Biomedical subjects

B Clot

Publications and source records attributed to B Clot.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Ragweed (Ambrosia) progression and its health risks: will Switzerland resist this invasion?

The purpose of this article is to alert physicians for the environmental and health threats of Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed) in Switzerland. Switzerland borders several heavily ragweed colonised areas. Up to 12% of the population suffers from allergies (hay fever, asthma) to ragweed pollen in these areas. Switzerland is beginning to be invaded by this plant. Currently, the ragweed pollen counts are still low but can reach local peaks that induce symptoms in allergic individuals. Ragweed allergy, however, is still rare in Switzerland. Because the amount of ragweed pollen was increasing in the last few years, identification and surveillance of ragweed plant foci was started. Colonisation is currently systematically monitored in Geneva and southern Tessin. Major accumulation of ragweed foci have been detected in the canton of Geneva, the western shore of the lake of Geneva belonging to the canton of Vaud, and in the southern part of the canton of Tessin, aside from minor foci registered all over Switzerland. The routes of ragweed invasion are presented and discussed. Current measures of ragweed containment and needs for the future are presented. The urge for these measures at an early stage of ragweed spread is underlined by the impracticability of eradication in highly colonised areas. The costs of preventing ragweed spread in Switzerland are likely to be several magnitudes lower than the treatment of a significant percentage of the Swiss population for ragweed pollen allergy. Because areas can change from low to heavy ragweed colonisation within a few years, the current window of opportunity to prevent further colonisation by ragweed should not be missed.

Air Pollutants↗

PubMed2005

Empowering humanitarian medical development using grid technology.

BACKGROUND: The training of local clinicians is the best way to raise the standard of medical knowledge in developing countries. This requires transferring skills, techniques and resources. OBJECTIVES: Grid technology opens new perspectives for preparation and follow-up of medical missions in developing countries as well as support to local medical centers in terms of teleconsulting, telediagnosis and patient follow-up. Indeed, grids allow to hide the complexity of handling distributed data in such a way that physicians will be able to access patient data while ignoring where these data are stored. METHODS: To meet requirements of a development project of the French NPO Chain of Hope in China, we propose to deploy a grid-based federation of databases. FIRST RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A first protocol was established for describing the patients' pathologies and their pre- and post-surgery states through a web interface in a language-independent way. This protocol was evaluated by French and Chinese clinicians during medical missions in the fall of 2003. The first sets of medical patients recorded in the databases will be used to evaluate grid implementation of services.

Altruism↗

PubMed2002

[Ambrosia pollen in Switzerland--produced locally or transported?].

The ambrosia (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) has been announced in Switzerland for more than 100 years. During the last decade, signs of an increased presence of the ambrosia and its pollen appear in the south-west of Switzerland, in particular in Geneva. Aerobiologic measurements make it possible to highlight the importance of the transport of pollen by the winds since the area of Lyon, where the ambrosia is abundant. It also bring elements making it possible to detect a local production of pollen in the Geneva area, where several invaded fields were discovered with the autumn 2001. A multidisciplinary group was created in Geneva and it attempts to prevent as far as possible probable invasion of the ambrosia.

Asteraceae↗

PubMed2001

Phytophenological trends in Switzerland.

Nation-wide phenological observations have been made in Switzerland since 1951. In addition to these observation programmes, there are two very long phenological series in Switzerland: leaf bud burst of horse-chestnut trees has been observed in Geneva since 1808 and full flowering of cherry trees in Liestal since 1894. In addition to the presentation of these two long phenological series, trends for 896 phenological time series have been calculated with national data from 1951 to 1998. The earlier bud burst of horse-chestnut trees in Geneva can be attributed mainly to the city effect (warmth island). This phenomenon was not observed with the cherry tree flowering in Liestal. A clear trend towards earlier appearance dates in spring and a weak tendency towards later appearance dates in autumn could be shown with data from the national observation network. It must be noted that different phenophases and plant species react differently to various environmental influences.

Acclimatization↗