Comportements d’attachement et de désinhibition sociale d’enfants consultant en pédopsychiatrie : lien avec des caractéristiques maternelles

Contexte : Les études récentes ont contribué à distinguer les comportements de désinhibition du contact social (CDCS) du concept d’attachement. Pourtant, certains auteurs soutiennent qu’ils pourraient avoir un lien avec l’attachement insécurisant, notamment lors de la constitution des premiers liens avec la mère. Toutefois, très peu d’études ont examiné ce lien chez des enfants vivant avec leur mère biologique. De plus, bien que souvent associés à des difficultés d’adaptation chez l’enfant, les comportements d’attachement mère-enfant de type insécurisant et les CDCS n’ont été jusqu’à présent que très rarement étudiés en population pédopsychiatrique. Objectifs : Le premier objectif de l’étude est d’examiner s’il existe un lien entre l’attachement mère-enfant de type insécurisant et la présence de CDCS chez des enfants consultant en service de pédopsychiatrie. Le second objectif est de tester si des variables liées au fonctionnement psychologique maternel sont associées avec, d’une part, différents patrons d’attachement mère-enfant et, d’autre part, la présence de CDCS chez l’enfant. Méthode : Vingt-neuf dyades mère-enfant (âges entre 23 et 71 mois) consultant en service de pédopsychiatrie ont participé à l’étude. Les CDCS ont été mesurés avec le Rating of Infant-Stranger Engagment (RISE; Riley et al., 2005). L’attachement mère-enfant a été examiné avec la Situation Étrangère (Ainsworth et al., 1978) ou la procédure de Séparation-Réunion (Cassidy & Marvin, 1992), selon l’âge de l’enfant. Les symptomatologies dépressive et anxieuse des mères ont été évaluées à partir du Brief Symptoms Inventory (BSI; Derogatis & Melisaratos, 1983) et le stress maternel à partir du Parenting Stress Index, Short Form (PSI-SF; Abidin, 1990a), versions francophones. Résultats : La présence de CDCS chez l’enfant est associée à l’attachement désorganisé/contrôlant et inversement associée à l’attachement sécurisant. L’anxiété maternelle est associée à l’attachement évitant. La sous-échelle « détresse parentale » du PSI-SF est associée à l’attachement désorganisé/contrôlant. Aucune des variables maternelles testées n’est associée aux CDCS. Conclusion : Les implications cliniques suggérées par ces résultats et l’intérêt de poursuivre des recherches futures entre les déterminants psychologiques maternels et l’attachement mère-enfant auprès de populations d’enfants consultant en pédopsychiatrie seront discutés.Background: Recent studies have contributed to distinguish Disinhibited Social Engagement Behavior (DSEB) from the concept of attachment. However, some authors suggest that it may be linked to insecure mother-child attachment in early childhood. Although DSEB has mainly been studied in children reared in institutions or foster care, few studies have documented its occurrence among children living with biological parents. Additionally, while insecure attachment and DSEB have often been associated with children maladaptation and behavior problems, both constructs until now have very rarely been studied in populations of young children referred to an outpatient mental health clinic. Objectives: The first aim of this study was to assess whether mother-child insecure attachment is related to DSEB in clinically-referred children. The second aim was to examine whether variables related to mother’s own psychological functioning could be associated with mother-child attachment insecurity and DSEB, respectively. Method: Twenty-nine children (23-71 months) and their mother participated in this study. DSEB was measured with the Rating of Infant-Stranger Engagement (RISE; Riley et al., 2005). According to child age, mother-child attachment was assessed using the Strange Situation (Ainsworth et al., 1978) or the Separation-Reunion Procedure (Cassidy & Marvin, 1992). Maternal depressive and anxious symptoms were assessed using the French version of the Brief Symptoms Inventory (BSI; Derogatis & Melisaratos, 1983) and maternal stress was assessed with the French version of the Parenting Stress Index, Short Form (PSI-SF, Abidin, 1990a). Results: DSEB significantly correlated with insecure-disorganized/controlling attachment and inversely correlated with secure attachment. Maternal anxiety and the parental distress subscale of the PSI-SF were respectively associated with insecure-avoidant attachment and insecure-disorganized/controlling attachment. There was no significant correlation between maternal psychological functioning and DSEB. Conclusion: The discussion has focused on the implications of these results for clinical interventions and has suggested future directions for research with young children referred to outpatient mental health clinics

Temporal and spatial trends in aerosols near the English Channel – An air quality success story?

We present a detailed analysis of long-term aerosol measurements from four sun photometer sites (from west to east: Plymouth, Chilbolton, Dunkirk, Oostende) and four Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs surface sites (from west to east: Plymouth, Southampton, Portsmouth, Eastbourne) near the English Channel. From the early 2000s to about 2016, annual mean Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from all sun photometer sites decreased by an overall average of 23% decade-1 (range of 15–28% decade-1). From 2010 to 2017, annual mean concentration of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) from all the surface sites decreased by an overall average of 44% decade-1 (range of 7–64% decade-1). Seasonally, the highest aerosol loading is generally found around the springtime, and this maximum has been decreasing much faster over recent years than during the other seasons. This is driven by the interaction between the seasonal weather patterns (e.g. reduced westerly flow and drier weather in the spring) and the main emission sources being predominantly from the European Continent. We find clear spatial gradients in the aerosol loading as well as aerosol composition. From west to east along the English Channel, PM2.5 concentration increases with a mean gradient of about 0.007 μg m-3 km-1. At the westernmost site Plymouth, sea spray is estimated on average to account for 16% of the AOD and 13% of the particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 μm (PM10). The importance of sea spray is reduced by at least a factor of two at the more eastern sites. The long-term decrease in aerosol loading along the English Channel appears to be more strongly driven by the reduced anthropogenic emissions, rather than by changes in the large-scale circulation such as the North Atlantic Oscillation. Clean ups in road vehicles and ship emissions, however, do not appear to be strong drivers for the long-term trends in aerosol loading at these coastal sites

Temporal and spatial trends in aerosols near the English Channel – An air quality success story?

We present a detailed analysis of long-term aerosol measurements from four sun photometer sites (from west to east: Plymouth, Chilbolton, Dunkirk, Oostende) and four Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs surface sites (from west to east: Plymouth, Southampton, Portsmouth, Eastbourne) near the English Channel. From the early 2000s to about 2016, annual mean Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from all sun photometer sites decreased by an overall average of 23% decade-1 (range of 15–28% decade-1). From 2010 to 2017, annual mean concentration of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) from all the surface sites decreased by an overall average of 44% decade-1 (range of 7–64% decade-1). Seasonally, the highest aerosol loading is generally found around the springtime, and this maximum has been decreasing much faster over recent years than during the other seasons. This is driven by the interaction between the seasonal weather patterns (e.g. reduced westerly flow and drier weather in the spring) and the main emission sources being predominantly from the European Continent. We find clear spatial gradients in the aerosol loading as well as aerosol composition. From west to east along the English Channel, PM2.5 concentration increases with a mean gradient of about 0.007 μg m-3 km-1. At the westernmost site Plymouth, sea spray is estimated on average to account for 16% of the AOD and 13% of the particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 μm (PM10). The importance of sea spray is reduced by at least a factor of two at the more eastern sites. The long-term decrease in aerosol loading along the English Channel appears to be more strongly driven by the reduced anthropogenic emissions, rather than by changes in the large-scale circulation such as the North Atlantic Oscillation. Clean ups in road vehicles and ship emissions, however, do not appear to be strong drivers for the long-term trends in aerosol loading at these coastal sites

A newly discovered antler flint-knapping hammer and the question of their rarity in the Palaeolithic archaeological record: Reality or bias?

The use of soft (bone, antler, tooth and wood) hammers and retouchers is a key innovation in early stone tool technology, first appearing in the archaeological record with Lower Palaeolithic handaxe industries (e.g. Boxgrove, UK ~ 500 kya). Although organic knapping tools were undoubtedly a component of early human toolkits and are essential, for example, for the manufacture of finely-flaked handaxes, Mousterian scrapers and Upper Palaeolithic blades tools, such archaeological finds are exceptionally rare. In this study, we present qualitative and quantitative analyses (focus variation optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, micro-CT scanning and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy), to characterise use-damage on an antler base from Laugerie-Haute West (France). This specimen was originally identified as a waste-product from splinter manufacture, and the use-damage appears to have been missed. The new analysis shows that prior to being used as a flint-knapping percussor, the red deer antler had been further modified to reduce the length of its beam and to remove the tines. Although minimally used, characteristic use-damage includes attrition (pits and scores), compression of the antler matrix and flint chips embedded within some of the percussion features on the base of the burr. An AMS radiocarbon date of 12385 ± 55 BP (12647 ± 335 BC calibrated) confirms a Magdelanian context for the hammer. The fact that the Laugerie Haute knapping hammer went unrecognised in a well-studied and accessible collection for almost 200 years since its discovery, suggests that antler hammers may be more common than generally assumed. Only further re-examination of prehistoric antlers in museum collections will confirm whether the apparent rarity of antler hammers during the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic is real phenomenon or the result of analytical biases

The truncated prelamin A in Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome alters segregation of A-type and B-type lamin homopolymers.

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a dominant autosomal premature aging syndrome caused by the expression of a truncated prelamin A designated progerin. A-type and Btype lamins are intermediate filament proteins that polymerize to form the nuclear lamina network apposed to the inner nuclear membrane of vertebrate somatic cells. It is not known if in vivo both type of lamins assemble independently or coassemble. The blebbing and disorganization of the nuclear envelope and adjacent heterochromatin in cells from patients with HGPS is a hallmark of the disease, and the ex vivo reversal of this phenotype is considered important for the development of therapeutic strategies. Here we investigated the alterations in the lamina structure that may underlie the disorganization caused in nuclei by progerin expression. We studied the polymerization of EGFP- and DsRed-tagged wild-type and mutated lamins in the nuclear envelope of living cells by measuring fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) that occurs between the two fluorophores when tagged lamins interact. Using time domain fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (tdFLIM) that allows a quantitative analysis of FRET signals, we show that wild-type lamins A and B1 polymerize in distinct homopolymers that further interact in the lamina. In contrast, expressed progerin coassembles with lamin B1 and lamin A to form a mixed heteropolymer in which A-type and B-type lamin segregation is lost. We propose that such structural lamina alterations may be part of the primary mechanisms leading to HGPS, possibly by impairing functions specific for each lamin type such as nuclear membrane biogenesis, signal transduction, nuclear compartmentalization and gene regulation

Transport and dispersion of atmospheric sulphur dioxide from an industrial coastal area during a sea-breeze event

International audienceExperimental and modelling results of the dynamics of a sea-breeze event and its effects on the three-dimensional (3-D) redistribution of the gaseous SO2 are presented within the framework of a particularly flat and industrialized coastal area of the North Sea. The measurements were carried out at ground level with the stations of the local air quality monitoring agency and with two optical remote sensing instruments. The remote sensing setup consisted of a lidar and a sodar whose measurements allowed us to determine the layers of the lower troposphere during a sea-breeze event up to 1400 m height. The experimental results and measurements of industrial SO2 in the atmosphere are compared to the numerical simulations of the 3-D atmospheric non-hydrostatic chemistry model Meso-NH-C. The transport and the dispersion of gaseous SO2 are studied above the neighbouring industrial and urban areas. We show how the evolution and the redistribution of the SO2 concentrations at ground level are related to the structure and the dynamics of the sea breeze. The gaseous SO2 is brought back inland as soon as the sea breeze commences, mixed inner the thermal internal boundary layer and transported inland by the gravity current up to the sea-breeze front, where gases and particles are uplifted. The elevation of the polluted air masses by the sea-breeze system favours the nucleation of the emitted compounds due to the increase of the relative humidity in the uplifted layer. We show how the dynamical conditions during and after the sea breeze lead to storage of SO2 near and above the emitting industrial coastal areas, and favour the formation of acidic aerosol particles