356 research outputs found
La solidarité écologique : un nouveau concept pour une gestion intégrée des parcs nationaux et des territoires
Cet article propose une première exploration du nouveau concept de solidarité écologique introduit dans le droit de l'environnement lors de la réforme de la loi sur les parcs nationaux français en 2006. Nous montrons que ce concept polysémique, tirant les enseignements de l'application de la loi de 1960, se fonde sur la prise de conscience des interdépendances du vivant et une nouvelle vision de la conservation de la nature. La solidarité écologique permet d'asseoir un compromis pragmatique entre écocentrisme et anthropocentrisme. Fondée sur les évolutions conceptuelles de l'écologie de la conservation, la solidarité écologique se décline selon une typologie qui intègre les enjeux de l'hétérogénéité spatiotemporelle de la biodiversité. Elle donne sens à l'élaboration des réseaux écologiques nationaux et internationaux et à la gestion intégrée des territoires de la biodiversité. La mise en débat public de ses spécificités locales et des valeurs qui lui sont attachées est nécessaire afin d'assurer sa considération et sa préservation
Fulminant hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis induced by pandemic A (H1N1) influenza: a case report
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis induced by viral diseases is a well recognized entity. Severe forms of H5N1 influenza are known to be associated with symptoms very similar to a reactive hemophagocytic syndrome. We report a case of fulminant lymphohistiocytosis associated with the pandemic A (H1N1) variant.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 42-year-old Caucasian woman developed a syndrome of fatal hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis shortly after H1N1 influenza. Initial symptoms of the viral disease were unusual, with acute abdominal involvement. Our patient's course was complicated by diffuse skin rash and ileal ischemia. Our patient died of refractory shock and multi-organ failure. Skin, ileum and colon histology was consistent with an acute apoptosis combined with an increased cellular regeneration.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Influenza may be complicated by severe forms of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. To ensure early recognition and treatment, physicians should be aware of the possible induction of the syndrome by the novel H1N1 variant. The rapid occurrence of a multi-organ involvement with evocative biological features of macrophage activation should alert clinicians.</p
3.5 The homing flight ring test: method for the assessment of sublethal doses of plant protection products on the honey bee in field conditions
International audienc
Singularities and Topology of Meromorphic Functions
We present several aspects of the "topology of meromorphic functions", which
we conceive as a general theory which includes the topology of holomorphic
functions, the topology of pencils on quasi-projective spaces and the topology
of polynomial functions.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figur
Mechanisms of failure to decontaminate the gut with polymixin E, gentamicin and amphotericin B in patients in intensive care.
The objective of the present work was to assess the possible mechanisms of the poor efficiency of selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD) in medical and surgical intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Sixty-four consecutive mechanically ventilated patients received gut decontamination with polymixin E, gentamicin and amphotericin B via a nasogastric tube and were assessed for oropharyngeal, gastric and fecal colonization and for the presence of each antibiotic in the stomach and feces. A decrease in fecal colonization with Escherichia coli was observed over 20 days but not with other gram-negative bacteria or gram-positive cocci. Fifteen and 26% of the fecal colonizing gram-negative bacteria were resistant to polymixin E and gentamicin, respectively, at admission. These proportions increased to up to 50% after 16 days of treatment. Although 50% of staphylococci were initially sensitive to gentamicin, all strains were resistant to this drug after four days of SDD. Both antibiotics were found in concentrations of less than 20 micrograms/g in 11 of 38 stools. Of these 38 stools, nine were not contaminated, 20 were colonized with resistant bacteria and 16 with strains sensitive to one antibiotic present in the stool. Therefore, the poor efficiency of gut decontamination observed was probably due to the great proportion of resistant strains on admission of the patients, to the selection of such resistant strains with SDD, to poor intestinal transit of the antibiotics, and to inactivation of the drugs by the feces. These results support stringent monitoring of fecal colonization in patients undergoing SDD in order to detect the fecal carriage of gram-positive and multiresistant gram-negative bacteria
Zephyr: Direct Distillation of LM Alignment
We aim to produce a smaller language model that is aligned to user intent.
Previous research has shown that applying distilled supervised fine-tuning
(dSFT) on larger models significantly improves task accuracy; however, these
models are unaligned, i.e. they do not respond well to natural prompts. To
distill this property, we experiment with the use of preference data from AI
Feedback (AIF). Starting from a dataset of outputs ranked by a teacher model,
we apply distilled direct preference optimization (dDPO) to learn a chat model
with significantly improved intent alignment. The approach requires only a few
hours of training without any additional sampling during fine-tuning. The final
result, Zephyr-7B, sets the state-of-the-art on chat benchmarks for 7B
parameter models, and requires no human annotation. In particular, results on
MT-Bench show that Zephyr-7B surpasses Llama2-Chat-70B, the best open-access
RLHF-based model. Code, models, data, and tutorials for the system are
available at https://github.com/huggingface/alignment-handbook
Open-access platform to synthesize knowledge of ape conservation across sites
Despite the large body of literature on ape conservation, much of the data needed for evidence‐based conservation decision‐making is still not readily accessible and standardized, rendering cross‐site comparison difficult. To support knowledge synthesis and to complement the IUCN SSC Ape Populations, Environments and Surveys database, we created the A.P.E.S. Wiki (https://apeswiki.eva.mpg.de), an open‐access platform providing site‐level information on ape conservation status and context. The aim of this Wiki is to provide information and data about geographical ape locations, to curate information on individuals and organizations active in ape research and conservation, and to act as a tool to support collaboration between conservation practitioners, scientists, and other stakeholders. To illustrate the process and benefits of knowledge synthesis, we used the momentum of the update of the conservation action plan for western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) and began with this critically endangered taxon. First, we gathered information on 59 sites in West Africa from scientific publications, reports, and online sources. Information was compiled in a standardized format and can thus be summarized using a web scraping approach. We then asked experts working at those sites to review and complement the information (20 sites have been reviewed to date). We demonstrate the utility of the information available through the Wiki, for example, for studying species distribution. Importantly, as an open‐access platform and based on the well‐known wiki layout, the A.P.E.S. Wiki can contribute to direct and interactive information sharing and promote the efforts invested by the ape research and conservation community. The Section on Great Apes and the Section on Small Apes of the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group will guide and support the expansion of the platform to all small and great ape taxa. Similar collaborative efforts can contribute to extending knowledge synthesis to all nonhuman primate species
Seasonal and interannual variability of the pelagic ecosystem and of the organic carbon budget in the Rhodes Gyre (eastern Mediterranean): influence of winter mixing
The Rhodes Gyre is a cyclonic persistent feature of the general circulation of the Levantine Basin in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Although it is
located in the most oligotrophic basin of the Mediterranean Sea, it is a relatively high primary production area due to strong winter nutrient
supply associated with the formation of Levantine Intermediate Water. In this study, a 3D coupled hydrodynamic–biogeochemical model
(SYMPHONIE/Eco3M-S) was used to characterize the seasonal and interannual variability of the Rhodes Gyre's ecosystem and to estimate an annual
organic carbon budget over the 2013–2020 period. Comparisons of model outputs with satellite data and compiled in situ data from cruises and
Biogeochemical-Argo floats revealed the ability of the model to reconstruct the main seasonal and spatial biogeochemical dynamics of the Levantine
Basin. The model results indicated that during the winter mixing period, phytoplankton first progressively grow sustained by nutrient supply. Then,
short episodes of convection driven by heat loss and wind events, favoring nutrient injections, organic carbon export, and inducing light limitation
on primary production, alternate with short episodes of phytoplankton growth. The estimate of the annual organic carbon budget indicated that the
Rhodes Gyre is an autotrophic area, with a positive net community production in the upper layer (0–150 m) amounting to
31.2 ± 6.9 gCm-2yr-1. Net community production in the upper layer is almost balanced over the 7-year period by
physical transfers, (1) via downward export (16.8 ± 6.2 gCm-2yr-1) and (2) through lateral transport towards the
surrounding regions (14.1 ± 2.1 gCm-2yr-1). The intermediate layer (150–400 m) also appears to be a source of
organic carbon for the surrounding Levantine Sea (7.5 ± 2.8 gCm-2yr-1) mostly through the subduction of Levantine
Intermediate Water following winter mixing. The Rhodes Gyre shows high interannual variability with enhanced primary production, net community
production, and exports during years marked by intense heat losses and deep mixed layers. However, annual primary production appears to be only
partially driven by winter vertical mixing. Based on our results, we can speculate that future increase of temperature and stratification could
strongly impact the carbon fluxes in this region.</p
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