Pathological Investigation of Congenital Bicuspid Aortic Valve Stenosis, Compared with Atherosclerotic Tricuspid Aortic Valve Stenosis and Congenital Bicuspid Aortic Valve Regurgitation

Congenital bicuspid aortic valve (CBAV) is the main cause of aortic stenosis (AS) in young adults. However, the histopathological features of AS in patients with CBAV have not been fully investigated.We examined specimens of aortic valve leaflets obtained from patients who had undergone aortic valve re/placement at our institution for severe AS with CBAV (n = 24, CBAV-AS group), severe AS with tricuspid aortic valve (n = 24, TAV-AS group), and severe aortic regurgitation (AR) with CBAV (n = 24, CBAV-AR group). We compared the histopathological features among the three groups. Pathological features were classified using semi-quantitative methods (graded on a scale 0 to 3) by experienced pathologists without knowledge of the patients' backgrounds. The severity of inflammation, neovascularization, and calcium and cholesterol deposition did not differ between the CBAV-AS and TAV-AS groups, and these four parameters were less marked in the CBAV-AR group than in the CBAV-AS (all p<0.01). Meanwhile, the grade of valvular fibrosis was greater in the CBAV-AS group, compared with the TAV-AS and CBAV-AR groups (both p<0.01). In AS patients, thickness of fibrotic lesions was greater on the aortic side than on the ventricular side (both p<0.01). Meanwhile, thickness of fibrotic lesions was comparable between the aortic and ventricular sides in CBAV-AR patients (p = 0.35).Valvular fibrosis, especially on the aortic side, was greater in patients with CBAV-AS than in those without, suggesting a difference in the pathogenesis of AS between CBAV and TAV

Современные взгляды на лучевые методы диагностики при повреждении коленного сустава

Рассматриваются возможности лучевых методов диагностики (рентгенографии, компьютерной, магниторезонансной томографии, ультрасонографии) при повреждении коленного сустава.The capabilities of radiodiagnosis (radiography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging) at knee joint injuries are discussed

Calcific aortic valve stenosis:hard disease in the heart: A biomolecular approach towards diagnosis and treatment

Calcific aortic valve stenosis (CAVS) is common in the ageing population and set to become an increasing economic and health burden. Once present, it inevitably progresses and has a poor prognosis in symptomatic patients. No medical therapies are proven to be effective in holding or reducing disease progression. Therefore, aortic valve replacement remains the only available treatment option. Improved knowledge of the mechanisms underlying disease progression has provided us with insights that CAVS is not a passive disease. Rather, CAVS is regulated by numerous mechanisms with a key role for calcification. Aortic valve calcification (AVC) is actively regulated involving cellular and humoral factors that may offer targets for diagnosis and intervention. The discovery that the vitamin K-dependent proteins are involved in the inhibition of AVC has boosted our mechanistic understanding of this process and has opened up novel avenues in disease exploration. This review discusses processes involved in CAVS progression, with an emphasis on recent insights into calcification, methods for imaging calcification activity, and potential therapeutic options

Pelléas et Mélisande. Du texte de Maeterlinck à la musique de Debussy

[…] la musique manque d’infini. C’est au contact intime de la poésie que Debussy, au fil d’une évolution progressive et lente, de recherches laborieuses et multiples s’étendant sur une vingtaine d’années, élabore son esthétique et en arrive à bouleverser trois genres musicaux : la mélodie, l’opéra, la musique symphonique. Dans chaque cas, il a le souci constant de coller au plus près des textes choisis, particulièrement dans Pelléas et Mélisande, dont la musique est modelée jusque dans le dét..

The importance of personality for political tolerance and belief in silencing others

Denna studie tittar på hur personlighet och generellt politiskt ställningstagande samvarierar med politisk tolerans i en svensk kontext. Formerna av tolerans som undersöktes var generell politisk tolerans samt riktad politisk tolerans mot både höger och vänster i dess mer extrema form. Studien undersöker också samband mellan personlighet samt en vilja till att tysta andra. Studien baserades på en internetbaserad enkät med 273 respondenter i det slutgiltiga urvalet. Resultaten visade att personlighet hade en inverkan på hur vi agerar gentemot andra expressivt där nivåer på extraversion och neuroticism korrelerade med viljan att tysta andra och där extraversion även var en prediktor. Studiens resultat visar också på att personlighetsdraget öppenhet predicerade riktad politisk tolerans mot vänster samt att politiskt ställningstagande kunde predicera tolerans mot höger. För generell politisk tolerans var neuroticism från Big Five samt ärlighet från HEXACO signifikanta prediktorer. Detta skiljer sig delvis från tidigare forskning.This study examines how personality and general political stance correlate with political tolerance in a Swedish context. The forms of tolerance investigated were general political tolerance as well as directed political tolerance towards both the right and left in its more extreme form. The study also examines the relationship between personality and a belief in silence others. The study was based on an internet-based survey with 273 respondents in the final sample. The results showed that personality had an impact on how we behave towards others expressively, where levels of extraversion and neuroticism correlated with the belief in silence others, and where extraversion was also a predictor. The study's results also show that the personality trait openness predicted directed political tolerance towards the left and that political stance could predict tolerance towards the right. For general political tolerance, neuroticism from the Big Five and honesty from HEXACO were significant predictors. This differs partly from previous research

Meanings and styles of Lyricism in the Poetic Work of Venus Khoury-Ghata

À travers ses créations littéraires, Vénus Khoury-Ghata, écrivaine libanaise francophone vivant à Paris, relate poétiquement son passé douloureux. Par le lyrisme, elle arrive à créer un exutoire pour relier son passé et son présent, l’Orient de son enfance et l’Occident, terre de son présent, le monde imaginaire et le réel.À l’intersection de deux cultures, Vénus Khoury-Ghata invente son style propre. Elle passe d’une langue à l’autre, de l’arabe au français, manière pour elle de transfigurer la souffrance par des images symboliques, parfois fantastiques. Parce qu’elle s’est installée en France, elle choisit la langue française qui devient alors, pour elle, une arme de combat pour mettre la mort à distance, l’accepter et mieux la transcender. Elle se sert de la langue de l’autre – le français – et de ses ressources linguistiques et poétiques comme refuge, pour parler des lésions de son âme.Vénus Khoury-Ghata se distingue par son lyrisme particulier. Son oeuvre s’inscrit dans le courant des poètes modernes du XXe siècle mais ses poèmes se démarquent par une écriture singulière. Bien qu’ils traduisent son passé douloureux, ils neutralisent la subjectivité et ouvrent la voie à une écriture élégiaque impersonnelle. Dès lors, celle-ci transforme le pathos en une écriture réflexive et, par là, ouvre un espace de reconstruction identitaire non seulement personnelle mais aussi nationale, celle du peuple libanais qui a connu la guerre civile. Par la figure aléatoire de la poète, son écriture participe à la progressive pacification d’un drame collectif. Par le travail stylistique et par les métaphores empruntées aux mythes, l’œuvre khouryghatienne ouvre ainsi la conscience nationale vers la conscience mondiale.Tel Orphée qui tente de retrouver Eurydice aux Enfers, la poète fait une plongée dans son passé, pour retrouver les êtres chers disparus qui ont jalonné son vécu, afin de leur donner vie grâce à l’écriture. Le mythe d’Orphée en filigrane dans son écriture suggère cette renaissance donnée aux morts, un hommage pour les ramener à la vie par le biais des mots; c’est aussi une plongée dans la mort pour mieux la comprendre et l’accepter. L’interpellation de la poète met en exergue la fraternité des destins humains. Par ses mots, Vénus Khoury-Ghata devient porte-parole de l’humanité.Through her literary creations, Vénus Khoury-Ghata, a French-speaking Lebanese writer living in Paris, offers writings recounting her painful past. Through lyricism, she was able to create an outlet in order to link her past with her present, the Middle East of her childhood with her present land, the Western world, the imaginary world with the real world.With the help of her writing skills that bridge two cultures, Vénus Khoury-Ghata invents her own style. She jumps from one language to another, from Arabic to French, as a way for her to convert the suffering by using symbolic images that are sometimes imaginary ones. As she settled in France, she chose the French language as a weapon for her to distance death, to acknowledge it and better transcend it. She uses the language of the other– French – and makes use of its linguistic and poetic ressources as a haven to talk about the injuries of her soul.Vénus Khoury-Ghata sets herself apart by her singular lyricism. Her poems adhere to the XXth century modern poet’s movement but stand out due to their unique writing technique. Despite translating her painful past, her writings eradicate subjectivity and pave the way to an impersonal elegiac style. Henceforth, any pathos is transformed into a reflective literary piece, creating a space for identity reconstruction, not only personal but also national, the reconstruction of a Lebanese nation which knew the civil war. Through the random face of the poet, her works contribute to the gradual pacification of a collective drama. Through her style of writing and the mythical metaphors she uses, her work expands from national to global awareness.Much like Orpheus who tried to find Eurydice in the underworld, the poet dives into her past to reconnect with her deceased beloved ones, those who impacted her existence, to give them life through her writing. Orpheus's myth which emerges in her writing, suggests this rebirth given to the dead, a tribute to bringing them back to life through words; however, it is also a dive into death to better understand and accept it. The poet’s introspection highlights the fraternity of human destiny. Through her words, Vénus Khoury-Ghata becomes a spokesperson for humanity