Directives pratiques de la Société européenne d'hypertension sur la mesure de la pression artérielle à domicile [Practice guidelines of the European Society of Hypertension for home blood pressure measurement].

Self-measurement of blood pressure at home is increasingly used in the diagnostic and therapeutic approach of hypertension. This technique allows multiple measurements of blood pressure away from the clinical setting, making it possible to improve the evaluation of cardiovascular risk. Recently new guidelines on the use of self-measured blood pressure have been made available by the European Society of Hypertension, as summarized in the present paper.

The late roman pottery imports in the East of Hispania Tarraconensis

Recent studies provided new data about late Roman imports (ARS, amphorae, lamps) in the coast of Hispania Tarraconensis. Concerning urban contexts (the ancient towns of Barcino, Tarraco and others) and rural settlements, the data allow us to identify the imports and the economic trends of the region from the 4th to the late 6th /early 7th centuries. We hope this paper to be an interpretative work of synthesis about the economic relationship between town and country in Catalonia and Northern Comunidad Valenciana in the Late Antiquity.

Official Positions for FRAX® clinical regarding prior fractures from Joint Official Positions Development Conference of the International Society for Clinical Densitometry and International Osteoporosis Foundation on FRAX®.

The 2010 Position Development Conference addressed four questions related to the impact of previous fractures on 10-year fracture risk as calculated by FRAX(®). To address these questions, PubMed was searched on the keywords "fracture, epidemiology, osteoporosis." Titles of retrieved articles were reviewed for an indication that risk for future fracture was discussed. Abstracts of these articles were reviewed for an indication that one or more of the questions listed above was discussed. For those that did, the articles were reviewed in greater detail to extract the findings and to find additional past work and citing works that also bore on the questions. The official positions and the supporting literature review are presented here. FRAX(®) underestimates fracture probability in persons with a history of multiple fractures (good, A, W). FRAX(®) may underestimate fracture probability in individuals with prevalent severe vertebral fractures (good, A, W). While there is evidence that hip, vertebral, and humeral fractures appear to confer greater risk of subsequent fracture than fractures at other sites, quantification of this incremental risk in FRAX(®) is not possible (fair, B, W). FRAX(®) may underestimate fracture probability in individuals with a parental history of non-hip fragility fracture (fair, B, W). Limitations of the methodology include performance by a single reviewer, preliminary review of the literature being confined to titles, and secondary review being limited to abstracts. Limitations of the evidence base include publication bias, overrepresentation of persons of European descent in the published studies, and technical differences in the methods used to identify prevalent and incident fractures. Emerging topics for future research include fracture epidemiology in non-European populations and men, the impact of fractures in family members other than parents, and the genetic contribution to fracture risk.

Civil society organisations participating in ISO TC 228 and ISO TC 229: the INTERNORM project and its future

This paper presents the first results of the INTERNORM pilot project funded by the University of Lausanne (2010 - 2014) to support the involvement of civil society organisations (CSO) in two ISO technical committees (TC), the ISO TC 228 on "tourism and related services" and the ISO TC 229 on "nanotechnologies". It analyses how a distinct participatory mechanism can influence the institutional environment of technical diplomacy in which standards are shaped. The project is an attempt to respond to the democratic deficit attested in the field of international standardisation, formally open to civil society participation, but still largely dominated by expert knowledge and market players. Many international standards have direct implications on society as a whole, but CSOs (consumers and environmental associations, trade unions) are largely under-represented in negotiation arenas. The paper draws upon international relations literature on new institutional forms in global governance and studies of participation in science and technology to address three questions: to which extent do CSOs identify participation in standardisation as worth of their mobilisation? How is the pluralisation of knowledge and expertise supporting CSO position during the deliberation? To which extent can CSO access and influence standardisation beyond their consultative role? It argues that there are significant limitations to the rise of civil society participation in such global governance mechanisms. Despite high entry costs into technical diplomacy, participation is not so much a matter of upstream engagement, or of procedure and resources only, than of opportunistic CSOs mobilization, of distinct thematic incentives and concrete outcomes to be expected in standardisation arenas or in the broader use of international standards.