Anti-dsDNA IgE: a potential non-invasive test for prediction of lupus nephritis relapse.

Objectives: Discontinuation or continuation of maintenance immunosuppressive therapy (MIST) after a severe lupus nephritis (LN) requires measuring the risk of relapse but reliable clinical and biological markers are lacking. The WIN-IgE study assesses the value of serum anti-dsDNA IgE autoantibodies as a biomarker for the prediction of relapse in severe LN.

Methods: WIN-IgE is an ancillary study of the WIN-Lupus study (NCT01284725), a prospective controlled clinical trial which evaluated the discontinuation of MIST after 2-3 years in class III or IV±V LN with active lesions.

Tunable transportable spectroradiometer based on an acousto-optical tunable filter: Development and optical performance.

We describe a high-performance, transportable, versatile spectroradiometer based on an acousto-optical tunable filter (AOTF). The instrument was developed for temperature metrology, namely, to determine the thermodynamic temperature of black bodies above the Ag freezing point (961.78 °C).

A new in situ electrical calibration system for high temperature Calvet calorimeters.

A new in situ high temperature electrical calibration system was developed at Laboratoire National de Metrologie et d'Essais, Laboratoire Commun de Metrologie and integrated into a heat flux Calvet calorimeter in order to perform accurate and reliable measurements of enthalpy of fusion that are directly traceable to the International System of Units (SI). This system has been designed to enable the calibration of the calorimeter by electrical substitution (Joule effect) as well as the measurement of enthalpy of fusion in perfectly identical experimental conditions. The metrological features (repeatability, linearity, etc.

Development of a quasi-adiabatic calorimeter for the determination of the water vapor pressure curve.

Progress in the knowledge of the water saturation curve is required to improve the accuracy of the calibrations in humidity. In order to achieve this objective, the LNE-CETIAT and the LNE-CNAM have jointly built a facility dedicated to the measurement of the saturation vapor pressure and temperature of pure water. The principle is based on a static measurement of the pressure and the temperature of pure water in a closed, temperature-controlled thermostat, conceived like a quasi-adiabatic calorimeter.

Determination of the Boltzmann constant using a quasi-spherical acoustic resonator.

The paper reports a new experiment to determine the value of the Boltzmann constant, k(B)=1.3806477(17)×10(-23) J K(-1), with a relative standard uncertainty of 1.2 parts in 10(6).