LOS INTERESES DE SARKOZY Y LAS TRIBULACIONES DE LA POLÍTICA FRANCESA HACIA LIBIA

The French foreign policy process that accompanied the birth of the Fifth Republic and the collapse of the colonial system was inspired by the idea of greatness (grandeur de La France). National pride in the exercise of foreign policy, operated for many years as a counterweight to the decline of its international position as a power. However, from De Gaulle to Chirac, French policy was able to get some achievements based on a design that combined the national interest with the idea of grandeur. Although some scholars argue that “the foreign policy of no other Western state is driven by such narcissism” (Muravchick, 2007), other studies focus on the particularities of the French political system and the concept of monochromatic presidential government (Elgie & Griggs, 2000), a system of government in which the president decides the contents of the policy and is responsible for their successes and failures. For the Mediterranean region, the policy of the governments of the Fifth Republic acted on broadly similar principles until Nicolas Sarkozy came to power. Therefore, this paper focuses on the changes that occurred in the French position towards the Mediterranean region during the presidential term of Sarkozy and stresses the president’s unequivocal responsibility. Furthermore, the article emphasizes the direct engagement of France during the events in Libya in 2011 as the result of a personal interest rather than a foreign policy design

Whole-genome microarray detects deletions and loss of heterozygosity of chromosome 3 occurring exclusively in metastasizing uveal melanoma

PURPOSE. To detect deletions and loss of heterozygosity of chromosome 3 in a rare subset of fatal, disomy 3 uveal melanoma (UM), undetectable by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). METHODS. Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) with the P027 UM assay was performed on formalinfixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) whole tumor sections from 19 disomy 3 metastasizing UMs. Whole-genome microarray analyses using a single-nucleotide polymorphism microarray (aSNP) were performed on frozen tissue samples from four fatal disomy 3 metastasizing UMs and three disomy 3 tumors with Ͼ5 years' metastasis-free survival. RESULTS. Two metastasizing UMs that had been classified as disomy 3 by FISH analysis of a small tumor sample were found on MLPA analysis to show monosomy 3. No ubiquitous gene deletions of chromosome 3 were seen in the remaining 17 metastasizing disomy 3 UMs by MLPA. aSNP analysis revealed 95 deleted genes and 16 genes with loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on chromosome 3 in the disomy 3 metastasizing UMs that were not deleted or showing LOH in the nonmetastatic tumors. CONCLUSIONS. MLPA can detect monosomy 3 cell populations in FFPE whole tumor sections previously missed by FISH performed on small tumor samples. Consistent deletion and LOH of genes on chromosome 3 occur in metastasizing disomy 3 UM and are detectable by aSNP analysis. Ninety-five genes were found to be deleted, and 16 genes showed LOH exclusively in disomy 3 metastasizing UM, suggesting a potential role for these genes in UM metastasis. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2010;51:4884 -4891) DOI:10.1167/iovs.09-5083 U veal melanoma (UM), the most common primary intraocular cancer in adults, is fatal in almost 50% of patients, because of metastatic spread often involving the liver. Chemotherapy of metastases has limited success 1,2 and disseminated disease is fatal in 92% of patients within 2 years of diagnosis. Clinical and histopathologic risk factors for UM metastasis include large basal tumor diameter (LBD), ciliary body involvement, epithelioid cytomorphology, extracellular matrix periodic acid-Schiff-positive (PAS ϩ ) loops, and high mitotic count. 3,4 Prescher et al. 3,6 -10 Consequently, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) detection of chromosome 3 using a centromeric probe became routine practice for UM prognostication; however, 5% to 20% of disomy 3 UM patients unexpectedly develop metastases. We hypothesize that disomy 3 UMs that metastasize do so by the same mechanisms as metastasizing monosomy 3 UMs. However, instead of loss of a single copy of chromosome 3 facilitating this process, specific genes are deleted on chromosome 3 that are essential to an early progression to metastasis, not commonly seen in disomy 3 UM. The purpose of our study was to identify key MSGs that are deleted exclusively in a rare subset of UMs that metastasized despite apparent disomy 3 on FISH testing. We investigated whether deletions of chromosome 3 could be detected using either multiplex ligationdependent probe amplification (MLPA) or a single-nucleotide polymorphism microarray (aSNP; SNP 6.0; Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA). Knowledge of such deletions on chromosome 3 may allow more accurate prognostication, increase understanding of the natural history of UM, and help identify aberrant cell signaling pathways that may be amenable to therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS Tumor Samples Fresh primary UM samples were routinely obtained at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital between 2001 and 2007 and analyzed by FISH for chromosome 3 copy number. Of these UMs, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor samples were available in our archive for 34 disomy 3 UMs that were known to have metastasized (Di3M-UM). Nineteen of these samples were selected for MLPA studies, as they provided sufficient extracted DNA (700 ng) for quality control PCR and analysis by MLPA in triplicate. Four snap-frozen Di3M-UM samples from patients with fatal metastasis within 5 years of diagnosis and samples from three disomy 3 surviving UM (Di3S-UM) patients with no detectable metastases after a minimum of 5 years since diagnosis were used for aSNP analysis. Personalized survival curves were generated for all three patients with disomy 3 nonmetastasizing UM using the Cox proportional hazards model. The model predicts survival up to 8 years after diagnosis and specifies 95% CI based on the following information: age at treatment, sex, ciliary body involvement, largest basal From th

Multicenter external validation of the liverpool uveal melanoma prognosticator online: An OOG collaborative study

Uveal melanoma (UM) is fatal in ~50% of patients as a result of disseminated disease. This study aims to externally validate the Liverpool Uveal Melanoma Prognosticator Online V3 (LUMPO3) to determine its reliability in predicting survival after treatment for choroidal melanoma when utilizing external data from other ocular oncology centers. Anonymized data of 1836 UM patients from seven international ocular oncology centers were analyzed with LUMPO3 to predict the 10-year survival for each patient in each external dataset. The analysts were masked to the patient outcomes. Model predictions were sent to an independent statistician to evaluate LUMPO3’s performance using discrimination and calibration methods. LUMPO3’s ability to discriminate between UM patients who died of metastatic UM and those who were still alive was fair-to-good, with C-statistics ranging from 0.64 to 0.85 at year 1. The pooled estimate for all external centers was 0.72 (95% confidence interval: 0.68 to 0.75). Agreement between observed and predicted survival probabilities was generally good given differences in case mix and survival rates between different centers. Despite the differences between the international cohorts of patients with primary UM, LUMPO3 is a valuable tool for predicting all-cause mortality in this disease when using data from external centers

Multicenter External Validation of the Liverpool Uveal Melanoma Prognosticator Online: An OOG Collaborative Study

Uveal melanoma (UM) is fatal in ~50% of patients as a result of disseminated disease. This study aims to externally validate the Liverpool Uveal Melanoma Prognosticator Online V3 (LUMPO3) to determine its reliability in predicting survival after treatment for choroidal melanoma when utilizing external data from other ocular oncology centers. Anonymized data of 1836 UM patients from seven international ocular oncology centers were analyzed with LUMPO3 to predict the 10-year survival for each patient in each external dataset. The analysts were masked to the patient outcomes. Model predictions were sent to an independent statistician to evaluate LUMPO3's performance using discrimination and calibration methods. LUMPO3's ability to discriminate between UM patients who died of metastatic UM and those who were still alive was fair-to-good, with C-statistics ranging from 0.64 to 0.85 at year 1. The pooled estimate for all external centers was 0.72 (95% confidence interval: 0.68 to 0.75). Agreement between observed and predicted survival probabilities was generally good given differences in case mix and survival rates between different centers. Despite the differences between the international cohorts of patients with primary UM, LUMPO3 is a valuable tool for predicting all-cause mortality in this disease when using data from external centers

A new approach for Bitcoin pool-hopping detection

Mining pool hopping is a phenomenon taking place in cryptocurrency networks such that a miner changes of pool overtime, in a regular or recurrent way, to increase its gains related to mining work rewards by the mining pools. This phenomenon is not well understood, also because of the lack of a precise pool-hoppers detection solution. In this paper, we propose a methodology for detecting the pool-hopping behavior in the Bitcoin network; we propose a deterministic framework exploiting the different time windowing phases (rounds, epochs) involved in the rewarding process. Our methodology includes a new algorithm to identify the miners, and a new algorithm to trace the revenue stream distribution. We assess the performance of our approach for the five mining pools with the highest hash rates during two three-month period in 2020 and 2021: we show that the phenomenon is still advantageous in terms of overall gains for the pool-hoppers. We also assess the fairness in stake: the phenomenon was known to be unfair in the beginning of the Bitcoin network due to the simple rewarding methods in place at that time, with single rewards higher for pool-hoppers than for miners; we show that this is no longer true and that the new rewarding policies now guarantee that pool-hopping is fair with respect to miners that do not perform pool-hopping. Nonetheless, we also show that the cumulative gain over time of pool-hoppers can be higher by 33% on median than static miners

Geoconda: A Web Environment for Multi-Centre Research

The collection of data for the validation and generation of hypotheses is a fundamental scientific endeavour. To achieve a low margin of error it is necessary to obtain sufficient number

Competency Assessment of Final-Year Dental Students in Tunisia

Introduction. The educational program assessment has always been the main objective of quality improvement in all curricula. The aim of this study was to describe the levels of competency of final-year students of the Faculty of Dental Medicine of Monastir in Tunisia in the major skills needed for a new dentist. Methods. In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 154 students filled out a questionnaire including 53 competencies, rated on a four-point Likert scale, broadly based on the competencies described in the profile and competences for the graduating dentist in Europe. Results. The response rate was 67% (145/230). For twenty items in the questionnaire, over 75% of the students reported being competent. The five items with the highest percentages were “undertaking supragingival and subgingival scaling-Item 22” (97.2%), “evaluating the periodontium, establishing a diagnosis and formulating a treatment plan-Item 2” (96.6%), “identify the location and degree of activity of dental caries-Item 24 (95.9%), “taking and interpreting dental radiographs-Item 12” (94.4%), “restoring damaged teeth-Item 25” (93.8%), and “managing primary oral health care-Item 16” (93.8%). For eighteen skills, more than 75% of students self-rated being not competent, demonstrating a need of more thorough training, notably in periodontal surgery and implantology, among these, five skills were found that demand in-depth acquisition according to the students. Conclusion. The general state of competency of the last-year dental students was described as fairly satisfactory based on the students’ self-reported responses. However, theoretical and practical backgrounds related to some subjects in the school need to be improved