Caractérisation hydrogéologique et support à la mise en oeuvre de la Directive Européenne 2000/60 sur les masses d’eau souterraine en Région Wallonne - Delivrable 6.3 - Travaux de valorisation complémentaire des modèles d'écoulement et de transport de solutés développés pour les masses d'eau souterraine RWM011, RWM012 et RWM021

Synclin'Eau : Caractérisation hydrogéologique et support à la mise en oeuvre de la Directive Européenne 2000/60 sur les masses d’eau souterraine en Région Wallonn

Nosocomial bacteremia in very old patients: predictors of mortality

Background and aims: Nosocomial Bacteremia (NB) is associated with high mortality in elderly patients. To determine specific prognostic factors for 7- and 30-day mortality in elderly patients with NB, we analysed the characteristics of 62 NB patients, retrospectively. Methods: This retrospective study concerns 62 cases of NB diagnosed within a 3-year period in a geriatric department. Bacteremia is described according to CDC definitions. Epidemiological characteristics, co-morbidities, clinical (activities of daily living (ADL) before NB) and biological findings (neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, albuminemia before NB) were collected for each patient. A systemic clinical reaction was defined by the presence of one of the following parameters: chills, hypothermia 38.5°C, or shock. Types of micro-organism and source of NB were also collected. All variables were analysed for mortality at day 7 (7-day mortality) and at day 30 (30-day mortality). Results: The 7-day mortality rate was 21% and the 30-day rate was 45%. In multivariate analysis, 7-day mortality was only associated with the absence of systemic clinical reaction [OR 9.7 (3.7-25.7)]. Again, in multivariate analysis, 30-day mortality was associated with an ADL score <2 [OR 8.3 (4.3-16.4)] and cocci gram positive NB [OR= 3.6 (1.9-6.9)]. Conclusions: The absence of any systemic clinical reaction as a single independent predictor for 7-day mortality suggests either a poorer immune response to nosocomial bacteremia or a delay in diagnosis. Functional status was the strongest predictor for 30-day mortality. In this population, further prospective studies need to include these factors to evaluate predictors of mortality for serious infectious disease

The STICS model to predict nitrate leaching following agricultural pratices.

The aim of this paper was to develop an upscaling approach for the soil-crop model STICS in order to predict the impact of agricultural practices on nitrate leaching on both plot and regional scales. A case study was carried out on a "Nitrate Vulnerable Zone" located in central France. The performance of the spatial approach was evaluated by accounting for all the spatial and temporal variability existing within the studied area. The results indicate that N leaching and nitrate concentration in drainage water were slightly underestimated; by 3 kg N·ha-1 (16%) and 8 mg NO3-·L-1 (11%), respectively. The STICS scaling approach was used to assess the effectiveness of "Good Agricultural Practice" established within the area over a seven-year period. The simulation results provided evidence that such a practice had reduced the nitrate concentration by about 30% (36 mg NO3-·L-1). However, the rate of nitrate leaching remains too large and further improvements to agricultural practices are required

Mechanical control of morphogenesis at the shoot apex

Morphogenesis does not just require the correct expression of patterning genes; these genes must induce the precise mechanical changes necessary to produce a new form. Mechanical characterization of plant growth is not new; however, in recent years, new technologies and interdisciplinary collaborations have made it feasible in young tissues such as the shoot apex. Analysis of tissues where active growth and developmental patterning are taking place has revealed biologically significant variability in mechanical properties and has even suggested that mechanical changes in the tissue can feed back to direct morphogenesis. Here, an overview is given of the current understanding of the mechanical dynamics and its influence on cellular and developmental processes in the shoot apex. We are only starting to uncover the mechanical basis of morphogenesis, and many exciting questions remain to be answere

The Hybrid Finite-Element Mixing-Cell method: a new flexible method for large scale groundwater modelling

Interest of end-users and policy makers for understanding and managing water systems at the regional scale has increased for years. At this scale, groundwater models of different complexity ranging from black-box models to physically based distributed models have been used in various hydrogeological conditions. Black-box models, such as transfer functions, have been applied for example to model groundwater in large scale hydrological models, to model karstic systems, in particular for the interpretation of isotopic data. Their concepts are simple and attractive because they require relatively few data. The main drawbacks are however that modelling results are not spatially distributed and their predictive capability is questionable due to the semi-empirical nature of process descriptions. On the contrary, due to a more advanced description of ongoing processes, physically-based distributed models are expected to have better predictive capabilities than black-box models. However, because such models require more data, they are generally applied for case studies that are better characterized from a hydrogeological point of view, for which the distribution of water levels or solute concentrations in the groundwater systems are needed. For large-scale modelling purposes, black-box models and physically-based distributed models have both proved their utilities and have their own justifications, advantages and disadvantages. However, few attempts have been made to combine the advantages of these two categories of approaches in a unified modelling application. A new flexible modelling approach, the Hybrid Finite-Element Mixing-Cell method (HFEMC), has been developed that allows combining in a single model, and in a fully integrated way, different mathematical approaches of various complexities for groundwater modelling in complex and large scale environments. This method has been implemented in the groundwater flow and solute transport numerical code SUFT3D. The approach has been first tested and illustrated using basic and advanced “synthetic” examples that allow validating and discussing its advantages over existing modelling concepts. The HFEMC approach is now applied for the development of a large scale groundwater flow and solute transport model in different groundwater basins in Belgium

Landscape design for soil conservation under land use and climate change

International audienceSoils and landscapes evolve simultaneously. Soil evolution is controlled by redistribution and transformation processes influenced by topographic and climatic parameters, with also a major contribution of management strategies. The perennial landscape features have a strong influence on soil spatial distribution (geometry) and soil genesis. Building landscapes which enhance soil resilience to degradation processes and increase soil services appears as a promising way to adapt to forthcoming climatic and land use evolutions. The presentation aims to synthetize major results from a research program nicknamed Landsoil which focused on the evolution of agricultural soils over medium time scales (decades to centuries) in relation to changing conditions of land use and climate. Precise study of the soil 3D organization in three contrasted landscapes (Brittany, Touraine, Languedoc-Roussillon) enabled to link soil redistribution in space to landscape components (field geometry, hedges or ditches network) and their past evolution. A dynamic and high resolution spatial modeling approach was developed coupling erosion processes and soil organic matter evolution and was calibrated over past evolution using dating techniques (Cs137, C14, OSL). The resulting Landsoil model was afterwards applied in a prospective manner under different scenarios of land use and climate change over the 21th century. Indicators of soil vulnerability and soil resilience were defined and tested by the comparison of several prospective scenarios applied on a same landscape and by comparison of the contrasted landscapes

Metabolism of no-carrier-added 2-[18F]fluoro-L-tyrosine in rats

Background: Several fluorine-18 labelled fluoroamino acids have been evaluated as tracers for the quantitative assessment of cerebral protein synthesis in vivo by positron emission tomography (PET). Among these, 2-[18F]fluoro-L-tyrosine (2-[18F]Tyr) has been studied in mice at a low specific activity. Its incorporation into proteins is fast and metabolism via other pathways is limited. The present in vivo study was carried out in normal awake rats using no-carrier-added 2-[18F]Tyr. Under normal physiological conditions, we have studied the incorporation into proteins and the metabolism of the tracer in different brain areas. Methods: No-carrier-added 2-[18F]Tyr was administered to awake rats equipped with chronic arterial and venous catheters. The time course of the plasma activity was studied by arterial blood sampling. The biodistribution of the activity in the main organs was studied at the end of the experiment. The distribution of radioactive species in plasma and brain regions was studied by acidic precipitation of the proteins and HPLC analysis of the supernatant. Results: The absolute uptake of radioactivity in brain regions was homogenous. In awake rats, nocarrier-added 2-[18F]Tyr exhibits a fast and almost quantitative incorporation into the proteins fractions of cerebellum and cortex. In striatum, this incorporation into proteins and the unchanged fraction of the tracer detected by HPLC could be lower than in other brain regions. Conclusion: This study confirms the potential of 2-[18F]fluoro-L-tyrosine as a tracer for the assessment of the rate of protein synthesis by positron emission tomography. The observed metabolism suggests a need for a correction for the appearance of metabolites, at least in plasma

Debt level and company efficiency: independence or implication? An evaluation of fuzzy implications

This paper suggests a way of measuring the strength of an implication to evaluate the influence of the financing structure chosen by company on its efficiency and profitability. The first part describes the semantics of the fuzzy implication applied to continuous variables. The results of three single implication measurements between two criteria are then analyzed on a sample population of 140 companies