[Distribution of surgical hydatidosis in Tunisia, results of 2001-2005 study and trends between 1977 and 2005]. / L'incidence chirurgicale du kyste hydatique: en Tunisie: resultats de l'enquete 2001-2005 et tendance evolutive entre 1977-2005.

We have performed an exhaustive retrospective study in all surgical wards (54 services in 35 hospitals) which usually carry out surgical treatment of hydatic cysts in the country, covering the period between January 2001 and December 2005, in order to determine the annual surgical incidence of human cystic hydatidosis in Tunisia. A total of 6249 surgical interventions were recorded during the period 2001-2005. The highest proportion was recorded in the hospitals of Tunis District (42.9%). The service of thoracic surgery from Ariana hospital occupies the first rank (95%). The yearly incidence rate varies between 11 and 13.6 per 100,000. Calculated over the 5 years period, the incidence rate is 63.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, which means an average yearly incidence rate of 12.6 per 100,000 [12.28-12.99]. Governorates of the North West and the Western Central regions of the country are the most endemic area with an average annual incidence rates varying between 19.2 and 33.9 per 100,000, which is at least once and half higher than the national level. After 30 years (1977-2005), the average annual incidence rate slightly dropped, from 15 to 12.6 per 100,000, proving that such zoonosis remains a problem of public health in Tunisia. In order, to control in more or less short term this heavy burden disease and public health expenditure, the only efficient way is the prevention of the diseases with a mass treatment campaign of dogs, principal host of the parasite.

Supercontinuum generation by higher-order mode excitation in a photonic crystal fiber.

We describe an experiment in which a train of femtosecond pulses is coupled into a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) by means of an offset pumping technique that can selectively excite either the mode LP(01) or LP(11) or LP(21). The PCF presents a wide range of wavelengths in which the fundamental mode experiences normal dispersion, whereas LP(11) and LP(21) propagate in the anomalous dispersion regime, generating a supercontinuum based on the soliton fission mechanism. We find that the existence of a cut-off wavelength for the higher-order modes makes the spectral broadening asymmetrical. This latter effect is particularly dramatic in the case of the LP(21) mode, in which, by using a pump wavelength slightly below cut-off, the spectral broadening occurs only on the blue side of the pump wavelength. Our experimental results are successfully compared to numerical solutions of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation.

Nitrogen fertilizer impact on the Wilmot watershed aquifer in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

The objective of this study is to estimate the soil N flux from the vadose zone to the aquifer of the Wilmot watershed (Prince Edward Island, Canada) for a typical three-year cropping rotation (barley-red clover-potato). A conceptual model estimates that 199-221 tons of N were yearly available for leaching at the watershed scale. A significant portion of this N amount was available for leaching at the end of the crop season representing 80-90% of the annual N balance. Drainage water nitrate concentrations were significantly higher after the potato-rotation year than during the crop season. Low nitrate concentrations were measured at spring thaw indicating that most of the nitrate available from the preceding potato crop season was likely leached at the end of fall or during winter. Early spring ionic exchange membrane sampling show a large availability of nitrate in soil possibly throughout winter as well, resulting from soil N mineralization and nitrification over the winter period. These findings are corroborated by the isotope natural abundance analysis of nitrate in groundwater implying that nitrifiers are significantly active during winter, as well as during the crop season, and that leaching of soil nitrates with seasonal signals takes place whenever recharge is occurring.

[Post-partum depressive symptoms: Prevalence, risk factors and relationship with quality of life]. / Symptomatologie dépressive du post-partum : prévalence, facteurs de risque et lien avec la qualité de vie.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study was to estimate the prevalence of the post-partum depressive symptomatology in a sample of Tunisian women, to study associated factors and to assess its relationship to quality of life. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a prospective study carried out in two stages: during the first week (T1), then between sixth and eighth week post-partum (T2). Depressive symptomatology and quality of life were assessed respectively by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the World Health Organization Quality of Life scale. RESULTS: In the first stage, the prevalence of depressive symptomatology in the total sample (150 women) was 14.7% and was related to age above 35 years, low school level, personal psychiatric history, multiparity, caesarean delivery or forceps in the previous pregnancy and unplanned pregnancy. This prevalence was 19.8% among the 126 women reviewed in T2 and was correlated with the exaggerated sympathetic signs during pregnancy, namely perversion of taste and fatigue. Quality of life was strongly correlated with depressive symptoms in T1 and T2. CONCLUSION: Post-partum depressive symptoms were common in our sample and were correlated with quality of life. Therapeutic measures should be proposed for women with post-partum depressive symptoms and particularly with several risk factors in order to improve their quality of life.

[Rhino-orbito-cerebral zygomycosis (mucormycosis) in diabetes insipidus]. / Zygomycose (mucormycose) rhino-orbito-cérébrale avec diabète insipide.

A case of rhino-orbito-cerebral zygomycosis in a diabetic patient treated with insulin is reported. Diagnosis was suspected because of extensive necrotic lesions of the face and was confirmed by mycologic tests. During hospital stay the patient developed a diabetes insipidus and the outcome was lethal because of the extension of lesions in spite of convenient antimycotic therapy.

[The myofibroblastic inflammatory tumours: A fortuitous association or an unknown postpartum complication]. / Les tumeurs myofibroblastiques inflammatoires : association fortuite ou complication peu connue du post-partum ?

The inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour has clinical, biological or histological features sometimes misleading with a septic condition. Presenting symptoms are variable and arising circumstances remain obscure. We report three cases occurring in a postpartum context. The first patient, a 28-year-old female, had left psoitis with a sepsis the first day postpartum in relation with an inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour of the meso-ovary. The second patient, a 40-year-old woman, had a hepatic inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour revealed by a ruptured sub-capsular haematoma of the liver in the forth day postpartum. The third patient, a 32-year-old woman, had a pulmonary inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour, diagnosed 5 months after a delivery and which recurred 10 years after surgical treatment. These cases illustrate the difficulty to diagnose inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour, particularly in postpartum.

[Undifferentiated "embryonal" sarcoma of the liver. Apropos of a case with immunohistochemical study]. / Le sarcome "embryonnaire" indifférencié du foie, A propos d'une observaton avec étude immunohistochimique.

The authors report a case of undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma of the liver, observed in a 25 year old man, in whom the diagnosis, established by histological findings, was confirmed at immunohistochemical examinations. The clinical and pathological features of these conditions are discussed.