Post-surgical vestibular schwannoma remnant tumors: What to do?

AbstractBackgroundVestibular schwannomas (VS) are benign tumors of the vestibular nerve's myelin sheath. The current trend in VS surgery is to preserve at the facial function, even if it means leaving a small vestibular schwannoma tumor remnant (VSTR) after the surgery. There is no defined therapeutic management VSTR. The aim of this study was to assess the evolution of the VSTR to define the best therapeutic management and identify predictive factors of VSTR progression.MethodsAmong the 256 patients treated surgically for VS in the Department of Neurosurgery at Angers University Hospital, 33 patients with a post-surgical VSTR were included in this retrospective study. For all surgical patients, the data collected were age at diagnosis, the Koos classification, the surgical access, the existence of a type 2 neurofibromatosis (NF2), the TR location and size on control MRI-scans. Patients had a bi-annual follow-up with clinical status and VSTR size assessment with MRI-scan. Survival analyzes were performed to determine the time and rate of VSTR progression, and identify factors of progression.ResultsThe mean follow-up of the population was 51 months. All VS remnant progression occurred between 38 and 58 months after surgery. In non-NF2 patients with first follow-up MRI-scan three months after surgery, 43% presented a spontaneous regression, 50% a stability and 7% a progression of the VSTR. In the same population with the 1-year MR-scan after surgery as baseline, 25% presented a spontaneous regression, 62.5% a stability and 12.5% a VSTR progression. These data are consistent with the data reported in the literature. The post-operative facial function impairment and an initial remnant ≥ 1.5cm3 were found to be significant risk factors of VS remnant progression in non-NF2 population in univariate analysis (P=0.048 and 0.031) but not in multivariate analysis.ConclusionIn our experience, the best therapeutic management of the post-surgical VSTP in non-NF2 patients with no risk factor of progression is a simple clinical radiological follow-up otherwise complementary radiosurgery should be considered

Neutron Laue and X-ray diffraction study of a new crystallographic superspace phase in n-nonadecane-urea

International audienceAperiodic composite crystals present long-range order without translational symmetry. These materials may be described as the intersection in three dimensions of a crystal which is periodic in a higher-dimensional space. In such materials, symmetry breaking must be described as structural changes within these crystallographic superspaces. The increase in the number of superspace groups with the increase in the dimension of the superspace allows many more structural solutions. This is illustrated in n-nonadecane-urea, revealing a fifth higher-dimensional phase at low temperature

Analyse protéomique des glioblastones: Quel est le meilleur contrôle?

National audienc

fbl-typing of Staphylococcus lugdunensis: a frontline tool for epidemiological studies

International audienc

Neutral-ionic phase transition : a thorough ab-initio study of TTF-CA

The prototype compound for the neutral-ionic phase transition, namely TTF-CA, is theoretically investigated by first-principles density functional theory calculations. The study is based on three neutron diffraction structures collected at 40, 90 and 300 K (Le Cointe et al., Phys. Rev. B 51, 3374 (1995)). By means of a topological analysis of the total charge densities, we provide a very precise picture of intra and inter-chain interactions. Moreover, our calculations reveal that the thermal lattice contraction reduces the indirect band gap of this organic semi-conductor in the neutral phase, and nearly closes it in the vicinity of the transition temperature. A possible mechanism of the neutral-ionic phase transition is discussed. The charge transfer from TTF to CA is also derived by using three different technics.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, 7 table

Phase Transition in a One-Dimensional Extended Peierls-Hubbard Model with a Pulse of Oscillating Electric Field: I. Threshold Behavior in Ionic-to-Neutral Transition

Photoinduced dynamics of charge density and lattice displacements is calculated by solving the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation for a one-dimensional extended Peierls-Hubbard model with alternating potentials for the mixed-stack organic charge-transfer complex, TTF-CA. A pulse of oscillating electric field is incorporated into the Peierls phase of the transfer integral. The frequency, the amplitude, and the duration of the pulse are varied to study the nonlinear and cooperative character of the photoinduced transition. When the dimerized ionic phase is photoexcited, the threshold behavior is clearly observed by plotting the final ionicity as a function of the increment of the total energy. Above the threshold photoexcitation, the electronic state reaches the neutral one with equidistant molecules after the electric field is turned off. The transition is initiated by nucleation of a metastable neutral domain, for which an electric field with frequency below the linear absorption peak is more effective than that at the peak. When the pulse is strong and short, the charge transfer takes place on the same time scale with the disappearance of dimerization. As the pulse becomes weak and long, the dimerization-induced polarization is disordered to restore the inversion symmetry on average before the charge transfer takes place to bring the system neutral. Thus, a paraelectric ionic phase is transiently realized by a weak electric field. It is shown that infrared light also induces the ionic-to-neutral transition, which is characterized by the threshold behavior.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figure

Maximizing the Products Display for Purchaser Lucidity and Alleviation in Circulation to Augment the Sale of Supermarket: Milieu of Bangladesh

The purpose of this study is to appraise the accessible products display for the purchaser lucidity which may maximizes offers and actions of business with the alleviation in circulation to augment the random sale in the arena of supermarket. The study scrutinizes a fundamental research on the context of Bangladesh and especially for the Dhaka zone. A supermarket, a large form of the traditional grocery store, is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food and household products, organized into aisles. It is larger in size and has a wider selection than a traditional grocery store, but is smaller and more limited in the range of merchandise than a hypermarket or big-box market. The traditional supermarket occupies a large amount of floor space, usually on a single level. It is usually situated near a residential area in order to be convenient to consumers. The basic appeal is the availability of a broad selection of goods under a single roof, at relatively low prices. Other advantages include ease of parking and frequently the convenience of shopping hours that extend far into the evening or even 24 hours a day. Key words: Circulation, Supermarket, Alleviation, Sale, Products, Variation, Lucidit

Inactivation of the dnaK gene in Clostridium difficile 630 Δerm yields a temperature-sensitive phenotype and increases biofilm-forming ability

Abstract Clostridium difficile infection is a growing problem in healthcare settings worldwide and results in a considerable socioeconomic impact. New hypervirulent strains and acquisition of antibiotic resistance exacerbates pathogenesis; however, the survival strategy of C. difficile in the challenging gut environment still remains incompletely understood. We previously reported that clinically relevant heat-stress (37–41 °C) resulted in a classical heat-stress response with up-regulation of cellular chaperones. We used ClosTron to construct an insertional mutation in the dnaK gene of C. difficile 630 Δerm. The dnaK mutant exhibited temperature sensitivity, grew more slowly than C. difficile 630 Δerm and was less thermotolerant. Furthermore, the mutant was non-motile, had 4-fold lower expression of the fliC gene and lacked flagella on the cell surface. Mutant cells were some 50% longer than parental strain cells, and at optimal growth temperatures, they exhibited a 4-fold increase in the expression of class I chaperone genes including GroEL and GroES. Increased chaperone expression, in addition to the non-flagellated phenotype of the mutant, may account for the increased biofilm formation observed. Overall, the phenotype resulting from dnaK disruption is more akin to that observed in Escherichia coli dnaK mutants, rather than those in the Gram-positive model organism Bacillus subtilis

Homogeneous search for helium in the atmosphere of 11 gas giant exoplanets with SPIRou

The metastable helium triplet in the near-infrared (10833{\AA}) is among the most important probes of exoplanet atmospheres. It can trace their extended outer layers and constrain mass-loss. We use the near-infrared high-resolution spectropolarimeter SPIRou on the CFHT to search for the spectrally resolved helium triplet in the atmospheres of eleven exoplanets, ranging from warm mini-Neptunes to hot Jupiters and orbiting G, K, and M dwarfs. Observations were obtained as part of the SPIRou Legacy Survey and complementary open-time programs. We apply a homogeneous data reduction to all datasets and set constraints on the presence of metastable helium, despite the presence of systematics in the data. We confirm published detections for HAT-P-11b, HD189733b, and WASP-69b and set upper limits for the other planets. We apply the p-winds open source code to set upper limits on the mass-loss rate for the non-detections and to constrain the thermosphere temperature, mass-loss rate, line-of-sight velocity, and the altitude of the thermosphere for the detections. We confirm that the presence of metastable helium correlates with the stellar mass and the XUV flux received by the planets. We investigated the correlation between the mass-loss rate and the presence of metastable helium, but it remains difficult to draw definitive conclusions. Finally, some of our results are in contradiction with previous results in the literature, therefore we stress the importance of repeatable, homogeneous, and larger-scale analyses of the helium triplet to obtain robust statistics, study temporal variability, and better understand how the helium triplet can be used to explore the evolution of exoplanets.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figures, Accepted in A&A for publicatio

Evaluating the Impact of Nature-Based Solutions: A Handbook for Practitioners

The Handbook aims to provide decision-makers with a comprehensive NBS impact assessment framework, and a robust set of indicators and methodologies to assess impacts of nature-based solutions across 12 societal challenge areas: Climate Resilience; Water Management; Natural and Climate Hazards; Green Space Management; Biodiversity; Air Quality; Place Regeneration; Knowledge and Social Capacity Building for Sustainable Urban Transformation; Participatory Planning and Governance; Social Justice and Social Cohesion; Health and Well-being; New Economic Opportunities and Green Jobs. Indicators have been developed collaboratively by representatives of 17 individual EU-funded NBS projects and collaborating institutions such as the EEA and JRC, as part of the European Taskforce for NBS Impact Assessment, with the four-fold objective of: serving as a reference for relevant EU policies and activities; orient urban practitioners in developing robust impact evaluation frameworks for nature-based solutions at different scales; expand upon the pioneering work of the EKLIPSE framework by providing a comprehensive set of indicators and methodologies; and build the European evidence base regarding NBS impacts. They reflect the state of the art in current scientific research on impacts of nature-based solutions and valid and standardized methods of assessment, as well as the state of play in urban implementation of evaluation frameworks