Clinical Study Is IgG4-Related Disease a Cause of Xerostomia? A Cohort Study of 60 Patients

Objective. Immunoglobulin-G4-(IgG4-) related disease (IgG4 RD) is a fibrosing process characterized by a significant infiltration of IgG4-secreting plasma cells. IgG4 RD can affect almost all organs including salivary glands. Whether IgG4 RD plays a role in the development of sicca syndrome and particularly dry mouth syndrome remains to be investigated. Methods. We conducted a monocentric cohort study for two years to search for IgG4 RD features in patients with dry mouth syndrome using immunostainings of labial salivary gland specimens with anti-IgG4 antibody. Results. Among 60 patients presenting with dry mouth syndrome who underwent labial salivary gland biopsy, 18 showed positive immunostaining with the anti-IgG4 antibody including 4 patients with typical systemic IgG4 RD. Five also fulfilled criteria for Sjögren's syndrome. Conclusion. These findings suggest that clinical forms of IgG4 RD salivary involvement without salivary swelling may occur. This salivary involvement is probably overlooked in everyday practice and could represent a mild form of IgG4 RD

Clinical Study Is IgG4-Related Disease a Cause of Xerostomia? A Cohort Study of 60 Patients

Objective. Immunoglobulin-G4-(IgG4-) related disease (IgG4 RD) is a fibrosing process characterized by a significant infiltration of IgG4-secreting plasma cells. IgG4 RD can affect almost all organs including salivary glands. Whether IgG4 RD plays a role in the development of sicca syndrome and particularly dry mouth syndrome remains to be investigated. Methods. We conducted a monocentric cohort study for two years to search for IgG4 RD features in patients with dry mouth syndrome using immunostainings of labial salivary gland specimens with anti-IgG4 antibody. Results. Among 60 patients presenting with dry mouth syndrome who underwent labial salivary gland biopsy, 18 showed positive immunostaining with the anti-IgG4 antibody including 4 patients with typical systemic IgG4 RD. Five also fulfilled criteria for Sjögren's syndrome. Conclusion. These findings suggest that clinical forms of IgG4 RD salivary involvement without salivary swelling may occur. This salivary involvement is probably overlooked in everyday practice and could represent a mild form of IgG4 RD

Late Glacial deglaciation of the Zackenberg area, NE Greenland

The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is a key component of the global climate system. However, our current understanding of the spatio-temporal oscillations and landscape transformation of the GrIS margins since the last glacial cycle is still incomplete. The objective of this work is to study the deglaciation of the Zackenberg Valley (74°N, 20°E), NE Greenland, and the origin of the derived landforms. Based on extensive fieldwork and high-detail geomorphological mapping we identified the different types of landforms, from which those of glacial and paraglacial origin were used to understand the processes driving regional environmental evolution. We applied cosmic-ray exposure (CRE) dating to 32 samples taken from erosive and depositional glacial landforms distributed across the valley. Geomorphological evidence shows that >800-m-thick Late Quaternary glacier filled the valleys and fjords and covered mountain summits. In subsequent phases, as ice thickness decreased, the glacier was limited to the interior of the valley, leaving several lateral moraines. The deglaciation of the Zackenberg Valley that started by ~13.7–12.5 ka also accelerated slope paraglacial processes. Many blocks from lateral moraines were remobilized and fell, reaching the valley floor where they covered the thinning glacier tongue; transforming it into a debris-covered glacier that subsequently melted gradually. By ca. 10.5 ka, the last remnants of glacial ice disappeared from the Zackenberg Valley floor, a chronology of deglaciation that is similar to that observed in other sites across NE Greenland. The results of this work must be considered in similar studies, reinforcing the need to support CRE ages of the different geomorphological phases with paleoclimatic data from other sedimentary records

Global injected power statistics in a turbulent system: degrees of freedom and aspect ratio effect

The properties of the global energy injection rate of a closed turbulent flow produced between two counter-rotating disks are studied. The statistics of this global quantity are measured when the aspect ratio (defined as the ratio of the disk diameter to the separating distance between both disks) is modified. It is shown that the non-Gaussian statistics obtained at a low aspect ratio becomes Gaussian for a large aspect ratio. This effect is accompanied with a large decrease of the fluctuation rate. These results indicate the total energy injection rate to obey the central limit theorem. It is also shown that the number of degrees of freedom of total injection rate may be related to the number of independent large scale structures present in the flow. Copyright EDP Sciences/Società Italiana di Fisica/Springer-Verlag 2005

Craniofacial fibrous dysplasia: A 10-case series

International audienceObjective: Fibrous dysplasia of bone is a rare sporadic benign congenital condition in which normal cancellous bone is replaced by fibro-osseous tissue with immature osteogenesis. Sarcomatous transformation is exceptional. Lesions may involve one bone (monostotic) or several (polyostotic). Fibrous dysplasia may be associated with cafe-au-lait skin macules and endocrinopathy in McCune-Albright syndrome, or with myxoma in Mazabraud's syndrome. Methods: We report ten cases of patients followed up for craniofacial fibrous dysplasia in our center between 2010 and 2015. Results: Mean age was 43 years (range, 10-72 years). Clinical symptoms comprised headache (n = 3) and sensorineural disorder: recurrent anterior uveitis (n = 1), visual acuity loss, epiphora and vestibular syndrome (n = 1), and hearing loss (n = 1). All cases were monostotic. The sphenoid bone was most commonly involved (n = 5), followed by the ethmoid (n = 1), frontal (n = 1), fronto-ethmoid (n = 1), temporal (n = 1) and fronto-ethmoido-sphenoid (n = 1) bones. Five patients were treated with intravenous pamidronate, a bisphosphonate: evolution was favorable for 3 of them at 1-6 months after treatment initiation, with resolution of headache or vestibular syndrome; the other 2 patients were stable. Two patients were operated on. Conclusion: Diagnosis of craniofacial fibrous dysplasia should be considered in case of headache, neuralgia, sensory disorder, functional disorder or infectious ENT complications. A medico-surgical approach is useful for these patients

Évolution naturelle des cavernomes portaux non liés à une hépatopathie. Étude rétrospective monocentrique de 32 observations

International audienc

New chronology for the southern kalahari group sediments: implications for sediment cycle dynamics and early hominin occupation

The Kalahari Group covers an extensive part of the southern African continent and forms a low-relief landscape dominated by extensive unconsolidated sand. Current depositional models assume that the Kalahari Group sediments accumulated gradually throughout the Cenozoic, but an absence of absolute chronology beyond ~60 ka has left this premise untested. Here, we challenge this age model with new cosmogenic burial ages obtained from a 55 m section of Kalahari Group sediments at Mamatwan Mine near the southern edge of the Kalahari basin. Our results indicate that the majority of the existing section was emplaced rapidly at ~1 Ma. At this time the basin filled to its present level and established the Kalahari sand belts, which fostered the modern savannah. Our data suggest a dynamic landscape, with punctuated cycles of erosion and deposition, in contrast to the accepted concept of a stable basin filling slowly throughout the Cenozoic. The sedimentology and cosmogenic nuclide measurements from the lower Mamatwan Mine section reveal the existence of an extensive Early to Middle Pleistocene water body, persisting at least 420 ka prior to the rapid filling event at ~1 Ma. This water body is contemporaneous with a significant hominin occupation as evidenced by neighboring archaeological excavations. We thus provide the first evidence of association of the high-density hominin occupation in southern Africa with an extensive water body