Brachytherapy for penile cancer: Efficacy and impact on sexual function

AbstractPurposePenis brachytherapy (PB) remains an alternative in the cancer treatment. The objective of this study was to assess the oncologic outcomes, sexual function, and the sexual behavior of men treated by PB for a cancer of the penis.Methods and MaterialsBetween 1992 and 2009, 47 patients with a cancer of the penis were treated by PB (192Ir), in the Toulouse, Montpellier, and Barcelona cancer centers. The investigation into their sexuality was obtained by means of questionnaire. A total of 21 French patients were approached, of whom 19 (mean age=73.2 years) agreed to answer the questionnaire (participation rate=90.5%).ResultsOncologic data: The specific survival and the disease-free survival at 5 years was 87.6% (95% confidence interval, 72.4–94.7%) and 84% (95% confidence interval, 57.6–94.7%), respectively. The rate of preservation of the penis was 66% (n=31). Sexual data: Among the 17 patients sexually active before brachytherapy, 10 patients remained sexually active after treatment (58.8%). Of the 18 patients who had erections before PB, 17 still had them after treatment (94.4%). Age was the main predictive factor.ConclusionThe PB seems to have a moderated impact on the sexual functions and the sexual behavior of the patients

Attraction Basins as Gauges of Robustness against Boundary Conditions in Biological Complex Systems

One fundamental concept in the context of biological systems on which researches have flourished in the past decade is that of the apparent robustness of these systems, i.e., their ability to resist to perturbations or constraints induced by external or boundary elements such as electromagnetic fields acting on neural networks, micro-RNAs acting on genetic networks and even hormone flows acting both on neural and genetic networks. Recent studies have shown the importance of addressing the question of the environmental robustness of biological networks such as neural and genetic networks. In some cases, external regulatory elements can be given a relevant formal representation by assimilating them to or modeling them by boundary conditions. This article presents a generic mathematical approach to understand the influence of boundary elements on the dynamics of regulation networks, considering their attraction basins as gauges of their robustness. The application of this method on a real genetic regulation network will point out a mathematical explanation of a biological phenomenon which has only been observed experimentally until now, namely the necessity of the presence of gibberellin for the flower of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana to develop normally

Kayser (Jacques) - Mort d'une liberté

Soulie Michel. Kayser (Jacques) - Mort d'une liberté. In: Revue française de science politique, 6ᵉ année, n°2, 1956. pp. 420-421

Kayser (Jacques) - Mort d'une liberté

Soulie Michel. Kayser (Jacques) - Mort d'une liberté. In: Revue française de science politique, 6ᵉ année, n°2, 1956. pp. 420-421

L'annonce du cancer (un traumatisme psychique?)

LILLE2-BU Santé-Recherche (593502101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Modeling oil palm pollinator dynamics using deterministic and agent based approaches. Applications on fruit set estimates. Some preliminary results

Oil palm production is of economical importance in several southern countries. The increasing demand of oil palm put a lot of pressure in several places where the rain forest and thus the tropical diversity are in danger due to deforestation. With the land already cultivated, we need to improve the yields, which means to increase the production of fruits in plots. One way is to increase the pollination or the fruit set through pollination. Palm tree has a specific entomophilous pollinator, a weevil, Elaeidobius spp, that absolutely needs male inflorescence to complete its life cycle. In young plots (3‐7 years old), mainly female inflorescences are produced, and thus, the pollinator population cannot maintain, resulting in a bad fruit set, and, thus, a bad production. That is why several questions arise: What is the mean number of male inflorescences (per hectare) needed to maintain the pollinators population above a certain threshold? And, in terms of yield, what is the optimal size of the population to reach an optimal fruit set? We propose, compare and discuss 2 different modeling approaches to develop preliminary models to study the dynamics of the pollinator population, and obtain some rough estimates of the fruit set. We derive some simulations and discuss these preliminary results.PalmElit and CIRADhttp://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/mma2019-12-01hj2018Mathematics and Applied Mathematic

Subinguinal microsurgical varicocelectomy vs. percutaneous embolization in infertile men: Prospective comparison of reproductive and functional outcomes

Résumé Contexte La varicocèle est une affection caractérisée par une dilatation et tortuosité des veines du plexus veineux pampiniforme du sac scrotal. La présence de varicocèle est associée à un risque accru d'altération des paramètres du sperme. Cette étude vise à comparer la norme actuelle des procédures de traitement par varicocèle: la ligature microscopique sous-inguinale à l'embolisation percutanée en termes d'amélioration des paramètres spermatiques, de fertilité et de morbidité dans l'hôpital universitaire de Toulouse(France). Soixante-seize patients atteints de varicocèle clinique, d'altération des paramètres spermatiques et d'infertilité ont subi une intervention (microchirurgie dans 49 cas réalisées par un seul urologue et embolisation dans 27 cas) et ont fait l'objet d'une analyse prospective. Les données étudiées sont les suivantes: paramètres du sperme, grossesses spontanées, douleur, effets secondaires, temps de récupération et satisfaction globale. Tous les patients ont été contactés en janvier 2015 afin de déterminer les grossesses spontanées. Résultats En préopératoire, il n’existait aucune différence sur les items cliniques et biologiques entre les deux groupes. Sur la population globale, on observe une amélioration significative de la concentration spermatique à 3, 6, 9 et 12 mois (p = <0,001, <0,001, 0,012, 0,018) et de la motilité à 6 mois (p = 0,002). La concentration de spermatozoïdes était plus élevée à 6 mois dans le groupe d'embolisation percutané (13,42 vs 8,09; p = 0,043). Avec un suivi médian de 4 ans, 27 grossesses sont survenues (taux de grossesse spontanée de 35.5%). Il n'y avait pas de différence significative entre les procédures sur la qualité du sperme, le taux de grossesse et la satisfaction globale. Les patients traités par embolisation percutanée ont rapporté un temps de récupération plus rapide (p = 0,002) et moins de douleur postopératoire (p = 0,007). Conclusion Notre étude montre que l'embolisation percutanée semble être une alternative équivalente à la ligature microscopique sous-inguinale en terme d'amélioration de la qualité du sperme, du taux de grossesse et de la satisfaction globale avec un léger avantage sur la morbidité post-opératoire