Qui est à blâmer pour la pandémie de la COVID-19? : analyse des perceptions de la responsabilité pendant la crise et évaluation de l’Allocation de Dirichlet latente dans l’étude de questions ouvertes

La crise de la COVID-19 a provoqué des bouleversements majeurs dans la vie des populations du monde entier et a suscité des réactions sociales importantes. La propagation du virus contagieux de la COVID-19 a été rapidement suivie d’une « épidémie » d’explications et de discours tentant de donner un sens à la crise. Lorsqu’un événement dévastateur se produit, les gens se demandent ce qui se passe et ce que cela signifie. Le premier but de cette recherche est de suivre l’évolution de la dynamique du blâme et de la désignation de boucs émissaires au fur et à mesure que la pandémie de COVID-19 se déroule. Le deuxième but de cette recherche est d’évaluer l’intérêt d’utiliser l’Allocation de Dirichlet latente (ADL), un modèle de mélange/classe latente génératif bayésien, dans l’analyse de questions ouvertes. Les données ont été recueillies auprès d’un échantillon représentatif de 3617 Canadiens selon un devis de recherche longitudinal intensif (avec 12 temps de mesure). Neuf thématiques ont été identifiées, dont six sont récurrentes à différents temps de mesure. Les résultats indiquent que, durant les premiers mois de la pandémie, les Canadiens blâment majoritairement les collectivités distantes, telles que la Chine et les marchés aux animaux vivants (wet markets). Au fil du temps, ils blâment de plus en plus les collectivités locales, tels que les individus qui ne respectent pas les mesures sanitaires. Cette recherche met en évidence le rôle de la proximité géographique et de l’évaluation du risque dans la manière dont le public perçoit la pandémie.The COVID-19 crisis has caused major disruptions in the lives of populations around the globe and provoked important social responses. The spread of the contagious COVID-19 virus was quickly followed by an outbreak of explanations and discourses trying to make sense of the crisis. When devastating events occur, people ask themselves what happened, why the event happened and what it means. The first goal of this paper is to track the changing dynamics of blame attribution and scapegoating as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds. The second goal of this paper is to evaluate the relevance of LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation), a Bayesian generative mixture/latent class model, to analyze open-ended survey responses. Data was collected from a representative sample of 3,617 Canadians following an intensive longitudinal research design (with 12 waves). Nine topics were identified, six of which were recurring. Canadians mostly blame distant collectives in the early months of the pandemic, especially China and wet markets. Over time, they increasingly blame local collectives, such as individuals who do not comply with sanitary measures. This study highlights the role of geographic proximity and perceived risk in shaping public perceptions of the pandemic

La faune onirique

Ce texte est l'accompagnement théorique de ma recherche-création à la maîtrise en arts visuels (2006-2008). Il met en place l'univers entourant l'exposition ±Corneille Craquelée¿, présentée à la Galerie des arts visuels de l'Université Laval à l'automne 2008. J'explore, par le biais de mon processus de collage, un monde onIrique et farfelu composé de créatures inusitées. En oscillant . entre le songe et la raison, je me questionne sur la provenance de ces multiples naissances, sur leur composition et leur foisonnement. Explorant les analogies entre le collage de papier et les domaines de l'inconscient, de la mémoire et du rêve, j'aborde des territoires infinis propres à l'imaginaire

Improving scientific rigour in conservation evaluations and a plea deal for transparency on potential biases

The delivery of rigorous and unbiased evidence on the effects of interventions lay at the heart of the scientific method. Here we examine scientific papers evaluating agri-environment schemes, the principal instrument to mitigate farmland biodiversity declines worldwide. Despite previous warnings about rudimentary study designs in this field, we found that the majority of studies published between 2008 and 2017 still lack robust study designs to strictly evaluate intervention effects. Potential sources of bias that arise from the correlative nature are rarely mentioned, and results are still promoted by using a causal language. This lack of robust study designs likely results from poor integration of research and policy, while the erroneous use of causal language and an unwillingness to discuss bias may stem from publication pressures. We conclude that scientific reporting and discussion of study limitations in intervention research must improve and propose some practices toward this goal

High-level transgene expression by homologous recombination-mediated gene transfer

Gene transfer and expression in eukaryotes is often limited by a number of stably maintained gene copies and by epigenetic silencing effects. Silencing may be limited by the use of epigenetic regulatory sequences such as matrix attachment regions (MAR). Here, we show that successive transfections of MAR-containing vectors allow a synergistic increase of transgene expression. This finding is partly explained by an increased entry into the cell nuclei and genomic integration of the DNA, an effect that requires both the MAR element and iterative transfections. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis often showed single integration events, indicating that DNAs introduced in successive transfections could recombine. High expression was also linked to the cell division cycle, so that nuclear transport of the DNA occurs when homologous recombination is most active. Use of cells deficient in either non-homologous end-joining or homologous recombination suggested that efficient integration and expression may require homologous recombination-based genomic integration of MAR-containing plasmids and the lack of epigenetic silencing events associated with tandem gene copies. We conclude that MAR elements may promote homologous recombination, and that cells and vectors can be engineered to take advantage of this property to mediate highly efficient gene transfer and expression

The Staphylococcus aureus RNome and Its Commitment to Virulence

Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen causing a wide spectrum of nosocomial and community-associated infections with high morbidity and mortality. S. aureus generates a large number of virulence factors whose timing and expression levels are precisely tuned by regulatory proteins and RNAs. The aptitude of bacteria to use RNAs to rapidly modify gene expression, including virulence factors in response to stress or environmental changes, and to survive in a host is an evolving concept. Here, we focus on the recently inventoried S. aureus regulatory RNAs, with emphasis on those with identified functions, two of which are directly involved in pathogenicity

Evidence of a causal and modifiable relationship between kidney function and circulating trimethylamine N-oxide

The host-microbiota co-metabolite trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is linked to increased cardiovascular risk but how its circulating levels are regulated remains unclear. We applied "explainable" machine learning, univariate, multivariate and mediation analyses of fasting plasma TMAO concentration and a multitude of phenotypes in 1,741 adult Europeans of the MetaCardis study. Here we show that next to age, kidney function is the primary variable predicting circulating TMAO, with microbiota composition and diet playing minor, albeit significant, roles. Mediation analysis suggests a causal relationship between TMAO and kidney function that we corroborate in preclinical models where TMAO exposure increases kidney scarring. Consistent with our findings, patients receiving glucose-lowering drugs with reno-protective properties have significantly lower circulating TMAO when compared to propensity-score matched control individuals. Our analyses uncover a bidirectional relationship between kidney function and TMAO that can potentially be modified by reno-protective anti-diabetic drugs and suggest a clinically actionable intervention for decreasing TMAO-associated excess cardiovascular risk