Mineralogical and geochemical study of mud volcanoes in north Moroccan atlantic margin

The gulf of Cadiz is one of the most interesting areas to study mud volcanoes and structures related to cold fluid seeps since their discovery in 1999. In this study, we present results from gravity cores collected from Ginsburg and Meknes mud volcanoes and from circular structure located in the gulf of Cadiz (North Atlantic Moroccan margin) during the cruise TTR14 in 2004 on board of the R/V Logachev. The clay mineralogical analysis by XRD shows a difference in clay mineral amounts mainly in smectite between the different studied structures. Ginsburg MV shows high percentage of smectite with an average of 44% whereas Meknes MV displays illite rich clay association, smectite average percentage is about 16%. In circular structure, amount of smectite is about 13%. This variation in clay mineralogy association between the mud volcanoes suggests different nature and depth of parent layers and fluids feeding the mud volcanoes in gulf of Cadiz.Key word: Mud volcano, clay mineralogy, geochemistry, mud breccias, North Moroccan Atlantic margin

Aplicación del Estimador de Parámetros de Segmentación por Media-desplazada (EPSM) a las imágenes de satélite de muy alta resolución espacial: Tetuán (Marruecos)

Revista oficial de la Asociación Española de Teledetección[EN] Image segmentation is considered as crucial step dealing with Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) and different segmentation results could be achieved by combining possible parameters values. Optimal parameters selection is usually carried out on the basis of visual interpretation; therefore, defining optimal combinations is a challenging task. In the present research, Mean-shift Segmentation Parameters estimator (MSPE) proposed tool is applied to automate the selection of segmentation parameters values to Very High Spatial Resolution (VHSR) satellite images in the region of Tetuan city (Northern Morocco). MSPE estimates the parameters values for the Mean-shift Segmentation (MS) algorithm. However, this algorithm needs as inputs: i) existing vector database and, ii) spectral data to define automatically the segmentation parameter values. Finally, application of the MSPE method on different landscape’ types show accurate results with Under-Segmentation (US) values ≤0.20 for industrial, residential and rural zones, while for dense residential area values of 0.35.[ES] La segmentación de imágenes constituye un paso crucial en el Análisis de Imágenes Basado en Objetos (AIBO). Combinando distintos valores de los parámetros de entrada de los algoritmos de segmentación se obtienen diferentes resultados. En general, los parámetros óptimos seleccionados se determinan mediante interpretación vi-sual; por lo tanto, la definición de las combinaciones óptimas es una tarea considerablemente difícil. En la presente investigación, se propone una herramienta analítica que denominamos Estimador de Parámetros de Segmentación por Media-desplazada (EPSM) aplicada a la selección automatizada de los valores de los parámetros de segmentación en las imágenes de satélite de muy alta resolución espacial en la región de Tetuán (norte de Marruecos). El estimador EPSM necesita como entradas la Base de Datos Vectorial existente (BDV) y los datos espectrales con el fin de definir automáticamente los valores de los parámetros de segmentación. La aplicación del método EPSM a diferentes pai-sajes proporciona valores mínimos del índice de sub-segmentación (US)≤0,20 en zonas industriales, residenciales y rurales, mientras que para la zona residencial densa muestra valores de 0,35Este trabajo ha sido financiado en parte por el Ministerio de Educación Superior e Investigación Científica (Marruecos), subvenciones CSPT, proyecto: “Redes de sensores inalámbricas ad-hoc para la validación de algoritmos de teledetección”. Agradecemos igualmente a “Google Earth©” por facilitarnos gratuitamente las imágenes de muy alta resolución y a la Asociación RS&SIG de Marruecos por el soporte técnico. Esta investigación ha sido posible gracias a una subvención de la Comisión Europea en el marco del Programa Erasmus Mundus.Benarchid, O.; Raissouni, N.; Sobrino, J.; El Ayyan, A. (2015). Application of the Mean-shift Segmentation Parameters Estimator (MSPE) to VHSR satellite images: Tetuan-Morocco. Revista de Teledetección. (43):91-96. doi:10.4995/raet.2015.3511.SWORD91964

Séminome Spermatocytaire: à Propos d’un Cas et Revue de La Littérature Spermatocytic Seminoma

Le séminome spermatocytaire est une tumeur rare, représentant moins de 2% des cancers du testicule, survenant essentiellement chez le sujet âgé. Nous rapportons une nouvelle observation d’un patient âgé de 48 ans. La tumeur se présentait comme une prolifération de cellules en nappescompactes, avec 3 types cellulaires, des cellules de petite taille, des cellules intermédiaires et des grandes cellules. Il n’a été retrouvé ni contingent sarcomateux, ni séminome classique. L’analyse en immun histochimie n’a retrouvé aucune expression des cellules tumorales pour les anticorpsclassiques testés, notamment l’Ac anti PLAP et les marqueurs lymphoïdes. Le séminome spermatocytaire doit être reconnu, car son évolution est très favorable et ne nécessite qu’une simple orchidectomie, en l’absence d’un exceptionnel contingent sarcomateux ou de métastase où une chimiothérapie s’impose

Primary pleural leiomyosarcoma with rapid progression and fatal outcome: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Leiomyosarcomas are neoplasms of smooth muscles that most commonly arise from the uterus, gastrointestinal tract, or soft tissue. Primary pleural leiomyosarcoma is extremely rare. To the best of our knowledge, only nine cases have been published to date. Because of the rarity of pleural leiomyosarcoma and its similarity (clinical and histological) to other pleural neoplasms, particularly sarcomatous mesothelioma, diagnosis is often difficult.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 58-year-old North African man was admitted with complaints of dyspnea and chest pain to our hospital. Chest computed tomography revealed right pleural effusion and pleural thickening. A transthoracic needle biopsy yielded a diagnosis of leiomyosarcoma, and tumor cells were strongly and uniformly positive for vimentin, a smooth muscle actin at immunohistochemical analysis. A general examination did not show any metastatic lesions in other areas. One month after diagnosis, the tumor grew rapidly, with pulmonary invasion, and therefore he was treated only by palliative care. He died from respiratory failure one month later. Because no organ of origin of the leiomyosarcoma, other than the pleura, was detected, this case was diagnosed as a primary pleural leiomyosarcoma.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although leiomyosarcoma originating from the pleura is rare, this entity is increasingly described. The purpose of presenting this case report is to raise awareness among clinicians to consider this clinical entity as a differential diagnosis when a pleural mass is identified.</p

Classic Kaposi's sarcoma in morocco: clinico -epidemiological study at the national institute of oncology

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Classic Kaposi's sarcoma (CKS) is a rare disease likely associated with human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8) infection, and occurs predominantly in Jewish, Mediterranean and middle eastern men .There is a dearth of data in Moroccan patients with CKS regarding epidemiology, clinical characteristics and outcomes. This report examines a cohort of patients with CKS evaluated at the national institute of oncology over 11-year period.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A retrospective analysis of patients referred to the national institute of oncology with classical Kaposi sarcoma, between January 1998 and February 2008, was performed. Reviewed information included demographics, clinical and pathological staging, death or last follow-up.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>During the study period, 56 patients with a diagnosis of CKS have been referred to our hospital. There were 11(19,7%) females and 45 (80,3%) males (male-to-female ratio: 4:1). Mean age at diagnosis was 61,7 ± 15 (range: 15- 86 years). Nodules and/or plaques were the most frequent type of lesion. The most common location was the lower limbs, particularly the distal lower extremity (90%). In addition to skin involvement, visceral spread was evident in 9 cases. The most common visceral involvement sites were lymph nodes (44%), lung (22%), and gastrointestinal tract (22%). Associated lymphoedema was seen in 24 (42%) of the patients. There were 18 stage I patients (32,14%), 8: stage II (14,28%), 21 stage III(37,5%) and 9 stage IV (16,07%). A second primary malignancy was diagnosed in 6 cases (10,7%), none of the reticuloendothelial system.</p> <p>With a median follow-up of 45 months, 38 (67,8) patients are alive, of whom 25 (65,78%) patients with stable disease, five with progressive disease currently under systemic chemotherapy and 8(21,05%) are alive and free of disease, over a mean interval of 5 years.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the largest reported series in our context. In Morocco, CKS exhibits some special characteristics including a disseminated skin disease at diagnosis especially in men, a more common visceral or lymph node involvement and a less frequent association with second malignancies.</p

Demographic, clinical, and pathological features of early onset pancreatic cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: Early onset pancreatic cancer (EOPC), i.e. pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) occurring in patients below 50 years of age, is rare and there is limited information regarding risk factors, molecular basis and outcome. This study aimed to determine the demographic and clinicopathological features and survival figures for EOPC. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of patients treated at the Royal London Hospital for PDAC between September 2004 and September 2015 was performed. Data on demographics, risk factors, presentation, pathological features, treatment and survival outcome were compared in EOPC and older PDAC patients. RESULTS: Of 369 PDAC cases identified, 35 (9.5%) were EOPC. Compared to older patients, EOPC patients were more frequently male (71% vs 54%, p = 0.043) and less commonly of British origin (37% vs 70%, p = 0.002). There was no significant difference regarding the prevalence of any of the risk factors known to be associated with older PDAC patients. Fewer EOPC patients presented with resectable disease (23% vs 44%, p = 0.015) and more received adjuvant chemo/radiotherapy (60% vs 46%, p = 0.008). The overall median survival and stage specific survival did not differ significantly between the two groups, although a longer survival for localized disease was seen in EOPC patients (25 months (12.9-37, 95%CI) vs 13 months (10.5-15.5 95%CI) for older PDAC patients). CONCLUSIONS: The EOPC patients had different demographics and were more likely than their older PDAC counterparts to be male. Typically they presented with more advanced disease, received more aggressive treatment, and had on overall similar survival outcome

OCR ACCURACY IMPROVEMENT ON DOCUMENT IMAGES THROUGH A NOVEL PRE-PROCESSING APPROACH

Digital camera and mobile document image acquisition are new trends arising in the world of Optical Character Recognition and text detection. In some cases, such process integrates many distortions and produces poorly scanned text or text-photo images and natural images, leading to an unreliable OCR digitization. In this paper, we present a novel nonparametric and unsupervised method to compensate for undesirable document image distortions aiming to optimally improve OCR accuracy. Our approach relies on a very efficient stack of document image enhancing techniques to recover deformation of the entire document image. First, we propose a local brightness and contrast adjustment method to effectively handle lighting variations and the irregular distribution of image illumination. Second, we use an optimized greyscale conversion algorithm to transform our document image to greyscale level. Third, we sharpen the useful information in the resulting greyscale image using Un-sharp Masking method. Finally, an optimal global binarization approach is used to prepare the final document image to OCR recognition. The proposed approach can significantly improve text detection rate and optical character recognition accuracy. To demonstrate the efficiency of our approach, an exhaustive experimentation on a standard dataset is presented

Assessment of metal pollution in the river of Martil emerging in the western Moroccan Mediterranean. Mobility and impact of human activities

This study is part of a monitoring of the evolution of variations in time and space contents of metallic elements of surface waters of the river of Martil between two sampling campaigns (May 2010 and May 2011). The comparison of the results of metal analyzes of the two campaigns show different variations of the contents of metallic elements. The magnesium content increased almost 10 times, which highlights the intensity of activities that caused this increase for one year only. The concentrations of nickel and lead fell below standards and indicate a water medium to high quality, as the concentrations of aluminum, zinc and copper, which have been reduced compared to the 2010 campaign and are still very low and do not pose a threat so large. The concentration of cadmium also decreased slightly but remains high above the standard set which is 5 mg / l, which raises some concern about this element and its possible sources. For iron, its concentration was doubled, which is why it is a beginning of water contamination because the recorded values are between 1 and 2, indicating an average water quality