Integrated Water Resource Management : what challenges and opportunities for the Regional Nature Parks of the South-East France ? Experimentation of a reflection companion device in the Park of Luberon

Alors qu’à l’échelle globale la répartition et la concurrence des usages de l’eau mettent cette ressource « sous pression » (Académie de l’eau, 2008), les évolutions sociodémographiques, économiques et climatiques en cours dans les Parcs naturels régionaux (PNR) du Sud- Est de la France, induisent, depuis les dernières décennies, une pression croissante sur la ressource susceptible de remettre en question la pérennité et la qualité de l’approvisionnement en eau. Dans ce contexte, certains de ces territoires ont lancé, depuis quelques années, en partenariat avec le Groupement des Amis des Parcs naturels régionaux du Sud- Est, une politique volontariste de gestion de la ressource en eau, pour répondre à la fois aux objectifs de protection de la ressource et de développement local, inhérents à leur charte et à la dimension sociale et institutionnelle de la Gestion intégrée des ressources en eau (GIRE). Cette volonté se concrétise, depuis 2013, par la réalisation d’une thèse CIFRE (Convention industrielle de formation par la recherche) permettant ainsi d’engager une démarche de recherche appliquée sur la dimension participative de la gestion intégrée de l’eau dans les PNR du Sud-Est. Cet article a pour vocations de montrer les enjeux du travail de thèse en cours vis-à-vis de l’engagement des PNR du Sud-Est en matière de gestion intégrée de l’eau, de donner un aperçu des premiers résultats et analyses, et de montrer comment le PNR du Luberon s’est positionné en territoire pilote pour expérimenter des outils de modélisation participative pour accompagner le contrat de gestion du bassin-versant du Largue et de la Laye.While water seems apparently abundant on the global scale, the resource is increasingly threatened and « under pressure » because of the unequal distribution and the multiplication of competing and conflicting uses. (Académie de l’Eau, 2008). The Regional Nature Parks of the South-East France have to cope with a growing pressure on the water resource due to the demographic, economic and climatic changes of the last decades. In this context, these territories have launched, in recent years, a proactive program on water resources management in partnership with the “Friends of the South East’s Parks Association”. The main purpose of this program is to help the parks to achieve their goals about resource protection and local development and to develop the social and institutional dimension of the integrated water resource Management concept (IWRM). This has been strengthened since 2013 by the establishment of a PhD Thesis which initiates a process of applied research on the participatory dimension of IWRM. The main objectives of this paper are to show the PhD issues related to the commitment of regional french parks about IWRM, to provide an overview and analysis of the first results and to show how the Park of Luberon is acting as a pilot area to experiment participatory modeling tools to support the Largue and Laye basin management plan

Use of In Vivo and In Vitro Systems to Select Leishmania amazonensis Expressing Green Fluorescent Protein

Various Leishmania species were engineered with green fluorescent protein (GFP) using episomal vectors that encoded an antibiotic resistance gene, such as aminoglycoside geneticin sulphate (G418). Most reports of GFP-Leishmania have used the flagellated extracellular promastigote, the stage of parasite detected in the midgut of the sandfly vector; fewer studies have been performed with amastigotes, the stage of parasite detected in mammals. In this study, comparisons were made regarding the efficiency for in vitro G418 selection of GFP-Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes and amastigotes and the use of in vivo G418 selection. The GFP-promastigotes retained episomal plasmid for a prolonged period and G418 treatment was necessary and efficient for in vitro selection. In contrast, GFP-amastigotes showed low retention of the episomal plasmid in the absence of G418 selection and low sensitivity to antibiotics in vitro. The use of protocols for G418 selection using infected BALB/c mice also indicated low sensitivity to antibiotics against amastigotes in cutaneous lesions

Neurogenic heterotopic ossification of the hip: Magnetic resonance imaging versus computed tomography for pre-surgical assessment

International audiencePurpose: Neurogenic heterotopic ossification (NHO) of the hip is a frequent complication of spinal cord injuries, often requiring surgical management. Pre-surgical imaging assessment is essential, usually with computed tomography (CT)-scan. We aimed to compare magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and CT for pre-surgical imaging assessment of the NHO, particularly for their relationships with vessels and nerves. Method: This prospective study included consecutive patients who underwent surgery for NHO from July 2019 to April 2022. All patients had CT angiography and MRI including Zero Echo Time and TRICKS sequences. Radiologists used standardized reports for CT and MRI to evaluate NHO and their features, bone mineralization, and relation to the arteries, veins and nerves. Agreement between pre-surgical CT and MRI was evaluated. Results: Twenty-four patients (mean age: 53.5 ± 12.2 years) were included, among which 7 had bilateral NHO (31 hips). NHO were anterior in 15/31 hips (48 %), multifragmented in 25/31 hips (81 %). Mild and significant demineralization was most frequent. Gutter and tunnel were reported in 11.1 % of the arteries. Nerves were more often identified in MRI than in CT-scan. Agreement coefficients between CT and MRI were excellent for NHO location (0.95) and implantation (0.92), good for fragmentation (0.70), contact with joint capsule (0.66), bone mineralization (0.74), and relation to arteries (0.85), veins (0.76), sciatic nerve (0.7) and moderate for femoral nerve (0.47). Conclusion: MRI exhibited a good agreement with CT for pre-surgical assessment of NHO of the hip, especially to evaluate their relationships with the arteries, veins and sciatic nerve. Femoral nerves were more often identified in MRI than in CT-scan

Identification of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) genetic variants that modify risk for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

EGFR polymorphisms have not been thoroughly evaluated for association with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) risk. We genotyped 578 HNSCC patients and 588 cancer-free controls for 60 EGFR single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and tested associations with HNSCC risk. EGFR intronic SNPs rs12535536, rs2075110, rs1253871, rs845561 and rs6970262 and synonymous SNP rs2072454 were associated with HNSCC risk among all subjects (p < 0.05). SNPs rs12538371, rs845561, and rs6970262 were significantly associated with HNSCC risk (p < 0.05) among never tobacco users. We identified EGFR variants that likely modify risk for HNSCC including three variants that contribute to tobacco-independent risk