Evidence for long-term change in length, mass and migration phenology of anadromous spawners in French Atlantic salmon Salmo salar.

This study provides new data on Atlantic salmon Salmo salar life-history traits across France. Using a long-term recreational angling database (1987-2013) covering 34 rivers in three regions (genetic units), a decline in individual length, mass and a delayed adult return to French rivers was reported. Temporal similarities in trait variations between regions may be attributed to common change in environmental conditions at sea. The relative rate of change in phenotypic traits was more pronounced in early maturing fish [1 sea-winter (1SW) fish] than in late maturing fish (2SW fish). Such contrasted response within populations highlights the need to account for the diversity in life histories when exploring mechanisms of phenotypic change in S. salar. Such detailed life-history data on returning S. salar have not previously been reported from France. This study on French populations also contributes to reducing the gap in knowledge by providing further empirical evidence of a global pattern in S. salar across its distribution range. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that the observed changes in life-history traits are primarily associated with environmental changes in the North Atlantic Ocean. They also emphasize the presence of less important, but still significant contrasts between region and life history.

Prototype of an ultra-stable optical cavity for space applications.

We report the main features and performances of a prototype of an ultra-stable cavity designed and realized by industry for space applications with the aim of space missions. The cavity is a 100 mm long cylinder rigidly held at its midplane by a engineered mechanical interface providing an efficient decoupling from thermal and vibration perturbations. Intensive finite element modeling was performed in order to optimize thermal and vibration sensitivities while getting a high fundamental resonance frequency. The system was designed to be transportable, acceleration tolerant (up to several g) and temperature range compliant [-33°C ; 73°C]. Thermal isolation is ensured by gold coated Aluminum shields inside a stainless steel enclosure for vacuum. The axial vibration sensitivity was evaluated at (4 ± 0.5) × 10(-11)/(m.s(-2)), while the transverse one is < 1 × 10(-11)/(m.s(-2)). The fractional frequency instability is

Digging through model complexity: using hierarchical models to uncover evolutionary processes in the wild.

The growing interest for studying questions in the wild requires acknowledging that eco-evolutionary processes are complex, hierarchically structured and often partially observed or with measurement error. These issues have long been ignored in evolutionary biology, which might have led to flawed inference when addressing evolutionary questions. Hierarchical modelling (HM) has been proposed as a generic statistical framework to deal with complexity in ecological data and account for uncertainty. However, to date, HM has seldom been used to investigate evolutionary mechanisms possibly underlying observed patterns. Here, we contend the HM approach offers a relevant approach for the study of eco-evolutionary processes in the wild by confronting formal theories to empirical data through proper statistical inference. Studying eco-evolutionary processes requires considering the complete and often complex life histories of organisms. We show how this can be achieved by combining sequentially all life-history components and all available sources of information through HM. We demonstrate how eco-evolutionary processes may be poorly inferred or even missed without using the full potential of HM. As a case study, we use the Atlantic salmon and data on wild marked juveniles. We assess a reaction norm for migration and two potential trade-offs for survival. Overall, HM has a great potential to address evolutionary questions and investigate important processes that could not previously be assessed in laboratory or short time-scale studies.

Effect of water temperature and density of juvenile salmonids on growth of young-of-the-year Atlantic salmon Salmo salar.

A von Bertalanffy growth model for young-of the-year Atlantic salmon Salmo salar in a small French coastal stream was fitted using water temperatures and densities of juvenile salmonids (S. salar and brown trout Salmo trutta) as covariates influencing daily growth rate. The Bayesian framework was used as a template to integrate prior information from external data sets. The relative influence of the covariates on parr growth was quantified and results showed that growth of S. salar juveniles depended on both water temperatures and densities, but that most of the spatiotemporal variability of growth resulted from local spatiotemporal variations of 0+ age salmonid (S. salar and S. trutta) densities. Further analysis revealed that the fluctuations in young-of-the-year salmonid densities are likely to dominate the effects of potential future warming of water temperature due to climate change. It is concluded that factors that could affect salmonid densities might well have a greater effect on S. salar population dynamics than factors influencing water temperatures.

The rise and fall of fluorescent tinea capitis.

The epidemiology of tinea capitis has had a remarkable change in the past 20 years. It is important for physicians to realize that most tinea capitis in the United States is caused by Trichophyton tonsurans and that these lesions cannot be diagnosed by the Wood's lamp. Trichophyton tonsurans tinea capitis is frequently misdiagnosed because the lesions mimic such common scalp conditions as dandruff and seborrhea. Further, this organism can cause chronic tinea capitis in women that may become a infectious reservoir for other family members. A negative potassium hydroxide preparation will not rule out infection with T tonsurans and cultures are necessary. Scalp lesions in children should be considered tinea capitis until culturally proved otherwise.

Nonfluorescent tinea capitis in Charleston, SC. A diagnostic problem.

Statistics gathered at the Medical University of South Carolina from 1973 to 1978 indicate a dramatic change in the etiologic agents of tinea capitis in Charleston since the 1950s. The preponderant agent is now Trichophyton tonsurans, which produces lesions that are not fluorescent in a Wood's lamp examination (long-wave ultraviolet). Trichophyton tonsurans caused 90.6% of 265 culture-proved cases of tinea capitis in the 1970s, but in the 1950s it was responsible for only 1.6% of 378 cases. The study emphasizes that cultures are necessary because the increase in nonfluorescent tinea capitis throughout the United States presents unsuspected diagnostic problems to physicians who are not aware of the change in etiologic agents.

Commercial cryptococcal latex kit: clinical evaluation in a medical center hospital.

A commercial latex kit for the detection of cryptococcal antigen (LCAT) was used in a medical center hospital to test cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum specimens from patients suspected of having cryptococcal infections. The LCAT was also performed on 8 CSF and 2 serum specimens from other mycotic infections and on 50 serum specimens from healthy controls. Of a total of 561 specimens (489 CSF and 72 sera) from 426 patients, 78 (13.9%) specimens were LCAT positive; these came from 12 patients with culturally proven cryptococcosis. Eleven of these 12 patients were diagnosed as having disseminated cryptococcosis (9 with meningitis). Fourteen other patients, all with positive cultures for Cryptococcus neoformans but nevative LCATs on sera or CSF, were found not to have disseminated infections. All CSF and sera from other mycotic infections and all 50 control sera were negative. No false positive or flase negative tests were encountered. It was concluded that the commercial kit is useful for diagnosis and prognosis of disseminated cryptococcosis, but not as useful for infections such as localized pulmonary or cutaneous cryptococcosis.

Detection of yeast septicemia by biphasic and radiometric methods.

From January 1977 to April 1980 our microbiology laboratory used a commercial biphasic brain heart infusion vented culture method for fungal blood cultures and a commercial radiometric (BACTEC 460, Johnson Laboratories, Cockeysville, Md.) method for bacterial blood cultures. A total of 668 biphasic fungal blood cultures were processed, of which 30 grew yeasts from 19 patients. There were 38,324 BACTEC blood cultures processed for bacteria, of which 184 grew yeasts from 85 patients. The overall detection time for all yeasts averaged 8.3 days for the biphasic method and 2.4 days for the radiometric method. The BACTEC aerobic bottle detected over six times as many yeasts as did the anaerobic bottle. Candida albicans was the most frequently isolated yeast in both methods, being detected in an average of 7.7 days in the biphasic method and 1.6 days in the aerobic BACTEC bottle. It is concluded from this study that the radiometric method is far superior to the biphasic method, because (i) it has a shorter detection time, (ii) it can be used simultaneously with bacterial methods, saving blood and money, and (iii) it requires no special or separate media or instructions for yeasts, thus alleviating confusion in the blood collection process.

Infections due to Wangiella dermatitidis in humans: report of the first documented case from the United States and a review of the literature.

Wangiella dermatitidis, a normally saprophytic dematiaceous fungus, has rarely been reported as a cause of disease in humans. A review of the worldwide literature yielded eight validly documented cases of W. dermatitidis infections. Reported herein is a subcutaneous knee infection due to W. dermatitidis in a diabetic man with impaired T-cell function and cutaneous anergy. Repeated cultures of the lesion were positive for W. dermatitidis despite therapy with amphotericin B. It is believed that this represents the first well-documented case of infection due to W. dermatitidis in North America, although the fungus has previously been isolated from nature in several states. The current state of knowledge of this organism, based on previously reported cases and isolations from nature, are discussed. No curative medical therapy is known for this infection, but surgical excision seems to be the treatment of choice for circumscribed W. dermatitidis infections.

Conjunctival lesion caused by Rhinosporidium seeberi.

We have described the first known reported case of rhinosporidiosis from the state of South Carolina and possibly the ninth reported conjunctival infection in the United States. Differential diagnosis of focal lesions on the conjunctiva, eyelid, or sclera includes cystic inclusions or adenoma of the various glandular structures, pterygium, pedunculated granuloma due to retained foreign body, or end-stage chalazion. Histopathologic differential diagnosis includes spherules of Coccidioides immitis.

[Combination chemotherapy with vincristine, melphalan, CCNA, cyclophosphamide, prednisone in myeloma]. / Polychimiothérapie par vincristine, melphalan, CCNU, cyclophosphamide, prednisone au cours du myélome.

The authors report the results of a prospective, multi-centre trial involving 87 patients with previously untreated myeloma who were treated by combination chemotherapy consisting of melphalan, cyclophosphamide, CCNU, prednisone and vincristine. 83.1% of patients had a high tumour mass (stage III on Durie and Salmon's classification). The response to treatment could be evaluated in 76 patients and 70% were found to respond. The median actuarial survival of the whole population is 30 months. The survival is significantly longer (p less than 0.001) in responders (median 40 months) than in non-responders (median: 17 months); the survival is significantly shorter (p less than 0.01) in subjects with renal failure (median: 10 months) than in subjects without renal failure (median: 36 months). This treatment is sufficiently well tolerated to be administered on an outpatient basis. One case of acute monoblastic leukaemia was observed. These results are similar to those reported in the literature.

Respiratory diseases in French cork workers.

A cross-sectional study on suberosis was conducted in the Champagne-Ardenne County, France, to determine the prevalence of respiratory symptoms, the level of pulmonary function, and the presence of precipitins against Penicillium frequentans. Thirteen of the 33 workers exposed to cork dust had respiratory symptoms excluding hypersensitivity pneumonitis. The respiratory symptoms were not correlated with tobacco habits or duration of exposure. The levels of pulmonary function were not significantly impaired. No precipitin arc against Penicillium frequentans was found in the sera of exposed workers. The varied symptomatology of suberosis may point to several different diseases, each with its own determining factor. In the present study, exposure to weak humidity and low level of cork dust were related to asthma and chronic bronchitis only, excluding hypersensitivity pneumonitis.