Organisation des cabinets d’avocats et marchés des services juridiques

Comme dans d’autres professions, l’organisation des activités des avocats a subi des transformations importantes avec l’émergence de grands cabinets suivant une logique d’entreprise orientée par le profit, contrôlée par le marché et dirigée par des principes managériaux. Ces law firms qui conseillent principalement des grandes entreprises coexistent avec une multitude de petits cabinets ayant principalement pour clientèle des particuliers, laissant peu de place aux structures d’exercice intermédiaires. L’objectif de cet article est de rendre compte en France de ce dualisme qui tend à se renforcer. Il est aussi de montrer la pluralité des modes d’organisation des cabinets, en particulier les différences dans l’intégration des ressources et la standardisation des prestations, en lien avec leur marché des services juridiques. Pour cela, nous prenons appui sur les résultats d’une première enquête statistique auprès d’un échantillon représentatif de plus de 200 cabinets d’avocats.As in other professions, the organization of the activities of lawyers have undergone important transformations with the emergence of large law firms following a business logic oriented by profit, controlled by the market and led by managerial principles. These law firms that advise primarily large companies coexist with a multitude of solo practitioners who mainly defend individuals, leaving little room to the intermediate structures of professional activity. The purpose of this article is to account, in France, for this dualism which is becoming stronger. We also intend to show the diversity of the forms of organization of law firms in relation to their legal services market. To do this, we are relying on the results of a first statistical survey of a representative sample of more than 200 law firms

The effects of improving hospital physicians working conditions on patient care: a prospective, controlled intervention study

Background: Physicians, particularly in hospitals, suffer from adverse working conditions. There is a close link between physicians' psychosocial work environment and the quality of the work they deliver. Our study aimed to explore whether a participatory work-design intervention involving hospital physicians is effective in improving working conditions and quality of patient care. Methods: A prospective, controlled intervention study was conducted in two surgical and two internal departments. Participants were 57 hospital physicians and 1581 inpatients. The intervention was a structured, participatory intervention based on continuous group meetings. Physicians actively analyzed problematic working conditions, developed solutions, and initiated their implementation. Physicians' working conditions and patients' perceived quality of care were outcome criteria. These variables were assessed by standardized questionnaires. Additional data on implementation status were gathered through interviews. Results: Over the course of ten months, several work-related problems were identified, categorized, and ten solutions were implemented. Post-intervention, physicians in the intervention departments reported substantially less conflicting demands and enhanced quality of cooperation with patients' relatives, compared to control group physicians. Moreover, positive changes in enhanced colleague support could be attributed to the intervention. Regarding patient reports of care quality of care, patient ratings of physicians organization of care improved for physicians in the intervention group. Five interviews with involved physicians confirm the plausibility of obtained results, provide information on implementation status and sustainability of the solutions, and highlight process-related factors for re-design interventions to improve hospital physicians work. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that participatory work design for hospital physicians is a promising intervention for improving working conditions and promoting patient quality of care

The effects of improving hospital physicians working conditions on patient care: a prospective, controlled intervention study

Background: Physicians, particularly in hospitals, suffer from adverse working conditions. There is a close link between physicians' psychosocial work environment and the quality of the work they deliver. Our study aimed to explore whether a participatory work-design intervention involving hospital physicians is effective in improving working conditions and quality of patient care. Methods: A prospective, controlled intervention study was conducted in two surgical and two internal departments. Participants were 57 hospital physicians and 1581 inpatients. The intervention was a structured, participatory intervention based on continuous group meetings. Physicians actively analyzed problematic working conditions, developed solutions, and initiated their implementation. Physicians' working conditions and patients' perceived quality of care were outcome criteria. These variables were assessed by standardized questionnaires. Additional data on implementation status were gathered through interviews. Results: Over the course of ten months, several work-related problems were identified, categorized, and ten solutions were implemented. Post-intervention, physicians in the intervention departments reported substantially less conflicting demands and enhanced quality of cooperation with patients' relatives, compared to control group physicians. Moreover, positive changes in enhanced colleague support could be attributed to the intervention. Regarding patient reports of care quality of care, patient ratings of physicians organization of care improved for physicians in the intervention group. Five interviews with involved physicians confirm the plausibility of obtained results, provide information on implementation status and sustainability of the solutions, and highlight process-related factors for re-design interventions to improve hospital physicians work. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that participatory work design for hospital physicians is a promising intervention for improving working conditions and promoting patient quality of care

Learning Distinct Chemical Labels of Nestmates in Ants

Colony coherence is essential for eusocial insects because it supports the inclusive fitness of colony members. Ants quickly and reliably recognize who belongs to the colony (nestmates) and who is an outsider (non-nestmates) based on chemical recognition cues (cuticular hydrocarbons: CHCs) which as a whole constitute a chemical label. The process of nestmate recognition often is described as matching a neural template with the label. In this study, we tested the prevailing view that ants use commonalities in the colony odor that are present in the CHC profile of all individuals of a colony or whether different CHC profiles are learned independently. We created and manipulated sub-colonies by adding one or two different hydrocarbons that were not present in the original colony odor of our Camponotus floridanus colony and later tested workers of the sub-colonies in one-on-one encounters for aggressive responses. We found that workers adjust their nestmate recognition by learning novel, manipulated CHC profiles, but still accept workers with the previous CHC profile. Workers from a sub-colony with two additional components showed aggression against workers with only one of the two components added to their CHC profile. Thus, additional components as well as the lack of a component can alter a label as “non-nestmate.” Our results suggest that ants have multiple-templates to recognize nestmates carrying distinct labels. This finding is in contrast to what previously has been proposed, i.e., a widening of the acceptance range of one template. We conclude that nestmate recognition in ants is a partitioned (multiple-template) process of the olfactory system that allows discrimination and categorization of nestmates by differences in their CHC profiles. Our findings have strong implications for our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of colony coherence and task allocation because they illustrate the importance of individual experience and task associated differences in the CHC profiles that can be instructive for the organization of insect societies

AIM2 inflammasome-derived IL-1 beta induces postoperative ileus in mice

Postoperative ileus (POI) is an intestinal dysmotility frequently occurring after abdominal surgery. An orchestrated neuroimmune response within the muscularis externa (ME) involves activation of resident macrophages, enteric glia and infiltration of blood-derived leukocytes. Interleukin-1 receptor type-I (IL1R1) signalling on enteric glia has been shown to be involved in POI development. Herein we investigated the distinct role of the IL1R1 ligands interleukin (IL)-1 alpha and IL-1 beta and focused on the mechanism of IL-1 beta production. IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta deficient mice were protected from POI. Bone-marrow transplantation studies indicated that IL-1 alpha originated from radio-resistant cells while IL-1 beta was released from the radio-sensitive infiltrating leukocytes. Mouse strains deficient in inflammasome formation identified the absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) inflammasome to be crucial for IL-1 beta production in POI. Mechanistically, antibiotic-treated mice revealed a prominent role of the microbiome in IL-1 beta production. Our study provides new insights into distinct roles of IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta signalling during POI. While IL-1 alpha release is most likely an immediate passive response to the surgical trauma, IL-1 beta production depends on AIM2 inflammasome formation and the microbiome. Selective interaction in this pathway might be a promising target to prevent POI in surgical patients

Proteogenomic analysis of Georgfuchsia toluolica revealed unexpected concurrent aerobic and anaerobic toluene degradation

Denitrifying Betaproteobacteria play a key role in the anaerobic degradation of monoaromatic hydrocarbons. We performed a multi-omics study to better understand the metabolism of the representative organism Georgfuchsia toluolica strain G5G6 known as a strict anaerobe coupling toluene oxidation with dissimilatory nitrate and Fe(III) reduction. Despite the genomic potential for degradation of different carbon sources, we did not find sugar or organic acid transporters, in line with the inability of strain G5G6 to use these substrates. Using a proteomics analysis, we detected proteins of fumarate-dependent toluene activation, membrane-bound nitrate reductase, and key components of the metal-reducing (Mtr) pathway under both nitrate- and Fe(III)-reducing conditions. High abundance of the multiheme cytochrome MtrC implied that a porincytochrome complex was used for respiratory Fe(III) reduction. Remarkably, strain G5G6 contains a full set of genes for aerobic toluene degradation, and we detected enzymes of aerobic toluene degradation under both nitrate- and Fe(III)-reducing conditions. We further detected an ATP-dependent benzoyl-CoA reductase, reactive oxygen species detoxification proteins, and cytochrome c oxidase indicating a facultative anaerobic lifestyle of strain G5G6. Correspondingly, we found diffusion through the septa a substantial source of oxygen in the cultures enabling concurrent aerobic and anaerobic toluene degradation by strain G5G6.This work was supported by Wageningen University & Research through its investment theme Resilience, the Technology Foundation (STW), the Applied Science Division of the Dutch Research Council (NWO; project 08053), NWO grant 016.Vidi.189.050, and a Gravitation grant of the Netherlands Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and NWO (project 024.002.002 SIAM). B.K. was supported by the Villum foundation, Denmark (VYI Grant 25491).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio