DOES SYMMETRY OF LOWER LIMB KINETICS EXIST IN SITTING AND STANDING TASKS?

This study compared sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit symmetry for total hip arthroplasty patients (n=40) and a control group (n=19). 3D kinematics and kinetics were recorded. A symmetry index was calculated for kinetics. T-tests were significant for hip and knee moments and powers, and extension sum of moments for sit-to-stand, and for hip extension moment and power for stand-to-sit. THA patients mainly rely on their nonoperated limb to perform the sit-to-stand task. There was less asymmetry during the stand-to-sit tasks, were found significant. This study underlines the presence of asymmetrical kinetics in THA patient for these tasks, and demonstrated that sit-to-stand is more sensitive to asymmetry. These results should be considered in rehabilitation programs, and consequently allow these patients to return to a more active lifestyle

Comparison of ammoniated and nonammoniated extracts in children with latex allergy

The use of ammoniated or nonammoniated latex extracts for the diagnosis of latex allergy is still a matter of debate. The aim of our study was to compare the characteristics of the two types of extracts by immunoblotting and RAST techniques in children with ascertained latex allergy

Evaluation du Respect des Bonnes Pratiques de Sondage Vesical a Demeure Chez L’adulte par les Soignants : Utilisation de « Vignettes Cliniques »

Le sondage urinaire ou vésical est une technique utilisée depuis l’antiquité qui repose sur l’utilisation de dispositifs médicaux invasifs pour le patient. Cet acte de soin doit se faire de façon sécurisée et s’appuyer sur des référentiels. Les objectifs ont été l’évaluation durespect des recommandations du protocole institutionnel sur la pose d’une sonde urinaire à demeure chez l'adulte, le respect de l’hygiène et de l’asepsie et l’évaluation des conduites à tenir lors d’une fuite urinaire sur sonde. Dans le cadre d’une démarche d’évaluation des pratiques professionnelles, une enquête prospective basée sur le concept des « vignettes cliniques » a été menée, avec des mises en situations des soignants du CHU Charles Nicolle, Bois-Guillaume et Oissel en 2011. L’enquête révèle un suivi des recommandations sur certains points comme le respect de l’asepsie et du système clos. Des divergences ont été mises en évidence concernant notamment l’usage de la bandelette urinaire chez le patient sondé, le choix du type de sonde et les couples de produits à utiliser pour la détersion et l’antisepsie. Des axes d’améliorations sont proposés comme la sensibilisation des équipes soignantes mais également médicales par le biais notammentd’une plaquette simple et illustrée de support d’information sur les bonnes pratiques de sondage vésical à demeure chez l’adulte et des kits « prêts à l’emploi » de produits pour la détersion et l’antisepsie.Since antiquity, the urinary or bladder catheter is a technique that relies on the use of invasive medical devices for the patient. This care act must be done in a secure manner and rely on standards. First, the evaluation of the respect of the recommendations of the institutional protocol on hanging an indwelling urinary catheter in adult, the respect of the hygiene and finally, the asepsis and the evaluation of the behaviors to be maintained during a urinary leak on probe were the objectives. As part of an evaluation of professional practices, a prospective survey based on the concept of "clinical vignettes" was conducted, with situations from nurses from CHU Charles Nicolle, BoisGuillaume and Oissel in 2011. The survey reveals a follow-up of the recommendations like the respect of the asepsis and the closed system. Discrepancies have been identified about the use of the urine strip in the patient being probed, the choice of the type of probe and the pairs of products to be used for the debridement and antisepsis. Different areas for improvement are proposed, first of all, raising the awareness of health care teams, but also medical ones, in particular through a simple plaque illustrated with information support on good practice of adult bladder catheterization and then use the packaging “ready to use” for debridement and antisepsis

IS PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS MORE EFFICIENT TO DETECT DIFFERENCES ON BIOMECHANICAL VARIABLES BETWEEN GROUPS?

The biomechanical analysis investigates variables such as angles, inter-segmental forces and moments at the joints. When the relevant parameters (e.g., range of motion, peak values) are selected a priori from these variables, they could not perfectly represent the information content of the original dataset. Therefore, in this study we want to validate the efficacy of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in overcoming the limitations of the a priori selection of the parameters. An application study is reported; the lower-limb joint mechanics between patients operated with two different surgical techniques for a total hip arthroplasty are analyzed with both the traditional analysis and the PCA. The findings from the two methods converged, but the PCA identified new sources of variability not previously detected

Hybrid copula mixed models for combining case-control and cohort studies in meta-analysis of diagnostic tests

Copula mixed models for trivariate (or bivariate) meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy studies accounting (or not) for disease prevalence have been proposed in the biostatistics literature to synthesize information. However, many systematic reviews often include case-control and cohort studies, so one can either focus on the bivariate meta-analysis of the case-control studies or the trivariate meta-analysis of the cohort studies, as only the latter contains information on disease prevalence. In order to remedy this situation of wasting data we propose a hybrid copula mixed model via a combination of the bivariate and trivariate copula mixed model for the data from the case-control studies and cohort studies, respectively. Hence, this hybrid model can account for study design and also due to its generality can deal with dependence in the joint tails. We apply the proposed hybrid copula mixed model to a review of the performance of contemporary diagnostic imaging modalities for detecting metastases in patients with melanoma

Plausibility functions and exact frequentist inference

In the frequentist program, inferential methods with exact control on error rates are a primary focus. The standard approach, however, is to rely on asymptotic approximations, which may not be suitable. This paper presents a general framework for the construction of exact frequentist procedures based on plausibility functions. It is shown that the plausibility function-based tests and confidence regions have the desired frequentist properties in finite samples---no large-sample justification needed. An extension of the proposed method is also given for problems involving nuisance parameters. Examples demonstrate that the plausibility function-based method is both exact and efficient in a wide variety of problems.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, 3 table

Variability in black carbon mass concentration in surface snow at Svalbard

Black carbon (BC) is a significant forcing agent in the Arctic, but substantial uncertainty remains to quantify its climate effects due to the complexity of the different mechanisms involved, in particular related to processes in the snowpack after deposition. In this study, we provide detailed and unique information on the evolution and variability in BC content in the upper surface snow layer during the spring period in Svalbard (Ny-Ålesund). A total of two different snow-sampling strategies were adopted during spring 2014 (from 1 April to 24 June) and during a specific period in 2015 (28 April to 1 May), providing the refractory BC (rBC) mass concentration variability on a seasonal variability with a daily resolution (hereafter seasonal/daily) and daily variability with an hourly sampling resolution (hereafter daily/hourly) timescales. The present work aims to identify which atmospheric variables could interact with and modify the mass concentration of BC in the upper snowpack, which is the snow layer where BC particles affects the snow albedo. Atmospheric, meteorological and snow-related physico-chemical parameters were considered in a multiple linear regression model to identify the factors that could explain the variations in BC mass concentrations during the observation period. Precipitation events were the main drivers of the BC variability during the seasonal experiment; however, in the high-resolution sampling, a negative association has been found. Snow metamorphism and the activation of local sources (Ny-Ålesund was a coal mine settlement) during the snowmelt periods appeared to play a non-negligible role. The statistical analysis suggests that the BC content in the snow is not directly associated to the atmospheric BC load

Symmetry preserving regularization with a cutoff

A Lorentz and gauge symmetry preserving regularization method is proposed in 4 dimension based on momentum cutoff. We use the conditions of gauge invariance or freedom of shift of the loop-momentum to define the evaluation of the terms carrying Lorentz indices, e.g. proportional to k_{\mu}k_{\nu}. The remaining scalar integrals are calculated with a four dimensional momentum cutoff. The finite terms (independent of the cutoff) are unambiguous and agree with the result of dimensional regularization.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, v2 references adde

Sea ice dynamics influence halogen deposition to Svalbard

Sea ice is an important parameter in the climate system and its changes impact upon the polar albedo and at- mospheric and oceanic circulation. Iodine (I) and bromine (Br) have been measured in a shallow firn core drilled at the summit of the Holtedahlfonna glacier (Northwest Spitsber- gen, Svalbard). Changing I concentrations can be linked to the March–May maximum sea ice extension. Bromine en- richment, indexed to the Br / Na sea water mass ratio, appears to be influenced by changes in the seasonal sea ice area. I is emitted from marine biota and so the retreat of March–May sea ice coincides with enlargement of the open-ocean surface which enhances marine primary production and consequent I emission. The observed Br enrichment could be explained by greater Br emissions during the Br explosions that have been observed to occur mainly above first year sea ice during the early springtime. In this work we present the first compari- son between halogens in surface snow and Arctic sea ice ex- tension. Although further investigation is required to charac- terize potential depositional and post-depositional processes, these preliminary findings suggest that I and Br can be linked to variability in the spring maximum sea ice extension and seasonal sea ice surface area

Circulating Apoptotic Progenitor Cells in Patients with Congestive Heart Failure

Background: Circulating CD34+ endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are capable of differentiating into mature endothelial cells to assist in angiogenesis and vasculogenesis. We sought to quantify the numbers of apoptotic progenitors in patients with congestive heart failure. Methods and Results: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated by Ficoll density-gradient from 58 patients with various degrees of heart failure and 23 matched controls. Apoptosis in progenitor CD34+ cells was assessed using the Annexin V-PE/PI detection kit, and FACS analysis was performed with triple staining for CD34, annexin-V and propidium iodide. The percentage of early and late apoptotic progenitor cells was determined in the subject groups and was correlated with clinical characteristics. While there was no significant difference in total CD34 positive cells or early apoptotic progenitors between control subjects and CHF patients (p = 0.42) or between severe and mild/moderate CHF groups (p = 0.544), there was an elevated number of late apoptotic progenitors in the severe CHF group compared with the mild/moderate CHF group (p = 0.03). Late apoptotic progenitors were significantly increased in CHF patients as compared to matched controls. There was also an inverse correlation between late apoptotic progenitors and ejection fraction (r = 20.252, p = 0.028) as well as a positive association with NYHA class (r = 0.223, p = 0.046). Conclusion: Severe heart failure patients exhibited higher numbers of late apoptotic progenitors, and this was positivel