Écosystèmes méditerranéens menacés par les changements globaux et les pressions anthropogéniques : vulnérabilité et capacité adaptative des forêts du Nord Liban

Situé au confluent de trois continents, et en raison de sa topographie accidentée, sa biogéographie, sa géologie et les civilisations humaines particulières au bassin méditerranéen qui y sont établies, le Liban abrite des forêts exceptionnelles par leurs variations et caractéristiques, représentant un trait unique dans l’environnement aride de la Méditerranée orientale. Le Nord Liban compte une mosaïque de peuplements forestiers à grande richesse spécifique. Cependant, ces forêts sont soumises à diverses pressions d’origine naturelle et anthropique pesant sur leurs ressources intrinsèques. Cet article vise à estimer la capacité des forêts du Nord Liban à réagir aux changements globaux et aux pressions humaines à travers l’évaluation de la vulnérabilité de quatre formations forestières-types de la région en fonction de leur exposition, sensibilité et capacité d’adaptation à des facteurs de stress spécifiques, et en se basant sur des indicateurs/descripteurs des pressions abiotiques et des pratiques anthropiques. Les résultats illustrent une vulnérabilité relativement élevée des forêts au (sur)pâturage, aux incendies et à l’expansion urbaine et agricole. Bien que ces dernières détiennent une capacité d’adaptation élevée inhérente à leurs structures diverses, caractéristiques physiologiques et richesse en biodiversité, la fréquence rapide des impacts risque de compromettre leurs mécanismes d’adaptation et de défier leur capacité de résilience surtout en vue des changements climatiques globauxLocated at the crossroad of three continents, in a complex context of topography, biogeography, geology and historic human settlements particular to the Mediterranean basin, Lebanon hosts very particular forests representing a unique feature in the arid environment of the Eastern Mediterranean. North Lebanon embraces several types of forest stands with high specific richness. These forests are however subject to several anthropogenic and natural threats. This paper aims at assessing their ability to cope with and adapt to global changes and human disturbances, through an evaluation of the vulnerability of four representative stands of the North forest communities as a function of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, with respect to specific indicators/descriptors related to biotic pressures and anthropogenic practices. Results illustrate a relatively high vulnerability of forests to overgrazing, fire events and increasing agricultural and urban encroachment. These stands have an important adaptive capacity inherent to their diverse structures, physiological characteristics and species richness. However, impacts are rapidly and frequently occurring in a way that will probably challenge their ability to provide a response and defy their resilience especially in view of the plodding effects of climate chang

Erratum to: “Pancreatic cancer and SBRT: A new potential option?” [Rep. Pract. Oncol. Radiother. 20 (2015) 377–384]

Local control remains a major issue for patients with unresectable, locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC). The role of radiation therapy in the management of LAPC represents an area of some controversy. Stereotactic body radiotherapy is an emerging treatment option for LAPC as it can provide a therapeutic benefit with significant advantages for patients’ quality of life over standard conventional chemoradiation. The objective of this review is to present the rationale for stereotactic body radiotherapy in LAPC, as well as to discuss the potential limitations and caveats of the currently available studies

Pancreatic cancer and SBRT: A new potential option?

Local control remains a major issue for patients with unresectable, locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC). The role of radiation therapy in the management of LAPC represents an area of some controversy. Stereotactic body radiotherapy is an emerging treatment option for LAPC as it can provide a therapeutic benefit with significant advantages for patients’ quality of life over standard conventional chemoradiation. The objective of this review is to present the rationale for stereotactic body radiotherapy in LAPC, as well as to discuss the potential limitations and caveats of the currently available studies

Hydroxychloroquine, cold urticaria, and the ice bucket challenge: A case report

Background: Cold urticaria is often resistant to first line treatment with second-generation H1-antihistamines. Case summary: We report a case of a fifty year-old woman with a history of cold urticaria showing no response to classic treatments, treated successfully with hydroxychloroquine initially prescribed to treat her frontal fibrosing alopecia. Conclusion: Hydroxychloroquine may be a successful treatment option for recalcitrant cold urticaria

Forest Sustainability in North Lebanon: A Challenging Complexity in a Changing Environment

Forests sustainability is a challenging task in a complex socioeconomic context. North Lebanon is a critical zone harboring forests of key ecological value and is one of the most deprived regions in Lebanon with high poverty rates, where forests are heavily impacted by unsustainable anthropogenic practices. In the global frame of climate change scenarios, this paper tests a multistakeholder, multidisciplinary approach for forest management, combining a joint participatory methodology with stakeholders along with field ecological surveys in the upper Akkar watershed (north Lebanon). A set of participatory tools including stakeholder’s analysis, problem tree, objective tree, and scenario building are tailored to reach this goal. Results exhibit that forest management is not only related to forests per se but also very much linked to the surrounding socioeconomic situation. Involving not only strict silviculture interventions but also a definite consideration of community needs and local economy, the adoption of a multitool, multidisciplinary, multistakeholder approach combines all possible aspects of a challenging context and unfolds complementary processes which all feed back into one target. Yet, it is a time-consuming process, which can easily drown financial and temporal resources and which can sometimes raise unrealistic expectations that are difficult to meet

Pertinence of protected areas networks in biodiversity conservation strategies: Insights from an eastern Mediterranean context

International audienceBiodiversity conservation has become one of today’s major challenges in a complex socio-ecological context, where common socioeconomic needs for resources exploitation are confronted to striking ecological conservation priorities. Protected areas constitute the key foundation for national and international strategies of effective biodiversity and ecosystems conservation. This paper assesses the effectiveness of protected areas networks in representing key ecological assemblages in Mediterranean environments. Based on a spatial interpretation of the distribution of existing and «preset» protected areas in Lebanon, and the analysis of their coherence with key ecological conservation needs, the pertinence of protected areas designation with respect to biodiversity conservation priorities is assessed. Analysis is performed through the overlay of the protected areas map of Lebanon with that of the areas of high ecological conservation value, the land cover/land use map, the soil map, and the overlaid map of bioclimatic and vegetation levels. A chi-square statistic is also used to significantly compare and assess the distribution of existing protected areas according to land cover, soil and bioclimatic/vegetation aspects. Results exhibit that the existing network of protected areas does not represent the country’s main ecological assets in terms of species richness, soil specificities, important areas for biodiversity, and key eco-complexes. Current protected areas designation seems to answer very particular needs and to follow sociopolitical opportunities inLebanon (in particular) and the Mediterranean (in general), while it should be based on pertinent ecological and socioeconomic criteria that would highlight the relevance and priority for conservation measures. Rethinking/wideningthe government efforts towards biodiversity protection is thus identified as a major need

Proton Therapy in the Management of Pancreatic Cancer

Radiation therapy plays a central role in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. While generally shown to be feasible, proton irradiation, particularly when an ablative dose is planned, remains a challenge, especially due to tumor motion and the proximity to organs at risk, like the stomach, duodenum, and bowel. Clinically, standard doses of proton radiation treatment have not been shown to be statistically different from photon radiation treatment in terms of oncologic outcomes and toxicity rates as per non-randomized comparative studies. Fractionation schedules and concurrent chemotherapy combinations are yet to be optimized for proton therapy and are the subject of ongoing trials

Integrating Sensor Data Using Sensor Observation Service: Towards a Methodology for the O-Life Observatory

This paper introduces an approach illustrating how the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) framework can be used in order to build a franco-lebanese observatory. We present the practical application of SWE services as a source of real-time observation data and the associated technical architecture for making near real-time observations available to end users on the Web. We discuss the question of crossing sensor data with other data sources, e.g., data provided by human observations. We illustrate our approach by describing the methodology to integrate a first illustration case to monitor snow weather stations in the Lebanese Mountains

Building the O-Life Franco-Lebanese Environmental Observatory Using Sensor Web Enablement Framework : Challenges and First Approach

International audienceThis paper introduces an approach how the Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) framework of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) will be used in order to build a franco-lebanese observatory. We present the practical application of SWE services as a source of real-time observation data and the associated technical architecture for making the observations available on the Web to end users near real-time. We discuss the question of crossing sensor data with other data sources, e.g., data provided by human observations. We illustrate our approach with a first use case to monitor the snow weather stations in Lebanese Mountains