The first balloon-borne sample analysis of atmospheric carbonaceous components reveals new insights into formation processes.

Atmospheric aerosol optical, physical, and chemical properties play a fundamental role in the Earth's climate system. A better understanding of the processes involved in their formation, evolution, and interaction with radiation and the water cycle is critical. We report the analysis of atmospheric molecules/particles collected with a new sampling system that flew under regular weather balloons for the first time.

Current practice of transitional care for adolescents and young adults in Swiss paediatric and adult rheumatology centres.

Background: About half of all children with rheumatic diseases need continuous medical care during adolescence and adulthood. A good transition into adult rheumatology is essential. Guidelines for a structured transition process have therefore been recommended by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) and the Paediatric Rheumatology European Society (PReS).

Vesicules or placental lakes in ultrasonography, determining the correct etiology.

The prenatal examination of the placenta is often an afterthought to that of the fetus in ultrasonography. Not giving the placenta its due may however result in potentially serious placental pathologies remaining undiscovered, notably in the presence of anechoic zones. These latter have earned numerous names, including "placental lakes", "placental venous lakes", "placental lacunae" or "placental caverns" among others, but they have received little attention in the literature.

Vertical distribution of aerosols in dust storms during the Arctic winter.

High Latitude Dust (HLD) contributes 5% to the global dust budget, but HLD measurements are sparse. Dust observations from Iceland provide dust aerosol distributions during the Arctic winter for the first time, profiling dust storms as well as clean air conditions. Five winter dust storms were captured during harsh conditions.

Safety of biological agents in paediatric rheumatic diseases: A real-life multicenter retrospective study using the JIRcohorte database.

Objective: To analyse and report the incidence of side effects of biological agents in paediatric patients with inflammatory diseases using of real-life follow-up cohort.

Methods: In this international, observational, retrospective, multicentre study of children treated by biological agents and followed in the Juvenile Inflammatory Rheumatism (JIR) cohort (JIRcohorte) network, a Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the occurrence of adverse events. A Cox model was constructed to identify independent predictors of adverse events.

Tolerance of latissimus dorsi in immediate breast reconstruction without implant to radiotherapy.

Introduction: Immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) improves the quality of life of patients who undergo mastectomy. The latissimus dorsi flap (LDF) method provides particularly good aesthetic results, but its tolerance to subsequent radiotherapy remains unclear. We thus sought to assess tolerance and esthetic results and satisfaction, as reported by patients who underwent IBR by LDF with or without subsequent radiotherapy.

Single α-particle irradiation permits real-time visualization of RNF8 accumulation at DNA damaged sites.

As well as being a significant source of environmental radiation exposure, α-particles are increasingly considered for use in targeted radiation therapy. A better understanding of α-particle induced damage at the DNA scale can be achieved by following their tracks in real-time in targeted living cells. Focused α-particle microbeams can facilitate this but, due to their low energy (up to a few MeV) and limited range, α-particles detection, delivery, and follow-up observations of radiation-induced damage remain difficult.

Chronic nonbacterial osteomyelitis in children: a retrospective multicenter study.

Background: To determine the clinical presentation, current treatment and outcome of children with nonbacterial inflammatory bone disease.

Methods: Retrospective multicenter study of patients entered into the Swiss Pediatric Rheumatology Working Group registry with a diagnosis of chronic nonbacterial osteomyelitis (CNO) and synovitis acne pustulosis hyperostosis osteitis (SAPHO) syndrome. The charts were reviewed for informations about disease presentation, treatment, course and outcome.

Neonatal treatment of CINCA syndrome.

Unlabelled: Chronic Infantile Neurological Cutaneous Articular (CINCA) syndrome, also called Neonatal Onset Multisystem Inflammatory Disease (NOMID) is a chronic disease with early onset affecting mainly the central nervous system, bones and joints and may lead to permanent damage. We report two preterm infants with severe CINCA syndrome treated by anti-interleukin-1 in the neonatal period, although, so far, no experience with this treatment in infants younger than three months of age has been reported. A review of the literature was performed with focus on treatment and neonatal features of CINCA syndrome.

Procalcitonin guidance to reduce antibiotic treatment of lower respiratory tract infection in children and adolescents (ProPAED): a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Antibiotics are overused in children and adolescents with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI). Serum-procalcitonin (PCT) can be used to guide treatment when bacterial infection is suspected. Its role in pediatric LRTI is unclear.

[Swiss registry for TNF-alpha blockers in children and adolescents with rheumatological diseases].

We created a registry to evaluate long term outcome, efficacy and adverse events for children treated wit TNF-alpha inhibitors in Switzerland. 106 patients (68 female/38 male) were included. 61 patients were treated with Etanercept (Enbrel) and 45 with Infliximab (Remicade).

Ultraviolet-visible bulk optical properties of randomly distributed soot.

The presence of soot in the lower stratosphere was recently established by in situ measurements. To isolate their contribution to optical measurements from that of background aerosol, the soot's bulk optical properties must be determined. Laboratory measurements of extinction and polarization of randomly distributed soot were conducted.

SALOMON: a new, light balloonborne UV-visible spectrometer for nighttime observations of stratospheric trace-gas species.

A new, light balloonborne UV-visible spectrometer, called SALOMON, is designed to perform nighttime measurements of stratospheric trace-gas species by using the Moon as a light source. The first flight, performed on 31 October 1998 at mid-latitude with a float altitude of 26.7 km, allowed the performance of the pointing system to be checked and vertical profiles of ozone, NO(2), NO(3), and possibly OBrO to be obtained.

Optical and physical properties of stratospheric aerosols from balloon measurements in the visible and near-infrared domains. III. Presence of aerosols in the middle stratosphere.

The aerosol extinction measurements in the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths by the balloonborne spectrometer Spectroscopie d'Absorption Lunaire pour l'Observation des Minoritaires Ozone et NOx (SALOMON) show that aerosols are present in the middle stratosphere, above 25-km altitude. These observations are confirmed by the extinction measurements performed by a solar occultation radiometer. The balloonborne Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (LMD) counter instrument also confirms the presence of aerosol around 30-km altitude, with an unrealistic excess of micronic particles assuming that only liquid sulfate aerosols are present.

Optical and physical properties of stratospheric aerosols from balloon measurements in the visible and near-infrared domains. II. Comparison of extinction, reflectance, polarization, and counting measurements.

The physical properties of stratospheric aerosols can be retrieved from optical measurements involving extinction, radiance, polarization, and counting. We present here the results of measurements from the balloonborne instruments AMON, SALOMON, and RADIBAL, and from the French Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique and the University of Wyoming balloonborne particle counters. A cross comparison of the measurements was made for observations of background aerosols conducted during the polar winters of February 1997 and January-February 2000 for various altitudes from 13 to 19 km.

Optical and physical properties of stratospheric aerosols from balloon measurements in the visible and near-infrared domains. 1. Analysis of aerosol extinction spectra from the AMON and SALOMON balloonborne spectrometers.

Aerosol extinction coefficients have been derived in the 375-700-nm spectral domain from measurement in the stratosphere since 1992, at night, at mid- and high latitudes from 15 to 40 km, by two balloonborne spectrometers, Absorption par les Minoritaires Ozone et NO(chi) (AMON) and Spectroscopie d'Absorption Lunaire pour l'Observation des Minoritaires Ozone et NO(chi) (SALOMON). Log-normal size distributions associated with the Mie-computed extinction spectra that best fit the measurements permit calculation of integrated properties of the distributions. Although measured extinction spectra that correspond to background aerosols can be reproduced by the Mie scattering model by use of monomodal log-normal size distributions, each flight reveals some large discrepancies between measurement and theory at several altitudes.