Etude des potentialités de la vision artificielle pour la reconnaissance optique des semences immatures de chicorée industrielle (Cichorium intybus L.)

Study of the potentialities of machine vision used for optical selection of immature seeds of industrial chicory (Cichorium intybus L.). The commercial production of industrial chicory seeds (cypselae) includes the postharvest elimination of non-viable seeds by non-destructive tools. For this purpose, two machine vision methods are described for the detection of non-viable seeds: color vision and fluorescence imaging. The analysis of color images of 1,500 seeds of the 'Nausica' variety allows only the recognition of desiccated and undeveloped seeds. This is caused by the large variability of seed color, shape and texture. Fluorescence imaging is set up in order to analyze the repartition of chlorophyll fluorescence, a marker of seed maturity, on different areas of the seed (pericarp, radicle tip and pappus). A very sensitive system is needed due to the low chlorophyll content and the large amount of seeds to be sorted. A fluorescence imaging system is proposed. Its distinctive feature is the possibility to modify the spectrum of the light source (in order to optimize the sensibility of the machine vision system) and to record the evolution of fluorescence repartition with time. The system is functional and delivers images of fluorescence repartition within external cypsela tissues. It could allow to analyze the fluorescence of a large sample of seeds to correlate fluorescence features to germinability and maturity

Evaluating Relevance Feedback: An Image Retrieval Interface for Children

Studies on information retrieval for children are not yet\ud common. As young children possess a limited vocabulary\ud and limited intellectual power, they may experience more\ud difficulty in fulfilling their information need than adults.\ud This paper presents an image retrieval user interface that\ud is specifically designed for children. The interface uses relevance feedback and has been evaluated by letting children\ud perform different search tasks. The tasks were performed\ud using two interfaces; a more traditional interface - acting as a control interface - and the relevance feedback interface. \ud One of the remarkable results of this study is that children\ud did not favor relevance feedback controls over traditional\ud navigational controls

Structural basis of template-boundary definition in Tetrahymena telomerase.

Telomerase is required to maintain repetitive G-rich telomeric DNA sequences at chromosome ends. To do so, the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) subunit reiteratively uses a small region of the integral telomerase RNA (TER) as a template. An essential feature of telomerase catalysis is the strict definition of the template boundary to determine the precise TER nucleotides to be reverse transcribed by TERT. We report the 3-Å crystal structure of the Tetrahymena TERT RNA-binding domain (tTRBD) bound to the template boundary element (TBE) of TER. tTRBD is wedged into the base of the TBE RNA stem-loop, and each of the flanking RNA strands wraps around opposite sides of the protein domain. The structure illustrates how the tTRBD establishes the template boundary by positioning the TBE at the correct distance from the TERT active site to prohibit copying of nontemplate nucleotides

Scaling up antiretroviral therapy in Malawi-implications for managing other chronic diseases in resource-limited countries.

The national scale-up of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Malawi is based on the public health approach, with principles and practices borrowed from the successful DOTS (directly observed treatment, short course) tuberculosis control framework. The key principles include political commitment, free care, and standardized systems for case finding, treatment, recording and reporting, and drug procurement. Scale-up of ART started in June 2004, and by December 2008, 223,437 patients were registered for treatment within a health system that is severely underresourced. The Malawi model for delivering lifelong ART can be adapted and used for managing patients with chronic noncommunicable diseases, the burden of which is already high and continues to grow in low-income and middle-income countries. This article discusses how the principles behind the successful Malawi model of ART delivery can be applied to the management of other chronic diseases in resource-limited settings and how this paradigm can be used for health systems strengthening

The Principal Element of a Frobenius Lie Algebra

We introduce the notion of the \textit{principal element} of a Frobenius Lie algebra \f. The principal element corresponds to a choice of F\in \f^* such that $F[-,-]$ non-degenerate. In many natural instances, the principal element is shown to be semisimple, and when associated to \sl_n, its eigenvalues are integers and are independent of $F$. For certain ``small'' functionals $F$, a simple construction is given which readily yields the principal element. When applied to the first maximal parabolic subalgebra of \sl_n, the principal element coincides with semisimple element of the principal three-dimensional subalgebra. We also show that Frobenius algebras are stable under deformation.Comment: 10 page

Could international compulsory licensing reconcile tiered pricing of pharmaceuticals with the right to health?

BACKGROUND: The heads of the Global Fund and the GAVI Alliance have recently promoted the idea of an international tiered pricing framework for medicines, despite objections from civil society groups who fear that this would reduce the leeway for compulsory licenses and generic competition. This paper explores the extent to which an international tiered pricing framework and the present leeway for compulsory licensing can be reconciled, using the perspective of the right to health as defined in international human rights law. DISCUSSION: We explore the practical feasibility of an international tiered pricing and compulsory licensing framework governed by the World Health Organization. We use two simple benchmarks to compare the relative affordability of medicines for governments - average income and burden of disease - to illustrate how voluntary tiered pricing practice fails to make medicines affordable enough for low and middle income countries (if compared with the financial burden of the same medicines for high income countries), and when and where international compulsory licenses should be issued in order to allow governments to comply with their obligations to realize the right to health. An international tiered pricing and compulsory licensing framework based on average income and burden of disease could ease the tension between governments' human rights obligation to provide medicines and governments' trade obligation to comply with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights

Rationale and Design of an Online Educational Program Using Game-Based Learning to Improve Nutrition and Physical Activity Outcomes Among University Students in the United Kingdom.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of an online game-based educational program on nutrition knowledge and dietary and physical activity habits among university students in the United Kingdom. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial with pre- and postintervention comparisons. SETTING: Two higher education settings in London, UK. SUBJECTS: Current undergraduate and postgraduate students of two universities (n = 88) aged 18-34 years are randomly allocated to an intervention (n = 44) or a control group (n = 44). INTERVENTION: The intervention group will receive access to an educational website and online quizzes with gamification elements, including information about healthy eating and physical activity. The control group will receive no information. Duration of the intervention will be 10 weeks. MEASURES OF OUTCOME: Primary outcome is nutrition knowledge. Secondary outcomes include dietary and activity habits. Nutrition knowledge and dietary and activity habits will be assessed using questionnaires. Weekly steps will be counted using pedometers. Assessment of anthropometric and metabolic risk factors will take place. ANALYSIS: Quantitative analysis will investigate changes in nutrition knowledge between the two groups of the study population. Linear regression analysis will be used, if the data follow the normal distribution (otherwise binomial regression analysis), to examine whether field of study, residence status, body mass index (BMI), and demographic factors affect nutrition knowledge. Associations between changes in knowledge and dietary and physical activity behavior will be assessed by correlations. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: The study will provide insights with regard to the design and use of online game-playing as a cost-effective approach to improve nutritional knowledge among university students

From international health to global health: how to foster a better dialogue between empirical and normative disciplines.

BACKGROUND: Public health recommendations are usually based on a mixture of empirical evidence and normative arguments: to argue that authorities ought to implement an intervention that has proven effective in improving people's health requires a normative position confirming that the authorities are responsible for improving people's health. While public health (at the national level) is based on a widely accepted normative starting point - namely, that it is the responsibility of the state to improve people's health - there is no widely accepted normative starting point for international health or global health. As global health recommendations may vary depending on the normative starting point one uses, global health research requires a better dialogue between researchers who are trained in empirical disciplines and researchers who are trained in normative disciplines. DISCUSSION: Global health researchers with a background in empirical disciplines seem reluctant to clarify the normative starting point they use, perhaps because normative statements cannot be derived directly from empirical evidence, or because there is a wide gap between present policies and the normative starting point they personally support. Global health researchers with a background in normative disciplines usually do not present their work in ways that help their colleagues with a background in empirical disciplines to distinguish between what is merely personal opinion and professional opinion based on rigorous normative research. If global health researchers with a background in empirical disciplines clarified their normative starting point, their recommendations would become more useful for their colleagues with a background in normative disciplines. If global health researchers who focus on normative issues used adapted qualitative research guidelines to present their results, their findings would be more useful for their colleagues with a background in empirical disciplines. Although a single common paradigm for all scientific disciplines that contribute to global health research may not be possible or desirable, global health researchers with a background in empirical disciplines and global health researchers with a background in normative disciplines could present their 'truths' in ways that would improve dialogue. This paper calls for an exchange of views between global health researchers and editors of medical journals

Statistical analysis plan for the TRANSLATE (TRANSrectal biopsy versus Local Anaesthetic Transperineal biopsy Evaluation of potentially clinically significant prostate cancer) multicentre randomised controlled trial

Background: The TRANSLATE (TRANSrectal biopsy versus Local Anaesthetic Transperineal biopsy Evaluation) trial assesses the clinical and cost-effectiveness of two biopsy procedures in terms of detection of clinically significant prostate cancer (PCa). This article describes the statistical analysis plan (SAP) for the TRANSLATE randomised controlled trial (RCT). Methods/design: TRANSLATE is a parallel, superiority, multicentre RCT. Biopsy-naïve men aged ≥ 18 years requiring a prostate biopsy for suspicion of possible PCa are randomised (computer-generated 1:1 allocation ratio) to one of two biopsy procedures: transrectal (TRUS) or local anaesthetic transperineal (LATP) biopsy. The primary outcome is the difference in detection rates of clinically significant PCa (defined as Gleason Grade Group ≥ 2, i.e. any Gleason pattern ≥ 4 disease) between the two biopsy procedures. Secondary outcome measures are th eProBE questionnaire (Perception Part and General Symptoms) and International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF, Domain A) scores, International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) values, EQ-5D-5L scores, resource use, infection rates, complications, and serious adverse events. We describe in detail the sample size calculation, statistical models used for the analysis, handling of missing data, and planned sensitivity and subgroup analyses. This SAP was pre-specified, written and submitted without prior knowledge of the trial results. Discussion: Publication of the TRANSLATE trial SAP aims to increase the transparency of the data analysis and reduce the risk of outcome reporting bias. Any deviations from the current SAP will be described and justified in the final study report and results publication. Trial registration: International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number ISRCTN98159689, registered on 28 January 2021 and registered on the ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05179694) trials registry