Gliomatosis cerebri presenting as rapidly progressive dementia and parkinsonism in an elderly woman: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Dementia is one of the most important neurological disorders in the elderly. Dementia of tumoral origin is rare and parkinsonism of neoplastic origin is unusual. We herein report a case of gliomatosis cerebri, a very rare brain tumor seldom affecting the elderly, which presented as rapidly progressive dementia and parkinsonism.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>An 82-year-old woman very rapidly developed progressive dementia and akineto-rigid parkinsonism. Brain CT scan was normal. Cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with gadolinium injection highlighted a diffuse tumor-related infiltration involving both lobes, the putamen, the pallidum, the substantia nigra, and the brainstem, corresponding to the specific description and definition of gliomatosis cerebri.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This atypical presentation of a gliomatosis cerebri, and the infiltration of the substantia nigra by the tumor, merits attention.</p

Long-Term Outcomes of the Benefit-Finding Group Intervention for Alzheimer Family Caregivers: A Cluster-Randomized Double-Blind Controlled Trial

Objectives To examine the effects of the group benefit-finding intervention (BFT) for Alzheimer family caregivers up to 10-month follow-up. Design Cluster-randomized double-blind controlled trial. Setting Social centers and clinics. Participants 129 caregivers. Inclusion criteria were (a) primary caregiver aged 18+ and without cognitive impairment, (b) providing ≥14 care hours per week to a relative with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease, and (c) scoring ≥3 on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Exclusion criterion was care-recipient having parkinsonism or other forms of dementia. Interventions BFT (using cognitive reappraisal to find positive meanings) was evaluated against two forms of psychoeducation as controls—standard (STD-PE) and simplified (lectures only; SIM-PE) psychoeducation. All interventions had eight weekly sessions of 2 hours each. Measurements Primary outcome was depressive symptom, whereas secondary outcomes were global burden, role overload, and psychological well-being. Measures were collected at baseline, post-intervention, and 4- and 10-month follow-up. Results Mixed-effects regression showed that BFT's effect on depressive symptoms conformed to a curvilinear pattern, in which the strong initial effect leveled out after post-intervention and was maintained up to 10-month follow-up; this was true when compared against either control group. The effect on global burden was less impressive but moderate effect sizes were found at the two follow-ups. For psychological well-being, there was an increase in the BFT group at 4-month follow-up and a return to baseline afterwards. No effect on role overload was found. Conclusions Benefit-finding reduces depressive symptoms as well as global burden in the long-term, and increases psychological well-being in the medium-term

Diagnosing dementia: No easy job

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>From both clinical experience and research we learned that in complex progressive disorders such as dementia, diagnosis includes multiple steps, each with their own clinical and research characteristics.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Diagnosing starts with a trigger phase in which the GP gradually realizes that dementia may be emerging. This is followed by a disease-oriented diagnosis and subsequently a care -oriented diagnosis. In parallel the GP should consider the consequences of this process for the caregiver and the interaction between both. As soon as a comprehensive diagnosis and care plan are available, monitoring follows.</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>We propose to split the diagnostic process into four diagnostic steps, followed by a monitoring phase. We recommend to include these steps when designing studies on screening, diagnosis and monitoring of patients with dementia and their families.</p

Challenges and opportunities for conducting a vaccine trial during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented challenges for healthcare systems worldwide. It has also stimulated research in a wide range of areas including rapid diagnostics, novel therapeutics, use of technology to track patients and vaccine development. Here, we describe our experience of rapidly setting up and delivering a novel COVID-19 vaccine trial, using clinical and research staff and facilities in three National Health Service Trusts in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. We encountered and overcame a number of challenges including differences in organisational structures, research facilities available, staff experience and skills, information technology and communications infrastructure, and research training and assessment procedures. We overcame these by setting up a project team that included key members from all three organisations that met at least daily by teleconference. This group together worked to identify the best practices and procedures and to harmonise and cascade these to the wider trial team. This enabled us to set up the trial within 25 days and to recruit and vaccinate the participants within a further 23 days. The lessons learned from our experiences could be used to inform the conduct of clinical trials during a future infectious disease pandemic or public health emergency

Multisite organization architecture and management for secure and QoS-aware communications between nomad users

International audienc

Thermographie courtes longueurs d'onde avec des caméras silicium : contribution à la modélisation radiométrique

Within the Ecole des Mines d'Albi, the CROMeP laboratory (Centre de Recherche sur les Outillages, les Matériaux et les Procédés) develops accurate full-field temperature measurement devices based on off-the-shelf high-resolution uncooled silicon cameras, to study for instance the behavior of metallic molds between 400 and 1000°C. The advantages of using such silicon cameras to perform such measurements are recalled.In our work, a new approach of the radiometric modeling of such a system is proposed. Firstly, a more accurate parametric model is presented, characterized by only one set of parameters, independent of the integration time. This leads to a shorter and easier camera calibration procedure and provides a system with an on-line controlled dynamic range. Secondly, the performances of the system are evaluated and improved by studying some disturbing effects. Some of these characterizations have been done in collaboration with the CIMI (Conception d'Imageurs Matriciels Intégrés) laboratory. Then CCD and CMOS cameras performances are compared with these of traditional infrared cameras.Finally, an innovative method for 3-D shape, strain and temperature full-field measurement, using a single camera-based sensor, is presented.Le Centre de Recherche sur les Outillages, les Matériaux et les Procédés (CROMeP) veut obtenir des cartes de températures précises, sur des moules métalliques entre 400 et 1000°C. Plusieurs équipes ont montré l'intérêt d'utiliser des caméras silicium dans ce contexte.Nous nous distinguons de leurs travaux par l'approche adoptée pour modéliser le système. Nous proposons un nouveau modèle, plus précis et paramétré par un unique jeu de coefficients indépendant du temps d'intégration. Il permet d'obtenir une procédure d'étalonnage courte et précise, ainsi qu'un système dont la dynamique est contrôlable en ligne. Nous étudions d'autre part différents phénomènes perturbant la mesure, afin de l'améliorer, et d'évaluer sa précision. Ces caractérisations sont en partie effectuées au laboratoire de Conception d'Imageurs Matriciels Intégrés (CIMI).Enfin nous positionnons les caméras CCD et CMOS par rapport aux systèmes de thermographie infrarouges, et présentons une application de mesures couplées dimensionnelles/thermiques, basée sur un unique capteur de stéréovision silicium