Les particularites de la hernie discale lombaire de l’adulte jeune (18-25 ans)

Buts La hernie discale lombaire est rare chez l’enfant et l’adolescent. Peu d’études ont été consacrées aux sujets de 18-25 ans. Nous avons voulu identifier d’éventuelles particularités de cette pathologie dans cette tranche d’âge à travers un échantillon pris en charge dans notre service. Matériels et méthodes Il s’agissait d’une étude rétrospective portant sur 52 patients colligés à l’hôpital de Grand Yoff et au CHU de Fann du 1er Avril 2004 au 31 Mars 2009. L’échantillon était représenté par des sujets de 18 à 25 ans, qui avaient consultés pour lomboradiculalgie avec mise en évidence au niveau de l’imagerie d’un conflit disco-radiculaire. Le suivi s’étalait de un mois à 48 mois. Résultats L’âge moyen était de 22,8 ans. On notait une prédominance masculine (86,5%). Les militaires représentaient 38,4%. La symptomatologie a été brutale dans 23,1% suite à un traumatisme. Le bilan radiologique retrouvait 6 cas de canal lombaire étroit et 6 cas d’anomalie transitionnelle associés à la hernie discale. On ne notait pas de signes de dégénérescence discale. L’étage L4-L5 était concerné dans 53,8%. Treize patients ont été opérés avec dans 46,2% des cas une disparition complète de la symptomatologie initiale à un an.Conclusion La hernie discale lombaire de l’adulte jeune est favorisée par les professions de force et les traumatismes du rachis lombaire. Le traitement doit être le plus conservateur que possible même si les résultats de la discectomie sont meilleurs que chez l’adulte plus âgé

A neural network-based method for spruce tonewood characterization

The acoustical properties of wood are primarily a function of its elastic properties. Numerical and analytical methods for wood material characterization are available, although they are either computationally demanding or not always valid. Therefore, an affordable and practical method with sufficient accuracy is missing. In this article, we present a neural network-based method to estimate the elastic properties of spruce thin plates. The method works by encoding information of both the eigenfrequencies and eigenmodes of the system and using a neural network to find the best possible material parameters that reproduce the frequency response function. Our results show that data-driven techniques can speed up classic finite element model updating by several orders of magnitude and work as a proof of concept for a general neural network-based tool for the workshop. © 2023 Acoustical Society of America

Acute febrile illness and influenza disease burden in a rural cohort dedicated to malaria in Senegal, 2012-2013

Background African populations are considered to be particularly vulnerable to fever illnesses, including malaria, and acute respiratory disease, owing to limited resources and overcrowding. However, the overall burden of influenza in this context is poorly defined and incidence data for African countries are scarce. We therefore studied the fever syndrome incidence and more specifically influenza incidence in a cohort of inhabitants of Dielmo and Ndiop in Sokone district, Senegal. Methods Daily febrile-illness data were prospectively obtained from January 2012 to December 2013 from the cohort of the villages of Dielmo and Ndiop, initially dedicated to the study of malaria. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from, and malaria diagnosis tests (thick blood smears) carried out on, every febrile individual during clinical visits; reverse transcriptase- polymerase chain reaction was used to identify influenza viruses in the samples. Binomial negative regression analysis was used to study the relationship between the monthly incidence rate and various covariates. Results In Dielmo and Ndiop, the incidence ofmalaria has decreased, but fever syndromes remain frequent. Among the 1036 inhabitants included in the cohort, a total of 1,129 episodes of fever were reported. Influenza was present all year round with peaks in October-December 2012 and August 2013. The fever, ILI and influenza incidence density rates differed significantly between age groups. At both sites, the adjusted incidence relative risks for fever syndromes and ILI were significantly higher in the [6-24 months) than other age groups: 7.3 (95% CI: [5.7-9.3]) and 16.1 (95% CI: [11.1-23.3]) respectively. The adjusted incidence relative risk for influenza was significantly higher for the [0-6 months) than other age groups: 9.9 (95% CI: [2.9-33.6]). At both sites, incidence density rates were lowest among adults > = 50 years. Conclusions In this rural setting in Senegal, influenza was most frequent among the youngest children. Preventive strategies targeting this population should be implemented

Regional Trade and Volatility in Staple Food Markets in Africa

This paper deals with the role of regional trade in fostering the resilience of domestic food markets. Using country production and trade data from FAOSTAT database, a series of simple indicators are calculated that shed light on the potential for domestic markets stabilization through trade among African countries within Regional Economic Communities, including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). A regional, economy-wide multimarket model is then used to simulate changes in current productivity levels and trade costs. The findings reveal that it is possible to significantly boost the pace of regional trade expansion and thus its contribution to creating more resilient domestic food markets through modest reduction in the overall cost of trading, a similarly modest increase in crop yields, or the removal of barriers to trans-border trade

Plasmodium falciparum malaria co-infection with tick-borne relapsing fever in Dakar

Abstract Background West African tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF) due to Borrelia crocidurae and malaria are co-endemics in Senegal. Although expected to be high, co-infections are rarely reported. A case of falciparum malaria and B. crocidurae co-infection in a patient from Velingara (South of Senegal) is discussed. Case A 28\ua0year-old-male patient presented to Aristide Le Dantec Hospital for recurrent fever. He initially presented to a local post health of Pikine (sub-urban of Dakar) and was diagnosed for malaria on the basis of positive malaria rapid diagnostic test (RDT) specific to Plamodium falciparum . The patient was treated as uncomplicated falciparum malaria. Four days after admission the patient was referred to Le Dantec Hospital. He presented with fever (39\ua0\ub0C), soreness, headache and vomiting. The blood pressure was 120/80\ua0mmHg. The rest of the examination was normal. A thick film from peripheral blood was performed and addressed to the parasitology laboratory of the hospital. Thick film was stained with 10% Giemsa. Trophozoite of P. falciparum was identified at parasite density of 47 parasites per microlitre. The presence of Borrelia was also observed, concluding to malaria co-infection with borreliosis. Conclusions Signs of malaria can overlap with signs of borreliosis leading to the misdiagnosis of the latter. Thick and thin smear or QBC test or molecular method may be helpful to detect both Plamodium species and Borrelia . In addition, there is a real need to consider co-infections with other endemics pathogens when diagnosing malaria

Microwave studies of the fractional Josephson effect in HgTe-based Josephson junctions

The rise of topological phases of matter is strongly connected to their potential to host Majorana bound states, a powerful ingredient in the search for a robust, topologically protected, quantum information processing. In order to produce such states, a method of choice is to induce superconductivity in topological insulators. The engineering of the interplay between superconductivity and the electronic properties of a topological insulator is a challenging task and it is consequently very important to understand the physics of simple superconducting devices such as Josephson junctions, in which new topological properties are expected to emerge. In this article, we review recent experiments investigating topological superconductivity in topological insulators, using microwave excitation and detection techniques. More precisely, we have fabricated and studied topological Josephson junctions made of HgTe weak links in contact with two Al or Nb contacts. In such devices, we have observed two signatures of the fractional Josephson effect, which is expected to emerge from topologically-protected gapless Andreev bound states. We first recall the theoretical background on topological Josephson junctions, then move to the experimental observations. Then, we assess the topological origin of the observed features and conclude with an outlook towards more advanced microwave spectroscopy experiments, currently under development.Comment: Lectures given at the San Sebastian Topological Matter School 2017, published in "Topological Matter. Springer Series in Solid-State Sciences, vol 190. Springer