[French data from the Continuing to Confront COPD (C2C) survey]. / Données françaises dans l'enquête internationale Continuing to confront COPD (C2C).

INTRODUCTION: This article describes the French data which contributed to the international "Continuing to Confront COPD" (C2C) survey conducted in 2013 across 12 countries. Its objective was to describe the characteristics, symptoms and impact of COPD on health status, daily activities and working life in adults identified with the study definition as COPD; i.e., reporting a diagnosis of COPD, emphysema, chronic bronchitis (CB) or symptoms of CB either currently present or for which they had been treated in the past. METHODS: Subjects 40 years or older were screened using random-digit-dialing and those fulfilling the study COPD definition were invited to complete the full survey. RESULTS: The proportion of respondents with COPD (according to study definition) in France was estimated at 7.5%. Among 300 respondents with COPD and complete questionnaire data, 48% were male, 44% aged over 70years, 45% were overweight and 72% had a smoking history. COPD had a severe or very severe impact (COPD assessment test score>20) on health for 43%. Dyspnea (mMRC ≥ 1) was reported by 70% and a limitation of at least 20% of daily activities by 65%. The mean number of exacerbations was 2/year and 16% had been admitted to hospital for respiratory problems during the past year. However, using direct questions, 80% subjects considered that they had mild to moderately severe disease and 78% reported an acceptable health status. CONCLUSION: The impact of COPD is markedly underestimated by respondents with COPD despite a high level of symptoms, poor health status and frequent exacerbations as assessed with validated measures.

Growth and structural properties of silicene at multilayer coverage.

At monolayer coverage, silicene on Ag(1 1 1) may present different structural phases depending on the growth conditions. At multilayer coverage, only one structural phase has been reported: the [Formula: see text] phase. However, no link between the structural arrangement of the monolayer and that of the multilayer has been addressed. In this paper, reporting experimental work based on low-energy electron diffraction and scanning tunneling microscopy, we focus on the structural aspects of a multilayer film of silicene. We demonstrate that it exhibits one structural arrangement, namely the [Formula: see text] form, but with different domain orientations resulting from the structural properties of the initial wetting monolayer.