Looking backward: From Euler to Riemann

We survey the main ideas in the early history of the subjects on which Riemann worked and that led to some of his most important discoveries. The subjects discussed include the theory of functions of a complex variable, elliptic and Abelian integrals, the hypergeometric series, the zeta function, topology, differential geometry, integration, and the notion of space. We shall see that among Riemann's predecessors in all these fields, one name occupies a prominent place, this is Leonhard Euler. The final version of this paper will appear in the book \emph{From Riemann to differential geometry and relativity} (L. Ji, A. Papadopoulos and S. Yamada, ed.) Berlin: Springer, 2017

Excess mortality among the elderly in 12 European countries, February and March 2012

In February and March 2012, excess deaths among the elderly have been observed in 12 European countries that carry out weekly monitoring of all-cause mortality. These preliminary data indicate that the impact of influenza in Europe differs from the recent pandemic and post-pandemic seasons. The current excess mortality among the elderly may be related to the return of influenza A(H3N2) virus, potentially with added effects of a cold snap

Pooling European all-cause mortality: methodology and findings for the seasons 2008/2009 to 2010/2011

Several European countries have timely all-cause mortality monitoring. However, small changes in mortality may not give rise to signals at the national level. Pooling data across countries may overcome this, particularly if changes in mortality occur simultaneously. Additionally, pooling may increase the power of monitoring populations with small numbers of expected deaths, e.g. younger age groups or fertile women. Finally, pooled analyses may reveal patterns of diseases across Europe. We describe a pooled analysis of all-cause mortality across 16 European countries. Two approaches were explored. In the ‘summarized' approach, data across countries were summarized and analysed as one overall country. In the ‘stratified' approach, heterogeneities between countries were taken into account. Pooling using the ‘stratified' approach was the most appropriate as it reflects variations in mortality. Excess mortality was observed in all winter seasons albeit slightly higher in 2008/09 than 2009/10 and 2010/11. In the 2008/09 season, excess mortality was mainly in elderly adults. In 2009/10, when pandemic influenza A(H1N1) dominated, excess mortality was mainly in children. The 2010/11 season reflected a similar pattern, although increased mortality in children came later. These patterns were less clear in analyses based on data from individual countries. We have demonstrated that with stratified pooling we can combine local mortality monitoring systems and enhance monitoring of mortality across Europ

Could Nutritional Rehabilitation at Home Complement or Replace Centre-based Therapeutic Feeding Programmes for Severe Malnutrition?

To access this article, click on "Additional Links"To obtain this article click on "Additional Links"To measure the success rate of three different strategies used in Médecins Sans Frontières large-scale therapeutic nutritional rehabilitation programme in Niger, we analysed three cohorts of severely malnourished patients in terms of daily weight gain, length of stay, recovery, case fatality and defaulting. A total of 1937 children aged 6-59 months were followed prospectively from 15 August 2002 to 21 October 2003. For the three cohorts, 660 children were maintained in the therapeutic feeding centre (TFC) during the entire treatment, 937 children were initially treated at the TFC and completed treatment at home and 340 children were exclusively treated at home. For all cohorts, average time in the programme and average weight gain met the international standards (30-40 days, >8 g/kg/day). Default rates were 28.1, 16.8 and 5.6% for TFC only, TFC plus home-based and home-based alone strategies, respectively. The overall case fatality rate for the entire programme was 6.8%. Case fatality rates were 18.9% for TFC only and 1.7% for home-based alone. No deaths were recorded in children transferred to rehabilitation at home. This study suggests that satisfactory results for the treatment of severe malnutrition can be achieved using a combination of home and hospital-based strategies