Decision-Making Measured by the Iowa Gambling Task in Patients with Alcohol Use Disorders Choosing Harm Reduction versus Relapse Prevention Program

AIMS: Two main therapeutic programs were offered to patients suffering from alcohol use disorders (AUDs): avoid the alcohol by abstinence or controlling their consumption. After information and motivational sessions, the patient chooses his own therapeutic plan. However, patients with AUD exhibit poor decision-making. The purpose of this study was to investigate the decision-making in AUD by comparing patients who chose to reduce and control their consumption to those who chose abstinence program. METHODS: Sixty-seven subjects with alcohol use disorder were included (AUD group) for treatment, choosing either a relapse prevention program (RPP) or a harm reduction program (HRP). Patients were compared to a healthy control group (n = 31). Cognitive skills were assessed through the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test, the National Adult Reading Test, the Trail Making Test and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). RESULTS: Thirty-seven patients with AUD chose the RPP while 30 followed a HRP. The AUD group performed worse than controls on the IGT. The RPP group had significantly lower performance than both HRP and control groups (these later groups being not statistically different). No correlation was observed between the available clinical, cognitive and intellectual measures. CONCLUSION: This study confirms that the decision-making process of patients with an alcohol use disorder is impaired. However, the 2 groups differ on the IGT scores, despite comparable clinical and cognitive profiles. The patients\u27 decision-making abilities could be a useful guide when developing therapeutic programs

Magnetic field induced by elliiptical instability in a rotating tidally distorded sphere

It is usually believed that the geo-dynamo of the Earth or more generally of other planets, is created by the convective fluid motions inside their molten cores. An alternative to this thermal or compositional convection can however be found in the inertial waves resonances generated by the eventual precession of these planets or by the possible tidal distorsions of their liquid cores. We will review in this paper some of our experimental works devoted to the elliptical instability and present some new results when the experimental fluid is a liquid metal. We show in particular that an imposed magnetic field is distorted by the spin- over mode generated by the elliptical instability. In our experiment, the field is weak (20 Gauss) and the Lorenz force is negligible compared to the inertial forces, therefore the magnetic field does not modify the fluid flow and the pure hydrodynamics growth rates of the instability are recovered through magnetic measurements

Investigation of nosocomial pneumocystis infections: usefulness of longitudinal screening of epidemic and post-epidemic pneumocystis genotypes

BACKGROUND: Twenty-five patients, of whom 22 were renal transplant recipients, developed Pneumocystis jirovecii infections at the nephrology department of Reims University Hospital (France) from September 2008 to October 2009, whereas only four sporadic cases had been diagnosed in this department over the 14 previous years. AIM: This outbreak was investigated by analysing patient encounters and P. jirovecii types. METHODS: A transmission map was drawn up. P. jirovecii typing at DHPS, ITS and mtLSU rRNA sequences was performed in the patients of the cluster (18 patients with Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) and seven colonized patients), 10 unlinked control patients (six PCP patients and four colonized patients), as well as 23 other patients diagnosed with P. jirovecii (nine PCP patients and 14 colonized patients) in the same department over a three-year post-epidemic period. FINDINGS: Eleven encounters between patients harbouring the same types were observed. Three PCP patients and one colonized patient were considered as possible index cases. The most frequent types in the cluster group and the control group were identical. However, their frequency was significantly higher in the first than in the second group (P < 0.01). Identical types were also identified in the post-epidemic group, suggesting a second outbreak due to the same strain, contemporary to a disruption in prevention measures. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide additional data on the role of both PCP and colonized patients as infectious sources. Longitudinal screening of P. jirovecii types in infected patients, including colonized patients, is required in the investigation of the fungus\u27s circulation within hospitals

MUJER SIN IDENTIFICAR [Material gráfico]

LA PLACA RECOGE EL MISMO DIBUJO QUE LA REFERENCIA 00193MUJER JOVEN. PLANO TRES CUARTOS.SENTADA. SE AGARRA LAS MANOS. FLORES EN EL PELO. DECORADO DE FONDO PINTADO (PAISAJE CON PUENTE)Copia digital. Madrid : Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. Subdirección General de Coordinación Bibliotecaria, 201

An Upper Mass Limit on a Red Supergiant Progenitor for the Type II-Plateau Supernova SN 2006my

We analyze two pre-supernova (SN) and three post-SN high-resolution images of the site of the Type II-Plateau supernova SN 2006my in an effort to either detect the progenitor star or to constrain its properties. Following image registration, we find that an isolated stellar object is not detected at the location of SN 2006my in either of the two pre-SN images. In the first, an I-band image obtained with the Wide-Field and Planetary Camera 2 on board the Hubble Space Telescope, the offset between the SN 2006my location and a detected source ("Source 1") is too large: > 0.08", which corresponds to a confidence level of non-association of 96% from our most liberal estimates of the transformation and measurement uncertainties. In the second, a similarly obtained V-band image, a source is detected ("Source 2") that has overlap with the SN 2006my location but is definitively an extended object. Through artificial star tests carried out on the precise location of SN 2006my in the images, we derive a 3-sigma upper bound on the luminosity of a red supergiant that could have remained undetected in our pre-SN images of log L/L_Sun = 5.10, which translates to an upper bound on such a star's initial mass of 15 M_Sun from the STARS stellar evolutionary models. Although considered unlikely, we can not rule out the possibility that part of the light comprising Source 1, which exhibits a slight extension relative to other point sources in the image, or part of the light contributing to the extended Source 2, may be due to the progenitor of SN 2006my. Only additional, high-resolution observations of the site taken after SN 2006my has faded beyond detection can confirm or reject these possibilities.Comment: Minor text changes from Version 1. Appendix added detailing the determination of confidence level of non-association of point sources in two registered astronomical image

Ecology of Scedosporium Species: Present Knowledge and Future Research

The genus Scedosporium, which comprises at least five clinically relevant species, i.e. Scedosporium apiospermum, Scedosporium boydii, Scedosporium aurantiacum, Scedosporium dehoogii and Scedosporium minutisporum, ranks the second among the filamentous fungi colonizing the airways of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). This colonization of the airways is thought to contribute to the inflammatory reaction leading to a progressive deterioration of the lung function. Additionally, these colonizing fungi may lead to severe disseminated infections in case of lung transplantation. Therefore, considering the low susceptibility of Scedosporium species to all current antifungal drugs, preventive measures should be defined to reduce the risk of exposure to these fungi for non-colonized CF patients. With this in mind, several studies have been conducted to elucidate the ecology of these fungi and to define possible sources of patient contamination. This review will summarize the major outcomes of those studies, including: the clear demonstration that ecological niches of Scedosporium species are strongly impacted by human activities, and the ability of Scedosporium species to degrade aliphatic and aromatic pollutants which supports the high occurrence of these species in contaminated soils and polluted waters and makes them promising candidates for bioremediation purposes. Finally, prospects for future research in this field are proposed

High angular resolution near-IR view of the Orion Bar revealed by Keck/NIRC2

Nearby Photo-Dissociation Regions (PDRs), where the gas and dust are heated by the far UV-irradiation emitted from stars, are ideal templates to study the main stellar feedback processes. With this study we aim to probe the detailed structures at the interfaces between ionized, atomic, and molecular gas in the Orion Bar. This nearby prototypical strongly irradiated PDR will be among the first targets of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) within the framework of the PDRs4All Early Release Science program. We employed the sub-arcsec resolution accessible with Keck-II NIRC2 and its adaptive optics system to obtain the most detailed and complete images, ever performed, of the vibrationally excited line H$_2$ 1-0 S(1) at 2.12~$\mu$m, tracing the dissociation front, and the [FeII] and Br$\gamma$ lines, at 1.64 and 2.16~$\mu$m respectively, tracing the ionization front. We obtained narrow-band filter images in these key gas line diagnostic over $\sim 40''$ at spatial scales of $\sim$0.1$''$ ($\sim$0.0002~pc or $\sim$40~AU at 414~pc). The Keck/NIRC2 observations spatially resolve a plethora of irradiated sub-structures such as ridges, filaments, globules and proplyds. A remarkable spatial coincidence between the H$_2$ 1-0 S(1) vibrational and HCO$^+$ J=4-3 rotational emission previously obtained with ALMA is observed. This likely indicates the intimate link between these two molecular species and highlights that in high pressure PDR the H/H$_2$ and C$^+$/C/CO transitions zones come closer as compared to a typical layered structure of a constant density PDR. This is in agreement with several previous studies that claimed that the Orion Bar edge is composed of very small, dense, highly irradiated PDRs at high thermal pressure immersed in a more diffuse environment

Hidden Starbursts and Active Galactic Nuclei at 0 \u3c \u3cem\u3ez\u3c/em\u3e \u3c 4 from the \u3cem\u3eHerschel\u3c/em\u3e-VVDS-CFHTLS-D1 Field: Inferences on Coevolution and Feedback

We investigate of the properties of ~2000 Herschel/SPIRE far-infrared-selected galaxies from 0 \u3c z \u3c 4 in the CFHTLS-D1 field. Using a combination of extensive spectroscopy from the VVDS and ORELSE surveys, deep multiwavelength imaging from CFHT, VLA, Spitzer, XMM-Newton, and Herschel, and well-calibrated spectral energy distribution fitting, Herschel-bright galaxies are compared to optically-selected galaxies at a variety of redshifts. Herschel-selected galaxies are observed to span a range of stellar masses, colors, and absolute magnitudes equivalent to galaxies undetected in SPIRE. Though many Herschel galaxies appear to be in transition, such galaxies are largely consistent with normal star-forming galaxies when rest-frame colors are utilized. The nature of the star-forming “main sequence” is studied and we warn against adopting this framework unless the main sequence is determined precisely. Herschel galaxies at different total infrared luminosities (LTIR) are compared. Bluer optical colors, larger nebular extinctions, and larger contributions from younger stellar populations are observed for galaxies with larger LTIR, suggesting that low-LTIR galaxies are undergoing rejuvenated starbursts while galaxies with higher LTIR are forming a larger percentage of their stellar mass. A variety of methods are used to select powerful active galactic nuclei (AGN). Galaxies hosting all types of AGN are observed to be undergoing starbursts more commonly and vigorously than a matched sample of galaxies without powerful AGN and, additionally, the fraction of galaxies with an AGN increases with increasing star formation rate at all redshifts. At all redshifts (0 \u3c z \u3c 4) the most prodigious star-forming galaxies are found to contain the highest fraction of powerful AGN. For redshift bins that allow a comparison (z \u3e 0.5), the highest LTIR galaxies in a given redshift bin are unobserved by SPIRE at subsequently lower redshifts, a trend linked to downsizing. In conjunction with other results, this evidence is used to argue for prevalent AGN-driven quenching in starburst galaxies across cosmic time