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Abstract Background The European Thyroid Association Thyroid Imaging Data and Reporting Systems (EU-TIRADS) is widely used in the risk stratification of thyroid nodule malignancy. However, data on the subject in Sub-Saharan Africa are limited. The objective of this study is to evaluate the clinical, sonographic and histopathological concordance of thyroid nodules in the diagnosis of thyroid cancer. Methods This was an analytical cross-sectional study that examined the clinical, ultrasound and pathological data of 61 patients from 4 hospitals in the city province of Kinshasa over a period of 24 months, from June 01, 2020 to May 31, 2022. Results Of the 61 patients, their mean age was 47.38 ± 8.8 years. The mean clinical score of the patients was 3.4 ± 0.84 with the extremes ranging from 1 to 5. The majority of the patients were classified as having an intermediate risk, ie 85.2% of the cases. It was noted that 41% of the nodules had a high risk according to the EU-TIRADS score and 8.2% of the nodules were malignant after histopathological analysis. The ROC curves reported at the diagnosis of malignancy show an area under the curve of 0.709 with 95% CI (0.486–0.931), a Youden index of 0.769 for the clinical score, and an area under the curve of 0.830 with 95% CI (0.605–0.995), a Youden index of 0.772 for the EU-TIRADS score. Conclusion In a low-income country, a well-performed thyroid ultrasound and the well-applied clinical score could be an important tool in the selection of thyroid nodules suspected of malignancy and requiring histopathological examination to avoid excessive acts in the patient.

The introduction of magnetism in two-dimensional (2D) materials represents an intense field of research nowadays and the quest to reach above-room-temperature ordering temperatures is still underway. Intrinsic ferromagnetism was discovered in 2017 in CrI$_{{3}}$ and Cr$_{{2}}$Ge$_{{2}}$Te$_{{6}}$ in the monolayer form with low Curie temperatures. An alternative method to introduce magnetism into conventional 2D materials is substitutional doping with magnetic impurities similarly to three-dimensional diluted magnetic semiconductors. The case of Mn-doped transition metal dichalcogenide (MoS$_{{2}}$, MoSe$_{{2}}$, WS$_{{2}}$, WSe$_{{2}}$) monolayers is very interesting because combining out-of-plane ferromagnetism and valley contrast leads to ferrovalley materials. In this work, we focus on the incorporation of Mn in MoSe$_{{2}}$ by molecular beam epitaxy on graphene which has been rarely addressed up to now. By using a multiscale characterization approach, we demonstrate that Mn atoms are incorporated into the MoSe$_{{2}}$ monolayer up to 5 atomic percent. However, when incorporated into the film, Mn atoms tend to diffuse to the grain edges forming undefined Mo$_{{{\it x}}}$Mn$_{{{\it y}}}$Se$_{{{\it z}}}$ phase at grain boundaries after completion of the MoSe$_{{2}}$ monolayer. This segregation leaves the crystalline and electronic structure of MoSe$_{{2}}$ unmodified. Above 5%, the saturation of Mn content in MoSe$_{{2}}$ leads to the formation of epitaxial MnSe clusters.

Given a continuous field of locally compact groups, we show that the field of the Plancherel weights of their C*-algebras is lower semi-continuous. As a corollary, we obtain that the dual Haar system of a continuous Haar system of a locally compact abelian group bundle is also continuous.

Depuis le début des années 1990, sur le site expérimental de La Jaillière dans l'Ouest de la France. des campagnes d'analyses portant sur les concentrations en nutriments et en produits phytopharmaceutiques sont réalisées en sortie de parcelle agricole drainée. Les résultats de ces mesures sur le long terme permettent aujourd'hui de déterminer les effets du drainage agricole et des pratiques culturales sur la qualité de l'eau.

Nasreddine Oudjani,1 Didier Renault,2,3 Emilie Courrier,2 Yacine Malek1 1Outpatient Ophthalmology Clinic, Cité les allées du 20 août 1955, Skikda 21000, Algeria; 2Corneal Graft Biology, Engineering and Imaging Laboratory, EA2521, Federative Institute of Research in Sciences and Health Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, Jean Monnet University, Saint-Etienne, France; 3Laboratoires Théa, Clermont-Ferrand Cedex 2 63017, FranceCorrespondence: Nasreddine OudjaniOutpatient Ophthalmology Clinic Cité les allées du 20 août 1955, Skikda 21000, AlgeriaTel +213 661210000Fax +213 38722077Email dr_oudjani_ophtalmo@yahoo.frPurpose: Cataract surgery in patients suffering from zonular weakness can be difficult and lead to severe complications. The insertion of capsular tension rings to stabilize the capsular bag along all steps of the phacoemulsification is an option, although can be difficult to remove intra- or post-operatively. A capsular tension ring with a thread is a safe alternative, which allows its easy removal at the end of the surgery.Patients and methods: Retrospective study of regular practice on 14 patients with zonular weakness who underwent phacoemulsification. Among them, 12 suffered from pseudo-exfoliative syndrome and 2 suffered from a post-traumatic cataract. All benefited from the use of a capsular tension ring with a thread during their surgery.Results: All surgeries were successful. Capsular tension ring with a thread was all removed at the end of surgery without any complication.Conclusion: The addition of a thread to the capsular tension ring is a simple modification that enhances its use by facilitating its intraoperative removal if necessary or at the end of surgery.Keywords: weak zonule, capsular bag, cataract, posterior dislocation, trick

When organisms coevolve, any change in one species can affect phenotypes and ecology of the other species. Upper trophic levels have to synchronize their life-cycle to both abiotic conditions and lower trophic level species phenotypic variations and phenology. The role such interactions play in ecosystems is central, but their mechanistic bases remain underexplored. We tested the effect of seasonal variation in host quality on parasitoid diapause induction by using viviparous and oviparous female morphs of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. Aphidius ervi parasitoids from two populations of contrasted climatic origin (harsh vs. mild winter areas) were allowed to parasitize each morph in a split-brood design and were next reared under either fall-like or summer-like temperature-photoperiod conditions. We found that oviparous morphs, present before winter, are cues per se for diapause induction; parasitoids entered diapause at higher levels when developing in oviparous hosts (19.4 3.0%) than in viviparous ones (3.6 1.3%), under summer-like conditions (i.e., when oviparous aphids appear in the fields). This pattern was only observed in parasitoids from the harsh winter area, suggesting local adaptations to variation in host quality as an overwintering cue. Analyses of the relative proportion of forty-seven metabolites and lipid reserves in both aphid morphs produced under the same conditions suggest parasitoids response to be mainly influenced by chemical cues derived from the host, with higher proportion of polyols and sugars, and more fat reserves being found in oviparous morphs. Host physiological state thus varies across the seasons and represents one of the multiple environmental indicators of upcoming detrimental conditions, affecting parasitoid overwintering strategies and diapause. Our results underline coevolutionary processes between hosts and parasitoids in their area of origin, likely leading to phenological synchronization with the environment. We point out the importance of such bottom-up effects for ecosystem functioning and for the provision of ecosystem services such as biological control.

La Bretagne, très tôt confrontée à une vulnérabilité pour assurer son alimentation en eau potable, a développé des approches territoriales innovantes pour limiter les phénomènes de dégradation de la qualité des milieux. Le programme Breizh bocage, politique publique en faveur du bocage, a soutenu la plantation de milliers de kilomètres de haies partout en Bretagne.

Marine Le Goas,1 Marie Paquet,2–5 Aurélie Paquirissamy,1 Julien Guglielmi,2–4 Cathy Compin,2–4 Juliette Thariat,6 Georges Vassaux,2–4 Valérie Geertsen,1 Olivier Humbert,2–5 Jean-Philippe Renault,1 Géraldine Carrot,1 Thierry Pourcher,2–4 Béatrice Cambien2–4 1NIMBE, Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique, Centre National Recherche Scientifique UMR 3685, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France; 2Laboratory Transporter in Imaging and Radiotherapy in Oncology (TIRO), Institut de Biosciences et Biotechnologies d’Aix-Marseille (BIAM), Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique, Nice, France; 3Laboratory Transporter in Imaging and Radiotherapy in Oncology (TIRO), University Nice Sophia Antipolis, Nice, France; 4Laboratory Transporter in Imaging and Radiotherapy in Oncology (TIRO), University Côte d’Azur, Nice, France; 5Nuclear Medicine Department, Centre Antoine Lacassagne, Nice, France; 6Department of Radiation Oncology, Centre François Baclesse, Université de Normandie, Caen, FranceCorrespondence: Béatrice CambienLaboratory Transporter in Imaging and Radiotherapy in Oncology (TIRO), University Nice Sophia Antipolis, 28 Avenue Valombrose, Nice Cedex 2 06107, FranceTel +33 493 377 715Email cambien@unice.frBackground: Human trials combining external radiotherapy (RT) and metallic nanoparticles are currently underway in cancer patients. For internal RT, in which a radioisotope such as radioiodine is systemically administered into patients, there is also a need for enhancing treatment efficacy, decreasing radiation-induced side effects and overcoming radio-resistance. However, if strategies vectorising radioiodine through nanocarriers have been documented, sensitizing the neoplasm through the use of nanotherapeutics easily translatable to the clinic in combination with the standard systemic radioiodine treatment has not been assessed yet.Method and materials: The present study explored the potential of hybrid poly(methacrylic acid)-grafted gold nanoparticles to improve the performances of systemic 131I-mediated RT on cancer cells and in tumor-bearing mice. Such nanoparticles were chosen based on their ability previously described by our group to safely withstand irradiation doses while exhibiting good biocompatibility and enhanced cellular uptake.Results: In vitro clonogenic assays performed on melanoma and colorectal cancer cells showed that poly(methacrylic acid)-grafted gold nanoparticles (PMAA-AuNPs) could efficiently lead to a marked tumor cell mortality when combined to a low activity of radioiodine, which alone appeared to be essentially ineffective on tumor cells. In vivo, tumor enrichment with PMAA-AuNPs significantly enhanced the killing potential of a systemic radioiodine treatment.Conclusion: This is the first report of a simple and reliable nanomedicine-based approach to reduce the dose of radioiodine required to reach curability. In addition, these results open up novel perspectives for using high-Z metallic NPs in additional molecular radiation therapy demonstrating heterogeneous dose distributions.Keywords: internal radioisotope therapy, radioiodine, polymer-grafted gold nanoparticles, melanoma, colorectal cancer, radio-enhancement

We have developed a magnetic bottle time-of-flight electron-electron coincidence spectrometer to perform measurements on solvated molecules in a liquid micro-jet. We present here the first results obtained after ionization of the oxygen 1s inner-shell of sodium benzoate molecules and show the possibilities to filter out the electron signal arising from the liquid phase from the signal of water molecules in the gas phase. Both photoelectrons and Auger electrons spectra (unfiltered and filtered) are presented.

Toxoplasmosis is a worldwide parasitosis that is generally benign. The infestation may pose a risk to immunocompromized patients and to fetuses when pregnant women have recently seroconverted. Current treatments have numerous side effects and chemoresistance is emerging, hence the need to find new anti-Toxoplasma gondii substances. This study focuses on the antiparasitic potential of lupane-type pentacyclic triterpenes isolated from the bark of black alder (Alnus glutinosa), as well as the hypothesis of their macromolecular target by an original method of reverse docking. Among the isolated triterpenes, betulone was the most active compound with an IC50 of 2.7 ± 1.2 μM, a CC50 greater than 80 μM, and a selectivity index of over 29.6. An additional study of the anti-T. gondii potential of commercially available compounds (betulonic acid methyl ester and betulonic acid) showed the important role of the C3 ketone function and the C28 oxidation level on the lupane-type triterpene in the antiparasitic activity since their IC50 and CC50 were similar to that of betulone. Finally, the most active compounds were subjected to the AMIDE reverse docking workflow. A dataset of 87 T. gondii proteins from the Protein Data Bank was created. It identified calcium-dependent protein kinase CDPK3 as the most likely target of betulin derivatives.

Marc Beaumont,1,2 Francis Couturaud,3 Florence Jego,4 Romain Pichon,5 Catherine Le Ber,1 Loïc Péran,1 Christophe Rogé,6 David Renault,6 Swathi Narayan,7 Gregory Reychler8–10 1Pulmonary Rehabilitation Unit, Morlaix Hospital Centre, Morlaix, France; 2European University of Occidental Brittany, EA3878, Brest, France; 3Department of Internal Medicine and Chest Diseases, EA3878 (GETBO), CIC INSERM 0502, University Hospital of Brest, European University of Occidental Brittany, Brest, France; 4Clinical Research Unit, Morlaix Hospital Centre, Morlaix, France; 5Pulmonary Rehabilitation Unit, Rennes, France; 6Pulmonology Unit, Morlaix Hospital Centre, Morlaix, France; 7European University of Occidental Brittany, Brest, France; 8Institut de Recherche Expérimentale et Clinique (IREC), Pôle de Pneumologie, ORL & Dermatologie, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium; 9Service de Pneumologie, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium; 10Service de Médecine Physique et Réadaptation, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium Introduction: Eighty percent of COPD patients experience dyspnea during activities of daily life (ADL). To the best of our knowledge, the Modified Medical Research Council (MMRC) dyspnea scale is the only validated scale designed to quantify dyspnea during ADL available in the French language. Two other instruments are only available in English versions: the London Chest Activity of Daily Living (LCADL) scale that allows a specific evaluation of dyspnea during ADL and the Dyspnea-12 questionnaire that evaluates the affective (emotional) and sensory components of dyspnea in daily life. The aim of this study was to translate and validate French versions of both LCADL and Dyspnea-12 questionnaires and to determine the reliability of these versions for the evaluation of dyspnea in severe to very severe COPD patients.Methods: Both translation and cultural adaptation were based on Beaton’s recommendations. Fifty consecutive patients completed the French version of LCADL and Dyspnea-12 and other questionnaires (MMRC, Saint George’s Respiratory Questionnaire [SGRQ], Hospital Anxiety and Depression [HAD]), at a 2-week interval. Internal consistency, validity, and reliability of LCADL and Dyspnea-12 were evaluated.Results: The French version of LCADL and Dyspnea-12 demonstrated good internal consistency with Cronbach’s α of, respectively, 0.84 and 0.91. LCADL was correlated significantly with item activity of SGRQ (ρ=0.55, p

A key control on the magnitude of coastal eutrophication is the degree to which currents quickly transport nitrogen derived from human sources away from the coast to the open ocean before eutrophication develops. In the Southern California Bight (SCB), an upwelling-dominated eastern boundary current ecosystem, anthropogenic nitrogen inputs increase algal productivity and cause subsurface acidification and oxygen (O 2 ) loss along the coast. However, the extent of anthropogenic influence on eutrophication beyond the coastal band, and the physical transport mechanisms and biogeochemical processes responsible for these effects are still poorly understood. Here, we use a submesoscale-resolving numerical model to document the detailed biogeochemical mass balance of nitrogen, carbon and oxygen, their physical transport, and effects on offshore habitats. Despite management of terrestrial nutrients that has occurred in the region over the last 20 years, coastal eutrophication continues to persist. The input of anthropogenic nutrients promote an increase in productivity, remineralization and respiration offshore, with recurrent O 2 loss and pH decline in a region located 30-90 km from the mainland. During 2013 to 2017, the spatially averaged 5-year loss rate across the Bight was 1.3 mmol m -3 O 2 , with some locations losing on average up to 14.2 mmol m -3 O 2 . The magnitude of loss is greater than model uncertainty assessed from data-model comparisons and from quantification of intrinsic variability. This phenomenon persists for 4 to 6 months of the year over an area of 278,40 km 2 ( ∼ 30% of SCB area). These recurrent features of acidification and oxygen loss are associated with cross-shore transport of nutrients by eddies and plankton biomass and their accumulation and retention within persistent eddies offshore within the SCB.

Pediatric specialists are often unavailable in low- and middle-income countries. As part of multiple professional associations' efforts to improve access to endocrine expertise globally, a pediatric endocrine teleconsultation network was established on a store-and-forward teleconsultation platform to facilitate focused, language-appropriate advice that can be kept for future reference while bypassing real-time video-conferencing, and obviating the need for a scheduled appointment. User information was recorded, and quality statistics on network performance and qualitative evaluation by referring physicians were analyzed. Over a 3-year period, 81 referrers (88% from Haiti) and 13 pediatric endocrinologists registered onto the network and discussed 47 pediatric endocrine cases, exchanging a total of 412 messages for a median of 7 messages (IQR 5, 11) per case. Diagnoses spanned the spectrum of pediatric endocrine disorders. According to referrers, an appropriate expert was consulted and an answer provided sufficiently quickly in 100% of cases. The answer was well-adapted to their environment in 86%, and referrers were able to follow the advice given in 72%. All but one referrer found the advice helpful, it clarified the diagnosis in 88%, assisted with management in 93%, improved patient's symptoms in 77%, improved function in 77%, and was considered cost-saving in 50%. Perceived benefits of the consultations were academic instruction, setting-adapted advice beyond the scope of guidelines or textbooks, and advancement in the diagnostic process. Pediatric endocrine remote store-and-forward consultations in low- and middle-income countries may provide a reasonable alternative to face-to-face visits, providing clinical and educational benefit, and a potential for cost-saving.

Echinococcus multilocularis eggs are deposited on the ground with the faeces of the carnivore definitive hosts. A reliable assessment of the spatial distribution of E. multilocularis eggs in environments used by humans is crucial for the prevention of alveolar echinococcosis (AE). This study was conducted in 192 rural and 71 urban vegetable gardens in AE endemic areas of north-eastern France. Its objective was to explore the relationship between the spatial distribution of E. multilocularis estimated from the collection and molecular analysis of two types of samples: faeces and soil. A total of 1024 carnivore faeces and 463 soil samples were collected and analysed by real-time PCR. No fox droppings and no positive soil samples were collected from the urban gardens. Positive soil samples, positive carnivore faeces, or both, were found in 42%, 24% and 6% of the sampled rural gardens, respectively. No significant association was found between the detection of E. multilocularis in soil samples collected from 50 gardens during a single sampling session and the extent and frequency of deposits of fox and cat faeces collected during repeated sampling sessions conducted in the previous months. In 19/50 gardens, E. multilocularis was detected in the soil while no positive faeces had been collected in the previous 12 months. Conversely, in 8/50 gardens, no soil samples were positive although positive faeces had been collected in the previous months. Collecting and analysing faeces provide information on soil contamination at a given time, while analysing soil samples provides an overview of long-term contamination.

The purpose of this article is to bridge the gap between critical theory as understood in the Frankfurt school tradition on the one hand, and social ontology understood as a reflection on the ontological presuppositions of social sciences and social theories on the other. What is at stake is the type of social ontology that critical theory needs if it wants to tackle its main social ontological issue: that of social transformation. This paper’s claim is that what is required is neither a substantial social ontology, nor a relational social ontology, but a processual one. The first part of this article elaborates the distinction between substantial, relational and processual social ontologies. The second part analyzes the various ways in which this distinction can be used in social ontological discussions. Finally, the third part focuses on the various possible social ontological approaches to the issue of social transformation.

In dry savannahs of West-Africa, the malarial mosquitoes of the Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto complex annually survive the harsh desiccating conditions of the dry season. However, the physiological and biochemical mechanisms underlying how these mosquitoes survive such desiccating conditions are still undefined, and controversial. In this context, we provide the first work examining both proteomic and metabolomic changes in the two molecular forms of A. gambiae s.s (M and S forms) experimentally exposed to the rainy and dry season conditions as they experience in the field. Protein abundances of the mosquitoes were measured using a two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis (2D DIGE) coupled with a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS) for protein identification. These assays were conducted by Applied Biomics (http://www.appliedbiomics.com, Applied Biomics, Inc. Hayward, CA, USA), and the mass spectrometry proteomics data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange Consortium (http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org) via the PRIDE partner repository with the dataset identifier PXD000294. The metabolomic analysis was conducted using both Acquity UPLC® system (for amino acid identification), and a gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry platform (for sugars identification). Metabolomic fingerprintings were assessed in the University of Rennes 1, UMR CNRS 6553 EcoBio (France). A detailed interpretation of the obtained data can be found in Hidalgo et al. (2014) [1] (Journal of Insect Physiology (2014)).

Dominique Bremond-Gignac,1,2 Riadh Messaoud,3 Sihem Lazreg,4 Claude Speeg-Schatz,5 Didier Renault,6 Frédéric Chiambaretta7,8 On behalf of the Azithromycin Pediatric Study Group 1Ophthalmology Department, Centre St Victor, University Hospital of Amiens, Picardie Jules Verne University, Amiens, France; 2CNRS FR3636, Paris V University, France; 3Ophthalmology Department, Tahar Sfar University Hospital, Mahdia, Tunisia; 4Dar El Beida, Blida, Algeria; 5Ophthalmology Department, University Hospital of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France; 6Laboratoires THÉA, Clermont-Ferrand, France; 7Ophthalmology Department, University Hospital of Clermont-Ferrand, Gabriel Montpied Hospital, Clermont-Ferrand, France; 8EA 7281 R2D2, Auvergne University, Clermont-Ferrand, France Purpose: To compare the efficacy of azithromycin 1.5% versus tobramycin 0.3% eyedrops on clinical ocular signs and symptoms of bacterial conjunctivitis in children and to assess the parents’ satisfaction regarding the dosing regimen.Patients and methods: An international, multicenter, randomized, investigator-masked, controlled clinical trial conducted in children (1 day to 18 years old) with bulbar conjunctival hyperemia and purulent discharge. Azithromycin 1.5% was administered as 1 drop twice daily for 3 days, and tobramycin 0.3% as 1 drop every 2 hours for 2 days, then 4 times daily for 5 days.Results: A total of 286 patients (mean age: 3.2 years) were enrolled. In children with bacteriologically positive cultures (N=203), azithromycin produced a significantly greater improvement in conjunctival discharge (P