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Background Hospitalization is rare in anorexia nervosa (AN) and local application of indications is heterogeneous. However, no study has evaluated the effect of these different treatment modalities on the mean length of stay. Our objective was to describe the context and modalities of a wide range of hospital care programs offered to patients with anorexia nervosa in eleven specialized French psychiatric centers for patients from childhood to adulthood. This work was carried out within the framework of the EVHAN (Evaluation of Hospitalization for AN, Eudract number: 2007-A01110-53, registered in Clinical trials) research program. The EVHAN program comprises five main lines: weight objectives at discharge, the practice or not of a separation period, the use of clear nutritional dietary objectives (cognitive/behavioral), the intensity of family involvement in treatment, and the existence or absence of a stabilization phase before ending inpatient treatment. These main lines will make it possible to study the impact of treatment modalities on the future of patients in the short and medium term (at discharge and at 1-year follow-up). Methods The eleven centers are located in France (Bordeaux, Nantes, Paris and Ile-de-France, Rouen and Saint-Etienne). Various staff members (psychiatrists, somatic doctors, nurses, dieticians, psychologists) from each center were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data on operating modalities and context of care were collected and analyzed. Results Four of the eleven centers were exclusively child/adolescent centers, and seven of 11 were adolescent (from 11, 13 or 16 years) and young adult centers. All centers offered a graduated approach from outpatient to full hospitalization. The majority had a number of beds allocated for patients with eating disorders. The criteria for hospitalization were homogeneous with respect to somatic and/or psychic severity prefiguring the consensus criteria defined by the French Health Authority (HAS) in 2010. Child/adolescent units used the weight curve to set weight objectives at discharge (between the 10th and 50th percentiles). Most adult units used weight objectives at discharge corresponding to a body mass index between 17 and 20kg/m2. Nine centers used a written or oral care contract. One unit did not separate the patient from her/his usual environment, the others had a practice gradient of partial separation and total separation times. These were either short, lasting a maximum of 3 weeks, or long, lasting more than 3 weeks. Conversely, patients were not isolated within the unit, and benefited from a rich social life, depending on her/his physical condition. The patient's family was in contact with the team and fully supported. The longest periods of separation involved adolescents and adults. Nutritional support varied from a group approach (meals in the dining room, standardized meals of the care center) to very individualized approaches within a specific framework. All the units reported meeting with families at least once during the hospitalization; with the patient's parents for child/adolescent patients and/or unmarried patients and with the husband/wife for married patients. The majority of the centers requested a phase of weight stabilization, whatever the age before hospital discharge. Conclusion There is international and national consensus regarding the indications for hospitalization, and the main lines of multidisciplinary care to be developed within this framework. However, local application of these indications was heterogeneous resulting in diverse modalities of hospital care for anorexia nervosa in France. Specialized teams have developed management strategies arising from their "team culture". The complexity of the anorexic pathology, due to the psyche-soma intrication and the diversity of age groups, highlights the complexity of care available. The impact of this diversity of hospital care on patient outcomes will be studied as a result of this work.

We developed a new seriation merit function for enhancing the visual information of data matrices. A local similarity matrix is calculated, where the average similarity of a neighbouring objects is calculated in a limited variable space and a global function is constructed to maximize the local similarities and cluster them into patches by simple row and column ordering. The method identifies data clusters in a powerful way, if the similarity of objects is caused by some variables and these variables differ for the distinct clusters. The method can be used in the presence of missing data and also on more than two-dimensional data arrays. We show the feasibility of the method on different data sets: on QSAR, chemical, material science, food science, cheminformatics and environmental data in two- and three-dimensional cases. The method can be used during the development and the interpretation of artificial neural network models by seriating different features of the models. It helps to identify interpretable models by elucidating clusters of objects, variables and hidden layer neurons.

L'impact du réchauffement climatique devient de plus en plus clair, et le monde s’est enfin éveillé à l’impératif existentiel de garantir une transition écologique, dont la finance verte joue un rôle fondamental pour atténuer et développer la capacité de résilience face aux impacts négatifs du changement climatique et assurer une transition vers une croissance verte. Le présent article consiste à montrer l’importance de la littératie en finance verte, tout en démystifiant cette dernière au grand public, afin qu’il acquière les connaissances pour comprendre leur influence dans le secteur financier et sur la planète, pour insister sur des choix d’investissement durable, pour contribuer concrètement à la transition écologique et pour faire de la finance verte un levier de lutte contre les changements climatiques. À cette fin, une démarche théorique a été suivi. Les résultats de notre recherche ont montré que le Maroc en dépit de ses faibles niveaux d’émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES), a fait preuve d’un leadership régional dans la lutte contre les changements climatiques. Pour continuer sur sa lancée il est mis au défi de diversifier son portefeuille de finance verte, à côté des ressources financières dont il dispose, afin d’atteindre son ambitieux objectif de réduire ses émissions de GES à plus de 45 % d’ici 2030.

The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of age, sex, running distance and origin of horse on racing speed for Thoroughbred Arabian horse in Tunisia. Although the occidental type is known to be more successful in racing than the Tunisian type, we undertook this study to try to confirm or deny this supremacy for a sample of racehorses born in Tunisia from occidental father. A total of 333 racing records were considered for race performance. The effects of environmental factors on (sex, age, father’s origin, race distance, number of race seasons) race performance were analyzed using the least-squares method(LSM).The racehorses studied were all Arabian Thoroughbred horses in operation at the racecourse of Ksar Said from 2010 to 2020. They are 180 horses, 90 horses born of a Tunisian father, and 90 horses born in Tunisia ofthe occidentalfather. These horses are the best and most successful in their category. The study revealed that the gender and age effectswere statistically insignificant onracingperformance. Race performance was significantly influenced by the distance and the origin of the father which affirms the improving role of the occidentalhorse in the Tunisian population.

Purpose Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a severe chronic disorder and parents’ experience of caregiving is usually marked by emotional distress and burden. Severe chronic psychiatric disorders are known to be linked with the concept of grief. Grief has not been investigated in AN. The aim of this study was to explore parents’ and adolescents’ characteristics that may be related to parental burden and grief in AN, and the link between these two dimensions. Methods Eighty mothers, 55 fathers and their adolescents (N = 84) hospitalized for AN participated in this study. Evaluations of clinical characteristics of the adolescent’s illness were completed, as well as self-evaluations of adolescent and parental emotional distress (anxiety, depression, alexithymia). Levels of parental burden were evaluated with the Experience of Caregiving Inventory and levels of parental grief with the Mental Illness Version of the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief. Results Main findings indicated that the burden was higher in parents of adolescents with a more severe AN; fathers’ burden was also significantly and positively related to their own level of anxiety. Parental grief was higher when adolescents’ clinical state was more severe. Paternal grief was related to higher anxiety and depression, while maternal grief was correlated to higher alexithymia and depression. Paternal burden was explained by the father’s anxiety and grief, maternal burden by the mother’s grief and her child’s clinical state. Conclusion Parents of adolescents suffering from AN showed high levels of burden, emotional distress and grief. These inter-related experiences should be specific targets for intervention aimed at supporting parents. Our results support the extensive literature on the need to assist fathers and mothers in their caregiving role. This in turn may improve both their mental health and their abilities as caregivers of their suffering child. Level of evidence Level III: Evidence obtained from cohort or case-control analytic studies.

Let D be a digraph and let α ( D ) , α ′ ( D ) and λ ( D ) be independence number, the matching number and the arc-strong connectivity of D , respectively. Bang-Jensen and Thommasse in 2011 conjectured that every digraph D with λ ( D ) ≥ α ( D ) is supereulerian. In [J. Graph Theory, 81(4), (2016) 393-402], it is shown that every digraph D with λ ( D ) ≥ α ′ ( D ) is supereulerian. In this paper, we introduced the symmetric core of a digraph and use it to show that each of the following holds for a strong digraph D on n ≥ 3 vertices with λ ( D ) ≥ α ′ ( D ) − 1 . ( i ) There exists a family D ( n ) of well-characterized digraphs such that for any digraph D with α ′ ( D ) ≤ 2 , D has a spanning trial if and only if D is not a member in D ( n ) . ( i i ) If α ′ ( D ) ≥ 3 , then D has a spanning trail. ( i i i ) If α ′ ( D ) ≥ 3 and n ≥ 2 α ′ ( D ) + 3 , then D is supereulerian. ( i v ) If λ ( D ) ≥ α ′ ( D ) ≥ 4 and n ≥ 2 α ′ ( D ) + 3 , then for any pair of vertices u and v of D , D contains a spanning ( u , v ) -trail.

The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of age, sex, running distance and origin of horse on racing speed for Purebred Arabian horse in Tunisia. Although the occidental type is known to be more successful in racing than the Tunisian type, we undertook this study to try to confirm or deny this supremacy for a sample of racehorses born in Tunisia from occidental father. A total of 333 racing records were considered for race performance. The effects of environmental factors on (sex, age, father’s origin, race distance, number of race seasons) race performance were analyzed using the least-squares method(LSM).The racehorses studied were all Arabian Purebred horses in operation at the racecourse of Ksar Said from 2010 to 2020. They are 180 horses, 90 horses born of a Tunisian father, and 90 horses born in Tunisia ofthe occidentalfather. These horses are the best and most successful in their category. The study revealed that the gender and age effectswere statistically insignificant onracingperformance. Race performance was significantly influenced by the distance and the origin of the father which affirms the improving role of the occidentalhorse in the Tunisian population.

Facial recognition technology has been used in many fields such as security, biometric identification, robotics, video surveillance, health, and commerce due to its ease of implementation and minimal data processing time. However, this technology is influenced by the presence of variations such as pose, lighting, or occlusion. In this paper, we propose a new approach to improve the accuracy rate of face recognition in the presence of variation or occlusion, by combining feature extraction with a histogram of oriented gradient (HOG), scale invariant feature transform (SIFT), Gabor, and the Canny contour detector techniques, as well as a convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture, tested with several combinations of the activation function used (Softmax and Segmoïd) and the optimization algorithm used during training (adam, Adamax, RMSprop, and stochastic gradient descent (SGD)). For this, a preprocessing was performed on two databases of our database of faces (ORL) and Sheffield faces used, then we perform a feature extraction operation with the mentioned techniques and then pass them to our used CNN architecture. The results of our simulations show a high performance of the SIFT+CNN combination, in the case of the presence of variations with an accuracy rate up to 100%.

Degradation performance of photovoltaic (PV) modules by real weather conditions has become increasingly problematic. In the desert climate, dust accumulation is one of the main concerns that may cause a significant deterioration of PV efficiency. In the present work, experimental investigations were carried out to understand the effect of dust on the electrical performance of PV modules under Toujounine, Nouakchott, Mauritania weather conditions. The measurements were performed with an I-V tracer ftv200. The measured parameters were I-V and P-V curves, open-circuit voltage (Voc), short-circuit current (Isc), current and voltage at maximum power (Imp and Vmp) and maximum power (Pmax); as well as the measurement of temperature of panels and Irradiation. The study was carried out according to the following cleaning scenarios: panels cleaned before each measurement (Clean panels 01), panels undergoing systematic cleaning with the central unit (Clean panels 02) and chains undergoing no cleaning (Dusty panels 03). Then, the modeling of reliability as a function of maximum power by Weibull's law, for clean and dusty panels is evaluated. According to the experimental results, disturbances in I-V and P-V curves for dusty panels were noticed. Also, a decrease in the Isc and the Imp for dusty panels compared to clean panels was found. These results are explained by the effect of dust accumulation on the module's surface, which blocks the solar radiation and thus reduces the conversion efficiency of PV modules. Again, dust reduces the output power of photovoltaic modules by 21.57% for dusty panels per clean panels. Finally, a low reliability for dusty panels compared to clean panels was found, due to the loss in the output power under the dust effect. These results clearly show the importance of properly maintaining and servicing the photovoltaic modules to avoid their degradation by dust deposits.

Introduction: Cerebral malaria which occurs during the active infection is the most common neurological complication of malaria. Other complications including post-malaria neurological syndrome (PMNS) can rarely occur following complete recovery from the disease. We report a case of post-malaria neurological syndrome in a Tunisian patient. Case presentation: A 26-year-old Tunisian man with no past medical history was admitted in 2016 for a muscle weakness of the 4 limbs, seizures, tetraparesis and myoclonus which appeared after he returned from Côte d’Ivoire where he had been treated three weeks ago for Plasmodium falciparum malaria with favorable outcome. Blood smears for malaria were negative. Brain MRI showed multiple hypersignal cerebral lesions. Investigations didn’t show any infectious, metabolic, toxic, vascular or tumoral etiology. Thus, the diagnosis of PMNS was considered. The patient was treated with methylprednisolone with favorable outcome. Two years later, he was completely asymptomatic. Conclusion: PMNS should be considered in patients with neurological symptoms occurring within two months of cured acute disease in which blood smears for malaria are negative and other etiologies have been ruled out. In most cases, the disease is self-limited while in severe cases corticosteroid therapy should be prescribed with favorable outcome. Keywords: Post-malaria neurological syndrome; immunologic; corticosteroid.

A vertex cycle cover of a digraph H is a collection C = {C1, C2, …, Ck} of directed cycles in H such that these directed cycles together cover all vertices in H and such that the arc sets of these directed cycles induce a connected subdigraph of H. A subdigraph F of a digraph D is a circulation if for every vertex in F, the indegree of v equals its out degree, and a spanning circulation if F is a cycle factor. Define f (D) to be the smallest cardinality of a vertex cycle cover of the digraph obtained from D by contracting all arcs in F, among all circulations F of D. Adigraph D is supereulerian if D has a spanning connected circulation. In [International Journal of Engineering Science Invention, 8 (2019) 12-19], it is proved that if D1 and D2 are nontrivial strong digraphs such that D1 is supereulerian and D2 has a cycle vertex cover C’ with |C’| ≤ |V (D1)|, then the Cartesian product D1 and D2 is also supereulerian. In this paper, we prove that for strong digraphs D1 and D2, if for some cycle factor F1 of D1, the digraph formed from D1 by contracting arcs in F1 is hamiltonian with f (D2) not bigger than |V (D1)|, then the strong product D1 and D2 is supereulerian.

The purpose of determining the fundamental matrix (F) is to define the epipolar geometry and to relate two 2D images of the same scene or video series to find the 3D scenes. The problem we address in this work is the estimation of the localization error and the processing time. We start by comparing the following feature extraction techniques: Harris, features from accelerated segment test (FAST), scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) and speed-up robust features (SURF) with respect to the number of detected points and correct matches by different changes in images. Then, we merged the best chosen by the objective function, which groups the descriptors by different regions in order to calculate ‘F’. Then, we applied the standardized eight-point algorithm which also automatically eliminates the outliers to find the optimal solution ‘F’. The test of our optimization approach is applied on the real images with different scene variations. Our simulation results provided good results in terms of accuracy and the computation time of ‘F’ does not exceed 900 ms, as well as the projection error of maximum 1 pixel, regardless of the modification.

International audience; In the area of software engineering and system architecture, the design and implementation process has taken a general methodological approach, encompassing all the activities necessary to design, evolve and verify a system providing an economical and efficient solution to needs of a client while satisfying all the stakeholders. For a long time, system engineers have used modeling techniques, the best known of which are AADL (Analysis and Architecture Design Language) and SysML (System Modeling Language). AADL was born as a language specific to the field focused on avionics and later was revised to represent and support a more general category of embedded systems in real time. SysML is an extension of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) to support engineering and modeling of the system. Based on these two languages and these two tools, several approaches have been created and developed to meet the needs and requirements of the system and also to overcome the problems and limitations of these two languages. In this paper, we will study and examine the two AADL and SysML modeling languages in a thorough way in order to extend the SysML language by the AADL language specifications for the modeling and design of sensor networks without (WSN).

Significance Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment, yielding unprecedented long-term responses and survival. However, a significant proportion of patients remain refractory, which correlates with the absence of immune-infiltrated (“hot”) tumors. Here, we observed that FDA-approved unadjuvanted seasonal influenza vaccines administered via intratumoral injection not only provide protection against active influenza virus lung infection, but also reduce tumor growth by increasing antitumor CD8+ T cells and decreasing regulatory B cells within the tumor. Ultimately, intratumoral unadjuvanted seasonal influenza vaccine converts immunologically inactive “cold” tumors to “hot,” generates systemic responses, and sensitizes resistant tumors to checkpoint blockade. Repurposing the “flu shot” may increase response rates to immunotherapy, and based on its current FDA approval and safety profile, may be quickly translated for clinical care., Reprogramming the tumor microenvironment to increase immune-mediated responses is currently of intense interest. Patients with immune-infiltrated “hot” tumors demonstrate higher treatment response rates and improved survival. However, only the minority of tumors are hot, and a limited proportion of patients benefit from immunotherapies. Innovative approaches that make tumors hot can have immediate impact particularly if they repurpose drugs with additional cancer-unrelated benefits. The seasonal influenza vaccine is recommended for all persons over 6 mo without prohibitive contraindications, including most cancer patients. Here, we report that unadjuvanted seasonal influenza vaccination via intratumoral, but not intramuscular, injection converts “cold” tumors to hot, generates systemic CD8+ T cell-mediated antitumor immunity, and sensitizes resistant tumors to checkpoint blockade. Importantly, intratumoral vaccination also provides protection against subsequent active influenza virus lung infection. Surprisingly, a squalene-based adjuvanted vaccine maintains intratumoral regulatory B cells and fails to improve antitumor responses, even while protecting against active influenza virus lung infection. Adjuvant removal, B cell depletion, or IL-10 blockade recovers its antitumor effectiveness. Our findings propose that antipathogen vaccines may be utilized for both infection prevention and repurposing as a cancer immunotherapy.

Prenatal ethanol exposure provokes teratogenic effects, due to oxidative stress and massive neuronal apoptosis in the developing brain that result in lifelong behavioral abnormalities. PACAP exerts anti-oxidative and neuroprotective activities on neuronal cells, and prevents ethanol neurotoxicity. The present study focused on the ability of PACAP to protect the brain of 30-day-old mice (P30) from prenatal alcohol exposure induced oxidative damage and toxicity. Pregnant mice were divided randomly into 4 groups, i.e. control group, ethanol group (1.5 g/kg ip daily injection), PACAP group (5 μg intrauterine daily injection) and an ethanol plus PACAP group. Offspring prenatally exposed to ethanol had decreased body weight and reduced cell survival. Moreover, production of ROS was sharply enhanced in the brain of prenatal ethanol-exposed animals, associated with an elevation in the activity of the antioxidant enzymes, and an increase of oxidative damages as shown by the accumulation of the lipid oxidation marker malondialdehyde and of protein carbonyl compounds. Intrauterine administration of PACAP during the gestational period restored the endogenous antioxidant system, prevented ROS overproduction and promoted the survival of dissociated cells from animals prenatally exposed to ethanol. Behavioral tests revealed that P30 animals exposed to ethanol during the prenatal period exhibited reduced motor activity, altered exploratory interest and increased anxiety. However, PACAP treatment significantly attenuated these behavioral impairments. This study demonstrates that PACAP exerts a potent neuroprotective effect against alcohol toxicity during brain development, and indicates that PACAP and/or PACAP analogs might be a useful tool for treatment of alcohol intoxication during pregnancy.

Resume L’hospitalisation des adolescentes anorexiques est frequemment longue et vient elle-meme s’articuler a une prise en charge qui a pu mobiliser plusieurs modalites de soins en amont. L’accompagnement de la famille dans le traitement de l’anorexie mentale a l’adolescence est un axe de travail fondamental dans le contexte de l’hospitalisation. Comme transition en fin de cette hospitalisation, la mise en place d’un repas familial therapeutique associant familles et soignants vient s’inscrire dans un rite de passage que l’hospitalisation va incarner pour l’adolescente malade et sa famille. Cet abord rituel, une reflexion socio-anthropologique, la question du statut de l’adolescent malade, en hospitalisation et dans sa famille, la transition entre l’hopital et la maison, la nature de la relation soignants–soignes, sont autant de themes permettant de comprendre l’interet singulier du repas familial therapeutique.

Cet article decrit l’utilisation par une equipe de soins specialisee dans la prise en charge des adolescentes souffrant d’anorexie mentale d’un repas familial therapeutique. La scene de table propose constamment un recit animant les protagonistes partageant le repas. L’hypothese de travail initiale est que, dans ce recit, cet espace et ce moment singulier, il y a une fecondite potentielle sur un plan clinique avec l’observation, la participation ou encore la reprise de ce temps particulierement sensible lors d’une hospitalisation pour un episode d’anorexie mentale. Prenant appui sur un cas clinique ainsi que sur plusieurs entretiens menes aupres d’infirmieres ayant participe a ce programme, les auteurs discutent les apports d’ordre psychologique de cette pratique et les nouvelles postures soignantes qu’elle implique.

The emergence of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) increased the need for personalized student support. Question and Answering solution can reduce the dropout rate and improve learning. In this paper, we explore the potential of using chatbots to enhance the learning experience for students and how to take advantage of Deep Learning. A review of chatbots models suggests that task-oriented ones are more convenient in the educational context. To address this issue, we propose an integrated chatbot in Open edX platform. We study architecture and proposed technical options. The model is developed to perform a question-answering task. The trainings were carried out using TensorFlow and NTLK. The paper also presents the various steps in the conception and implementation. The chatbot performs well and contributes to the improvement of the e-learning systems.

The aim of estimating the fundamental matrix (F) is to determine the epipolar geometry of a scene and to establish a geometrical relation between two images of the same scene or elaborate video frames. In the literature, we find many techniques that have been proposed for robust estimations, such as RANSAC (random sample consensus), least-squares median (LMeds), and M estimators, are exhaustive. This article presents a comparison between the different detectors that exist (Harris, FAST, SIFT, and SURF) in terms of the number points detected, the number of correct matches, the computation speed of the fundamental matrix, and calculate the projection error using the modification of the multilevel weighting function. Moreover, the combination of a SURF detector with an eight-point normalized M-estimator was applied to search the fundamental matrix in real time, and then the robust feature extraction detectors were combined with RANSAC to cancel the outliers under the face database (ORL) (AT&T Database of faces ‘ORL face database’ AT&T Laboratories, Cambridge). Finally, an experimental simulation was applied to real images from different viewpoints (rotation, lighting, and motion) and then to the facial images after changing the facial expression. The simulation results show good agreement in terms of calculating the speed of the fundamental matrix, projection error, recognition rate, and authentication time.

Facial recognition is a method to identify an individual from his image. It has attracted the intention of a large number of researchers in the field of computer vision in recent years due to its wide scope of application in several areas (health, security, robotics, biometrics...). The operation of this technology, so much in demand in today's market, is based on the extraction of features from an input image using techniques such as SIFT, SURF, LBP... and comparing them with others from another image to confirm or assert the identity of an individual. In this paper, we have performed a comparative study of a machine learning-based approach using several classification methods, applied on two face databases, which will be divided into two groups. The first one is the Train database used for the training stage of our model and the second one is the Test database, which will be used in the test phase of the model. The results of this comparison showed that the SIFT technique merged with the SVM classifier outperforms the other classifiers in terms of identification accuracy rate.

The world was shaken by the arrival of the corona virus (COVID-19), which ravaged all countries and caused a lot of human and economic damage. The world activity has been totally stopped in order to stop this pandemic, but unfortunately until today the world knows the arrival of new wave of contamination among the population despite the implementation of several vaccines that have been made available to the countries of the world and this is due to the appearance of new variants. All variants of this virus have recorded a common symptom which is an infection in the respiratory tract. In this paper a new method of detection of the presence of this virus in patients was implemented based on deep learning using a deep learning model by convolutional neural network architecture (CNN) using a COVID-QU chest X- ray imaging database. For this purpose, a pre-processing was performed on all the images used, aiming at unifying the dimensions of these images and applying a histogram equalization for an equitable distribution of the intensity on the whole of each image. After the pre-processing phase we proceeded to the formation of two groups, the first Train is used in the training phase of the model and the second called Test is used for the validation of the model. Finally, a lightweight CNN architecture was used to train a model. The model was evaluated using two metrics which are the confusion matrix which includes the following elements (ACCURACY, SPECIFITY, PRESITION, SENSITIVITY, F1_SCORE) and Receiver Operating Characteristic (the ROC curve). The results of our simulations showed an improvement after using the histogram equalization technique in terms of the following metrics: ACCURACY 96.5%, SPECIFITY 98.60% and PRESITION 98.66%.

Fostering interfaith tolerance may help to reduce religious tensions. The authors examined the attitudes of Christians, Muslims, and people with no religious affiliation toward different religions ...

The prediction of the secondary structure of proteins is one of the most studied problems in computational biology. However, the accuracy of the predicted secondary structure is insufficient for practical utility. In this paper, we propose an algorithmic approach based on Hidden Markov Models (HMM) to model the problem of prediction. Therefore, HMM are often used for data mining in bioinformatics. In this research, we have built a HMM that models the prediction problem of protein secondary structure. Moreover, two procedures for estimating the probability parameters were performed by the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) of protein sequences from a public database (Brookhaven PDB). Finally, a new prediction approach based on a posteriori probability of hidden regimes has been implemented. Our model appears to be very efficient on single sequences, with a score of 66.6% by comparing the first results obtained with the real secondary sequence and encouraging for an improvement of the system.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a virus of the human Herpes viridae class, has a particular importance in renal transplantation because of its complex interaction with the immune system. Indeed, it causes both infectious mononucleosis (IM), immunopathological responses of the host, and at the extreme a malignant tumor, when the responses are altered. The lymphoproliferative syndromes induced by the EBV infection are lymphoid proliferations resulting from the loss of an EBV-specific cytotoxic T-cell response. About 10% of B-type lymphoproliferative syndromes including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma are EBV-positive. We report the case of a 23-year-old man who developed a tumor in the nasal cavity 6 months after renal transplantation. His nephropathy was membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis. The induction therapy indicated was antithymoglobulin (ATG) and solumedrol. In maintenance therapy, mycofenolate mofetil (MMF) and tacrolimus were used. Nasal biopsy has proved CD20-positive B-cell lymphoma. No other site of the disease has been identified. The immunosuppressive agents were modulated with a switch of tacrolimus by an m-TOR inhibitor and a progressive reduction of MMF. After three cycles of R CHOP followed by radiotherapy, he achieved complete remission with a stable graft function. World J Nephrol Urol. 2018;7(2):56-59 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/wjnu352w

Background: Peritonitis is a major complication of peritoneal dialysis (PD), accounting for considerable mortality and hospitalization among PD patients. We have performed a single unit study examining rate of peritonitis, causative organisms, clinical outcomes and impact on technique failure and patient survival. Methods: It was a retrospective review of the medical records of 182 PD patients who were followed up from January 2006 through June 2016. We have listed 186 episodes of peritonitis. Results: The overall incidence of peritonitis during the 10-year study period was one episode every 27.25 month-patient. The mean time to first peritonitis after beginning PD was 14.25 ± 16 months (0 - 65). Gram-positive organisms were the main implicated agents and caused 27.92% of peritonitis. In multivariate Cox regression, no correlation was associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and residual renal function at baseline. In the Kaplan-Meier analysis, the peritonitis group was not correlated with more loss of residual renal function. More dropouts from PD were observed compared to the peritonitis-free group (P < 0.000), but no influence with patient survival. Conclusion: Gram-positive organisms were the main causative agents. And peritonitis was associated to technique failure but not with patient survival.Z World J Nephrol Urol. 2018;7(2):45-52 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/wjnu349w

Resume L’escalade est passee en une vingtaine d’annees du statut de sport confidentiel a celui d’activite en vogue pratiquee occasionnellement par plus d’un million de Francais. Les doigts representent la zone anatomique la plus touchee. Les ruptures aigues des poulies digitales, favorisees par l’utilisation de prehensions arquees, constituent les lesions les plus frequentes. Des atteintes chroniques avec epaississement douloureux de ces poulies et des tendons flechisseurs sont egalement rencontrees. L’utilisation de prises « mono-doigts » peut etre a l’origine d’une atteinte rare : la dechirure des muscles lombricaux mediaux. Chez les grimpeurs adolescents il faudra savoir depister la fracture de fatigue epiphysaire de la base de la deuxieme phalange. Enfin apres des annees de pratique des modifications osseuses sont frequemment observees : epaississement des corticales phalangiennes, osteophytes.

La revendication d’un domaine de la « communication publique » constitue une forme d’aboutissement d’un long processus de valorisation d’un domaine de compétence et d’exercice distinct d’autres professions proches et de reconnaissance d’une spécificité et d’un savoir-faire qui justifierait la revendication d’une labellisation en tant que profession. C’est en effet sous les termes de « communication publique » et de « communicants publics » que l’on désigne aujourd’hui en France un secteur d’activités pour l’essentiel constitué de professionnels rattachés aux institutions politiques et administratives. En combinant démarche compréhensive et objectivation, nous reviendrons, dans ce travail, sur les conditions sociopolitiques qui ont permis de poser progressivement, en France, les bases de reconnaissance de l’existence d’une « nouvelle » profession, pour nous intéresser ensuite aux enjeux de l’institutionnalisation des métiers de la communication publique à travers la contribution de la principale association de « professionnels de la communication publique » (Cap’Com), en mettant l’accent sur la portée et les limites de cette action ainsi que les modèles dont elle s’est inspirée pour son travail de légitimation professionnelle. The identification of a specific field of “Public Communication” marks the end of a long process in which the existence of a set of skills quite distinct from those of other related and/or competing professions has finally been recognised. It also acknowledges the specific area of expertise that justifies its claim to be classed as a “profession”. Indeed, in France today the terms “public communication” and “public communicator” are used to denote a sector of the economy that is composed mainly of professional people working for political and administrative institutions. Approaching the subject comprehensively and objectively, this study examines the socio-political conditions that laid the foundations in France for the gradual recognition of a “new” profession. We then consider the issues surrounding the institutionalisation of public communication professions by looking at the contribution made by the principal association of “public communications professionals” (Cap’Com), while emphasising the extent and limits of its activities and the models that provided the inspiration for its work in placing the profession on a legitimate footing.

We experienced a case manifesting progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy (PML) in peritoneal dialysis (PD). A 27-year-old male patient had received a chronic PD therapy for 4 years. He had a past medical history of hypertension and myelodysplastic syndrome. He complained of hemiparesis with sudden onset and behavioral disorders. The patient seemed indifferent, incoherent with deficit walking. The cranial nerve examination showed a left central facial paralysis. Brain CT scan showed a paramedian right low density area not systemized, located in the corpus callosum and the centrum semiovale. Brain MRI confirmed the presence of PML by the detection of signal abnormalities in bilateral and asymmetrical white matter. The culture of cerebral spinal fluid was negative. The patient underwent six sessions of plasma exchange with favorable evolution. Few cases of PML have been reported in hemodialysis patients and no case has been previously described in PD. In our case, under immunocompromised conditions, precipitating factors appear multifactorial. Depressed immune system induced by chronic dialysis as well as liver disease and myelodysplasia might contribute to the development of florid clinical manifestation of PML. World J Nephrol Urol. 2017;6(3-4):35-39 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/wjnu316w

Background Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a serious psychiatric illness that begins most of the time during adolescence. An early and efficacious intervention is crucial to minimize the risk of the illness becoming chronic and to limit the occurrence of comorbidities. There is a global consensus on optimal treatment for adolescents suffering from AN: international guidelines recommend single-family therapy that involves the patient and his/her family. Several family therapy approaches have been developed to date. However, these approaches, which imply a direct questioning of intrafamilial dynamics, are not suitable for all patients and families, and the rates of dropout or poor response to treatment remain quite high. A modality of family therapy has been adapted to AN, known as multi-family therapy (MFT), which consists in bringing together several families whose children suffers from the same illness. Objectives of the present randomized clinical trial are to evaluate whether the implementation of MFT in a multi-disciplinary treatment program for adolescents with AN is at least as efficacious as the use of systemic single-family therapy (SFT), with respect to the evolution of body mass index and other clinical outcomes 12 and 18 months after the start of treatment. A cost-efficiency analysis will also be conducted. Methods One hundred fifty patients meeting the inclusion criteria will be randomly assigned to one of the two treatment groups. Patients and their families will receive 10 sessions of therapy spread over 12 months. Body weight, eating disorder and other psychopathology-related symptoms, quality of family relationships, and family satisfaction with treatment will be evaluated during the treatment and at an 18 months follow-up. A cost-efficiency analysis will also be carried out. Discussion We hypothesize that MFT is at least as efficacious as SFT, but at a lesser cost. The identification of possible preferential indications for each technique could help the improvement of therapeutic indications for adolescents suffering from AN and contribute to the earliness of intervention, which is associated with a better outcome. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03350594. Registered on 22 November 2017. IDRCB number 2016-A00818-43. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13063-019-3347-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

My research aimed at studying the aesthetic aspect of the contemporary calligraphic sign via tracing its development and evolution since its creation. Strikingly / Remarkably، the letter becomes far more than a mere symbolic signifier to reach an artistic value unfolding a unique intellectual as well as aesthetic patrimony. In my thesis، I tried to deal with the calligraphic sign as part of the art show، which is not only characterized by its multidisciplinary feature but it also combines myriad artistic styles. Accordingly، this paves the way to renew our artistic vision and become more open onto different civilizations / cultures. Following a profound analytic study، my research tackles the various aesthetic، philosophical and technical aspects of the calligraphic sign as being an icon of exchange and communication which، despite its sacred and symbolic connotation with the Arab- Muslim art، has succeeded to emerge at the heart of the contemporary art show. Therefore، the calligraphic sign reveals the controversy about being deeply engraved in the Arab culture and identity and at the same time interactive with other arts and cultures. Hence، the issue is whether the calligraphic sign will be able، in front of these challenges، to offer a different global and aesthetic discourse that copes with the contemporary variables without neither being distorted nor stripped of its historical identity.

In recent years, facial recognition has been a major problem in the field of computer vision, which has attracted a lot of interest in previous years because of its use in different applications by different domains, it is a very important step in facial recognition that is based on the extraction of facial descriptors. In this article, we compared robust methods to extract relevant information from the face with different variations, to validate our experience, we have the text on a large database of face images. The simulation results show that the SURF detector exceeds other detectors in terms of Recognition rate and speed of determination of the similar point.

SPIRIT 2013 checklist: recommended items to address in a clinical trial protocol and related documents. (DOC 121 kb)