Rapid prototyping of diffractive optical elements in microstructured sol-gel hybrid material

International audienceTELECOM Bretagne and HOLOTETRIX Company fabricate diffractive optical elements in photoresist by direct-write through a reconfigurable mask. The project is to transfer microstructured patterns of photoresist element to sol-gel hybrid material. This material offers better properties than photoresist to make diffractive optics

Pratiques phytosanitaires en agriculture et environnement : des tensions irréductibles ?

La vulnérabilité croissante des ressources en eau et des milieux aquatiques aux pollutions a conduit au développement de dispositifs agri-environnementaux chargés en particulier de réduire et d’encadrer l’utilisation des pesticides (le plus récent étant le plan Ecophyto 2018 issu du Grenelle de l’environnement). Cette contribution analyse la tension entre les contraintes agricoles qui conditionnent les changements de pratiques phytosanitaires et les exigences environnementales désormais posées en termes d’obtention de résultats. L’observation d’un dispositif expérimental de diffusion de " pratiques améliorées " de traitement phytosanitaire, inscrit dans le Groupe d’action phytosanitaire de Midi-Pyrénées (Gramip), est mobilisée pour interroger, à partir d’une approche interdisciplinaire (économie, sociologie, agronomie), la permanence de logiques agricoles technico-économiques et l’émergence d’arguments sanitaires et commerciaux comme facteurs potentiels de diffusion de pratiques alternatives à l’utilisation des pesticides en agriculture. / The increasing vulnerability of water resources and aquatic pollution has led to the development of agrienvironmental tools in particular to reduce and control the use of pesticides. This paper explores the tension between the constraints that affect changes of phytosanitary practices and environmental requirements now posed in terms of environmental results. The observation of an experimental policy instrument of "better practices" in Midi-Pyrenees (Gramip), is mobilized to examine, from an interdisciplinary approach (economics, sociology, agronomy), the permanence of agricultural techno-economic logic and the emergence of health and commercial factors as potential diffusion of alternative practices to the use of pesticides in agriculture

PARTIAL DENIAL OF PREGNANCY AT 32 WEEKS IN A DIABETIC AND SUICIDAL PATIENT: A CASE REPORT. What Are the Treatment Recommendations?

Background: Denial of pregnancy is an issue that is often discovered a posteriori with sometimes dramatic complications. Denial of pregnancy is considered partial when the woman becomes aware of the pregnancy after the fifth month before delivery. The populations studied were heterogeneous, which made it impossible to establish a standard algorithm of the treatment and support of a discovery of partial denial of pregnancy. Subjects and methods: Based on a literature review and a discussion of partial denial of pregnancy case and the consequential treatment with a five-year follow-up, the global management recommendations need consideration in the case of partial denial of pregnancy. Results: The reported case confirmed the significance of the trauma caused by the discovery of pregnancy in a patient in denial, but also showed that this trauma can extend to caregivers concerned by the treatment. Conclusion: Continuous training of all caregivers for denial of pregnancy is essential even if the issue may be considered infrequent. Contraception, prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and the importance of gynecological follow-up must be systematically addressed in a medical consultation. A standard algorithm for the treatment of partial denial is difficult to establish, but the rapid mobilization of a multidisciplinary team or hospitalization is recommended for the announcement of the diagnosis as well as personalized support during ultrasounds. The establishment of a relationship of trust remains the major issue

Detection of clusters of a rare disease over a large territory: performance of cluster detection methods

International audienceBackgroundFor many years, the detection of clusters has been of great public health interest. Several detection methods have been developed, the most famous of which is the circular scan method. The present study, which was conducted in the context of a rare disease distributed over a large territory (7675 cases registered over 17 years and located in 1895 units), aimed to evaluate the performance of several of the methods in realistic hot-spot cluster situations.MethodsAll the methods considered aim to identify the most likely cluster area, i.e. the zone that maximizes the likelihood ratio function, among a set of cluster candidates. The circular and elliptic scan methods were developed to detect regularly shaped clusters. Four other methods that focus on irregularly shaped clusters were also considered (the flexible scan method, the genetic algorithm method, and the double connected and maximum linkage spatial scan methods). The power of the methods was evaluated via Monte Carlo simulations under 27 alternative scenarios that corresponded to three cluster population sizes (20, 45 and 115 expected cases), three cluster shapes (linear, U-shaped and compact) and three relative risk values (1.5, 2.0 and 3.0).ResultsThree situations emerged from this power study. All the methods failed to detect the smallest clusters with a relative risk lower than 3.0. The power to detect the largest cluster with relative risk of 1.5 was markedly better for all methods, but, at most, half of the true cluster was captured. For other clusters, either large or with the highest relative risk, the standard elliptic scan method appeared to be the best method to detect linear clusters, while the flexible scan method localized the U-shaped clusters more precisely than other methods. Large compact clusters were detected well by all methods, with better results for the circular and elliptic scan methods.ConclusionsThe elliptic scan method and flexible scan method seemed the most able to detect clusters of a rare disease in a large territory. However, the probability of detecting small clusters with relative risk lower than 3.0 remained low with all the methods tested