Factors Predicting Patient's Allocation to Short- and Long-Term Therapeutic Community Treatments in the Italian VOECT Cohort Study.

The Evaluation of Therapeutic Community Treatments and Outcomes (VOECT) study was conducted in 131 Italian Therapeutic Communities (TCs) in 2008/2009. All of the patients entering residential treatment for drug or alcohol dependence were invited to participate. Data regarding patient socio-demographic characteristics, drug and alcohol consumption, health and psychopathological status, prior treatments and outcomes, and their motivation score were collected upon enrolment onto the study. The aim of this work was to identify the factors associated with allocation to short- versus long-term programmes in drug or alcohol dependent patients entering TCs in Italy. Of the 2470 patients included in the analysis, 30.8% were allocated to short-term treatment and 69.2% to long-term treatment. Several factors were significantly associated with the allocation to short- and long-term treatments: unstable living conditions; entering the TC when not detoxified; a high Symptom Checklist-90 somatization score; prior cessation episodes; previous in-patient detoxification treatments; psychosocial treatments; entering the TC by oneself; and a low motivation score.

Bayesian QTL analyses using pedigreed families of an outcrossing species, with application to fruit firmness in apple.

KEY MESSAGE: Proof of concept of Bayesian integrated QTL analyses across pedigree-related families from breeding programs of an outbreeding species. Results include QTL confidence intervals, individuals' genotype probabilities and genomic breeding values. Bayesian QTL linkage mapping approaches offer the flexibility to study multiple full sib families with known pedigrees simultaneously. Such a joint analysis increases the probability of detecting these quantitative trait loci (QTL) and provide insight of the magnitude of QTL across different genetic backgrounds. Here, we present an improved Bayesian multi-QTL pedigree-based approach on an outcrossing species using progenies with different (complex) genetic relationships. Different modeling assumptions were studied in the QTL analyses, i.e., the a priori expected number of QTL varied and polygenic effects were considered. The inferences include number of QTL, additive QTL effect sizes and supporting credible intervals, posterior probabilities of QTL genotypes for all individuals in the dataset, and QTL-based as well as genome-wide breeding values. All these features have been implemented in the FlexQTL(™) software. We analyzed fruit firmness in a large apple dataset that comprised 1,347 individuals forming 27 full sib families and their known ancestral pedigrees, with genotypes for 87 SSR markers on 17 chromosomes. We report strong or positive evidence for 14 QTL for fruit firmness on eight chromosomes, validating our approach as several of these QTL were reported previously, though dispersed over a series of studies based on single mapping populations. Interpretation of linked QTL was possible via individuals' QTL genotypes. The correlation between the genomic breeding values and phenotypes was on average 90 %, but varied with the number of detected QTL in a family. The detailed posterior knowledge on QTL of potential parents is critical for the efficiency of marker-assisted breeding.

Hepatitis C prevalence in injecting drug users in Europe, 1990-2007: impact of study recruitment setting.

Monitoring injecting drug users' (IDUs) health is challenging because IDUs form a difficult to reach population. We examined the impact of recruitment setting on hepatitis C prevalence. Individual datasets from 12 studies were merged. Predictors of HCV positivity were sought through a multilevel analysis using a mixed-effects logistic model, with study identifier as random intercept. HCV prevalence ranged from 21% to 86% across the studies. Overall, HCV prevalence was higher in IDUs recruited in drug treatment centres compared to those recruited in low-threshold settings (74% and 42%, respectively, P < 0·001). Recruitment setting remained significantly associated with HCV prevalence after adjustment for duration of injecting and recent injection (adjusted odds ratio 0·7, 95% confidence interval 0·6-0·8, P = 0·05). Recruitment setting may have an impact on HCV prevalence estimates of IDUs in Europe. Assessing the impact of mixed recruitment strategies, including respondent-driven sampling, on HCV prevalence estimates, would be valuable.

Towards the differentiation of non-treated and treated corundum minerals by ion-beam-induced luminescence and other complementary techniques.

Differentiation of treated and non-treated gemstones is a chief concern for major jewellery import companies. Low-quality corundum specimens coming from Asia appear to be often treated with heat, BeO or flux in order to enhance their properties as precious minerals. A set of corundum samples, rubies and sapphires from different origins, both treated and non-treated has been analysed at the Centre Européen d'Archéométrie, with ion-beam-induced luminescence (IBIL) and other complementary techniques such as Raman, proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE), and proton-induced gamma-ray emission (PIGE). IBIL, also known as ionoluminescence, has been used before to detect impurities or defects inside synthetic materials and natural minerals; its use for the discrimination of gemstone simulants or synthetic analogues has been elsewhere discussed (Cavenago-Bignami Moneta, Gemología, Tomo I Piedras preciosas, perlas, corales, marfil. Ediciones Omega, Barcelona, 1991). PIXE has been frequently applied in the archaeometric field for material characterisation and provenance studies of minerals (Hughes, Ruby & sapphire. RWH Publishing, Fallbrook, 1997; Calvo del Castillo et al., Anal Bioanal Chem 387:869-878, 2007; Calligaro et al., NIM-B 189:320-327, 2002) and PIGE complements the elemental analysis by detecting light elements in these materials such as-and lighter than-sodium that cannot be identified with the PIXE technique (Sanchez et al., NIM-B 130:682-686, 1997; Emmett et al., Gems Gemology 39:84-135, 2003). The micro-Raman technique has also been used complementarily to ion beam analysis techniques for mineral characterisation (Novak et al., Appl Surf Sci 231-232:917-920, 2004). The aim of this study is to provide new means for systematic analysis of corundum gemstone-quality mineral, alternative to the traditional gemmologic methods; for this purpose, a Spanish jewellery import company supplied us with a number of natural corundum samples coming from different places (part of them treated as explained above). The PIXE elemental concentrations of the samples showed large quantities of calcium and lead in some cases that can be linked to treatment with fluxes or lead oxide. The plot of the chromium and iron concentration grouped the samples in various aggregates that corresponded to the different types of corundum analysed. Micro-Raman complemented the PIXE analysis corroborating the presence of lead oxides but the use of the PIGE technique was not successful for the detection of beryllium due to the low cross section of the nuclear reaction chosen for its identification. IBIL was capable of distinguishing between treated and non-treated samples of the same type based on the luminescent features of the materials.

Static mechanical allodynia (SMA) is a paradoxical painful hypo-aesthesia: observations derived from neuropathic pain patients treated with somatosensory rehabilitation.

The present study aimed at investigating the time span it takes to remove a static mechanical allodynia (SMA) in humans suffering from chronic peripheral neuropathic pain. Forty-three subjects were included in the study and, during somatosensory rehabilitation, their SMA territory was precisely mapped. They then underwent distant vibrotactile counter stimulation (DVCS) treatment. It was observed that, with DVCS, SMA disappeared in all cases, and was transformed into an underlying hypoaesthesia. It was found that the "tenderness to touch" symptom (which is SMA) was located in the same territory as the underlying hypoaesthesia, which was located on a part of the cutaneous territory of a partially damaged nerve. These results demonstrate that treating patients suffering from neuropathic pain with DVCS revealed a skin territory of denervation that was previously masked by SMA. Thus, SMA can be considered as a paradoxical painful hypoaesthesia. Furthermore, mapping SMA is a valuable source of information for our understanding of abnormal sensory processing in neuropathic pain patients. We conclude that the mapping of the zone of hypersensitivity on the skin in humans suffering from chronic peripheral neuropathic pain improves diagnosis. The mapping of the zone of hypersensitivity is a tool to presume which branch of the peripheral nerve is damaged. The location of the axonal lesions is at the periphery, while the mechanism of pain sensitization is probably central and referred peripherally to the skin by a painful hypoaesthesia.

[Peripheral neuropathic pain relieved by somatosensory rehabilitation]. / Diminution des douteurs neuropathiques périphériques par la rééducation sensitive.

The femoral neuralgia is a rather frequent and invalidating clinical disorder. It takes on many clinical forms because of the anatomical variations of the cutaneous branches of saphenous and femoral nerves. The neuroplasticity of the somato-sensory system has now been determined which allows for a better understanding of the techniques of somatosensory rehabilitation. The authors precisely explain the various stages necessary in the care of patients suffering from femoral neuralgia. The various strategies of somatosensory rehabilitation are mentioned. The authors also present a brief review of the pharmacological treatments of peripheral neuropathic pain. Lastly, the result of the somatosensory rehabilitation of femoral neuralgia (NNT = 1.8) is documented on the basis of a prospective study done on 59 patients.