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Summary We proposed to establish a system of assessing severity of chondropathy taking into account localization, size, and depth of cartilage lesions. The design of the study was prospective and multicenter. The subjects were 755 patients who had undergone arthroscopy of the knee. Criteria for assessment of severity of chondropathy were as follows: (a) Physician's overall assessment using a 100-mm-long Visual Analogue Scale, and (b) size, grade, and localization of cartilage lesions recorded on a diagram. We used multivariate parametric and nonparametric analyses. The analyses resulted in two systems of assessing severity of chondropathy: SFA scoring for the three compartments of the knee, which is a continuous variable, and SFA grading, which is a semiquantitative variable. These systems seem to be of clinical relevance. However, more studies are required to further validate them and their capacity to detect changes in severity of chondropathy.

Background Little is known about the effect of retirement on alcohol consumption. The objectives were to examine changes in alcohol consumption following retirement, and whether these patterns differ by gender and socioeconomic status. Methods and Findings We assessed alcohol consumption annually from 5 years before to 5 years after retirement among 10,023 men and 2,361 women of the French Gazel study. Data were analyzed separately for men and women, using repeated-measures logistic regression analysis with generalized estimating equations. Five years prior to retirement, the prevalence of heavy drinking was about 16% among men, and not patterned by socioeconomic status. Among women, this prevalence was 19.5% in managers, 14.7% in intermediate occupations, and 12.8% in clerical workers. Around retirement, the estimated prevalence of heavy drinking increased in both sexes. In men, this increase was 3.1 percentage points for managers, 3.2 in intermediate occupations, 4.6 in clerical workers, and 1.3 in manual workers. In women, this increase was 6.6 percentage points among managers, 4.3 in intermediate occupations, and 3.3 among clerical workers. In men the increase around retirement was followed by a decrease over the following four years, not significant among manual workers; among women such a decrease was also observed in the non-managerial occupations. It is difficult to assess the extent to which the results observed in this cohort would hold for other working populations, other conditions of employment, or in other cultural settings. A plausible explanation for the increase in heavy drinking around retirement could be that increased leisure time after retirement provides more opportunities for drinking, and not having to work during the day after may decrease constraints on drinking. Conclusions Our findings of increased consumption around retirement suggest that information about negative effects of alcohol consumption should be included in pre-retirement planning programs.

Les objectifs de cette etude sont de decrire l'evolution de la consommation de boissons alcoolisees des participants hommes et femmes d'une cohorte definie par l'INSERM pendant la periode 1992-1998 en fonction de leur statut socio-professionnel, et d'etudier les eventuelles modifications de la consommation d'alcool observees dans la periode entourant le passage a la retraite. Ce travail essentiellement descriptif est destine a observer si cet evenement important de la vie professionnelle et sociale, marque par de profonds changements dans la vie quotidienne et dans les relations familiales et sociales s'accompagne d'une modification des habitudes de consommation d'alcool

Resume Les frequences Rh determinees en Algerie (CNTS-Alger), sont les suivantes : R1 = 0,42371 r = 0,28661 R0 = 0,20900 R2 = 0,07660 r′ = 0,00281 r′' = 0,00127 Une comparaison effectuee avec les resultats europeens et africains montre que R2 et r sont plus faibles qu'en Europe, alors que R0 est plus eleve.

Resume Cent typages HLA ont ete effectues dans une population tunisienne non apparentee, choisie en fonction de son aptitude a donner du sang et donc de subir un examen medical complet. Les resultats obtenus montrent une bonne concordance avec ceux deja trouves par H. Betuel et coll. Parmi les haplotypes en desequilibre de liaison, deux sont rencontres chez les Tures et les Sardes.

Resume Il n'apparait pas entre les differents groupes bantous qui composent notre echantillon de differences notables. On peut noter peutetre une frequence du gene O encore plus elevee dans le Haut Ogooue (0,77) que dans l'Ogooue-Lolo (0,73). Le groupe Powi presente tres peu d'alleles MSU ou NSU mais son faible effectif s'oppose a toute conclusion ferme. L'ensemble de ces populations bantoues se caracterise par une frequence elevee de 0, de u, de Ro. L'echantillon de Pygmees est conforme a ces caracteristiques, et ne differe des Bantous que par une frequence tres elevee de u (0,33), particulierement de l'haplotype MU et par une frequence accrue de Ro. Son faible effectif ne permet pas de considerer ces differences comme statistiquement valables. Il convient de noter que le groupe Bawandji se rapproche des Pygmees par son profil ABO et son profil Rhesus, a savoir une frequence marquee de B et de Ro.

Analysis of inheritance of simple mendelian traits, as blood groups markers and some rare diseases, were the only possible field in medical genetics a few years ago. Recent advances in computerized medical records and in computer based algorithms of computation open a new field of research : genetic epidemiology.

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a nonparametric discriminant analysis based on the construction of a binary decision tree. The standard classical methods in classification problems are discriminant analysis and logistic regression. In these cases, the prediction rules are given in the form of algebraic expressions that are difficult to understand and interpret. The discriminant analysis takes a different approach, and the resulting prediction rules are given in the form of binary decision trees close to the physician reasoning, easy to understand, use, explain, and interpret. A binary decision tree is constructed by repeated splits of subsets of patients into two descendant subsets. The idea is to select each split so that the data in each of the descendant subsets are purer than the data in the parent node. In the illustrative binary decision tree, each subset is a node. A binary decision tree is obtained by means of the qualitative measurements of the data set.

Data are presented on the red cell enzymes of the Bigoudens. Deviations fro the expected Hardy-Weinberg distribution are interpreted as the result of a recent mixing of previously separated groups, in addition to the effect of silent alleles and inbreeding. Special reference to the historical background.

A sample of 192 male propositi with at least one ULI either missing or reduced has been compared with 197 male controls in terms of the morphology of the other teeth. Every class of propositi exhibits modifications in the following characters: Significant differences between propositi and controls were found for molar cusp number and groove pattern, particularly in the lower first molar and in propositi with reduced ULI. Significant differences between propositi and controls were also found with respect to caniniform pattern of the lower first premolar. The Carabelli's cusp is rarer in propositi. A hypothesis to account for these observations is proposed.

Summary Data are presented on the blood groups of the Bigoudens. Deviations from the expected Hardy-Weinberg distribution are interpreted as the result of a recent mixing of previously separated groups, in addition to the effect of silent alleles and inbreeding. Special reference to the historical evidence of their origin is made.

Pi typing was carried out by high resolution isoelectric focusing in 397 Bigoudens and in 100 non-Bigouden Bretons. Gene frequencies were computed by the gene counting method. No difference between the two groups could be demonstrated, neither was there a deviation from the expected Hardy-Weinberg distribution nor a heterogeneity between the Bigouden villages. The results were significantly different (p less than 0.02) from those reported in Normans.

Background Prospective cohorts represent an essential design for epidemiological studies and allow for the study of the combined effects of lifestyle, environment, genetic predisposition, and other risk factors on a large variety of disease endpoints. The CONSTANCES cohort is intended to provide public health information and to serve as an "open epidemiologic laboratory" accessible to the epidemiologic research community. Although designed as a "general-purpose" cohort with very broad coverage, it will particularly focus on occupational and social determinants of health, and on aging. Methods/Design The CONSTANCES cohort is designed as a randomly selected representative sample of French adults aged 18-69 years at inception; 200,000 subjects will be included over a five-year period. At inclusion, the selected subjects will be invited to fill a questionnaire and to attend a Health Screening Center (HSC) for a comprehensive health examination: weight, height, blood pressure, electrocardiogram, vision, auditory, spirometry, and biological parameters; for those aged 45 years and older, a specific work-up of functional, physical, and cognitive capacities will be performed. A biobank will be set up. The follow-up includes a yearly self-administered questionnaire, and a periodic visit to an HSC. Social and work-related events and health data will be collected from the French national retirement, health and death databases. The data that will be collected include social and demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, life events, behaviors, and occupational factors. The health data will cover a wide spectrum: self-reported health scales, reported prevalent and incident diseases, long-term chronic diseases and hospitalizations, sick-leaves, handicaps, limitations, disabilities and injuries, healthcare utilization and services provided, and causes of death. To take into account non-participation at inclusion and attrition throughout the longitudinal follow-up, a cohort of non-participants will be set up and followed through the same national databases as participants. A field-pilot was performed in 2010 in seven HSCs, which included about 3,500 subjects; it showed a satisfactory structure of the sample and a good validity of the collected data. Discussion The constitution of the full eligible sample is planned during the last trimester of 2010, and the cohort will be launched at the beginning of 2011.