Hérault

Background: ADHD involves impairing core symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity in children (childhood ADHD = CH) that may persist in adulthood (adult ADHD = AD). Conflicting findings have been found regarding AD prevalences among adult smokers, and it is unclear whether AD is associated with a more severe smoking behavior in adulthood. Objective: The aim of this article is (a) to determine CH and AD prevalences in a nonselected sample of adult smokers, (b) to describe the characteristics of smokers with ADHD symptoms versus those without, and (c) to determine whether CH and/or AD symptoms are risk factors for more severe smoking in adulthood. Method: Three hundred and seventy-three participants aged 18 years and over were prospectively recruited in a smoking-cessation unit. Participants were classified as "no ADHD symptoms," "CH symptoms," or "AD symptoms" according to their baseline score on the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) alone (for CH symptoms) and WURS combined to the Adult Self Report Scale (ASRS) for AD symptoms. Other clinical variables were reported at first consultation. Results: (a) CH symptoms were reported in 15.3% (57/373) of the total sample, 42.1% (24/57) of whom also had persistent ADHD symptoms in adulthood (prevalence of AD was 24/373 = 6.4%). (b) In comparison with participants without ADHD symptoms, smokers with ADHD symptoms consume significantly more tobacco, but ADHD symptoms were no longer significantly associated with the daily number of smoked cigarettes after adjustment for sociodemographic variables. No significant association was found between the two groups and age at the first cigarette, age at onset daily smoking, and nicotine dependence. (c) Participants were categorized into three groups: Group 1 without ADHD symptoms lifetime (NH; n = 316), Group 2 with childhood history of ADHD symptoms (CH; n = 33), and Group 3 with Adult ADHD symptoms (AD; n = 24). The association with tobacco consumption (>20 cigarettes/day) was significant for CH only (p = .02). After adjustment for gender, age, professional status, and educational level, this association was not longer significant. Conclusion: Childhood and adult ADHD symptoms are both highly prevalent among nonselected smokers but our study failed to show more severe smoking characteristics among these participants after adjustment with sociodemographic variables. (J. of Att. Dis. 2013; XX(X) 1-XX)

Background. Because of the very short half-life of factor VII, prophylaxis is considered a difficult endeavor in FVII deficiency. Design and Methods. Clinical efficacy and safety of prophylaxis regimens, and indications for their use, were evaluated in factor VII-deficient patients in the Seven Treatment Evaluation Registry. Results. Prophylaxis data (38 courses) were analyzed from 34 severe factor VII-deficient patients (<1-45 years, 21 female). Severest phenotypes (central nervous system, gastrointestinal, joint bleeding episodes) were highly prevalent. Twenty-one patients received recombinant activated factor VII (24 courses), four received plasma-derived factor VII, and ten fresh frozen plasma. Prophylaxis schedules clustered into 'frequent' (3 times weekly [n=23]) and 'infrequent' (≤2 times weekly [n=15]) courses. Excluding courses for menorrhagia, 'frequent' and 'infrequent' courses produced 18/23 (78%) and 5/12 (41%) 'excellent' outc...

In order to improve the mechanical properties of silica aerogels, we propose the synthesis of nano composite aerogels. Silica particles (20-100nm) are added in the monomer solution, just before gelling and supercritical drying. The silica particles addition increases the mechanical properties, but also affects the aggregation process, the aerogel structure and the pore sizes. We discuss the different parameters which infer in the mechanical behaviour of silica aerogel such as: brittle behaviour, load bearing fraction of solid (pore volume), internal stresses (shrinkage) , size and distribution of flaws, subcritical flaws propagation (chemical susceptibility). With silica particles addition, the mechanical properties rapidly increase, stiffening and strengthening the structure by a factor 4-8. Moreover, the mechanical strength distribution and the Weibull modulus characterizing the statistical nature of flaws size in brittle materials show a more homogeneous strength distribution.