Dynamic NMR Relaxometry as a Straightforward Measurement of Concentration Variations in Colloidal Gels.

We show that dynamic NMR relaxometry allows one to probe the particle size or the concentration evolution over time in homogeneous colloidal suspensions or the concentration in different regions of heterogeneous suspensions, up to large volume fractions. We first demonstrate that the NMR transverse relaxation time is independent of the gel structure at the particle scale so that it only slightly varies during the gelation of a colloidal suspension. The evolution over time of the NMR transverse relaxation time during gel drying and its analysis with the help of the fast-exchange assumption extended to a partially saturated medium then allowed us to identify three successive regimes: homogeneous shrinkage, desaturation, and molecular film regime.

Unveiling moisture transport mechanisms in cellulosic materials: Vapor vs. bound water.

Natural textiles, hair, paper, wool, or bio-based walls possess the remarkable ability to store humidity from sweat or the environment through "bound water" absorption within nanopores, constituting up to 30% of their dry mass. The knowledge of the induced water transfers is pivotal for advancing industrial processes and sustainable practices in various fields such as wood drying, paper production and use, moisture transfers in clothes or hair, humidity regulation of bio-based construction materials, etc. However, the transport and storage mechanisms of this moisture remain poorly understood, with modeling often relying on an assumption of dominant vapor transport with an unknown diffusion coefficient.

Critical Role of Boundary Conditions in Sorption Kinetics Measurements.

In order to characterize the hygroscopic properties of cellulose-based materials, which can absorb large amounts of water from vapor in ambient air, or the adsorption capacity of pollutants or molecules in various porous materials, it is common to rely on sorption-desorption dynamic tests. This consists of observing the mass variation over time when the sample is placed in contact with a fluid containing the elements to be absorbed or adsorbed. Here, we focus on the case of a hygroscopic material in contact with air at a relative humidity (RH) differing from that at which it has been prepared.

Dynamic NMR Relaxometry as a Simple Tool for Measuring Liquid Transfers and Characterizing Surface and Structure Evolution in Porous Media.

Porous media containing voids which can be filled with gas and/or liquids are ubiquitous in our everyday life: soils, wood, bricks, concrete, sponges, and textiles. It is of major interest to identify how a liquid, pushing another fluid or transporting particles, ions, or nutriments, can penetrate or be extracted from the porous medium. High-resolution X-ray microtomography, neutron imaging, and magnetic resonance imaging are techniques allowing us to obtain, in a nondestructive way, a view of the internal processes in nontransparent porous media.

Two-step diffusion in cellular hygroscopic (vascular plant-like) materials.

Vascular plants, a vast group including conifers, flowering plants, etc., are made of a cellular hygroscopic structure containing water in the form of either free (i.e.

Safety and Predictive Factors of Short-Term Efficacy of a Single Injection of Mannitol-Modified Cross-Linked Hyaluronic Acid in Patients with Trapeziometacarpal Osteoarthritis. Results of a Multicentre Prospective Open-Label Pilot Study (INSTINCT Trial).

Purpose: To assess safety and search predictive factors of efficacy of a single intra-articular injection of a mannitol-modified hyaluronic acid (HA) viscosupplement, in patients having trapeziometacarpal (TMC) osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: Patients with symptomatic TMC OA, not adequately relieved by analgesic therapy and/or by the use of a thumb splint, were included in a 3-month prospective multicentre open-label trial. All underwent plain radiographs with the Kapandji incidences allowing the Dell radiological grade assessment (1-4).

Hip Inflammation MRI Scoring System (HIMRISS) to predict response to hyaluronic acid injection in hip osteoarthritis.

Objective: To assess predictors of response, according to hip MRI inflammatory scoring system (HIMRISS), in a sample of patients with hip osteoarthritis (OA) treated by hyaluronic acid (HA) injection.

Method: Sixty patients with hip OA were included. Clinical outcomes were assessed at baseline and three months after HA injection by WOMAC.

Predictors of response to viscosupplementation in patients with hip osteoarthritis: results of a prospective, observational, multicentre, open-label, pilot study.

Background: To identify predictive factors of response to viscosupplementation (VS) in patients with hip osteoarthritis (HOA).

Methods: Prospective, multicentre, open-label trial, achieved in daily practice conditions. Patients with HOA were treated with a single intra-articular injection of a cross-linked hyaluronic acid combined with mannitol (HAnox-M-XL), using imaging guidance.

Early decrease of serum biomarkers of type II collagen degradation (Coll2-1) and joint inflammation (Coll2-1 NO₂ ) by hyaluronic acid intra-articular injections in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a research study part of the Biovisco study.

To measure the evolution of the serum levels of specific Osteoarthritis (OA) biomarker, Coll2-1 and Coll2-1 NO₂ in knee osteoarthritic patients after viscosupplementation (VS). Fifty-one patients with unilateral symptomatic knee were recruited for this prospective open label study. They received three intra-articular injections of 2 ml of hyaluronic acid (Hylan GF-20) and were followed for 3 months.

Early effect of hyaluronic acid intra-articular injections on serum and urine biomarkers in patients with knee osteoarthritis: An open-label observational prospective study.

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of hyaluronic acid (HA) intra articular injections (IA) on osteoarthritis (OA) biomarkers in patients with knee OA. Prospective open label study. Fifty-one patients with unilateral symptomatic K-OA received IA injections of 2mL of HA on days (D) 1, 7, 14 and were followed 3 months.

[Long-life learning for medical specialists doctors in Europe: CME, DPC and qualification].

The Union européenne des médecins spécialistes (UEMS) has a mandate to lead the quality of care in Europe and harmonise the qualifications of specialists doctors. In 2000, UEMS has set the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME), with the objective to accredit educational events and facilitate the reciprocity of CME credits obtained by attending international medical conferences. In 2010, UEMS has set the European Accreditation Council for Medical Specialist Qualification (EACMSQ).

Continuing medical education in Europe: towards a harmonised system.

One of the first reports on the state of medical education was published in 1910 in North America, with the support of the Carnegie Foundation, showing that the interest for this issue dates back at least a century. Doctors (and nurses) are among the few professionals who managed to avoid for a long time any sort of evaluation of their knowledge and competence after the achievement of their diploma. But concern has been rising in society about the fast obsolescence of medical knowledge, particularly in the last 50 years when the development of research and technology in the field has been so fast.

Understanding and reducing variability of SOM neighbourhood structure.

The self-organizing map (SOM) is a nonlinear unsupervised method for vector quantization. In the context of classification and data analysis, the SOM technique highlights the neighbourhood structure between clusters. The correspondence between this clustering and the input proximity is called the topology preservation.

Non-alcoholic duct destructive chronic pancreatitis.

Background: The pathology of non-alcoholic chronic pancreatitis has not yet been sufficiently studied.

Aims: To identify the major changes of pancreatic tissue in patients surgically treated for non-alcoholic chronic pancreatitis.

Patients: Pancreatectomy specimens from 12 patients with non-alcoholic chronic pancreatitis, including four patients with autoimmune or related diseases (Sjögren's syndrome, primary sclerosing cholangitis, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease), were reviewed.

Numerical aberrations of chromosomes 1 and 17 in tumor cell lines of the exocrine pancreas as determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization.

The relationship between the copy numbers of chromosomes 1 and 17 and characteristics related to aggressiveness, histological grade, and doubling time was studied in 10 cell lines from pancreatic carcinomas (7 from primary tumors, 2 from ascites, and 1 from a liver metastasis). Fluorescence in situ hybridization with, respectively, the (peri-)centromeric pUC 1.77 (chromosome 1), and D17Z1 (chromosome 17) probes was applied to interphase nuclei.

Differentiation of pancreatic carcinoma induced by retinoic acid or sodium butyrate: a morphological and molecular analysis of four cell lines.

The antiproliferative and differentiation-inducing effects of all-trans retinoic acid (RA) and sodium butyrate (SB) were investigated in four pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cell lines, two poorly differentiated ones (PT45 and PaTu-II), one moderately to poorly differentiated one (Panc-1) and one highly differentiated one (A818-1). Treatment with 20 microM RA resulted in moderate inhibition of cell growth in all cell lines, but clear evidence of cytodifferentiation (including elongated cell processes, increased rough endoplasmic reticulum, intensified immunostaining for the mucin marker (M1) was found only in PT45 and Panc-1. These phenotypic changes were paralleled by upregulation of RAR (retinoic acid receptor)-alpha and -gamma mRNA.

Three cases of bronchial stump aspergillosis: unusual clinical presentations and beneficial effect of oral itraconazole.

Bronchial stump aspergillosis (BSA), i.e. Aspergillus infection of bronchial granulation tissue surrounding endobronchial suture threads, is a very rare variant of localized suppurative bronchial Aspergillus infection.

[Development of chronic pancreatitis from acute pancreatitis: a pathogenetic concept].

Clinically, alcohol-induced chronic pancreatitis is commonly indistinguishable from acute pancreatitis. A relationship between these two forms of pancreatitis has therefore been suggested. This article presents a pathogenetic model which views the development and course of chronic pancreatitis as a consequence of severe acute pancreatitis.

Human ductal adenocarcinomas of the pancreas express extracellular matrix proteins.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas are characterised by a dense connective tissue reaction. To test the hypothesis that stroma components are synthesised and produced by the tumour cells themselves, eight cell lines as well as six xenografted tumours from human ductal adenocarcinomas of the pancreas were examined for the expression of extracellular matrix proteins (ECM), using cDNA probes and antibodies to collagen types I, III and IV, vitronectin, fibronectin, undulin and laminin. All tumour cell lines (CAPAN-1, CAPAN-2, AsPC-1, BxPC-3, PANC-1, PaCa-2, PaCa-3, PaCa-44) and xenografted human pancreatic tumours expressed at least one of the examined ECM at the RNA (collagen type IV > laminin = fibronectin = vitronectin > collagen type III > undulin > collagen type I) or protein level (collagen type IV = collagen type III > vitronectin > laminin > collagen type I = fibronectin > undulin).

Serous oligocystic and ill-demarcated adenoma of the pancreas: a variant of serous cystic adenoma.

Serous cystic tumours of the pancreas are uncommon and are usually classified as microcystic adenomas (MCA). As new types of serous cystic tumours of this organ have been reported we reviewed a series of 14 lesions and from macroscopic findings two groups were distinguished: ten tumours revealed the features of MCA, while four were clearly distinct from MCA. Grossly, the latter tumours showed only few cysts which were irregularly assembled in fibrous stroma.