Impact of the national prevention policy and scrum law changes on the incidence of rugby-related catastrophic cervical spine injuries in French Rugby Union.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Catastrophic cervical spine injuries are rare in rugby union but require close monitoring. The aim of this study was to analyse the incidence of severe cervical spine injuries and determine the impact of a national prevention programme and new scrum rules implemented by the French Rugby Union. METHODS: A prospective study was performed between 2006 and 2013 including all players affiliated to the French Rugby Union. All cervical spine injuries resulting in death, tetraplegia or a permanent neurological deficit were included. Prevention programmes were implemented from 2007 to 2013 and a change in scrum rules in 2010. To measure the impact of rule changes, results between 2006-2010 and 2010-2013 were compared using a Poisson regression. RESULTS: Altogether, 31 injuries were observed and the mean annual incidence was 1.6 per 100 000 players. There were significantly more injuries in senior players compared to junior players (3.5 vs 0.6 per 100 000 players; CI 95% (2.1 to 4.9) vs (0.1 to 1.0)). Incidence decreased from 1.8 in 2006 to 1.0 per 100 000 players in 2013 (p<0.0001). After 2010, there were significantly fewer injuries during scrums (p=0.02). In contrast, there were significantly more injuries in backs during 2010-2013 compared to 2006-2010 (p=0.003). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of catastrophic cervical spine injuries has declined in French Rugby Union. The implementation of specific prevention programmes and scrum law changes has notably resulted in a decrease in scrum injuries in forwards. This prospective study should be continued to monitor the future progression of injuries and adapt prevention programmes accordingly.

Er-doped light emitting slot waveguides monolithically integrated in a silicon photonic chip.

An integrated erbium-based light emitting diode has been realized in a waveguide configuration allowing 1.54 µm light signal routing in silicon photonic circuits. This injection device is based on an asymmetric horizontal slot waveguide where the active slot material is Er(3+) in SiO2 or Er(3+) in Si-rich oxide. The active horizontal slot waveguide allows optical confinement, guiding and lateral extraction of the light for on-chip distribution. Light is then coupled through a taper section to a passive Si waveguide terminated by a grating which extracts (or inserts) the light signal for measuring purposes. We measured an optical power density in the range of tens of µW/cm(2) which follows a super-linear dependence on injected current density. When the device is biased at high current density, upon a voltage pulse (pump signal), free-carrier and space charge absorption losses become large, attenuating a probe signal by more than 60 dB/cm and thus behaving conceptually as an electro-optical modulator. The integrated device reported here is the first example, still to be optimized, of a fundamental block to realize an integrated silicon photonic circuit with monolithic integration of the light emitter.

Erbium emission in MOS light emitting devices: from energy transfer to direct impact excitation.

The electroluminescence (EL) at 1.54 µm of metal­oxide­semiconductor (MOS) devices withEr3C ions embedded in the silicon-rich silicon oxide (SRSO) layer has been investigated under different polarization conditions and compared with that of erbium doped SiO2 layers. EL time-resolved measurements allowed us to distinguish between two different excitation mechanisms responsible for the Er3C emission under an alternate pulsed voltage signal (APV). Energy transfer from silicon nanoclusters (Si-ncs) to Er3C is clearly observed at low-field APV excitation. We demonstrate that sequential electron and hole injection at the edges of the pulses creates excited states in Si-ncs which upon recombination transfer their energy to Er3C ions. On the contrary, direct impact excitation of Er3C by hot injected carriers starts at the Fowler­Nordheim injection threshold (above 5 MV cm(-1)) and dominates for high-field APV excitation.

In vitro propagation of the gum arabic tree (Acacia Senegal (L.) Willd.) 1. Developing a rapid method for producing plants.

The method described herein permitted production of three to four micropropagules of Acacia Senegal from one uninodal explant. The explants were taken from plants produced either in a sterile environment or during four years in a greenhouse. Zeatin or 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) were mixed, at different concentrations, with Murashige and Skoog's medium (MS) of which the amount of macroelements was divided in half (MS mod.). At a concentration of 5.0×10(-5) M, zeatin produced a better multiplication rate after 60 d for the two types of plant stock than did BAP. A two stage process was necessary to obtain a rooting rate of the small cuttings close to 100%. The first stage, called induction, consisted of leaving the cuttings for 6 to 12 d on a Jordan's medium (JN) of which the amount of macroelements was reduced by half (JN mod.) and in which NAA at a concentration of 5.0×10(-5) M was added. The second stage, called root extension, required that the small cuttings be planted on this second hormone-free medium. Roots appeared after a few days. Acclimatization in a greenhouse occured with a survival rate of close to 100% when the rooted in vitro plants were transplanted to pots containing a mixture of vermiculite and top soil (1∶1; v/v).

Binedaline binding to plasma proteins and red blood cells in humans.

Serum binding of binedaline, a new antidepressant drug, was studied in vitro by equilibrium dialysis. The percent of binding in serum is high, 99.2%, and remains constant within the range of therapeutic concentrations; no saturation to the binding sites was seen. Investigations performed on isolated proteins with a wide range of concentrations showed one site with a high affinity constant (Ka = 2 X 10(6) M-1) for alpha 1-acid glycoprotein and two sites with a low affinity constant (Ka = 3 X 10(4) M-1) for human serum albumin. Binding to lipoproteins was nonsaturable, with a total affinity constant of 1.25 X 10(5) less than nKa less than 2.79 X 10(6) M-1. Over the range of therapeutic concentrations, the ratio of binedaline concentrations in serum and red blood cells remained constant (1%) and was shown to be dependent on the free fraction of binedaline in serum.

[Formation of a depside-caffeine complex during cold conservation of coffee leaf samples in a hydro-ethanolic medium. Methodologic implications for the extraction of depsides]. / Sur la formation d'un complexe "depside-caféine" lors de la conservation, au froid, en milieu hydro-éthanolique, d'échantillons foliares de caféiers. Implications méthodologiques pour l'extraction des depsides.

The depsides present in coffee leaves are not apparent upon extraction with ethanol if the plant material has been fixed in boiling ethanol then maintained at - 25 degrees C. A complex formed with cafein prevents the extraction and this artefact from cold conservation concerns chlorogenic acid and its isomers. A treatment with chloroform can break the complex and allows the depsides to be dosed. The complex does not seem to exist in living tissues.