ELMAS: a one-year dataset of hourly electrical load profiles from 424 French industrial and tertiary sectors.

The combination of ongoing urban expansion and electrification of uses challenges the power grid. In such a context, information regarding customers' consumption is vital to assess the expected load at strategic nodes over time, and to guide power system planning strategies. Comprehensive household consumption databases are widely available today thanks to the roll-out of smart meters, while the consumption of tertiary premises is seldom shared mainly due to privacy concerns. To fill this gap, the French main distribution system operator, Enedis, commissioned Mines Paris to derive load profiles of industrial and tertiary sectors for its prospective tools. The ELMAS dataset is an open dataset of 18 electricity load profiles derived from hourly consumption time series collected continuously over one year from a total of 55,730 customers. These customers are divided into 424 fields of activity, and three levels of capacity subscription. A clustering approach is employed to gather activities sharing similar temporal patterns, before averaging the associated time series to ensure anonymity.

Treatment of grade II-III intracranial meningioma with helical tomotherapy.

Meningiomas account for 30-35% of intracranial tumors. Grade I meningiomas are most common and carry the best prognosis. Grade II and III meningiomas are more aggressive and the outcomes after surgical resection alone remain unsatisfactory. The main objective of this retrospective, single-center study was to assess our results of treatment of grade II-III intracranial meningioma with helical tomotherapy (HT). We retrospectively reviewed patients with histologically proven (WHO 2007) grade II-III meningioma irradiated with HT. Patients were treated one session a day, 5 days a week, to a total dose of 59.4 Gy and 68.4 Gy delivered in 33 and 38 fractions of 1.8 Gy each to the LR PTV and HR PTV, with or without simultaneous integrated boost. From May 2011 to January 2015, 19 patients (15 with grade II and 4 with grade III meningiomas) were treated. Median follow-up for patients with Grade II or Grade III meningiomas, was 29.2 months (range, 10.7-52.4) and 21.3 months (range, 2.4-51.3), respectively. Disease free survival at 1, 2 and 3 years was 89.2%, 83.6% and 56.3% respectively. Overall survival at 1, 2 and 3 years was 94.7%, 94.7% and 78.9%, respectively. No patient had neurological toxicity greater than grade 2 in the acute period. During follow-up, only one patient had neurological toxicity greater than or equal to grade 3. The management of grade II to III meningiomas using HT with doses exceeding 60 Gy is associated with good local control and acceptable survival results.

Microcurrent Point Stimulation Applied to Lower Back Acupuncture Points for the Treatment of Nonspecific Neck Pain.

OBJECTIVES: Although acupuncture and microcurrent are widely used for chronic pain, there remains considerable controversy as to their therapeutic value for neck pain. We aimed to determine the effect size of microcurrent applied to lower back acupuncture points to assess the impact on the neck pain. DESIGN: This was a cohort analysis of treatment outcomes pre- and postmicrocurrent stimulation, involving 34 patients with a history of nonspecific chronic neck pain. SUBJECTS AND SETTINGS: Consenting patients were enrolled from a group of therapists attending educational seminars and were asked to report pain levels pre-post and 48 hours after a single MPS application. INTERVENTIONS AND MEASUREMENTS: Direct current microcurrent point stimulation (MPS) applied to standardized lower back acupuncture protocol points was used. Evaluations entailed a baseline visual analog scale (VAS) pain scale assessment, using a VAS, which was repeated twice after therapy, once immediately postelectrotherapy and again after a 48-h follow-up period. All 34 patients received a single MPS session. Results were analyzed using paired t tests. Results and Outcomes: Pain intensity showed an initial statistically significant reduction of 68% [3.9050 points; 95% CI (2.9480, 3.9050); p = 0.0001], in mean neck pain levels after standard protocol treatment, when compared to initial pain levels. There was a further statistically significant reduction of 35% in mean neck pain levels at 48 h when compared to pain levels immediately after standard protocol treatment [0.5588 points; 95% CI (0.2001, 0.9176); p = 0.03], for a total average pain relief of 80%. CONCLUSIONS: The positive results in this study could have applications for those patients impacted by chronic neck pain.

DC Electroacupuncture Effects on Scars and Sutures of a Patient with Postconcussion Pain.

Introduction: This case study offers a detailed comparative analysis of the effects of direct-current electroacupuncture (DC-EA) on the autonomic nervous system (ANS), when DC-EA was applied to the cranial sutures and scars of a patient with a history of ischemic stroke and postconcussion syndrome (PCS) pain. Case: A 56-year-old female suffering from severe tremors and debilitating headaches requested acupuncture after conventional biomedicines failed to relieve her symptoms. Evaluations were performed to check the status of 27 ANS functions. These detailed evaluations were performed to obtain a baseline status of ANS function on this patient, who had a history of ischemic stroke, PCS, and chronic pain. All evaluations were repeated pre-post her DC-EA treatment. Results: This patient experienced significant relief from her symptoms after DC-EA treatment. An analysis of this patient's risk for ANS complications showed improvements in four key homeostatic markers post treatment. Conclusions: The ANS response of a patient with ischemic stroke, PCS, and chronic pain, who received electrical nerve stimulation using DC-EA reflected a measurable improvement in sympathetic tone, along with reductions in pain levels and PCS symptoms. The positive results in this case study could have applications to other pathologies that can be affected by the sympathetic nervous system activation on the body.

Role of irradiation for patients over 80 years old with glioblastoma: a retrospective cohort study.

To assess efficacy and safety of hypofractionated radiation therapy (HRT) in patients over 80 years old with newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM). Between June 2009 and September 2015, patients in this population with a recommendation for radiation therapy from a multidisciplinary tumor board, and a Karnofsky performance status (KPS) ≥60 as assessed by a radiation oncologist, who received HRT (40 Gy/15 fractions) ± concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide (TMZ) were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 21 patients fulfilled the criteria for eligibility. Median KPS was 80 (60-90). After a median follow-up of 5.8 months (IQR 3.7-13.1 months), median overall survival (OS) was 7.5 months (95 % CI 4.5-19.1) and the 1-year and 2-year OS were 39.5 % (95 % CI 21.9-71.2 %) and 6.6 % (95 % CI 1.0- 43.3 %), respectively. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 5.8 months (95 % CI 3.9-7.7 months), 1-year and 2-year PFS were 15.2 % (95 % CI 4.4-52.4) and 0 %, respectively. Overall, 16 (76.2 %) patients presented a recurrence. Overall seven patients (33.3 %) needed to be hospitalized during treatment. On univariate analysis, hospitalization was the only variable that correlated with less favourable outcome in terms of both OS (12.2 months versus 3.8 months, p < 0.010) and PFS (5.8 months versus 3.4 months, p = 0.002). Our study suggests that HRT is feasible with acceptable tolerance among "very elderly" patients affected by GBM. Patients 80 and older should be considered for management based on RT.