Search

As light plays an important role in the synchronisation of the internal biological clock to the environmental day/night schedule, we compared the 24-h profiles of biological circadian markers in blind and normal sighted individuals. Salivary melatonin and cortisol concentrations were collected every two hours in eleven blind subjects, reporting no conscious light perception, and eleven age- and sex-matched normal sighted controls. Timing of melatonin onset and associated cortisol quiescence period confirm an increased incidence of abnormal circadian patterns in blindness. Additionally, blind subjects showed a greater overall melatonin concentration throughout the 24-h period. Cortisol profiles, including concentration and morning cortisol peaks, on the other hand, did not differ between blind and sighted individuals. These findings support previous reports of an increase in abnormal circadian rhythms and the absence of the entrainment properties of light in blindness.

Men with prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-only relapse of prostate cancer after primary therapy are generally fully functional and asymptomatic with a life expectancy of up to 10 or more years. Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is a common treatment option. This study examined mood and cognitive changes in otherwise healthy men with prostate cancer prior to, during and after ADT.Twenty hormone naïve, eugonadal prostate cancer patients without evidence of metastases and with a rising PSA were treated with intermittent ADT consisting of 9 months of complete androgen blockade (CAB) achieved with combined leuprolide and flutamide followed by an 'off treatment' period. Cognitive function tests and mood measures were administered at baseline, after 3 and 9 months of ADT and after 3 months of no treatment. Twenty healthy control patients without prostate cancer range matched for age and education were tested at the same time intervals.ADT patients evidenced a significant decline in spatial reasoning, spatial abilities and working memory during treatment compared with baseline. No changes were noted for measures of verbal or spatial memory, selective attention or language. Significant changes in self-rated mood such as increased depression, tension, anxiety, fatigue and irritability were evident during treatment compared with baseline for ADT patients. No significant changes in either cognitive tests or mood measures were noted for the healthy control group.These findings, suggest that 9 months of combined androgen blockade may result in some adverse changes in cognition and mood. However, many but not all of these changes can return to baseline after cessation of ADT.

We measure the hyperfine splitting of the 9S_{1/2} level of 210Fr, and find a magnetic dipole hyperfine constant A=622.25(36) MHz. The theoretical value, obtained using the relativistic all-order method from the electronic wave function at the nucleus, allows us to extract a nuclear magnetic moment of 4.38(5)micro_{N} for this isotope, which represents a factor of 2 improvement in precision over previous measurements. The same method can be applied to other rare isotopes and elements.

A thirteen-link biped with twelve actuated joints in three dimensional space is considered in this paper. The objective is to design a ballistic motion numerically for this biped. A first dynamical model of the biped is calculated in single support only. A second dynamical model tacking into account the wrench reaction from the ground is calculated for the single support phase and the double support phase. These two models are founded on the Newton Euler algorithm, considering that the reference frame is connected to a stance foot. At the impact the biped loses energy, the ballistic motion cannot be cyclic. Then impulsive controls around the impact are designed to overcome this lost energy and to obtain a cyclic motion. The initial and final configurations of the biped for the ballistic motion and the energy are calculated using an optimization process. Constraints such no take off, no sliding, and position of the center of pression are considered for these optimizations algorithms

The road accident injuries are always too high. Thus, many governments including French's want to react. The ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) is an expression to regroup systems which analyze road situations to help drivers. We made a large state of the art on sensors technologies that can locate and track vehicles. Some of them are well-known and used in several foreign projects. The others come from laboratory research.

Summary form only given. The anapole moment of a nucleus is a parity nonconserving, time reversal conserving moment that arises from weak interactions between the nucleons. It can only be detected in a PNC electron-nucleus interaction. We study an earlier suggestion of directly measuring the probability of E1 transitions between the ground hyperfine states of an atom, allowed only through the anapole moment, with the present possibilities of atom manipulation.

Summary form only given. We have constructed a new apparatus for producing and on-line trapping of francium for parity non-conservation experiments. At present, we have produced and delivered 15 /spl times/ 10/sup 6/ Fr/sec to the trapping area with better than 90% efficiency. The electrostatic optics of our beamline ensure mass independent transport of all francium isotopes and even other alkalis, such as rubidium, which we use for testing most of our apparatus. After accumulation in this first MOT, we transfer the atoms to a second MOT in a separate vacuum chamber one meter below, where they are transferred to a far off-resonance optical dipole trap for PNC experiments. At present, we are constructing the apparatus for a measurement of the PNC anapole moment by probing the microwave E1 transition between the ground state hyperfine levels of francium.

We report a case of acute intoxication due to a massive overdose of isotretinoin. A 29-year-old male patient ingested 900 mg of isotretinoin corresponding to 12.5 mg (kg/day) or 30 times the prescribed dosage and 1 day later the patient experienced mild headache. Forty-eight hours later, cheilitis, diffuse cutaneous xerosis and desquamation of the forehead and of the external auditory meatus occurred; cutaneous xerosis and cheilitis resolved spontaneously, We determined the serum level of isotretinoin and of 4-oxo-isotretinoin, its natural metabolite in sera taken 4, 5, 6 and 11 days following ingestion. The side-effects were mild and represented only exacerbations of some common isotretinoin side-effects. To date, three other cases of isotretinoin overdosage have been reported. There was a low toxicity of isotretinoin overdose.

Uncorrelated with their high D90 (range 91.7-125.5%), the probability of any tumorlet to have EUBED > BEDo was on average only 60% with the 'small' tumorlets having a significant advantage, 79% vs. 46%, over 'large' ones. While trends were similar, EUBED and gBEUD were significantly different, with an average probability of values greater then BEDo of 60% according to EUBED and 83% based on gBEUD. Conclusions: Biological dose received by tumorlets in prostate shows that the D90 parameter is more meaningful for a highly organized seed implant (true for pre-plans and maybe stranded seeds). For poorly structured or disorganized implants, even a D90 > 125% can produce suboptimal results at the level of foci of disease. A smaller α/β will further amplify this effect. Also, I-125 implants seems more impacted than Pd-103.These results indicate that the architecture of the implant likely plays an important role and D90 alone is limited in meaning. Smaller than prostate subvolumes are likely to be the true target explaining the positive clinical outcome in these cases.

Type II diabetes mellitus (DM) is characterized by amyloid deposition within the pancreatic islets of Langerhans [1, 2]. The major constituent of islet amyloid is a small protein designated islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP), or amylin, which is synthesized by beta cells [3, 4]. The precise function of IAPP is unknown but it may act as a glucoregulatory hormone [5, 6] and may, possibly, play a pathogenetic role in Type II DM. This hypothesis in turn raises the question of the potential role of islet amyloid formation in the pathogenesis of Type II DM.

Purpose: To demonstrate the advantage of intra-operative (IO) over pre-operative planning by evaluating the impact of patients position on urethra and prostate dosimetry after I125 implant. Material and Methods: Real time dosimetry of a group of 15 patients treated with I125 permanent prostate implant was evaluated with changing leg arid/or urethras position. 3D ultrasound was used to plan seed implantation. Scans were repeated after downward movements of patient's urethra and legs. The initial IO clinical plans were applied to these new scans. Doses to urethra (D5, V150) and prostate (D90, V200) were compared for the different positions. Results: The mean value of prostates D90 went from 194, 2 Gy to 172, 5 Gy after a urinary catheter displacement (p=0.001) and to 170, 2 Gy when legs were moved. The maximal urethras D5 variation observed for each patient ranged from 4, 2 to 70, 7%, with a mean increase of 26, 6%. A third of the patients (5/15) presented values of urethras D5 beyond 300 Gy. A mean 17, 7% variation of the urethras V150 was observed for the 15 patients, going from an initial 8,1% to 22,8% with a displacement of the urethra (p=0.024) and to 28, 7% when moving the legs (p=0.001). Conclusions: Patient positioning has an impact on dosimetry. We observed a significant decrease of the prostates D90 and V200 combined with a significant increase of urethras D5 and V150 when moving patients legs and even the urethra catheter. This translates in a clear dosimetric advantage of intraoperative dosimetry over pre-planning.