Entrevista a Gérard Sensevy a cargo de Claudia Broitman

Gérard Sensevy es Profesor Emérito de Ciencias de la Educación en el Institut National Supérieur du Professorat et de l’Éducation de la Université de Bretagne Occidentale (INSPÉ de Bretagne). Se desempeñó como Profesor en la École Supérieure du Professorat et de l’Education (ESPÉ de Bretagne) y en el Institut Universitaire de Formation des Maîtres (IUFM de Bretagne), instituciones inscriptas en la citada universidad francesa. Con énfasis en la Didáctica de la Matemática, el eje principal de sus investigaciones gira en torno a la enseñanza, el aprendizaje y sus relaciones.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Accumulation and detoxication responses of the gastropod Lymnaea stagnalis to single and combined exposures to natural (cyanobacteria) and anthropogenic (the herbicide RoundUp® Flash) stressors.

Freshwater gastropods are increasingly exposed to multiple stressors in the field such as the herbicide glyphosate in Roundup formulations and cyanobacterial blooms either producing or not producing microcystins (MCs), potentially leading to interacting effects. Here, the responses of Lymnaea stagnalis to a 21-day exposure to non-MC or MC-producing (33μgL−1) Planktothrix agardhii alone or in combination with the commercial formulation RoundUp®Flash at a concentration of 1μgL−1glyphosate, followed by 14days of depuration, were studied via i) accumulation of free and bound MCs in tissues, and ii) activities of anti-oxidant (catalase CAT) and biotransformation (glutathione-S-transferase GST) enzymes. During the intoxication, the cyanobacterial exposure induced an early increase of CAT activity, independently of the MC content, probably related to the production of secondary cyanobacterial metabolites. The GST activity was induced by RoundUp®Flash alone or in combination with non MC-producing cyanobacteria, but was inhibited by MC-producing cyanobacteria with or without RoundUp®Flash. Moreover, MC accumulation in L. stagnalis was 3.2 times increased when snails were concomitantly exposed to MC-producing cyanobacteria with RoundUp®, suggesting interacting effects of MCs on biotransformation processes. The potent inhibition of detoxication systems by MCs and RoundUp®Flash was reversible during the depuration, during which CAT and GST activities were significantly higher in snails previously exposed to MC-producing cyanobacteria with or without RoundUp®Flash than in other conditions, probably related to the oxidative stress caused by accumulated MCs remaining in tissues

PM2.5 low-cost sensor perfomance in ambient conditions

peer reviewedThe use of low-cost air quality sensors to evaluate personal exposure, complement a monitoring network or perform real-time data assimilation is spreading. Although some laboratories and project consortiums have set up their own procedures to assess the performan ce of such systems and although the CEN TC264 WG42 is preparing two standards on that topic, so far the only European reference remains the Guidance for the Demonstration of Equivalence of Ambient Air Monitoring Methods [3] that holds for any kind of device, whether it costs 100 or 10 000 €. This short paper presents the application on a recent data set of some generic statistical tests and the demonstration of equivalence to evaluate the performance of various air quality nodes. The demonstration of equivalence uses an orthogonal regression whereas a majority of papers present a linear model based on total least square. We present the measurement campaign set up, the devices and their main characteristics, as well as the metrics used to assess their performance. We show and discuss the results, whereas in Section 4, we draw our conclusion

Brachylaima spp. (Trematoda) parasitizing Cornu aspersum (Gastropoda) in France with potential risk of human consumption

The edible land snail Cornu aspersum, native to the Mediterranean coastlines of North Africa, is widely distributed on most continents and often invasive in areas where introduction is recent. This species could contribute to the geographic spread of parasites as demonstrated for Brachylaima spp. These cosmopolitan trematodes may represent a threat to human health, like in Australia where Brachylaima cribbi infects humans. In this study, we demonstrate for the first time the occurrence of Brachylaima spp. in two French populations of C. aspersum, Thorigné-Fouillard (Ille-et-Vilaine), and Arçais (Deux-Sèvres), with an overall prevalence of 10.4% (Thorigné-Fouillard) and 73.3% (Arçais), respectively and a metacercarial intensity on average three times higher in Thorigné-Fouillard (37) than in Arçais (11). Cornu aspersum may act as a first and second intermediate host, as demonstrated in Arçais. The morphometrics of metacercariae, particularly the great body length about 2 mm, discriminate our Brachylaima species from those already described in C. aspersum (B. cribbi in Australia, and B. aspersae, B. llobregatensis and B. mascomai in Europe). Molecular analysis, based on 28S and COI, suggests the occurrence of two species in our study, one of which is probably Brachylaima mesostoma, an intestinal parasite of passeriform birds described in Central Europe. We underline the need for further research to identify species of Brachylaima in France and measure the health hazard of consuming field-collected snails

WORKSHOP TO REVIEW AND UPDATE OSPAR STATUS ASSESSMENTS FOR STOCKS OF LISTED SHARK, SKATES AND RAYS IN SUPPORT OF OSPAR (WKSTATUS)

publishedVersio

Evaluation of a questionnaire to assess selected infectious diseases and their risk factors: Findings of a multicenter study

Background/objectives The risk to die from an infectious disease in Germany has been continuously decreasing over the last century. Since infections are, however, not only causes of death but risk factors for diseases like cardiovascular diseases, it is essential to monitor and analyze their prevalence and frequency, especially in consideration of the increased life expectancy. To gain more knowledge about infectious diseases as risk factors and their implications on the condition and change of the immune status, the German National Cohort (GNC), a population-based prospective cohort study, will recruit 200,000 subjects between 2014 and 2017. In Pretest 1, a feasibility study for the GNC, we evaluated a self-administered and self-report questionnaire on infectious diseases and on the use of health care facilities (hereinafter called “ID Screen”) for feasibility and validity. Methods: From August–November 2011, 435 participants between the ages of 20–69 completed the ID Screen. All subjects had been recruited via a random sample from the local residents’ registration offices by 4 of the 18 participating study centers. The questionnaire encompasses 77 variables in six sections assessing items such as 12-month prevalence of infections, cumulative prevalence of infectious diseases, visit of health care facilities and vaccination. The feasibility was amongst others evaluated by assessing the completeness and comprehensiveness of the questionnaire. To assess the questionnaires ability to measure “immune status” and “susceptibility to infections”, multivariate analysis was used. Results: The overall practicability was good and most items were well understood, demonstrated by 5 % of missing values. However, direct comparison of the items 12-month prevalence and lifetime prevalence of nephritis/pyelitis showed poor agreement and thereby poor understanding by 80 % of the participants, illustrating the necessity for a clear, lay person appropriate description of rare diseases to increase comprehensibility. The questionnaire will be used to support the assessment of immune dysfunction and frequency of infection. An analysis of these constructs in an exploratory factor analysis revealed limited applicability due to low interitem correlation (Cronbach’s α < 0.5). This is corroborated by the extraction of more than one factor with a Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of 0.6 instead of a unidimensional latent construct for “immune status”. Conclusion: All in all, the ID Screen is a good and reliable tool to measure infectious diseases as risk factors and outcome in general, but requires a better translation of infection specific terms into lay person terms. For the assessment of the overall immune status, the tool has strong limitations. Vaccinations status should also rather be assessed based on vaccination certificates than on participants’ recall. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi: 10.1007/s00103-014-2052-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Biological, clinical and population relevance of 95 loci for blood lipids.

Plasma concentrations of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides are among the most important risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD) and are targets for therapeutic intervention. We screened the genome for common variants associated with plasma lipids in &gt;100,000 individuals of European ancestry. Here we report 95 significantly associated loci (P &lt; 5 x 10(-8)), with 59 showing genome-wide significant association with lipid traits for the first time. The newly reported associations include single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near known lipid regulators (for example, CYP7A1, NPC1L1 and SCARB1) as well as in scores of loci not previously implicated in lipoprotein metabolism. The 95 loci contribute not only to normal variation in lipid traits but also to extreme lipid phenotypes and have an impact on lipid traits in three non-European populations (East Asians, South Asians and African Americans). Our results identify several novel loci associated with plasma lipids that are also associated with CAD. Finally, we validated three of the novel genes-GALNT2, PPP1R3B and TTC39B-with experiments in mouse models. Taken together, our findings provide the foundation to develop a broader biological understanding of lipoprotein metabolism and to identify new therapeutic opportunities for the prevention of CAD

Prognostic Factors Affecting Outcome after Allogeneic Transplantation for Hematological Malignancies from Unrelated Donors: Results from a Randomized Trial

Several prognostic factors for the outcome after allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplant (HSCT) from matched unrelated donors have been postulated from registry data; however, data from randomized trials are lacking. We present analyses on the effects of patient-related, donor-related, and treatment-related prognostic factors on acute GVHD (aGVHD), chronic GVHD (cGVHD), relapse, nonrelapse mortality (NRM), disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) in a randomized, multicenter, open-label, phase III trial comparing standard graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) prophylaxis with and without pretransplantation ATG-Fresenius (ATG-F) in 201 adult patients receiving myeloablative conditioning before HSCT from HLA-A, HLA-B antigen, HLA-DRB1, HLA-DQB1 allele matched unrelated donors. High-resolution testing (allele) of HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-C were obtained after study closure, and the impact of an HLA 10/10 4-digit mismatch on outcome and on the treatment effect of ATG-F versus control investigated. Advanced disease was a negative factor for relapse, DFS, and OS. Donor age ≥40 adversely affected the risk of aGVHD III-IV, extensive cGVHD, and OS. Younger donors are to be preferred in unrelated donor transplantation. Advanced disease patients need special precautions to improve outcome. The degree of mismatch had no major influence on the positive effect of ATG-F on the reduction of aGVHD and cGVHD