Moderate to severe acute pain disturbs motor cortex intracortical inhibition and facilitation in orthopedic trauma patients : a TMS study

Objective Primary motor (M1) cortical excitability alterations are involved in the development and maintenance of chronic pain. Less is known about M1-cortical excitability implications in the acute phase of an orthopedic trauma. This study aims to assess acute M1-cortical excitability in patients with an isolated upper limb fracture (IULF) in relation to pain intensity. Methods Eighty-four (56 IULF patients <14 days post-trauma and 28 healthy controls). IULF patients were divided into two subgroups according to pain intensity (mild versus moderate to severe pain). A single transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) session was performed over M1 to compare groups on resting motor threshold (rMT), short-intracortical inhibition (SICI), intracortical facilitation (ICF), and long-interval cortical inhibition (LICI). Results Reduced SICI and ICF were found in IULF patients with moderate to severe pain, whereas mild pain was not associated with M1 alterations. Age, sex, and time since the accident had no influence on TMS measures. Discussion These findings show altered M1 in the context of acute moderate to severe pain, suggesting early signs of altered GABAergic inhibitory and glutamatergic facilitatory activities

Fuzzy autoepistemic logic and its relation to fuzzy answer set programming

Autoepistemic logic is an important formalism for nonmonotonic reasoning. It extends propositional logic by offering the ability to reason about an agent's (lack of) beliefs. Moreover, it is well known to generalize the stable model semantics of answer set programming. Fuzzy logics on the other hand are multi-valued logics, which allow to model the intensity to which properties are satisfied. We combine these ideas to a fuzzy autoepistemic logic which can be used to reason about one's beliefs in the degrees to which properties are satisfied. We show that many properties from classical autoepistemic logic, e.g. the equivalence between autoepistemic models and stable expansions, remain valid under this generalization. In this paper, we consider a version of fuzzy answer set programming and show that its answer sets can be equivalently described as models in fuzzy autoepistemic logic. We also define a fuzzy logic of minimal belief and negation-as-failure and use this as a tool to show that fuzzy autoepistemic logic generalizes fuzzy answer set programming

Une formation à distance pour la certification des compétences à l’ère du numérique : le projet C2i Université Laval - Université de Bordeaux

International audienc

S’instruire des paroles d’élèves au sujet de l’étude de l’orthographe lexicale

Résumé La présente recherche s’est intéressée à la situation d’étude de l’orthographe lexicale à la maison au moyen d’entretiens auprès de 272 élèves du premier cycle du primaire. Les résultats ont révélé différentes manières d’opérer chez les élèves pour s’acquitter de cette tâche. Si une bonne part des élèves consacrait du temps pour étudier l’orthographe à la maison, 4 élèves sur 10 se faisaient dicter les mots par un parent sans consacrer préalablement du temps d’étude. Diverses stratégies sont évoquées par les élèves pour encoder l’orthographe, mais ce sont les filles et les élèves sans difficulté qui ont déclaré utiliser le plus de stratégies et celles-ci étaient davantage diversifiées que chez les garçons et les élèves en difficulté. Les élèves ont rapporté que les stratégies étaient le plus souvent utilisées en copiant les mots avec modèle. C’étaient majoritairement les mères qui soutenaient les enfants au regard de cette tâche scolaire à domicile. Abstract This study focuses on the learning process of vocabulary spelling at home. Data were collected using interviews with 272 students of Grades 1 and 2. Results reveal that students accomplish this task in different ways. A large proportion of students spend time studying spelling at home. However, 4 out of 10 students do not study vocabulary words prior to their parents reading them out loud. Students use various strategies to learn spelling, but girls and students without difficulties reported using more strategies compared to boys and students with difficulties. Students indicated that strategies are most often used when they copy words using a model. It is mostly mothers who support children during spelling study at home

Phenotyping the Responses to Systemic Corticosteroids in the Management of Asthma Attacks (PRISMA): protocol for an observational and translational pilot study

Abstract: Introduction Asthma and its associated exacerbation are heterogeneous. Although severe asthma attacks are systematically prescribed corticosteroids and often antibiotics, little is known about the variability of response to these therapies. Blood eosinophils and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) are type 2 inflammation biomarkers that have established mechanistic, prognostic and theragnostic values in chronic asthma, but their utility in acute asthma is unclear. We speculate that the clinical and biological response to those treatments varies according to inflammometry and microbiological test results. Methods and analysis An observational longitudinal pilot study with multimodal clinical and translational assessments will be performed on 50 physician-diagnosed ≥12-year-old asthmatics presenting with an asthma attack and 12 healthy controls, including blood eosinophil count (venous and point-of-care (POC) capillary blood), FeNO and testing for airway infection (sputum cultures and POC nasopharyngeal swabs). People with asthma will be assessed on day 0 and after a 7-day corticosteroid course, with home monitoring performed in between. The primary analysis will be the change in the forced expiratory volume in 1 s according to type 2 inflammatory status (blood eosinophils ≥0.15×109 /L and/or FeNO ≥25 ppb) after treatment. Key secondary analyses will compare changes in symptom scores and the proportion of patients achieving a minimal clinically important difference. Exploratory analyses will assess the relationship between clinical, lung function, inflammatory and microbiome parameters; satisfaction plus reliability indices of POC tests; and sex– gender variability in treatment response. Ultimately, this pilot study will serve to plan a larger trial comparing the clinical and biological response to systemic corticosteroids according to inflammatory biomarkers, offering valuable guidance for more personalised therapeutic strategies in asthma attacks. Ethics and dissemination The protocol has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the CIUSSS de l'Estrie–CHUS, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada (#2023- 4687). Results will be communicated in an international meeting and submitted to a peer-reviewed journal

Fungal complications after Candida preservation fluid contamination in liver transplant recipients

International audienceDonor-derived fungal infections can be associated with severe complications in transplant recipients. Donor-derived candidiasis has been described in kidney transplant recipients where contamination of the preservation fluid (PF) was a commonly proposed source. In liver transplantation, these fungal infections have been less explored. The aim of this study was therefore to determine the incidence and clinical relevance of Candida contamination of preservation fluid in the context of liver transplantation. A 5-year (2008-2012) retrospective multicentre study involving six French liver transplantation centers was performed to determine the incidence of Candida PF contamination. Postoperative clinical features, outcomes in recipients, and risk factors for Candida-related complications of liver transplantation were studied. Candida sp. was isolated from 28 of 2107 preservation fluid samples (1.33%). Candida albicans was the most common yeast (n = 18, 64%). Twenty-two recipients (78.5%) received antifungal therapy (echinocandins in 68%) for 7-37 days. Eight patients developed yeast-related complications (28.6%) including hepatic artery aneurysms (n = 6) and Candida peritonitis (n = 2). The 1-year mortality rate among patients after a yeast-related complication was 62.5%. The incidence of Candida PF contamination was low, but was associated with dramatic postoperative complications and high mortality. Close radiological follow-up may enable early recognition of the arterial complications associated with PF contamination by Candida

Phenotyping the Responses to Systemic Corticosteroids in the Management of Asthma Attacks (PRISMA): protocol for an observational and translational pilot study

Introduction Asthma and its associated exacerbation are heterogeneous. Although severe asthma attacks are systematically prescribed corticosteroids and often antibiotics, little is known about the variability of response to these therapies. Blood eosinophils and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) are type 2 inflammation biomarkers that have established mechanistic, prognostic and theragnostic values in chronic asthma, but their utility in acute asthma is unclear. We speculate that the clinical and biological response to those treatments varies according to inflammometry and microbiological test results.Methods and analysis An observational longitudinal pilot study with multimodal clinical and translational assessments will be performed on 50 physician-diagnosed ≥12-year-old asthmatics presenting with an asthma attack and 12 healthy controls, including blood eosinophil count (venous and point-of-care (POC) capillary blood), FeNO and testing for airway infection (sputum cultures and POC nasopharyngeal swabs). People with asthma will be assessed on day 0 and after a 7-day corticosteroid course, with home monitoring performed in between. The primary analysis will be the change in the forced expiratory volume in 1 s according to type 2 inflammatory status (blood eosinophils ≥0.15×109/L and/or FeNO ≥25 ppb) after treatment. Key secondary analyses will compare changes in symptom scores and the proportion of patients achieving a minimal clinically important difference. Exploratory analyses will assess the relationship between clinical, lung function, inflammatory and microbiome parameters; satisfaction plus reliability indices of POC tests; and sex–gender variability in treatment response. Ultimately, this pilot study will serve to plan a larger trial comparing the clinical and biological response to systemic corticosteroids according to inflammatory biomarkers, offering valuable guidance for more personalised therapeutic strategies in asthma attacks.Ethics and dissemination The protocol has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the CIUSSS de l'Estrie–CHUS, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada (#2023-4687). Results will be communicated in an international meeting and submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.Trial registration number ClinicalTrials.gov Registry (NCT05870215)

S’instruire des paroles d’élèves au sujet de l’étude de l’orthographe lexicale

Résumé La présente recherche s’est intéressée à la situation d’étude de l’orthographe lexicale à la maison au moyen d’entretiens auprès de 272 élèves du premier cycle du primaire. Les résultats ont révélé différentes manières d’opérer chez les élèves pour s’acquitter de cette tâche. Si une bonne part des élèves consacrait du temps pour étudier l’orthographe à la maison, 4 élèves sur 10 se faisaient dicter les mots par un parent sans consacrer préalablement du temps d’étude. Diverses stratégies sont évoquées par les élèves pour encoder l’orthographe, mais ce sont les filles et les élèves sans difficulté qui ont déclaré utiliser le plus de stratégies et celles-ci étaient davantage diversifiées que chez les garçons et les élèves en difficulté. Les élèves ont rapporté que les stratégies étaient le plus souvent utilisées en copiant les mots avec modèle. C’étaient majoritairement les mères qui soutenaient les enfants au regard de cette tâche scolaire à domicile. Abstract This study focuses on the learning process of vocabulary spelling at home. Data were collected using interviews with 272 students of Grades 1 and 2. Results reveal that students accomplish this task in different ways. A large proportion of students spend time studying spelling at home. However, 4 out of 10 students do not study vocabulary words prior to their parents reading them out loud. Students use various strategies to learn spelling, but girls and students without difficulties reported using more strategies compared to boys and students with difficulties. Students indicated that strategies are most often used when they copy words using a model. It is mostly mothers who support children during spelling study at home