Amélioration de la qualité du français écrit des adultes ayant un trouble d’apprentissage, soutenus par les aides technologiques

Affiche présentée dans le cadre du Colloque de l'ARC, «La culture de la recherche au collégial», dans le cadre du 82e Congrès de l'Acfas, Université Concordia, Montréal, le 14 mai 2014.Dans nos sociétés actuelles où la communication passe essentiellement par l’écrit, les personnes ayant un trouble d’apprentissage sont d’emblée à risque d’être en situation de handicap. En effet, on prend de plus en plus conscience que malgré des efforts importants et constants, certaines d’entre elles ont des difficultés significatives et persistantes en rédaction. Aussi, on leur offre maintenant la possibilité de compenser ces difficultés avec certaines fonctions d’aide de logiciels. Toutefois, on remarque que beaucoup d’adultes ne voient pas leurs difficultés à rédiger compensées adéquatement. Bien que les aides technologiques soient largement recommandées dans la pratique, elles demeurent peu documentées par la recherche. Voilà le contexte qui motive la recherche à devis à cas unique que nous menons actuellement. La solution au problème passe certainement par une meilleure évaluation des besoins, par une identification plus précise des forces et faiblesses de la personne. Nous nous sommes donc penchés sur les liens entre les processus cognitifs, les compétences rédactionnelles et les différentes fonctions d’aide des logiciels. Notre communication par affiche exposera, entre autres, les objectifs de la recherche, l’évaluation de l’effet de compensation d’une fonction d’aide sur les processus cognitifs déficients d’un adulte ayant un trouble d’apprentissage dans un contexte d’accompagnement, la méthodologie utilisée ainsi que les résultats obtenus

Transmission of Migration Propensity Increases Genetic Divergence Between Populations

The advent of molecular genetics has brought invaluable information, which is now routinely used by anthropologists in their attempt to reconstruct our demographic past. Since the mitochondrial DNA loci are much more similar between populations than are the Y chromosome loci, it has been suggested that women had a much higher migration rate than men throughout history. Based on an examination of intergenerational migration patterns in three large demographic databases, we bring this inference into question. In some early Canadian settlements (St. Lawrence Valley and Saguenay), and in the past Krummhörn region of Northwest Germany, men whose father was a migrant were more likely to migrate, while the migration probability of women was largely independent of that of their mothers. As a result, men’s movements were less effective in preventing genetic differentiation between populations than women’s movements. If it is largely prevalent among human societies, this male-specific transmission of migration propensity could partly explain the geographical clustering of Y chromosome distributions. In order to account for its impact, we propose a slight modification of Wright’s Island model. We also address the relevance of this model with respect to previously reported measures of population differentiation and we discuss the supporting historical and anthropological literature. We conclude that the widespread patrilocal rules of post-marital residence have generated both a higher female migration rate and a patrilineal dependency in the propensity to migrate

A New Role for TIMP-1 in Modulating Neurite Outgrowth and Morphology of Cortical Neurons

BACKGROUND:Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) displays pleiotropic activities, both dependent and independent of its inhibitory activity on matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). In the central nervous system (CNS), TIMP-1 is strongly upregulated in reactive astrocytes and cortical neurons following excitotoxic/inflammatory stimuli, but no information exists on its effects on growth and morphology of cortical neurons. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:We found that 24 h incubation with recombinant TIMP-1 induced a 35% reduction in neurite length and significantly increased growth cones size and the number of F-actin rich microprocesses. TIMP-1 mediated reduction in neurite length affected both dendrites and axons after 48 h treatment. The effects on neurite length and morphology were not elicited by a mutated form of TIMP-1 inactive against MMP-1, -2 and -3, and still inhibitory for MMP-9, but were mimicked by a broad spectrum MMP inhibitor. MMP-9 was poorly expressed in developing cortical neurons, unlike MMP-2 which was present in growth cones and whose selective inhibition caused neurite length reductions similar to those induced by TIMP-1. Moreover, TIMP-1 mediated changes in cytoskeleton reorganisation were not accompanied by modifications in the expression levels of actin, betaIII-tubulin, or microtubule assembly regulatory protein MAP2c. Transfection-mediated overexpression of TIMP-1 dramatically reduced neuritic arbour extension in the absence of detectable levels of released extracellular TIMP-1. CONCLUSIONS:Altogether, TIMP-1 emerges as a modulator of neuronal outgrowth and morphology in a paracrine and autrocrine manner through the inhibition, at least in part, of MMP-2 and not MMP-9. These findings may help us understand the role of the MMP/TIMP system in post-lesion pre-scarring conditions

Testing bidirectional, longitudinal associations between disturbed sleep and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents using cross-lagged models

Importance Understanding the longitudinal, bidirectional associations between disturbed sleep and depression in childhood and adolescence is crucial for the development of prevention and intervention programs. Objective To test for bidirectional associations and cascade processes between disturbed sleep and depressive symptoms covering both childhood and adolescence and to test for the moderating processes of sex and pubertal status in adolescence. Design, Setting, and Participants A prospective cohort study using the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD; 1997-ongoing). QLSCD’s objective is to identify early childhood factors associated with long-term psychosocial and academic adjustment. Data were collected across 8 waves between ages 5 years (2003) and 17 years (2015). Associations were tested through cross-lagged models in childhood (5, 7, and 8 years), and in adolescence (10, 12, 13, 15, and 17 years). Data were analyzed from February to October 2021. Main Outcomes and Measures Primary outcomes were disturbed sleep and depressive symptoms. Disturbed sleep was parent-reported and included sleep duration, time awake in bed, daytime sleepiness, sleep talking, sleepwalking, night terrors, and nightmares. Depressive symptoms were parent-reported in childhood (Child Behavior Checklist and Revised Ontario Child Health Study Scales), and self-reported in adolescence (Mental Health and Social Inadaptation Assessment for Adolescents). Results Data on 1689 children (852 female [50.4%]) and 1113 adolescents (595 female [53.5%]) were included in the analyses. In childhood, significant bidirectional associations between depressive symptoms and disturbed sleep at all time points were found, indicating cascade processes (range β = 0.07; 95% CI, 0.02-012 to β = 0.15; 95% CI, 0.10-0.19). In adolescence, significant bidirectional associations from depressive symptoms to disturbed sleep (β = 0.09; 95% CI, 0.04-0.14) and vice versa (β = 0.10; 95% CI, 0.04-0.16) between 10 and 12 years were found. Between 12 and 13 years, depressive symptoms were modestly associated with disturbed sleep (β = 0.05; 95% CI, 0.001-0.10) but the reverse association was not significant. Cross-lagged estimates were nonsignificant after 13 years. The associations did not vary as a function of either sex or puberty-by-sex. Conclusions and Relevance These findings suggest that disturbed sleep is associated with the consolidation of depressive symptoms starting in childhood, which, in turn, is associated with ongoing sleep problems. It is possible that timely and appropriate interventions for incipient disturbed sleep and depression prevent spiraling effects on both domains

Modèle des fonctions d'aide un pont entre la théorie et la pratique /

Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 3 oct. 2013

A Pilot Randomized-Controlled Trial on the Effect of CPAP Treatment on Glycemic Control in Gestational Diabetes: Study Design and Methods

Background: Gestational diabetes (GDM) is associated with adverse short- and long-term maternal and fetal outcomes. Observational data support a link between sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) during pregnancy and GDM. However, it is unknown whether treatment of SDB with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) improves glucose control in this patient population. In addition, CPAP adherence and feasibility as a treatment option in pregnancy is unknown. This pilot randomized, controlled trial aims to primarily determine the feasibility of CPAP treatment in pregnant women with SDB and GDM. This study is also investigating the effect of SDB treatment on 24-h glucose profiles as an exploratory outcome.Objectives: To describe the study methodology in this ongoing study of pregnant women with GDM and SDB.Patients and Methods: Pregnant women with GDM and SDB defined by apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ≥10 (Chicago Scoring Criteria) on level 2 polysomnography are randomized to either auto titrating CPAP (experimental group) or a nasal dilator strip (control group) until delivery. The primary outcome, objectively-assessed adherence to CPAP, is measured over the course of the treatment period using device-specific software. Recruitment and retention rates will be calculated to assess the feasibility for planning future trials. Twenty-four hour glucose profiles are measured over a 72-h period using the continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system, before and after the intervention.Conclusion: The results of this study will be highly informative to determine whether CPAP is a feasible treatment for pregnant women with GDM and SDB, a specialized population at risk for substantial comorbidity. The trial results will ultimately be useful in planning future SDB treatment trials in pregnancy and GDM.The study is registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02245659)

Genetic diversity and the emergence of ethnic groups in Central Asia

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Sex-Specific Genetic Structure and Social Organization in Central Asia: Insights from a Multi-Locus Study

In the last two decades, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the non-recombining portion of the Y chromosome (NRY) have been extensively used in order to measure the maternally and paternally inherited genetic structure of human populations, and to infer sex-specific demography and history. Most studies converge towards the notion that among populations, women are genetically less structured than men. This has been mainly explained by a higher migration rate of women, due to patrilocality, a tendency for men to stay in their birthplace while women move to their husband's house. Yet, since population differentiation depends upon the product of the effective number of individuals within each deme and the migration rate among demes, differences in male and female effective numbers and sex-biased dispersal have confounding effects on the comparison of genetic structure as measured by uniparentally inherited markers. In this study, we develop a new multi-locus approach to analyze jointly autosomal and X-linked markers in order to aid the understanding of sex-specific contributions to population differentiation. We show that in patrilineal herder groups of Central Asia, in contrast to bilineal agriculturalists, the effective number of women is higher than that of men. We interpret this result, which could not be obtained by the analysis of mtDNA and NRY alone, as the consequence of the social organization of patrilineal populations, in which genetically related men (but not women) tend to cluster together. This study suggests that differences in sex-specific migration rates may not be the only cause of contrasting male and female differentiation in humans, and that differences in effective numbers do matter

Seventeenth-Century European Origins of Hereditary Diseases in the Saguenay Population (Quebec, Canada)

For over three decades much research has been devoted to the identification of founders who could have been the first carriers of different deleterious genes in the French Canadian population. In some cases this research led to an investigation of the European origins of these founders. Using up-to-date data on genealogical records of 673 probands (6 hereditary diseases) and 99 control group individuals bom in the Saguenay region (Quebec, Canada), we show that it is difficult to identify a precise region where a deleterious gene could have originated. By taking several key factors into consideration (founders’ genetic contribution, level of commonness, sex, birth year), we found many possible candidates for each disease, leading to various regions of origin in France (Aunis, Maine, Normandie, Orleanais, Perche, and other provinces) or outside France (British Isles, other European countries). Our results also showed notable differences between the origins of male and female founders. Furthermore, all founders common to at least 95% of the probands of a given disease were also common to 95% of the probands of at least one other disease; among these founders 29 were common to 95% or more of the probands of each group (including the control group)

Unilateral Conditioning Contractions Enhance Power Output in Elite Short Track Speed Skaters

International audienceAbstract The objective of the present study was to assess the effect of unilateral lower-body-conditioning muscle contractions during multiple sets of fatiguing repeated jumps in elite athletes. Five elite short-track speed-skating athletes performed 9 sets of 6 maximal consecutive jumps on 2 separate occasions: with (COND) and without (CTRL) preliminary voluntary conditioning contractions (CC) 5 min before the beginning of the sets. The CC consisted of 2 consecutive 3 s maximal unilateral isometric squats against a fixed bar, resulting in a 6 s overall isometric contraction per leg. For each set, power output (PO) was measured using a linear position transducer and averaged over the 6 corresponding repeated jumps. The results showed that PO was significantly greater during the test in COND than in CTRL (p<0.01). PO significantly decreased with sets, by 19.4±4.7 and 15.2±7.6% (p<0.001) between the first and last set in COND and CTRL, respectively. A 2×3 s maximal unilateral isometric CC, performed 5 min before unloaded repeated jumps, significantly increased mean PO. These results suggest that unilateral conditioning contractions can enhance performance in subsequent bilateral repeated jumps