Crenobalneotherapy is a treatment commonly used in Europe and Middle East. It uses mineral water sometimes combined with different hydrotherapy techniques. Most patients treated in spa centers suffer ...from low back pain. The purpose of this work is to identify clinical trials on crenobalneotherapy for low back pain. Publication research was performed on Medline, Cochrane, and PEDRO databases. Clinical trials were analyzed for internal validity, external validity, quality of statistical analysis, and quality of collection of adverse events. We present the best level of evidence. Bibliographic research identified 21 clinical trials and the coauthors added 5 references. The 26 trials represent 2695 patients. Some have good methodological quality and allow considering crenobalneotherapy as a potential treatment for low back pain, even if the role of mineral water remains uncertain. The methodological quality of therapeutic trials should be improved. These trials should be analyzed in the future guidelines on low back pain.
We report on the energy exchange between femtosecond laser filaments in air. A traveling plasma grating formed at the intersection of the filaments is proposed to explain the energy transfer. In this ...moving plasma grating mediated mechanism the laser energy transfers from the lower frequency pulse to its higher frequency partner, while in a traditional Kerr nonlinearity mediated grating, energy transfer occurs in the opposite manner. Based on this mechanism, we demonstrate an energy transfer ratio as high as 50% for pulses with an energy of several millijoules.
In the perspective of the laser lightning rod, the ability of femtosecond filaments to trigger and to guide large scale discharges has been studied for several years. The present paper reports recent ...experimental results showing for the first time that filaments are able not only to trigger and guide but also to divert an electric discharge from its normal path. Laser filaments are also able to divert the spark without contact between laser and electrodes at large distance from the laser. A comparison between negative and positive discharge polarities also reveals important discrepancies in the guiding mechanism.
Performances of a prototype for the ALICE muon trigger at LHC Forestier, B.
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
11/2004, Letnik:
533, Številka:
1-2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The ALICE detector at the LHC will be equipped with a forward spectrometer to identify heavy quarkonium states from their decay into muons. The trigger system of the spectrometer consists of four RPC ...planes, front-end and fast-decision electronics. It is designed to reconstruct muon tracks in a large background environment and to provide a fast trigger signal to the spectrometer. We present results from tests of a trigger prototype that have been carried out with the muon beam of the CERN/SPS at the Gamma Irradiation Facility. The track reconstruction efficiency as well as the robustness of the system to background are discussed.
Les données rapportant l’influence des comorbidités sur l’adhésion aux b/ts DMARDs chez les patients atteints de PR sont rares. Notre objectif était d’évaluer l’impact d’un programme ...multidisciplinaire de dépistage systématique des comorbidités sur le maintien thérapeutique des b/tsDMARDs à 12 mois.
Les données relatives au dépistage des comorbidités ont été collectées selon les recommandations EULAR lors de l’initiation d’un b/tsDMARDs. L’adhésion aux recommandations et au maintien thérapeutique du b/tsDMARD ont été évalué à 12 mois. Le groupe adhérent est défini comme ayant plus de 80 % des recommandations suivies à M12.
La prévalence des comorbidités lors de la consultation d’initiation de b/tsDMARDs, les critères secondaires étaient les taux d’effets indésirables et/ou d’inefficacité à 18 mois selon l’adhérence aux recommandations et les taux d’arrêt à 18 mois des b/tsDMARDs pour effets indésirables, et/ou pour inefficacité selon l’adhérence aux recommandations.
Le critère de jugement principal était le maintien du b/tsDMARD à 12 mois.
Les variables qualitatives ont été analysées par le test du Chi-2. Pour les variables quantitatives, le test t de Student a été utilisé en cas de variables gaussiennes et le test Rangs de Wilcoxon en cas de variables non-gaussiennes. Le délai d’arrêt du b/tsDMARD a été analysé par les courbes de Kaplan-Meier. Un modèle de Cox expliquant le maintien du b/tsDMARD à 12 mois a était généré en incluant, l’adhésion aux comorbidités, l’âge, le genre, la ligne de bDMARDs. Nous n’avons pas réalisé d’imputation des données manquantes (5/575).
Au total, 372 patients avec un rhumatisme inflammatoire chronique ont été examinés pour l’éligibilité ; l’analyse porte sur 144 patients PR. Au total, 722 recommandations de prise en charge des comorbidités ont été émises. Respectivement 71 patients (49 %) et 61 patients (51 %) étaient adhérent et non non-adhérent aux recommandations à 12 mois. Il n’y avait aucune donnée démographique ou liée à la PR associée avec l’adhésion aux recommandations.
À 12 mois, les b/tsDMARDs ont été arrêtés chez 43 patients (30 %), dont 17 (24 %) dans le groupe adhérent et 26 (35 %) dans le groupe non adhérent. L’arrêt du b/tsDMARD était lié à un effet indésirable chez 16 (37 %) patients et à une réponse insuffisante chez 27 (63 %) patients. L’adhésion aux comorbidités était associée au maintien du bDMARDs (HR=0,49 (0,25–0,94) à 12 mois dans le modèle de Cox.
L’adhésion aux recommandations de dépistage systématique des comorbidités est associée à un meilleur maintien thérapeutique à un b/tsDMARD à 12 mois chez des patients atteints de polyarthrite rhumatoïde.
Within the framework of the UV-Indien network, nine ground stations have been equipped with ultraviolet broadband radiometers, five of them have also been equipped with an all-sky camera, and the ...main station in Saint-Denis de la Réunion is also equipped with a spectroradiometer. These stations are spatially distributed to cover a wide range of latitudes, longitudes, altitudes, and environmental conditions in five countries of the western Indian Ocean region (Comoros, France, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Seychelles), a part of the world where almost no measurements have been made so far. The distribution of the stations is based on the scientific interest of studying ultraviolet radiation not only in relation to atmospheric processes but also in order to provide data relevant to fields such as biology, health (prevention of skin cancer), and agriculture. The main scientific objectives of this network are to study the annual and inter-annual variability in the ultraviolet (UV) radiation in this area, to validate the output of numerical models and satellite estimates of ground-based UV measurements, and to monitor UV radiation in the context of climate change and projected ozone depletion in this region. A calibration procedure including three types of calibrations responding to the various constraints of sustaining the network has been put in place, and a data processing chain has been set up to control the quality and the format of the files sent to the various data centres. A method of clear-sky filtering of the data is also applied. Here, we present an intercomparison with other datasets, as well as several daily or monthly representations of the UV index (UVI) and cloud fraction data, to discuss the quality of the data and their range of values for the older stations (Antananarivo, Anse Quitor, Mahé, and Saint-Denis). Ground-based measurements of the UVI are used to validate satellite estimates – Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI), and the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) – and model forecasts of UVI – Tropospheric Emission Monitoring Internet Service (TEMIS) and Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS). The median relative differences between satellite or model estimates and ground-based measurements of clear-sky UVI range between −34.5 % and 15.8 %. Under clear skies, the smallest UVI median difference between the satellite or model estimates and the measurements made by ground-based instruments is found to be 0.02 (TROPOMI), 0.04 (OMI), −0.1 (CAMS), and −0.4 (CAMS) at Saint-Denis, Antananarivo, Anse Quitor, and Mahé, respectively. The diurnal variability in UVI and cloud fraction, as well as the monthly variability in UVI, is evaluated to ensure the quality of the dataset. The data used in this study are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4811488 (Lamy and Portafaix, 2021a).
The TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) satellite was launched on 13 October 2017 to provide the atmospheric composition for atmosphere and climate ...research. The S5P is a Sun-synchronous polar-orbiting satellite providing global daily coverage. The TROPOMI swath is 2600 km wide, and the ground resolution for most data products is 7.2×3.5 km2 (5.6×3.5 km2 since 6 August 2019) at nadir. The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) is responsible for the development of the TROPOMI UV algorithm and the processing of the TROPOMI surface ultraviolet (UV) radiation product which includes 36 UV parameters in total. Ground-based data from 25 sites located in arctic, subarctic, temperate, equatorial and Antarctic areas were used for validation of the TROPOMI overpass irradiance at 305, 310, 324 and 380 nm, overpass erythemally weighted dose rate/UV index, and erythemally weighted daily dose for the period from 1 January 2018 to 31 August 2019. The validation results showed that for most sites 60 %–80 % of TROPOMI data was within ±20 % of ground-based data for snow-free surface conditions. The median relative differences to ground-based measurements of TROPOMI snow-free surface daily doses were within ±10 % and ±5 % at two-thirds and at half of the sites, respectively. At several sites more than 90 % of cloud-free TROPOMI data was within ±20 % of ground-based measurements. Generally median relative differences between TROPOMI data and ground-based measurements were a little biased towards negative values (i.e. satellite data < ground-based measurement), but at high latitudes where non-homogeneous topography and albedo or snow conditions occurred, the negative bias was exceptionally high: from −30 % to −65 %. Positive biases of 10 %–15 % were also found for mountainous sites due to challenging topography. The TROPOMI surface UV radiation product includes quality flags to detect increased uncertainties in the data due to heterogeneous surface albedo and rough terrain, which can be used to filter the data retrieved under challenging conditions.
A dedicated front-end electronics has been developed for the trigger chambers of the ALICE muon spectrometer under construction at the future LHC at CERN. This trigger detector is based on RPCs ...(Resistive Plate Chambers) working in streamer mode. The number of electronics channels (about 21000) and the fact that RPC signals have specific characteristics have led to the design of an 8 channel front-end ASIC using a new discrimination technique. The principle of the ASIC is described and the radiation hardness is discussed. Special emphasis is put on production characteristics of about 4000 ASICs.
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