Altimetry for the future: Building on 25 years of progress

In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the ‘‘Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome associated with COVID-19: An Emulated Target Trial Analysis.

RATIONALE: Whether COVID patients may benefit from extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) compared with conventional invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) remains unknown. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the effect of ECMO on 90-Day mortality vs IMV only Methods: Among 4,244 critically ill adult patients with COVID-19 included in a multicenter cohort study, we emulated a target trial comparing the treatment strategies of initiating ECMO vs. no ECMO within 7 days of IMV in patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (PaO2/FiO2 <80 or PaCO2 ≥60 mmHg). We controlled for confounding using a multivariable Cox model based on predefined variables. MAIN RESULTS: 1,235 patients met the full eligibility criteria for the emulated trial, among whom 164 patients initiated ECMO. The ECMO strategy had a higher survival probability at Day-7 from the onset of eligibility criteria (87% vs 83%, risk difference: 4%, 95% CI 0;9%) which decreased during follow-up (survival at Day-90: 63% vs 65%, risk difference: -2%, 95% CI -10;5%). However, ECMO was associated with higher survival when performed in high-volume ECMO centers or in regions where a specific ECMO network organization was set up to handle high demand, and when initiated within the first 4 days of MV and in profoundly hypoxemic patients. CONCLUSIONS: In an emulated trial based on a nationwide COVID-19 cohort, we found differential survival over time of an ECMO compared with a no-ECMO strategy. However, ECMO was consistently associated with better outcomes when performed in high-volume centers and in regions with ECMO capacities specifically organized to handle high demand. This article is open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

The paradoxical spread of a new Y chromosome – a novel explanation

International audienc

Protocole d'essai thérapeutique en mésothérapie sur les lombalgies aiguës communes (mésothérapie classique versus mésothérapie)

La lombalgie aiguë eest une pathologie fréquente en médecine générale. La fréquence et la chronicisation de cette pathologie deviennent de réels problèmes de santé publique dans les pays industrialisés. L'objectif principal de cette étude, prospective randomisée en simple aveugle, était d'évaluer l'efficacité d'un protocole de mésothérapie classique par rapport à un protocole de mésothérapie placebo, dans la lombalgie aiguë, afin de mettre en évidence l'effet médicamenteux de la mésothérapie. Le critère de jugement principal reposait sur l'évaluation de la douleur lombaire aiguë à J5. Il s'agissait par ailleurs, d'évaluer la douleur lombaire à J12 et J25, de quantifier la consommation quotidienne de paracétamol, d'estimer l'impotence fonctionnelle et de rapporter les effets indésirables potentiels. Entre mars 2008 et août 2009, nous avons inclus 103 patients de 18 à 65 ans quiprésentaient une lombalgie aiguë commune, de moins de 5 jours d'évolution, avec une Echelle Visuelle Analogique supérieure à 40 mm à l'inclusion. Les patients ainsi inclus bénéficiaient d'un traitement per os par Anti-inflammatoires non stéroidiens pendant 3 jours et consommaient du paracétamol à la demande. On associait alors soit un traitement par mésothérapie classique soit un traitement par mésothérapie placebo. Les patients étaient revus à J5, J12 et J25. Les résultats mettent en évidence que le protocole de mésothérapie classique est plus efficace que le protocole de mésothérapie placebo sur l'amélioration de la raideur rachidienne et qu'il induit une réduction de la consommation d'antalgiques. Cependant on ne met pas en évidence de différence significative sur l'évaluation de la douleur par les patients. Enfin nous constatons que cette technique reste bien tolérée sans effet indésirable grave notable. Ces résultats monttrent qu'il existe une corrélation entre la nature des produits injectés et l'efficacité de la mésothérapie dans le traitement de la lombalgie aiguë.BORDEAUX2-BU Santé (330632101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Causes of genetic differenciation at a very small spatial scale in an island bird (zosterops borbonicus)

TOULOUSE3-BU Sciences (315552104) / SudocSudocFranceF

Microevolution in agricultural environments: how a traditional Amerindian farming practice favours heterozygosity in cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz, Euphorbiaceae)

International audienc

A practical guide to quantifying the effect of genes underlying adaptation in a mixed genomics and evolutionary ecology approach

International audienc

Epigenetic variation for agronomic improvement: an opportunity for vegetatively propagated crops

International audienc