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Objective To examine paediatric malpractice claims and identify common characteristics likely to result in malpractice in children in France. Design and materials First, the authors did a retrospective and descriptive analysis of all paediatric malpractice claims involving children aged 1 month to 18 years, in which the defendant was coded as paediatrician or general practitioner, reported to the Sou Médical-groupe MASCF insurance company during a 5-year period (2003–2007). Then, a comparison of these results with those from the USA was performed. Results The average annual incidence of malpractice claims was 0.8/100 paediatricians. 228 malpractice claims were studied and were more frequent (41%) with more severe outcomes in children younger than 2 years of age (52% deaths or major injuries). Meningitis (n=14) and dehydration (n=13) were the leading causes of claims, with highest mortalities (93% and 92%, respectively). The most common alleged misadventures were diagnosis-related error (47%), and medication error (13%). Malignancy was the most common medical condition incorrectly diagnosed (14%). Conclusions Paediatric malpractice claims are less frequent in France than in the USA, but they share many similarities with those in the USA. These data would enhance the knowledge of high-risk areas in paediatric care that could be targeted to reduce the risk of medical malpractices and to improve patient safety.

Background Early recognition and treatment of meningococcal disease improves its outcome. Haemorrhagic rash is one of the most specific signs that parents can learn to recognise. Objective To determine the percentage of parents able to recognise a haemorrhagic rash and perform the tumbler test. Methods 123 parents of children consulting for mild injuries were interviewed about the significance and recognition of haemorrhagic rash in febrile children. Results Although 88% of parents undressed their children when they were febrile, it was never to look specifically for a skin rash. Only 7% (95% CI 3% to 12%) were able to recognise a petechial rash and knew the tumbler test. Conclusion Information campaigns about the significance of haemorrhagic rash and about the tumbler test are needed.

Microglia maintain brain homeostasis by removing neuron-derived components such as myelin and cell debris. The evidence linking microglia to neurodegenerative diseases is growing; however, the precise mechanisms remain poorly understood. Herein, we report a neuroprotective role for microglia in the clearance of neuron-released α-synuclein. Neuronal α-synuclein activates microglia, which in turn engulf α-synuclein into autophagosomes for degradation via selective autophagy (termed synucleinphagy). Synucleinphagy requires the presence of microglial Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), which induces transcriptional upregulation of p62/SQSTM1 through the NF-κB signaling pathway. Induction of p62, an autophagy receptor, is necessary for the formation of α-synuclein/ubiquitin-positive puncta that are degraded by autophagy. Finally, disruption of microglial autophagy in mice expressing human α-synuclein promotes the accumulation of misfolded α-synuclein and causes midbrain dopaminergic neuron degeneration. Our study thus identifies a neuroprotective function of microglia in the clearance of α-synuclein via TLR4-NF-κB-p62 mediated synucleinphagy. Microglia perform important supporting roles for neurons in the brain. Here, the authors show that microglia clear neuron-derived α-synuclein through selective autophagy (synucleinphagy) to prevent accumulation of misfolded α-synuclein and subsequent neurodegeneration in a mouse model of disease.

Flexible low-pressure sensors ( <10 kPa) are required in areas as diverse as blood-pressure monitoring, human–computer interactions, robotics, and object detection. For applications, it is essential that these sensors combine flexibility, high sensitivity, robustness, and low production costs. Previous works involve surface micro-patterning, electronic amplification (OFET), and hydrogels. However, these solutions are limited as they involve complex processes, large bias voltages, large energy consumption, or are sensitive to evaporation. Here, we report a major advance to solve the challenge of scalable, efficient and robust e-skin. We present an unconventional capacitive sensor based on composite foam materials filled with conductive carbon black particles. Owing to the elastic buckling of the foam pores, the sensitivity exceeds 35 kPa −1 for pressure <0.2 kPa. These performances are one order of magnitude higher than the ones previously reported. These materials are low-cost, easy to prepare, and display high capacitance values, which are easy to measure using low-cost electronics. These materials pave the road for the implementation of e-skin in commercialized applications. Highly sensitive foam sensors High sensitivity is a critical feature for flexible pressure sensors and a novel and low-cost emulsion method has been invented to make capacitive sensors with higher sensitivity. A team of CNRS scientists from France led by Prof Annie Colin develops an unconventional approach for flexible and highly sensitive low-pressure capacitive sensors based on carbon black filled foams. They embed the carbon black in Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer using a water-in-oil emulsion method, which achieves a large change of the permittivity associated to large changes in capacitance upon small compression forces. Consequently, the sensitivity exceeds 35 kPa -1 , one order of magnitude higher than previous results. The team then demonstrates arterial pressure measurements and in deed the technique can be applied to much wider fields requiring low-cost and low-power consumption.

Photonic Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) is becoming a pertinent quantum variable for atom-light interaction, in particular for non-linear interaction which leads to photon entanglement and OAM-entanglement. With two 4-levels atomic schemes, we show that Four Wave Mixing addressed by vortex beams leads to very different OAM-entanglement especially for large OAM values.

Photonic Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) is becoming a pertinent quantum variable for atom-light interaction, in particular for non-linear interaction which leads to photon entanglement and OAM-entanglement. With two 4-levels atomic schemes, we show that Four Wave Mixing addressed by vortex beams leads to very different OAM-entanglement especially for large OAM values.

Polybutylene Succinate (PBS)/Graphene nanoplatelets (GnP) nanocomposites over a range of GnP from 0 to 1.35 wt.%. were prepared by a melt process. A mixture of individual graphene nanosheets and aggregates was obtained by the addition of GnP in the PBS matrix. The presence of these fillers did not significantly modify the morphology, crystalline microstructure of the matrix or its thermal stability. However, a slight reinforcement effect of PBS was reported in the presence of GnP. The water sorption isotherm modelling with Guggenheim, Andersen and De Boer (GAB) equation and Zimm-Lundberg theory allowed a phenomenological analysis at the molecular scale. The presence of GnP did not modify the water sorption capacity of the PBS matrix. From a kinetic point of view, a decrease of the diffusion coefficient with the increasing GnP content was obtained and was attributed to a tortuosity effect. The influence of water activity was discussed over a range of 0.5 to 1 and 0 to 0.9 for water and dioxygen permeability. Improvement of the barrier properties by 38% and 35% for water and dioxygen permeability respectively were obtained.

Bacterial canker, caused by Xanthomonas citri pv. mangiferaeindicae ( Xcm ), is a disease that has a devastating impact on mango and cashew industries in many regions. Yet, despite its agricultural importance for these Anacardiaceae species, Xcm has been neglected. Little is known about its epidemiology, evolution and molecular interactions with host plants. The most relevant studies reporting its genetic structure were primarily based on amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) data. This technique provides reliable assessments of the genetic relatedness among bacteria, but is limited in terms of interlaboratory comparisons. Alternative genotyping techniques are required to decipher the global epidemiology and geographic expansion of Xcm . Herein, we screened the genome of the Xcm strain CFBP1716 for tandem repeats. We developed and evaluated the performance of an optimized Multi Locus Variable number of tandem repeat Analysis (MLVA), targeting 16 tandem repeat loci primarily with large repeat units, i.e., minisatellites (MLVA-16). To achieve this, we genotyped a comprehensive collection of 152 Xcm strains, representative of the pathogen’s worldwide genetic diversity, together with some reference strains of X. citri pv. anacardii , another genetically-related pathogen of Anacardiaceae. MLVA-16 allowed us to distinguish the two pathovars. Although MLVA-16 was slightly less discriminative than AFLP, the two derived datasets were strongly correlated, suggesting that MLVA-16 provides a good phylogenetic signal. Five clusters with some geographic coherence were delineated, based on discriminant analysis of principal components. The two major clusters grouped strains from multiple geographic origins. In contrast, all strains that have emerged on mango or cashew in West Africa grouped in one cluster, which did not contain any strains of different origin. MLVA-16 represents an opportunity to improve our understanding of the structure of Xcm populations, by sharing genotyping data. The MLVA-16 data generated in this study was deposited in a dedicated online database.

PCR amplification of minute quantities of degraded DNA for ancient DNA research, forensic analyses, wildlife studies and ultrasensitive diagnostics is often hampered by contamination problems. The extent of these problems is inversely related to DNA concentration and target fragment size and concern (i) sample contamination, (ii) laboratory surface contamination, (iii) carry-over contamination, and (iv) contamination of reagents. Here we performed a quantitative evaluation of current decontamination methods for these last three sources of contamination, and developed a new procedure to eliminate contaminating DNA contained in PCR reagents. We observed that most current decontamination methods are either not efficient enough to degrade short contaminating DNA molecules, rendered inefficient by the reagents themselves, or interfere with the PCR when used at doses high enough to eliminate these molecules. We also show that efficient reagent decontamination can be achieved by using a combination of treatments adapted to different reagent categories. Our procedure involves γ- and UV-irradiation and treatment with a mutant recombinant heat-labile double-strand specific DNase from the Antarctic shrimp Pandalus borealis. Optimal performance of these treatments is achieved in narrow experimental conditions that have been precisely analyzed and defined herein. There is not a single decontamination method valid for all possible contamination sources occurring in PCR reagents and in the molecular biology laboratory and most common decontamination methods are not efficient enough to decontaminate short DNA fragments of low concentration. We developed a versatile multistrategy decontamination procedure for PCR reagents. We demonstrate that this procedure allows efficient reagent decontamination while preserving the efficiency of PCR amplification of minute quantities of DNA.

An efficient use of light is essential to achieve good performances in microalgae cultivation systems. This can be challenging particularly under solar conditions where light is highly dynamic (e.g., day/night cycles, rapid changes in wind and weather conditions). Microalgae display different mechanisms to optimize light use efficiency. In the short term, when high light is encountered, several processes of photoprotection can be involved to avoid cell damages (e.g., xanthophyll cycle). In the long term, when cells are exposed to a different light intensity, pigment content changes, i.e., photoacclimation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the photosynthetic response of Chlorella vulgaris cultures grown in closed lab-scale, torus-shape photobioreactor under well-controlled light conditions, namely, constant and dynamic light transitions. Experiments were conducted in continuous mode with detailed characterization of the light attenuation conditions for each condition, as represented by the mean rate of photon absorption (MRPA), so as to characterize the time responses of the photosynthetic cells toward light changes. This enables to observe short-term and long-term responses with their own characteristic times. The mechanisms involved were found to be different between increasing and decreasing light transitions. Furthermore the MRPA was found a valuable parameter to relate the effect of light to biological responses (i.e., pigment changes) under constant light and dynamic light conditions.Key points• MRPA proved valuable to relate C. vulgaris responses to light changes.• A linear evolution was found between pigment content and MRPA in continuous light.• A rising PFD step induced fast protection and acclimation mechanisms.