Phlegmasia cerulea dolens: case report on a HIV-AIDS patient in a sub-saharian semi-urban practice

Venous thromboembolism has also become a major health concern in sub-saharian Africa. Studies addressing at this issue are rare in Cameroon. Thus, the case reported here presents singular characteristics: its clinical form, phlegmasia cerulea dolens, a severe but uncommon complication of venous thromboembolism; and its infrequent recorded triggering factor, HIV-AIDS

Theoretical Description of Proton and Light Ion-Induced Reactions within the HINDAS Collaboration

peer reviewe

Pattern of venous thromboembolic diseases in a resources-limited setting in Cameroon

Introduction: Admission for a medical illness is associated with an increased risk of venous thrombo-embolism; however reports addressing at this issue are rare in Cameroon. We sought to assess the pattern of thrombo-embolism among in-medical patients of a semi-urban hospital. Methods: We prospectively included 79 hospitalized medical patients of the Military Hospital of Bamenda (north-west region-Cameroon). From July 2010 and December 2013, we collected baseline demographic data, risk factors of venous thromboembolism, clinical presentation, diagnostic process and treatment. Results: In the 1445 patients admitted for medical illnesses, a total of 79 venous thrombo-embolic diseases were detected (55 deep vein thrombosis, 14 pulmonary embolism, 9 post-phlebitic syndrome and 1 cerulae alba dolens). The leading risk factors were prolonged immobilization (100%), age > 40 years (78.9%), obesity (43%), long distance travel (30.4%) and HIV-AIDS (21.5%). Thirty one (40.5%) had ≤ 2 cumulative risk factors, and 8 (10.1%) more than 4. All the patients in the group had a significant risk of deep vein thrombosis: 5 (6.3%), 34 (43%) and 40 (50.6%) with moderate, high and very high risk respectively. Increasing number of deep vein thrombosis was associated with increasing level of the risk and the clinical probability scores. Lower limb location of deep vein thrombosis was the most frequent with 75 (94.9%) cases. Almost all the patients received appropriate therapy with heparin and oral anticoagulant during their hospital stay. The mean length of hospital stay was 17.5 +/-15 (range 4- 62) days; disability and death occurred in 15 (19%) and 17 (21.5%) respectively. Conclusion: Venous thromboembolism is also a common concern in a semi-urban practice of our country. Long distance travel, one of the leading risk factors merits to be more specifically studied.Pan African Medical Journal 2016; 2

The Behavioral and Cognitive Executive Disorders of Stroke: The GREFEX Study.

BACKGROUND: Many studies have highlighted the high prevalence of executive disorders in stroke. However, major uncertainties remain due to use of variable and non-validated methods. The objectives of this study were: 1) to characterize the executive disorder profile in stroke using a standardized battery, validated diagnosis criteria of executive disorders and validated framework for the interpretation of neuropsychological data and 2) examine the sensitivity of the harmonization standards protocol proposed by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and Canadian Stroke Network (NINDS-CSN) for the diagnosis of Vascular Cognitive Impairment. METHODS: 237 patients (infarct: 57; cerebral hemorrhage: 54; ruptured aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery (ACoA): 80; cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT): 46) were examined by using the GREFEX battery. The patients' test results were interpreted with a validated framework derived from normative data from 780 controls. RESULTS: Dysexecutive syndrome was observed in 88 (55.7%; 95%CI: 48-63.4) out of the 156 patients with full cognitive and behavioral data: 40 (45.5%) had combined behavioral and cognitive syndromes, 29 (33%) had a behavioral disorder alone and 19 (21.6%) had a cognitive syndrome alone. The dysexecutive profile was characterized by prominent impairments of initiation and generation in the cognitive domain and by hypoactivity with disinterest and anticipation loss in the behavioral domain. Cognitive impairment was more frequent (p = 0.014) in hemorrhage and behavioral disorders were more frequent (p = 0.004) in infarct and hemorrhage. The harmonization standards protocol underestimated (p = 0.007) executive disorders in CVT or ACoA. CONCLUSIONS: This profile of executive disorders implies that the assessment should include both cognitive tests and a validated inventory for behavioral dysexecutive syndrome. Initial assessment may be performed with a short cognitive battery, such as the harmonization standards protocol. However, administration of a full cognitive battery is required in selected patients

Vers une valorisation des déchets ménagers en agriculture (péri) urbaine à Kolwezi : caractérisation et influence de la saisonnalité

Objectif : L’urbanisation et le développement économique ont généralement pour corollaire l’accroissement des besoins alimentaires et l’augmentation de la production des déchets dans les pays en voie de développement et dont la gestion demeure un problème. Cette étude s’est proposée d’apprécier d’une part les caractéristiques agronomiques d’un compost issu de déchets ménagers, de l’autre part, déterminer la part biodégradable pour une meilleure valorisation agricole à Kolwezi.Méthodologie et résultats : Du 17 Mai 2015 au 17 Avril 2016, les déchets étaient collectés sur 100 ménages pris comme échantillon dans deux communes de la ville. Des poubelles étaient placées et à la fin de chaque semaine, ces poubelles étaient vidées, pesées et les tris des différentes catégories selon la nature étaient effectués. Le compostage était enfin réalisé pour la part biodégradable sur une durée de 4 mois à l’issue duquel les échantillons étaient pris pour les analyses chimiques. Les résultats ont révélé d’une part la présence de deux fractions de déchets à savoir : les biodégradables et les non biodégradables et d’autre part, la quantité des déchets variait selon les saisons et les communes. Pour une quantité moyenne mensuelle de 1001,5 kg par ménage, la fraction biodégradable représente 53% du poids. Par ailleurs, les concentrations en éléments majeurs étaient relativement élevées par rapport à celles observées au Cameroun pendant que celles en métaux lourds étaient largement inférieures par rapport aux normes internationales.Conclusion et application des résultats : le compostage constitue une alternative de gestion de déchets, lesquels peuvent être valorisés en agriculture urbaine et périurbaine surtout dans un contexte où l’accès aux engrais synthétiques n’est pas à la portée de tous les maraichers de Kolwezi. Toutefois, pour une meilleure valorisation, une analyse microbienne serait nécessaire afin de prévenir des maladies.Mots clés : Compost, Déchets ménagers, composition chimique, maraichère, Kolwezi

AGATHE: A tool for personalized rehabilitation of cognitive functions

Stroke, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's... Every year in France, tens of thousands of people fall victim to one of those neurological pathologies. Acquired brain injury leads to cognitive impairment and heavy loss of autonomy. Rehabilitation interventions are needed to enable people to recover capacity and return to Activities of Daily Living (ADL), such as grocery shopping. Unfortunately, the resources made available in cognitive rehabilitation are insufficient for the growing needs of victims of brain damage. The assets of virtual reality to address this big problem of public health are today scientifically recognized [Rizzo and Kim 2005; Klinger, et al. 2010]. In this context, we designed the AGATHE tool (Adaptable, configurable and upgradable tool for the generation of personalized therapeutic applications in cognitive rehabilitation) (AGATHE project, ANR-09-TECS-002).French National Research Agency (ANR) Laval Agglomération et Conseil Général de la Mayenn

Benchopt: Reproducible, efficient and collaborative optimization benchmarks

Numerical validation is at the core of machine learning research as it allows to assess the actual impact of new methods, and to confirm the agreement between theory and practice. Yet, the rapid development of the field poses several challenges: researchers are confronted with a profusion of methods to compare, limited transparency and consensus on best practices, as well as tedious re-implementation work. As a result, validation is often very partial, which can lead to wrong conclusions that slow down the progress of research. We propose Benchopt, a collaborative framework to automate, reproduce and publish optimization benchmarks in machine learning across programming languages and hardware architectures. Benchopt simplifies benchmarking for the community by providing an off-the-shelf tool for running, sharing and extending experiments. To demonstrate its broad usability, we showcase benchmarks on three standard learning tasks: $\ell_2$-regularized logistic regression, Lasso, and ResNet18 training for image classification. These benchmarks highlight key practical findings that give a more nuanced view of the state-of-the-art for these problems, showing that for practical evaluation, the devil is in the details. We hope that Benchopt will foster collaborative work in the community hence improving the reproducibility of research findings.Comment: Accepted in proceedings of NeurIPS 22; Benchopt library documentation is available at https://benchopt.github.io

Symbiotic modeling: Linguistic Anthropology and the promise of chiasmus

Reflexive observations and observations of reflexivity: such agendas are by now standard practice in anthropology. Dynamic feedback loops between self and other, cause and effect, represented and representamen may no longer seem surprising; but, in spite of our enhanced awareness, little deliberate attention is devoted to modeling or grounding such phenomena. Attending to both linguistic and extra-linguistic modalities of chiasmus (the X figure), a group of anthropologists has recently embraced this challenge. Applied to contemporary problems in linguistic anthropology, chiasmus functions to highlight and enhance relationships of interdependence or symbiosis between contraries, including anthropology’s four fields, the nature of human being and facets of being human

AGATHE: A tool for personalized rehabilitation of cognitive functions

Stroke, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's... Every year in France, tens of thousands of people fall victim to one of those neurological pathologies. Acquired brain injury leads to cognitive impairment and heavy loss of autonomy. Rehabilitation interventions are needed to enable people to recover capacity and return to Activities of Daily Living (ADL), such as grocery shopping. Unfortunately, the resources made available in cognitive rehabilitation are insufficient for the growing needs of victims of brain damage. The assets of virtual reality to address this big problem of public health are today scientifically recognized [Rizzo and Kim 2005; Klinger, et al. 2010]. In this context, we designed the AGATHE tool (Adaptable, configurable and upgradable tool for the generation of personalized therapeutic applications in cognitive rehabilitation) (AGATHE project, ANR-09-TECS-002).French National Research Agency (ANR) Laval Agglomération et Conseil Général de la Mayenn