Health support for the Raid of the Seven Stones : in the footsteps of Navy physician Jules Crevaux in French Guiana.

In the summer of 2015, soldiers of the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment and civilian scientists mounted a joint expedition on foot to reconnoiter and better define the southern frontier of French Guiana with Brazil. Three doctor-nurse pairs worked in relay to provide medical support for this unprecedented 42-day, 320-km journey through a hostile and isolated environment, a mission whose success was made possible by large-scale logistic and technical prowess. The army health department, using knowledge gained from previous large-scale missions and expeditions and from its staff's local experience, provided its technical support for personnel selection, organization of the health logistics, and field support. This article describes the difficulties encountered from a medical perspective, the diseases encountered, and the final assessments of the personnel who completed this expedition.

Lung nodule in French Guiana in a immunocompetent patient.

We report the case of an immunocompetent French soldier stationed in French Guiana, who developed symptomatic pulmonary histoplasmosis.

Genetic structure in a dynamic baboon hybrid zone corroborates behavioural observations in a hybrid population.

Behaviour and genetic structure are intimately related: mating patterns and patterns of movement between groups or populations influence the movement of genetic variation across the landscape and from one generation to the next. In hybrid zones, the behaviour of the hybridizing taxa can also impact the incidence and outcome of hybridization events. Hybridization between yellow baboons and anubis baboons has been well documented in the Amboseli basin of Kenya, where more anubis-like individuals tend to experience maturational and reproductive advantages. However, it is unknown whether these advantages are reflected in the genetic structure of populations surrounding this area. Here, we used microsatellite genotype data to evaluate the structure and composition of baboon populations in southern Kenya. Our results indicate that, unlike for mitochondrial DNA, microsatellite-based measures of genetic structure concord with phenotypically based taxonomic distinctions and that the currently active hybrid zone is relatively narrow. Isolation with migration analysis revealed asymmetric gene flow in this region from anubis populations into yellow populations, in support of the anubis-biased phenotypic advantages observed in Amboseli. Populations that are primarily yellow but that receive anubis gene flow exhibit higher levels of genetic diversity than yellow populations far from the introgression front. Our results support previous work that indicates a long history of hybridization and introgression among East African baboons. Specifically, it suggests that anubis baboons are in the process of gradual range expansion into the range of yellow baboons, a pattern potentially explained by behavioural and life history advantages that correlate with anubis ancestry.

Body composition in diabetic subjects with chronic kidney disease: interest of bio-impedance analysis, and anthropometry.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Lean body mass (LBM) is reduced in uremia, but this has not been reported in diabetic nephropathy. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We compared predicted % LBM to DEXA measurements in 10 non-diabetic uremic, 10 non-uremic diabetic and 10 uremic diabetic subjects matched for age, gender and BMI. We also measured % LBM by anthropometry, bio-impedance analysis (BIA) and compared them with DEXA in 49 diabetic subjects with a wide range of renal failure. The results were compared and a Bland & Altman procedure was performed. Associations between glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and % LBM were tested. RESULTS: In matched groups, predicted % LBM values were overestimated in non-diabetic uremic subjects, and underestimated in non-uremic diabetic subjects. In uremic diabetic subjects, the error was intermediary. As compared to DEXA (% LBM: 69.0 +/- 7.1%), measurement of % LBM by anthropometry (71.4 +/- 8.0%, p < 0.05) and BIA (67.2 +/- 7.6%, p < 0.05) were biased in the 49 diabetic subjects. The mean of anthropometric and BIA (Ant+BIA) were similar to DEXA results (69.3 +/- 6.8%, p = 0.64), with best correlation coefficients and Bland & Altman plots. GFR was correlated to % LBM assessed by DEXA, BIA and Ant+BIA. CONCLUSION: In diabetic subjects with chronic kidney disease, LBM should be measured, rather than predicted. A good evaluation is possible, even without DEXA.