Search

Abstract: Subject: Molecular amplification (PCR) provides adequate rapid and specific diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection (first agent responsible for community-wide bacterial pneumonia in children above 5 years of age). Method: Positive (Chlamylège®, Argène) PCR in nasopharyngeal aspirate, respiratory samples and nasopharyngeal swab and/or positive serological test (ELISA). Results: Diagnosis of M. pneumoniae infection in 39 cases: 31 between September and December 2008 (30 children and one adult) and eight since June 2009 (three adults and five children). Children (mean age: 3.6years) were hospitalized in 88.6% of cases, mean hospitalization duration was 2.9 days for respiratory tract infections, mainly due to lack of response to β-lactamines therapy (65.7%). Four adults (mean age: 29.5 years) presented a pneumonia, with hospitalization for three of them with one in intensive care unit. Twenty-eight PCR have proved positive (87%): without associated serology (13), eight negative serologies, IgG and IgM positive (five), and IgG alone (two). Seven patients had only serological test for diagnosis: IgM±IgG. For two children, IgM positive only in isolation, with a PCR probably false negative. Conclusion: The sensitivity of the serology in the diagnosis of mycoplasma infection is limited: IgM, which appear traditionally 1 week after clinical signs are mostly inexistent for adults and IgG rise at a later stage. Early diagnosis of child pneumoniae by PCR helped rapidly characterize this epidemic phenomenon and adapt the treatment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Subject: The closed system PCR for the rapid detection of vanA and vanB genes (Xpert vanA/vanB Cepheid®) was evaluated in our laboratory, to improve the rapidity of the response and thus the management of patients and isolation measures during two GRE outbreaks. Method: From March to December2009, 565 samples were analysed by PCR associated to bacterial culture initially for all samples for 2months (n = 75), and thereafter for PCR-positive samples only. Results: In this study, sensitivity and negative predictive values of the PCR were 100%. Specificity was evaluated in the presence and absence of outbreak: 69.3 and 76.8% respectively. The variability of false positive rates between units were lower in nonepidemic than during epidemic phase. The global false positive rate was 23.9%. Conclusion: This easy-to-use technology provides rapid results… four samples are tested in 1h versus 72h for culture. Despite its reagent cost, it represents an important hospital diagnostic tool: improvement of the management of cohorting areas and patient transfer between units, adaptation of isolation measures and treatments. However, culture remains necessary to confirm any positive result obtained by PCR and for epidemiological surveillance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Aim of the work: We have researched and identified Herpes viruses on the esophageal biopsies taken during the period between September 2006 and March 2008 for 15 suspected patients. Patients and methods: The esophageal biopsies were transferred to the laboratory being conserved in physiological serum and frozen at −80°C for PCR. A fragment was conserved for histopathological analysis. The specimen was defrozen and refrozen in liquid azote (to limit the inhibitors) and crushed to the powder form. Extraction was then done following the prerecognised protocol (Herpès Consensus Générique® – “Argene”). That kit allows the amplification consensus of the viral genome of the most frequently encountered Herpes family virus: HSV1, HSV2, CMV, VZV, EBV and HHV6. The identification of the implicated virus was done by the Hybridowell Herpes Identification (Argene) kit in parallel with the migration of SDS gel of the obtained amplifications. Results: HSV1 was identified in seven esophageal biopsies between the 15 studied. HHV6 and the association HHV6/EBV for two patients and only one biopsy had inconclusive. The endoscopie and the histopathological examination had confirmed ulcerated esophagitis with cytopathogene aspect in favour of viral infection for six patients. Conclusion: In absence of inhibitors, the adaptation of the extraction technique of the fragments of tissue for few millimetres and the amplifications by PCR had allowed rapid confirmation of the diagnosis of herpetic esophagitis secondary to HSV1 even before the results of the histopathological examination. Treatment by acyclovir entrained regression of the disease. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: An outbreak of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (E. faecium) occurred in the Bethune Hospital since March 2008 (two consecutive waves). To control this outbreak, two-point prevalence surveys were conducted in May 2008 and January 2009 in inpatients hospitalised more than 24hours on previously non-affected wards. Methods: In each ward, information was given to inpatients, administrative and medical data were collected, rectal swabs or stool samples were performed and cultured on chromogenic media. Data were anonymised, and Epidata software was used for the analysis. Results: In May 2008, nine patients were found to be colonized with vancomycin-resistant E. faecium among the 239 patients evaluated (prevalence : 3,76%), and three new wards were affected: neurology ward, general surgical ward, and emergency department observation unit. In January 2009, only one patient, hospitalised in cardiac intensive care unit, was colonised among the 157 patients evaluated (prevalence 0,63%). Conclusions: These two-point prevalence surveys identified the reservoir of vancomycin-resistant E. faecium carriage, and were thus helpful to contain the two epidemic waves at the Bethune Hospital. A cohorting of the colonised inpatients was performed. Five secondary colonisation cases were detected among the 181 contact patients in May 2008, and no secondary case among 32 contact patients in January 2009. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Tree shade, particularly shade that obscures direct sunlight near peak periods of midday solar exposure can have a pronounced effect on potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation, and in turn, strongly influence the maximum daily UV index (UVI). In this study, the seasonal influence of tree shade on the UVI is evaluated from 210 hemispherical sky view images collected alongside public walkways and footpaths from 10 residential Brisbane suburbs. The effective sidewalk UV index is calculated underneath planted tree canopies, adjacent residential gardens, buildings and background tree species. Results are presented with respect to seasonal variations in the diurnal solar elevation for each month of the year at Brisbane's latitude. The research also examines the total reduction in UVI due to the presence of individual tree species, showing reductions in the midday UVI of up to 91% of an equivalent unimpeded sky hemisphere when overhead tree canopies are present. Important footpath tree species for peak midday UVI mitigation include Pongamia pinnata, Xanthostemon chrysanthus, Senna siamea, and Libidibia ferrea. The planting and maintenance of existing tree species already growing alongside residential Brisbane streets will improve the shade characteristics of suburbs and enhance UV protection for local residents., (© 2024 The Author(s). Photochemistry and Photobiology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Photobiology.)

Spectroradiometry, radiometry, and dosimetry are employed for the measurement of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) irradiance and non-ionizing exposure. Different types of UVR dosimeter have been developed for measuring personal and environmental UVR exposures since film dosimetry was pioneered in the 1970s. An important type of dosimeter is the thin film variant, which contains materials that undergo changes in optical absorbance when exposed to UVR. These changes can be measured at a specific wavelength using a spectrophotometer. Thin film dosimeters allow UVR exposure measurements on humans at various body sites during daily activities, as well as on plants, animals, and any sites of interest when utilized in a field environment. This review examines the properties and applications of five types of thin film UVR dosimeter that have different dynamic exposure limits and spectral responses. Polysulphone, with a spectral response approximating the human erythema action spectrum, was one of the first materials employed in thin film form for the measurement of UVR exposures up to 1 day, and up to 6 days with an extended dynamic range filter. Polyphenylene oxide has been characterized and employed for personal UVR exposure measurements up to approximately four summer days and has also been used for long-term underwater UVR exposures. Phenothiazine and 8-methoxypsoralen have been reported as suitable for the measurement of longer wavelength UVA exposures. Finally, polyvinyl chloride with an extended dynamic exposure range of over 3 weeks has been shown to have predominantly a spectral response in the UVB and extending up to 340 nm., (© 2024 The Author(s). Photochemistry and Photobiology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Photobiology.)

Current shading strategies used to protect outdoor playgrounds from harmful solar radiation include the placement of artificial cloth weaves or permanent roofing over a playground site, planting trees in proximity to playground equipment, and using vegetation or surface texture variations to cool playground surfaces. How and where an artificial shade structure is placed or a tree is planted to maximize the shade protection over specific playground areas, requires careful assessment of local seasonal sun exposure patterns. The Playground Shade Index (PSI) is introduced here as a design metric to enable shade and solar ultraviolet exposure patterns to be derived in an outdoor space using conventional aerial views of suburban park maps. The implementation of the PSI is demonstrated by incorporating a machine learning design tool to classify the position of trees from an aerial image, thus enabling the mapping of seasonal shade and ultraviolet exposure patterns within an existing 7180 m 2 parkland. This is achieved by modeling the relative position of the sun with respect to nearby buildings, shade structures, and the identified evergreen and deciduous tree species surrounding an outdoor playground., (© 2022 American Society for Photobiology.)

To limit the spread of COVID-19, public authorities have recommended sanitary behaviors such as handwashing, mask-wearing, physical distancing, and social distancing. We recruited a large sample of higher education students in Belgium ( N = 3201-3441) to investigate the role of sociodemographic variables, mental health, previous COVID-19 infections, academic involvement, and risk perception on adherence to these sanitary behaviors. This cross-sectional study took place during the second COVID-19 wave in Belgium, between February and March 2021. Analyses showed that living alone, being female, later in the academic curriculum, having higher general and health anxiety, higher academic involvement, and higher risk perception were positively associated with adherence to the four aforementioned sanitary behaviors. Conversely, previous infection with COVID-19 and having been quarantined were negative predictors. Our results show a set of predictors highly similar for the four sanitary behaviors. We discuss potential initiatives to increase adherence to sanitary behaviors in this group of highly educated youngsters., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Furthermore, the authors declare that this manuscript is an original work and have not been published before, nor is it being considered for publication elsewhere either in printed or electronic form. The authors confirm that the manuscript adheres to ethical guidelines specified in the APA Code of Conduct as well as authors’ national ethics guidelines., (Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s).)

Abstract: Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors are rare soft tissue neoplasms with an uncertain biological behavior, derived from fibroblastic and myofibroblastic cells. In rare cases, a peculiar epithelioid phenotypic variant of this tumor is encountered, named epithelioid inflammatory myofibroblastic sarcoma (EIMS). EIMS has overlapping features with inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor but has been correlated with a more aggressive clinical course, a characteristic nuclear membrane or perinuclear anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) immunostaining pattern and a very specific RANBP2-ALK fusion. To date, EIMS has been reported almost exclusively in the abdominal and pelvic cavity, with the exception of some intrathoracic cases. Herein, we present the first case of primary cutaneous EIMS, confirmed by molecular analysis showing the diagnostic RANBP2-ALK fusion., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the psychological well-being of students. Several stressors (such as socioeconomic and education-related contexts) could influence mental health, as well as individual and relational dimensions. This study proposes to evaluate the predictive effect of these factors on anxiety and depressive symptoms among students in higher education one year after the beginning of the pandemic. A sample of 23,307 students (Mage = 20.89; SD = 1.96; 69.08% of women) was assessed through an online self-report questionnaire including adapted and validated measures. The main rates were as follows: 50.6% of students presented anxiety symptoms; 55.1% reported depressive symptoms; 20.8% manifested suicidal ideations; 42.4% saw their financial situation deteriorate; 39.1% felt they were dropping out of school. One year after the beginning of the pandemic, students in higher education are anxious and depressed, especially those who identify as women (for both anxiety and depression) and as a non-binary gender (only for anxiety), experience a deterioration in their financial situation, are dropping out of school, or manifest hostility (for both anxiety and depression). The degree of study affects the symptoms' severity (Bachelor 2 and 3 for anxiety and Master for depression). Contact with family and friends (for both anxiety and depression) as well as regular physical activity (only for depression) should provide some protection against psychological distress. Policy-makers must make a long-term investment in the well-being and positive mental health of the student community.

Competing Interests: Dr Ghislain provides consultancy to, receives fees as a speaker and/or investigator from, or receives grants from 10.13039/100004319Pfizer, MSD, 10.13039/100006483AbbVie, Janssen, Serono, Leo, 10.13039/100004336Novartis, 10.13039/100011110UCB, 10.13039/100002429Amgen, Eli 10.13039/100004312Lilly, 10.13039/501100009754Galderma, BMS, Meda, Maruho, Flen, Menarini, Almirall, PellePharm, and Viatris. Dr Jo Lambert has been an advisor/speaker for Janssen, Leo Pharma, AbbVie, and Novartis. Dr Grine has been a speaker for AbbVie. Dr Willaert has been an advisor/speaker for Janssen, Leo Pharma, AbbVie, Celgene, and Novartis. Dr Fierens has been an advisor for Janssen, Leo Pharma, and Novartis. Dr Vandaele has been an advisor/speaker for Janssen, Leo Pharma, and Novartis. Dr Boonen has been an advisor/speaker for Celgene, Leo Pharma, Janssen-Cilag, Lily, Novartis, UCB, Almirall, AbbVie, Fresenius Kabi, Mylan, and Sanofi. Dr de Schaetzen has been an advisor/speaker for AbbVie, Novartis, and Leo Pharma. Dr de la Brassinne has received lecture and/or consultation fees and/or travel reimbursement from AbbVie, Almirall, Amgen, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Leo Pharma, Novartis, and Pfizer. Drs Failla, Soenen, Tannous, Guiot, Saerens, Meuleman, Stockman, Belpaire, Swimberghe, Temmerman, Dekeyser, Jean-Michel Lambert, and Benhadou have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Background: There are numerous systems and techniques to measure the growth of plant roots. However, phenotyping large numbers of plant roots for breeding and genetic analyses remains challenging. One major difficulty is to achieve high throughput and resolution at a reasonable cost per plant sample. Here we describe a cost-effective root phenotyping pipeline, on which we perform time and accuracy benchmarking to identify bottlenecks in such pipelines and strategies for their acceleration., Results: Our root phenotyping pipeline was assembled with custom software and low cost material and equipment. Results show that sample preparation and handling of samples during screening are the most time consuming task in root phenotyping. Algorithms can be used to speed up the extraction of root traits from image data, but when applied to large numbers of images, there is a trade-off between time of processing the data and errors contained in the database., Conclusions: Scaling-up root phenotyping to large numbers of genotypes will require not only automation of sample preparation and sample handling, but also efficient algorithms for error detection for more reliable replacement of manual interventions.

Background: Needle puncture has been suggested as a method for identifying bacteria in the bones in patients with diabetes with osteomyelitis of the foot. However, no studies have compared needle puncture with concomitant transcutaneous bone biopsy, which is the current standard recommended in international guidelines., Methods: We conducted a prospective study in 2 French diabetes foot clinics. Transcutaneous bone biopsy specimens, needle puncture specimens, and swab samples were collected on the same day for each patient., Results: Overall, 31 patients were included in the study from July 2006 through February 2008. Twenty-one bone biopsy specimens (67.7%), 18 needle puncture specimens (58%), and 30 swab samples (96.7%) had positive culture results. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common type of bacteria that grew from bone samples, followed by Proteus mirabilis and Morganella morganii. The mean number of bacteria types per positive sample were 1.35, 1.32, and 2.51 for bone biopsy specimens, needle puncture specimens, and swab samples, respectively. Among the 20 patients with positive bone biopsy specimens (69%), 13 had positive needle puncture samples. Overall, the correlation between microbiological results was 23.9%, with S. aureus showing the strongest correlation (46.7%). Results of cultures of bone biopsy and needle puncture specimens were identical for 10 (32.3%) of 31 patients. Bone bacteria were isolated from the needle punctures in 7 (33.3%) of the 21 patients who had positive bone biopsy specimen culture results. If the results of cultures of needle puncture specimens alone had been considered, 5 patients (16.1%) would have received unnecessary treatment, and 8 patients (38.1%) who had positive bone culture results would not have been treated at all., Conclusions: Our results suggest that needle punctures, compared with transcutaneous bone biopsies, do not identify bone bacteria reliably in patients with diabetes who have low-grade infection of the foot and suspected osteomyelitis.

A 62-year-old man, under long-term corticosteroid therapy for pigeon breeder's disease, was admitted to endocrinology disease department for cutaneous abscess on back, limbs and scalp. Culture of various bacteriological samples (cutaneous abscess, blood culture) isolated Nocardia otitidiscaviarum. The patient was treated by trimethoprime-sulfametoxazole during several weeks with abscess disappearance. Our laboratory quickly identificatied a bacteria belonging to the Nocardia genus, with simple technique, later confirmed by a specialized laboratory (Pr. Boiron Claude Bernard University Lyon I) with identification of Nocardia otitidiscaviarum. The proof of pulmonary nocardiosis could not be established despite the existente of several risk factors. Prognosis is poor for immunocompromised patients, but the secondary cutaneous dissemination phase presented a favourable evolution under antibiotic therapy.

Trefoil factor family (TFF) peptides are typical secretory products of mucin-producing cells, e.g. of the gastrointestinal tract. Here, the expression and secretion of mucins and TFF peptides was studied in the HT-29 cell line throughout cellular growth and differentiation in relation to a mucin-secreting (HT-29 MTX) or an enterocyte-like (HT-29 G(-)) phenotype. mRNAs of several MUC and TFF genes were expressed in both cell subpopulations. However, for most MUC and TFF genes, the expression appeared strongly induced with the differentiation into the mucin-secreting phenotype. On the other hand, TFF2 was specifically expressed in the mucin-secreting HT-29 MTX cells. The differentiation of HT-29 MTX cells into the mucin-secreting phenotype was characterised by secretion of the gel-forming mucins MUC2, MUC5AC, and MUC5B, however, according to a different pattern in the course of differentiation. A significant amount of TFF1 and TFF3 was secreted after differentiation, also according to a different pattern, whereas TFF2 was only faintly detected. Secretagogues, known to induce the secretion of mucus, increased the secretion of all three TFF peptides. In contrast, neither a secretory mucin nor a TFF peptide was found in the culture medium of HT-29 G(-) cells. Overlay assays indicated that HT-29 MTX mucins bound to secretory peptides of HT-29 MTX cells with relative molecular mass similar to TFF peptides. TFF1 and TFF3 were specifically localised in the mucus layer of HT-29 MTX cells by confocal microscopy. Finally, the secretion of TFF peptides and mucins appears as a co-ordinated process which only occurs after differentiation into goblet cell-like phenotype.