Airway cellularity, lipid laden macrophages and microbiology of gastric juice and airways in children with reflux oesophagitis

BACKGROUND: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GORD) can cause respiratory disease in children from recurrent aspiration of gastric contents. GORD can be defined in several ways and one of the most common method is presence of reflux oesophagitis. In children with GORD and respiratory disease, airway neutrophilia has been described. However, there are no prospective studies that have examined airway cellularity in children with GORD but without respiratory disease. The aims of the study were to compare (1) BAL cellularity and lipid laden macrophage index (LLMI) and, (2) microbiology of BAL and gastric juices of children with GORD (G+) to those without (G-). METHODS: In 150 children aged <14-years, gastric aspirates and bronchoscopic airway lavage (BAL) were obtained during elective flexible upper endoscopy. GORD was defined as presence of reflux oesophagitis on distal oesophageal biopsies. RESULTS: BAL neutrophil% in G- group (n = 63) was marginally but significantly higher than that in the G+ group (n = 77), (median of 7.5 and 5 respectively, p = 0.002). Lipid laden macrophage index (LLMI), BAL percentages of lymphocyte, eosinophil and macrophage were similar between groups. Viral studies were negative in all, bacterial cultures positive in 20.7% of BALs and in 5.3% of gastric aspirates. BAL cultures did not reflect gastric aspirate cultures in all but one child. CONCLUSION: In children without respiratory disease, GORD defined by presence of reflux oesophagitis, is not associated with BAL cellular profile or LLMI abnormality. Abnormal microbiology of the airways, when present, is not related to reflux oesophagitis and does not reflect that of gastric juices

Lettre à la rédaction étude par spectrométrie Raman des équilibres conformationnels de l'éther diéthylique liquide en fonction de la température et de la pression

L’effet de la pression (1-6000 bars) et de la température (223-298 K) sur les équilibres conformationnels de l’éther diéthylique liquide (C2H5)2O a été étudié par spectrométrie Raman. Les différences d'enthalpie et de volume molaires des conformations trans-trans et trans-gauche ont été déterminées et comparées à celles qui avaient été obtenues précédemment dans le cas du pentane normal

An extension of multiple factor analysis for mixed data type structured in groups: MFAmix

L’Analyse Factorielle Multiple (AFM) est une méthode de réduction de dimension qui permet de prendre en compte le fait que les individus sont décrits par des variables naturellement structurées en groupes ou thématiques. Initialement l’AFM a été mise en place pour l’analyse de variables quantitatives (Escofier et Pagès [1]). Elle a ensuite été élargie à l’analyse de groupes de variables qualitatives (Escofier et Pagès [2]) puis à l’étude d’un tableau de données que l’on qualifiera de “semi-mixte”, où chaque groupe peut être soit de type quantitatif, soit de type qualitatif. Cette dernière extension de la méthode, proposée par Pagès [3], permet la réduction de dimension dans un contexte où les bases de données deviennent de plus en plus composites. A ce titre, nous sommes confrontés à une variété de données complexes dans les travaux relatifs à la construction d'indicateurs du développement durable, il faut entendre par là l’état de l’environnement, de l’économie, de la santé, des conditions sociales des individus comme des communautés. Pour cela, nous optons pour une approche en termes de qualité de vie : en effet, l’analyse et la mesure du bien être et de ses différentes composantes constituent un indicateur pertinent pour l’évaluation des états des sociétés. Face à la multitude de variables issues de thématiques différentes (environnement, social, économie, démographie, etc.) disponibles pour décrire la qualité de vie, les méthodes multi-tableaux telles l’AFM sont une réponse pertinente pour l’analyse de ces données structurées en groupes. Dans cette problématique, les variables au sein d’une même thématique ne sont pas homogènes, mais mixtes dans le sens où elles peuvent être quantitatives ou qualitatives. L’écriture actuelle de l’AFM et son implémentation dans le package R FactoMineR (Husson et al. [4]) ne permettant pas d’intégrer des thématiques mixtes dans l’analyse, nous proposons une extension de l’AFM qui permet l'analyse de groupes mixtes via l’utilisation de la méthode PCAMIX, voir par exemple Chavent et al. [5]

Vigie Ciel a collaborative project to study fireballs and organise meteorite recoveries

International audienceResearch on fireballs and meteorites has always been of interest to the public, due to the beauty of shooting stars in the night sky and to the extraterrestrial origin of meteorites. A fireball observation network called FRIPON [1] (Colas et al, 2015) is currently being setup, funded by ANR (Agence Nationale pour la Recherche). It will cover France with 100 cameras and is expected to be operational for the end of 2015. FRIPON will detect fireballs and hence allow us to define meteorite strewn fields within 24h, so that meteorite searches can be launched very early on. Because of the need to search all over France, including in private land, it is important that the general public be aware of our project and be willing to help or participate. Indeed, as the main goal of FRIPON is to recover fresh meteorites (within a few days), our aim is to be able to organize a search with at least 50 persons to scan an area of a few km2 within a week. Help from the public would hence be most helpful but it is also important to have an operational and trained research team. This project thus appears as a unique occasion to involve the public in a scientific project while promoting informal scientific education. This prompted us to set up Vigie-Ciel, a citizen science network centered on meteorite recovery. FRIPON is an open network based on open-source software, it will accept citizenrun cameras. In addition to fireballs, it will allow scientists and Vigie-Ciel participants to study anything that can be observed by all-sky cameras: bird migrations, bats, clouds, lightning, etc. The data will be freely available to all

Vigie Ciel a collaborative project to study fireballs and organise meteorite recoveries

International audienceResearch on fireballs and meteorites has always been of interest to the public, due to the beauty of shooting stars in the night sky and to the extraterrestrial origin of meteorites. A fireball observation network called FRIPON [1] (Colas et al, 2015) is currently being setup, funded by ANR (Agence Nationale pour la Recherche). It will cover France with 100 cameras and is expected to be operational for the end of 2015. FRIPON will detect fireballs and hence allow us to define meteorite strewn fields within 24h, so that meteorite searches can be launched very early on. Because of the need to search all over France, including in private land, it is important that the general public be aware of our project and be willing to help or participate. Indeed, as the main goal of FRIPON is to recover fresh meteorites (within a few days), our aim is to be able to organize a search with at least 50 persons to scan an area of a few km2 within a week. Help from the public would hence be most helpful but it is also important to have an operational and trained research team. This project thus appears as a unique occasion to involve the public in a scientific project while promoting informal scientific education. This prompted us to set up Vigie-Ciel, a citizen science network centered on meteorite recovery. FRIPON is an open network based on open-source software, it will accept citizenrun cameras. In addition to fireballs, it will allow scientists and Vigie-Ciel participants to study anything that can be observed by all-sky cameras: bird migrations, bats, clouds, lightning, etc. The data will be freely available to all

Vigie Ciel a collaborative project to study fireballs and organise meteorite recoveries

International audienceResearch on fireballs and meteorites has always been of interest to the public, due to the beauty of shooting stars in the night sky and to the extraterrestrial origin of meteorites. A fireball observation network called FRIPON [1] (Colas et al, 2015) is currently being setup, funded by ANR (Agence Nationale pour la Recherche). It will cover France with 100 cameras and is expected to be operational for the end of 2015. FRIPON will detect fireballs and hence allow us to define meteorite strewn fields within 24h, so that meteorite searches can be launched very early on. Because of the need to search all over France, including in private land, it is important that the general public be aware of our project and be willing to help or participate. Indeed, as the main goal of FRIPON is to recover fresh meteorites (within a few days), our aim is to be able to organize a search with at least 50 persons to scan an area of a few km2 within a week. Help from the public would hence be most helpful but it is also important to have an operational and trained research team. This project thus appears as a unique occasion to involve the public in a scientific project while promoting informal scientific education. This prompted us to set up Vigie-Ciel, a citizen science network centered on meteorite recovery. FRIPON is an open network based on open-source software, it will accept citizenrun cameras. In addition to fireballs, it will allow scientists and Vigie-Ciel participants to study anything that can be observed by all-sky cameras: bird migrations, bats, clouds, lightning, etc. The data will be freely available to all