Narrativity Analysis in Alzheimer’s Disease

Context. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative illness with frequency of occurrence increasing with old age. If memory impairment setting progressively in is here an element associated upfront, other neurocognitive troubles are also associated, for example, language impairment which can degenerate into aphasia. Aim of the study. To evaluate semantic and textual impairment in AD. Methods. Populationsstudied concerned 151 AD patients in consultation at Brest University Hospital. Certain sociodemographic data (sex, age, cultural levels) were collected as well as results from neuropsychological tests: (Folstein – MMSE; Dubois’s 5-word test; fluencies, Dubois’ s frontal test battery; Cornell’s scale for depression; Barbizet’s test, “The Lion’s tale”, for textual analysis. Demented patients were composed of 102 females and 49 males of average age 80.3 ± 6.91. All the tests, including the number of items memorized latterly in the Barbizet’s test are impaired all the more by Folstein’s test being altered. The formal fluency on demented patients is less impaired than the semantical lexical fluency test (scored respectively 5.74 ± 1. 09 versus 4.41 ± 2. 19;t= 5.60, p<0.01). The studied demented cohort shows more intrusions (n=36) than inversions in the delayed Lion’s tale, whether for items or for episodes in which they occur (n=19). The regressive PLS analysis shows that for the explanation of the overall scores to do with “The lion’s tale”, calculated later, only attainment of lexical fluency has any notable influence (Regression coefficient CR=0.224) or, more accessorily, the cultural level (CR=0.12). Conclusions. Attainment of category fluency and patient culture levels have effects on narrativity. Keywords: Alzheimer’s Disease, semiotics, semantics, textualit

Lésions de la « maladie du carré » chez le porc

Billon Jean, Tassin P. Lésions de la «Maladie du carré» chez le porc. In: Bulletin de l'Académie Vétérinaire de France tome 128 n°8, 1975. pp. 389-394

Comparison of phosphor screen autoradiography and micro-pattern gas detector based autoradiography for the porosity of altered rocks

This study aims to further develop the C-14-PMMA porosity calculation method with a novel autoradiography technique, the Micro-pattern gas detector autoradiography (MPGDA). In this study, the MPGDA is compared with phosphor screen autoradiography (SPA). A set of rock samples from Martinique Island exhibiting a large range of connected porosities was used to validate the MPGDA method. Calculated porosities were found to be in agreement with ones from the SPA and the triple-weight method (TW). The filmless nature of MPGDA as well as straightforward determination of C-14 radioactivity from the source rock makes the porosity calculation less uncertain. The real-time visualization of radioactivity from C-14 beta emissions by MPGDA is a noticeable improvement in comparison to SPA.Peer reviewe

Determining Crack Aperture Distribution in Rocks Using the C-14-PMMA Autoradiographic Method : Experiments and Simulations

Because cracks control the global mechanical and transport properties of crystalline rocks, it is of a crucial importance to suitably determine their aperture distribution, which evolves through alteration processes and rock weathering. Due to the high variability of crack networks in rocks, a multiscale approach is needed. The C-14-PMMA (polymethylmethacrylate) method was developed to determine crack apertures using a set of artificial crack samples with different controlled apertures and tilt angles and also using Monte Carlo simulations. The experiments and simulations show the same result: the estimation of apparent aperture w(A) was successful regardless of tilt angle, even if the estimates are less accurate for low tilt angles (Peer reviewe

Environmental Asbestotic Pleural Plaques in Northeast Corsica: Correlations with Airborne and Pleural Mineralogic Analysis

We report a prevalence study of environmental pleural plaques in subjects over 50 years old from the northeastern Corsican village of Murato, built on asbestos surface deposits. The percentage of plaques was 41%, versus 7.5% in the control village of Vezzani. Although surface deposits contain both chrysotile and tremolite, airborne pollution and asbestos lung burden of exposed inhabitants consist essentially of tremolite as assessed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). However, TEM analysis of the parietal pleura of three animals bred in exposed areas showed a predominance of short fibers of chrysotile. The respective roles of tremolite and chrysotile in inducing pleural plaques in Corsica should thus be considered.—Environ Health Perspect 102(Suppl 5):251–252 (1994