Cent dix ans (de jeunesse), le bel âge ?

GenèseEn l’an de grâce 1995, après avoir découvert en projection et analysé les vues des opérateurs Lumière, 350 élèves de 8 à 18 ans sont partis à leur tour filmer, à Paris, Lyon, Le Havre et Toulouse, avec l’aide de leurs enseignants et de professionnels du cinéma. Chacun disposait d’une minute en super 8 mm sonore, à tourner en plan fixe. Cet exercice, propre à aiguiser la perception du monde et la compréhension du cinéma, a donné lieu à la réalisation d’un long-métrage, composé de soixant..

Le droit à sa place

À l’aide de témoignages de femmes vivant de l’itinérance visible et de l’itinérance cachée, cet article illustre comment celles-ci sont victimes de la violation de droits liés à leur condition. Ces droits bafoués révèlent que la violence familiale et conjugale, le refus d’accomplir un rôle d’aidante naturelle et la pauvreté sont également des portes d’entrée dans l’errance et l’itinérance. Ces trois aspects semblent par ailleurs contribuer à l’apparition de problèmes de dépendance (alcool et toxicomanie) et de santé mentale usuellement liés à l’entrée dans l’itinérance. Pour trouver des solutions durables à l’errance et à l’itinérance des femmes, travailler à la promotion de droits fondamentaux tels que l’accès au logement ou à des services appropriés semble donc insuffisant. Il est nécessaire de se pencher également sur les mécanismes et les formes d’oppression des femmes et leurs produits que sont la pauvreté, la violence et le travail domestique imposé. Trois enjeux sont soulevés pour l’intervention : 1) la reconnaissance de la non-visibilité de femmes à risque ou en situation d’errance et d’itinérance et le défi que ceci représente dans le cadre de pratiques d’interventions et de prévention fondées principalement sur l’apparence physique des personnes et des comportements associés à la maladie mentale ou la toxicomanie; 2) la nécessité de maintenir et de développer des services tenant compte de facteurs structuraux, notamment pour les femmes pauvres et leurs enfants; et 3) la reconnaissance des droits bafoués.Through interview excerpts with women living or having lived hidden or visible homelessness, the authors show how these women are victims of rights violation related to their status as women. These violations of rights reveal how violence, refusal to accomplish a role as « informal » caregiver as well as poverty might lead to homelessness. Distress linked to violence, poverty and traditional gender role compliance seem also to foster dependence (use of drugs and alcohol) and mental health problems that are often linked to causes of homelessness. To find durable answers to homelessness, work on right promotion is thus insufficient. It is necessary to also work on the structural mechanism of women’s oppression and its by-products that are poverty, violence and imposed domestic work. The authors present three challenges for intervention: the invisibility of women at risk, the necessity to maintain and develop services which take into account structural factors notably for poor women and their children and work for rights recognition

Immunogenicity and safety of a quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccine in pregnant women: a randomized, observer-blind trial

ABSTRACTVaccination against influenza during pregnancy provides direct protection to pregnant women and indirect protection to their infants. Trivalent inactivated influenza vaccines (IIV3s) are safe and effective during pregnancy, but quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccines (IIV4s) have not been evaluated in pregnant women and their infants. Here, we report the results of a randomized phase IV study to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of IIV4 vs. IIV3 in pregnant women. Participants aged ≥18 years at weeks 20 to 32 of gestation were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to receive a single dose of IIV4 (n = 230) or IIV3 (n = 116). Between baseline and 21 days after vaccination, hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) antibody titers increased in both groups by similar magnitudes for the two influenza A strains and single B strain common to IIV4 and IIV3. For the additional B strain in IIV4, HAI titers were higher in IIV4 recipients than IIV3 recipients (post-/pre-vaccination geometric mean titer ratio, 6.3 [95% CI: 5.1 ? 7.7] vs. 3.4 [95% CI: 2.7 ? 4.3]). At delivery, in both groups, HAI antibody titers for all strains were 1.5 ? 1.9-fold higher in umbilical cord blood than in maternal blood, confirming active transplacental antibody transfer. Rates of solicited and unsolicited vaccine-related adverse events in mothers were similar between the two groups. Live births were reported for all participants and there were no vaccine-related adverse events in newborns. These results suggest IIV4 is as safe and immunogenic as IIV3 in pregnant women, and that maternal immunization with IIV4 should protect newborns against influenza via passively acquired antibodies.Peer reviewe

Contribution of [64Cu]-ATSM PET in molecular imaging of tumour hypoxia compared to classical [18F]-MISO — a selected review

During the carcinogenesis process, tumour cells often have a more rapid proliferation potential than cells that participate in blood capillary formation by neoangiogenesis. As a consequence of the poorly organized vasculature of various solid tumours, a limited oxygen delivery is observed. This hypoxic mechanism frequently occurs in solid cancers and can lead to therapeutic resistance. The present selected literature review is focused on the comparison of two positron emitting radiopharmaceuticals agents, which are currently leaders in tumour hypoxia imaging by PET. {18F}-fluoromisonidazole (= FMISO) is most commonly used as an investigational PET agent with an investigational new drug exemption from the FDA, while {64Cu}-diacetyl-bis(N4-methylthiosemicarbazone) (64Cu-ATSM) has been presented as an alternative radiopharmaceutical not yet readily available. The comparison of these two radiopharmaceutical agents is particularly focused on isotope properties, radiopharmaceutical labelling process, pharmacological mechanisms, dosimetry data in patients, and clinical results in terms of image contrast. PET imaging has demonstrated a good efficacy in tumour hypoxia imaging with both FMISO and Cu-ATSM, but FMISO has presented too slow an in vivo accumulation and a weak image contrast of the hypoxia area. Despite a less favourable dosimetry, 64Cu-ATSM appears superior in terms of imaging performance, calling for industrial and clinical development of this innovative radiopharmaceutical. Nuclear Med Rev 2011; 14, 2: 90–9

The Unconventional Xer Recombination Machinery of Streptococci/Lactococci

Homologous recombination between circular sister chromosomes during DNA replication in bacteria can generate chromosome dimers that must be resolved into monomers prior to cell division. In Escherichia coli, dimer resolution is achieved by site-specific recombination, Xer recombination, involving two paralogous tyrosine recombinases, XerC and XerD, and a 28-bp recombination site (dif) located at the junction of the two replication arms. Xer recombination is tightly controlled by the septal protein FtsK. XerCD recombinases and FtsK are found on most sequenced eubacterial genomes, suggesting that the Xer recombination system as described in E. coli is highly conserved among prokaryotes. We show here that Streptococci and Lactococci carry an alternative Xer recombination machinery, organized in a single recombination module. This corresponds to an atypical 31-bp recombination site (difSL) associated with a dedicated tyrosine recombinase (XerS). In contrast to the E. coli Xer system, only a single recombinase is required to recombine difSL, suggesting a different mechanism in the recombination process. Despite this important difference, XerS can only perform efficient recombination when difSL sites are located on chromosome dimers. Moreover, the XerS/difSL recombination requires the streptococcal protein FtsKSL, probably without the need for direct protein-protein interaction, which we demonstrated to be located at the division septum of Lactococcus lactis. Acquisition of the XerS recombination module can be considered as a landmark of the separation of Streptococci/Lactococci from other firmicutes and support the view that Xer recombination is a conserved cellular function in bacteria, but that can be achieved by functional analogs