NAVAROU - Potentiel d'utilisation des données routières de la navigation automobile pour l'entretien routier

Car navigation is a field in broad expansion and the industry quickly developed a standard to model cartographic data useful for the applications of the road transport telematics: GDF, Geographic Data Files. Since its first version in 1988, GDF became an ISO standard in 2004, written by the technical committee TC 204. Consequently, the providers of data for navigation (Tele Atlas and Navteq) improved the content of their cartographic products by covering the road networks of the most part of the countries. Thus, this data model and its content are considered as a reference for many computer applications of navigation and management of the road and traffic. This project aims to evaluate the potential of ISO-GDF for the road information system (SIR) in Switzerland, from which the basic concepts (location, topology, geometry) are described in the standards SN 640.910 and following. The first part of the project is focused on the formulation of the requirements in terms of data for the road networks for the main business processes of road maintenance management. This step allowed to highlight classes of objects described in the GDF data model. The second step is a comparison between the definitions and data models described in VSS standards about the SIR and the content of ISO-GDF standard. This semantic and conceptual study checks the degree of compatibility between the data and the models according to the basic criteria: geometry, topology, attributes and space location. Based on this comparison, the study shows the potential benefits of the coupling between the data according to the GDF standard with basic data from the SIR. This third step aims at applying procedures to transfer and transform GDF data set into a format compatible with VSS standards for the spatial location, the geometry of the axes and the topology of the road network. These concepts of coupling were partially used by the project MISTRA for the import of basic data of GDF type. The fourth part deals with the management of GDF type data combined with data from the SIR. Several scenarios are described according to the type of operation (import, update, manipulation) and according to the contents existing beforehand in the SIR. The last part focuses on legal and organisational aspects which are fundamental elements when an information system, managed by a public administration, assimilates data of the GDF type coming from a private supplier. By its methodical approach, this project allows a comparison of models and definitions of road objects by highlighting the degrees of compatibility, while showing the practical features offered by the mechanisms of coupling. The choice of project MISTRA to integrate basic data of GDF type fully illustrates the growing role of data from private cartographic suppliers in the management of public infrastructures. However, the management of multiple data sources (public, private) in a SIR remains a complex operation about update and manipulation. In this context, the public-private partnerships can only extend in order to guarantee a quality of services for the road infrastructures and traffic management

Description of the time course of the prolactin suppressant effect of the dopamine agonist CQP201-403 by an integrated pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic model.

Six male volunteers (mean age 24 years) received a single oral dose of 0.025 mg CQP201-403 and placebo in a randomised double-blind crossover design. Fifteen plasma samples were collected over 48 h and were assayed by radioimmunoassay for drug substance and prolactin (PRL). Three of the samples were drawn during sleep on the first study day. The pharmacological effect (E%) of CQP201-403 was expressed as reduction in plasma PRL levels. The pharmacokinetic (PK)-pharmacodynamic (PD) model consisted of two kinetic compartments and an effect compartment linked to the central compartment. A sigmoid Emax model (Hill equation) described the relationship between the drug concentration in the effect compartment and E%. Curve-fitting of PK and PD data provided individual parameter estimates which served to generate computer-simulated PK and PD profiles after single and multiple doses in order to: investigate the in vivo concentration-effect relationship; evaluate the consequence of dosage reduction on the steady-state PD profile; and study the robustness of the response to changes in drug potency and bioavailability

Sandostatin, a new analogue of somatostatin, reduces the metabolic changes induced by the nocturnal interruption of continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion in type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients.

With the aim of assessing a new somatostatin analogue to prevent the metabolic changes induced by a 6-h nocturnal arrest of an insulin pump, nine C-peptide negative Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients were submitted blindly to two interruptions (from 23.00 to 05.00 hours) of their continuous s.c. insulin infusion, once after a single s.c. injection at 23.00 hours of 50 micrograms SMS 201-995 (Sandostatin, Sandoz) and once after 0.9% NaCl. Plasma SMS 201-995 levels peaked at 24.00 hours and then declined with an elimination half-life averaging 144 +/- 15 min. Plasma glucagon and growth hormone levels were significantly reduced after SMS 201-995 whereas the progressive fall in plasma-free insulin levels from 23.00 to 05.00 hours was unaffected. In the control test, blood glucose levels tended to decrease slightly from 23.00 to 02.00 hours and then increased markedly from 02.00 to 05.00 hours (+5.3 +/- 1.5 mmol/l) while after SMS 201-995 they decreased significantly from 23.00 to 02.00 hours (-2.6 +/- 0.5 mmol/l), resulting in values below 3 mmol/l in seven subjects, but showed a secondary increase until 05.00 hours (+3.5 +/- 1.5 mmol vs 23.00 h; p less than 0.05 vs 0.9% NaCl). While the rises in plasma non-esterified fatty acid and glycerol levels were not reduced by SMS 201-995, the increase in plasma 3-hydroxbutyrate levels, although similar from 23.00 to 02.00 hours, was significantly reduced from 02.00 to 05.00 hours (+77 +/- 20 vs +124 +/- 31 mumols.l-1.h-1; p less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS