Qualitative and Semiquantitative Assessment of Exposure to Engineered Nanomaterials within the French EpiNano Program: Inter- and Intramethod Reliability Study

The relatively recent development of industries working with nanomaterials has created challenges for exposure assessment. In this article, we propose a relatively simple approach to assessing nanomaterial exposures for the purposes of epidemiological studies of workers in these industries. This method consists of an onsite industrial hygiene visit of facilities carried out individually and a description of workstations where nano-objects and their agglomerates and aggregates (NOAA) are present using a standardized tool, the Onsite technical logbook. To assess its reliability, we implemented this approach for assessing exposure to NOAA in workplaces at seven workstations which synthesize and functionalize carbon nanotubes. The prediction of exposure to NOAA using this method exhibited substantial agreement with that of the reference method, the latter being based on an onsite group visit, an expert’s report and exposure measurements (Cohen kappa = 0.70, sensitivity = 0.88, specificity = 0.92). Intramethod comparison of results for exposure prediction showed moderate agreement between the three evaluators (two program team evaluators and one external evaluator) (weighted Fleiss kappa = 0.60, P = 0.003). Interevaluator reliability of the semiquantitative exposure characterization results was excellent between the two evaluators from the program team (Spearman rho = 0.93, P = 0.03) and fair when these two evaluators’ results were compared with the external evaluator’s results. The project was undertaken within the framework of the French epidemiological surveillance program EpiNano. This study allowed a first reliability assessment of the EpiNano method. However, to further validate this method a comparison with robust quantitative exposure measurement data is necessary

SWI/SNF-like chromatin remodeling factor Fun30 supports point centromere function in S. cerevisiae

Budding yeast centromeres are sequence-defined point centromeres and are, unlike in many other organisms, not embedded in heterochromatin. Here we show that Fun30, a poorly understood SWI/SNF-like chromatin remodeling factor conserved in humans, promotes point centromere function through the formation of correct chromatin architecture at centromeres. Our determination of the genome-wide binding and nucleosome positioning properties of Fun30 shows that this enzyme is consistently enriched over centromeres and that a majority of CENs show Fun30-dependent changes in flanking nucleosome position and/or CEN core micrococcal nuclease accessibility. Fun30 deletion leads to defects in histone variant Htz1 occupancy genome-wide, including at and around most centromeres. FUN30 genetically interacts with CSE4, coding for the centromere-specific variant of histone H3, and counteracts the detrimental effect of transcription through centromeres on chromosome segregation and suppresses transcriptional noise over centromere CEN3. Previous work has shown a requirement for fission yeast and mammalian homologs of Fun30 in heterochromatin assembly. As centromeres in budding yeast are not embedded in heterochromatin, our findings indicate a direct role of Fun30 in centromere chromatin by promoting correct chromatin architecture

Management of traumatic events: influence of emotion-centered coping strategies on the occurrence of dissociation and post-traumatic stress disorder

Our aim was to assess the influence of the coping strategies employed for the management of traumatic events on the occurrence of dissociation and traumatic disorders. We carried out a 1-year retrospective study of the cognitive management of a traumatic event in 18 subjects involved in the same road vehicle accident. The diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was made for 33.3% of the participants. The participants with a PTSD diagnosis 1 year after the event used emotion-centered strategies during the event more often than did those with no PTSD, P < 0.02. In the year after the traumatic event, our results show a strong link between the intensity of PTSD and the severity of the post-traumatic symptoms like dissociation (P = 0.032) and the use of emotion-centered strategies (P = 0.004). Moreover, the participants who presented Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire scores above 15 made greater use of emotion-centered coping strategies than did those who did not show dissociation, P < 0.04. Our results confirm that the cognitive management of traumatic events may play an essential role in the development of a state of post-traumatic stress in the aftermath of a violent event

Emerging diseases of wildlife in Europe : Lessons to draw to prevent a resurgence of avian influenza

The incursion of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza among wildfowl in Europe in 2006 was a new illustration of the health risk presented by wildlife to humans and domestic animals. To help anticipate similar incursions and avoid the pitfalls of poor communication, this paper describes how this risk was analysed and managed in the past for other wildlife diseases in Europe. The author also proposes a general methodology to anticipate such events.La contamination de l'avifaune sauvage en Europe, en 2006, par des foyers d'Influenza Aviaire Hautement Pathogène (IAHP) a été une nouvelle illustration du risque sanitaire que représente la faune sauvage pour l'homme ou les animaux domestiques. Afin de mieux anticiper des incursions similaires et éviter les dérives liées à une communication mal conduite, cet article décrit la façon dont le risque a été étudié et géré dans le passé pour d'autres maladies de la faune sauvage en Europe. L'auteur propose aussi une méthodologie générale pour anticiper de tels événements

Single nanoparticle tracking of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors in cultured and intact brain tissue

This work was supported by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Conseil Régional d’Aquitaine, and Marie Curie Individual Fellowship No. 326442.Recent developments in single-molecule imaging have revealed many biological mechanisms, providing high spatial and temporal resolution maps of molecular events. In neurobiology, these techniques unveiled that plasma membrane neurotransmitter receptors and transporters laterally diffuse at the surface of cultured brain cells. The photostability of bright nanoprobes, such as quantum dots (QDs), has given access to neurotransmitter receptor tracking over long periods of time with a high spatial resolution. However, our knowledge has been restricted to cultured systems, i.e., neurons and organotypic slices, therefore lacking several aspects of the intact brain rheology and connectivity. Here, we used QDs to track single glutamatergic N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDAR) in acute brain slices. By delivering functionalized nanoparticles in vivo through intraventricular injections to rats expressing genetically engineered-tagged NMDAR, we successfully tracked the receptors in native brain tissue. Comparing NMDAR tracking to different classical brain preparations (acute brain slices, cultured organotypic brain slices, and cultured neurons) revealed that the surface diffusion properties shared several features and are also influenced by the nature of the extracellular environment. Together, we describe the experimental procedures to track plasma membrane NMDAR in dissociated and native brain tissue, paving the way for investigations aiming at characterizing receptor diffusion biophysics in intact tissue and exploring the physiopathological roles of receptor surface dynamics.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Influence of the initial chemical conditions on the rational design of silica particles

The influence of the water content in the initial composition on the size of silica particles produced using the Stöber process is well known. We have shown that there are three morphological regimes defined by compositional boundaries. At low water levels (below stoichiometric ratio of water:tetraethoxysilane), very high surface area and aggregated structures are formed; at high water content (>40 wt%) similar structures are also seen. Between these two boundary conditions, discrete particles are formed whose size are dictated by the water content. Within the compositional regime that enables the classical Stöber silica, the structural evolution shows a more rapid attainment of final particle size than the rate of formation of silica supporting the monomer addition hypothesis. The clearer understanding of the role of the initial composition on the output of this synthesis method will be of considerable use for the establishment of reliable reproducible silica production for future industrial adoption

Patterns of medication errors involving pediatric population reported to the French Medication Error Guichet

Background: Medication error is a global threat to patient safety, particularly in pediatrics. Yet, this issue remains understudied in this population, in both hospital and community settings. Objectives: To characterize medication errors involving pediatrics reported to the French Medication Error Guichet, and compare them with medication errors in adults, in each of the hospital and community settings. Methods: This was a retrospective secondary data analysis of medication errors reported throughout 2013-2017. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were performed to compare actual and potential medication error reports between pediatrics (aged 18 and <60 years). Two subanalyses of actual medication errors with adverse drug reaction (ADR), and serious ADR were conducted. Results: We analyzed 4,718 medication error reports. In pediatrics, both in hospital (n=791) and community (n=1,541) settings, antibacterials for systemic use (n=121, 15.7%; n=157, 10.4%, respectively) and wrong dose error type (n=391, 49.6%; n=549, 35.7%, respectively) were frequently reported in medication errors. These characteristics were also significantly more likely to be associated with reported errors in pediatrics compared with adults. In the hospital setting, analgesics (adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=1.59; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03:2.45), and blood substitutes and perfusion solutions (aOR=3.74; 95%CI 2.24:6.25) were more likely to be associated with reported medication errors in pediatrics; the latter drug class (aOR=3.02; 95%CI 1.59:5.72) along with wrong technique (aOR=2.28; 95%CI 1.01:5.19) and wrong route (aOR=2.74; 95%CI 1.22:6.15) error types related more to reported medication errors with serious ADR in pediatrics. In the community setting, the most frequently reported pediatric medication errors involved vaccines (n=389, 25.7%). Psycholeptics (aOR=2.42; 95%CI 1.36:4.31) were more likely to be associated with reported medication errors with serious ADR in pediatrics. Wrong technique error type (aOR=2.71; 95%CI 1.47:5.00) related more to reported medication errors with ADR in pediatrics. Conclusions: We identified pediatric-specific medication error patterns in the hospital and community settings. Our findings inform focused error prevention measures, and pave the way for interventional research targeting the needs of this population