsque le taux d'hémoglobine (Hb) est inférieur à un seuil (120 g/L femmes, 130 g/L hommes en France). L'objectif est d'estimer la prévalence de la CF chez les donneurs de ST en France et d'identifier les facteurs de risque (FdR) associés à cette CF. Une étude transversale, multicentrique a été effectuée chez les donneurs de l'EFS et du CTSA. Tous les candidats au don de ST répondant aux critères de sélection étaient potentiellement inclus à l'exclusion des dons-saignées et des refus de participation à l'étude. La ferritine a été dosée sur des tubes réorientés d'échantillons tirés au sort, issus de collectes mobiles et en sites fixes du 11 au 28 mars 2019. La CF a été définie par une ferritinémie < 26 ng/ml. Un test de Chi2 a été utilisé pour identifier les FdR. Ont été inclus 11258 donneurs de ST, 9711 à l'EFS et 1547 au CTSA. Les donneurs de l'EFS étaient plus souvent des femmes, des donneurs connus, plus âgés et avaient un taux d'Hb plus faible que ceux du CTSA. La prévalence de la CF était de 29,9 % [95CI : 29,0–30,8] chez les donneurs de l'EFS et 27,2 % [95CI : 24,9–29,4] chez ceux du CTSA. Les facteurs associés à la CF étaient : le sexe féminin, l'âge inférieur à 50 ans, le poids maigre ou normal, donneurs connus, prélèvement en sites fixes, faible taux d'Hb. Ces analyses sont préliminaires. Des analyses multivariées seront effectuées pour déterminer précisément les facteurs prédictifs de survenue de CF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: LiCaAlF6 (LiCAF) crystals doped with two different ions (europium and lead) have been investigated as potential new dosimetric materials. The stability of thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) glow peaks in LiCAF:Eu was evaluated by means of the initial rise technique. The decay times at room temperature of the traps related to the dosimetric glow peaks were found to range between 40 and 2×104 years confirming the good dosimetric characteristics of this crystal. The glow curve of LiCAF:Pb is dominated by a peak at approximately 300°C emitting in the UV region (3P0,1–1S0 transition of Pb2+) superimposed to a very broad structure at lower temperature (20–200°C) featuring recombination at an intrinsic defect centre. The anomalous behavior of the low temperature structure during thermal cleaning procedures prevented any reliable numerical analysis of the TSL glow peak at 300°C. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]