Refusals to Supply: Should the French Rules be Harmonized with Those of the EEC?

In this article, Mr. Brault contends that harmonizing the French rules with those of Germany or the EEC is neither desirable nor necessary because of the disparate economic structures of the EEC Member States and because the French rules are, as a result of French case law, not as rigid and severe as their detractors portray them. Instead, Mr. Brault suggests that in practice, the national antitrust laws of EEC Member States are becoming harmonized naturally because German and EEC case law have made the application of apparently lenient refusals to supply statutes significantly more severe

Role Clarification Processes for Better Integration of Nurse Practitioners into Primary Healthcare Teams: A Multiple-Case Study

Cet article s'intéresse aux processus de clarification des rôles professionnels lors de l'intégration d'une infirmière praticienne spécialisée dans les équipes de première ligne au Québec.Role clarity is a crucial issue for effective interprofessional collaboration. Poorly defined roles can become a source of conflict in clinical teams and reduce the effectiveness of care and services delivered to the population. Our objective in this paper is to outline processes for clarifying professional roles when a new role is introduced into clinical teams, that of the primary healthcare nurse practitioner (PHCNP). To support our empirical analysis we used the Canadian National Interprofessional Competency Framework, which defines the essential components for role clarification among professionals. A qualitative multiple-case study was conducted on six cases in which the PHCNP role was introduced into primary care teams. Data collection included 34 semistructured interviews with key informants involved in the implementation of the PHCNP role. Our results revealed that the best performing primary care teams were those that used a variety of organizational and individual strategies to carry out role clarification processes. From this study, we conclude that role clarification is both an organizational process to be developed and a competency that each member of the primary care team must mobilize to ensure effective interprofessional collaboration.IRSC, MSS

Recherche d'un algicide selectif approprie a la culture de Chondrus crispus (L.) Stackh

SIGLECNRS T 57919 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc

The optical properties of paper and polyethylene mulches and their effect on growth and development of head lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), on microclimate modification and weed control in organic soil /

Lettuce plants (Lactuca sativa L. var. Ithaca) were transplanted on different beige and black paper mulches and on a coextruded white/black polyethylene mulch in organic soil in 1997 and 1998. Non-weeded and weeded control plots were also used. Plant mortality in 1997 for plants grown on bare soil was 10 to 15% greater than that of mulched plants. Head weight was found to be 3.6 times (1997) and 12 times (1998) greater for lettuce grown on mulch compared with a weeded control. The transmission, reflection and absorption of light of the white/black polyethylene mulch and black paper mulch remained stable over the course of the experiment while those of the other papers changed over time. Paper mulch decomposition occurred during the experiment. Although, black paper mulch was the only mulch that gave complete control of weed growth, weed populations present under the beige papers were too small in terms of the size and number of weeds to cause lettuce yield reduction

Creating tensors for machine learning from geographic information

Relationships between the fate of organic pollutants and biological activity in soils amended with contaminated sewage sludge. SETAC Europe 16th Annual Meetin

Effects of tumor necrosis factor antagonist treatment on hepatitis C-related immunological abnormalities.

International audienceBACKGROUND: Chronic hepatitis C infection is frequently associated with a mixed cryoglobulinaemia and circulating auto-antibodies, especially anti-smooth muscle cells (SMA) and anti-liver/kidney/microsome type 1 (LKM-1) anti-tissue antibodies. Treatments with TNF antagonists favour the emergence of auto-antibodies, and particularly anti-dsDNA antibodies. OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of TNF antagonists on hepatitis C-related immune abnormalities. METHODS: We prospectively monitored for 14 weeks, six patients with actively replicating chronic hepatitis C, initiating an anti-TNF treatment for an associated rheumatoid arthritis. RESULTS: Anti-nuclear and anti-dsDNA antibodies were induced in two and three patients, respectively. Treatment had no impact on the production of antibodies against extractable nuclear antigens, and it did not induce anti-tissues antibodies in any patient. Cryoglobulinaemia appeared in 2/6 patients, and it persisted in 2 others. No patient developed any news signs of autoimmunity. HCV viraemia remained unchanged. CONCLUSIONS: Induction of auto-antibodies by TNF antagonist treatments does not involve anti-tissues antibodies, even in patients with actively replicating chronic hepatitis C prone to produce anti-SMA and anti-LKM-1 antibodies. In contrast, TNF antagonists may favour emergence of cryoglobulinaemia in such patients

InAs quantum wires in InP-based microdisks: Mode identification and continuous wave room temperature laser operation

International audienceWe present the design, fabrication, and characterization of an optical microsource, which comprises InAs/InP quantum wires embedded in a suspended microdisk. Comparison between photoluminescence measurements and theoretical analysis allows for a clear identification of the whispering gallery modes. cw room temperature lasing operation is demonstrated

The CONSTANCES Cohort Biobank: An Open Tool for Research in Epidemiology and Prevention of Diseases

International audience“General-purpose cohorts” in epidemiology and public health are designed to cover a broad scope of determinants and outcomes, in order to answer several research questions, including those not defined at study inception. In this context, the general objective of the CONSTANCES project is to set up a large population-based cohort that will contribute to the development of epidemiological research by hosting ancillary projects on a wide range of scientific domains, and to provide public health information. CONSTANCES was designed as a randomly selected sample of French adults aged 18–69 years at study inception; 202,045 subjects were included over an 8-year period. At inclusion, the selected participants are invited to attend one of the 24 participating Health Prevention Centers (HPCs) for a comprehensive health examination. The follow-up includes a yearly self-administered questionnaire, and a periodic visit to an HPC. Procedures have been developed to use the national healthcare databases to allow identification and validation of diseases over the follow-up. The biological collection (serum, lithium heparinized plasma, EDTA plasma, urine and buffy coat) began gradually in June 2018. At the end of the inclusions, specimens from 83,000 donors will have been collected. Specimens are collected according to a standardized protocol, identical in all recruitment centers. All operations relating to bio-banking have been entrusted by Inserm to the Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg (IBBL). A quality management system has been put in place. Particular attention has been paid to the traceability of all operations. The nature of the biological samples stored has been deliberately limited due to the economic and organizational constraints of the inclusion centers. Some research works may require specific collection conditions, and can be developed on request for a limited number of subjects and in specially trained centers. The biological specimens that are collected will allow for a large spectrum of biomarkers studies and genetic and epigenetic markers through candidate or agnostic approaches. By linking the extensive data on personal, lifestyle, environmental, occupational and social factors with the biomarker data, the CONSTANCES cohort offers the opportunity to study the interplays between these factors using an integrative approach and state-of-the-art methods

Optimization of X-linked Chronic Granulomatous Disease Modelization by Using Patient-specific Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (vol 41, pg S28, 2013)

International audienceInduced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are reprogrammed somatic cells with embryonic stem cell (ESC)-like characteristics generated by the introduction of combinations of specific transcription factors. Patient-specific iPSCs can be used to recapitulate disease-specific phenotypes for the screening of new therapies. Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), a rare inherited immunodeficiency, is characterized by recurrent and severe infections in childhood. The most frequent form is the X-linked CGD (X-CGD) due to mutations in CYBB leading to the absence of Nox2 of the phagocytic NADPH oxidase complex, responsible for the production of microbicidal reactive oxygen species

Optimized Generation of Functional Neutrophils and Macrophages from Patient-Specific Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: Ex Vivo Models of X0-Linked, AR220- and AR470- Chronic Granulomatous Diseases

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is an inherited orphan disorder caused by mutations in one of the five genes encoding reduced nicotinamide-adenine-dinucleotide-phosphate oxidase subunits, which subsequently lead to impairment in the production of microbicidal reactive oxygen species (ROS). In order to offer several cell line models of CGD and therefore support research on pathophysiology and new therapeutic approaches, we optimized protocols to differentiate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from wild-type, X0-, AR220- and AR470-CGD patient's fibroblasts into neutrophils and into macrophages. Aberrant genetic clones were discarded after chromosome karyotyping and array-comparative genomic hybridization analysis. All remaining iPSC lines showed human embryonic stem cell–like morphology, expressed all tested pluripotency markers and formed embryoid bodies that contained cells originating from all three primary germ layers. Furthermore, each CGD patient-specific iPSC line retained the gp91phox, p47phox, and p22phox mutations found in the corresponding patient's neutrophils. The average production of CD34+ progenitors was of 1.5×106 cells after 10 days of differentiation of 10×106 iPSCs. They were terminally differentiated into about 3×105 neutrophils or into 3×107 macrophages. Based on morphological, phenotypical, and functional criteria both phagocyte types were mature and indistinguishable from the native human neutrophils and macrophages. However, neutrophils and macrophages derived from X0-, AR220-, and AR470-CGD patient-specific iPSC lines lacked ROS production and the corresponding mutated proteins. To simplify the phagocytes' production upon request, progenitors can be cryopreserved. In conclusion, we describe a reproducible, simple, and efficient way to generate neutrophils and macrophages from iPSCs and provide a new cellular model for the AR220-CGD genetic form that has not been described before