Ultralow-temperature device dedicated to soft X-ray magnetic circular dichroism experiments.

A new ultralow-temperature setup dedicated to soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) experiments is described. Two experiments, performed on the DEIMOS beamline (SOLEIL synchrotron), demonstrate the outstanding performance of this new platform in terms of the lowest achievable temperature under X-ray irradiation (T = 220 mK), the precision in controlling the temperature during measurements as well as the speed of the cooling-down and warming-up procedures. Moreover, owing to the new design of the setup, the eddy-current power is strongly reduced, allowing fast scanning of the magnetic field in XMCD experiments; these performances lead to a powerful device for X-ray spectroscopies on synchrotron-radiation beamlines facilities.

Prediction of neonatal outcome of TTTS by fetal heart and Doppler ultrasound parameters before and after laser treatment.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prognostic value of fetal Doppler and echocardiographic parameters for neonatal survival up to 30 days after laser coagulation in monochorionic pregnancies complicated by twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). METHODS: Fetal echocardiography and outcome data of consecutive cases of TTTS treated by laser were retrospectively reviewed. Hemodynamic and cardiac function parameters were collected before and after laser. RESULTS: Between February 2006 and January 2015, 106 fetoscopic laser were performed. The final analysis was limited to cases with ultrasound within 2 days before laser (n = 77) and 4 weeks after laser (n = 86). Overall neonatal survival rate was 64.9% (135/208) and 77.9% of pregnancies (81/104) had at least one baby alive. For the recipient twin, the preoperative predictors of neonatal survival were umbilical artery (UA) pulsatility index (PI), cerebro-placental PI ratio, UA end diastolic flow (EDF), ductus venosus a-wave, right ventricular myocardial performance index (RV-MPI) and CHOP score. The postoperative predictors of donor survival were donor RV-MPI and recipient UA EDF, umbilical vein pulsations, tricuspid regurgitation, cardiac hypertrophy and CHOP score. CONCLUSION: The hemodynamic predictors of postnatal survival after laser were preoperative signs of recipient cardiomyopathy and postoperative signs of cardiac overload in both twins. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Acute abdominal pain: the importance of genital examination.

Torsion of an intra-abdominal testis is a rare cause of acute abdominal pain. The purpose of this report is to highlight a case of torsion of an abdominal testis in a patient with an unusual clinical presentation, with the fortuitous diagnosis of a "carcinoma in situ" and to emphasize the role of routine genital examination when investigating patients with abdominal pain.

Electron microscopy analysis of histone acetylation and DNA strand breaks in mouse elongating spermatids using a dual labelling approach.

Chromatin remodelling steps in mammalian spermatids include posttranslational modifications of histones and DNA fragmentation. Histone H4 hyperacetylation (AcH4) establishes a chromatin state that facilitates DNA repair in somatic cells. So we sought to determine whether a similar link exists in spermatids by combining immunogold labelling with detection of DNA strand breaks, making use of gold particles of different sizes. DNA strand breaks were not detected in the vicinity of AcH4 chromatin, suggesting that this modified histone may not be involved in the aetiology of DNA fragmentation and repair in spermatids. The AcH4 reactivity, however, indicates that chromatin remodelling is distributed throughout the nucleus.

[Abdominal wall endometriosis after caesarean section: report of fifteen cases]. / Endométriose pariétale sur cicatrice de césarienne: à propos de 15 cas.

OBJECTIVE: Parietal endometriosis is an uncommon pathology. It can occur on all the scars, most often after a surgical procedure with hysterotomy. Surgical scar endometriosis following caesarean section has an incidence of 0.03 to 0.4%. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study reviewed all the cases of parietal endometriosis seen during a 7-year period in the department of visceral surgery of the Armentière's hospital center. A pathological analysis has confirmed each lesion retained. RESULTS: 15 women were treated during this period. The mean age is 32 years. All the women have one or two antecedents of caesarean with Pfannenstiel's laparotomy. The interval between the caesarean and the appearance of the first symptoms is on average of 5 years and 11 months. Only 66.6% of cases presented the classical symptoms with cyclic pain. For 66.6% of patients, the diagnosis of parietal endometriosis was suspected before the treatment. The treatment is a surgical one with exeresis for all the women. In 13.3% of the cases, the lesion is pre aponeurotic. In 46.6% of the cases, it overgrows the rectus abdominis muscle, in 33.3% of the cases the external abdominal oblique and at last a lesion overgrows the transversus abdominis and one is in an inguinal localization. The mean size of lesions is 2.48 cm. We have not notified complications and no recurrence was noted. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The local endometrial cell transplant is the most likely mechanism to explain the physiopathology of parietal endometriosis. The classical symptoms associate a painful swelling and cyclic pain related to the menstrual period, but all of these symptoms are not always associated. The contribution to the diagnosis of the imaging studies is weak. The surgical treatment has to be sufficiently wide to avoid all recurrence. No means of prevention has proved its efficiency. In 26.6% of cases the parietal endometriosis is associated to pelvic endometriosis. This localization is more often asymptomatic. Then the realization of a laparoscopic exploration is not indicated immediately.

Spleen localization of light chain deposition disease associated with sea blue histiocytosis, revealed by spontaneous rupture.

Splenic involvement by a light chain deposition disease (LCDD) associated with sea-blue histiocytosis occurred in a 55-year-old man presenting with LCDD of the kidney without myeloma. Lambda light chain deposits were demonstrated by immunohistochemistry in vessel walls and along the ring fibres of the red pulp sinuses. Accumulation of sea blue histiocytes in the cords was also present. Stiffness of the walls of the red pulp sinuses resulting from light chain deposits may have induced accumulation and destruction of circulating blood cells. Lipid catabolism with production of ceroids may have resulted in lipidic histiocytosis with a sea blue histiocyte pattern.

Noninvasive diagnosis of Caroli syndrome associated with congenital hepatic fibrosis using hepatobiliary scintigraphy.

A patient who was studied for portal hypertension had an enlarged liver and multiple hepatic cysts on abdominal CT scan. He underwent hepatobiliary scintigraphy using Tc-99m mebrofenin which documented communication of the cysts with the main biliary tree and allowed a noninvasive diagnosis of Caroli syndrome associated with congenital hepatic fibrosis.

[Human papillomavirus detection by the hybrid capture II assay with the liquid cell preservation solution Easyfix]. / Détection des HPV oncogènes par recueil sur milieu Easyfix.

The aim of this study is to validate the liquid cell preservation solution Easyfix for DNA detection of the HPV oncogene using the Hybrid Capture II method. 256 specimens were selected for the cytological study, possible biopsy and HPV oncogene search with the Easyfix fixative fluid and the Cervical Sampler transport medium. The results obtained with both mediums are comparable regardless of the cytological type. The relevance of a cytological study combined with the HPV search is stressed. To conclude, it is possible to put forward that the liquid cell preservation solution Easyfix can be used to detect the HPV oncogene using the Hybrid Capture II method.

[Results of artificial sphincter for the treatment of sphincter incontinence]. / Résultat du sphincter artificiel en cas d'incontinence sphinctérienne.

47 patients were treated since 1987 by implantation of an artificial sphincter. The majority of female patients were operated for bladder neck hypermotility. In the male population, incontinence was mostly a complication of prostatic surgery. The indication, preoperatory assessment, surgical techniques and results are discussed. During a mean follow-up of 38 months, 92.9% of females remained perfectly continent and results were good in 76.7% of males. The results are similar to those reported in the literature.

[Anatomic-clinical confrontation. Large pelvic mass in a young man]. / Confrontation anatomo-clinique. Volumineuse masse pelvienne chez un homme jeune.

The authors report the case of a gastro-intestinal stromal tumor (GIST) with unusual clinico-pathological features, presenting as a large cystic rectal mass in a young man. The differential diagnosis of pelvic masses is discussed. In light of this case, the recent literature related to the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of GIST is reviewed.

[Surgery, radiotherapy or hormonal therapy in the treatment of prostate cancer]. / Chirurgie, radiothérapie ou hormonothérapie dans le traitement du cancer de la prostate.

Prostatic cancer (PC) became the first diagnosed cancer in western men and is the second leading cause of cancer death in men. Wide utilisation of serum PSA and free PSA measurements, identifies patients requiring transrectalultrasonography (TRUS) and TRUS guided biopsies. Most prostatic cancers diagnosed today are locally limited and may be treated by radical surgery or radiotherapy. In case of disseminated disease, hormonal manipulations remain the treatment of choice. In that field, many new drugs have been designed to allow medical castration with less complications, especially regarding sexual potency.

[Holistic medicine : alternatives or complements to traditional medicine.]. / Les médecines douces : alternatives ou compléments à la médecine traditionnelle.

Official médecine, as we know it now, is about one hundred and fifty years old. By the same token, the origins of the real traditional médecine are lost in far away times. More than a century ago, we have seen doctors trained in a university setting involved in serious power games of allopathic orientation so that restrictive laws would sanction their control and their near total monopoly in the dispensation of health-care. It is therefore normal to be surprised at the emergence of other types of médecine which also appear effective in the treatment of disease and in the preservation of health. First of all, certain key words need to be clarified: <>, <>, <>, <>. There are seven main ideas behind the holistic approach and five therapeutic currents linked to it: Chinese energetics, homeopathy, osteopathy, energetic strategies and psychological strategies. Beyond the basic data, some guidance is provided as to their scientific value and validity. Finally, the application of these <> in the hospitals is reviewed, taking into account the needs of the population, legal and legislative aspects and the competence of the professionnals involved.

[Conscience, psychic phenomenons and mental health.]. / Etats de conscience, phénomènes psi et santé mentale.

The position of the mental health practitioner remains fundamentally uncomfortable confronted with a testimony of experienced facts which contredict or surpass our understanding of common sense. Neither scientific rationalism, institutional religion, orthodox freudian psychiatry, or orthodox behaviourism permits one to openly receive this type of experience without its being subject to excessive deformation by their analytical or reading-based framewords. Recent work in the psychology of consciousness, based on psychophysiological, neuro psychological and psychobiological approaches reconstitute the limits of ordinary consciousness and the consensual perception of sensory reality. They also identify the physiological substrata and the cognitive mechanisms which ally themselves to another, equally as valuable, apprehension of reality. According to this latter, psi phenomena become exceptional, but normal, experiences. It is a question from then on not to discredit but to recognize their place in personal experience, and to assist, if need be, their harmonization. Having said this, much remains to be done to soundly evaluate these experiences and to attempt to understand their real physical substrata. This does not negate the need for mental health professionals to have the courage not to abuse psychopathological frameworks or pharmacological treatment, and to give ourselves perspectives founded truly on human development and mental health.

Six-axis inertial sensor using cold-atom interferometry.

We have developed an atom interferometer providing a full inertial base. This device uses two counterpropagating cold-atom clouds that are launched in strongly curved parabolic trajectories. Three single Raman beam pairs, pulsed in time, are successively applied in three orthogonal directions leading to the measurement of the three axis of rotation and acceleration. In this purpose, we introduce a new atom gyroscope using a butterfly geometry. We discuss the present sensitivity and the possible improvements.

Implication of RARB in epidermoid (Squamous) lung cancer.

We report a higher frequency of loss of heterozygosity at loci on the short arm of chromosome 3 in human epidermoid lung tumors than in other non-small cell lung tumors. This observation together with the already known involvement of the retinoids in the development of epidermoid metaplasia and neoplasia, especially in lung tissue, prompted us to investigate by RNAase protection assays the status of expression of a gene that maps on chromosome band 3p24 and codes for the B receptor for retinoic acid (RARB). We show that expression of RARB is detectable in normal lung tissue and in most of the cell lines derived from lung tumors, including the five non-small cell lines that clearly had a non-epidermoid phenotype. Strikingly, however, only one of the five epidermoid-tumor-derived cell lines studied showed detectable expression of RARB. Of two lines derived from adenosquamous tumors, one had a clear epidermoid differentiation, and this line also did not express RARB. Taken together, our results strongly implicate RARB in the evolution of epidermoid lung tumors.

[Results of artificial sphincter in a case of sphincter incontinence in the multiple surgery patient]. / Résultat du sphincter artificiel en cas d'incontinence sphinctérienne chez la malade multiopérée.

Stress incontinence represents 77 to 91% of female urinary incontinence, 10% of witch are sphincterial incontinence. The specific treatment of sphincterial incontinence is of periuretral injections or calls for an artificial sphincter. We present the retrospect of 12 patients having undergone several surgical treatments and having at last the benefit of an artificial sphincter since 1990. In majority, these patients had been operated for bladder neck hypermobility. The indication, preoperatory evaluations, surgical technics and results are discussed. During the mean follow-up of 40.5 months, 91.7% of patients are perfectly continent. The results are equal to those of other publications.

Cloning and characterization of elastase genes from Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

A gene bank was constructed from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 and used to complement three P. aeruginosa elastase-deficient strains. One clone, pRF1, contained a gene which restored elastase production in two P. aeruginosa isolates deficient in elastase production (PA-E15 and PAO-E105). This gene also encoded production of elastase antigen and activity in Escherichia coli and is the structural gene for Pseudomonas elastase. A second clone, pHN13, contained a 20-kilobase (kb) EcoRI insert which was not related to the 8-kb EcoRI insert of pRF1 as determined by restriction analysis and DNA hybridization. A 2.2-kb SalI-HindIII fragment from pHN3 was subcloned into pUC18, forming pRB1822-1. Plasmid pRB1822-1 restored normal elastolytic activity to PAO-E64, a mutant for elastase activity. Clones derived from pHN13 failed to elicit elastase antigen or enzymatic activity in E. coli.