Les plaisirs de la fiction : “Ces Messieurs de Saint-Malo”

Pourquoi faut-il s’émerveillerQue la Raison la mieux senséeLasse souvent de trop veiller,Par des contes d’Ogre et de FéeIngénieusement bercée,Prenne plaisir à sommeiller ? Charles Perrault, Peau d’Âne Des plaisirs que les uns et les autres prennent aux fictions, il en va comme des goûts et des couleurs : non est judicandum. En elles-mêmes, les fictions sont inno­centes, et personne ne devrait instruire les lecteurs de ce qui, en cette matière, est mauvais ou bon pour eux : ce serait comme de ..

Bouvard et Pécuchet, le roman impossible des savoirs

Dans les jours où Flaubert allait se mettre à rédiger Bouvard et Pécuchet, Tourgueniev exprimait des réserves sur le projet dont son ami lui avait parlé : « C’est un sujet à traiter presto, à la Swift, à la Voltaire. […] Si vous vous appesantissez là-dessus, si vous êtes trop savant… ». Glissez, mortels ! Flaubert lui répond fermement, mais non sans révéler ses doutes et ses craintes : Il n’y a plus à reculer. Mais quelle peur j’éprouve ! Quelles transes ! Il me semble que je vais m’embarquer..

The deep-sea macrobenthos on the continental slope of the northwestern Mediterranean Sea: a quantitative approach

As part of the ECOMARGE operation (J.G.O.F.S. France), macrobenthic assemblages in the Toulon Canyon were described and quantified on the basis of sampling carried out between 250 and 2000 m depth on the Mediterranean continental slope. Results show that Mediterranean bathyal assemblages are made up mainly of continental shelf eurybathic species. The qualitative and quantitative composition of populations varies with depth on the slope and also varies with station position at equivalent depth, whether on the flanks or in the canyon channel. Various analyses have provided evidence on the factors responsible for this population distribution pattern. No single factor emerges as predominant, but rather a group of factors, which are related to the nature and origin of sediments and more particularly their grain size distribution, geochemical composition and mode of transportation and sedimentation (benthic nepheloid or originating from the water column), act in conjunction to determine the pattern. Comparison with ocean continental slopes shows that in the Mediterranean Sea the absence of tidal current modifies the trophic structure of the macrobenthic assemblages, which are characterized by a dominance of surface and subsurface deposit feeders as compared to a dominance of suspension feeders and carnivores in the upper and median part of the slope in the ocean. Surface dumping of dredge spoil at the canyon head and channelling of waste induces an increase of organic matter and pollutant concentrations in sediment from the upper part of the canyon channel but does not give rise to any marked population degradation

Apports et limites de l'expérimentation comme moyen d'investigation des effets éducatifs des médias

Communication sciences generally analyse media either as texts, or from the standpoint of their production and reception contexts. Experimental methods are of little use in these cases. Instead, the study of educational communication in a semio-cognitive perspective needs appropriate methods to investigate interactions between the semiotic formats used by the media and their users’ cognitive operations. This article considers the contributions and limitations of the experimental method in this context. We conclude on the necessary articulation of methods in communication sciences, depending on the research questions being examined

Steady state visual evoked potentials-based patient interface under breathingconstraints

International audienceSteady state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP)have been widely utilized in brain computer interfacing (BCI)in last years. In this paper, we present a study exploringthe possibilities of SSVEP to manage the communicationbetween patients suffering respiratory disorders and healthcare providers. By imposing different breathing constraints,five healthy subjects communicated their breathing sensations(breathing well/breathing bad) using a visual frequency taggingparadigm: two visual stimuli with different flickeringfrequencies (15 and 20 Hz) were simultaneously presented ona screen. Using electroencephalographic (EEG) signals fromonly three EEG electrodes, two spectral features were extractedby a spatial filter in a sliding window, then classified by anunsupervised algorithm based on k-medians. Average detectionsuccess rates were of 70% during breathing discomfort, andof 83% when subjects breathed comfortably. Results suggestthat SSVEP-based BCI may be a promising choice to improvepatient-caregiver communication in situations of breathingdiscomfort when verbal communication is difficul

Responses to hydric stress in the seed-borne necrotrophic fungus Alternaria brassicicola

Alternaria brassicicola is a necrotrophic fungus causing black spot disease and is an economically important seed-borne pathogen of cultivated brassicas. Seed transmission is a crucial component of its parasitic cycle as it promotes long-term survival and dispersal. Recent studies, conducted with the Arabidopsis thaliana/A. brassicicola pathosystem, showed that the level of susceptibility of the fungus to water stress strongly influenced its seed transmission ability. In this study, we gained further insights into the mechanisms involved in the seed infection process by analyzing the transcriptomic and metabolomic responses of germinated spores of A. brassicicola exposed to water stress. Then, the repertoire of putative hydrophilins, a group of proteins that are assumed to be involved in cellular dehydration tolerance, was established in A. brassicicola based on the expression data and additional structural and biochemical criteria. Phenotyping of single deletion mutants deficient for fungal hydrophilin-like proteins showed that they were affected in their transmission to A. thaliana seeds, although their aggressiveness on host vegetative tissues remained intact

PREDICT identifies precipitating events associated with the clinical course of acutely decompensated cirrhosis

Background & Aims: Acute decompensation (AD) of cirrhosis may present without acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) (ADNo ACLF), or with ACLF (AD-ACLF), defined by organ failure(s). Herein, we aimed to analyze and characterize the precipitants leading to both of these AD phenotypes. Methods: The multicenter, prospective, observational PREDICT study (NCT03056612) included 1,273 non-electively hospitalized patients with AD (No ACLF = 1,071; ACLF = 202). Medical history, clinical data and laboratory data were collected at enrolment and during 90-day follow-up, with particular attention given to the following characteristics of precipitants: induction of organ dysfunction or failure, systemic inflammation, chronology, intensity, and relationship to outcome. Results: Among various clinical events, 4 distinct events were precipitants consistently related to AD: proven bacterial infections, severe alcoholic hepatitis, gastrointestinal bleeding with shock and toxic encephalopathy. Among patients with precipitants in the AD-No ACLF cohort and the AD-ACLF cohort (38% and 71%, respectively), almost all (96% and 97%, respectively) showed proven bacterial infection and severe alcoholic hepatitis, either alone or in combination with other events. Survival was similar in patients with proven bacterial infections or severe alcoholic hepatitis in both AD phenotypes. The number of precipitants was associated with significantly increased 90day mortality and was paralleled by increasing levels of surrogates for systemic inflammation. Importantly, adequate first-line antibiotic treatment of proven bacterial infections was associated with a lower ACLF development rate and lower 90-day mortality. Conclusions: This study identified precipitants that are significantly associated with a distinct clinical course and prognosis in patients with AD. Specific preventive and therapeutic strategies targeting these events may improve outcomes in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Lay summary: Acute decompensation (AD) of cirrhosis is characterized by a rapid deterioration in patient health. Herein, we aimed to analyze the precipitating events that cause AD in patients with cirrhosis. Proven bacterial infections and severe alcoholic hepatitis, either alone or in combination, accounted for almost all (96-97%) cases of AD and acute-on-chronic liver failure. Whilst the type of precipitant was not associated with mortality, the number of precipitant(s) was. This study identified precipitants that are significantly associated with a distinct clinical course and prognosis of patients with AD. Specific preventive and therapeutic strategies targeting these events may improve patient outcomes. (c) 2020 European Association for the Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)