Cas rare de sangsue laryngée chez un homme de 70 ans

La dyspnée laryngée représente une urgence extrême en otorhinolaryngologies. Elle répond à des étiologies multiples et reste souvent graves. La dyspnée laryngée causée par une sangsue est exceptionnellement décrite dans la littérature surtout chez l’adulte. Nous rapportons une observation particulière d’infestation de l’arbre respiratoire par une sangsue ayant entraîné une dyspnée laryngée

Organizing gene literature retrieval, profiling, and visualization training workshops for early career researchers

Developing the skills needed to effectively search and extract information from biomedical literature is essential for early-career researchers. It is, for instance, on this basis that the novelty of experimental results, and therefore publishing opportunities, can be evaluated. Given the unprecedented volume of publications in the field of biomedical research, new systematic approaches need to be devised and adopted for the retrieval and curation of literature relevant to a specific theme. Here we describe a hands-on training curriculum aimed at retrieval, profiling, and visualization of literature associated with a given topic. This curriculum was implemented in a workshop in January 2021. We provide supporting material and step-by-step implementation guidelines with the ISG15 gene literature serving as an illustrative use case. Through participation in such a workshop, trainees can learn: 1) to build and troubleshoot PubMed queries in order to retrieve the literature associated with a gene of interest; 2) to identify key concepts relevant to given themes (such as cell types, diseases, and biological processes); 3) to measure the prevalence of these concepts in the gene literature; 4) to extract key information from relevant articles, and 5) to develop a background section or summary on the basis of this information. Finally, trainees can learn to consolidate the structured information captured through this process for presentation via an interactive web application

A modular framework for the development of targeted Covid-19 blood transcript profiling panels

Covid-19 morbidity and mortality are associated with a dysregulated immune response. Tools are needed to enhance existing immune profiling capabilities in affected patients. Here we aimed to develop an approach to support the design of targeted blood transcriptome panels for profiling the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection.; We designed a pool of candidates based on a pre-existing and well-characterized repertoire of blood transcriptional modules. Available Covid-19 blood transcriptome data was also used to guide this process. Further selection steps relied on expert curation. Additionally, we developed several custom web applications to support the evaluation of candidates.; As a proof of principle, we designed three targeted blood transcript panels, each with a different translational connotation: immunological relevance, therapeutic development relevance and SARS biology relevance.; Altogether the work presented here may contribute to the future expansion of immune profiling capabilities via targeted profiling of blood transcript abundance in Covid-19 patients

A population study of clinically actionable genetic variation affecting drug response from the Middle East

Clinical implementation of pharmacogenomics will help in personalizing drug prescriptions and alleviate the personal and financial burden due to inefficacy and adverse reactions to drugs. However, such implementation is lagging in many parts of the world, including the Middle East, mainly due to the lack of data on the distribution of actionable pharmacogenomic variation in these ethnicities. We analyzed 6,045 whole genomes from the Qatari population for the distribution of allele frequencies of 2,629 variants in 1,026 genes known to affect 559 drugs or classes of drugs. We also performed a focused analysis of genotypes or diplotypes of 15 genes affecting 46 drugs, which have guidelines for clinical implementation and predicted their phenotypic impact. The allele frequencies of 1,320 variants in 703 genes affecting 299 drugs or class of drugs were significantly different between the Qatari population and other world populations. On average, Qataris carry 3.6 actionable genotypes/diplotypes, affecting 13 drugs with guidelines for clinical implementation, and 99.5% of the individuals had at least one clinically actionable genotype/diplotype. Increased risk of simvastatin-induced myopathy could be predicted in ~32% of Qataris from the diplotypes of SLCO1B1, which is higher compared to many other populations, while fewer Qataris may need tacrolimus dosage adjustments for achieving immunosuppression based on the CYP3A5 diplotypes compared to other world populations. Distinct distribution of actionable pharmacogenomic variation was also observed among the Qatari subpopulations. Our comprehensive study of the distribution of actionable genetic variation affecting drugs in a Middle Eastern population has potential implications for preemptive pharmacogenomic implementation in the region and beyond

Le cancer différencié de la thyroïde chez l’enfant et l’adolescent: à propos de 22 cas

L’obectif était de mettre en relief les particularités du cancer de la thyroïde chez l’enfant et l’adolescent, et d’évaluer nos résultats par rapport à la littérature internationale a travers une série de cas la plus représentatif au Maroc: 22 cas. C'est une étude rétrospective descriptive des patients atteints de cancer différencié de la thyroïde, hospitalisés au service d’ORL et de Chirurgie Cervico-faciale de L’hopital 20 Août de Casablanca-Maroc, sur la période qui s’étend de Janvier 1995 à Mars 2015. Nous avons recueilli les données relatives à 22 cas, qui répondaient à nos critères d’inclusion. L’âge moyen de nos patients était de 14 ans, avec une sex-ratio 3,4, la plupart de nos patients ont consulté pour un nodule thyroïdien, associé dans 22,7% des cas à une adénopathie cervicale, et dans 9,1% à des  signes de compression. L’ensemble des patients ont bénéficié d’une thyroïdectomie totale, suivie d’un curage ganglionnaire dans 31,82%. Le diagnostic de cancer thyroïdien a reposé sur l’examen anatomopathologique de la pièce opératoire, qui a objectivé un carcinome papillaire dans 95,4% des cas, et un carcinome vésiculaire dans 4,5%. Le traitement par l’iode radioactif 131 a été réalisé dans 100% des cas. Par la suite tous nos patients ont été mis sous hormonothérapie thyroïdienne. Une surveillance étroite et régulière a permis de détecter des métastases ganglionnaires chez 3 patients, et les métastases à distance chez 4 patients. Le cancer différencié de la thyroïde de l’enfant et l’adolescent est une entité rare mais agressive, son traitement se base sur la chirurgie, associée à l’irathérapie donnant un pronostic excellent

Evaluation of Conditional Transit Signal Priority Technology for Regional Implementation

This research evaluated the implementation of transit signal priority (TSP) on a test corridor along International Drive in Orlando, Florida, to see whether the implementation was successful and justified expansion to a regional implementation of TSP for bus tie-ins to the new regional SunRail commuter rail in Central Florida. TSP is a technology that provides preferential treatment to buses at signalized intersections. This research demonstrated the effectiveness of TSP in improving bus corridor travel time in a simulated environment by using real-world data for the International Drive corridor. Evaluation was conducted with microsimulation to compare unconditional and conditional TSP with the no TSP scenario. This evaluation looked at performance metrics (for buses and all vehicles), including average speed profiles, average travel times, average number of stops, and crossing street delay. Different conditional TSP scenarios of activating TSP when a bus is 3 or 5 min behind schedule were considered. The simulation demonstrated that conditional TSP significantly improved bus travel times with little effect on crossing street delays. Unconditional TSP resulted in significant crossing street delays at some intersections with only minor improvement to bus travel time compared with both conditional TSP scenarios. The results also showed that using TSP technology reduced the environmental emissions in the International Drive corridor. With a benefit–cost ratio of 7.92 in the International Drive corridor, conditional TSP 3 min behind schedule was determined to be the most beneficial and practical TSP scenario for real-world implementation at corridor and regional levels