Evaluation of Reducibility of Trunk Asymmetry in Lateral Bending

The value of the lateral bending test is important in the assessment of spinal curve mobility and prediction of surgical outcome in the treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). However, radiographic bending tests are unable to assess the reducibility of trunk asymmetry. This study aims to exploit surface topography measurement in order to evaluate the changes in shape of the trunk (a) between bending and neutral standing positions, and (b) between standing pre- and post-operative visits, in a cohort of adolescents with AIS having undergone surgical correction; and to correlate the differences measured in cases (a) and (b). Our cohort includes 13 patients with right thoracic AIS. Each patient had their 3D trunk surface digitized with a multi-head InSpeck system in standing posture (at the pre-op and post-op visits) and in maximum voluntary right and left bending (at the pre-op visit). We developed a novel trunk shape analysis method which produces a set of inclined trunk cross-sections allowing comparison between different postures. Two asymmetry indices, trunk rotation (TR) and back surface rotation (BSR), were computed in all cases and a statistical analysis was performed. Our correlation study (Pearson test) showed fair correlations in most cases between the changes in side-bending and those post-surgery, with the strongest relationship (p-value < 0.01) when combining the TR measurements from both bendings. These results provide evidence that the bending test can be used to assess trunk asymmetry reducibility. The proposed approach could provide a non-invasive trunk asymmetry reducibility test for routine clinical use in AIS surgery planning.CIHR / IRS

La Direction d'école en milieu francophone minoritaire : bâtir des ponts avec les communautés culturelles

Dans un contexte de diversité ethnoculturelle, linguistique et religieuse, plusieurs recherches mentionnent que les directions d’établissement scolaire doivent posséder une compétence interculturelle de même que promouvoir l’équité et la justice sociale pour assurer la réussite éducative des élèves (Potvin, 2014; Shields, 2018). Or, comment les directions d’établissement scolaire peuvent-elles évaluer le plus objectivement possible le développement de leur compétence interculturelle? Pour répondre à cette question, une première étude a présenté un modèle de compétence interculturelle pour les directions d’établissement scolaire (Gélinas-Proulx, Labelle & Jacquin, 2017). Bien que cette étude ait offert un cadre théorique et conceptuel exhaustif, la présente recherche vise à aller plus loin et valide un questionnaire d’autoévaluation de la compétence interculturelle spécifiquement conçu pour les directions d’établissement scolaire. Cette validation fut effectuée auprès des directions d’établissements scolaires de langue française du Québec et du Nouveau-Brunswick. Le processus de validation du questionnaire a comporté les étapes suivantes : 1) la recension de questionnaires portant sur la compétence interculturelle, 2) la rédaction d’une banque d’items, 3) la validation de contenu, 4) l’élaboration du questionnaire, 5) le prétest et 6) la validation de construit. Au final, un questionnaire d’autoévaluation de 20 items est proposé afin que les directions d’établissement scolaire puissent mieux évaluer leurs connaissances, leurs attitudes et leurs habiletés en matière de compétence interculturelle

Comparative cytogenetic characterization of primary canine melanocytic lesions using array CGH and fluorescence in situ hybridization

Melanocytic lesions originating from the oral mucosa or cutaneous epithelium are common in the general dog population, with up to 100,000 diagnoses each year in the USA. Oral melanoma is the most frequent canine neoplasm of the oral cavity, exhibiting a highly aggressive course. Cutaneous melanocytomas occur frequently, but rarely develop into a malignant form. Despite the differential prognosis, it has been assumed that subtypes of melanocytic lesions represent the same disease. To address the relative paucity of information about their genomic status, molecular cytogenetic analysis was performed on the three recognized subtypes of canine melanocytic lesions. Using array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) analysis, highly aberrant distinct copy number status across the tumor genome for both of the malignant melanoma subtypes was revealed. The most frequent aberrations included gain of dog chromosome (CFA) 13 and 17 and loss of CFA 22. Melanocytomas possessed fewer genome wide aberrations, yet showed a recurrent gain of CFA 20q15.3–17. A distinctive copy number profile, evident only in oral melanomas, displayed a sigmoidal pattern of copy number loss followed immediately by a gain, around CFA 30q14. Moreover, when assessed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), copy number aberrations of targeted genes, such as gain of c-MYC (80 % of cases) and loss of CDKN2A (68 % of cases), were observed. This study suggests that in concordance with what is known for human melanomas, canine melanomas of the oral mucosa and cutaneous epithelium are discrete and initiated by different molecular pathways