[Typus melancholicus and melancholia: Theoretical synthesis using a clinical case]. / Typus melancholicus et mélancolie : synthèse théorique à partir d'un cas clinique.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to propose, starting from the description of a clinical emblematic case, a theoretical synthesis of the work of phenomenological psychopathology dedicated to melancholia and typus melancholicus (TM), a clinical concept that describes the premorbid personality vulnerable to major depression ("melancholia" for the psychopathological tradition). METHOD: This is a phenomenological analysis of a case study of melancholia, of its premorbid personality and pathogenic triggering situation. We adopt two main phenomenological keys to understand the development of melancholia: a role-identity theory and desynchronization theory. The former understands melancholia as a disorder of identity triggered by the loss of the social role with which one has previously over-identified. The latter sees melancholia as the effect of the desynchronization from the social environment that further develops into an inhibition of the cognative-affective dynamics of life. We present the case of Jonas (64 years old), whose mother (94 years old) recently died. Before his mother's death, Jonas' life was entirely orchestrated by the caring for his mother and synchronized in time with this (e.g., he used to go to her house every 4 hours, had all his meals with her, etc.). Jonas, in addition to being hyper-synchronized and hyper-syntonic, fulfills all diagnostic criteria for TM, including "orderliness", "conscientiousness", "hyper/heteronomia" and "intolerance of ambiguity". TMs attach a disproportioned importance to their social roles (or external representations of identity) at the expense of their own ego-identity. RESULTS: The passage from premorbid personality to melancholia is triggered by the death of Jonas' mother that entails a profound depersonalization. Desynchronization and role loss cause Jonas' fall into this severe depersonalization, the core feature of which is the feeling of the loss of feeling. CONCLUSIONS: This original contribution demonstrates that a clinical case can contribute to the construction and refinement of theoretical and conceptual frameworks (like princeps Tellenbach's studies). Over-synchronized tempo and over-identification with social role are emblematically in this case the two sides of the same coin. A parallelism can be established between synchronization (with the mother) and respect for the role at the expense of own identity. The clinical case of Jonas highlights a conceptual bridge between the model of melancholia as loss of social role and the model of melancholia as desynchronization.

[Anatomical contents in the Rorschach test: comparison between a population of nurses and a control group]. / Les contenus anatomiques au test de Rorschach : comparaison des réponses de sujets infirmiers à une population contrôle.

INTRODUCTION: The study of answer contents to a Rorschach test leads to numerous debates and controversies. From a pragmatic point of view, the recurrent question is to understand the meaning of a content (or its repetition) in a protocol. From a discursive and perceptive point of view, it is hazardous to give an interpretation other than descriptive and contextual. Indeed, no single interpretative theory or analysis method is able to determine with certainty and rigor a strict correlation between people's psychological functioning and the contents they perceive. METHODS: In this empirical context, we studied the "anatomy" answers (frequencies and formal qualities) in a population of nurses (n=38) matched with a control group (non-medical subjects, n=38). The Rorschach test was administrated according to the recommendations of the Integrated System. RESULTS: The average of An+Xy answers was clearly and significantly higher in the nurse population (3.58) than in the control group (0.89) and than in the three comparative norms that we selected (from 0.96 to 1.83). Concerning the formal quality, the repeated-measures analysis of variance showed a significant interaction effect: although subjects in the control group gave a similar number of ordinary, unusual and minus forms for An+Xy answers, the nurses gave more erroneous (minus) forms (1.79) than unusual forms (1.21) and finally than ordinary forms (0.58). DISCUSSION: Two hypotheses may be suggested in order to explain our findings. On one hand, it is highly probable that our results are linked to the everyday body confrontation in a nurse's job. On the other hand, we suggest that by giving An+Xy answers, nurses tend to reveal some idiosyncratic characteristics in order to show their own identity. Indeed, our nurse subjects were selected because of their job, and so they complied with the social identity that was implicitly expected. This is congruent with the complex functioning in social reality: in a social group, people will not verbalize all of their perceptions; they will preferentially verbalize perceptions that define their social identity. Conversely, if some perceptions do not comply with the subject's identity, these perceptions will be less frequently verbalized, despite the fact that they were perceived. Concerning the second main finding, the inadequate formal quality of answers given by nurses emphasizes a visual misrepresentation conditioning due to one's job. This effect is interesting from a psychological point of view because it suggests that this tendency to perceive more anatomical contents arises to the detriment of the "reality". Finally, our findings allowed us to suggest the hypothesis of the role of identity in answer contents to a Rorschach test according to the context, and to formulate some recommendations about the content use in the Rorschach interpretation.

Novel optical fiber design for low-cost optical interconnects in consumer applications.

We propose a novel fiber design optimized for short-reach interconnects in consumer applications. A detailed analysis of the optical and mechanical properties of this fiber design is presented. Results are presented demonstrating (i) low bend loss and enhanced mechanical reliability in bends as small as 3 mm diameter; (ii) high power budget margin to enable relaxed mechanical tolerances on transmitter, receiver, and expanded-beam connectors for low-cost connectivity; and (iii) high bandwidth capability and system testing results at 10 Gb/s.

[Congenital toxoplasmosis and seroconversion at the end of pregnancy: clinical observations]. / Toxoplasmoses congénitales et séroconversions de fin de grossesse: observations cliniques.

We report seven cases of subclinical congenital toxoplasmosis secondary to maternal primary infections. Mothers were infected between two and four weeks prior to delivery. The diagnostic criteria of congenital infections included: IgM antibody (Ab) (1 case); IgM and IgA Ab (1 case); a real IgG seroconversion in the neonatal and postnatal samples (3 cases); persistence of IgG Ab beyond 6 months post-delivery (2 cases). A treatment was initiated, including a combination of pyrimethamine + sulfadiazine (6 cases); trimethoprim + sulfamethoxazole (1 case). This retrospective study suggests that it is important to screen the non-immune pregnant women until delivery. We confirmed the usefulness of a combination of isotypes of antibodies for the accurate assessment of congenital infection. Finally, infected infants have to be treated and monitored clinically and immunologically during the first year of life.