A 1-Year Prospective French Nationwide Study of Emergency Hospital Admissions in Children and Adults with Primary Immunodeficiency.

PURPOSE: Patients with primary immunodeficiency (PID) are at risk of serious complications. However, data on the incidence and causes of emergency hospital admissions are scarce. The primary objective of the present study was to describe emergency hospital admissions among patients with PID, with a view to identifying "at-risk" patient profiles. METHODS: We performed a prospective observational 12-month multicenter study in France via the CEREDIH network of regional PID reference centers from November 2010 to October 2011. All patients with PIDs requiring emergency hospital admission were included. RESULTS: A total of 200 admissions concerned 137 patients (73 adults and 64 children, 53% of whom had antibody deficiencies). Thirty admissions were reported for 16 hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients. When considering the 170 admissions of non-transplant patients, 149 (85%) were related to acute infections (respiratory tract infections and gastrointestinal tract infections in 72 (36%) and 34 (17%) of cases, respectively). Seventy-seven percent of the admissions occurred during winter or spring (December to May). The in-hospital mortality rate was 8.8% (12 patients); death was related to a severe infection in 11 cases (8%) and Epstein-Barr virus-induced lymphoma in 1 case. Patients with a central venous catheter (n = 19, 13.9%) were significantly more hospitalized for an infection (94.7%) than for a non-infectious reason (5.3%) (p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Our data showed that the annual incidence of emergency hospital admission among patients with PID is 3.4%. The leading cause of emergency hospital admission was an acute infection, and having a central venous catheter was associated with a significantly greater risk of admission for an infectious episode

Small-scale modelling of river subcatchments: the Kleine Ronsebeek brook case study

Different simulation software tools were evaluated for small-scale modelling of the Kleine Ronse brook. The InfoWorks modelling package (www.wallingfordsoftware.com) was selected based on the objectives that were put forward by Leiedal, the intermunicipal society of the Kortrijk region. The Kleine Ronsebeek brook catchment model was developed in the InfoWorks platform. Initial calibration of the model was based on a I month measurement campaign (August-September 2006) and a limited number of measurements were performed in the winter period (February 2007). Flow rate, ammonium concentration and COD concentration were measured at three points in the catchment area. Further, rain data recorded in July 2006 was used. Additional measurements will be necessary before the model can be used for scenario analysis, although initial calibration and simulation results are promising

GROWTH AND PROPERTIES OF 1,3 AND 1.5µm GaInAsP DOUBLE HETEROSTRUCTURE WITH DIFFERENT ACTIVE LAYER THICKNESSES

The control of active layer growth of laser diode (L-D) and Edge Light Emitting Diode (E-LED) is very crucial because an optimum layer thickness is required for the optimised performance of these devices. Theoretical optimum thickness values are around 500-700°C for E-LED /l/ and 1500Å for 1.3 or 1.55 µm L.D. /2/.We have studied the growth kinetics of 1.3 and 1.55 µm active layer of typical double heterostructure (D-H) grown by Liquid Phase Epitaxy with a two phase solution technique. By optimising the cooling rate of the furnace and the supersaturation of the melt we are able to reproduce active layer thickness as low as 500 Å.The quality of the waveguide formed by the active layer of the D-H has been studied from the shape of the emitted beam in the plane perpendicular to the junction. For active layer thickness greater than 0.3 µm the light distribution can be described by the usual slab waveguide theory. However, for lower active layer thickness the light distribution has a complicated shape, especially for E-LED, which cannot be described by theory. Moreover, the study of threshold current density with active layer thickness shows that the experimental optimum value is higher than the theoretical one. For example at 1.55 µm, our best threshold current density, 1.5kA/cm2 is obtained for a 0.3 µm active layer thickness, the threshold current increasing for lower values.These two observations suggest that some non uniformities appear in very thin active layer. Their origin and their relation with growth conditions will be discussed

Noise of 980 nm InGaAs/GaAs strained quantum-well lasers and correlation with ageing

International audienc

Devices and technologies for monolithically integrated InGaAsP/InP transmitter OEICs

Presents technologies and devices suited for monolithic integration of InP based optoelectronics and electronic components needed in optical transmitters. The authors report on BRS-lasers on semi-insulating InP substrates and BH-lasers regrown with semi-insulating InP MOVPE layers as light sources. Single heterojunction bipolar transistors and a differential amplifier IC with constant current source are fabricated and characterized

Monolithically integrated 1.5 mu m/1.3 mu m transceiver modules for full-duplex operation

1.5/1.3 mu m transceiver-photonic integrated circuits (PICs) with in-line and Y-junction architecture including a 1.3- mu m wavelength-selective photodetector building block have been fabricated. The characterization of a first Y-junction module in a test bed is presented

Clinical, Radiological, Histopathological, Molecular Description and Identification of Prognostic Factors for Desmoplastic Infantile Gangliogliomas and Astrocytomas: A Multicentric Cohort Study

International audienc

[Performance of the Breastfeeding Assessment Score for the prediction of early weaning in France]

National audienceBACKGROUND: The Breastfeeding Assessment Score (BAS) was derived to help identify mothers at increased risk of early weaning in United States. Data are currently lacking on the accuracy of the BAS for French mother-infant pairs. OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy of the BAS in a French validation cohort. METHODS: We used the original data from a prospective cohort study of 488 mothers who were breastfeeding at discharge in 9 maternity wards in 2005. The outcome measures were assessed using structured follow-up telephone interviews at 4 and 26 weeks. RESULTS: The weaning rate was 3% at 14 days of infant age. The corresponding area under ROC curve was 0.73 [0.60-0.85] and was comparable to that observed in the derivation cohort (0.75). For a cut point of 8 recommended by the authors of the BAS, 43% of mother-infant pairs were categorized at high risk and the weaning rate in this subgroup was 5%. The mother-infant pairs with a score lower than 8 had a shorter median breastfeeding duration (18 versus 20 weeks, P=0.02), were more likely to report breastfeeding difficulties after discharge (63% versus 53%, P=0.03), and were less likely to be "very satisfied" with breastfeeding experience (66% versus 77%, P=0.007). CONCLUSION: The intrinsic properties of the BAS are robust. However, its use would be of limited interest in France because of the relatively low rate of early weaning. Randomized trials are needed before recommending routine use of BAS-based breastfeeding support intervention