Controlling the distance of highly confined droplets in a capillary by interfacial tension for merging on-demand.

Droplet microfluidics is a powerful technology that finds many applications in chemistry and biomedicine. Among different configurations, droplets confined in a capillary (or plugs) present a number of advantages: they allow positional identification and simplify the integration of complex multi-steps protocols. However, these protocols rely on the control of droplet speed, which is affected by a complex and still debated interplay of various physico-chemical parameters like droplet length, viscosity ratio between droplets and carrier fluid, flow rate and interfacial tension. We present here a systematic investigation of the droplet speed as a function of their length and interfacial tension, and propose a novel, simple and robust methodology to control the relative distance between consecutive droplets flowing in microfluidic channels through the addition of surfactants either into the dispersed and/or into the continuous phases. As a proof of concept application, we present the possibility to accurately trigger in space and time the merging of two confined droplets flowing in a uniform cross-section circular capillary. This approach is further validated by monitoring a conventional enzymatic reaction used to quantify the concentration of H2O2 in a biological sample, showing its potentialities in both continuous and stopped assay methods.

Dynamics of Ferrofluid Drops on Magnetically Patterned Surfaces.

The motion of liquid drops on solid surfaces is attracting a lot of attention because of its fundamental implications and wide technological applications. In this article, we present a comprehensive experimental study of the interaction between gravity-driven ferrofluid drops on very slippery oil-impregnated surfaces and a patterned magnetic field. The drop speed can be accurately tuned by the magnetic interaction, and more interestingly, drops are found to undergo a stick-slip motion whose contrast and phase can be easily tuned by changing either the strength of the magnetic field or the ferrofluid concentration. This motion is the result of the periodic modulation of the external magnetic field and can be accurately analyzed because the intrinsic pinning due to chemical defects is negligible on oil-impregnated surfaces.

Use of radar detectors to track attendance of albatrosses at fishing vessels.

Despite international waters covering over 60% of the world's oceans, understanding of how fisheries in these regions shape ecosystem processes is surprisingly poor. Seabirds forage at fishing vessels, which has potentially deleterious effects for their population, but the extent of overlap and behavior in relation to ships is poorly known. Using novel biologging devices, which detect radar emissions and record the position of boats and seabirds, we measured the true extent of the overlap between seabirds and fishing vessels and generated estimates of the intensity of fishing and distribution of vessels in international waters. During breeding, wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) from the Crozet Islands patrolled an area of over 10 million km2 at distances up to 2500 km from the colony. Up to 79.5% of loggers attached to birds detected vessels. The extent of overlap between albatrosses and fisheries has widespread implications for bycatch risk in seabirds and reveals the areas of intense fishing throughout the ocean. We suggest that seabirds equipped with radar detectors are excellent monitors of the presence of vessels in the Southern Ocean and offer a new way to monitor the presence of illegal fisheries and to better understand the impact of fisheries on seabirds.

Decrease in cerebral inositols in rats and humans.

Rats with portacaval shunts and humans with hepatic encephalopathy show severe myo-inositol depletion in the brain. The portacaval-shunted rat may therefore be a useful model for the investigation of neurochemical pathways containing myoinositol, which are modulated not only in hepatic encephalopathy but also in diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer's disease.

[Radioimmunoassay of carbonic anhydrase I and II in rats. Application to the central nervous system during ontogeny]. / Dosage radioimmunologique des anhydrases carboniques I et II de rat. Application au système nerveux central au cours de l'ontogenèse.

A specific radioimmunoassay method for rat erythrocyte carbonic anhydrases I and II was developed using a double antibody system. Its sensitivity was in the nanogram range for each of the two isozymes. The method has been applied to the assay of cerebral carbonic anhydrase. Only CAII has been found in brain extracts of perfused rats. Accordingly, the assay of CAI in cerebral tissue can be used to quantify erythrocyte contamination on condition that the ratio CAII/CAI in blood had been worked out. The developmental change in the soluble and the Triton X-100 solubilized brain CAII from birth to adult is reported.

Selective tissue distribution of carbonic anhydrase isozymes in the ox.

By affinity chromatography the isozymic distribution of carbonic anhydrase (carbonate hydro-lyase, EC 4.2.1.1) has been studied in extract from various bovine tissues. Carbonic anhydrase II forms isolated from erythrocyte, kidney and brain are indistinguishable by specific activity, amino acid composition, fingerprint, electrophoretic and immunological behaviour. By these criteria they differ from carbonic anhydrase I isolated from rumen epithelium.