Characteristics and information searched for by French patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: A web-community data-driven online survey.

INTRODUCTION: To provide information about the needs of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) using Carenity, the first European online platform for patients with chronic diseases. METHODS: At one year after its creation, all posts from the Carenity SLE community were collected and analysed. A focused cross-sectional online survey was performed. RESULTS: The SLE community included 521 people (93% females; mean age: 39.8 years). Among a total of 6702 posts, 2232 were classified according to disease-related topics. The 10 most common topics were 'lupus and …' either 'treatment', 'fatigue', 'entourage', 'sun exposure', 'diagnosis', 'autoimmune diseases', 'pregnancy', 'contraception', 'symptoms' or 'sexuality'. 112 SLE patients participated in the online survey. At the time of diagnosis, only 17 (15%) patients had heard of SLE and 84 (75%) expressed a need for more information on outcomes (27%), treatments (27%), daily life (14%), patients' associations (11%), symptoms (8%), the disease (8%) and psychosocial aspects (7%). When treatment was initiated, 48 patients (43%) would have liked more information about side effects (46%), long-term effects (21%), treatment duration/cessation (12.5%) and type (10%) and mechanism of action (8%) of treatments. All participants except one had used the internet to find information about SLE. Sources of information included healthcare providers (51%/61%/67%), journals/magazines (7%/12%/6%), lupus Websites (51%/77%/40%), web forums/blogs (34%/53%/19%), patients' associations (11%/23%/9%) accessed at 'just before diagnosis', 'just after diagnosis' and 'before treatment initiation'. CONCLUSIONS: Online patient communities provide original unbiased information that can help improve provision of information to SLE patients.

Oral manifestations of sickle cell disease.

Sickle cell disease is one of the most common autosomal recessive genetic diseases. It gives rise to abnormally shaped red blood cells with altered function, the primary clinical features being haemolytic anaemia and vascular occlusion. Acute complications are frequent and variable and include chest syndrome, stroke, infection mainly due to asplenia, bone pain and priapism. Other chronic complications which can occur are bone necrosis, nephropathy and heart, lung and skin disorders. Oral lesions are also very common and include aseptic pulp necrosis, mucosal damage due to anaemia, fungal infections due to numerous antibiotic therapies, dental eruption delays, bone pain and osteomyelitis of the maxilla, and oral neuropathies, including of the mental nerve of the chin. The oral care of sickle cell patients requires specific precautions such as good management of local anaesthetics, rigorous anti-infective prophylaxis as well as controlled prescription of analgesics. Regular oral follow-up of sickle cell patients is necessary.

Analysis of coherent surface wave dispersion and attenuation for non-destructive testing of concrete.

Rayleigh waves measurements are used to characterise cover concrete and mortar in the frequency range 60-180 kHz. At these frequencies, the wavelength is comparable to the size of the aggregates, and waves propagate in a multiple scattering regime. Acquired signals are then difficult to interpret due to an important incoherent part. The method proposed here is the study of the coherent waves, obtained by averaging signals over several configurations of disorder. Coherent waves give information on an equivalent homogeneous medium. To acquire a large amount of measurements with accuracy, an optimised piezoelectric source is used with a laser interferometer for reception. Adapted signal processing technique are presented to evaluate the coherent phase and group velocities and also the coherent attenuation parameter. The sensitivity of these three parameters with the properties of concrete is discussed, as well as the necessity to use coherent waves to obtain accurate results.