L’échographie doppler dans la prévention des amputations des membres inférieurs du diabétique en Côte d’Ivoire

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to demonstrate the role of the Doppler ultrasound examination in the management of diabetic feet and particularly in the prevention of the diabetic's amputation.Patients and methodIt is about a retrospective study carried out over a 4-year period at Yopougon University Hospital (Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire). It consisted in the analysis of the records of 78 patients hospitalized for diabetic foot and in whom was performed a Doppler ultrasound examination of the lower limbs vessels. The analysis of patients’ records helped to bring out the epidemiological, clinical, radiographic, biologic, therapeutic and evolutional elements.ResultsPatients’ mean age was 57.6 years. The sex ratio was 1.05. Adult diabetes accounted for 93.5% of cases and had been developing for 11.49 years on average. On the Doppler ultrasound scan of the lower limbs arterial anomalies of these limbs were found in 70 cases. They were associated with a venous anomaly in four cases. Arterial anomalies were represented by stenosis (34 cases), occlusions (10 cases), medialarterosclerosis (four cases), small arteries (six cases) and the associations of several elementary lesions (nine cases). In three cases, the arterial abnormality was not indicated. A medical treatment was instituted for all the patients. The outcome was favorable for 61 patients, 13 were amputated and four deaths were recorded.ConclusionColor Doppler ultrasound examination of lower limbs vessels helped to bring out a vascular anomaly in 89.7% of patients with diabetic foot whose treatment helped to keep the lower limb in 78.2%. We recommend the systematic request of this examination in the African diabetic with adult diabetes which has been developing for more than 10 years before the onset of diabetic foot.     

Études du Paléolithique du Japon à partir des téphras

Many studies and discussions have been made on the problem of when the earliest human beings appeared in Japan. In general, hominid fossils in the latest Pleistocene are not preserved except for coralline limestone sequence in Ryukyu islands, but earlier Paleolithic tools were excavated from volcanic ash soil with a ¹⁴C age of about 30,000–35,000 yr. BP or younger at several archeological sites in almost all Japan. Recent studies, however, show a need for revision and refinement of these ages because calibration techniques have progressed from conventional to calendar ages and high-resolution oxygen isotope chronology has given a global standard sequence. Aïra-Tn tephra (AT), the most important time-marker of the Paleolithic age in Japan, was formerly dated at 21,000–22,000 yr ¹⁴C BP by conventional radiocarbon methods but was dated again at ca. 24,500 yr ¹⁴C BP by accelerated mass spectrometry radiocarbon methods. However, it has been further calibrated to a high-resolution calendar age of 30,000 cal yr. by varve chronology of lake sediments of Suigetsu of central Japan, well matched with combined date between oxygen isotope dates based and calibration from AMS radiocarbon dates. As the earliest Paleolithic tools in south Kanto are found in volcanic ash soil significantly below AT ash and above Sambe-Ikeda ash (SI, ca.46 ka), just above the oxygen isotopic stage 3.3, they are estimated to be dated slightly older than 40 ka. Palaeo-environment at that time is estimated mild to cool climate and relatively low sea level after the oxygen isotope stage 3.3. Sill land bridges between Japan islands and continents have not been formed at major straits. We have not yet obtained useful data for calibration older than ca. 45 ka. Also, correlation of oxygen isotopic fluctuation with the terrestrial sequences is incomplete in Stage 3.     

Pratiques funéraires et recrutement : reprise d’étude des collections osseuses issues des dolmens du Languedoc oriental et sud des Cévennes à la fin du Néolithique

Collective burials were the main and most widespread funerary practice at the end of the Neolithic, beginning of the Bronze Age in the south of France. Megalithic monuments required a huge investment of time and labor. According to ethnographic studies, these monumental tombs are generally built and managed collectively. One can therefore wonder who was buried inside these structures because several archaeological studies indicate that access to these tombs can sometimes be restricted to certain members of the population. Indeed, ethnography highlights that access to certain tombs can be structured by variables such as kinship, social status, etc. While previous studies have mainly focused on the architecture and function of these monuments, this article focuses on the process of deposition of human remains and the characterization of the population buried inside these monuments. Since 2012, a project has been undertaken on the dolmens of the south of France in order to discuss funerary practices and to compare them with data from other archaeosciences to rediscuss the funerary traditions in place at the end of the Neolithic, the beginning of the Bronze Age.     

Découverte des sites du Paléolithique inférieur au Nord de l’Arménie

For a long time, the scientific community assumed that the Acheulean culture was expressed on the territory of the Armenian Plateau as well as in the neighboring regions of the Caucasus only by its late phase; therefore, it appeared in the second half of the Middle Pleistocene. In recent years, the Armenian-Russian mission has discovered and studied much older Acheulean industries sites, located in northern Armenia (the Lori intermountain Depression). These industries, represented by archaic type tools (large hand axes, picks, choppers, chisel-like tools, scrapers, points, etc.), are discovered in three deposits of origin of proluvial genesis. In the Karakhach site, this type of industry is deposited in the lower levels of volcanic tuff and below; the U/Pb study of this level of tuff proposes a series of dates, assigned to the time interval between 1.944 + 0.046 and 1.75 + 0.02 Ma. The paleomagnetic study demonstrated the inverse polarity on the tuff and the normal polarity of the underlying deposits; in correlation with other dating, this fact allows to attribute the Acheulean layers of the site of Karakhatch to the Lower Pleistocene, in particular to the Oldoway episode and to the Upper Matuyama time period. The estimated age and the techno-morphological characteristics of the tools indicate the Lower Acheulean period. The dating of the Muradovo site does not seem possible, however its very old industries and the archaeological layers, where they were discovered, find equivalents in the layered layer, surmounted by tuffs, of the Karakhatch site. The Kutran I site presented a paleosol sequence with similar Acheulean tools (hand axes, picks, choppers, etc.). Its oldest layer is older than 1.5 Ma, the upper layer is attributed to the early Middle Pleistocene; this fact means that it is possible to speak of the Lower Acheulean and of its transition to the Middle Acheulean period. The specific character and the age of the Lower Acheulean of Armenia admit that it could have formed independently of the Lower Acheulean of Africa, whose estimated age does not rise before 1.76 Ma. It should also be noted that on the neighboring territory of Georgia about the same time when appeared the Acheulean culture in Armenia, the Oldowan Dmanisi site already existed.     

Eco-éthologie des nouveaux ravageurs invasifs des eucalyptus du Maroc

Trois nouveaux ravageurs invasifs ont été observés au cours de cette dernière décennie dans les peuplements d’eucalyptus de la région du Gharb au Maroc. Un premier gallicole, Leptocybe invasa Fisher & La Salle 2004 (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), a été repéré dès 2002, tandis que son parasitoïde Megastigmus sp. (Chalcidoidea: Torymidae) a été identifié en 2009. Les deux autres ravageurs, Ctenarytaina eucalypti (Maskell 1890) et Glycaspis brimblecombei Moore 1964 (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), ont été découverts respectivement en 2008 et 2009. Quelques paramètres bio-écologiques relatifs au développement de L. invasa ont été mesurés au laboratoire et sur le terrain, tandis que le taux d’infestation de jeunes eucalyptus a été suivi pendant trois années successives. Les stratégies de lutte envisagées contre ces nouveaux ravageurs sont discutées.     

Contribution à l’étude des groupements Végétaux du vercors méridional: Les groupements fontinaux et des bas-marais de l’étage subalpin

Conclusions L’important mémoire deJ. Braun-Blanquet (1971) sur les Associations des basmarais suisses ainsi que d’autres travaux (E. Oberdorfer, 1970;H. Ellenberg, 1963), permettent d’affirmer que les groupements de l’Eriophorion latifoliae (Br.-Bl. et Tx. 43) et des Caricetalia Davallianae (Br.-Bl. 49) sont représentés dans l’ensemble de la cha?ne alpine sur substrat riche en calcium et, en général, à partir de l’étage montagnard supérieur. Dans les Alpes et Préalpes fran?aises, plusieurs auteurs ont décrit des groupements du Caricion Davallianae (M. Guinochet en Tinée et en Haute-Savoie, 1938 et 1939;G. Aubert, L. Borel, A. Lavagne etP. Moutte dans l’étage subalpin de la feuille d’Embrun-Est, 1965). Dans le Vercors, seuleCh. Faure (1968) signale simplement l’existence du Caricion Davallianae (Klika 34) dans la partie septentrionale du massif (feuille de Vif). Enfin, dans les Préalpes du sud où les étages montagnard et, a fortiori, subalpin sont peu ou pas représentés.A. Archiloque, L. Borel etA. Lavagne (1970) constatent l’absence du Cratoneurion commutati (W. Koch. 28) et du Caricion Davallianae (Klika 34) sur la feuille de Javie (préalpes de Digne). Bien que la nature de la roche-mère soit déterminante pour l’existence des groupements de source et bas-marais alcalins, c’est en définitive la relative permanence de l’alimentation en eau courante et fra?che qui représente le facteur décisif pour ces associations. Dans la région étudiée, celles-ci sont à leur limite méridionale, ce qui confirme—s'il en était besoin—l’originalité et la richesse de ce secteur des Préalpes. Laboratoire de Taxonomie Expérimentale et de Phytosociologie de la Faculté des Sciences de BESAN?ON (25)—FRANCE.     

Chimiothérapie des tumeurs germinales du testicule

Germ cell tumours of the testis represent a model of curable disease, even in advanced stages. Cisplatinbased combination chemotherapy followed by surgical removal of residual metastatic disease has dramatically improved the prognosis of these patients, as about 90% of them are currently cured. The standard cytotoxic drugs used in first-line treatment are bleomycin, etoposide and cisplatin (the so-called BEP regimen). Treatment strategy is based on assessment of risk factors. Three cycles are generally used in patients with advanced pure seminoma or good-risk metastatic non-seminomatous tumours. Four cycles are required in patients with intermediate-or poor-risk metastatic non-seminomatous tumours, while two cycles of BEP constitute a safe and effective treatment option in early-stage tumours but with a high-risk of metastatic spread defined by a high percentage of embryonal carcinoma and/or the presence of vascular invasion. Cure rates as high as 90% are achieved provided risk factor strategies are accurately applied and standard treatment modalities are respected. All protocol violations can decrease the expected efficacy or induce unnecessary toxicity.     

L’insémination intrautérine dans l’éjaculation rétrograde. Importance du pH et de l’osmolarité sur la mobilité des spermatozoïdes

The effect of pH and osmolarity on motility of human spermatozoa in retrograde ejaculation was studied in a freshly voided urine specimen. The maximum rate of motility is obtained when the pH ranged from 7.0 to 7.5 and osmolarity from 300 to 400 m.osmol/Kg. Thus the control of these two parameters allowed us to improve sperm motility and to perform intrauterine insemination with ovarian hyperstimulation. The different causes of retrograde ejaculation in this study are diabetes, surgical injury and idiopathic. Fifty-one intrauterine insemination cycles were realized in twenty-three patients, and eleven pregnancies are obtained (21.5% per cycle).     

L’évolution des assemblages lithiques des niveaux du Paléolithique moyen de l’Abrigo de la Quebrada (Valencia,Espagne)

Abrigo de la Quebrada offers an exceptional sequence with nine occupation levels which seven belongs to Middle Paleolithic. The division between levels II to V and VII to IX by a sterile level VI allow us to study diachronic changes on raw materials and knapping systems. This data is compared with other contemporary sites to evaluate technological trends and the raw material availability in the central region of Mediterranean area.     

Signification paléoécologique et paléogéographique des bivalves du Carbonifère inférieur du bassin d’Ancenis (Massif armoricain)

Palaeoecological and palaeogeographical inferences from Early Carboniferous bivalves of the Ancenis Basin (Variscan belt, France). In the basal part of the Ancenis Formation, of Dinantian age, greenish to purple mudstones display a few bivalves, assigned to the genera Lithophaga, Modiolus, and Naiadites. Because Naiadites is considered to be a non-marine bivalve, and is only previously reported in Scotland in Dinantian rocks, a brackish environment can be assumed for the Ancenis Basin during the Early Carboniferous. To cite this article: M. Ballèvre, H. Lardeux, C. R. Palevol 4 (2005).     

Diversité culturelle des peuplements pionniers du Sud du Brésil à l’Holocène initial

The variety of South American lithic industries in the Early Holocene indicates that the settlement processes were characterized by cultural diversification and adaptive flexibility. In the present article, we will analyze the bifacial lithic industries of southern Brazil that include projectile points in their repertoire of instruments, through a comparative study between the results of research in the hydrographic regions of Uruguay River and Lake Guaíba. Our objective is to problematize issues about the construction of cultural territories in the process of initial settlement of the South American Cone through the analysis of technical systems.     

Estimation du taux d’aneuploïdies des spermatozoïdes épididymaires prélevés en vue d’ICSI chez des hommes à caryotype normal

Over the last ten years, fluorescent in situ hybridization in decondensed sperm nuclei has been used to study the chromosomal constitution of human spermatozoa. Studies have estimated that the disomy rate per chromosomal pairs is between 0.15% and 0.3%. The aim of this study was to evaluate the aneuploidy rate of human epididymal spermatozoa extracted from five men with obstructive azoospermia undergoing IVF. Genetic studies (karyotypes, Y micodeletion syndrome and mutation of the CFTR gene) did not reveal any abnormality. Disomy frequencies were determined by X-Y-8 multicolour fluorescence in situ hybridisation on 18,013 epididymal spermatozoa and 20,000 spermatozoa from healthy donors (control group). No significant difference was found between epididymal and ejaculated samples. However, isolated non-significant differences were observed between one of the patients and the control group. In conclusion, the present findings suggests that there is no increased risk for de novo chromosomal aberrations after IVF therapy with epididymal spermatozoa of men with obstructive azoospermia.     

Peut-on optimiser la congélation des spermatozoïdes testiculaires? L’expérience du Centre Hospitalier de Poissy Saint-Germain

50% or more of non-obstructive azoospermic men have no spermatozoa in their testicular tissue, and no non-invasive predictor of spermatogenesis is yet available. For this reason, we therefore performed all TESE (74 TESE for non-obstructive azoospermia and 37 TESE for obstructive azoospermia) prior to initiating ovarian stimulation. 34% (25/74) of TESE performed for non-obstructive azoospermia were successful. Spermatozoa were retrieved in 100% of cases of obstructive azoospermia. When TESE were positive, spermatozoa were frozen in 25–50 μl micro-droplets (several straws). 60 ICSI cycles (25 couples) were treated for non obstructive azoospermia. The clinical pregnancy rate per ICSI cycle was 18%, and the implantation rate per embryo transferred was 9.2%. 81 ICSI cycles (37 couples) were treated for obstructive azoospermia. The fertilization rate was 54%, and embryo transfer was performed in 89% (72/81) of cycles. The clinical pregnancy rate per embryo ICSI cycle was 26%, and the implantation rate per embryo transferred was 16%. This management of azoospermic patients, including TESE and multiple testicular tissue freezing in micro-droplets prior to ovarian stimulation, avoids ova pick-up cancellation and multiple TESE, as several ICSI can be performed after a single TESE. Our results show that this micro-technique for freezing testicular tissue is effective not only for obstructive azoospermia, but also for non-obstructive azoospermia when only very few spermatozoa can be extracted from the testis.     

Les larges vacuoles des têtes spermatiques sont-elles associées à des altérations du noyau ou de l’acrosome du spermatozoïde ?

Objective

The aim of this study was to detect acrosome and nucleus alterations in isolated spermatozoa with large vacuoles detected by MSOME (Motile Sperm Organelle Morphology Examination), named type 3 spermatozoa and defined by the presence of one or more vacuoles occupying more than 13% of the sperm head area.

Material and methods

Twenty infertile men were included in this study. Whole sperm and isolated spermatozoa were compared. Spermatozoa acrosome and nucleus were explored using 1) proacrosin immunostaining with a monoclonal antibody (4D4), 2) DNA fragmentation with TUNEL assay, 3) chromatin condensation with aniline blue staining, and 4) aneuploidy after fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and analysis by electron transmission and confocal microscopy.

Results

Acrosome abnormalities were significantly increased in type 3 spermatozoa compared towhole sperm(77.8 ± 2.49% vs. 70.6 ± 2.62%). DNA fragmentation was similar in type 3 spermatozoa compared towhole sperm(14.5 ± 3.45%vs. 11.5 ± 1.25%). Chromatin condensation was significantly altered in isolated spermatozoa as well as aneuploidy frequencies (50.4 ± 3.10% vs. 26.5 ± 2.60% and 7.8 ± 1.98% vs. 1.3 ± 0.18%). Large vacuoles have an exclusive nuclear location, confirmed by electron and confocal microscopy.

Conclusion

Large vacuoles are probably due to sperm nucleus maturation dysfunction during spermiogenesis.     

Apport des ostracodes à l’interprétation séquentielle du Crétacé inférieur (Berriasien–Valanginien) du bassin d’Essaouira–Agadir (Maroc)

Contribution of the ostracods to the sequential interpretation of the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian–Valanginian) of the Essaouira–Agadir Basin (Morocco). The analysis of the ostracod fauna from the Berriasian–Valanginian of the Essaouira–Agadir Basin (Morocco) allows us to make a narrow relationship between the sequential evolution (established on sedimentary, biostratigraphical and geochemical data) and the evolution of statistical parameters of ostracods. So, the number of individuals and the number of species present comparable fluctuations and follow perfectly the sequential evolution; classes of dominant and fortuitous frequency are the most meaningful, the specific renewal rate shows extremes values at the limits of sequences and at the basis of transgressive systems tracts. To cite this article: A. Rossi et al., C. R. Palevol 2 (2003) 133–141.     

Métabolomique et imagerie TEP-FDG des cancers du sein

Cancer metabolism is an essential aspect of tumorogenesis, as cancer cells have increased energy requirements in comparison to normal cells. Metabolomic techniques can provide quantitative data for a large number of small molecules in tissues and enable the analysis of multiple intricate metabolic pathways. Positron emission tomography (PET) using ¹⁸F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) enables in vivo analysis of glycolysis and is widely used in oncology. High tumor FDG uptake is a prognostic factor in breast cancer and has been associated with tumor aggressively. Seventy breast cancer samples obtained from untreated patients who had underwent FDG-PET imagery were analyzed through an untargeted metabolomic approach using liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC-MS) to study possible correlations between metabolomic data and FDG uptake. Tumors were split into two groups depending on avidity for FDG as measured with PET. The Compound Discoverer 4.0 software enabled identification of 854 metabolites. PLSDA based models predicted FDG uptake with an accuracy ranging from 0,73 to 0,77. Selected metabolites varied depending on the use of scaling or log transformation. Metabolites correlated with tumor FDG uptake were, among others, glutathione, amino-acids such as glutamate, proline or tyrosine, L-acetyl-carnitine, metabolites from the kynurenine pathway such as L-kynurenine or formyl-kynurenine and polyamines such as N1,N12-diacetylspermine or N1-acetylspermine. These metabolites have been previously shown to reflect cancer aggressivity. The correlation between the glycolytic pathway activation and tumor FDG uptake could not be directly assessed but indirect signs showed a higher glycolytic activity in tumours presenting a higher FDG uptake. Studying new metabolites identified through this process could enable a better understanding of tumor metabolism and identification of new biomarkers.