Les cures hybrides des lésions anévrismales [Hybrid treatment of aortic aneurysms]

The hybrid treatment of aortic aneurysms is indicated in patients having the ostia of supra aortic or visceral branches taken in to the aneurysm. Indeed, these lesions are not eligible for classic endovascular treatment because the existing endoprostheses cannot provide perfusion of the side branches without inducing major endoleaks. The surgical technique consists of 2 steps: firstly, a by-pass between normal aorta and the major aortic branches involved in the aneurysm is performed to guarantee the perfusion of the organs such as brain, bowel, and after endoprosthesis deployment. Secondly, the endoprosthesis is deployed using the classical technique to isolate the aneurysm. The hybrid approach provides safe and reliable treatment of complex aortic aneurysms with mortality and morbidity rate far below the classical open surgery.

Topographic organization of V1 projections through the corpus callosum in humans.

The visual cortex in each hemisphere is linked to the opposite hemisphere by axonal projections that pass through the splenium of the corpus callosum. Visual-callosal connections in humans and macaques are found along the V1/V2 border where the vertical meridian is represented. Here we identify the topography of V1 vertical midline projections through the splenium within six human subjects with normal vision using diffusion-weighted MR imaging and probabilistic diffusion tractography. Tractography seed points within the splenium were classified according to their estimated connectivity profiles to topographic subregions of V1, as defined by functional retinotopic mapping. First, we report a ventral-dorsal mapping within the splenium with fibers from ventral V1 (representing the upper visual field) projecting to the inferior-anterior corner of the splenium and fibers from dorsal V1 (representing the lower visual field) projecting to the superior-posterior end. Second, we also report an eccentricity gradient of projections from foveal-to-peripheral V1 subregions running in the anterior-superior to posterior-inferior direction, orthogonal to the dorsal-ventral mapping. These results confirm and add to a previous diffusion MRI study (Dougherty et al., 2005) which identified a dorsal/ventral mapping of human splenial fibers. These findings yield a more detailed view of the structural organization of the splenium than previously reported and offer new opportunities to study structural plasticity in the visual system.

Continuity of Government Planning Interim Study Committee, March 2007

The Legislative Council established the Continuity of Government Planning Interim Study Committee in 2006 and authorized the Committee to meet during the 2006 Legislative Interim. The Committee was given the following charge: Examine issues relating to the continued functioning of state government following a disaster, including gubernatorial succession, replacement of constitutional officers and department heads, legislative elections to fill vacancies, and continued funding of state government if the General Assembly is unable to meet and pass a budget.

Biblia [Vetus et Novum Testamentum].

La Bible s’ouvre par deux compositions poétiques d’Alcuin qui encadrent l’Épître de saint Jérôme à Paulinus, « Frater Ambrosius... » (ff. 1-2r : Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Poetae latinae, I, 1, p. 287, LXVIII-LXX, v. 1-200 ; ff. 4r-v : Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Poetae latinae, I, 1, p. 283-284, LXV, I-III). La fin manque: la Bible s'interrompt à la fin de l'Epître de saint Paul aux Colossiens.

Phylogeographical structure, postglacial recolonization and barriers to gene flow in the distinctive Valais chromosome race of the common shrew (Sorex araneus).

Using one male-inherited and eight biparentally inherited microsatellite markers, we investigate the population genetic structure of the Valais chromosome race of the common shrew (Sorex araneus) in the Central Alps of Europe. Unexpectedly, the Y-chromosome microsatellite suggests nearly complete absence of male gene flow among populations from the St-Bernard and Simplon regions (Switzerland). Autosomal markers also show significant genetic structuring among these two geographical areas. Isolation by distance is significant and possible barriers to gene flow exist in the study area. Two different approaches are used to better understand the geographical patterns and the causes of this structuring. Using a principal component analysis for which testing procedure exists, and partial Mantel tests, we show that the St-Bernard pass does not represent a significant barrier to gene flow although it culminates at 2469 m, close to the highest altitudinal record for this species. Similar results are found for the Simplon pass, indicating that both passes represented potential postglacial recolonization routes into Switzerland from Italian refugia after the last Pleistocene glaciations. In contrast with the weak effect of these mountain passes, the Rhône valley lowlands significantly reduce gene flow in this species. Natural obstacles (the large Rhône river) and unsuitable habitats (dry slopes) are both present in the valley. Moreover, anthropogenic changes to landscape structures are likely to have strongly reduced available habitats for this shrew in the lowlands, thereby promoting genetic differentiation of populations found on opposite sides of the Rhône valley.

Livre fait par GILLES LE BOUVIER, dit Le Hérault Berry, où l'on peut « savoir au vray la manière, la forme et les propriétés des choses qu'ilz sont en tous les royaulmes crestiens, et des autres royaulmes » où il s'est trouvé, « de la longueur d'iceulx, des montaignes qui y sont et des fleuves qui y passent ; de la propriété des païs, des hommes, et des aultres choses estranges ».

Premiers mots : « Pour ce que plusieurs gens de diverses nacions et contrées se delectent et prennent plaisir, comme j'ay fait le temps passé, à veoir le monde... ». Derniers mots : «... En ces Espaignes et en Arragon a grant multitude de Sarrazins et de Juifz, qui tiennent terres, maisons et prossessions, et communiquent avecques les crestiens. Et les tiennent les roys, pour le prouffit qu'ilz ont d'eulx ». Suit la rubrique : « Ce livre a fait le roy d'armes de Berry, herault du roy de France, des pays et regions où il a esté en son vivant, avec les fleuves et cités principaulx de toute crestienté. Doxa Theo ». Armoiries.

Transthoracic adrenal biopsy procedure using artificial carbon dioxide pneumothorax as outpatient procedure.

Many routes have been described for percutaneous adrenal gland biopsy. They require either a complex non-axial path or a long hydrodissection or even pass through an organ thereby increasing complications. We describe here an approach using an artificially-induced carbon dioxide (CO2) pneumothorax, performed as an outpatient procedure in a 57-year-old woman. Under local anaesthesia, 200 ml of CO2 was injected in the pleural space through a Veress needle under computed tomography fluoroscopy, to clear the lung parenchyma from the biopsy route. Using this technique, transthoracic adrenal biopsy can be performed under simple local anaesthesia as an safely outpatient procedure.

Restless bandits, partial conservation laws and indexability

We show that if performance measures in a stochastic scheduling problem satisfy a set of so-called partial conservation laws (PCL), which extend previously studied generalized conservation laws (GCL), then the problem is solved optimally by a priority-index policy for an appropriate range of linear performance objectives, where the optimal indices are computed by a one-pass adaptive-greedy algorithm, based on Klimov's. We further apply this framework to investigate the indexability property of restless bandits introduced by Whittle, obtaining the following results: (1) we identify a class of restless bandits (PCL-indexable) which are indexable; membership in this class is tested through a single run of the adaptive-greedy algorithm, which also computes the Whittle indices when the test is positive; this provides a tractable sufficient condition for indexability; (2) we further indentify the class of GCL-indexable bandits, which includes classical bandits, having the property that they are indexable under any linear reward objective. The analysis is based on the so-called achievable region method, as the results follow fromnew linear programming formulations for the problems investigated.

Do Jardim-de-Infância ao Centro de Actividades de Tempos Livres: Representações das Crianças sobre o Brincar

A investigação “Do Jardim-de-infância ao Centro de Actividades de Tempos Livres: Representações das Crianças sobre o Brincar” reconhece as crianças como actores sociais, sujeitos de direitos, entre eles, o direito à participação em assuntos que lhes digam directamente respeito, a assuntos de seu interesse, nomeadamente o direito ao brincar. O brincar é uma actividade lúdica, assim como o jogar, importante no processo de crescimento e desenvolvimento da criança e, nos tempos que correm, a sociedade, de uma forma geral, e particularmente as famílias, preocupam-se muito com o trabalho e colocam as necessidades básicas das crianças em segundo plano ao valorizarem acima de tudo o sucesso e o desempenho das mesmas. Assim, se participar significa “tomar parte em”, reconhece-se a necessidade de ouvir as crianças e o que elas têm a dizer sobre essa actividade lúdica, sobre a forma como organizam o seu dia e o tempo que despendem para brincar e sobre a forma como gostariam de ver os seus dias ocupados. É neste pressuposto, de que é através da acção e da voz das crianças, que é possível a construção de um conhecimento teórico e válido que contribua para uma melhor intervenção educativa com as crianças. Esta investigação, que decorreu numa instituição com várias vertentes, entre elas a vertente da Animação Infantil, enquadra-se no paradigma qualitativo de natureza participativa, e procura interpretar os significados atribuídos pelas crianças, que frequentam o Jardim-deinfância da rede pública e a mesma instituição, na condição de Componente de Apoio à Família, ao brincar, às suas vivências no que concerne à gestão do seu quotidiano, quer no que refere ao tempo que passam no Jardim-de-infância, quer no que passam no Prolongamento de Horário/Actividades de Tempos Livres. Neste trabalho de investigação que decorreu numa instituição situada numa freguesia pertencente ao Distrito de Viana do Castelo e que disponibiliza os serviços de ATL, participaram como protagonistas as crianças da faixa etária entre os três e os seis anos de idade e que frequentam dois contextos: educacional e lúdico. Este trabalho é sustentado por um referencial teórico que engloba o brincar na sociedade actual e a sua importância, a educação pré-escolar e as suas funções, a natureza da componente de apoio à família, a animação sócio-educativa e os contextos de vida das crianças, que permitiram questionar a participação infantil em assuntos de seu interesse. Ainda que este estudo não permita generalizações, reflecte-se sobre a realidade existente, dá voz às crianças e indica aspectos que, de uma forma geral, precisam de mais atenção. Afinal o brincar na infância é um assunto sério…

RAGBRAI Learn about the Land; Day 5, July 2008

Today, after you descend into the valley of the Iowa River north of Marengo, the route turns east on county road F15 and approaches the historic Amana Society. Settled in the late 1850s by German immigrants of the Community of True Inspiration, the new arrivals utilized the local timber and stone resources to construct their buildings. During these early years several stone quarries were opened in the hills along the north wall of the Iowa River valley near East, Middle, and West Amana. Riders will pass close to one of these old quarries 0.7 miles west of West Amana. The stone taken from these quarries is beautiful quartz-rich sandstone that is cemented by light brown to orange tinged iron oxide. This stone was used in the construction of many buildings in Amana.

Inventory-routing model, for a multi-period problem with stochastic and deterministic demand

The need for integration in the supply chain management leads us to considerthe coordination of two logistic planning functions: transportation andinventory. The coordination of these activities can be an extremely importantsource of competitive advantage in the supply chain management. The battle forcost reduction can pass through the equilibrium of transportation versusinventory managing costs. In this work, we study the specific case of aninventory-routing problem for a week planning period with different types ofdemand. A heuristic methodology, based on the Iterated Local Search, isproposed to solve the Multi-Period Inventory Routing Problem with stochasticand deterministic demand.

Médicalisation de la société et durabilité des systèmes de santé

La thématique de la médicalisation de la vie et de la société remonte au début du siècle passé lorsque la génialité de Jules Romains fait dire au docteur Knock que "les biens portants ne sont que des malades qui s'ignorent", successivement en 1976, lors d'un interview à la revue économique Fortune, Henry Gadsen, CEO de MSD, déclara que son rêve était de produire des médicaments pour les biens portants (rêve aujourd'hui déjà abondamment réalisé), plus récemment un "incipit" d'un article paru sur le British Medical Journal du 13 avril 2002 nous rappelait qu'on peut faire beaucoup d'argent si l'on arrive a convaincre les bienportants qu'en réalité ils sont des malades. En Suisse, en 1996 déjà, Alex Müller, président de l'Académie Suisse des Sciences Médicales, constatait que "nous souffrons en Suisse d'une surmédicalisation; les contradictions d'une société surmédicalisée rendent nécessaire une redéfinition des objectifs qui passe par la triple révision des pratiques, du développement scientifique et des valeurs de la santé". [Auteur]

The marginal propensity to spend on adult children

We examine how much of an extra dollar of parental lifetime resources willultimately be passed on to adult children in the form of inter vivostransfers and bequests. We infer bequests from the stock of wealth late inlife. We use mortality rates and age specific estimates of the response oftransfers and wealth to permanent income to compute the expected presentdiscounted values of these responses to permanent income. Our estimatesimply parents pass on between 2 and 3 cents out of an extra dollar ofexpected lifetime resources in bequests and about 2 cents in transfers.The estimates increase with parental income and are smaller for nonwhites.They imply that about 15 percent of the effect of parental income onlifetime resources of adult children is through transfers and bequestsand about 85 percent is through the intergenerational correlation inearnings, although these estimates are sensitive to assumptions about theintergenerational earnings correlation, taxes, and the number of children.We compare our estimates to the implications of alternative computablebenchmark models of savings behavior in order to assess the likelyimportance of intended bequests for the wealth/income relationship.

Correspondence analysis and categorical conjoint measurement

We show the equivalence between the use of correspondence analysis (CA)of concadenated tables and the application of a particular version ofconjoint analysis called categorical conjoint measurement (CCM). Theconnection is established using canonical correlation (CC). The second part introduces the interaction e¤ects in all three variants of theanalysis and shows how to pass between the results of each analysis.

Exposition aux endotoxines : effets protecteurs contre les allergies mais augmentation des problèmes respiratoires chroniques et aigus

Les endotoxines aéroportées sont connues pour provoquer des inflammations des voies respiratoires et une altération des fonctions pulmonaires. De très nombreuses études ont montré que les professions où l'on manipule de la matière organique (manipulation de déchets, élevage d'animaux, cultures maraîchères et céréalières, transformation d'aliments, etc...) sont sujettes à une exposition professionnelle aux endotoxines très élevée. Ce qui génère l'apparition de divers problèmes de santé, notamment des problèmes respiratoires. Paradoxalement, plusieurs études récentes, en particulier sur des éleveurs, ont montré que l'exposition aux endotoxines pouvait avoir des effets bénéfiques pour la santé en prévenant les allergies et les maladies atopiques. De plus, il a été démontré que les enfants ayant passé leurs premières années de vie dans des exploitations agricoles avec des animaux ont une probabilité moindre de développer des allergies à l'âge adulte. L'article original et la revue bibliographique analysés dans cette note traitent de cette dualité des effets sur la santé d'une exposition prolongée aux endotoxines. [Auteur]