Treatment of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia with AIDA Based Regimen. Update of a Tunisian Single Center Study

In Tunisia, the ATRA era began in 1998 with the use, consecutively, of two regimens combining ATRA and an anthracycline with cytarabine (APL93), and without cytarabine (LPA99). From 2004, 51 patients with confirmed APL either by t(15;17) or PML/RARA were treated according to the PETHEMA LPA 99 trial. Forty three patients achieved CR (86%). The remaining seven patients had early death (one died before treatment onset): four caused by differentiation syndrome (DS) and three died from central nervous system hemorrhage. Multivariate analysis revealed that female gender (P=0.045), baseline WBC> 10 G/L (P=0.041) and serum creatinine > 1.4mg/dl (P=0.021) were predictive of mortality during induction. DS was observed in 16 patients (32%) after a median onset time of 15 days from treatment onset (range, 2–29). Body mass index ≥ 30 (P=0.01) remained independent predictor of DS. Occurrence of hypertensive peaks significantly predicted occurrence of DS (P=0.011) and was significantly associated with high BMI (p=0.003). With a median follow-up of 50 months, 5 year cumulative incidence of relapse, event free and overall survival were 4.7%, 74% and 78%, respectively

Reversible Immobilization of Proteins in Sensors and Solid‐State Nanopores

The controlled functionalization of surfaces with proteins is crucial for many analytical methods in life science research and biomedical applications. Here, a coating for silica‐based surfaces is established which enables stable and selective immobilization of proteins with controlled orientation and tunable surface density. The coating is reusable, retains functionality upon long‐term storage in air, and is applicable to surfaces of complex geometry. The protein anchoring method is validated on planar surfaces, and then a method is developed to measure the anchoring process in real time using silicon nitride solid‐state nanopores. For surface attachment, polyhistidine tags that are site specifically introduced into recombinant proteins are exploited, and the yeast nucleoporin Nsp1 is used as model protein. Contrary to the commonly used covalent thiol chemistry, the anchoring of proteins via polyhistidine tag is reversible, permitting to take proteins off and replace them by other ones. Such switching in real time in experiments on individual nanopores is monitored using ion conductivity. Finally, it is demonstrated that silica and gold surfaces can be orthogonally functionalized to accommodate polyhistidine‐tagged proteins on silica but prevent protein binding to gold, which extends the applicability of this surface functionalization method to even more complex sensor devices

Relationship between the Clinical Frailty Scale and short-term mortality in patients ≥ 80 years old acutely admitted to the ICU: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) is frequently used to measure frailty in critically ill adults. There is wide variation in the approach to analysing the relationship between the CFS score and mortality after admission to the ICU. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of modelling approach on the association between the CFS score and short-term mortality and quantify the prognostic value of frailty in this context. METHODS: We analysed data from two multicentre prospective cohort studies which enrolled intensive care unit patients ≥ 80 years old in 26 countries. The primary outcome was mortality within 30-days from admission to the ICU. Logistic regression models for both ICU and 30-day mortality included the CFS score as either a categorical, continuous or dichotomous variable and were adjusted for patient's age, sex, reason for admission to the ICU, and admission Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score. RESULTS: The median age in the sample of 7487 consecutive patients was 84 years (IQR 81-87). The highest fraction of new prognostic information from frailty in the context of 30-day mortality was observed when the CFS score was treated as either a categorical variable using all original levels of frailty or a nonlinear continuous variable and was equal to 9% using these modelling approaches (p < 0.001). The relationship between the CFS score and mortality was nonlinear (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Knowledge about a patient's frailty status adds a substantial amount of new prognostic information at the moment of admission to the ICU. Arbitrary simplification of the CFS score into fewer groups than originally intended leads to a loss of information and should be avoided. Trial registration NCT03134807 (VIP1), NCT03370692 (VIP2)

The political economy of oil and economic diversification: a neglected research field Robert Mabro would certainly like us to revive

Between 1993 and 2001 Robert Mabro, in his capacity as Director of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, presided over the publication of a series of books on the political economy of oil (the series includes, in publication order, Venezuela, Nigeria, Indonesia, Libya, and Algeria). In a way, this initiative was in step with the prevailing renewed research trend. The emphasis was on the role of oil in shaping the political, economic, and social dynamics affecting the major oil exporting countries of the developing world. However, while most relevant publications of that period were of a broad thematic nature, this series focused on the oil and gas industry of individual countries in the context of history, political economy, and international relations. As far as I am aware, the rationale for the book series was twofold – the obvious one being to make a contribution towards filling a research gap in the field. Given the countries’ importance to the world’s oil (and increasingly gas) markets, deeper insight was needed to form a better understanding of their policies and institutional constraints. The less obvious reason is that multiple country case studies can help reflect the diversity of contexts and conditions and draw on distinct sources of evidence to discern national idiosyncrasies

Algerian gas: troubling trends, troubled policies

Despite being one of Europe’s largest pipeline natural gas suppliers and the original and still very active supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) worldwide, Algeria has received limited serious attention as an exporter of gas in recent years. One reason may be that the country’s key role has somewhat been eclipsed by new developments in both the European gas scene and in the broader global gas arenas. The geo-political aftermath of the 2014 tensions between Russia and Ukraine has turned attention to the European Union’s increasing dependence on Russian gas. In addition, the start-up of substantial new LNG supplies over the next five years has emphasised the probability of global gas surplus and its likely impacts. Since the OIES Gas Programme’s last paper on Algeria in 2011 several developments have taken place which warrant fresh insights on Algeria’s natural gas sector trends and the outlook for its export potential. While the conclusions of the paper are not optimistic, the causal analysis has parallels in many gas resource-rich countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. Sustained government policies of low domestic prices have neither encouraged rationalization of demand nor provided adequate incentives for upstream investment, ultimately resulting in a severe deterioration of national gas balances. In the case of Algeria, this means being increasingly perceived as short of gas for its export commitments

Evaluation des pratiques professionnelles dans le cadre de la prescription d'examen de scanner en urgence dans le service d'accueil des urgences du groupe hospitalier sud Ardennes

PARIS6-Bibl. St Antoine CHU (751122104) / SudocSudocFranceF

Integrating subject-specific tibio-femoral contact point trajectories from 3D/2D registration techniques into musculoskeletal model of the lower limb

International audienceIntroductionThe estimation of the knee joint medial and lateral contact forces depends highly on the location of tibio-femoral Contact Points (CPs) [1]. New imaging techniques revealed high inter-subject variations as well as pathology distinguishable patterns in the trajectories of the CPs in the knee [2]. The objective of this study is to compare the contact forces estimated from a musculoskeletal (MSK) model with standard or personalized CPs.MethodsFive pairs of EOSTM low-dose biplanar x-ray images were acquired during a quasi-static squat at 0ᵒ, 15ᵒ, 30ᵒ, 45ᵒ, and 70ᵒ of knee flexion. The tibio-femoral CPs were approximated using the femur and tibia 3D reconstructions and a bone-to-bone proximity algorithm [2]. The 3D gait kinematics and kinetics during gait was used as an input into a MSK model of the lower limb [3] (see figure). The CP trajectories were introduced as kinematic constraints and the corresponding Lagrange multipliers yielded directly the medial and lateral contact forces. The estimated contact forces from the personalized CPs were compared to those obtained using linear CPs which is widely used in most MSK models.ResultsThe difference between medial and lateral contact forces among all the subjects were not statistically significant between the personalized and linear CPs, due to high inter-subject variability. However, in certain subjects, the impact of changing the CP trajectories on the estimated contact forces could reach 1.03 BW and 0.65 BW on the medial and lateral compartments, respectively.DiscussionThe kinematic constraints based on CP trajectories proposed in this study can be adapted from different joint models and can also integrate measurements from any imaging techniques into the MSK model. This study showed that a medial-lateral shift of the CPs alone (e.g. as in [1]) could not fully predict the changes in the contact forces and that a multifactorial analysis is required, including the anterior-posterior shift as well as the interactions between the musculo-tendon and contact forces.AcknowledgementsFonds de Recherche du Québec en Santé (FRQ-S), Fonds de Recheche du Québec en Nature et Technologie (FRQ-NT), Natural Science and Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and Labex PRIMES (ANR-11-LABX-0063) of Université de Lyon.References[1] Saliba et al. (2017). Sensitivity of medial and lateral knee contact force predictions to frontal plane alignment and contact locations. J Biomech 57: 125-130.[2] Zeighami et al. (2017). Tibio-femoral joint contact in healthy and osteoarthritic knees during quasi-static squat: A bi-planar X-ray analysis. J Biomech 53: 178-184

TOXIC EFFECT OF A CERTAIN MEDICINAL PLANT EXTRACTS AGAINST LARVAE OF MOSQUITO SPECIES Culiseta longiareolata (MACQUART, 1838)

The domestic mosquito Culex pipiens and Culiseta longiareolata are considered to be the most important mosquito species in Algeria, due to their large geographical distribution and abundance. Instead of causing environmental nuisance, they transmit diseases to the animals. The mosquito control, using conventional insecticides becomes harmful to human and to the environment and in addition mosquitoes have developed a resistance against these products. These reasons have encouraged scientists to propose new eco-friendly and effective alternatives to control insects. Plants extracts have showed a promising agents for pest treatments.&nbsp; In order to test a botanical larvicide against mosquito, extracts were prepared from the leaves of Marrubium vulgare, Laurus nobilis, Eucalyptus globulus, and Myrtus communis and the extractions were done with methanol, using a Soxhlet extractor. Bioassay was carried out, using different concentrations against the fourth mosquito larvae of the C. longiareolata.&nbsp; The toxicity of the tested extracts was evaluated and the lethal concentrations, LC50 and LC90) values were estimated. The obtained results indicated a sensitivity of Cs. longiareolata larvae to the four plants species, with dose-response relationship mortality. The lethal concentrations were calculated with their confidence limits and their values were for LC50 of 6.13, 7.03, 9.60 and 17.84g/l, while the LC90’s were 22, 37.19, 75.69 and 92.76g/l for M. vulgare, L. nobilis, E. globulus, and Myrtus communis respectively. These toxicological assays, using these autochthon plant extracts could be developed as an alternative compound for mosquito control programme

Knee medial and lateral contact forces computed along subject-specific contact point trajectories

16th International Symposium on Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, NEW YORK, ETATS-UNIS, 14-/08/2019 - 16/08/2019Knee medial and lateral contact forces estimated from musculoskeletal modelling depend on the location of contact points. Patient-specific contact point trajectories can be obtained from weight-bearing medical imaging systems which give access to both joint anatomy and joint alignment either in a set of postures (i.e. pseudo-kinematics) or during a continuous movement. The medial and lateral contact point trajectories are obtained during quasi-static squat for 10 healthy and 12 severe osteoarthritis (OA) subjects using biplane low-dose radiography. The contact forces are estimated using a lower limb musculoskeletal model at each point of the trajectories corresponding to a given knee flexion angles during gait. The contact forces were generally found slightly lower in OA subjects and applied more medially on the tibial plateaus but with high inter-subject variability. The positions of the medial contact points were ones of the linear predictors (together with external knee moments) of the amplitude of the medial contact force. The lower limb musculoskeletal model with generic contact points has been previously validated with data from instrumented prosthesis. Updated validation of the model taking into account subject-specific prosthetic contact points is currently under progress

Comparaison du Modèle Fluide de Décharge Radiofréquence dans l'Argon à la Simulation de Monte Carlo

International audienceA comparison is made between the fluid model and the Monte Carlo simulation of a radiofrequency discharge in argon. The agreement in the properties predicted by the two models is examined for a pressure of 1 torr and a voltage of 300 v. Quantitative agreement has been found in the general discharge behavior predicted by the fluid model and the Monte Carlo simulation at this voltage.Une comparaison est faite entre le modèle fluide et la simulation de monte Carlo d'une décharge radiofréquence dans l'argon. L'accord dans les propriétés prédites par les deux modèles est examiné pour une pression de 1 torr et une tension de 300 v. Un accord quantitatif a été trouvé dans le comportement général de la décharge prédit par le modèle fluide et la simulation Monte Carlo à cette pression et cette tension