To analyze the impact of the first month of lockdown related to the 2020 SARS-Cov-2 epidemic on the consulting activity of private ENT physicians in Réunion Island.
A multicenter prospective study ...analyzed the consulting activity of 12 ENT physicians in full-time private practice. The main endpoints were the number, characteristics and conditions of consultations. Secondary endpoints comprised presenting symptoms, diagnosis, prescriptions, adverse effects, and progression of monthly consulting turnover.
Six hundred and ninety three consultations were performed during the study period (Appendix 1), with 50% emergency consultations. In 57.9% were face-to-face, 28.4% by phone and 13.7% video. In face-to-face consultation, the physician wore gloves in 53.8% of cases and a mask in 92.2%: surgical mask in 71.6% of cases and FFP2 in 28.4%. The three most frequent symptoms (48.5% of cases) were otalgia, hearing impairment, and vertigo. The three most frequent diagnoses (60.6% of cases) were otitis, intra-auricular foreign body (including wax), and pharyngeal infection. The three most frequently prescribed complementary exams (74.3% of cases) were imaging, hearing work-up, and specialist opinion. The three most frequently prescribed treatments (52.7% of cases) were intra-auricular drops, oral antibiotics, and nasal spray. The incidence of adverse effects was 0.001%. None of the physicians or patients seemed to have been infected by Covid-19 during the study period. There was a 47.3-91% (median, 75.6%) drop in monthly consultation turnover.
The present study underscored the availability and adaptability of ENT physicians in the Réunion Island in an epidemic context, although economic impact was detrimental.
Le statut juridique de l’animal reconnu comme «être sensible», induit de fait qu’une réflexion sur le travail en élevage et la relation homme-animal doit prendre en compte le point de vue de ...l’éleveur, et celui de l’animal. Les enjeux sociétaux, se situent autant en termes d’efficacité du travail et de qualité de vie pour les professions agricoles, qu’en terme de bien-être animal. Cet article de synthèse s’intéresse à la pluridisciplinarité, en particulier entre sciences sociales et éthologie afin de comprendre et d’améliorer les pratiques d’élevage déterminantes dans la relation homme-animal. L’analyse du temps de travail, regardée sous l’angle des contacts hommeanimal révèle une forte diversité suivant les filières et les exploitations. Les diversités de profils des éleveurs, de leurs représentations de l’animal et du travail avec l’animal, et de leurs logiques d’élevage sont rapportées. De son côté, l’éthologie définit un cadre conceptuel fondé sur le fait que l’éleveur et l’animal construisent par leurs interactions répétées une relation interindividuelle qui leur permet de prévoir l’issue de leurs futures interactions. La réaction des animaux à l’homme traduit donc une synthèse des interactions passées et permet d’une certaine façon d’évaluer leur relation. Les études en éthologie montrent que l’animal intègre effectivement l’homme dans son univers relationnel. L’article pointe l’intérêt de décrire la variabilité des pratiques relationnelles de l’éleveur et de les évaluer afin d’obtenir une relation homme-animal bénéfique tant pour l’homme que pour l’animal.
INRIA has developed in cooperation with industry and INRETS a small computer-controlled electric vehicle for urban transport. These public vehicles which are available in self-service mode, are ...normally driven by the users with a simple joystick. However, to move the empty vehicles to wherever they are needed, we have developed two techniques. The first one consists of platooning the empty vehicles behind an operator-driven vehicle. The second technique is to teleoperate the vehicle from a central location. The teleoperation technique is derived from experiments conducted on teleoperated military or civil vehicles. This paper presents the computer assisted teleoperation technique and the first results in a real-life environment. Ultrasonic sensors are used to assist the operator in very cluttered environments.
"This book is a most welcome addition to the literature of this field, where it serves the need for a modern treatment on topics that only very recently have found a satisfactory solution... Many ...readers will appreciate the concise exposition. ""Presents, or refers to, the most recent and updated results in the field. For this reason, it should serve as an excellent asset to anyone pursuing a research career in the field."" - Mathematical Reviews (reviews of Volumes I and II of the First Edition) The quadratic cost optimal control problem for systems described by linear ordinary differential equations occupies a central role in the study of control systems both from a theoretical and design point of view. The study of this problem over an infinite time horizon shows the beautiful interplay between optimality and the qualitative properties of systems such as controllability, observability, stabilizability, and detectability. This theory is far more difficult for infinite dimensional systems such as those with time delays and distributed parameter systems. This reorganized, revised, and expanded edition of a two-volume set is a self-contained account of quadratic cost optimal control for a large class of infinite dimensional systems. The book is structured into five parts. Part I reviews basic optimal control and game theory of finite dimensional systems, which serves as an introduction to the book. Part II deals with time evolution of some generic controlled infinite dimensional systems and contains a fairly complete account of semigroup theory. It incorporates interpolation theory and exhibits the role of semigroup theory in delay differential and partial differential equations. Part III studies the generic qualitative properties of controlled systems. Parts IV and V examine the optimal control of systems when performance is measured via a quadratic cost. Boundary control of parabolic and hyperbolic systems and exact controllability are also covered. New material and original features of the Second Edition: * Part I on finite dimensional controlled dynamical systems contains new material: an expanded chapter on the control of linear systems including a glimpse into H-infinity theory and dissipative systems, and a new chapter on linear quadratic two-person zero-sum differential games. * A unique chapter on semigroup theory and interpolation of linear operators brings together advanced concepts and techniques that are usually treated independently. * The material on delay systems and structural operators is not available elsewhere in book form. Control of infinite dimensional systems has a wide range and growing number of challenging applications. This book is a key reference for anyone working on these applications, which arise from new phenomenological studies, new technological developments, and more stringent design requirements. It will be useful for mathematicians, graduate students, and engineers interested in the field and in the underlying conceptual ideas of systems and control."
The dissertation examines a group of bronze copies after ancient marble statues in the Belvedere Cortile. Francesco Primaticcio, Jacopo da Vignola, and assistants produced these copies for the ...Fontainebleau residence of the French king Francis I between 1540 and 1543. The impressive large statues prompted Giorgio Vasari to describe Fontainebleau as "almost a new Rome." This was the first systematic attempt to copy several celebrated Greek and Roman statues in bronze by means of indexical, full-scale replication, and to re-install them in a new, foreign setting. Chapter one traces the conceptual origins of this endeavor and assesses the particular features of several of the statues. Chapter two reconstructs the bronze project, situates it within its patronage context, and provides a synthetic chronology. Chapter three addresses the display and reception of the completed statues. Chapters four and five discuss the Cleopatra-Ariadne statue as a prototype that would give rise to a new visual topos, the Fontainebleau nymph. As works like Cellini's Nymph of Fontainebleau demonstrate, antique models were transformed and acquired new layers of meaning when shifted to a different environment. This development opened a rich set of possibilities for creative appropriation of antique forms in France that went beyond the generation of replicas. This study is not a traditional monograph, but rather a focused analysis of a pivotal episode in European cultural history. The episode influenced subsequent princely displays, but more importantly, helped establish a central role for sculptural copies after the antique in artists' academic training and in viewers' cultivation of aesthetic insight. In its broad contours, the dissertation adheres to several notions regarding the sixteenth century: "Rome" was a mental construct as well as a physical place; copies created within an advanced intellectual and artistic climate are worthy of art-historical investigation; and the "Renaissance" was a multi-sited, dynamic phenomenon that can be illuminated through the study of exchanges across geographical boundaries. Other issues explored include the critical discourse surrounding sculptural copies during the Renaissance, Primaticcio's archeologically sensitive approach to copying, and the imperial iconography of large bronze as it related to Francis' ambitions for a universal monarchy.
The therapeutic efficacy of benzydamine vaginal douche is compared with that of placebo in a randomized clinical study presently underway. A total number of 200 patients, grouped according to ...different types of vaginitis, will be included in the study. Preliminary results on 102 patients confirm the positive therapeutic effect of benzydamine.
The authors report their experience of the treatment of the supraglottic laryngeal carcinoma in a retrospective study of 124 patients primarily treated in the ENT department of Grenoble University ...hospital. Fourteen patients received only radiotherapy, the others 110 patients were treated by surgery: partial or reconstructive surgery in 47 cases, total surgery in 63 cases. The carcinological results demonstrate the good prognosis of the intra-laryngeal tumors. Their treatment allows a good loco-regional control (tumoral recurrences: 4%, regional recurrences: 2%). The main prognostic factor is the nodal involvement with capsular rupture which is responsible for the most locoregional and metastatic recurrences.