From the peasant bocage to the new “green territories”: Political and cultural construction combining the environment, the landscape and the heritage

Within the framework of research on green networks2, we have studied the evolution of the forms and functions of the bocage systems in two peri-urban areas, close to two major French cities, Angers and Rennes. Our work has focused more specifically on pollarded trees – known as “ragosses” in the Rennais region and “têtards” in the Anjou region – which are one of the components of this system made up of plots of land within a network of ditches, embankments and hedgerows, themselves subdivided into several layers (tree - pollarded trees -, shrub and herbaceous). The Angevin site is a vast area of wetland meadows of the type found in the Loire valley, fashioned by the confluence of the 3 rivers that cross the area (Sarthe, Mayenne and Loir). Flooded several months per year, this area called in French Basses Vallées Angevines (Lower Angevine Valleys, BVA) is characterised by an exceptional biodiversity and singular landscapes. In the urban peripheries of Angers and Rennes, a landscape and environmental policy has led to the integration of ancient pollarded trees in the urban fabric. Protected at the beginning of the 1980’s in accordance with an approach focused primarily on landscaping and urban planning, these trees are today closely associated with discussions on ecological continuity. The bocage and the pollarded trees that characterise the latter are the product of an agricultural economy that is today obsolete. They have been fashioned throughout the ages by peasant societies who were mainly rearing cattle. A utilitarian tree if ever there were one, the trees fulfilled needs and had specific agricultural and rural uses: fodder, fire wood, timber used in boundaries, fencing and gates, animal shelters, etc. These functions, linked to the agricultural and rural economy, explain the way in which they were thus shaped and trimmed. The techniques and practices of pruning and maintenance have produced graphic, skeletal, distinctive forms that are still clearly identifiable today, especially during the winter months. Forms that tell a story that is economic, technical and social. We shall show here how these inherited elements of the landscape (“ragosses” and “têtards”) have been returned to the centre stage whereas the reasons for their creation have disappeared. In the process we shall explain how they have changed in substance and in the representations they generate under the combined effect of public pzlicies and social changes; namely, how they have found new functions and meaning through three filters that are perceived as theoretical and operational - at least for a certain number of players - environment, landscape and heritage

La hêtraie du clos-masure, entre modernisations agricoles et urbanisation

Le pays de Caux (Normandie) offre un paysage de plateaux cultivés ponctués de bosquets. Les anciens corps de fermes y sont entourés d’arbres, les fameux clos-masures. Leur vocation agricole disparaît, mais les rideaux de hêtres sont encore bien présents dans le paysage. Aux abattages des années 1950-1970 a succédé une période de replantation de « brise-vent » soutenue par les pouvoirs publics au titre du paysage. L’article analyse les valeurs aujourd’hui attribuées à ces rideaux d’arbres en termes d’agronomie, de paysage et d’environnement. Cette recherche s’est développée dans le cadre d’un projet d’inscription des clos-masures au patrimoine mondial de l’Unesco. Les résultats sont issus d’une enquête ethnographique menée dans les environs d’Yvetot. L’arbre a perdu ses fonctions agricoles de protection du bétail et de production de bois ; c’est désormais par le paysage et l’environnement qu’il retrouve du sens auprès des agriculteurs. Ce sens de l’intérêt général est un élément clé du renouveau agricole et urbain des clos-masures du pays de Caux.The Pays de Caux (Normandy) offers a landscape of cultivated plateaux dotted with thickets. Ancient farmhouses are often surrounded and protected by trees, these are the famous clos-masures. Their agricultural function is disappearing, but the rows of beech trees are still very much present in the landscape. After a period during which most of the trees were felled (from 1950 to 1970) followed a period of replanting of “windbreaks” with the support of the public authorities and in defence of the landscape. This article analyses the values attributed today to these curtains of trees in agronomic, landscaping and environmental terms. The study was conducted within the framework of a project for the listing of the clos-masures as part of the UNESCO world heritage. The findings come from an ethnographic survey conducted in the area of Yvetot. The tree has lost its agricultural function of protecting cattle and producing wood ; it is now through the landscape and the environment that it has meaning for the farmers. This notion of common interest is a key element in the agricultural and urban revival of the clos-masures of the Pays de Caux region

Consequences of the regular distribution of sainfoin hay on gastrointestinal parasitism with nematodes and on milk production in a dairy goat flock

The objectives of the current study were to examine the potential effects of distribution of sainfoin hay on nematode parasitism in a producing herd and to measure the consequences on milk production. The survey was performed in an experimental herd of 120-dairy-goat farm during a whole 9-month grazing season. Every month, 60 goats received indoors on average 1.36 kg of sainfoin hay for 10 days whereas the 60 remaining goats were used as controls, thus receiving the same amount of lucerne hay at the same time. The nutritional values of both hays were comparable except that concentrations of condensed tannins was higher in sainfoin than in lucerne hay, i.e. 2.52% versus 0.7% of diet DM. Intakes of the two types of hay were recorded along with each period. Individual faecal and blood samples were performed monthly to compare parasitological and pathophysiological parameters in the two groups. Milk yield, fat and protein contents were measured fortnightly. A higher consumption of hay was repeatedly recorded in the sainfoin versus the control group. Irrespective to dietary treatment, nematode egg excretions were low during the whole season. Meanwhile, egg output was significantly lowest in the sainfoin group, but the composition in nematode genera was similar among the two groups. Based on a semi quantitative index for assessment of faecal consistency, a lower faecal dry matter content was also found in goats from the sainfoin group. The two animal groups exhibited similar milk yield, fat and protein contents. The differences in egg excretion between the two groups might be due to higher intake of hay in the barn thus to low consumption of grass, a source of parasite infection, or to the effect of some secondary compounds, like tannins. Whatever the mechanism involved, our results suggest that a regular distribution of sainfoin hay to dairy goats might be associated with a reduction in parasitism with gastrointestinal nematodes, without negative consequences on milk production. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

The Haptic Recognition of Geometrical Shapes in Congenitally Blind and Blindfolded Adolescents: Is There a Haptic Prototype Effect?

International audienceBACKGROUND: It has been shown that visual geometrical shape categories (rectangle and triangle) are graded structures organized around a prototype as demonstrated by perception and production tasks in adults as well as in children. The visual prototypical shapes are better recognized than other exemplars of the categories. Their existence could emerge from early exposure to these prototypical shapes that are present in our visual environment. The present study examined the role of visual experience in the existence of prototypical shapes by comparing the haptic recognition of geometrical shapes in congenitally blind and blindfolded adolescents. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To determine whether the existence of a prototype effect (higher recognition of prototypical shapes than non prototypical shapes) depended on visual experience, congenitally blind and blindfolded sighted adolescents were asked to recognize in the haptic modality three categories of correct shapes (square, rectangle, triangle) varying in orientation (prototypical/canonical orientation vs. non prototypical/canonical orientation rotated by 45°) among a set of other shapes. A haptic prototype effect was found in the blindfolded sighted whereas no difference between prototypical and non prototypical correct shapes was observed in the congenitally blind. A control experiment using a similar visual recognition task confirmed the existence of a visual prototype effect in a group of sighted adolescents. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings show that the prototype effect is not intrinsic to the haptic modality but depends on visual experience. This suggests that the occurrence of visual and haptic prototypical shapes in the recognition of geometrical shape seems to depend on visual exposure to these prototypical shapes existing in our environment

Cost-benefit and Acceptance Analysis of Alternative Nematode Control Practices on Organic Dairy Goat Farms: A Case Study in France

This article assesses the costs, benefits, and acceptance of alternative control practices of Gastro-Intestinal Nematodes (GIN) for a typical organic dairy goat farm in France. A participatory Structured-Decision-Making (SDM) framework was used to guide focus group discussions, with an economic farm model and the Rogers and planned behavior theories used within the SDM framework. The study showed that the implementation of alternative GIN control practices can be economically profitable. An increased gross margin of €41 per dairy goat was calculated, which was mainly due to a decrease in the milk withdrawal cost. The simplicity to use or implement the alternative practices and the experience level of the farmers seem to play a positive role in adoption of the alternative practices consisting of more targeted and strategic treatments. The novel information presented in this article contributes towards facilitating the adoption of suitable alternative approaches for parasite control

Taste matters: mapping expectancy-based appetitive placebo effects onto the brain

Expectancies, which are higher order prognostic beliefs, can have powerful effects on experiences, behavior and brain. However, it is unknown where, how, and when, in the brain, prognostic beliefs influence appetitive interoceptive experiences and related economic behavior. This study combined a placebo intervention on hunger with computational modelling and functional magnetic resonance imaging of value-based decision-making. The results show that prognostic beliefs about hunger shape hunger experiences, how much participants value food and food-value encoding in the prefrontal cortex. Computational modelling further revealed that these placebo effects were underpinned by how much and when during the decision process taste and health information are integrated into the accumulation of evidence toward a food choice. The drift weights of both sources of information further moderated ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex interactions during choice formation. These findings provide novel insights into the neurocognitive mechanisms that translate higher order prognostic beliefs into non-aversive interoceptive sensitivity and shape decision-making

The need for nursing instruction in patients receiving steroid pulse therapy for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and the effect of instruction on patient knowledge

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many patients who receive steroid pulse therapy go home the same day or the day after steroid administration. Nursing instructions are important for improving patient knowledge related to their diseases and treatments, but the short hospital stay often prevents complete education and guidance regarding the given therapy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the need for nursing instruction in patients receiving steroid pulse therapy for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and the effect of instruction on patient knowledge of their disease and treatment.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and systemic sclerosis receiving steroid pulse therapy (N = 63) were recruited from a medical center in Taipei. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection before and after nursing instruction, and 1 week as well as 2 weeks after therapy. The need for nursing instruction and knowledge levels were validated using Cronbach's α reliability test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was a significant difference (<it>P </it>< 0.001) in the need for nursing instruction among the 4 time points. There was a positive correlation between the need for nursing instruction and body weight change, frequency of treatment, and distress, but there was a negative correlation with knowledge level (β = -0.012, <it>P </it>= 0.003) regarding symptoms. The knowledge level of subjects after nursing instruction was significantly higher than before nursing instruction (80 ± 14.31 vs. 70.06 ± 17.23, <it>P </it>< 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study indicates that nursing instruction is needed by patients receiving steroid pulse therapy, and that by designing and administering nursing instructions according to the priority of patient symptoms, nurses can improve patient knowledge related to their diseases and treatments. In addition, the need for nursing instruction can be affected by patient characteristics.</p

An ex-vivo Human Intestinal Model to Study Entamoeba histolytica Pathogenesis

Amoebiasis (a human intestinal infection affecting 50 million people every year) is caused by the protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica. To study the molecular mechanisms underlying human colon invasion by E. histolytica, we have set up an ex vivo human colon model to study the early steps in amoebiasis. Using scanning electron microscopy and histological analyses, we have established that E. histolytica caused the removal of the protective mucus coat during the first two hours of incubation, detached the enterocytes, and then penetrated into the lamina propria by following the crypts of Lieberkühn. Significant cell lysis (determined by the release of lactodehydrogenase) and inflammation (marked by the secretion of pro-inflammatory molecules such as interleukin 1 beta, interferon gamma, interleukin 6, interleukin 8 and tumour necrosis factor) were detected after four hours of incubation. Entamoeba dispar (a closely related non-pathogenic amoeba that also colonizes the human colon) was unable to invade colonic mucosa, lyse cells or induce an inflammatory response. We also examined the behaviour of trophozoites in which genes coding for known virulent factors (such as amoebapores, the Gal/GalNAc lectin and the cysteine protease 5 (CP-A5), which have major roles in cell death, adhesion (to target cells or mucus) and mucus degradation, respectively) were silenced, together with the corresponding tissue responses. Our data revealed that the signalling via the heavy chain Hgl2 or via the light chain Lgl1 of the Gal/GalNAc lectin is not essential to penetrate the human colonic mucosa. In addition, our study demonstrates that E. histolytica silenced for CP-A5 does not penetrate the colonic lamina propria and does not induce the host's pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion

Functional outcomes in symptomatic versus asymptomatic patients undergoing incisional hernia repair: Replacing one problem with another? A prospective cohort study in 1312 patients

Background: Incisional hernias can be associated with pain or discomfort. Surgical repair especially mesh reinforcement, may likewise induce pain. The primary objective was to assess the incidence of pain after hernia repair in patients with and without pre-operative pain or discomfort. The secondary objectives were to determine the preferred mesh type, mesh location and surgical technique in minimizing postoperative pain or discomfort. Materials and methods: A registry-based prospective cohort study was performed, including patients undergoing incisional hernia repair between September 2011 and May 2019. Patients with a minimum follow-up of 3–6 months were included. The incidence of hernia related pain and discomfort was recorded perioperatively. Results: A total of 1312 patients were included. Pre-operatively, 1091 (83%) patients reported pain or discomfort. After hernia repair, 961 (73%) patients did not report pain or discomfort (mean follow-up = 11.1 months). Of the pre-operative asymptomatic patients (n = 221), 44 (20%, moderate or severe pain: n = 14, 32%) reported pain or discomfort after mean follow-up of 10.5 months. Of those patients initially reporting pain or discomfort (n = 1091), 307 (28%, moderate or severe pain: n = 80, 26%) still reported pain or discomfort after a mean follow-up of 11.3 months postoperatively. Conclusion: In symptomatic incisional hernia patients, hernia related complaints may be resolved in the majority of cases undergoing surgical repair. In asymptomatic incisional hernia patients, pain or discomfort may be induced in a considerable number of patients due to surgical repair and one should be aware if this postoperative complication