Prepregnancy body mass index and resting metabolic rate during pregnancy.

AIM: The resting metabolic rate (RMR) varies among pregnant women. The factors responsible for this variability are unknown. This study aimed to assess the influence of the prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) on the RMR during late pregnancy. METHODS: RMR, height, weight, and total (TEE) and activity (AEE) energy expenditures were measured in 46 healthy women aged 31 ± 5 years (mean ± SD) with low (<19.8), normal (19.8-26.0), and high (>26.0) prepregnancy BMI at 38.2 ± 1.5 weeks of gestation (t(gest)) and 40 ± 7 weeks postpartum (t(post)) (n = 27). RESULTS: The mean t(gest) RMR for the low-, normal-, and high-BMI groups was 1,373, 1,807, and 2,191 kcal/day, respectively (p = 0.001). The overall mean t(gest) RMR was 316 ± 183 kcal/day (21%), higher than the overall mean t(post) value and this difference was correlated with gestational weight gain (r = 0.78, p < 0.001). The scaled metabolic rate by allometry (RMR/kilograms⁰·⁷³) was similar in the low-, normal-, and high-BMI groups, respectively (p = 0.45). Changes in t(gest) TEE closely paralleled changes in t(gest) RMR (r = 0.84, p < 0.001). AEE was similar among the BMI groups. CONCLUSION: The RMR is significantly increased in the third trimester of pregnancy. The absolute gestational RMR is higher in women with high prepregnancy BMI due to increased body weight. The scaled metabolic rate (RMR/kilograms⁰·⁷³) is similar among the BMI groups of pregnant women.

Recueil des lois, ordonnances, décrets et règlements relatifs aux alignements, à l'expropriation pour cause d'utilité publique, spécialement dans les voies de Paris / dressé sous la direction de M. Alphand,... par MM. A. Deville,... L. Rez,...

[Acte royal. 1607-1885]

Prevalence of measured and self-reported multimorbidity in the Swiss-CoLaus population-based study

Introduction: The prevalence of multimorbidity (MM) in hospitalized patients is increasing and recognized as an important factor that may modify the strategies of treatment and increase the length of stay. Little is currently known about the prevalence of MM in the general population and if measured or self-reported diseases are different in the outpatient setting compared to hospitalized patients. The objective of the study was, therefore, to assess the prevalence of self-reported and measured MM in representative sample of the general population aged 35-75 years in Switzerland. Method: Data were obtained from the population based CoLaus Study: 3712 participants (1965 women, 50±9 years). MM was defined as presenting >=2 morbidities according to a list of 27 items (either measured or self-reported data, according to Barret et al.) or a Functional Comorbidity Index (FCI) (18 items, measured only). Results: The prevalence of MM according to these three definitions is summarized in the table 1. For all definitions prevalence of MM was higher in women, elderly participants, those with lower education levels, Swiss nationals, former smokers and obese participants. The prevalence of MM when measured data were used was significantly higher than according to self-reported (p<0.001). Multivariate analysis confirmed most of these associations, except that no difference was found for educational level and for overweight participants. Conclusion: The prevalence of MM is high in the general population, ranging from 13.8 and 50.3% even in the younger age group. The prevalence is higher in women, and increases with age and weight. The prevalence varies considerably according to the definition and is lower when using self-reported compared to measured data.

[8 lettres autographes signées de Jules Barbier à Henri Heugel, 1885]

13 avril : au sujet de ses droits d'auteur. - 13 mai : remerciements. - 12 juillet : L'informe s'être rendu chez lui pour procéder aux remises d'argent. Déclare être "à la veille de conclure une affaire qui [lui] permettra de faire honneur à tous ses engagements". - 17 juillet : Au sujet du "Timbre d'argent" qui ne trouve pas d'éditeur : "Je regrette pour Saint-Saëns et pour moi que ce pauvre "Timbre" ne soit pas entre les mains d'un croyant qui l'aurait certainement fait vibrer.". - 28 août : Lui adresse un article pour le "Ménestrel". - 15 septembre : Lui recommande une artiste du chant, Mademoiselle Maindron. - 12 novembre : "Je viens d'entendre le duo de Boussy chanté par Madame de Lanchâtre et sa fille. C'est tout simplement adorable". - 1er décembre : remerciements

The validity of clinical diagnoses of dementia in a group of consecutively autopsied memory clinic patients.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies show that up to 10% of individuals aged 65 years and older suffer from dementia, most commonly from dementia of the Alzheimer Type (DAT) (1). Clinicopathological studies are critical to our understanding of this disease and improving the accuracy of clinical diagnoses. OBJECTIVES: Our objectives were to examine the validity of clinical diagnoses of DAT, to determine the prevalence of different forms of dementia in this sample, and to investigate the relationship between age at death and polymorbidity. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Clinical data were available from 221 patients who had been examined at the Basel Memory Clinic between 1986 and 1996. From this population, 34% (75 patients) were autopsied in the Department of Pathology, University Hospital Basel, and neuropathological examinations were additionally performed on 62 (83%) of these patients. Clinical and neuropathological data were retrospectively compared. RESULTS: 67.8% of the neuropathologically examined patients received a definitive diagnosis of AD (Alzheimer's disease), vascular dementia (VaD) or mixed dementia (AD and VaD). AD alone or with other histopathological hallmarks of dementia was the most prevalent neuropathological diagnosis (63%). VaD was deemed the only cause of dementia in only 4.8% of patients. The sensitivity for DAT was 75.9%, the specificity 60.6%. Increasing age was associated with an increasing number of clinical and neuropathological diagnoses. CONCLUSION: The sensitivity and specificity of the clinical diagnoses of DAT found in our study are similar to previous reports (2-5). Older patients had more etiologies of their dementia than younger patients. This study reaffirms the need for internationally accepted criteria for clinical and neuropathological diagnoses, as well as further clinical-neuropathological investigations to further refine the clinical diagnostic process.

Association entre consommation d'alcool et facteurs de risque cardiovasculaire: une étude sur la population lausannoise. [Association between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular risk factors: a narrative review]

Alors que la consommation modérée d'alcool est liée à un risque plus faible de développer une maladie coronarienne, l'impact d'une consommation plus importante d'alcool sur les facteurs de risque cardiovasculaire (FRCV) et la maladie coronarienne est moins clair. Nous avons étudié l'association entre la consommation d'alcool, les FRCV et l'estimation du risque à dix ans de faire un événement cardiovasculaire dans l'étude populationnelle lausannoise CoLaus. Dans cette étude, 73% des participants consomment de l'alcool, 16% consomment de 14 à 34 unités d'alcool par semaine et 2% consomment 35 unités ou plus par semaine. Cet article montre notamment l'impact d'une consommation importante d'alcool sur les FRCVet passe en revue les liens entre la consommation d'alcool, le type de boissons et les FRCV. [Abstract] Moderate alcohol consumption has been associated with lower coronary heart disease (CHD) risk. However, the impact of higher alcohol consumption on cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) is conflicting. We examined the association between alcohol consumption, CVRFs and the estimated 10-year CHD risk in the population-based CoLaus study in Lausanne, Switzerland. Among 5'769 participants without cardiovascular disease, 73% of the participants were alcohol drinkers; 16% consumed 14-34 drinks/week and 2% consumed >= 35 drinks/week. This article shows the impact of high alcohol consumption on CVRFs and reviews the literature on the associations between alcohol consumption and CVRFs.

[Archives de la parole]. , [Rossignolet du bois joli] : [chanson] / [Ferdinand Brunot], collecteur ; [Pierre Pearron, 68 ans, scieur de long], chant. [Voilà six mois que c'était le printemps] : [chanson de la bergère] / [Ferdinand Brunot], collecteur ; [Justin Lory, tonnelier], chant

[Traditions. France. Berry]

Parâmetros populacionais da raça ovina Santa Inês no Brasil

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a estrutura populacional de ovinos da raça Santa Inês criados no Brasil. Foram utilizados dados de pedigree de 13.216 animais, pertencentes a 53 rebanhos de oito estados brasileiros, nascidos no período de 1976 a 2010. O programa Endog foi utilizado para análise do pedigree e estimação dos parâmetros populacionais. Do total de animais estudados, 80,86% apresentaram pedigree na primeira ascendência, 73,78% na segunda e 67,75% na terceira. O número máximo de gerações conhecidas foi de 19, e a média de gerações equivalentes foi de 4,67. A média do intervalo de gerações foi de 3,22±1,77 anos. O tamanho efetivo da população apresentou média de 172,5 animais. O número de animais fundadores foi 829, mas o número efetivo de fundadores foi apenas 50. Os 17 principais ancestrais explicaram 50% da variabilidade genética total. O coeficiente médio de relação foi de 3,87% e o de endogamia, de 6,92%. Apesar do satisfatório coeficiente médio de endogamia nas últimas gerações, este coeficiente requer monitoramento por sua proximidade do limite recomendável. O fluxo de genes entre os rebanhos é o principal fator para o aumento do tamanho efetivo e a manutenção da variabilidade genética da raça Santa Inês.

Quantitative modelling of transcription factor binding sites

Abstract One of the most important issues in molecular biology is to understand regulatory mechanisms that control gene expression. Gene expression is often regulated by proteins, called transcription factors which bind to short (5 to 20 base pairs),degenerate segments of DNA. Experimental efforts towards understanding the sequence specificity of transcription factors is laborious and expensive, but can be substantially accelerated with the use of computational predictions. This thesis describes the use of algorithms and resources for transcriptionfactor binding site analysis in addressing quantitative modelling, where probabilitic models are built to represent binding properties of a transcription factor and can be used to find new functional binding sites in genomes. Initially, an open-access database(HTPSELEX) was created, holding high quality binding sequences for two eukaryotic families of transcription factors namely CTF/NF1 and LEFT/TCF. The binding sequences were elucidated using a recently described experimental procedure called HTP-SELEX, that allows generation of large number (> 1000) of binding sites using mass sequencing technology. For each HTP-SELEX experiments we also provide accurate primary experimental information about the protein material used, details of the wet lab protocol, an archive of sequencing trace files, and assembled clone sequences of binding sequences. The database also offers reasonably large SELEX libraries obtained with conventional low-throughput protocols.The database is available at http://wwwisrec.isb-sib.ch/htpselex/ and and ftp://ftp.isrec.isb-sib.ch/pub/databases/htpselex. The Expectation-Maximisation(EM) algorithm is one the frequently used methods to estimate probabilistic models to represent the sequence specificity of transcription factors. We present computer simulations in order to estimate the precision of EM estimated models as a function of data set parameters(like length of initial sequences, number of initial sequences, percentage of nonbinding sequences). We observed a remarkable robustness of the EM algorithm with regard to length of training sequences and the degree of contamination. The HTPSELEX database and the benchmarked results of the EM algorithm formed part of the foundation for the subsequent project, where a statistical framework called hidden Markov model has been developed to represent sequence specificity of the transcription factors CTF/NF1 and LEF1/TCF using the HTP-SELEX experiment data. The hidden Markov model framework is capable of both predicting and classifying CTF/NF1 and LEF1/TCF binding sites. A covariance analysis of the binding sites revealed non-independent base preferences at different nucleotide positions, providing insight into the binding mechanism. We next tested the LEF1/TCF model by computing binding scores for a set of LEF1/TCF binding sequences for which relative affinities were determined experimentally using non-linear regression. The predicted and experimentally determined binding affinities were in good correlation.

Aktiivinen melunvaimennus ampumaradalla

Aktiivinen melunvaimennus (active noise control, ANC) onkauan tunnettu ja sovellettu tekniikka. Kuitenkaan sitä ei ole aiemmin sovellettu impulssimaiseen satunnaiseen meluun. Tässä diplomityössä tutkitaan aktiivisenmelunvaimennuksen soveltuvuutta ampumaradan melunvaimennukseen. Ampumarata äärimmäisenä tapauksena asettaa korkean vaatimustason laitteistolle ja sen komponenteille. Suurin haaste on etsiä sopivat laitteiston komponentit, jotka tuottavat ja kestävät suurta äänenpainetasoa. Myös muuttuvat sääolosuhteet asettavat vaatimuksensa laitteiden mekaaniselle kestävyydelle sekä säänkestävyydelle. Työssä paneuduttiin erityisesti selvittämään, mitä kaupallisesti saatavilla olevia komponentteja voidaan hyödyntää aktiiviseen impulssimelunvaimennusjärjestelmään. Kaupallisten komponenttien soveltuvuutta aktiiviseen impulssimelunvaimennukseen analysoitiin laboratorio- ja kenttämittauksin. Työssä esitetään myös tulokset yksinkertaisella koelaitteistolla saavutetusta vaimennuksesta kenttäolosuhteissa.

Visual vertigo: an observational case series of eleven patients.

BACKGROUND: Dizziness is a common symptom which is frequently due to either peripheral or central vestibular dysfunction. However, some patients may lack typical signs suggesting a vestibular or cerebellar lesion and they mostly complain of vertigo or posture imbalance induced by visual stimulation. The symptoms immediately improve either on cessation of the visual input or upon closure of the eyes. Such a presentation is typical of visual vertigo. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From 1993 to 2003, 242 patients were examined for either "vertigo" or "dizziness". The diagnosis of visual vertigo was based on both history and clinical examination and was present in 11 patients. RESULTS: Visual vertigo was diagnosed in 11/242 patients (4.5 %). Age range was 31 - 77 years (mean 47 years) with a sex ratio of 8 females for 3 males. Neuro-ophthalmological examination was normal in all cases. CONCLUSIONS: Visual vertigo is not a rare condition but the disease is underdiagnosed. The symptoms result from a mismatch between vestibular, proprioceptive and visual inputs. Neuro-ophthalmological, neurological and neuro-otological examination are often normal or not relevant and the diagnosis is largely based on history. It is important to recognize this entity because the symptoms might improve if the patients are treated with psycho-motor rehabilitation.

Nappe geometry in the Western Swiss Alps

Detailed geological mapping during the last 20 years in the Western Swiss Alps has shown clearly that most of the lower basement nappes are fold nappes possessing normal and inverted limbs. Moreover their cores are made of strongly deformed gneisses indicating that important ductile strain took place during the formation of the fold nappes. It is therefore probably wrong to imagine deep basement nappes as rigid slices as often actually claimed, especially when interpreting seismic profiles. True `brittle type' thrust nappes involving basement rocks only occur in the internal and upper parts of the belt. Cover nappes, on the contrary, are in most parts of the Alpine belt thrust sheets following more or less the rules of thin-skinned tectonics. Many basement fold nappes lost part of their sedimentary cover during or just before their formation, by decollement along ductile horizons. The result is that many cover thrust nappes in the external part of the Alps are directly related to their original basement fold nappes.