Modelação cinética da conversão do furfural utilizando catalisadores multifuncionais

A utilização da biomassa como fonte de matéria-prima renovável para a obtenção de biocombustíveis e produtos de consumo pode reduzir os riscos geopolíticos e de segurança energética. As hemiceluloses – um dos principais componentes da biomassa vegetal - são convertidas industrialmente em furfural (Fur) que tem uma vasta gama de aplicações, sendo, por isso, considerado um dos compostos químicos renováveis de base mais importantes para biorefinarias. Este trabalho está relacionado com a valorização química do Fur, inserindo-se no conceito da Biorefinaria e nos objetivos de investigação do laboratório associado CICECO. Foi investigada a conversão catalítica do Fur em determinados bio-produtos de interesse para diversos setores da indústria química. Em particular, alquilfurfuril éteres, ésteres alquil-4-oxopentanoato, 5-metil-2-furanonas, ácido levulínico e gama-valerolactona são importantes para a produção de bio-aditivos para combustíveis, bio-polímeros, agroquímicos, aromas e fragrâncias, solventes, etc. A conversão do Fur nos bio-produtos envolve mecanismos reacionais complexos e requer o uso de catalisadores ácidos e de redução. A realização das múltiplas etapas num único reator é importante em termos de intensificação de processos. Neste trabalho, investigou-se a conversão do Fur em bio-produtos, num reator descontínuo fechado, a 120 ºC, utilizando catalisadores multifuncionais nanocristalinos do tipo zeólito beta contendo centros ativos de zircónio (Zr) e alumínio (Al). Com base numa revisão bibliográfica, propuseram-se dois modelos cinéticos pseudo-homogéneos para a conversão do Fur. Os modelos foram testados por ajuste das equações diferenciais ordinárias, representativas dos balanços às espécies reativas num reator descontínuo isotérmico, aos resultados experimentais de concentração versus tempo do Fur e cada um dos bio-produtos. Os estudos cinéticos foram combinados com os de caracterização dos catalisadores no estudo da influência das propriedades dos materiais nos diferentes passos do mecanismo global. Os centros ácidos de Al e Zr promoveram as reações ácidas e os de Zr eram essenciais para os passos de redução. No geral, as constantes cinéticas aparentes relativas às reações ácidas desejadas aumentaram com a razão Al/Zr dos catalisadores, e as dos passos de redução aumentaram com a diminuição da razão Si/Zr. O aumento da razão Al/Zr simultaneamente promoveu as reações indesejadas, diminuindo o rendimento total dos bio-produtos.

Lhermitte-Duclos disease.

Lhermitte-Duclos disease (dysplastic gangliocytoma of the cerebellum) is a rare pseudo-neoplastic disorder of the cerebellum with typical MRI findings. A 25-year-old man presenting with progressive neck pain, dizziness, and impaired vision is reported. CT and MRI revealed a left cerebellar haemispheric mass and obstructive hydrocephalus. Lhermitte-Duclos disease was histologically confirmed after surgical removal of the lesion. The typical MRI appearance of a nonenhancing haemispheric cerebellar mass with preservation and exaggeration of the normal gyral pattern allows pre-operative diagnosis of this condition. The literature is reviewed and clinical presentation, radiology and histopathology are discussed.

Recent decrease in the prevalence of congenital heart defects in europe.

OBJECTIVES: To examine trends in the prevalence of congenital heart defects (CHDs) in Europe and to compare these trends with the recent decrease in the prevalence of CHDs in Canada (Quebec) that was attributed to the policy of mandatory folic acid fortification. STUDY DESIGN: We used data for the period 1990-2007 for 47 508 cases of CHD not associated with a chromosomal anomaly from 29 population-based European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies registries in 16 countries covering 7.3 million births. We estimated trends for all CHDs combined and separately for 3 severity groups using random-effects Poisson regression models with splines. RESULTS: We found that the total prevalence of CHDs increased during the 1990s and the early 2000s until 2004 and decreased thereafter. We found essentially no trend in total prevalence of the most severe group (group I), whereas the prevalence of severity group II increased until about 2000 and decreased thereafter. Trends for severity group III (the most prevalent group) paralleled those for all CHDs combined. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of CHDs decreased in recent years in Europe in the absence of a policy for mandatory folic acid fortification. One possible explanation for this decrease may be an as-yet-undocumented increase in folic acid intake of women in Europe following recommendations for folic acid supplementation and/or voluntary fortification. However, alternative hypotheses, including reductions in risk factors of CHDs (eg, maternal smoking) and improved management of maternal chronic health conditions (eg, diabetes), must also be considered for explaining the observed decrease in the prevalence of CHDs in Europe or elsewhere.

Unfolding nature "in silico" : overcoming practical and metodological limitations of species distribution models

Abstract : The existence of a causal relationship between the spatial distribution of living organisms and their environment, in particular climate, has been long recognized and is the central principle of biogeography. In turn, this recognition has led scientists to the idea of using the climatic, topographic, edaphic and biotic characteristics of the environment to predict its potential suitability for a given species or biological community. In this thesis, my objective is to contribute to the development of methodological improvements in the field of species distribution modeling. More precisely, the objectives are to propose solutions to overcome limitations of species distribution models when applied to conservation biology issues, or when .used as an assessment tool of the potential impacts of global change. The first objective of my thesis is to contribute to evidence the potential of species distribution models for conservation-related applications. I present a methodology to generate pseudo-absences in order to overcome the frequent lack of reliable absence data. I also demonstrate, both theoretically (simulation-based) and practically (field-based), how species distribution models can be successfully used to model and sample rare species. Overall, the results of this first part of the thesis demonstrate the strong potential of species distribution models as a tool for practical applications in conservation biology. The second objective this thesis is to contribute to improve .projections of potential climate change impacts on species distributions, and in particular for mountain flora. I develop and a dynamic model, MIGCLIM, that allows the implementation of dispersal limitations into classic species distribution models and present an application of this model to two virtual species. Given that accounting for dispersal limitations requires information on seed dispersal, distances, a general methodology to classify species into broad dispersal types is also developed. Finally, the M~GCLIM model is applied to a large number of species in a study area of the western Swiss Alps. Overall, the results indicate that while dispersal limitations can have an important impact on the outcome of future projections of species distributions under climate change scenarios, estimating species threat levels (e.g. species extinction rates) for a mountainous areas of limited size (i.e. regional scale) can also be successfully achieved when considering dispersal as unlimited (i.e. ignoring dispersal limitations, which is easier from a practical point of view). Finally, I present the largest fine scale assessment of potential climate change impacts on mountain vegetation that has been carried-out to date. This assessment involves vegetation from 12 study areas distributed across all major western and central European mountain ranges. The results highlight that some mountain ranges (the Pyrenees and the Austrian Alps) are expected to be more affected by climate change than others (Norway and the Scottish Highlands). The results I obtain in this study also indicate that the threat levels projected by fine scale models are less severe than those derived from coarse scale models. This result suggests that some species could persist in small refugias that are not detected by coarse scale models. Résumé : L'existence d'une relation causale entre la répartition des espèces animales et végétales et leur environnement, en particulier le climat, a été mis en évidence depuis longtemps et est un des principes centraux en biogéographie. Ce lien a naturellement conduit à l'idée d'utiliser les caractéristiques climatiques, topographiques, édaphiques et biotiques de l'environnement afin d'en prédire la qualité pour une espèce ou une communauté. Dans ce travail de thèse, mon objectif est de contribuer au développement d'améliorations méthodologiques dans le domaine de la modélisation de la distribution d'espèces dans le paysage. Plus précisément, les objectifs sont de proposer des solutions afin de surmonter certaines limitations des modèles de distribution d'espèces dans des applications pratiques de biologie de la conservation ou dans leur utilisation pour évaluer l'impact potentiel des changements climatiques sur l'environnement. Le premier objectif majeur de mon travail est de contribuer à démontrer le potentiel des modèles de distribution d'espèces pour des applications pratiques en biologie de la conservation. Je propose une méthode pour générer des pseudo-absences qui permet de surmonter le problème récurent du manque de données d'absences fiables. Je démontre aussi, de manière théorique (par simulation) et pratique (par échantillonnage de terrain), comment les modèles de distribution d'espèces peuvent être utilisés pour modéliser et améliorer l'échantillonnage des espèces rares. Ces résultats démontrent le potentiel des modèles de distribution d'espèces comme outils pour des applications de biologie de la conservation. Le deuxième objectif majeur de ce travail est de contribuer à améliorer les projections d'impacts potentiels des changements climatiques sur la flore, en particulier dans les zones de montagnes. Je développe un modèle dynamique de distribution appelé MigClim qui permet de tenir compte des limitations de dispersion dans les projections futures de distribution potentielle d'espèces, et teste son application sur deux espèces virtuelles. Vu que le fait de prendre en compte les limitations dues à la dispersion demande des données supplémentaires importantes (p.ex. la distance de dispersion des graines), ce travail propose aussi une méthode de classification simplifiée des espèces végétales dans de grands "types de disperseurs", ce qui permet ainsi de d'obtenir de bonnes approximations de distances de dispersions pour un grand nombre d'espèces. Finalement, j'applique aussi le modèle MIGCLIM à un grand nombre d'espèces de plantes dans une zone d'études des pré-Alpes vaudoises. Les résultats montrent que les limitations de dispersion peuvent avoir un impact considérable sur la distribution potentielle d'espèces prédites sous des scénarios de changements climatiques. Cependant, quand les modèles sont utilisés pour évaluer les taux d'extinction d'espèces dans des zones de montages de taille limitée (évaluation régionale), il est aussi possible d'obtenir de bonnes approximations en considérant la dispersion des espèces comme illimitée, ce qui est nettement plus simple d'un point dé vue pratique. Pour terminer je présente la plus grande évaluation à fine échelle d'impact potentiel des changements climatiques sur la flore des montagnes conduite à ce jour. Cette évaluation englobe 12 zones d'études réparties sur toutes les chaines de montages principales d'Europe occidentale et centrale. Les résultats montrent que certaines chaines de montagnes (les Pyrénées et les Alpes Autrichiennes) sont projetées comme plus sensibles aux changements climatiques que d'autres (les Alpes Scandinaves et les Highlands d'Ecosse). Les résultats obtenus montrent aussi que les modèles à échelle fine projettent des impacts de changement climatiques (p. ex. taux d'extinction d'espèces) moins sévères que les modèles à échelle large. Cela laisse supposer que les modèles a échelle fine sont capables de modéliser des micro-niches climatiques non-détectées par les modèles à échelle large.

Array-CGH in patients with a clinical diagnosis of Kabuki syndrome: identification of two cases with terminal 2q37 deletion and no other recurrent rearrangement

Background: Kabuki syndrome (KS) is a multiple congenital anomaly syndrome characterized by specific facial features, mild to moderate mental retardation, postnatal growth delay, skeletal abnormalities, and unusual dermatoglyphic patterns with prominent fingertip pads. A 3.5 Mb duplication at 8p23.1-p22 was once reported as a specific alteration in KS but has not been confirmed in other patients. The molecular basis of KS remains unknown. Methods: We have studied 16 Spanish patients with a clinical diagnosis of KS or KS-like to search for genomic imbalances using genome-wide array technologies. All putative rearrangements were confirmed by FISH, microsatellite markers and/or MLPA assays, which also determined whether the imbalance was de novo or inherited. Results: No duplication at 8p23.1-p22 was observed in our patients. We detected complex rearrangements involving 2q in two patients with Kabuki-like features: 1) a de novo inverted duplication of 11 Mb with a 4.5 Mb terminal deletion, and 2) a de novo 7.2 Mb-terminal deletion in a patient with an additional de novo 0.5 Mb interstitial deletion in 16p. Additional copy number variations (CNV), either inherited or reported in normal controls, were identified and interpreted as polymorphic variants. No specific CNV was significantly increased in the KS group. Conclusion: Our results further confirmed that genomic duplications of 8p23 region are not a common cause of KS and failed to detect other recurrent rearrangement causing this disorder. The detection of two patients with 2q37 deletions suggests that there is a phenotypic overlap between the two conditions, and screening this region in the Kabuki-like patients should be considered.

Petrography and geochemistry of accreted oceanic fragments below the Western Cordillera of Ecuador

The Western Cordillera of Ecuador consists of Cretaceous crustal fragments of oceanic plateaux and superimposed insular arcs, which were accreted to the northwestern South American margin during the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene. Slices of high-grade metabasites, ultramafic rocks, gabbros and basalts, unmetamorphosed radiolarian cherts and scarce garnet-bearing metasediments were randomly exhumed along Miocene to Recent transcurrent faults crosscutting the Western Cordillera. The basalts show geochemical characteristics of oceanic plateau basalts (flat REE patterns, La/Nb = 0.85). The gabbros differ from the basalts in having lower REE levels, positive Eu anomalies, and negative Nb and Ta anomalies; they are interpreted as resulting from arc magmatism. The amphibolites and banded amphibolites have major and trace element chemistry similar to that of oceanic plateau basalts (flat REE patterns, La/Nb = 0.86) or to cumulate gabbros. The granulite shares with oceanic plateaus similar trace element chemistry (flat REE patterns, La/Nb < 1) and epsilon(Ndi) values (+7.6). Continent-derived metasediments are depleted in heavy REE (La/Y = 4.8) and have a negative Eu anomaly. Foliated Iherzolites, melagabbronorites and pyroxenites consist of serpentinized olivine + cpx + opx +/- Ca-plagioclase. Lherzolites, melagabbronorites and pyroxenites are LREE depleted with positive Eu anomalies, while the harzburgite displays a U-shaped REE pattern. The trace element abundances of the ultramafic rocks are very low (0.1 to 1 times the chonctritic and primitive mantle values). The ultramafic rocks represent fragments of depleted mantle, deformed cpx-rich cumulate, and continental lithospheric mantle or mantle contaminated by subduction-fluid. Except the scarce quartz-rich metasediments, all these rocks likely represent remnants of accreted oceanic crustal fragments and associated depleted mantle. Since these samples were randomly sampled at depth by the fault, we propose that the Western Cordillera and its crustal root are mainly of oceanic nature.

Atrioventricular septal defects among infants in Europe: a population-based study of prevalence, associated anomalies, and survival.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiology of chromosomal and non-chromosomal cases of atrioventricular septal defects in Europe. METHODS: Data were obtained from EUROCAT, a European network of population-based registries collecting data on congenital anomalies. Data from 13 registries for the period 2000-2008 were included. RESULTS: There was a total of 993 cases of atrioventricular septal defects, with a total prevalence of 5.3 per 10,000 births (95% confidence interval 4.1 to 6.5). Of the total cases, 250 were isolated cardiac lesions, 583 were chromosomal cases, 79 had multiple anomalies, 58 had heterotaxia sequence, and 23 had a monogenic syndrome. The total prevalence of chromosomal cases was 3.1 per 10,000 (95% confidence interval 1.9 to 4.3), with a large variation between registers. Of the 993 cases, 639 cases were live births, 45 were stillbirths, and 309 were terminations of pregnancy owing to foetal anomaly. Among the groups, additional associated cardiac anomalies were most frequent in heterotaxia cases (38%) and least frequent in chromosomal cases (8%). Coarctation of the aorta was the most common associated cardiac defect. The 1-week survival rate for live births was 94%. CONCLUSION: Of all cases, three-quarters were associated with other anomalies, both chromosomal and non-chromosomal. For infants with atrioventricular septal defects and no chromosomal anomalies, cardiac defects were often more complex compared with infants with atrioventricular septal defects and a chromosomal anomaly. Clinical outcomes for atrioventricular septal defects varied between regions. The proportion of termination of pregnancy for foetal anomaly was higher for cases with multiple anomalies, chromosomal anomalies, and heterotaxia sequence.

Extraits divers.

Contient : Extraits de chartes et de manuscrits, parmi lesquels on remarque les suivants : ; Chartes de Saint-Crépin de Soissons (VIIIe-IXe siècle) ; Charte de Philippe-Auguste pour l'abbaye de Sarlat, 1181 (Delisle, Actes de Philippe-Auguste, n° 19) ; Lettres de Philippe-Auguste aux nobles de Poitou, pour les mander à l'expédition d'Angleterre, d'après un ms. de l'abbaye du Jard ; Lettres relatives aux affaires d'Avignon (1470-1472) ; Notice de la fondation da l'église de Nogaro, en 1061-1062 (Bréquigny, Table chronologique, t. II, p. 83) ; Acte d'émancipation de Raoul, fils de Raoul de Cournand (1245), d'après un vidimus de 1259 ; Visio Wettini, d'après un ms. de Cl. Dupuy collationné avec un ms. de Besly ; Notes concernant sainte Wilgeforte ; Lettre de M. Boileau, doyen de Sens [à Baluze] (21 juin 1684) ; Extraits de mss. liturgiques du chapitre de Sens ; Lettre de Raban Maur au chorévêque Regimbaldus ; collation d'un ms. d'Ant. Faure ; Extraits des « Constitutiones episcopatus Sutrini », ms. appartenant au cardinal Casanata ; Extrait d'un ms. d'Orléans (aujourd'hui Bibl. nat., nouv. acq. lat. 1632 ; cf. (Delisle, Cat. des fonds Libri et Barrois, p. 111) ; Extraits d'un sacramentaire de l'église de Lyon, faits par Baluze en novembre 1673 ; Extraits d'un pontifical de l'église de Reims ; Extraits d'un pontifical de l'église de Reims, de la main d'Adrien de Valois ; Autres extraits d'un pontifical de Sens ; Formules de serments « ex veteri codice Remensi Nicolai Fabri. » ; Extraits d'un pontifical de l'église de Reims ; Extraits d'un ms. de Saint-Gall (sans doute ms. 446), collationnés par Baluze en 1674 ; Ordo romanus, extraits faits d'après deux mss. de Saint-Gall ; Ordo romanus, extraits faits d'après un ms. de Cahors ; « Benedictiones, » tirées d'un ms. de Saint-Hilaire-en-Carcassès ; Extraits du De confessione verae fidei [Liber precum], de Marcellinus et Faustinus, faits par Baluze en décembre 1673, d'après un ms. de Saint-Gall (ms. 190) ; « Ex homiliis incerti auctoris qui aevo Karoli M. floruit, » d'après un ms. de Saint-Gall ; Homélies tirées d'un ms. de l'église de Lyon ; Poenitentia laicorum, de Fulbert de Chartres (Migne, Patr. lat., t. CXLI, col. 339) ; Extraits d'un pénitentiel, d'après un ms. de Saint-Arnoul de Metz ; Extraits d'un ms. de l'Oratoire de Troyes, contenant un recueil de canons ; Extraits des Decrétales du Pseudo-Isidore, d'après un ms. de Saint-Gall (ms. 670) ; Copie de deux martyrologes, envoyée par Baluze à d'Achery (cf. note au f. 185) ; le second (f. 210), tiré d'un ms. de Saint-Gall (sans doute le ms. 914), de la main de Baluze, en juin 1674 ; Extraits du De miseria humanae conditionis, d'Innocent III ; Dédicace, par Calixte II, de l'église du Ronceray d'Angers (Hist. de France, t. XIV, p. 199) ; Lettre de Charlemagne relative aux travaux de Paul Diacre (Migne, Patr. lat., t. XCV, col. 1159) ; Bulles et actes pontificaux divers : ; Bulles d'Eugène III (24 avril 1146) et d'Anastase IV (25 avril 1154) pour les églises de la province de Bordeaux (Jaffé, Regesta, nos 8910 et 9876) ; Bulle de Benoit XI portant révocation des collations de bénéfices faites par Boniface VIII (6 novembre 1303) ; Bulle d'Innocent VI pour la prédication d'une croisade contre les Grandes Compagnies (1361), d'après un ms. de Saint-Victor ; Bulle de Clément VII pour le monastère de Coiroux (6 juillet 1393) ; Lettres de Julien [de la Rovere], cardinalévêque d'Ostie, pour Antoine Galvan, seigneur de « Chausenejoulx » (15 février 1486) ; Bulle de Pie V pour Hugues de Vermondot, abbé de La Valette (23 avril 1571) ; Signature en cour de Rome pour Jean du Peyron, sacristain du monastère d'Obazine (17 février 1587) ; Bulle de Clément VIII pour Pierre Pandinhe, abbé de Bonneval (4 janvier 1596) ; Bulle du même pour Léger, abbé de Dalon (12 juin 1600) ; Bulles du même pour Jean de Montroux, abbé de Bonaigue (1601) ; Bulle d'Alexandre III pour l'église de Toulouse, 8 juillet 1162 [Jaffé, n° 10739) ; Bref de N. S. P. le pape Alexandre VII, envoyé à M. l'abbé comte de Richelieu, au sujet de son voyage d'Allemagne (23 mars 1664) ; imprimé de 4 pages in-fol ; Lettres de Philippe le Bel portant convocation d'Etats à Tours (25 mars 1307) ; Lettre de Dom Claude Estiennot à Baluze (Rome, 1er mai 1696) ; Lettre de l'empereur Léopold Ier à Charles II, roi d'Espagne (Vienne, 20 janvier 1696) ; Lettres de l'inquisiteur général de Portugal, portant condamnation des Acta sanctorum des Bollandistes (24 janvier 1696) ; Lettres des inquisiteurs d'Aragon portant même condamnation (19 novembre 1695) ; Extraits de la vie de saint Géraud d'Aurillac ; Instructions données à ceux qui visitent des églises ; Extraits d'un évengéliaire donné par la comtesse. Mathilde à l'abbaye de Padolirone ; Extrait du récit de la translation des reliques de saint Thomas d'Aquin à Toulouse, en 1368, par Raimond Hugues (Bibl. hag. lat. n° 8161), d'après un ms. des Dominicains de Toulouse ; Extraits d'un recueil de formules appartenant à Fr. Pithou (cf. Zeumer, Formulae, p. 597) ; Note sur la fuite d'Ant. Muret à Toulouse, en 1554 ; Sommaire des thèses d'Et. Baluze pour le grade de bachelier en droit canon (3 septembre 1665) ; « Harangue de M. Talon, avocat général, au lit de justice du Roy, tenu au Parlement de Paris, le mecredi XVe janvier 1648. » ; Notes sur l'histoire d'Espagne, envoyées à Baluze ; Lettres (1380-1383), relatives à Simon de Cramaud, plus tard évêque de Carcassonne ; Mémoire sur les affaires d'Italie (26 mars 1669), en italien ; Eloge de Louis XIV : paraphrase, en vers latins, du Psaume CXLIII ; Eloge de Colbert, par M. Boyer ; original ; Lettres de Pierre de Saint-Martial, archevêque de Toulouse, pour l'Hôpital Saint-Jacques de ladite ville (1391) ; Extraits d'un bréviaire ms. de Limoges ; Extraits des registres du Parlement de Toulouse ; Notes pour l'établissement du texte des lettres de Pierre de Blois ; Note sur les affaires de Roussillon ; Instructions données par Henri d'Orléans, [marquis de Rothelin], à ses fils ; « Sirventes de Arnaud Maziere, 1283 », et pièces relatives à Frothaire, archevêque de Bourges ; Notes extraites des archives de Carcassonne, envoyées à Baluze par Guillaume Besse ; Anagramme sur le nom de famille [Ruspiliosus] du pape Clément IX ; placard gravé de 1668

Recherches nouvelles sur les "Evangiles latins de l'enfance" de M. R. James et sur un récit apocryphe mal connu de la naissance de Jésus

Les Evangiles latins de l'enfance ont été peu étudiés depuis l'édition de M. R. James en 1927. La prochaine publication dans la Series apocryphorum des Évangiles irlandais de l'enfance jette un éclairage nouveau sur cette compilation latine qui combine le Protévangile de Jacques, l'Évangile du Pseudo-Matthieu et une 3e Source non identifiée racontant la naissance de Jésus. Les récits irlandais du Leabar Breac et du Liber Flavus Fergusiorum permettent de remonter à un état antérieur à la compilation, pas encore influencé par le Pseudo-Matthieu. Ils conservent parfois des éléments du texte de la Source qui ont disparu dans le latin. Le récit original de cette source inconnue est indépendant du Protévangile de Jacques et pourrait être aussi ancien que lui. C'est ce qui ressort de l'étude par l'A. de quelques motifs caractéristiques : l'impôt lié au recensement, la pauvreté de Joseph, le rôle des fils de Joseph, le lieu de la nativité, l'épisode de la sage-femme.

Paper 4: EUROCAT statistical monitoring: identification and investigation of ten year trends of congenital anomalies in Europe.

BACKGROUND: As part of EUROCAT's surveillance of congenital anomalies in Europe, a statistical monitoring system has been developed to detect recent clusters or long-term (10 year) time trends. The purpose of this article is to describe the system for the identification and investigation of 10-year time trends, conceived as a "screening" tool ultimately leading to the identification of trends which may be due to changing teratogenic factors.METHODS: The EUROCAT database consists of all cases of congenital anomalies including livebirths, fetal deaths from 20 weeks gestational age, and terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomaly. Monitoring of 10-year trends is performed for each registry for each of 96 non-independent EUROCAT congenital anomaly subgroups, while Pan-Europe analysis combines data from all registries. The monitoring results are reviewed, prioritized according to a prioritization strategy, and communicated to registries for investigation. Twenty-one registries covering over 4 million births, from 1999 to 2008, were included in monitoring in 2010.CONCLUSIONS: Significant increasing trends were detected for abdominal wall anomalies, gastroschisis, hypospadias, Trisomy 18 and renal dysplasia in the Pan-Europe analysis while 68 increasing trends were identified in individual registries. A decreasing trend was detected in over one-third of anomaly subgroups in the Pan-Europe analysis, and 16.9% of individual registry tests. Registry preliminary investigations indicated that many trends are due to changes in data quality, ascertainment, screening, or diagnostic methods. Some trends are inevitably chance phenomena related to multiple testing, while others seem to represent real and continuing change needing further investigation and response by regional/national public health authorities.

Variability in urinary oxalate measurements between six international laboratories.

BACKGROUND: Hyperoxaluria is a major risk factor for kidney stone formation. Although urinary oxalate measurement is part of all basic stone risk assessment, there is no standardized method for this measurement. METHODS: Urine samples from 24-h urine collection covering a broad range of oxalate concentrations were aliquoted and sent, in duplicates, to six blinded international laboratories for oxalate, sodium and creatinine measurement. In a second set of experiments, ten pairs of native urine and urine spiked with 10 mg/L of oxalate were sent for oxalate measurement. Three laboratories used a commercially available oxalate oxidase kit, two laboratories used a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-based method and one laboratory used both methods. RESULTS: Intra-laboratory reliability for oxalate measurement expressed as intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) varied between 0.808 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.427-0.948] and 0.998 (95% CI: 0.994-1.000), with lower values for HPLC-based methods. Acidification of urine samples prior to analysis led to significantly higher oxalate concentrations. ICC for inter-laboratory reliability varied between 0.745 (95% CI: 0.468-0.890) and 0.986 (95% CI: 0.967-0.995). Recovery of the 10 mg/L oxalate-spiked samples varied between 8.7 ± 2.3 and 10.7 ± 0.5 mg/L. Overall, HPLC-based methods showed more variability compared to the oxalate oxidase kit-based methods. CONCLUSIONS: Significant variability was noted in the quantification of urinary oxalate concentration by different laboratories, which may partially explain the differences of hyperoxaluria prevalence reported in the literature. Our data stress the need for a standardization of the method of oxalate measurement.

Dispersão de Latossolos em resposta à utilização de pré-tratamentos na análise textural

O resultado mais acurado da análise textural depende da completa dispersão da amostra de solo e da manutenção da estabilidade da fase dispersa. Alguns Latossolos podem apresentar problemas de dispersão, graças à presença de microagregados de alta estabilidade. Esses grupamentos, muito argilosos, são parcialmente desagregados pela dispersão química e mecânica, contribuindo, pelo seu tamanho, para superestimar, fundamentalmente, a proporção de silte do solo analisado. Assim, visando minimizar a proporção de pseudocomponentes na análise textural dos Latossolos, realizou-se um experimento de laboratório, para verificar a efetividade da dispersão em resposta à utilização de pré-tratamentos na remoção de agentes cimentantes. Os tratamentos corresponderam a um arranjo fatorial 7 x 2². Os fatores em estudo foram amostras de sete Latossolos dispersos com NaOH 0,01 mol L-1, com presença ou ausência de pré-tratamentos para remoção da matéria orgânica e dos óxidos de ferro e alumínio mal cristalizados. A fração silte foi novamente dispersa, determinando-se a proporção de argila e silte após a segunda dispersão. A remoção de matéria orgânica e a de óxidos de ferro e alumínio mal cristalizados provocaram incremento na proporção de argila, indicando a dispersão de microagregados com tamanhos correspondentes aos de outras frações texturais, em particular da fração silte. A presença do pseudo-silte foi confirmada em todos os solos estudados, sobretudo nos solos mais oxídicos. As frações areia fina e areia grossa também apresentaram microagregados de argilas. Após a segunda dispersão, a fração silte apresentou valores que variaram de 0,199 a 0,537 kg kg-1 de argila. Para reduzir a proporção de pseudo-silte, há necessidade de realizar pré-tratamentos. Como a resposta aos pré-tratamento testados não foi cumulativa, sugere-se utilizar o pré-tratamento para remover óxidos de ferro e alumínio mal cristalizados.

A noninvasive method for measuring the velocity of diffuse hydrothermal flow by tracking moving refractive index anomalies

Diffuse flow velocimetry (DFV) is introduced as a new, noninvasive, optical technique for measuring the velocity of diffuse hydrothermal flow. The technique uses images of a motionless, random medium (e.g.,rocks) obtained through the lens of a moving refraction index anomaly (e.g., a hot upwelling). The method works in two stages. First, the changes in apparent background deformation are calculated using particle image velocimetry (PIV). The deformation vectors are determined by a cross correlation of pixel intensities across consecutive images. Second, the 2-D velocity field is calculated by cross correlating the deformation vectors between consecutive PIV calculations. The accuracy of the method is tested with laboratory and numerical experiments of a laminar, axisymmetric plume in fluids with both constant and temperaturedependent viscosity. Results show that average RMS errors are ∼5%–7% and are most accurate in regions of pervasive apparent background deformation which is commonly encountered in regions of diffuse hydrothermal flow. The method is applied to a 25 s video sequence of diffuse flow from a small fracture captured during the Bathyluck’09 cruise to the Lucky Strike hydrothermal field (September 2009). The velocities of the ∼10°C–15°C effluent reach ∼5.5 cm/s, in strong agreement with previous measurements of diffuse flow. DFV is found to be most accurate for approximately 2‐D flows where background objects have a small spatial scale, such as sand or gravel

Analyse des séjours hospitaliers : apport des données infirmières

Background: In Switzerland the aim of health insurance (LAMaI) is to control rising health costs. One method is to institute a prospective payment system (DRGs) for all Swiss hospitals in 2012, according to which hospital funding will be based only on medical and administrative data. Question: What is the contribution of nursing to the analysis of hospital stays? Method: On the basis of aIl patient hospital stays in the CHUV (Lausanne) during 2005 and 2006, we have compared a medico-administrative data model and a nursing data model. We used a logistic regression on the probability of patient exit. Results: The capacity of discrimination of the model is appreciably improved since the surface under curve O.C.R. passes from 0.712 with the casemix data and the rang of day to 0.785 if it's adds data on heaviness of care (pseudo R² respectively 0.096 and 0.152). Discussion: This approach provides evidence on the feasibility of using standards of care pathway allowing managers to analyse the organisation of patient care and securing a better estimate of hospital funding.

Localization and characterization of an active fault in an urbanized area in central Guatemala by means of geoelectrical imaging

The Polochic and Motagua faults define the active plate boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates in central Guatemala. A splay of the Polochic Fault traverses the rapidly growing city of San Miguel Uspantan that is periodically affected by destructive earthquakes. This fault splay was located using a 2D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) survey that also characterized the fault damage zone and evaluated the thickness and nature of recent deposits upon which most of the city is built. ERT images show the fault as a similar to 50 m wide, near-vertical low-resistivity anomaly, bounded within a few meters by high resistivity anomalies. Forward modeling reproduces the key aspects of the observed electrical resistivity data with remarkable fidelity thus defining the overall location, geometry, and internal structure of the fault zone as well as the affected lithologies. Our results indicate that the city is constructed on a similar to 20 m thick surficial layer consisting of poorly consolidated, highly porous, water-logged pumice. This soft layer is likely to amplify seismic waves and to liquefy upon moderate to strong ground shaking. The electrical conductivity as well as the major element chemistry of the groundwater provides evidence to suggest that the local aquifer might, at least in part, be fed by water rising along the fault. Therefore, the potential threat posed by this fault splay may not be limited to its seismic activity per se, but could be compounded its potential propensity to enhance seismic site effects by injecting water into the soft surficial sediments. The results of this study provide the basis for a rigorous analysis of seismic hazard and sustainable development of San Miguel Uspantan and illustrate the potential of ERT surveying for paleoseismic studies.