Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): Investigating care practices pointed out to disparities in diagnosis and treatment across European Union

ME/CFS is a chronic, complex, multisystem disease that often limits the health and functioning of the affected patients. Diagnosing patients with ME/CFS is a challenge, and many different case definitions exist and are used in clinical practice and research. Even after diagnosis, medical treatment is very challenging. Symptom relief and coping may affect how patients live with their disease and their quality of life. There is no consensus on which diagnostic criteria should be used and which treatment strategies can be recommended for patients. The purpose of the current project was to map the landscape of the Euromene countries in respect of national guidelines and recommendations for case definition, diagnosis and clinical approaches for ME/CFS patients. A 23 items questionnaire was sent out by email to the members of Euromene. The form contained questions on existing guidelines for case definitions, treatment/management of the disease, tests and questionnaires applied, and the prioritization of information for data sampling in research. We obtained information from 17 countries. Five countries reported having national guidelines for diagnosis, and five countries reported having guidelines for clinical approaches. For diagnostic purposes, the Fukuda criteria were most often recommended, and also the Canadian Consensus criteria, the International Consensus Criteria and the Oxford criteria were used. A mix of diagnostic criteria was applied within those countries having no guidelines. Many different questionnaires and tests were used for symptom registration and diagnostic investigation. For symptom relief, pain and anti-depressive medication were most often recommended. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Graded Exercise treatment were often recommended as disease management and rehabilitative/palliative strategies. The lack of consistency in recommendations across European countries urges the development of regulations, guidance and standards. The results of this study will contribute to the harmonization of diagnostic criteria and treatment for ME/CFS in Europe.publishedVersio

BtaE, an adhesin that belongs to the trimeric autotransporter family, is required for full virulence and defines a specific adhesive pole of Brucella suis

Brucella is responsible for brucellosis, one of the most common zoonoses worldwide that causes important economic losses in several countries. Increasing evidence indicates that adhesion of Brucella spp. to host cells is an important step to establish infection. We have previously shown that the BmaC unipolar monomeric autotransporter mediates the binding of Brucella suis to host cells through cell-associated fibronectin. Our genome analysis shows that the B. suis genome encodes several additional potential adhesins. In this work, we characterized a predicted trimeric autotransporter that we named BtaE. By expressing btaE in a nonadherent Escherichia coli strain and by phenotypic characterization of a B. suis ΔbtaE mutant, we showed that BtaE is involved in the binding of B. suis to hyaluronic acid. The B. suis ΔbtaE mutant exhibited a reduction in the adhesion to HeLa and A549 epithelial cells compared with the wild-type strain, and it was outcompeted by the wild-type strain in the binding to HeLa cells. The knockout btaE mutant showed an attenuated phenotype in the mouse model, indicating that BtaE is required for full virulence. BtaE was immunodetected on the bacterial surface at one cell pole. Using old and new pole markers, we observed that both the BmaC and BtaE adhesins are consistently associated with the new cell pole, suggesting that, in Brucella, the new pole is functionally differentiated for adhesion. This is consistent with the inherent polarization of this bacterium, and its role in the invasion process

New photochromic and/or photoluminescent hybrid organic-inorganic materials based on polyoxometalates

Les polyoxométallates (POMs) sont des oxydes moléculaires anioniques de métaux de transition qui présentent une grande diversité de composition chimique et de structure. Ils possèdent également des propriétés redox et optiques spécifiques et peuvent être associés via des approches ionique et covalente à des molécules organiques photochromes et/ou photoluminescentes pour élaborer des matériaux hybrides organiques-inorganiques photoactifs. Ce couplage innovant permet de moduler ou exalter de manière drastique les propriétés photophysiques des molécules organiques à l'état solide et constitue une approche très prometteuse pour réaliser des dispositifs photoactifs efficaces. Dans une première partie, de nouveaux matériaux photocommutables ont été élaborés en combinant les POMs à un diaryléthène cationique ou en incorporant des entités POM-spiropyrane photochromes dans des matrices polymères. Dans une seconde partie, de nouveaux systèmes hybrides luminescents ont été conçus en assemblant les POMs avec un complexe cyclométallé d’iridium (III) phosphorescent ou un phospholium fluorescent présentant des propriétés d’exaltation d’émission par agrégation. Pour finir, une troisième partie recense différentes stratégies d’assemblage visant à développer des matériaux multifonctionnels à base de POMs, couplant photochromisme et luminescence. Parmi elles, une nouvelle approche a notamment été explorée pour développer des assemblages supramoléculaires qui combinent des POMs intrinsèquement luminescents à base de lanthanides avec des molécules organiques photochromes.Polyoxometalates (POMs) are anionic molecular oxides building blocks of transition metals which exhibit a wide variety of chemical composition and structure. They also possess specific redox and optical properties and they can be combined via ionic and covalent approaches to photochromic and/or photoluminescent organic molecules to design new photoactive hybrid organic-inorganic materials. This innovating coupling is an attractive opportunity to drastically tune or improve the photophysical properties of organic molecules in the solid-state and it constitutes a promising approach for the elaboration of efficient photoadressable devices. In a first part, new photoswitchable materials have been developped by combining POMs with a cationic diarylethene or by incorporating photochromic POM-spiropyran entities into polymeric matrices. In a second part, new luminescent hybrid systems were designed by assembling POMs with a phosphorescent iridium (III) complex or a fluorescent phospholium which shows Aggregation-Induced Emission (AIE) properties. Finally, a third part identifies different assembly strategies to develop multifunctional POM materials, coupling photochromism and photoluminescence. Among them, a new approach has been explored in particular to develop supramolecular assemblies that combine intrinsically luminescent POMs incorporating lanthanide cation with photochromic organic molecules

Structure–property relationships in normal and mixed dithienylethenes – polyoxometalates supramolecular assemblies with fast solid-state photochromic properties

International audienceFive new highly photochromic hybrid organic-inorganic materials were successfully prepared by supramolecular assembly of normal (1+) and mixed (2+) cationic dithienylethenes (DTEs) and polyoxometalates (POMs) units. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies reveal that (1)3[PM12O40]∙5ACN (M = W, Mo) (1-PW12 and 1-PMo12) and (2)3[PM12O40]∙5ACN (M = W, Mo) (2-PW12 and 2-PMo12) are isostructural, while (2)4[Mo8O26]4DMF (2-Mo8) is an isotype of (1)4[Mo8O26]4DMF (1-Mo8) i.e., the first POM-DTE ionic assembly, recently reported. The solid-state photochromic properties of these materials at room temperature are highly tunable with the nature of the DTEs and POMs used, which has been interpreted taking into account steric and electronic factors. Especially, while 1-PMo12 and 2-PMo12 exhibit negligible photoresponses which have not been considered herein, thorough investigations of the photocoloration and fading kinetics in ambient conditions have highlighted the precise impact of both organic and inorganic components on the photoswitching abilities of 1-Mo8, 2-Mo8, 1-PW12 and 2-PW12. Upon UV-light irradiation, the absorption of the normal and mixed DTEs in their closed-ring form exhibits a hypsochromic shift which is more pronounced in hybrid systems integrating -[Mo8O26]4- rather than -[PW12O40]3-, due to the higher negative charge density of the octamolybdate unit. The photocyclization rates of DTEs are also systematically increased when combined with the -[Mo8O26]4- unit, while in contrast, their back cycloreversion rates are not affected whatever the nature of the POMs used. In addition, within isostructural series, hybrids integrating mixed DTEs exhibit faster fading processes than their normal DTE counterparts when exposed to visible light. Finally, among this new series, 2-Mo8 shows the best photochromic performances with a fast photocoloration rate associated with a high coloration contrast, a fast and complete fading process and a high cyclability

Management of Medulloblastoma in Children: The Experience of a Single Institution in Liege from 1991 to 2005

peer reviewedWe present the experience of the Citadelle Hospital (Liege, B) in the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of medulloblastoma in children. A retrospective study of 10 cases of medulloblastoma was performed. Five years after diagnosis, the event-free survival was 77%

Strong solid-state luminescence enhancement in supramolecular assemblies of polyoxometalate and "Aggregation-Induced Emission"-active phospholium

International audienc

Polymorphism and Structural Filiations in Five New Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Salts of the Heteroleptic Cationic Iridium(III) Complex and Polyoxometalates

International audienc

"− Får jag vara med?" : – En kvalitativ studie om inkludering och exkludering inom barnens fria lek

Denna studie syftar till att undersöka fenomen som inkludering och exkludering inom lek i förskolan. Datainsamlingen skedde genom två kvalitativa metoder som bestod dels av pedagogers deltagande i intervjuer och etnografiska observationer på barn under den fria leken. Med hjälp av intervjuer undersöktes förskollärarnas och barnskötarnas uppfattning om och arbete i anknytning till inkludering och exkludering. Den etnografiska ansatsen bidrog till material angående barnens samspel och förhållningsätt i relation till lek. Det insamlade materialet har analyserats och diskuterats utifrån Vygotskijs teori och Corsaros begrepp inom barndomssociologi samt tidigare forskning.   Inkludering och exkludering är ett vanligt fenomen som ofta förekommer i olika kamratkulturer. I studiens resultat blir det synligt att barnen oftast använder sig av tillträdesstrategier för att få tillträde till lek, strategier som även observerats av Corsaro. I resultatet framkommer det att barnen förhandlar om sina statuspositioner för att göra sig själva och andra medvetna om sina möjligheter i den fria leken. Att ha en hög status inom kamratkulturen innebär att barnet har makt, vilket ger möjlighet till att kunna bestämma utifrån närhetsprincipen vilka som ska bli inkluderade samt exkluderade från gemenskap. Majoriteten av pedagogerna har en uppfattning om att exkludering av barn oftast sker i form av sekundär anpassning. Det vill säga att barnen visar att institutionens regler som alla-får-vara-med upprätthålls med vissa undantag i form av villkorat deltagande då barn blir tilldelade en oönskad eller underordnad roll i leken. Resultatet visar även på att pedagogernas närvaro kan ha påverkan på barnens förhandling i leken eftersom pedagogernas auktoritet värderas högre och därmed sker exkludering i mindre grad. Resultat visar också på att pedagogerna har en uppfattning om att språket har en betydelse i barnens lek och kan vara en faktor till varför barnen blir exkluderade från gemenskapen och lekar. I syfte att motverka exkludering och stärka barnens gemenskap och språkutveckling arrangeras olika uppstyrda lekar och samarbetsövningar, men även metoder som ”bra kompis”