Search Results (12)

Lord Byron’s life and poetic works have inspired musical compositions across genres even during his lifetime. The English author’s fictional characters and themes impressed nineteenth-century European composers, especially since his Byronic heroes were often conflated with their creators’ own melancholy and revolutionary personas. In contrast to Byron-inspired songs and operas, instrumental programme music has raised doubts towards a direct correlation with its poetic sources. While epigraphs help direct listeners to specific ideas, their absence has prompted dismissals of intermedial relationships, even those proposed by the composers themselves. This essay explores major connections between Hector Berlioz’s Harold in Italy, a Symphony in Four Parts with Viola Obbligato (premiered 1834), and Byron’s semi-autobiographical narrative poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage: A Romaunt (published 1812–1818). Although Berlioz’s titles and memoirs partially identify Byron’s Childe Harold as his inspiration, other references, including his visits to the Abruzzi mountains, his fascination with Italian folk music, his reuse of earlier material, and his reflections on brigands and solitude, have fuelled ongoing debates about the work’s programmatic content. Combining historical-biographical research, melopoetics, and musical semiotics, this essay clarifies how indefinite elements were transmitted from poetic source to musical target. Particular focus is placed on the “Harold theme”, which functions as a Byronic microcosm: a structural, thematic, and gestural condensation of Byron’s poem into music. Observing the interactions between microcosmic motifs and macrocosmic forms in Berlioz’s symphony and their poetic analogues, this study offers a new reading of how Byron’s legacy is encoded in musical terms. Full article

In ecotoxicological risk assessment, current methods for measuring the transfer and bioavailability of organic pollutants like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in bioindicators are often destructive and environmentally unfriendly. These limitations are especially problematic when only small amounts of biological material are available. Here, we present a novel, high-throughput method combining laser-induced UV fluorescence spectroscopy (UV-LIF) and solid-phase spectroscopy (SPS) for rapid, in situ quantification of PAHs in land snails—a key bioindicator species. Using dual excitation wavelengths (266 nm and 355 nm), our method reliably detected pyrene and fluoranthene in snails exposed to varying concentrations, demonstrating clear dose-responses and inter-individual differences in bioaccumulation. The analysis time per sample was under four minutes. This approach allows simultaneous measurement of internal contaminant levels and health biomarkers in individual organisms and aligns with green chemistry principles. These findings establish a new, scalable tool for routine assessment of PAH transfer and bioavailability in diverse ecosystems. Full article

Background: Dengue virus type 2 (DENV2) is endemic to hyperendemic in the French territories of the Americas (FTAs), including French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Barthelemy, and Saint-Martin. In 2023–2024, French Guiana, Martinique, and Guadeloupe experienced unprecedented dengue epidemics partly associated with this serotype. In response, we conducted a retrospective study of the diversity of DENV2 strains circulating in the FTAs from 2000 to 2024. Methods: To this end, we selected DENV2 samples from the collection at the National Research Center for Arboviruses in French Guiana (NRCA-FG) and sequenced them using Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT)-based next-generation sequencing (NGS). Results: Phylogenetic analysis revealed that (i) the 77 DENV2 sequences from the FTAs belong to two distinct genotypes—Asian American and Cosmopolitan; (ii) from the 2000s up to the 2019 epidemic in French Guiana, all sequenced strains belonged to the Asian American genotype; (iii) and from 2019 to 2020, strains circulating in Martinique and Guadeloupe belonged to the Cosmopolitan genotype, specifically the Indian subcontinent sublineage, while (iv) strains from the 2023–2024 outbreak in Martinique, Guadeloupe, and French Guiana fall within a distinct sublineage of the same genotype—Other Cosmopolitan. Additionally, we analyzed amino acid (AA) changes in FTA sequences compared to the Dengvaxia^® and Qdenga^® vaccines. The analysis of amino acid changes in FTA sequences compared to the vaccines (Dengvaxia^® and Qdenga^®) identified 42 amino acid changes in the prM/E regions (15 in the prM region and 27 in the E region) relative to CYD-2 Dengvaxia^® and 46 amino acid changes in the prM/E regions relative to Qdenga^®, including 16 in the prM region and 30 in the E region. Some of these AA changes are shared across multiple genotypes and sublineages, with 8 substitutions in the prM region and 18 in the E region appearing in both analyses. This raises questions about the potential impact of these changes on vaccine efficacy. Conclusion: Overall, these findings provide a current overview of the genomic evolution of DENV2 in the FTA, which is crucial for developing more effective prevention and control strategies and for selecting future vaccines tailored to circulating strains. Full article

In this paper, we introduce a new algorithm for calculating the radial and axial magnetic forces between two non-coaxial circular loops with parallel axes. These formulas are derived from a modified version of Grover’s formula for mutual inductance between the coils in question. Utilizing these formulas, we compute the radial and axial magnetic forces between two non-coaxial thick coils of rectangular cross-sections with parallel axes. In these calculations, we apply the filament method and conduct investigations to determine the optimal number of subdivisions for the coils in terms of computational time and accuracy. The method presented in this paper is also applicable to all conventional non-coaxial coils, such as disks, solenoids, and non-conventional coils like Bitter coils, all with parallel axes. This paper emphasizes the accuracy and computational efficiency of the calculations. Furthermore, the new method is validated according to several previously established methods. Full article

French Guiana experienced an unprecedented dengue epidemic during 2023–2024. Prior to the 2023–2024 outbreak in French Guiana, DENV-3 had not circulated in an epidemic manner since 2005. We therefore studied retrospectively the strains circulating in the French Territories of the Americas (FTA)—French Guiana, Guadeloupe, and Martinique—from the 2000s to the current epidemic. To this end, DENV-3 samples from the collection of the National Reference Center for Arboviruses in French Guiana (NRCA-FG) were selected and sequenced using next-generation sequencing (NGS) based on Oxford Nanopore Technologies, ONT. Phylogenetic analysis showed that (i) the 97 FTA sequences obtained all belonged to genotype III (GIII); (ii) between the 2000s and 2013, the regional circulation of the GIII American-I lineage was the source of the FTA cases through local extinctions and re-introductions; (iii) multiple introductions of lineages of Asian origin appear to be the source of the 2019–2021 epidemic in Martinique and the 2023–2024 epidemic in French Guiana. Genomic surveillance is a key factor in identifying circulating DENV genotypes, monitoring strain evolution, and identifying import events. Full article

Causing major health and ecological disturbances, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants still recovered all over the world. Microbial PCB biotransformation is a promising technique for depollution, but the involved molecular mechanisms remain misunderstood. Ligninolytic enzymes are suspected to be involved in many PCB transformations, but their assessments remain scarce. To further inventory the capabilities of microbes to transform PCBs through their ligninolytic enzymes, we investigated the role of oxidase and peroxidase among a set of microorganisms isolated from a historically PCB-contaminated site. Among 29 isolated fungi and 17 bacteria, this work reports for the first time the PCB-transforming capabilities from fungi affiliated to Didymella, Dothiora, Ilyonectria, Naganishia, Rhodoturula, Solicoccozyma, Thelebolus and Truncatella genera and bacteria affiliated to Peribacillus frigotolerans, Peribacillus muralis, Bacillus mycoides, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus toyonensis, Pseudarthrobacter sp., Pseudomonas chlororaphis, Erwinia aphidicola and Chryseobacterium defluvii. In the same way, this is the first report of fungal isolates affiliated to the Dothiora maculans specie and Cladosporium genus that displayed oxidase (putatively laccase) and peroxidase activity, respectively, enhanced in the presence of PCBs (more than 4-fold and 20-fold, respectively, compared to controls). Based on these results, the observed activities are suspected to be involved in PCB transformation. Full article

The paper describes a new formula for calculating the mutual inductance between a thin conical sheet inductor and a filamentary circular loop, which are coaxial in air. The presented formula is derived semi-analytically using the complete elliptic integrals of the first, second, and third kind, along with the integral term which will be solved numerically. The results are validated using double and single integration methods, as well as the semi-analytical formula. The mutual inductance between a thin cylindrical solenoid and a filamentary circular loop can be obtained using the new formula for the conical coil and circular loop. Presented formulas can be useful in various applications, such as the excitation coil used in electromagnetic-levitation melting, the production of magnetic field homogeneity and broadband RF and wireless power transfer systems that utilize conical inductors. Overall, the paper presents a valuable contribution to the field of inductor design and can be useful in various applications involving conical inductors. Full article

In this paper, the improved and the new analytical and semi-analytical expressions for calculating the magnetic vector potential, magnetic field, magnetic force, mutual inductance, torque, and stiffness between two inclined current-carrying arc segments in air are given. The expressions are obtained either in the analytical form over the incomplete elliptic integrals of the first and the second kind or by the single numerical integration of some elliptical integrals of the first and the second kind. The validity of the presented formulas is proved from the particular cases when the inclined circular loops are addressed. We mention that all formulas are obtained by the integral approach, except the stiffness, which is found by the derivative of the magnetic force. The novelty of this paper is the treatment of the inclined circular carting-current arc segments for which the calculations of the previously mentioned electromagnetic quantities are given. Full article

In this paper, analytical and semi-analytical formulas are presented for the self- and mutual inductance of thin ordinary disk coils and thin Bitter disk coils. The coils lie concentrically in a plane. The ordinary coils are coils with constant current density. The current density of a current carrying Bitter disc is not uniform across its cross-sectional area, but it is a function of the ratio of the inner diameter of the disk to an arbitrary radius within the disk. In this paper, we show the possibility to calculate the mutual and self-inductance of thin disk coils from the real coils of the cross-sections using some valuable conditions. The formulas for the mutual inductance and the self-inductance were obtained in the semi-analytic form as the combination of the elliptic integral of the second kind and a simple integral for the ordinary disk coils. The mutual inductance and self-inductance were obtained in the analytical form as the elliptic integral of the second kind for the Bitter disk coils. The formula for the self-inductance of the ordinary full disk was obtained in the close form. All formulas are given in remarkably simple form and give perfectly accurate results with a significantly small computational time. All cases of either regular or singular (disks in contact or overlapping) are covered. Many presented examples show the excellent numerical agreement with previously published methods. Full article

In this paper, we give new formulas for calculating the self-inductance for circular coils of the rectangular cross-sections with the radial and the azimuthal current densities. These formulas are given by the single integration of the elementary functions which are integrable on the interval of the integration. From these new expressions, we can obtain the special cases for the self-inductance of the thin-disk pancake and the thin-wall solenoids that confirm the validity of this approach. For the asymptotic cases, the new formula for the self-inductance of the thin-wall solenoid is obtained for the first time in the literature. In this paper, we do not use special functions such as the elliptical integrals of the first, second and third kind, nor Struve and Bessel functions because that is very tedious work. The results of this work are compared with already different known methods and all results are in excellent agreement. We consider this approach novel because of its simplicity in the self-inductance calculation of the previously-mentioned configurations. Full article

Autophagy is a lysosomal-dependent degradative process essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis, and is a key player in innate and adaptive immune responses to intracellular pathogens such as human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). In HIV-1 target cells, autophagy mechanisms can (i) selectively direct viral proteins and viruses for degradation; (ii) participate in the processing and presentation of viral-derived antigens through major histocompatibility complexes; and (iii) contribute to interferon production in response to HIV-1 infection. As a consequence, HIV-1 has evolved different strategies to finely regulate the autophagy pathway to favor its replication and dissemination. HIV-1 notably encodes accessory genes encoding Tat, Nef and Vpu proteins, which are able to perturb and hijack canonical and non-canonical autophagy mechanisms. This review outlines the current knowledge on the complex interplay between autophagy and HIV-1 replication cycle, providing an overview of the autophagy-mediated molecular processes deployed both by infected cells to combat the virus and by HIV-1 to evade antiviral response. Full article