L’obligation généralisée de motivation des actes administratifs individuels depuis cinquante ans : le cas de la Norvège

Après une brève introduction aux relations entre la procédure administrative non contentieuse et le système de contrôle juridictionnel de l’administration publique en Norvège, cet article passe en revue les principaux arguments relatifs à la question d’une obligation de motiver ses actes et les origines du système actuel. Selon la loi générale relative à la procédure administrative non contentieuse, une telle obligation existe pour tout acte unilatéral individuel depuis cinquante ans. Avec un certain nombre de modulations selon les diverses situations susceptibles de se présenter, le système n’est guère contesté et semble fonctionner plutôt bien.After a short introduction to the relationship between administrative procedure and judicial review, this article presents the principal arguments regarding the question of imposing an obligation on the public administration to explain and justify its acts and the origins of the present system. According to the general law on administrative procedure, such an obligation has existed for individualized acts for the last fifty years. With a number of modulations according to the different potential situations, the system is hardly controversial and seems to function rather well

Computing noncommutative deformations of presheaves and sheaves of modules

We describe a noncommutative deformation theory for presheaves and sheaves of modules that generalizes the commutative deformation theory of these global algebraic structures, and the noncommutative deformation theory of modules over algebras due to Laudal. In the first part of the paper, we describe a noncommutative deformation functor for presheaves of modules on a small category, and an obstruction theory for this functor in terms of global Hochschild cohomology. An important feature of this obstruction theory is that it can be computed in concrete terms in many interesting cases. In the last part of the paper, we describe noncommutative deformation functors for sheaves and quasi-coherent sheaves of modules on a ringed space $(X, \mathcal{A})$. We show that for any good $\mathcal{A}$-affine open cover $\mathsf{U}$ of $X$, the forgetful functor $\mathsf{QCoh}(\mathcal{A}) \to \mathsf{PreSh}(\mathsf{U}, \mathcal{A})$ induces an isomorphism of noncommutative deformation functors. \emph{Applications.} We consider noncommutative deformations of quasi-coherent $\mathcal{A}$-modules on $X$ when $(X, \mathcal{A}) = (X, \mathcal{O}_X)$ is a scheme or $(X, \mathcal{A}) = (X, \mathcal{D})$ is a D-scheme in the sense of Beilinson and Bernstein. In these cases, we may use any open affine cover of $X$ closed under finite intersections to compute noncommutative deformations in concrete terms using presheaf methods. We compute the noncommutative deformations of the left $\mathcal{D}_X$-module $\mathcal{O}_X$ when $X$ is an elliptic curve as an example.Comment: 22 pages, AMS-LaTeX. Some results from earlier versions have been omitted to focus on the main results in the pape

Centipede venoms as a source of drug leads

peerreview_statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope. aims_and_scope_url: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=iedc20© 2016 Taylor and Francis. The attached document is the authors' final submitted version of the journal article. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it

Effects of mRNA amplification on gene expression ratios in cDNA experiments estimated by analysis of variance

BACKGROUND: A limiting factor of cDNA microarray technology is the need for a substantial amount of RNA per labeling reaction. Thus, 20–200 micro-grams total RNA or 0.5–2 micro-grams poly (A) RNA is typically required for monitoring gene expression. In addition, gene expression profiles from large, heterogeneous cell populations provide complex patterns from which biological data for the target cells may be difficult to extract. In this study, we chose to investigate a widely used mRNA amplification protocol that allows gene expression studies to be performed on samples with limited starting material. We present a quantitative study of the variation and noise present in our data set obtained from experiments with either amplified or non-amplified material. RESULTS: Using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple hypothesis testing, we estimated the impact of amplification on the preservation of gene expression ratios. Both methods showed that the gene expression ratios were not completely preserved between amplified and non-amplified material. We also compared the expression ratios between the two cell lines for the amplified material with expression ratios between the two cell lines for the non-amplified material for each gene. With the aid of multiple t-testing with a false discovery rate of 5%, we found that 10% of the genes investigated showed significantly different expression ratios. CONCLUSION: Although the ratios were not fully preserved, amplification may prove to be extremely useful with respect to characterizing low expressing genes

Life course socioeconomic position, alcohol drinking patterns in midlife, and cardiovascular mortality:Analysis of Norwegian population-based health surveys

<div><p>Background</p><p>Socioeconomically disadvantaged groups tend to experience more harm from the same level of exposure to alcohol as advantaged groups. Alcohol has multiple biological effects on the cardiovascular system, both potentially harmful and protective. We investigated whether the diverging relationships between alcohol drinking patterns and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality differed by life course socioeconomic position (SEP).</p><p>Methods and findings</p><p>From 3 cohorts (the Counties Studies, the Cohort of Norway, and the Age 40 Program, 1987–2003) containing data from population-based cardiovascular health surveys in Norway, we included participants with self-reported information on alcohol consumption frequency (<i>n</i> = 207,394) and binge drinking episodes (≥5 units per occasion, <i>n</i> = 32,616). We also used data from national registries obtained by linkage. Hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for CVD mortality was estimated using Cox models, including alcohol, life course SEP, age, gender, smoking, physical activity, body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure, heart rate, triglycerides, diabetes, history of CVD, and family history of coronary heart disease (CHD). Analyses were performed in the overall sample and stratified by high, middle, and low strata of life course SEP. A total of 8,435 CVD deaths occurred during the mean 17 years of follow-up. Compared to infrequent consumption (p = 0.002; middle versus high), 1.23 (95% CI 0.96, 1.58, <i>p</i> = 0.10; low versus high), and 0.96 (95% CI 0.76, 1.21, <i>p</i> = 0.73; low versus middle). In the group with data on binge drinking, 2,284 deaths (15 years) from CVDs occurred. In comparison to consumers who did not binge during the past year, HRs among frequent bingers (≥1 time per week) were 1.58 (95% CI 1.31, 1.91) overall, and 1.22 (95% CI 0.84, 1.76), 1.71 (95% CI 1.31, 2.23), and 1.85 (95% CI 1.16, 2.94) in the strata, respectively. HRs for effect modification were 1.36 (95% CI 0.87, 2.13, <i>p</i> = 0.18; middle versus high), 1.63 (95% CI 0.92, 2.91, <i>p</i> = 0.10; low versus high), and 1.32 (95% CI 0.79, 2.20, <i>p</i> = 0.29; low versus middle). A limitation of this study was the use of a single measurement to reflect lifetime alcohol consumption.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>Moderately frequent consumers had a lower risk of CVD mortality compared with infrequent consumers, and we observed that this association was more pronounced among participants with higher SEP throughout their life course. Frequent binge drinking was associated with a higher risk of CVD mortality, but it was more uncertain whether the risk differed by life course SEP. It is unclear if these findings reflect differential confounding of alcohol consumption with health-protective or damaging exposures, or differing effects of alcohol on health across socioeconomic groups.</p></div

Smoking in pregnancy and child ADHD

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: There is a well-documented association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and offspring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The degree to which this reflects causal intrauterine effects or is due to unmeasured confounding is not clear. We sought to compare the association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and offspring ADHD with the associations with paternal smoking, grandmother’s smoking when pregnant with mother, and maternal smoking in previous pregnancies. Each of these exposures is expected to be influenced by much of the same confounding factors as maternal smoking during pregnancy, but cannot have direct intrauterine effects. A sibling control design was also used. METHODS: The current study used data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (n > 100 000 children). Mothers and fathers reported on smoking during pregnancy, and mothers reported on smoking in previous pregnancies and their mother’s smoking when pregnant with them. Mothers reported on child ADHD symptoms at 5 years of age. Information about child ADHD diagnosis was obtained from the Norwegian Patient Registry. RESULTS: Maternal smoking during pregnancy was not more strongly associated with offspring ADHD diagnosis than was paternal smoking, grandmother’s smoking when pregnant with mother, or maternal smoking in previous pregnancies. Sibling control analyses showed no association between maternal smoking in pregnancy and child ADHD symptoms among siblings discordant for maternal smoking. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and offspring ADHD is not due to causal intrauterine effects, but reflects unmeasured confounding

Prenatal Exposure to Acetaminophen and Risk of ADHD

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the association between maternal use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and of paternal use before pregnancy with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in offspring while adjusting for familial risk for ADHD and indications of acetaminophen use. METHODS: Diagnoses were obtained from the Norwegian Patient Registry for 112 973 offspring from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study, including 2246 with ADHD. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for an ADHD diagnosis by using Cox proportional hazard models. RESULTS: After adjusting for maternal use of acetaminophen before pregnancy, familial risk for ADHD, and indications of acetaminophen use, we observed a modest association between any prenatal maternal use of acetaminophen in 1 (HR = 1.07; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.96–1.19), 2 (HR = 1.22; 95% CI 1.07–1.38), and 3 trimesters (HR = 1.27; 95% CI 0.99–1.63). The HR for more than 29 days of maternal acetaminophen use was 2.20 (95% CI 1.50–3.24). Use for &amp;lt;8 days was negatively associated with ADHD (HR = 0.90; 95% CI 0.81–1.00). Acetaminophen use for fever and infections for 22 to 28 days was associated with ADHD (HR = 6.15; 95% CI 1.71–22.05). Paternal and maternal use of acetaminophen were similarly associated with ADHD. CONCLUSIONS: Short-term maternal use of acetaminophen during pregnancy was negatively associated with ADHD in offspring. Long-term maternal use of acetaminophen during pregnancy was substantially associated with ADHD even after adjusting for indications of use, familial risk of ADHD, and other potential confounders. </jats:sec

Increasing value and reducing waste in stroke research

Stroke represents a major burden to patients and society, and resources spent on stroke research must be used efficiently and produce good value in terms of improvements in human health. However, there are many examples of poor value from stroke research funding, which result from the way in which stroke research has been chosen, designed, conducted, analysed, regulated, managed, disseminated, or reported. In a project including a survey and a symposium and involving stroke researchers in the European Stroke Organisation we have sought to identify sources of inefficiency and waste, recommended approaches to increase value, and highlighted examples of best practice in stroke research. Recent evidence suggests that progress has been made, but there is room for much improvement, and stroke researchers, funders and other stakeholders might consider our recommendations when planning new research