COVID-19: Physical Activity and Quality of Life in a Sample of Swiss School Children during and after the First Stay-at-Home.

COVID-19 restrictions and the instructions to stay at home (SaH) may have had an impact on child behavior including physical activity (PA) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Switzerland. Therefore, we investigated PA and HRQoL during and after the SaH in 57 Swiss school children aged 7 to 12 years (M = 10.44; SD = 1.34). PA was measured using accelerometry (Actigraph GT3X) and HRQoL using the Kid-KINDLR questionnaire. During and post data was compared using paired sample t-tests. Independent t-tests were used to compare the HRQoL of physically active children with non-physically active children. PA in light (d = -0.56), moderate (d = -0.44), moderate-to-vigorous (d = -0.28) as well as overall HRQoL (d = -0.66), psychological well-being (d = -0.48), self-esteem (d = -0.39), friends (d = -0.70) and everyday functioning (d = -0.44), were significantly lower during SaH than afterwards. Children who adhered to PA recommendations (+60 min of moderate-to-vigorous PA) during SaH had a better overall HRQoL (d = 0.61) and psychological well-being (d = 0.56) than those who did not. Since PA levels and HRQoL were lower during SaH compared to afterwards, it seems that the restrictions negatively impacted children's PA and HRQoL. During future SaHs, promoting children's PA and HRQoL seems important

Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes in the Brain: Cellular Internalization and Neuroinflammatory Responses

The potential use of functionalized carbon nanotubes (f-CNTs) for drug and gene delivery to the central nervous system (CNS) and as neural substrates makes the understanding of their in vivo interactions with the neural tissue essential. The aim of this study was to investigate the interactions between chemically functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (f-MWNTs) and the neural tissue following cortical stereotactic administration. Two different f-MWNT constructs were used in these studies: shortened (by oxidation) amino-functionalized MWNT (oxMWNT-NH3+) and amino-functionalized MWNT (MWNT-NH3+). Parenchymal distribution of the stereotactically injected f-MWNTs was assessed by histological examination. Both f-MWNT were uptaken by different types of neural tissue cells (microglia, astrocytes and neurons), however different patterns of cellular internalization were observed between the nanotubes. Furthermore, immunohistochemical staining for specific markers of glial cell activation (GFAP and CD11b) was performed and secretion of inflammatory cytokines was investigated using real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Injections of both f-MWNT constructs led to a local and transient induction of inflammatory cytokines at early time points. Oxidation of nanotubes seemed to induce significant levels of GFAP and CD11b over-expression in areas peripheral to the f-MWNT injection site. These results highlight the importance of nanotube functionalization on their interaction with brain tissue that is deemed critical for the development nanotube-based vector systems for CNS application

Vers une intégration de l’interaction oculaire sur les stations d’interprétation sismique.

L’interprétation sismique consiste à extraire des surfacesclés de données tri-dimensionnelles de très grande taille dela croûte terrestre. L’extraction automatique de ces surfacesest complétée par une édition manuelle, étape longue,fastidieuse, répétitive, et très coûteuse en temps de calcul.Le système d’interprétation sismique Sismage-CIG™,développé par TOTAL, propose donc une architecture déportantla charge du traitement et de l’affichage sur unserveur dédié; les géologues experts travaillant sur des stationsconnectées, dotées de deux écrans 30 pouces. Cetteconfiguration, associée à la complexité de Sismage-CIG,pose un réel challenge d’ergonomie, tant pour la sélectionque pour la navigation. Dans cet article, nous exploronsla viabilité de l’oculométrie comme modalité d’interactionvenant soutenir le travail des géologues, en adressant lesverrous techniques posés par la configuration particulièrede Sismage-CIG

Uncleaned crop seed sowing as a tool to conserve bromus grossus and restore species-rich arable-dependent plant communities

peer reviewedSegetal plants, which grow preferentially or exclusively in cereal fields, experienced a strong decline during the last century. Among them, Bromus grossus received particular attention, as it is highly threatened in Europe. Its decline is thought to be due to crop seed cleaning among other causes. Re-establishing the sowing of uncleaned crop seeds should therefore be considered as a tool for the conservation of this species. In this study, we aimed to evaluate (i) how the conservation of B. grossus relies on transfer in uncleaned crop seed, (ii) how this practice may help to restore new populations of this species, and (iii) the contribution of this practice to the dispersal of other segetal plants. From 2012 to 2016, we monitored eight fields from three farms in Southern Belgium where uncleaned spelt seed containing B. grossus was sown. We found that B. grossus grew in the year following seed sowing, but disappeared in the second year in most cases. This highlights the extreme dependence of B. grossus upon uncleaned spelt-seed sowing. We also showed that, through associated management practices, B. grossus acted as an ‘umbrella species’ to other arable-dependent plants. Transfer of uncleaned seed led to an increase in species richness in an experimental field from 12 species in 2015 to 43 species in 2017. Based on the germination of uncleaned seeds in a greenhouse, we concluded that it was likely to account for the dispersal of at least nine species, and possibly 15 others. © 2018, University of Cambridge. All rights reserved

Self-Assembling Behavior of Glycerol Monoundecenoate in Water

The self-assembling properties of glycerol esters in water are well known. Still, few data on glycerol monoesters of undecylenic acid are available. The aim of this study was to highlight the behavior of glycerol monoundecenoate (GM-C11:1) in different diluted and concentrated states. Its self-assembling properties in water and upon solid inorganic surfaces were investigated in the diluted state using surface tension experiments, atomic force microscopy, and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy studies. In the concentrated state, the gelling properties in the presence of water were investigated using polarized light microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) experiments. GM-C11:1 at 100 mg/L self-assembles at the liquid/air interfaces as aggregates of approximately 20 nm in diameter, organized into concentric forms. These aggregates are spherical globules composed of several molecules of GM-C11:1. At higher concentrations (1000 and 104 mg/L), GM-C11:1 is able to uniformly coat liquid/air and liquid/solid interfaces. In bulk, GM-C11:1 forms spontaneously aggregates and vesicles. In a more concentrated state, GM-C11:1 assembles into lamellar Lβ and Lα forms in water. By cross-referencing SAXS and DSC findings, we were able to distinguish between interlamellar water molecules strongly bound to GM-C11:1 and other molecules remaining unbound and considered to be “mobile” water. The percentage of water strongly bound was proportional to the percentage of GM-C11:1 in the system. In this case, GM-C11:1 appears to be an effective molecule for surface treatments for which water retention is important

Premature commitment to uncertain decisions during human NMDA receptor hypofunction

International audienceMaking accurate decisions based on unreliable sensory evidence requires cognitive inference. Dysfunction of n-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors impairs the integration of noisy input in theoretical models of neural circuits, but whether and how this synaptic alteration impairs human inference and confidence during uncertain decisions remains unknown. Here we use placebo-controlled infusions of ketamine to characterize the causal effect of human NMDA receptor hypofunction on cognitive inference and its neural correlates. At the behavioral level, ketamine triggers inference errors and elevated decision uncertainty. At the neural level, ketamine is associated with imbalanced coding of evidence and premature response preparation in electroencephalographic (EEG) activity. Through computational modeling of inference and confidence, we propose that this specific pattern of behavioral and neural impairments reflects an early commitment to inaccurate decisions, which aims at resolving the abnormal uncertainty generated by NMDA receptor hypofunction

Crystallisation sequence of a REE-rich carbonate melt: an experimental approach

International audienceCarbonatites host Earth's main REE deposits, with bastnaesite (LREE)CO 3 F being the main economic REE-bearing mineral. However, bastnaesite mineralisation processes are debated between hydrothermal or magmatic origin. This study aims to assess if bastnaesite can be magmatic, and to characterise the REE behaviour during carbonatite crystallisation. Crystallisation experiments have been performed from 900 to 600 °C at 1 kbar, on a REE-rich calciocarbonatitic composition. REEbearing calcite is the dominant crystallising mineral, driving the residual melt towards natrocarbonatitic compositions. Both halogens (i.e., Cl and F) and water decrease the temperature of calcite saturation. REE are slightly incompatible with calcite: for all REE, partition coefficients between carbonate melt and calcite are comprised between 1 and 11, and increase with temperature decrease. Britholite (REE, Ca) 5 ((Si,P)O 4) 3 (F,OH) crystallises at high temperatures (700-900 °C), while pyrochlore (Ca,Na,REE) 2 Nb 2 O 6 (OH,F) crystallises at low temperatures (600-700 °C), as well as REE-rich apatite (600-650 °C). No bastnaesite is found in crystallisation experiments. We thus performed a bastnaesite saturation experiment at 600 °C. The bastnaesite-saturated melt contains 20 wt% of REE: such magmatic saturation is unlikely to happen in nature. Textural evidences imply a Na, Cl, REE-rich fluid at high temperatures and hydrous conditions. We propose that fluids are the main mineralising agent for bastnaesite at hydrothermal stage (<600 °C)

Parenchymal lung involvement in adult-onset Still disease: A STROBE-compliant case series and literature review

International audienceParenchymal lung involvement (PLI) in adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) has seldom, if ever, been studied. We examine here retrospective cohort AOSD cases and present a review of the literature (1971-2014) on AOSD-related PLI cases.Patients with PLI were identified in 57 AOSD cases. For inclusion, the patients had to fulfill Yamaguchi or Fautrel classification criteria, show respiratory symptoms, and have imaging evidence of pulmonary involvement, and data allowing exclusion of infectious, cardiogenic, toxic, or iatrogenic cause of PLI should be available. This AOSD + PLI group was compared with a control group (non-PLI-complicated AOSD cases from the same cohort).AOSD + PLI was found in 3 out of the 57 patients with AOSD (5.3%) and the literature mentioned 27 patients. Among these 30 AOSD + PLI cases, 12 presented an acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and the remaining 18 another PLI. In the latter, a nonspecific interstitial pneumonia computed tomography pattern prevailed in the lower lobes, pulmonary function tests showed a restrictive lung function, the alveolar differential cell count was neutrophilic in half of the cases, and the histological findings were consistent with bronchiolitis and nonspecific interstitial pneumonia. Corticosteroids were fully efficient in all but 3 patients. Ten out of 12 ARDS cases occurred during the first year of the disease course. All ARDS-complicated AOSD cases received corticosteroids with favorable outcomes in 10 (2 deceased). Most PLIs occurred during the systemic onset of AOSD.PLI may occur in 5% of AOSDs, of which ARDS is the most severe. Very often, corticosteroids are efficient in controlling this complicatio