Forty years literature review of primary lung lymphoma

There are several unresolved issues through out the literature regarding the entity of primary lung lymphoma. Extensive literature review of this uncommon pathology is carried out

Passive smoking exposure in adults and dynamics of respiratory symptoms in a prospective multicenter cohort studies (SAPALDIA study)

Résumé Objectifs : Alors que de nombreuses études suggèrent que l'exposition au tabagisme passif représente un danger pour la santé des non-fumeurs, la plupart des études s'intéressant aux effets néfastes du tabagisme passif sur la santé respiratoire de sujets adultes étaient des études transversales. Les résultats d'études longitudinales restent rares et controversés. Le but de notre étude était de mesurer les effets d'une exposition antérieure au tabagisme passif sur l'évolution journalière de quatre catégories de symptômes respiratoires dans une étude journalière incluant des adultes n'ayant jamais fumé. Méthodes : Dans le cadre de l'étude SAPALDIA (Swiss study on air pollution and lung diseases in adults), nous avons mené une étude de cohorte prospective et multicentrique. 1421 adultes n'ayant jamais fumé étaient suivis durant deux ans sur la base de questionnaires journaliers remplis durant une à six périodes de quatre semaines répartis sur deux années (1992-1993). Nous avons ensuite déterminé le risque relatif (RR) de développer ou de s'amender de symptômes respiratoires en association avec une exposition antérieure au tabagisme passif. Résultats : Dans un échantillon d'adultes n'ayant jamais fumé, nous avons trouvé une association entre une exposition antérieure au tabagisme passif et une évolution péjorée de tous les symptômes respiratoires étudiés, montrant un risque relatif de 1.09 à 1.21 de développer les symptômes respiratoires, et un risque relatif de 0.91 à 0.83 de s'amender de ces symptômes. Une exposition au tabagisme passif sur la place de travail était associée à une diminution de la durée des intervalles libres sans symptômes bronchitiques (RR 1.33) et asthmatiques (RR 1.27), alors qu'une exposition uniquement en-dehors de la place de travail était associée avec un allongement de la durée des épisodes avec symptômes respiratoires des voies aériennes hautes ou basses (RR 0.78-0.77). Conclusion : Nos résultats suggèrent que l'exposition au tabagisme passif a des effets néfastes sur la dynamique journalière symptômes respiratoires, et que l'importance et le type d'effet sont influencés par le lieu d'exposition

La spirometrie au cabinet du praticien? Pour quel patient? [Spirometry for the primary care physician? For which patient?]

Spirometry is the simplest pulmonary function test and recently became available to all physicians by means of economic and performing devices. Spirometry however requires a good knowledge of indications, realization and interpretation. Expert recommendations, regularly updated by the American and European respiratory societies, specify the necessary conditions for spirometry to provide useful information for the care of patients

Durability of structures and smart materials concept

Durability is classically defined as the capacity for long term optimized materials to sustain mechanical and environmental constraints during all the anticipated life of a system. Nevertheless the idea that the integrated and continuous sensing techniques can optimize the operating conditions is now in progress. Different aspects of this evolution towards health monitoring and “operating durability” are discussed in relation with the smart materials concept. Finally, by extension, it seems interesting to introduce the smart materials based, new concept of “adaptive Durabilit

Linear Impact Generator for Automated Dataset Acquisition of Elastic Waves in Haptic Surfaces

Tactile surfaces are commonly found on a big number of devices nowadays. Generally, this kind of interfaces lacks haptic feedback, which lowers the efficiency and perceived quality of human interaction. Time reversal of elastic waves has been studied and implemented for vibrotactile stimuli generation achieving stimuli within the tactile range. Generally, manual impulse generation methods are used to create the signals that are reversed in time, but these methods are not very efficient nor repeatable. This paper describes the development of a linear impactor and an automated dataset acquisition system to enable the future development of novel methodologies for haptic feedback generation on surfaces using deep learning algorithms

Insuline, monoxyde d'azote et systeme nerveux sympathique: au carrefour de l'homeostasie metabolique et cardiovasculaire. [Insulin, nitric oxide and the sympathetic nervous system: from crossroads to metabolic and cardiovascular homeostasis]

Epidemiological studies demonstrate an association between insulin resistance, hypertension and cardiovascular morbidity. Over the past decade, evidence has accumulated indicating that short-term insulin administration, in addition to its metabolic effects, also has important cardiovascular actions. The sympathetic nervous system and the L-arginine-nitric oxide pathway have emerged as central players in the mediation of insulin's cardiovascular actions. The underlying mechanisms and the factors that may govern the interaction between insulin and these two major cardiovascular regulatory systems have been studied extensively in healthy people and insulin-resistant subjects. Here we summarize the current understanding and gaps in knowledge on insulin's cardiovascular actions in humans, and discuss possible pathophysiological consequences of their alteration. Based on recent new insight, we propose that a genetic and/or acquired defect of nitric oxide synthesis could represent a central defect triggering many of the metabolic, vascular and sympathetic abnormalities characteristic of insulin-resistant states, all of which may predispose to cardiovascular disease

The health monitoring of composite materials: new approaches

The classical NDE techniques of periodical maintenance are just now evolving towards the continuous health monitoring of materials and structures. The on line monitoring systems have to present a small size without damage initiation risk, good sensitivity and robustness. Taking account of the relation of this approach with the more general notion of smart materials, it seems useful to extend this passive concept to a more active one specially in the case of composite materials. Effectively, if sensors are embedded in a composite structure before curing in order to monitor and optimise the processing parameters, they are able, remaining in the structure, to assume the health monitoring in the second stage of the life. Moreover, in slightly damaged systems, it becomes reasonable to use the collected results for an on line ten tative prediction of the residual life. Finally in the last stage of the life, when the material is deeply damaged, it is sometimes possible to slow down, and very rarely, to heal the damag