Astronomy from the Moon: From Exoplanets to Cosmology and Beyond in Visible Light

We review what could be astronomy from the Moon in the next decades in the visible domain. After a short review observational approaches, from photometry to high contrast and high angular resolution imaging, We essentially focus on some promising scientific objectives, from Solar System to the extragalactic domain. At the end, I add a proposal to use the Earth-Moon system to test fundamental physics. Since this meeting is dedicated to the next decades of Astronomy from the Moon, we consider projects and science objectives for several decades from now.Comment: submitte

The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF): raising awareness of the user benefits for scholarly editions

The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF), an initiative born in 2011, defines a set of common application programming interfaces (APIs) to retrieve, display, manipulate, compare, and annotate digitised and born-digital images. Upon implementation, these technical specifications have offered institutions and end users alike new possibilities. In Switzerland, only a handful of organizations and projects have collaborated with the IIIF community. For instance, e-codices, the Virtual Manuscript Library, implemented in December 2014 the two core IIIF APIs (Image API and Presentation API). Since then, no other Swiss collection has fully complied with the IIIF specifications to make true interoperability possible. The NIE-INE project, overseen by the University of Basel and funded by Swissuniversities, has aimed to build a national platform for scientific editions. There is a shared rationale between NIE-INE and IIIF who both advocate flexible and consistent technical architecture as well as providing high-quality user experience (UX) in their content delivery. Remote and in-person usability tests were conducted on the Universal Viewer (UV) and Mirador, two IIIF-compliant image viewers deployed by many IIIF implementers, in order to assess their satisfaction and efficiency as well as their perceived usability. NIE-INE was the target audience of the usability testing with a view to evaluating how scholarly research and the wider scientific community could benefit from leveraging IIIF-compliant technology. To conclude this bachelor’s thesis, a set of recommendations, based on the usability testing results and throughout this assignment, was drawn for the developing teams of both viewers, the IIIF community and the NIE-INE team members

Neutron dose and its measurement in proton therapy – Current State of Knowledge

Proton therapy has shown dosimetric advantages over conventional radiation therapy using photons. Although the integral dose for patients treated with proton therapy is low, concerns were raised about late effects like secondary cancer caused by dose depositions far away from the treated area. This is especially true for neutrons and therefore the stray dose contribution from neutrons in proton therapy is still being investigated. The higher biological effectiveness of neutrons compared to photons is the main cause of these concerns. The gold standard in neutron dosimetry is measurements, but performing neutron measurements is challenging. Different approaches have been taken to overcome these difficulties, for instance with newly developed neutron detectors. Monte Carlo simulations is another common technique to assess the dose from secondary neutrons. Measurements and simulations are used to develop analytical models for fast neutron dose estimations. This article tries to summarize the developments in the different aspects of neutron dose in proton therapy since 2017. In general, low neutron doses have been reported, especially in active proton therapy. Although the published biological effectiveness of neutrons relative to photons regarding cancer induction is higher, it is unlikely that the neutron dose has a large impact on the second cancer risk of proton therapy patients

Suggested measures for deploying IIIF in Swiss cultural heritage institutions

This white paper has been written as part of the Towards IIIF-Compliance Knowledge in Switzerland (TICKS) project, conducted at the Haute école de gestion de Genève (HEG-GE) between March 2018 and February 2019, which originated on the acknowledgements that the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) ecosystem was not enough known and deployed in the cultural heritage field in Switzerland. The white paper starts with the main principles of IIIF, notably indicating the different technical specifications, or application programming interfaces (APIs), produced by the IIIF community as well as the platforms of Swiss projects or institutions that have deployed IIIF. Going from general to specific, a generic IIIF step-by-step graph and six more precise use cases reflecting different needs of the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) sector giving implementation measures have been produced. Finally, the document contains recommendations for further action as well as some information on the possible reuse of this document for other regions of the world or for other scientific fields

Bicarbonate in diabetic ketoacidosis - a systematic review

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to examine the efficacy and risk of bicarbonate administration in the emergent treatment of severe acidemia in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). METHODS: PUBMED database was used to identify potentially relevant articles in the pediatric and adult DKA populations. DKA intervention studies on bicarbonate administration versus no bicarbonate in the emergent therapy, acid-base studies, studies on risk association with cerebral edema, and related case reports, were selected for review. Two reviewers independently conducted data extraction and assessed the citation relevance for inclusion. RESULTS: From 508 potentially relevant articles, 44 were included in the systematic review, including three adult randomized controlled trials (RCT) on bicarbonate administration versus no bicarbonate in DKA. We observed a marked heterogeneity in pH threshold, concentration, amount, and timing for bicarbonate administration in various studies. Two RCTs demonstrated transient improvement in metabolic acidosis with bicarbonate treatment within the initial 2 hours. There was no evidence of improved glycemic control or clinical efficacy. There was retrospective evidence of increased risk for cerebral edema and prolonged hospitalization in children who received bicarbonate, and weak evidence of transient paradoxical worsening of ketosis, and increased need for potassium supplementation. No studies involved patients with an initial pH < 6.85. CONCLUSIONS: The evidence to date does not justify the administration of bicarbonate for the emergent treatment of DKA, especially in the pediatric population, in view of possible clinical harm and lack of sustained benefits

Régime pauvre en hydrates de carbone et douleurs articulaires: quel rapport? [Low-carb diet and joint pain: how are they related?]

We report the case of a 69-year-old male who presented with acute bilateral ankle pain treated as acute gouty arthritis but resistant to colchicine and NSAIDs. In view of very high inflammatory parameters, septic arthritis was initially suspected but ruled out by joint aspiration; the final diagnosis was gouty arthritis. He finally responded well to a short course of oral prednisone. We found this case interesting in view of the initial differential diagnosis and association with a low-carb diet, known to be associated with many metabolic complications among which gout is frequent. [Authors]]]> Diet, Carbohydrate-Restricted ; Arthritis, Gouty fre oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_F31B6FE6921F 2022-05-07T01:30:01Z openaire documents urnserval <oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd"> https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_F31B6FE6921F The 1925 Opium Purchasing Campaign in Laos: The Anatomy of a Colonial Scandal Rapin, A.-J. info:eu-repo/semantics/other misc 2014 <![CDATA[Opium purchasing campaigns, initiated in 1915, were abruptly interrupted ten years later following the discovery that the Douanes &amp; Régies of the General Government of Indochina had been victim of a gigantic fraud. Various inquiries expedited with a view to establishing responsibility for the fiasco, involving purchases made at Luang Prabang in 1925, highlight the dysfunctions affecting the colonial civil service. The 1925 scandal revealed not only the difficulties encountered by the French in their attempts to control the drug trade, but also the prevailing circumstantial inefficiency of the colonial bureaucracy

Economics of dialysis dependence following renal replacement therapy for critically ill acute kidney injury patients

Background The obective of this study was to perform a cost-effectiveness analysis comparing intermittent with continuous renal replacement therapy (IRRT versus CRRT) as initial therapy for acute kidney injury (AKI) in the intensive care unit (ICU). Methods Assuming some patients would potentially be eligible for either modality, we modeled life year gained, the quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and healthcare costs for a cohort of 1000 IRRT patients and a cohort of 1000 CRRT patients. We used a 1-year, 5-year and a lifetime horizon. A Markov model with two health states for AKI survivors was designed: dialysis dependence and dialysis independence. We applied Weibull regression from published estimates to fit survival curves for CRRT and IRRT patients and to fit the proportion of dialysis dependence among CRRT and IRRT survivors. We then applied a risk ratio reported in a large retrospective cohort study to the fitted CRRT estimates in order to determine the proportion of dialysis dependence for IRRT survivors. We conducted sensitivity analyses based on a range of differences for daily implementation cost between CRRT and IRRT (base case: CRRT day $632 more expensive than IRRT day; range from$200 to $1000) and a range of risk ratios for dialysis dependence for CRRT as compared with IRRT (from 0.65 to 0.95; base case: 0.80). Results Continuous renal replacement therapy was associated with a marginally greater gain in QALY as compared with IRRT (1.093 versus 1.078). Despite higher upfront costs for CRRT in the ICU ($4046 for CRRT versus $1423 for IRRT in average), the 5-year total cost including the cost of dialysis dependence was lower for CRRT ($37 780 for CRRT versus $39 448 for IRRT on average). The base case incremental cost-effectiveness analysis showed that CRRT dominated IRRT. This dominance was confirmed by extensive sensitivity analysis. Conclusions Initial CRRT is cost-effective compared with initial IRRT by reducing the rate of long-term dialysis dependence among critically ill AKI survivor

A pilot feasibility, safety and biological efficacy multicentre trial of therapeutic hypercapnia after cardiac arrest: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Cardiac arrest causes ischaemic brain injury. Arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2) is a major determinant of cerebral blood flow. Thus, mild hypercapnia in the 24 h following cardiac arrest may increase cerebral blood flow and attenuate such injury. We describe the Carbon Control and Cardiac Arrest (CCC) trial. METHODS/DESIGN: The CCC trial is a pilot multicentre feasibility, safety and biological efficacy randomized controlled trial recruiting adult cardiac arrest patients admitted to the intensive care unit after return of spontaneous circulation. At admission, using concealed allocation, participants are randomized to 24 h of either normocapnia (PaCO2 35 to 45 mmHg) or mild hypercapnia (PaCO2 50 to 55 mmHg). Key feasibility outcomes are recruitment rate and protocol compliance rate. The primary biological efficacy and biological safety measures are the between-groups difference in serum neuron-specific enolase and S100b protein levels at 24 h, 48 h and 72 h. Secondary outcome measure include adverse events, in-hospital mortality, and neurological assessment at 6 months. DISCUSSION: The trial commenced in December 2012 and, when completed, will provide clinical evidence as to whether targeting mild hypercapnia for 24 h following intensive care unit admission for cardiac arrest patients is feasible and safe and whether it results in decreased concentrations of neurological injury biomarkers compared with normocapnia. Trial results will also be used to determine whether a phase IIb study powered for survival at 90 days is feasible and justified.<br /

Redistribution in the age of austerity : evidence from Europe 2006 - 2013

We examine the relationship between changes in a country’s public sector fiscal position on inequality at the top and bottom of the income distribution during the age of austerity from 2006 to 2013. We use a parametric Lorenz curve model and Gini-like indices of inequality as our measures to assess distributional changes. Based on Statistics of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) and IMF data for 12 European countries, we find that more severe adjustments to the cyclically adjusted primary balance (i.e., more austerity) are associated with a more unequal distribution of income driven by rising inequality at the top. The data also weakly suggests a decrease in inequality at the bottom. The distributional impact of austerity measures reflects the reliance on regressive policies and likely produces increased incentives for rent-seeking while reducing incentives for workers to increase productivity