Simple scoring system to predict in-hospital mortality after surgery for infective endocarditis

BACKGROUND: Aspecific scoring systems are used to predict the risk of death postsurgery in patients with infective endocarditis (IE). The purpose of the present study was both to analyze the risk factors for in-hospital death, which complicates surgery for IE, and to create a mortality risk score based on the results of this analysis. METHODS AND RESULTS: Outcomes of 361 consecutive patients (mean age, 59.1\ub115.4 years) who had undergone surgery for IE in 8 European centers of cardiac surgery were recorded prospectively, and a risk factor analysis (multivariable logistic regression) for in-hospital death was performed. The discriminatory power of a new predictive scoring system was assessed with the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Score validation procedures were carried out. Fifty-six (15.5%) patients died postsurgery. BMI >27 kg/m2 (odds ratio [OR], 1.79; P=0.049), estimated glomerular filtration rate 55 mm Hg (OR, 1.78; P=0.032), and critical state (OR, 2.37; P=0.017) were independent predictors of in-hospital death. A scoring system was devised to predict in-hospital death postsurgery for IE (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.780; 95% CI, 0.734-0.822). The score performed better than 5 of 6 scoring systems for in-hospital death after cardiac surgery that were considered. CONCLUSIONS: A simple scoring system based on risk factors for in-hospital death was specifically created to predict mortality risk postsurgery in patients with IE

Étude du relargage des métaux dans les eaux d'infiltration d'un champ d'épandage par construction d'un plan d'expériences D-optimal pondéré

National audienceThis study aimed to determine the climatic factors influencing metal solubilization in the percolation waters from a field that had received intensive pig slurry applications. We first set up a D-optimal experimental design specially fitted to this study. The experimental design allowed to take into account some specific conditions in relation with the experimental domain under study. On the one hand, these conditions consisted of constraints corresponding to parts of the domain which cannot be studied, and on the other hand, of difficulties in achieving some levels of factors. Carrying out in vitro experiments enabled to evidence that temperature and volume of rainfalls were the most important factors acting on metal solubilization. © EDP Sciences, Wiley-VCH

Behaviour and speciation of metallic species Cu, Cd, Mn and Fe during estuarine mixing

International audienceThis paper, based on laboratory experiments, deals with the behaviour of metallic species Cu, Cd, Fe, Zn and Mn during the mixing of river and seawaters. The present study focused on the variations of metals speciation in both the dissolved phase and the suspended particulate matter. For the dissolved metals, a protocol using chelating resins permitted to perform trace metals speciation, i.e. fractionation into 'organic-metal' and 'inorganic-metal', and to preconcentrate them. The speciation of suspended particulate matter (SPM) was performed according to the sequential extraction procedure of Tessier et al. to partition particulate metals into five different fractions. All total metals had a conservative behaviour. However, there were great differences from one metal to another in the partitioning into dissolved and particulate phase. For iron, the metal was partly removed from the dissolved phase during the mixing, probably because of organic matter flocculation. Particulate iron was conservative because 90% of it remained in the 'residual' fraction of SPM. Copper had a conservative behaviour in both the dissolved and the particulate phases. The affinity for organic matter was well established for dissolved copper as well as for particulate copper, i.e. respectively 40% in 'organic' form and more than 60% in the 'organic' fraction. Manganese and cadmium were non-conservative: a clear enrichment of the dissolved phase was observed at low salinities (< 7.5). These metals were desorbed in inorganic form from the particulate phase and for a large part from the 'carbonates' fraction of the SPM

Behaviour of metals following intensive pig slurry applications to a natural field treatment process in Brittany (France)

International audienceIt is well-known that heavy metals brought by intensive pig slurry applications accumulate in the soil; because of their potential impact on the environment, studying their behaviour is of utmost interest. The Solepur process has been developed in Brittany, (France) where pig farming causes serious environmental problems, it enables the soil to be used as a treatment medium to process pig slurry. Numerous pig slurry applications were performed from 1991 to 1995 on an experimental hydrologically-isolated field specially equipped to recover all the leachate. These applications approximately corresponded to the amount which might have been spread over one century. The Solepur process can be considered as a simulation model for what happens to metals in pig slurry under normal field conditions over a long period of time. This work measured the concentrations of Cu, Zn, Mn, Co, Fe and Cd in pig slurry, in soil and in drainage water, and the results are discussed. Total concentrations and speciation data within the three different compartments were analysed and showed that Cu and Zn accumulate in the surface layer, whereas other metals, such as Mn and Co, dissolve and are washed away in the leachate. The increase in the bioavailability and toxicity of these metals as well as their impact on the environment are discussed

Spectroscopic factors optimization in electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry via an optimal experimental design matrix

International audienceA method, fast and simple to carry out, is proposed to optimize the instrumental spectroscopic parameters, such as bandpass, lamp current and monochromator slit height in electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. It is based on the monitoring of the detection limit estimation (DLE) variation by using a 'D-optimal' experimental design. This method is tested on Cd, Mn, Cu and Sn. In comparison with the default operating conditions, the limits of detection are systematically improved

The rainbow vent fluids (36°14′N, MAR): the influence of ultramafic rocks and phase separation on trace metal content in Mid-Atlantic Ridge hydrothermal fluids

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Uncertainty in Ontology Matching: A Decision Rule-Based Approach

International audienceConsidering the high heterogeneity of the ontologies pub-lished on the web, ontology matching is a crucial issue whose aim is to establish links between an entity of a source ontology and one or several entities from a target ontology. Perfectible similarity measures, consid-ered as sources of information, are combined to establish these links. The theory of belief functions is a powerful mathematical tool for combining such uncertain information. In this paper, we introduce a decision pro-cess based on a distance measure to identify the best possible matching entities for a given source entity