Clean intermittent self-catheterization as a treatment modality for urinary retention : perceptions of urologists

Purpose: Clean intermittent self-catheterization (CISC) is now considered the gold standard for the management of urinary retention. In the literature, several articles on patients' perspectives on CISC and adherence to this technique have been published. No studies have yet explored the points of view of professional caregivers, such as nurses and doctors. The aim of this study was to explore the opinions of urologists about CISC and to evaluate the need for dedicated nurses specialized in CISC through a self-administered questionnaire. Methods: A questionnaire was developed to explore the opinions of professional caregivers about self-catheterization and to evaluate the need to provide nurses with specialized education in CISC. Questionnaires were sent to 244 urologists through email. We received 101 completed questionnaires. The response rate was 41.4%. Results: Hand function, the presence or absence of tremor, and visual acuity were rated as the most important determinants for proposing CISC to a patient. Twenty-five percent of the urologists reported that financial remuneration would give them a greater incentive to propose CISC. The lack of dedicated nurses was reported by half of the urologists as a factor preventing them from proposing CISC. A meaningful number of urologists thought that patients perceive CISC as invasive and unpleasant. Although most urologists would choose CISC as a treatment option for themselves, almost 1 urologist out of 5 would prefer a permanent catheter. Conclusions: This questionnaire gave valuable insights into urologists' perceptions of CISC, and could serve as the basis for a subsequent broader international study. Further research should also focus on the opinions of nurses and other caregivers involved in incontinence management. Apart from financial remuneration, it is also clear that ensuring sufficient expertise and time for high-quality CISC care is important. This could be a potential role for dedicated nurses

Measuring the dynamic shear modulus of poroelastic foams in the audible frequency range

International audienceThe prediction of acoustical properties of multilayered systems including poroelastic layers using the full Biot theory is in principle possible but in practice limited by the absence of material data. One of the parameters that is difficult to measure is the dynamic rigidity of the porous frame. Current experimental methods are limited to the lower part of the audible frequency range 1 (typically below 400 Hz) and require special shapes of the sample (cube, cylindrical rod or very thin samples). Since most sound absorbing plastic foams are viscoelastic, the elastic moduli may vary strongly with frequency, a measuring technique in the full audible frequency range is needed. Recently 2 a new method for the measurement of the dynamic shear modulus of the frame of poroelastic foams in the medium and high audible frequency range (1 to 4 kHz) has been presented This method is based on the measurement of the velocity and the damping of a Rayleigh-type surface wave on sample with thickness larger than the Rayleigh wave penetration depth. The Rayleigh wave was excited through direct mechanical excitation of the frame or the porous material and detected using a laser-doppler vibrometer. The velocity of this wave is closely related to the shear velocity, which is directly linked to the shear modulus. The damping of the Rayleigh wave can be used to determine the imaginary part of the shear modulus.In this work a first attempt is made to measure the dynamic shear modulus on a layer of finite thickness. In this way there is no requirement whatsoever concerning the shape of the sample under investigation

Acoustical measurement of the shear modulus for thin porous layers

International audienceSimulations performed with the Biot theory show that for thin porous layers, a shear mode of the structure can be induced by a point-source in air located close to the layer. The simulations show that this mode is present around frequencies where the quarter wavelength of the shear Biot wave is equal to the thickness of the samples and show that it can be acoustically detected from the fast variations with frequency of the location of a pole of the reflection coefficient close to grazing incidence. The mode has been detected with this method for two reticulated plastic foams. For one of the foams studied, the velocity and the damping of the Rayleigh wave have been measured on a thicker layer of the same medium at higher frequencies, giving a real part of the shear modulus close to the one obtained from the measured location of the pole. The strong coupling of the shear mode with the acoustic field in air allows the measurement of the shear modulus without mechanical excitation

Assessment of the susceptibility to pests and diseases of 36 apple cultivars in four low-input organic orchards in France

One of the keystones of the organic orchard is the cultivar choice as one element of pest and disease control. However, few exhaustive data sets concerning the cultivar susceptibility to pests and diseases are available for growers. In order to identify cultivars adapted to organic production methods, the susceptibility to scab, aphids and powdery mildew and the agronomic properties of 36 cultivars were assessed in four French sites under different pedo-climatic conditions. Different levels of susceptibility to scab were observed for 23 scab Vf-resistant and 13 other cultivars. In the North of France where Vf resistance is overcome, the Vf cultivars displayed different levels of scab severity. A high variability in the susceptibility to aphids was observed whereas susceptibility to powdery mildew varied less. The analysis of susceptibility properties, yield and fruit quality, fruit storability and tree behaviour permitted to identify a set of interesting cultivars according to the site

Guided elastic waves in porous materials saturated by air under Lamb conditions

International audienceThe propagation of guided elastic waves in porous materials saturated by air under Lamb conditions is studied theoretically and experimentally. The modes are derived from expressing the boundary conditions on the normal and tangential stresses and the displacements at the interfaces between the porous layer and the surrounding fluid. The stresses and the fluid pressure inside the porous medium are obtained from Biot's equations of poroelasticity. Symmetrical and antisymmetrical modes are found when the porous layer is loaded by the same fluid on both sides. Damping mechanisms include viscous and thermal exchanges between the solid and the fluid, in addition to the classical structural damping. Using an experimental setup based on the generation of standing waves in the layer and taking the spatial Fourier transform of the displacement profile, the phase velocities of three modes were measured for two porous materials in a frequency range between 80 Hz and 4 kHz. The measurements confirm the theoretical predictions and provide information on the shear modulus of a sound-absorbing material in a wide frequency range

Non-smooth contact dynamic approach for railway engineering: investigation of ballast behaviour under stabilisation process

Railway maintenance procedures include the stabilisation of ballasted tracks. The procedure of dynamic stabilisation which consists in vibrating laterally the rail while applying a vertical load is analysed using a discrete element code based on non-smooth contact dynamics. The ballast stones are modelled realistically using polyhedrons based on real ballast stones scans. The evolution of the compaction level and contact number between particles is analysed during the dynamic stabilisation process. A model is proposed to predict settlement. The results of simulation show the effectiveness of this maintenance procedure. It also points out the relevance of the model to predict settlement

Genome-wide analysis of the AP2/ERF superfamily in apple and transcriptional evidence of ERF involvement in scab pathogenesis

The APETALA2 (AP2)/ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR (ERF) superfamily of transcriptional regulators is involved in several growth, development and stress responses processes in higher plants. Currently, the available information on the biological roles of AP2/ERF genes is derived from Arabidopsis thaliana. In the present work, we have investigated genomic and transcriptional aspects of AP2/ERF genes in the economically important perennial species, Malus ×domestica. We have identified 259 sequences containing at least one ERF domain in apple genome. The vast majority of the putative proteins display predicted nuclear localization, compatible with a biological role in transcription regulation. The AP2 and ERF families are greatly expanded in apple. Whole-genome analyses in other plant species have identified a single genomic sequence with divergent ERF, whereas in apple seven soloists are present. In the apple genome, the most noteworthy expansion occurred in sub-groups V, VIII and IX of the ERF family. Expression profiling analyses have revealed the association of ripening-involved ERF genes to scab (Venturia inequalis) pathogenesis in the susceptible Gala cultivar, indicating that gene expansion processes were accompanied by functional divergence. The presented analyses of AP2/ERF genes in apple provide evidences of shared ethylene-mediated signaling pathways in ripening and disease responses

ÉVALUATION DE LA SENSIBILITÉ AUX BIOAGRESSEURS DE 36 VARIÉTÉS DE POMMIERS DANS UN RÉSEAU DE PARCELLES BIOLOGIQUES À FAIBLES INTRANTS

Les bioagresseurs sont une des principales limites à la production de pomme dans les systèmes conduits en AB et à faibles niveaux d’intrants. Une des clefs du contrôle des bioagresseurs dans ces vergers est le choix des variétés (Trapman et Jansonius, 2008). La variabilité de l’expression de la sensibilité variétale peut être appréhendée grâce à un réseau multi-site pluri-annuel. Quatre parcelles de pommier biologique conduites de manière semi-extensive ont été plantées en 2002 afin d’identifier des variétés d’intérêts pour les systèmes à faible intrants. 36 variétés ont été suivies afin d’évaluer conjointement leur sensibilité à la tavelure, aux pucerons et à l’oïdium.La thématique de cette étude initiée en 2002 se trouve être au coeur des questionnements récents sur la réduction des intrants en arboriculture (programme ECOPHYTO 2018). Cette étude souligne (1) la spécificité des variétés intéressantes pour un site donné, (2) l’apparation dans certains cas de maladies considérées comme anecdoctiques, (3) l’intérêt de dispositifs multi-sites et d’observations pluriannuelles pour évaluer avec fiabilité la sensibilité aux bioagresseurs, (4) la méthodologie adaptée à cette problématique (méthode de notation, type de dispositif, etc)

Using whole-genome SNP data to reconstruct a large multi-generation pedigree in apple germplasm

Background Apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.) is one of the most important fruit tree crops of temperate areas, with great economic and cultural value. Apple cultivars can be maintained for centuries in plant collections through grafting, and some are thought to date as far back as Roman times. Molecular markers provide a means to reconstruct pedigrees and thus shed light on the recent history of migration and trade of biological materials. The objective of the present study was to identify relationships within a set of over 1400 mostly old apple cultivars using whole-genome SNP data (~253K SNPs) in order to reconstruct pedigrees. Results Using simple exclusion tests, based on counting the number of Mendelian errors, more than one thousand parent-offspring relations and 295 complete parent-offspring families were identified. Additionally, a grandparent couple was identified for the missing parental side of 26 parent-offspring pairings. Among the 407 parent-offspring relations without a second identified parent, 327 could be oriented because one of the individuals was an offspring in a complete family or by using historical data on parentage or date of recording. Parents of emblematic cultivars such as 'Ribston Pippin', 'White Transparent' and 'Braeburn' were identified. The overall pedigree combining all the identified relationships encompassed seven generations and revealed a major impact of two Renaissance cultivars of French and English origin, namely 'Reinette Franche' and 'Margil', and one North-Eastern Europe cultivar from the 1700s, 'Alexander'. On the contrary, several older cultivars, from the Middle Ages or the Roman times, had no, or only single, identifiable offspring in the set of studied accessions. Frequent crosses between cultivars originating from different European regions were identified, especially from the 19th century onwards. Conclusions The availability of over 1400 apple genotypes, previously filtered for genetic uniqueness and providing a broad representation of European germplasm, has been instrumental for the success of this large pedigree reconstruction. It enlightens the history of empirical selection and recent breeding of apple cultivars in Europe and provides insights to speed-up future breeding and selection