Long-term quality of life in premenopausal women with node-negative localized breast cancer treated with or without adjuvant chemotherapy

Our purpose was to evaluate the late physical and psychosocial difficulties of premenpausal patients treated for a localized breast cancer and to weigh the impact of chemotherapy on long-term quality of life. Two self-administered questionnaires, the EORTC core QLQ-C30 and the breast module (BR23) were mailed to 179 premenopausal node-negative women continuously disease-free, previously enrolled in a trial testing the efficacy of adjuvant CMF chemotherapy (Espié et al, 1997). The core questionnaire evaluates the physical, role, emotional, cognitive and social functioning and global health status. The breast module includes four functional scales: body image, sexual functioning, sexual enjoyment and future perspective. It also includes symptom scales such as arm or breast symptoms. Some specific professional and social states were added. 119 (68%) patients (mean age 54 years, range 30–69) participated. Mean follow-up time since diagnosis was 9.6 years (4–16). 68% had conservative and 32% radical surgery (with reconstructive surgery in 50%). CMF was given to 77 (65%) patients. Irradiation was administered in 75% of patients irrespective of adjuvant therapy. QLQ-C30 scale scores were similar in patients who had or had not received chemotherapy. Disturbance in body image, sex life and breast symptoms did not differ between patients who had or had not received adjuvant CMF. No major socioprofessional difficulties were reported except problems in borrowing from banks not related to past chemotherapy. With long follow-up, most premenopausal women treated for a localized breast cancer cope with the disease and its treatments. Adjuvant CMF chemotherapy does not appear to impair quality of life nor social and professional life in these patients. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig

The Origin of Fe II Emission in AGN

We used a very large set of models of broad emission line (BEL) clouds in AGN to investigate the formation of the observed Fe II emission lines. We show that photoionized BEL clouds cannot produce both the observed shape and observed equivalent width of the 2200-2800A Fe II UV bump unless there is considerable velocity structure corresponding to a microturbulent velocity parameter v_turb > 100 km/s for the LOC models used here. This could be either microturbulence in gas that is confined by some phenomenon such as MHD waves, or a velocity shear such as in the various models of winds flowing off the surfaces of accretion disks. The alternative way that we can find to simultaneously match both the observed shape and equivalent width of the Fe II UV bump is for the Fe II emission to be the result of collisional excitation in a warm, dense gas. Such gas would emit very few lines other than Fe II. However, since the collisionally excited gas would constitute yet another component in an already complicated picture of the BELR, we prefer the model involving turbulence. In either model, the strength of Fe II emission relative to the emission lines of other ions such as Mg II depends as much on other parameters (either v_turb or the surface area of the collisionally excited gas) as it does on the iron abundance. Therefore, the measurement of the iron abundance from the FeII emission in quasars becomes a more difficult problem.Comment: 23 pages. Accepted by Ap

Generalised Einstein Relation for Hot Brownian Motion

The Brownian motion of a hot nanoparticle is described by an effective Markov theory based on fluctuating hydrodynamics. Its predictions are scrutinized over a wide temperature range using large-scale molecular dynamics simulations of a hot nanoparticle in a Lennard-Jones fluid. The particle positions and momenta are found to be Boltzmann distributed according to distinct effective temperatures $T_\mathrm{HBM}$ and $T_\mathrm{k}$ . For $T_\mathrm{HBM}$ we derive a formally exact theoretical prediction and establish a generalised Einstein relation that links it to directly measurable quantities

Damage-free single-mode transmission of deep-UV light in hollow-core PCF

Transmission of UV light with high beam quality and pointing stability is desirable for many experiments in atomic, molecular and optical physics. In particular, laser cooling and coherent manipulation of trapped ions with transitions in the UV require stable, single-mode light delivery. Transmitting even ~2 mW CW light at 280 nm through silica solid-core fibers has previously been found to cause transmission degradation after just a few hours due to optical damage. We show that photonic crystal fiber of the kagom\'e type can be used for effectively single-mode transmission with acceptable loss and bending sensitivity. No transmission degradation was observed even after >100 hours of operation with 15 mW CW input power. In addition it is shown that implementation of the fiber in a trapped ion experiment significantly increases the coherence times of the internal state transfer due to an increase in beam pointing stability

Energy and position resolution of a CdZnTe gamma-ray detector with orthogonal coplanar anodes

We report on the simulation, construction and performance of prototype CZT imaging detectors employing orthogonal coplanar anodes. These detectors employ a novel electrode geometry with non-collecting anode strips in 1D and collecting anode pixels, interconnected in rows, in the orthogonal dimensions. These detectors retain the spectroscopic and detection efficiency advantages of single carried charge sensing devices as well as the principal advantage of conventional strip detectors with orthogonal anode and cathode strips, i.e. an N X N array of imagin pixels are realized with only 2N electronic channels. Charge signals induced on the various electrodes of a prototype detector with 8 X 8 unit cells are in good agreement with the simulations. The position resolution is about 1 mm in the direction perpendicular to the pixel lines while it is of the order of 100 micrometers in the other direction. Energy resolutions of 0.9 percent at 662 keV, 2.6 percent at 122 keV and 5.7 percent at 60 keV have been obtained at room temperature

Étude de la sensibilité de 224 bactéries isolées d’infections hospitalières vis-à-vis des composés JCA 250 et JCA 251 à base d’huiles essentielles issus de la recherche Aroma Technologies

But de l’étudeIl a été de déterminer le spectre antibactérien de JCA 250 et JCA 251, deux substances d’origine naturelle issues de la recherche Aroma Technologies, sur une population bactérienne provenant d’infections cliniques. Méthode Deux cent vingt-quatre souches bactériennes ont été testées. Les concentrations minimales inhibitrices (CMI) des composés JCA 250 et JCA 251 ont été déterminées par la méthode en milieu gélosé. Les tests ont été réalisés en triple. Résultats La valeur moyenne des CMI était de 0,20 % pour JCA 250 et de 0,15 % pour JCA 251. JCA 251 présentait régulièrement une meilleure activité. Toutes les entérobactéries étaient inhibées à des concentrations inférieures ou égales à 0,15 % pour JCA 250 ou 251. Pour les aérobies stricts, les valeurs des CMI étaient plus étalées. Deux souches de Pseudomonas aeruginosa se distinguaient de la population avec des CMI de JCA 251 de 0,25 % et 0,40 %. Chez les cocci à Gram positif, les souches bactériennes étaient toutes inhibées par des concentrations inférieures ou égales à 0,25 %. Les populations les plus résistantes étaient les entérocoques et les lactobacilles, avec des CMI supérieures ou égales à 0,20 % vis-à-vis de JCA 250 et JCA 251. Les anaérobies présentaient des CMI très voisines pour un groupe bactérien hétérogène. Une souche de Propionibacterium sp. se détachait du groupe et était inhibée à des concentrations de 0,5 %. Conclusion L’ensemble des résultats ont montré une activité antibactérienne intéressante sur les bactéries isolées de prélèvements cliniques. La plupart des souches étaient inhibées par des concentrations de 0,2 %. Les valeurs moyennes les plus élevées étaient obtenues avec des bactéries commensales de la flore, ce qui est un aspect particulièrement intéressant à exploiter dans cette étude

Activité in vitro de la tigécycline vis-à-vis de 760 souches bactériennes isolées au CHU d’Angers–le programme TEST 2006–2009

Tigecycline (TGC), an antibiotic belonging to glycylcyclines, is active against Gram-positive bacteria, including multi-resistant bacteria, and most of the Gram-negative bacteria, including extended spectrum β-lactamase-producers (ESBL) and Acinetobacter sp. TGC is not active on Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The microbiological laboratory from the university hospital of Angers participates in the Tigecycline Evaluation and Surveillance Trial (TEST) since 2006. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of TGC and of various comparators against nosocomial and community-acquired pathogens. We also evaluated the effectiveness of TGC on a panel of strains isolated between 2006 and 2009 in the university hospital of Angers. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were determined using the microdilution method. A total of 760 clinical strains were tested. TGC had a very good activity against Gram-positive bacteria, with 100 % of susceptibility for all the strains tested, irrespective of their resistance profile. Concerning Gram-negative bacteria, TGC was active against 93 % of Enterobacteriaceae, with a MIC 90 not exceeding 2 mg/L. Whole of the 20 strains ESBL-producers tested were susceptible to TGC. Acinetobacter sp. were also inhibited at low concentrations of TGC, with a MIC 90 of 1 mg/L. These results suggest that TGC can be a useful therapeutic alternative, especially for infections involving multirésistant bacteria