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The presence of the written word in the work of Scottish artist Georgia Russell denotes an attraction for the evocative power of the term. Since her arrival in France, the artist has used the book as a medium, and her cutting technique appropriates different genres, generally textual, known to all. She uses novels, book covers etc., where the scalpel cuts highlight certain terms, while obliterating others. This attachment to the word leads her to create visual short-cuts relating to the dreamlike approach of surrealism or psychoanalysis. Using just the evocative function of a term with universal connotations, a form of imagination develops based on the interaction between art and language. I will show how Georgia Russell appropriates the word to transform it into an almost organic materiality, her paper sculptures becoming veritable totemic figures.

Abstract Background Cutaneous microcystic lymphatic malformations (CMLMs) are rare conditions in children and adults. They present as clusters of vesicles full of lymph and blood to various extents, inducing maceration, esthetic impairment, pain, and impaired quality of life. The treatment is challenging. Sirolimus is an inhibitor of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) involved in angio-lymphangiogenesis. Topical sirolimus has recently been reported as effective in a few reports of patients with CMLMs. The objective is to compare the efficacy and safety of a 12-week application of 0.1% topical sirolimus versus topical vehicle in CMLMs in children and adults. Methods This French blinded multicenter within-person randomized controlled phase 2 trial aims to include 55 patients aged ≥ 6 years who have a primary CMLM. The CMLM will be divided into two equal areas that will be randomly allocated to 0.1% topical sirolimus or topical vehicle applied for 12 weeks. At the end of the 12-week period, the patient/parent will treat the whole area of CMLM with 0.1% topical sirolimus on remaining lesions, for eight more weeks. Patients will be seen at week 20 (treatment will be stopped) and at month 12 to evaluate long-term efficacy. The primary outcome will be improvement of the CMLM in the area treated with topical sirolimus compared to the area treated with topical vehicle by the investigator physician (blinded to the treatment) with the Physician Global Assessment score at week 12. Secondary outcomes will include: assessment of efficacy by independent experts on the basis of standardized photographs; impact on quality of life; efficacy for oozing, bleeding, erythema, and thickness evaluated by the investigators; and global efficacy as well as efficacy for functional and aesthetic impairment evaluated by the patient. Systemic passage of sirolimus will be measured at weeks 6, 12, and 20, and at week 16 for CMLMs ≥ 900 cm2. Discussion For patients with CMLMs, topical sirolimus could be a non-invasive and well-tolerated therapeutic option. If the trial demonstrates efficacy and safety of this treatment, this result will lead to a real change in the management of this condition, and 0.1% sirolimus cream would become the first-line treatment. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03972592. Registered on 3 June 2019. EU Clinical Trials Register EudraCT, 2018–001359-11.

Infantile haemangiomas are very common benign tumours in the first months of life. They are mostly cutaneous; however, extracutaneous lesions are possible, and occur in very rare cases in the central nervous system. A European multicentre observational retrospective study was conducted in the last 5 years. Seven patients with intracranial or intraspinal infantile haemangiomas were selected and treated with oral propranolol. Propranolol was interrupted after complete or almost complete resolution of infantile haemangiomas. All patients tolerated the treatment well without side-effects. Central nervous system infantile haemangiomas are probably underestimated due to the frequent absence of symptoms and their spontaneous involution. However, they should be investigated in case of segmental cutaneous infantile haemangiomas, particularly on the head, neck, upper trunk, lumbar or sacral area in order to diagnosis intra-central nervous system involvement at an early stage.

Objective Congenital haemangiomas (CHs) are rare, benign vascular tumours that are fully developed at birth. Three subtypes of CHs have been described based on clinical behaviour: rapidly involuting CHs (RICHs), non-involuting CHs (NICHs) and partially involuting CHs (PICHs). We explore in our study clinical, evolutionary and paraclinical characteristics of the three CH subtypes.Design Children with CH attending our department of paediatric dermatology at Bordeaux University Hospital over a 13-year period were retrospectively included. Epidemiological, clinical and evolutionary data, photographs and imaging results were reviewed. All available tissue samples were histologically examined.Results We included 57 patients: 22 with RICH, 22 with NICH and 13 with PICH. Males predominated (ratio 1.7); the most common CH location was on the limbs. RICH, NICH and PICH exhibited overlapping characteristics; all were single telangiectatic lesions with pale peripheral halos. At birth, NICHs were flat but RICHs and PICHs bulky. The median age at complete RICH involution was 12 months. One-third of CHs that appeared RICH-like at birth underwent incomplete involution to become PICHs. Heart failure and thrombocytopenia were rare complications. PICHs were frequently ulcerated. Pain was common for NICH and PICH. The imaging and histological data of the three CH subtypes were rather similar.Conclusions We describe the characteristics and evolution of the three CH subtypes using a case series. Certain overlapping features were apparent, reinforcing the hypothesis that RICH, NICH and PICH lie on the same pathological spectrum.

GPR88 is an orphan G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) considered as a promising therapeutic target for neuropsychiatric disorders; its pharmacology, however, remains scarcely understood. Based on our previous report of increased delta opioid receptor activity in Gpr88 null mice, we investigated the impact of GPR88 co-expression on the signaling of opioid receptors in vitro and revealed that GPR88 inhibits the activation of both their G protein- and β-arrestin-dependent signaling pathways. In Gpr88 knockout mice, morphine-induced locomotor sensitization, withdrawal and supra-spinal analgesia were facilitated, consistent with a tonic inhibitory action of GPR88 on µOR signaling. We then explored GPR88 interactions with more striatal versus non-neuronal GPCRs, and revealed that GPR88 can decrease the G protein-dependent signaling of most receptors in close proximity, but impedes β-arrestin recruitment by all receptors tested. Our study unravels an unsuspected buffering role of GPR88 expression on GPCR signaling, with intriguing consequences for opioid and striatal functions.

In 1947, a small group of Surrealist artists, comprising Joan Miró, printmaker Stanley William Hayter and poet Ruthven Todd tried to resurrect Blake’s technique of “illuminated printing”. Their research resulted in the invention by Hayter of a method of printing simultaneously several colours, depending on the inks’ different viscosities. The process revolutionised the traditional approach to colour printing, and became famous, fascinating a large number of engravers. This article first describes the process in detail and how the artist, by employing new gestures for the production of colour plates, opened the door to a Surrealist approach of the medium. A close analysis of Hayter’s New Ways of Gravure, written in 1949 to give engravers the technical means to reach the spontaneity of painters, will demonstrate how Hayter saw gestures as fundamental to unleash the imagination. For him lines, traces, contours resulting from a controlled, but intuitive gesture, express both introspection and exteriority. They are a “unidirectional time system” which requires total physical involvement on the part of the artist, while freeing his creativity. The article examines how Stanley William Hayter’s engraving gestures are deeply connected to his aesthetic approach and resonate with his artistic production as a whole.

L’élevage du vin en barrique de chêne connaît un regain d’intérêt avec l’avènement de l’œnologie moderne et la mise en évidence de son importance dans l’expression des plus grands vins. Avec une contenance standard de 225 L, soit potentiellement 300 bouteilles de 75 cL, tout incident impliquant la barrique peut se révéler très préjudiciable pour le producteur. C’est pour cela, que prévenir la présence accidentelle de 2,4,6-TriChloroAnisole (TCA) dans les barriques est depuis plusieurs années un enjeu technique et économique majeur pour le secteur de la tonnellerie.