Évaluation de la qualité des eaux souterraines pour l’utilisation dans l’eau potable et l’agriculture : plaine de Tadla, Maroc

La plaine de Tadla fait partie du bassin de l’oued Oum Erbia situé au centre du Maroc. Ses ressources en eau souterraine sont développées pour l’approvisionnement en eau potable, industrielle et agricole. Afind'évaluer la qualité des eaux souterraines dans la zone d’ d'étude, 25 échantillons d'eau souterraines ont été prélevés et différents paramètres ont été analysés sur le plan physico-chimique et bactériologique:température, conductivité électrique, pH, TDS, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl-, HCO-3, SO2-4, NO-3, NH+4, FeT, streptocoques fécaux, coliformes fécaux et coliformes totaux. L'indice chimique tel que le coefficient d’absorption du sodium (SAR) et l'indice de perméabilité (IP) ont également été déterminés. Les résultats obtenus montrent que les eaux souterraines du bassin sont généralement dure à très à dure. Les concentrations sont classées comme suit : Na+ > Ca2+ > Mg2+ > K+ et Cl- > HCO3- > SO42- > NO-3. Les faciès chimiques trouvés sont le bicarbonaté calcique et le Chloruré sodique avec une prédominance de ce dernier. La qualité des eaux souterraines est liée à la lithologie du secteur. Les valeurs de l'indice de saturation (calculés par le programme PHREEQC) montre que presque tous les échantillons d'eau sont saturés à sous-saturés en carbonate et sous saturés en sulfate. Le rapport d’adsorption du sodium (SAR)nous a permis de qualifier les eaux souterraines destinées à l’irrigation. L’analyse hydrochimique a montré la mauvaise qualité des eaux se traduisant par des valeurs importantes en chlorures, en nitrites et nitrates.Ainsi que la contamination de tous les puits par les germes de la  contamination fécale. Il ressort de cette analyse que les eaux souterraines sont chimiquement non appropriées à la consommation humaine et auxusages agricoles.Mots-clés : plaine de Tadla, hydrochimie, qualité des eaux souterraines, hydrogéologie, type d’eau

Hemodynamic parameters to guide fluid therapy

The clinical determination of the intravascular volume can be extremely difficult in critically ill and injured patients as well as those undergoing major surgery. This is problematic because fluid loading is considered the first step in the resuscitation of hemodynamically unstable patients. Yet, multiple studies have demonstrated that only approximately 50% of hemodynamically unstable patients in the intensive care unit and operating room respond to a fluid challenge. Whereas under-resuscitation results in inadequate organ perfusion, accumulating data suggest that over-resuscitation increases the morbidity and mortality of critically ill patients. Cardiac filling pressures, including the central venous pressure and pulmonary artery occlusion pressure, have been traditionally used to guide fluid management. However, studies performed during the past 30 years have demonstrated that cardiac filling pressures are unable to predict fluid responsiveness. During the past decade, a number of dynamic tests of volume responsiveness have been reported. These tests dynamically monitor the change in stroke volume after a maneuver that increases or decreases venous return (preload) and challenges the patients' Frank-Starling curve. These dynamic tests use the change in stroke volume during mechanical ventilation or after a passive leg raising maneuver to assess fluid responsiveness. The stroke volume is measured continuously and in real-time by minimally invasive or noninvasive technologies, including Doppler methods, pulse contour analysis, and bioreactance

IFT Proteins Accumulate during Cell Division and Localize to the Cleavage Furrow in Chlamydomonas

Intraflagellar transport (IFT) proteins are well established as conserved mediators of flagellum/cilium assembly and disassembly. However, data has begun to accumulate in support of IFT protein involvement in other processes elsewhere in the cell. Here, we used synchronous cultures of Chlamydomonas to investigate the temporal patterns of accumulation and localization of IFT proteins during the cell cycle. Their mRNAs showed periodic expression that peaked during S and M phase (S/M). Unlike most proteins that are synthesized continuously during G1 phase, IFT27 and IFT46 levels were found to increase only during S/M phase. During cell division, IFT27, IFT46, IFT72, and IFT139 re-localized from the flagella and basal bodies to the cleavage furrow. IFT27 was further shown to be associated with membrane vesicles in this region. This localization pattern suggests a role for IFT in cell division

Epidemiology of intra-abdominal infection and sepsis in critically ill patients: “AbSeS”, a multinational observational cohort study and ESICM Trials Group Project

Purpose: To describe the epidemiology of intra-abdominal infection in an international cohort of ICU patients according to a new system that classifies cases according to setting of infection acquisition (community-acquired, early onset hospital-acquired, and late-onset hospital-acquired), anatomical disruption (absent or present with localized or diffuse peritonitis), and severity of disease expression (infection, sepsis, and septic shock). Methods: We performed a multicenter (n = 309), observational, epidemiological study including adult ICU patients diagnosed with intra-abdominal infection. Risk factors for mortality were assessed by logistic regression analysis. Results: The cohort included 2621 patients. Setting of infection acquisition was community-acquired in 31.6%, early onset hospital-acquired in 25%, and late-onset hospital-acquired in 43.4% of patients. Overall prevalence of antimicrobial resistance was 26.3% and difficult-to-treat resistant Gram-negative bacteria 4.3%, with great variation according to geographic region. No difference in prevalence of antimicrobial resistance was observed according to setting of infection acquisition. Overall mortality was 29.1%. Independent risk factors for mortality included late-onset hospital-acquired infection, diffuse peritonitis, sepsis, septic shock, older age, malnutrition, liver failure, congestive heart failure, antimicrobial resistance (either methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Gram-negative bacteria, or carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria) and source control failure evidenced by either the need for surgical revision or persistent inflammation. Conclusion: This multinational, heterogeneous cohort of ICU patients with intra-abdominal infection revealed that setting of infection acquisition, anatomical disruption, and severity of disease expression are disease-specific phenotypic characteristics associated with outcome, irrespective of the type of infection. Antimicrobial resistance is equally common in community-acquired as in hospital-acquired infection

The dynamic cilium in human diseases

Cilia are specialized organelles protruding from the cell surface of almost all mammalian cells. They consist of a basal body, composed of two centrioles, and a protruding body, named the axoneme. Although the basic structure of all cilia is the same, numerous differences emerge in different cell types, suggesting diverse functions. In recent years many studies have elucidated the function of 9+0 primary cilia. The primary cilium acts as an antenna for the cell, and several important pathways such as Hedgehog, Wnt and planar cell polarity (PCP) are transduced through it. Many studies on animal models have revealed that during embryogenesis the primary cilium has an essential role in defining the correct patterning of the body. Cilia are composed of hundreds of proteins and the impairment or dysfunction of one protein alone can cause complete loss of cilia or the formation of abnormal cilia. Mutations in ciliary proteins cause ciliopathies which can affect many organs at different levels of severity and are characterized by a wide spectrum of phenotypes. Ciliary proteins can be mutated in more than one ciliopathy, suggesting an interaction between proteins. To date, little is known about the role of primary cilia in adult life and it is tempting to speculate about their role in the maintenance of adult organs. The state of the art in primary cilia studies reveals a very intricate role. Analysis of cilia-related pathways and of the different clinical phenotypes of ciliopathies helps to shed light on the function of these sophisticated organelles. The aim of this review is to evaluate the recent advances in cilia function and the molecular mechanisms at the basis of their activity

Perioperative echocardiography-guided hemodynamic therapy in high-risk patients:a practical expert approach of hemodynamically focused echocardiography

The number of high-risk patients undergoing surgery is growing. To maintain adequate hemodynamic functioning as well as oxygen delivery to the vital organs (DO2) amongst this patient population, a rapid assessment of cardiac functioning is essential for the anesthesiologist. Pinpointing any underlying cardiovascular pathophysiology can be decisive to guide interventions in the intraoperative setting. Various techniques are available to monitor the hemodynamic status of the patient, however due to intrinsic limitations, many of these methods may not be able to directly identify the underlying cause of cardiovascular impairment. Hemodynamic focused echocardiography, as a rapid diagnostic method, offers an excellent opportunity to examine signs of filling impairment, cardiac preload, myocardial contractility and the function of the heart valves. We thus propose a 6-step-echocardiographic approach to assess high-risk patients in order to improve and maintain perioperative DO2. The summary of all echocardiographic based findings allows a differentiated assessment of the patient's cardiovascular function and can thus help guide a (patho)physiological-orientated and individualized hemodynamic therapy

End-expiratory occlusion maneuver to predict fluid responsiveness in the intensive care unit : an echocardiographic study

Background In mechanically ventilated patients, an increase in cardiac index during an end-expiratory-occlusion test predicts fluid responsiveness. To identify this rapid increase in cardiac index, continuous and instantaneous cardiac index monitoring is necessary, decreasing its feasibility at the bedside. Our study was designed to investigate whether changes in velocity time integral and in peak velocity obtained using transthoracic echocardiography during an end-expiratory-occlusion maneuver could predict fluid responsiveness. Methods This single-center, prospective study included 50 mechanically ventilated critically ill patients. Velocity time integral and peak velocity were assessed using transthoracic echocardiography before and at the end of a 12-sec end-expiratory-occlusion maneuver. A third set of measurements was performed after volume expansion (500 mL of saline 0.9% given over 15 minutes). Patients were considered as responders if cardiac output increased by 15% or more after volume expansion. Results Twenty-eight patients were responders. At baseline, heart rate, mean arterial pressure, cardiac output, velocity time integral and peak velocity were similar between responders and non-responders. End-expiratory-occlusion maneuver induced a significant increase in velocity time integral both in responders and non-responders, and a significant increase in peak velocity only in responders. A 9% increase in velocity time integral induced by the end-expiratory-occlusion maneuver predicted fluid responsiveness with sensitivity of 89% (95% CI 72% to 98%) and specificity of 95% (95% CI 77% to 100%). An 8.5% increase in peak velocity induced by the end-expiratory-occlusion maneuver predicted fluid responsiveness with sensitivity of 64% (95% CI 44% to 81%) and specificity of 77% (95% CI 55% to 92%). The area under the receiver operating curve generated for changes in velocity time integral was significantly higher than the one generated for changes in peak velocity (0.96 ± 0.03 versus 0.70 ± 0.07, respectively, P = 0.0004 for both). The gray zone ranged between 6 and 10% (20% of the patients) for changes in velocity time integral and between 1 and 13% (62% of the patients) for changes in peak velocity. Conclusions In mechanically ventilated and sedated patients in the neuro Intensive Care Unit, changes in velocity time integral during a 12-sec end-expiratory-occlusion maneuver were able to predict fluid responsiveness and perform better than changes in peak velocity

Response of a CMS HGCAL silicon-pad electromagnetic calorimeter prototype to 20-300 GeV positrons

The Compact Muon Solenoid Collaboration is designing a new high-granularity endcap calorimeter, HGCAL, to be installed later this decade. As part of this development work, a prototype system was built, with an electromagnetic section consisting of 14 double-sided structures, providing 28 sampling layers. Each sampling layer has an hexagonal module, where a multipad large-area silicon sensor is glued between an electronics circuit board and a metal baseplate. The sensor pads of approximately 1 cm$^2$ are wire-bonded to the circuit board and are readout by custom integrated circuits. The prototype was extensively tested with beams at CERN's Super Proton Synchrotron in 2018. Based on the data collected with beams of positrons, with energies ranging from 20 to 300 GeV, measurements of the energy resolution and linearity, the position and angular resolutions, and the shower shapes are presented and compared to a detailed Geant4 simulation

Performance of the CMS High Granularity Calorimeter prototype to charged pion beams of 20−-300 GeV/c

The upgrade of the CMS experiment for the high luminosity operation of the LHC comprises the replacement of the current endcap calorimeter by a high granularity sampling calorimeter (HGCAL). The electromagnetic section of the HGCAL is based on silicon sensors interspersed between lead and copper (or copper tungsten) absorbers. The hadronic section uses layers of stainless steel as an absorbing medium and silicon sensors as an active medium in the regions of high radiation exposure, and scintillator tiles directly readout by silicon photomultipliers in the remaining regions. As part of the development of the detector and its readout electronic components, a section of a silicon-based HGCAL prototype detector along with a section of the CALICE AHCAL prototype was exposed to muons, electrons and charged pions in beam test experiments at the H2 beamline at the CERN SPS in October 2018. The AHCAL uses the same technology as foreseen for the HGCAL but with much finer longitudinal segmentation. The performance of the calorimeters in terms of energy response and resolution, longitudinal and transverse shower profiles is studied using negatively charged pions, and is compared to GEANT4 predictions. This is the first report summarizing results of hadronic showers measured by the HGCAL prototype using beam test data.Comment: To be submitted to JINS