I. Barberis, Nicola Luigi Bragazzi, L. Galluzzo
et al.
Summary Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious, infectious disease, due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MT) that has always been a permanent challenge over the course of human history, because of its severe social implications. It has been hypothesized that the genus Mycobacterium originated more than 150 million years ago. In the Middle Ages, scrofula, a disease affecting cervical lymph nodes, was described as a new clinical form of TB. The illness was known in England and France as "king's evil", and it was widely believed that persons affected could heal after a royal touch. In 1720, for the first time, the infectious origin of TB was conjectured by the English physician Benjamin Marten, while the first successful remedy against TB was the introduction of the sanatorium cure. The famous scientist Robert Koch was able to isolate the tubercle bacillus and presented this extraordinary result to the society of Physiology in Berlin on 24 March 1882. In the decades following this discovery, the Pirquet and Mantoux tuberculin skin tests, Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin BCG vaccine, Selman Waksman streptomycin and other anti-tuberculous drugs were developed.
Ralph Gibson looks at what religion meant to both men and women in the daily life of post revolutionary France. The book combines fresh insights with a wide ranging synthesis for students. This book should be of interest to students and teachers of history, theology, French studies.
Alfredo Moreno-Egea, Carlos Moreno-Latorre, Alfredo Moreno-Latorre
Background: The history of radical hernia repair involves a period of intense surgical activity, influenced by factors of the time such as social development, hygiene, anesthesia, and antisepsis. Subcutaneous surgery, the initial option designed to avoid infections and peritonitis, was modified after the introduction of antisepsis, eventually leading to dissection surgery. Objective: We aim to analyze the publications from the period of radical hernia cures using current methodology, verifying when and how the transition occurred from subcutaneous surgery to dissection surgery. Methods: A literature review of the databases PubMed, LILACS, Cochrane Library, “Google” and university libraries is conducted. The following keywords were used: “anatomy and surgery”. A critical analysis of the known literature about this historical topic is carried out. Results: Under-vision dissection surgery, through incision of the aponeurosis of the external oblique muscle, began in England by Durham in 1866, almost 20 years before it was performed in France by Lucas-Championnière in 1885. Recurrences decreased after the introduction of the principle of closing the walls of the inguinal canal (Wood, 1860). The surgeon–anatomist Wood should be considered the first specialist in abdominal wall surgery, due to his extensive contributions from the pre-antiseptic era. The evolution of the radical cure of hernias was made possible by combining the knowledge of several countries: England, Germany, and Italy. Conclusions: Dissection surgery was initiated in England, Germany, and Italy, not in France. The influence of the French literature on the history of hernias is evident, to the detriment of the contributions of surgeons from other countries.
Presented here is an English translation of a study that was part of a distinguished French series on the country's post-Revolution history. Unlike much Napoleonic literature that features the personality and foreign policy of the Emperor, it describes the condition of France and the French people during the fifteen years immediately following their great revolution. The translator, R. R. Palmer, is a distinguished historian who has written and translated many books in French history, including The Coming of the French Revolution by Georges Lefebvre (Princeton). Applying the methods of the new social history (Annales school), the author covers the political, administrative, social, economic, and cultural facets of the First Empire. Part I deals with the domestic program and institutions under Napoleon and the fervor of the new chief of state as he sought to establish a coherent, efficient, and thoroughly controlled regime. Part II examines the opposition to his system and the reasons behind the imperfect realization of his ideal. It discusses population and demographic trends, social structure, and economic activity--all of which eluded Napoleon's grasp.
Luis A. Anchordoqui, Ignatios Antoniadis, Dieter Lüst
Over the last few years, low- and high-redshift observations set off tensions in the measurement of the present-day expansion rate H0 and in the determination of the amplitude of the matter clustering in the late Universe (parameterized by S8). It was recently noted that both these tensions can be resolved if the cosmological constant parametrizing the dark energy content switches its sign at a critical redshift zc∼2. However, the anti-de Sitter (AdS) swampland conjecture suggests that the postulated switch in sign of the cosmological constant at zero temperature seems unlikely because the AdS vacua are an infinite distance apart from de Sitter (dS) vacua in moduli space. We provide an explanation for the required AdS → dS crossover transition in the vacuum energy using the Casimir forces of fields inhabiting the bulk. We then use entropy arguments to claim that any AdS → dS transition between metastable vacua must be accompanied by a reduction of the species scale where gravity becomes strong. We provide a few examples supporting this AdS → dS uplift conjecture.
This paper examines the subsistence economy in the South Caucasus during the Early Chalcolithic (c.4700–4300 BC) through bioarchaeological analyses of the Bavra Ablari rock shelter site. This region, rich in biodiversity and characterized by a variety of climates and landscapes, has a history of agropastoral occupation dating back to the beginning of the 6th millennium BC. Up to now, archaeological studies have mainly focused on the valleys and lowlands, leaving the mountainous areas less explored. Recent excavations at Bavra Ablari, located at an altitude of 1,650 m, have enabled new bioarchaeological analyses to be carried out, providing data on the faunal and botanical assemblages of this period. These analyses reveal a mixed agro-pastoral exploitation, with a predominance of caprine (sheep and goats) rearing and cultivation of cereals, such as barley and einkorn. Faunal remains and evidence of hunting and fishing reveal extensive use of several biotopes. The study highlights the importance of pastoralism, attested to as far back as the Neolithic period, with herds moving seasonally to higher pastures in summer. Early Chalcolithic occupations, such as those at Bavra Ablari, show the persistence of pastoral activities in these mountainous regions despite severe winter conditions and suggest seasonal occupation of the site.
That the Drancy transit and internment camp—the main camp from which Jews were deported from France—is currently inhabited, having reverted to its pre-war name ‘La Muette’ and initial function as a housing estate at the end of the 1940s, remains little-known. As a result of this multi-layered history, the site is deeply ambivalent, being both haunted <i>and</i> inhabited. Through a theoretical framework informed by psychogeography, this article brings to light the concentrationary presence that is layered onto the space of everyday life at the site of Drancy–La Muette and investigates the possibility of resisting the resulting spatial politics of dehumanisation. Through a close reading of Alexandre Lacroix’s novel <i>La Muette</i> (2017) and its spatial poetics, this article argues that it is by elaborating new ways of seeing, whereby the interpenetration of past and present, the visible and the invisible, comes to the fore, that the traumatic space of Drancy–La Muette may open up. This, in turn, allows for the circulation of affective resonances between the built environment and the individual, which resist the concentrationary logic.
Samantha Brunel, E. Bennett, Laurent Cardin
et al.
Significance Using genomic data as well as paternal and maternal lineages from more than 200 individuals, including 58 low-coverage ancient genomes, we show the population structure from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age in France and trace the changing frequency of genotypes associated with phenotypic traits. Importantly, we also report the late persistence of Magdalenian-associated ancestry in hunter-gatherer populations, showing the presence of this ancestry beyond the Iberian Peninsula in the Late Paleolithic. This study complements the genomic history of western Europe for this broad period by supplying a large genetic transect of three regions of France. Genomic studies conducted on ancient individuals across Europe have revealed how migrations have contributed to its present genetic landscape, but the territory of present-day France has yet to be connected to the broader European picture. We generated a large dataset comprising the complete mitochondrial genomes, Y-chromosome markers, and genotypes of a number of nuclear loci of interest of 243 individuals sampled across present-day France over a period spanning 7,000 y, complemented with a partially overlapping dataset of 58 low-coverage genomes. This panel provides a high-resolution transect of the dynamics of maternal and paternal lineages in France as well as of autosomal genotypes. Parental lineages and genomic data both revealed demographic patterns in France for the Neolithic and Bronze Age transitions consistent with neighboring regions, first with a migration wave of Anatolian farmers followed by varying degrees of admixture with autochthonous hunter-gatherers, and then substantial gene flow from individuals deriving part of their ancestry from the Pontic steppe at the onset of the Bronze Age. Our data have also highlighted the persistence of Magdalenian-associated ancestry in hunter-gatherer populations outside of Spain and thus provide arguments for an expansion of these populations at the end of the Paleolithic Period more northerly than what has been described so far. Finally, no major demographic changes were detected during the transition between the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Heterozygous germline GATA2 mutations strongly predispose to leukemia, immunodeficiency, and/or lymphoedema. We describe a series of 79 patients (53 families) diagnosed since 2011, made up of all patients in France and Belgium, with a follow up of 2249 patients/years. Median age at first clinical symptoms was 18.6 years (range, 0-61 years). Severe infectious diseases (mycobacteria, fungus, and human papilloma virus) and hematologic malignancies were the most common first manifestations. The probability of remaining symptom-free was 8% at 40 years old. Among the 53 probands, 24 had missense mutations including 4 recurrent alleles, 21 had nonsense or frameshift mutations, 4 had a whole-gene deletion, 2 had splice defects, and 2 patients had complex mutations. There were significantly more cases of leukemia in patients with missense mutations (n=14 of 34) than in patients with nonsense or frameshift mutations (n=2 of 28). We also identify new features of the disease: acute lymphoblastic leukemia, juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, fatal progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy related to the JC virus, and immune/inflammatory diseases. A revised International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) score allowed a distinction to be made between a stable disease and hematologic transformation. Chemotherapy is of limited efficacy, and has a high toxicity with severe infectious complications. As the mortality rate is high in our cohort (up to 35% at the age of 40), hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) remains the best choice of treatment to avoid severe infectious and/or hematologic complications. The timing of HSCT remains difficult to determine, but the earlier it is performed, the better the outcome.
A problematic term and/or a disturbing reality
Often dubious or allergic, even downright negative, the reactions to the word “Francophone”, a term whose meaning is nevertheless clear, do not fail to raise questions. They are particularly strong in the literary field where more and more Francophone literatures are developing, the emergence, study and recognition of which always come up against resistance without equal in other linguistic areas resulting from European colonization. The explanation lies at the very heart of the History of France and of the Franco-French structures for apprehending the world – particularly through the place and the conception of the language and literature that signify it – what the author calls the French ideology. The effects of Parisian editorial centralism, unique in the world, are also studied, as well as the contrasting consequences of the political use made of the French language and its supposed universality. Diverse historical strata and contemporary contradictions are meticulously analysed, as well as the obstacles to considering and building a plural Franco-Francophone space. What the rejection of the word “Francophone” refers to is the realities that it designates and forces us to recognize fundamentally. They call into question a habitus.
The present article examines the network of contacts between German-speaking travellers in Paris at the beginning of the 18th century, using the example of the travel diary of Johann Friedrich Armand von Uffenbach, who stayed there for seven months, after arriving in the city only a few days after the death of Louis XIV. During his stay, Uffenbach meticulously records the people he meets, sees and talks to. The present study analyses the composition of this network of contacts that Uffenbach created during his voyage, focusing particularly on the network of German-speaking travellers and that of travellers and Parisians, while highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of these networks revealed in Uffenbach’s account.
Sanjay Ramakrishnan,1– 3 Wim Janssens,4 Pierre-Regis Burgel,5 Marco Contoli,6 Frits ME Franssen,7 Neil J Greening,8 Timm Greulich,9 Iwein Gyselinck,4 Andreas Halner,1 Arturo Huerta,10 Rebecca L Morgan,11 Jennifer K Quint,12 Lowie EGW Vanfleteren,13 Kristina Vermeersch,4 Henrik Watz,14 Mona Bafadhel1 1Respiratory Medicine Unit, Nuffield Department of Medicine - Experimental Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; 2 National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; 3School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia; 4Department of Respiratory Diseases, UZ Leuven, Research Group BREATHE, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; 5Faculty of Medicine, University of Paris and INSERM 1016 Institut Cochin, Cochin Hospital, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France; 6Department of Morphology, Surgery and Experimental Medicine, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy; 7Department of Respiratory Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, Netherlands; 8Department of Respiratory Sciences, NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre (Respiratory), Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, UK; 9Department of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University Medical Centre Giessen and Marburg, Philipps University, Member of the German Centre for Lung Research (DZL), Marburg, Germany; 10Pulmonary and Critical Care Division, Clinica Sagrada Familia, IDIBAPS August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain; 11Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada; 12National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College, London, UK; 13COPD Center, Department of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Nutrition at Institute of Medicine, SU Sahlgrenska, Göteborg, Sweden; 14Pulmonary Research Institute at LungenClinic Grosshansdorf, Airway Research Center North (ARCN), German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Grosshansdorf, GermanyCorrespondence: Mona BafadhelRespiratory Medicine Unit, Nuffield Department of Medicine Experimental Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKTel +44 1865 612898Email mona.bafadhel@ndm.ox.ac.ukBackground: Despite hospitalization for exacerbation being a high-risk event for morbidity and mortality, there is little consensus globally regarding the assessment and management of hospitalised exacerbations of COPD. We aimed to establish a consensus list of symptoms, physiological measures, clinical scores, patient questionnaires and investigations to be obtained at time of hospitalised COPD exacerbation and follow-up.Methods: A modified Delphi online survey with pre-defined consensus of importance, feasibility and frequency of measures at hospitalisation and follow-up of a COPD exacerbation was undertaken.Findings: A total of 25 COPD experts from 18 countries contributed to all 3 rounds of the survey. Experts agreed that a detailed history and examination were needed. Experts also agreed on which treatments are needed and how soon these should be delivered. Experts recommended that a full blood count, renal function, C-reactive protein and cardiac blood biomarkers (BNP and troponin) should be measured within 4 hours of admission and that the modified Medical Research Council dyspnoea scale (mMRC) and COPD assessment test (CAT) should be performed at time of exacerbation and follow-up. Experts encouraged COPD clinicians to strongly consider discussing palliative care, if indicated, at time of hospitalisation.Interpretation: This Europe-wide consensus document is the first attempt to standardise the assessment and care of patients hospitalised for COPD exacerbations. This should be regarded as the starting point to build knowledge and evidence on patients hospitalised for COPD exacerbations.Keywords: COPD, disease exacerbation, hospitalisation, patient care, consensus development, expert opinion
Viktor J Radermacher, Vincent Fernandez, Emma R Schachner
et al.
Ornithischian dinosaurs were ecologically prominent herbivores of the Mesozoic Era that achieved a global distribution by the onset of the Cretaceous. The ornithischian body plan is aberrant relative to other ornithodiran clades, and crucial details of their early evolution remain obscure. We present a new, fully articulated skeleton of the early branching ornithischian Heterodontosaurus tucki. Phase-contrast enhanced synchrotron data of this new specimen reveal a suite of novel postcranial features unknown in any other ornithischian, with implications for the early evolution of the group. These features include a large, anteriorly projecting sternum; bizarre, paddle-shaped sternal ribs; and a full gastral basket – the first recovered in Ornithischia. These unusual anatomical traits provide key information on the evolution of the ornithischian body plan and suggest functional shifts in the ventilatory apparatus occurred close to the base of the clade. We complement these anatomical data with a quantitative analysis of ornithischian pelvic architecture, which allows us to make a specific, stepwise hypothesis for their ventilatory evolution.
The paper discusses two eighteenth-century magnates’ residences, the architecture of which functioned as a political statement, drawing on cultural codes rooted in the ancient tradition and borrowing from the model of Versailles. The palaces of Jan Klemens Branicki (1689–1771) in Białystok and of Eustachy Potocki (1720–1768) in Radzyń were built in the mid-eighteenth century. The analysis of their forms, spatial design and sculptures sheds light on their function as a ceremonial space serving political purposes. Our study focuses on the examination of the entrance gates, façade decoration and the sculptures located in the vestibules, which play a key role in the symbolic structures of the residences, as well as the gardens with their pavilions and sculptures. Together these elements constituted the Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) of these magnates dreaming of being elected king.
Jacques Sevestre, Caroline Bernardi, Morgane Gillet
et al.
Abstract Background Malaria is a potentially lethal parasitic disease due to infection by Plasmodium parasites, transmitted by Anopheles mosquito vectors. Various preventative measures may be recommended for travellers who visit endemic areas. The diagnosis is generally evoked in the context of a febrile patient returning from an endemic zone. Nevertheless, symptoms and clinical signs may be difficult to interpret, and fatal cases may only be diagnosed retrospectively with laboratory techniques, specific pathological features and patient history. The present work reports a case of fatal cerebral malaria diagnosed post-mortem, along with the techniques that allowed identification of the causative agent. Case presentation A 29 year-old male was found dead in his rental home during a vacation in Southern France. In the absence of explainable cause, an autopsy was performed, which did not retrieve major lesions. In the context of frequent business-related travels in tropical Africa, several samples were adressed for parasitological examination. Microscopy techniques, along with immunochromatographic and molecular biology assays, led to post-mortem diagnosis of fatal cerebral malaria. It was discovered in retrospect that the patient had not used preventative measures against malaria when travelling in endemic zones, and had not been provided with proper travel medicine counseling prior to his travel. Conclusion A vast proportion of imported malaria cases reported in France concerns patients who did not use preventive measures, such as bed nets, repellents or chemoprophylaxis. Given the wide availability of prevention tools in developed countries, and the important number of declared imported malaria cases, there is no doubt traveller awareness still needs to be raised. Moreover, healthcare professionals should always question travel history in febrile patients. The authors advocate for recurrent information campaigns for travellers, and physician training for a better prevention and diagnosis of malaria cases.
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine, Infectious and parasitic diseases
This article examines the genre of “secret history” which gained widespread currency in France after the publication of the book Anecdotes of Florence: or, A Secret History of the House of Medici (1685) by Antoine de Varillas. The preface to the book gives an overview of the theory of the genre that welcomes representation of hidden, sometimes “dishonorable” or “insignificant” premises of important events, usually ignored by official historiographers who tend to focus on the façade of their protagonist’s life. Authors of such “secret” stories are advised to use gossips obtained from the “royal” circles and find their way into the studies and bedrooms hidden from the eyes of the others. The article shows the impact that elements of Varillas’s poetic style (ethnographic flair, the topoi of bedroom and “cabinet,” focus on the human body etc.) had on the texts of “secret” memoirs and notes by François-Paulin Dalairac, Esaias von Pufendorf, Madeleine-Angélique de Gomez, and others. A more detailed interpretation demonstrates how historical narrative degraded into fictional prose and in many respects anticipated — together with other sources analyzed in the article — a formula of the historical novel a la Walter Scott.