Analyse de la performance économique de production de Chou (Brassica oleracea) biologique dans les communes de Cotonou et de Sèmè Kpodji au Sud-Bénin

Le chou, une importante culture maraîchère des communes de Cotonou et de Sèmè-Kpodji, est l’objet d’une forte pression parasitaire. Il est en conséquence objet de beaucoup de traitement à base des pesticides chimiques et source de contamination pour les consommateurs. Face à ce problème, les producteurs du réseau AMAP (Association pour le Maintien d’une Agriculture Paysanne) ont adopté la production de chou biologique. La production de chou biologique est-elle performante économiquement ? Notre étude se propose d’analyser la performance économique de production de chou biologique. Les données ont été collectées auprès de quarante (40) producteurs de chou biologique et quarante (40) producteurs de chou conventionnel. Les résultats ont montré que le rendement de chou biologique était inférieur à celui de chou conventionnel. La valeur ajoutée, l’excédent brut d’exploitation et le résultat net d’exploitation de chou biologique étaient supérieur à ceux de chou conventionnel. La proportion de revenu net annuel apporté par la production de chou biologique dans la dépense totale annuelle de consommation du ménage de producteur était 78,5 %. La dépense alimentaire annuelle des ménages de producteur de chou biologique représentait 49,5% dans la dépense totale annuelle de consommation. Le revenu net annuel apporté par la production de chou biologique dans le ménage du producteur était élevé pour nourrit le ménage du producteur. La production de chou biologique permet de nourrir le producteur et son ménage

N-acetylcysteine Facilitates Self-Imposed Abstinence After Escalation of Cocaine Intake.

BACKGROUND: N-acetylcysteine (NAC) has been suggested to prevent relapse to cocaine seeking. However, the psychological processes underlying its potential therapeutic benefit remain largely unknown. METHODS: We investigated the hallmark features of addiction that were influenced by chronic NAC treatment in rats given extended access to cocaine: escalation, motivation, self-imposed abstinence in the face of punishment, or propensity to relapse. For this, Sprague Dawley rats were given access either to 1 hour (short access) or 6 hours (long access [LgA]) self-administration (SA) sessions until LgA rats displayed a robust escalation. Rats then received daily saline or NAC (60 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) treatment and were tested under a progressive ratio and several consecutive sessions in which lever presses were punished by mild electric foot shocks. RESULTS: NAC increased the sensitivity to punishment in LgA rats only, thereby promoting abstinence. Following the cessation of punishment, NAC-treated LgA rats failed to recover fully their prepunishment cocaine intake levels and resumed cocaine SA at a lower rate than short access and vehicle-treated LgA rats. However, NAC altered neither the escalation of SA nor the motivation for cocaine. At the neurobiological level, NAC reversed cocaine-induced decreases in the glutamate type 1 transporter observed in both the nucleus accumbens and the dorsolateral striatum. NAC also increased the expression of Zif268 in the nucleus accumbens and dorsolateral striatum of LgA rats. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that NAC contributes to the restoration of control over cocaine SA following adverse consequences, an effect associated with plasticity mechanisms in both the ventral and dorsolateral striatum.This research was supported by a French Institute of Health and Medical Research Avenir and an ANR12 SAMA00201 Grant (to DB) as well as a Newton Trust/Cambridge University Grant (to DB). BJE and JEM are supported by a Medical Research Council (G9536855, G0701500) Grant to BJE and by a joint award from the Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust in support of the Behavioral and Clinical Neuroscience Institute at Cambridge University

The anterior insula bidirectionally modulates cost-benefit decision-making on a rodent gambling task.

Deficits in cost-benefit decision-making, as assessed in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), are commonly observed in neuropsychiatric disorders such as addiction. There is considerable variation in the maximization of rewards on such tasks, both in the general population and in rodent models, suggesting individual differences in decision-making may represent a key endophenotype for vulnerability to neuropsychiatric disorders. Increasing evidence suggests that the insular cortex, which is involved in interoception and emotional processes in humans, may be a key neural locus in the control of decision-making processes. However, the extent to which the insula contributes to individual differences in cost-benefit decision-making remains unknown. Using male Sprague Dawley rats, we first assessed individual differences in the performance over the course of a single session on a rodent analogue of the IGT (rGT). Rats were matched for their ability to maximize reward and received bilateral excitotoxic or sham lesions of the anterior insula cortex (AIC). Animals were subsequently challenged on a second rGT session with altered contingencies. Finally, animals were also assessed for instrumental conditioning and reversal learning. AIC lesions produced bidirectional alterations on rGT performance; rats that had performed optimally prior to surgery subsequently showed impairments, and animals that had performed poorly showed improvements in comparison with sham-operated controls. These bidirectional effects were not attributable to alterations in behavioural flexibility or in motivation. These data suggest that the recruitment of the AIC during decision-making may be state-dependent and help guide response selection towards subjectively favourable options

Subthalamic nucleus stimulation affects orbitofrontal cortex in facial emotion recognition: a pet study

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the bilateral subthalamic nucleus (STN) in Parkinson's disease is thought to produce adverse events such as emotional disorders, and in a recent study, we found fear recognition to be impaired as a result. These changes have been attributed to disturbance of the STN's limbic territory and would appear to confirm that the negative emotion recognition network passes through the STN. In addition, it is now widely acknowledged that damage to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), especially the right side, can result in impaired recognition of facial emotions (RFE). In this context, we hypothesized that this reduced recognition of fear is correlated with modifications in the cerebral glucose metabolism of the right OFC. The objective of the present study was first, to reinforce our previous results by demonstrating reduced fear recognition in our Parkinson's disease patient group following STN DBS and, second, to correlate these emotional performances with glucose metabolism using 18FDG-PET. The 18FDG-PET and RFE tasks were both performed by a cohort of 13 Parkinson's disease patients 3 months before and 3 months after surgery for STN DBS. As predicted, we observed a significant reduction in fear recognition following surgery and obtained a positive correlation between these neuropsychological results and changes in glucose metabolism, especially in the right OFC. These results confirm the role of the STN as a key basal ganglia structure in limbic circuits

The International Deep Brain Stimulation Registry and Database for Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome: How Does It Work?

Tourette Syndrome (TS) is a neuropsychiatric disease characterized by a combination of motor and vocal tics. Deep brain stimulation (DBS), already widely utilized for Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders, is an emerging therapy for select and severe cases of TS that are resistant to medication and behavioral therapy. Over the last two decades, DBS has been used experimentally to manage severe TS cases. The results of case reports and small case series have been variable but in general positive. The reported interventions have, however, been variable, and there remain non-standardized selection criteria, various brain targets, differences in hardware, as well as variability in the programming parameters utilized. DBS centers perform only a handful of TS DBS cases each year, making large-scale outcomes difficult to study and to interpret. These limitations, coupled with the variable effect of surgery, and the overall small numbers of TS patients with DBS worldwide, have delayed regulatory agency approval (e.g., FDA and equivalent agencies around the world). The Tourette Association of America, in response to the worldwide need for a more organized and collaborative effort, launched an international TS DBS registry and database. The main goal of the project has been to share data, uncover best practices, improve outcomes, and to provide critical information to regulatory agencies. The international registry and database has improved the communication and collaboration among TS DBS centers worldwide. In this paper we will review some of the key operation details for the international TS DBS database and registry

Synergies, Strengths and Challenges: Findings on Community Capability from a Systematic Health Systems Research Literature Review

Background: Community capability is the combined influence of a community’s social systems and collective resources that can address community problems and broaden community opportunities. We frame it as consisting of three domains that together support community empowerment: what communities have; how communities act; and for whom communities act. We sought to further understand these domains through a secondary analysis of a previous systematic review on community participation in health systems interventions in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Methods: We searched for journal articles published between 2000 and 2012 related to the concepts of “community”, “capability/participation”, “health systems research” and “LMIC.” We identified 64 with rich accounts of community participation involving service delivery and governance in health systems research for thematic analysis following the three domains framing community capability. Results: When considering what communities have, articles reported external linkages as the most frequently gained resource, especially when partnerships resulted in more community power over the intervention. In contrast, financial assets were the least mentioned, despite their importance for sustainability. With how communities act, articles discussed challenges of ensuring inclusive participation and detailed strategies to improve inclusiveness. Very little was reported about strengthening community cohesiveness and collective efficacy despite their importance in community initiatives. When reviewing for whom communities act, the importance of strong local leadership was mentioned frequently, while conflict resolution strategies and skills were rarely discussed. Synergies were found across these elements of community capability, with tangible success in one area leading to positive changes in another. Access to information and opportunities to develop skills were crucial to community participation, critical thinking, problem solving and ownership. Although there are many quantitative scales measuring community capability, health systems research engaged with community participation has rarely made use of these tools or the concepts informing them. Overall, the amount of information related to elements of community capability reported by these articles was low and often of poor quality. Conclusions: Strengthening community capability is critical to ensuring that community participation leads to genuine empowerment. Our simpler framework to define community capability may help researchers better recognize, support and assess it

A new MRI rating scale for progressive supranuclear palsy and multiple system atrophy: validity and reliability

AIM To evaluate a standardised MRI acquisition protocol and a new image rating scale for disease severity in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and multiple systems atrophy (MSA) in a large multicentre study. METHODS The MRI protocol consisted of two-dimensional sagittal and axial T1, axial PD, and axial and coronal T2 weighted acquisitions. The 32 item ordinal scale evaluated abnormalities within the basal ganglia and posterior fossa, blind to diagnosis. Among 760 patients in the study population (PSP = 362, MSA = 398), 627 had per protocol images (PSP = 297, MSA = 330). Intra-rater (n = 60) and inter-rater (n = 555) reliability were assessed through Cohen's statistic, and scale structure through principal component analysis (PCA) (n = 441). Internal consistency and reliability were checked. Discriminant and predictive validity of extracted factors and total scores were tested for disease severity as per clinical diagnosis. RESULTS Intra-rater and inter-rater reliability were acceptable for 25 (78%) of the items scored (≥ 0.41). PCA revealed four meaningful clusters of covarying parameters (factor (F) F1: brainstem and cerebellum; F2: midbrain; F3: putamen; F4: other basal ganglia) with good to excellent internal consistency (Cronbach α 0.75-0.93) and moderate to excellent reliability (intraclass coefficient: F1: 0.92; F2: 0.79; F3: 0.71; F4: 0.49). The total score significantly discriminated for disease severity or diagnosis; factorial scores differentially discriminated for disease severity according to diagnosis (PSP: F1-F2; MSA: F2-F3). The total score was significantly related to survival in PSP (p<0.0007) or MSA (p<0.0005), indicating good predictive validity. CONCLUSIONS The scale is suitable for use in the context of multicentre studies and can reliably and consistently measure MRI abnormalities in PSP and MSA. Clinical Trial Registration Number The study protocol was filed in the open clinical trial registry (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov) with ID No NCT00211224