Wman@Fes: Comparison of Fiber and Wireless Technologies - for the implementation of the administrative MAN of FES, Morocco

This study is part of the Wman@Fez project that aims at building an administrative Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) for the city of Fez using Wireless technology.The decision to adopt a fiber-based or wireless-based technology for a metropolitan area network (MAN) depends heavily on the evaluation of requirements for each technology in the context of the application domain. As an illustration, the study gives details of the evaluation of requirements in the case of the implementation of the MAN for the city of Fes. Requirements also include a combination of the medium and of the active devices (which usually implement one of the networking standards such as IEEE, ATM etc.) that complete the technology. Fiber is an essential infrastructure support for wireless

Using demand side management to adapt to water scarcity and climate change in the Saïss basin, Morocco

The Saïss Sub-Basin surface waters are greatly reduced, and will be completely depleted within 25 years. Climate Change and Training workshops directly led to the formation of the Zoubiya cooperative by local farmers. Members pooled their resources to create a water reservoir and drip irrigation systems thereby increasing the adaptive capacity of the region in response to water shortages. Drip irrigation results in water savings of about fifty percent per unit of crop yield. This project worked with multiple stakeholders and focused on benefits for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities within project sites, such as contract herders and women

COMPLICATIONS RETINIENNES DES ANTIPALUDEENS DE SYNTHESE. A PROPOS DE 2 CAS

Treatment with the antimalarials chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine is frequently used in dermatology and rheumatology. However irreversible retinal damage can occurs, that’s why intensive monitoring is still required. We report 2 cases of females patients aged of 33 and 42 years old, treated by antimalarials for polyarthritis and sclerodermia. After 4 years of treatment without ophthalmologic examination, they complain of decreased vision. The fundoscopic exam found a bilateral bull's eye appearence confirmed by fluorescein angiography. Even after cessation of treatment the visual acuity didn’t increase.Ocular toxicity of antimalarials treatment is rare but it can occurs. The retinopathy is the major concern. We found three stages: asymptomatic, obvious maculopathy and advanced retinopathy. Appropriate examinations (color vision, automatic visual field and electroretinogram) should be performed regularly. The frequency of screening should be based on patients’ classification.Les antipaludéens de synthèse sont largement utilisés en rhumatologie et en dermatologie pour leur action anti-inflammatoire. Ils exposent toute fois à des complications rétiniennes irréversibles d’où la nécessité d’une surveillance ophtalmologique régulière. Nous rapportons l’observation de deux patientes âgées de 33 et 42 ans, mises sous antipaludéens de synthèse respectivement pour une polyarthrite rhumatoïde et une sclérodermie. Elles ont poursuivies leur traitement pendant 3 à 4 ans sans surveillance ophtalmologique avant de consulter pour une baisse importante de l’acuité visuelle. L’examen ophtalmologique a retrouvé une acuité visuelle inférieure à 2/10ème dans le premier cas et une acuité visuelle inférieure à 6/10ème dans le deuxième cas ; avec au fond d’oeil un aspect de maculopathie bilatérale en oeil de boeuf typique confirmée par l’angiographie rétinienne à la fluoresceine. Malgré l’arrêt des antipaludéens de synthèse, l’acuité visuelle est restée stationnaire dans les deux cas. L’intoxication clinique aux antipaludéens de synthèse est rare mais possible. Elle prédomine dans la région maculaire et évolue en 3 stades: asymptomatique, maculopathie confirmée et stade de rétinopathie évoluée. Un bilan ophtalmologique initial doit être fait systématiquement, avant le début du traitement avec réalisation d’examens paracliniques (vision des couleurs, champs visuel automatisé, électrorétinographie maculaire). Au terme des ces examens les patients seront classés en trois groupes permettant ainsi de déterminer leur rythme de surveillance

LES UVEITES DE L’ENFANT : A PROPOS DE 30 CAS

Uveitis is less frequent in children. The purpose of our study is to evaluate epidemiologic aspect, etiological profile and prognosis of children uveitis.We report 30 cases of uveitis in patients aged less than 16 years old followed in our department.Patients mean age is 9 years old (5 to 16 years) .We observed anterior uveitis in 46,7%, posterior uveitis in 26,7%, intermediate uveitis in 13,3% and panuveitis in 13,3%.Chronic juvenile arthritis is the main etiology followed by Behcet disease.Uveitis in children is rare but severe and can involve visual prognosis; it needs urgent diagnosis and adapted treatment. Principals etiologies are; idiopathic juvenile arthritis and spondiloarthropaties. Functional prognosis is variable and final visual acuity is less than 20/200 in 16 to 36% of cases.L’uvéite de l’enfant est rare. Le but de notre travail est d’évaluer le profil épidémiologique, étiologique et pronostic des uvéites de l’enfant.Nous rapportons 30 cas d’uvéites chez des patients d’âge inférieur à 16 ans et suivis dans notre unité.La moyenne d’âge des patients est de 9 ans (5 à 16 ans). Il s’agissait d’une uvéite antérieure dans 46,7% des cas, d’une uvéite postérieure dans 26,7%, d’une uvéite intermédiaire dans 13,3% et d’une panuvéite dans 13,3%. Les principales causes retrouvées sont l’arthrite juvénile idiopathique suivie par la maladie de Behçet.L’uvéite de l’enfant est rare souvent grave engageant le pronostic visuel et imposant un diagnostic précoce et un traitement adapté. Les principales étiologies sont l’arthrite juvénile idiopathique et les spondyloarthropathies. Le pronostic visuel est variable et l’acuité visuelle est inférieure à 20/200 dans 16 à 36% des cas

Severe upper airway obstruction due to delayed retropharyngeal hematoma formation following blunt cervical trauma

BACKGROUND: We report a case of severe upper airway obstruction due to a retropharyngeal hematoma that presented nearly one day after a precipitating traumatic injury. Retropharyngeal hematomas are rare, but may cause life-threatening airway compromise. CASE PRESENTATION: A 50 year-old man developed severe dyspnea with oropharyngeal airway compression due to retropharyngeal hematoma 20 hours after presenting to the emergency department. The patient also had a fractured first cervical vertebra and was diagnosed with a left brachial plexopathy. The patient underwent emergent awake fiberoptic endotracheal intubation to provide a definitive airway. CONCLUSION: Retropharyngeal hematoma with life-threatening airway compromise can develop hours or days after a precipitating injury. Clinicians should be alert to the potential for this delayed airway collapse, and should also be prepared to rapidly secure the airway in this patient population likely to have concomitant cervical spinal or head injuries

Translation of the FMR1 mRNA is not influenced by AGG interruptions

The fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) gene contains a CGG-repeat element within its 5′ untranslated region (5′UTR) which, for alleles with more than ∼40 repeats, increasingly affects both transcription (up-regulation) and translation (inhibition) of the repeat-containing RNA with increasing CGG-repeat length. Translational inhibition is thought to be due to impaired ribosomal scanning through the CGG-repeat region, which is postulated to form highly stable secondary/tertiary structure. One striking difference between alleles in the premutation range (55–200 CGG repeats) and those in the normal range (<∼40 repeats) is the reduced number/absence of ‘expansion stabilizing’ AGG interruptions in the larger alleles. Such interruptions, which generally occur every 9–11 repeats in normal alleles, are thought to disrupt the extended CGG-repeat hairpin structure, thus facilitating translational initiation. To test this hypothesis, we have measured the translational efficiency of CGG-repeat mRNAs with 0–2 AGG interruptions, both in vitro (rabbit reticulocyte lysates) and in cell culture (HEK-293 cells). We demonstrate that the AGG interruptions have no detectable influence on translational efficiency in either a cell-free system or cell culture, indicating that any AGG-repeat-induced alterations in secondary/tertiary structure, if present, do not involve the rate-limiting step(s) in translational initiation