Unraveling the impacts of meteorological and anthropogenic changes on sediment fluxes along an estuary-sea continuum.

Sediment fluxes at the estuary-sea interface strongly impact particle matter exchanges between marine and continental sources along the land-sea continuum. However, human activities drive pressures on estuary physical functioning, hence threatening estuarine habitats and their ecosystem services. This study explores a 22-year numerical hindcast of the macrotidal Seine Estuary (France), experiencing contrasted meteorological conditions and anthropogenic changes (i.

A report card and quality indicators for the Seine estuary: from scientific approach to operational tool.

The scientific teams from the interdisciplinary Seine-Aval (SA) research program and the SA's operational pole, GIPSA (Groupement d'Intérêt Public Seine-Aval) have worked together to create a report card designed to help the Estuary Council (Conseil de l'Estuaire) revitalize its original functions: maintaining functional links between the various estuarine ecosystems, comprehending and managing the estuary's natural habitats and biological populations, and monitoring and improving the physical-chemical quality of the estuarine waters. The report card will be able to synthesize the information obtained from several system performance variables and available operational indicators. This approach, intended to guide the estuary managers, is the oeuvre of several scientific teams; it is particularly important in the context of the Water Framework Directive because it facilitates the elaboration of a group of relevant indicators, which can then be used as operational tools.

Connective tissue changes in rheumatic heart disease.

The connective matrix of 17 surgically excised mitral complexes from patients with clinical diagnosis of rheumatic carditis was evaluated by semi-quantitative histopathological, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural parameters. Different and concomitant patterns of loose and dense fibrosis were observed with variable constitution and organization of collagen I, III, IV, procollagen III, laminin, fibronectin and elastin. Loose fibrosis exhibited codistribution of all matrix components, Initial phase of fibrosis was characterized by deposition of all matrix components organized in a network pattern.

[Inferior vena caval return to the left atrium with intact interauricular septum. Apropos of 2 cases surgically treated with success].

Two cases of abnormal inferior vena caval return to the left atrium are reported in a 9 year old boy and 13 year old girl. The diagnosis was suspected on the finding of severe cyanosis alone, and the anomalous systemic venous return was correctly identified by angiography of the inferior vena cava. There were three angiographic points of interest in these two cases: the normal position of the inferior vena cava, the absence of a left-to-right interatrial shunt and the presence of a vertical intra-left atrial "membrane" inserted behind the orifice of the inferior vena cava.