Trends in influenza vaccination behaviours--results from the CoPanFlu cohort, France, 2006 to 2011.

Controversies over the effectiveness and safety of the pandemic influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 vaccine in 2009/10 may have altered the influenza vaccination coverage in France after the pandemic season. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the pandemic affected seasonal influenza vaccination behaviours in the general population by analysing vaccination behaviours from 2006/07 to 2011/12 among the 1,451 subjects of the Cohort for Pandemic Influenza (CoPanFlu) France.We found that vaccination behaviours in 2010/11 and 2011/12 significantly differed from behaviours before the pandemic, with the notable exception of the targeted risk groups for seasonal influenza-related complications. Among the population with no risk factors,the post-pandemic influenza vaccine coverage decreased, with people aged 15 to 24 years and 45to 64 years being most likely to abandon vaccination.Therefore, this study documents a moderate negative effect of the 2009/10 pandemic episode on vaccination behaviours in the French metropolitan population that was apparent also in the following two seasons.Moreover, it does not exclude that the general trend of reduced vaccination has also affected certain targeted groups at high risk for complications.

A state observer for the Virgo inverted pendulum.

We report an application of Kalman filtering to the inverted pendulum (IP) of the Virgo gravitational wave interferometer. Using subspace method system identification techniques, we calculated a linear mechanical model of Virgo IP from experimental transfer functions. We then developed a Kalman filter, based on the obtained state space representation, that estimates from open loop time domain data, the state variables of the system. This allows the observation (and eventually control) of every resonance mode of the IP mechanical structure independently.

In-vacuum Faraday isolation remote tuning.

In-vacuum Faraday isolators (FIs) are used in gravitational wave interferometers to prevent the disturbance caused by light reflected back to the input port from the interferometer itself. The efficiency of the optical isolation is becoming more critical with the increase of laser input power. An in-vacuum FI, used in a gravitational wave experiment (Virgo), has a 20 mm clear aperture and is illuminated by an almost 20 W incoming beam, having a diameter of about 5 mm. When going in vacuum at 10(-6) mbar, a degradation of the isolation exceeding 10 dB was observed. A remotely controlled system using a motorized lambda=2 waveplate inserted between the first polarizer and the Faraday rotator has proven its capability to restore the optical isolation to a value close to the one set up in air.

Biodiversity of Listeria monocytogenes sensitivity to bacteriocin-producing Carnobacterium strains and application in sterile cold-smoked salmon.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to demonstrate the inhibitory capacity of Carnobacterium strains against a collection of Listeria monocytogenes strains in cold-smoked salmon (CSS). METHODS AND RESULTS: Three bacteriocin-producing strains, Carnobacterium divergens V41, C. piscicola V1 and C. piscicola SF668, were screened for their antilisterial activity against a collection of 57 L. monocytogenes strains selected from the French smoked salmon industry, using an agar spot test. All the Listeria strains were inhibited but three different groups could be distinguished differing in sensitivity to the three Carnobacterium strains. However, C. divergens V41 always had the highest inhibitory effect. The antilisterial capacity was then tested in sterile CSS blocks co-inoculated with Carnobacterium spp. and mixtures of L. monocytogenes strains. C. divergens V41 was the most efficient strain, maintaining the level of L. monocytogenes at <50 CFU g(-1) during the 4 weeks of vacuum storage at 4 and 8 degrees C, whatever the sensitivity of the set of L. monocytogenes strains. CONCLUSIONS: C. divergens V41 may be a good candidate for biopreservation in CSS. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: A biopreservation strategy for CSS against the risk of L. monocytogenes was investigated using bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacteria.

Evidence on inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes by divercin V41 action.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of divercin V41 in inhibition and prevention of Listeria monocytogenes. METHODS AND RESULTS: Carnobacterium divergens V41 deficient in bacteriocin production was isolated and characterized by enzyme-liked immunosorbent assay, multiplex polymerase chain reaction and bacteriocin diffusion test. Carnobacterium divergens V41 (divercin+) and Carnobacterium divergens V41C9 (divercin-) were grown in the presence of L. monocytogenes in smoked salmon model medium. Carnobacterium divergens V41, but not C. divergens V41C9, was able to inhibit growth of L. monocytogenes. The results indicate that inhibition of L. monocytogenes in the presence of C. divergens V41 is because of the production of divercin V41 and not to a nutritional advantage. CONCLUSIONS: Carnobacterium divergens V41 may be a promising agent in food safety. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The study demonstrates a potential use of a bacteriocin producing lactic acid bacteria in the area food protection.

Ultrahigh-spectral-purity laser for the VIRGO experiment.

We report on the frequency stabilization and on the measurement of the spectral density of frequency fluctuations (range 20 Hz to 20 kHz) and of the Allan variance (0.02 ms to 10(5) s) of a Nd:YAG laser for the VIRGO interferometric detector of gravitational waves. The short-term frequency fluctuations presented here compare favorably with those of other known oscillators. The Allan variance is better than 10(-14) for all measurement times below 0.1 s.

Frequency-stabilized laser-diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser.

We describe a frequency-stabilized diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser that is actively frequency stabilized relative to a reference Fabry-Perot cavity using the Pound-Drever technique. We describe the servo loop and the measurement of its noise and gain performance and demonstrate its ability to reduce the laser frequency noise close to the shotnoise limit of 12.5 mHz/ radicalHz. This corresponds to a linewidth of approximately 1 mHz, well below the Schawlow-Townes limit of 0.13 Hz that applies for a free-running laser.

Injection locking of argon-ion lasers.

Using an injection-locking technique, we obtain high-power single-frequency emission from a multimode argon-ion laser. Furthermore, a phase-control loop permits the stable, coherent summation of the beams from the two lasers.

[Clinical trials in psychiatry. Recent evolution of the methodology in France (author's transl)]. / Essais thérapeutiques en psychiatrie. Evolution récente de la méthodologie en France.

The comparison, with the help of a check list of criteria, of psychotropic clinical trials published in France, with an interval of five years, covered 80 trials in 1970 and 75 trials in 1975. The differences found between these two years all indicate a stricter methodological approach in 1975. Certain gaps persist however, such as the extreme rarity of codified pretherapeutic evaluation, preliminary wash out periods, references to an official nosography and a sufficient homogeneity of treatment groups. On the other hand, in the majority of trials, the exclusion criteria are not given and a global clinical assessment is the only criterium of change used. Finally the conclusions proposed coincide with the data in only two thirds of the publications. The comparative revue of 120 controlled psychotropic trials so far published in French show above all the extreme variability of the type of control utilized. Only 58 trials out of 120 have been randomized and a minority of these were carried out according to a strict methodology, with quantitative evaluation of the results and an appropriate statistical analysis. The most frequent methodological insufficiences are the obvious heterogeneity of the treatment groups, the insufficient use of standardized evaluation instruments and the inadapted ness of certain experimental protocols to the goals being pursued. The points most frequently omitted in the presentation of the results are the drop-outs of treatment, information relating to associated and previous treatment, the dates of evaluation of the therapeutic effects as well as the approach used to established side effects. The recent application of the 1975 French Law has deeply changed the habits of French experimentators and it is necessary to correctly interpret the term of "control". The control of non-specific variables intervening in the therapeutical results is the only means of identifying the pharmacological effects of drugs. The best control of these variables is the randomized comparative trial of simultaneous treatment groups using double-blind prescriptions. In order to further comparisons of trials from different sources, it is absolutely necesary that evaluation studies in French be carried out and transmitted according to internationally recognized recommendations based on general rules of protocols and on standardized evaluation instruments.

[Progressive exhaustion of the psychotropic effect of T.R.H. Clinical and neuroendocrinologic study]. / L'épuisement progressif de l'effet psychotrope de la T.R.H. Etude clinique et neuroendocrinienne

The progressive exhaustion of the psychotropic effect of T.R.H. clinical and neuroendocrinological study. The study of a complicated clinical case permitted us to use T.R.H. because of the ineffectiveness of other psychotropic agents the patient (male, aged 38) was given previously. A major and atypical depressive state with severe anorexia was lasting from several months. T.R.H. was administered 3 times per day (at 8 h. 11 h and 14 h) as an intravenous injection of 0.5 mg of T.R.H. lasting 1 min. (total dose per day: 1.5 mg). From the 1st to 7th day the patient showed a market improvement) in the depression symptoms, followed by a light degradation observed from the 7th to 10th day. During a third phase, he showed wild improvement which was maintened stable from the 10th to the 21st day. Then, there was a progressive return to the state prior to T.R.H. period till the 30th day. This phase lasted up to the end of the therapeutic trial of T.R.H. These fluctuations of the depressive state were not found to be correalted with significant plasma-T.R.H. changes and seem to happen when changes in catecholamines and/or serotonin were not observed, according to methods used. Independently of various theoritical approaches concerning the mechanism of psychotropic T.R.H. action, it seems that its effect is exhausted progressively and rapidly.