Le journalisme scientifique dans les controverses

Le journaliste scientifique a-t-il simplement vocation à rendre compte des controverses ? Est-il un acteur à part dans ces débats ? Comment rend-il compte des conflits inhérents et de leur dimension « extra-scientifique » ? Comment fonctionne la chaîne d’information scientifique face à de tels enjeux économiques et politiques ? Les relations entre acteurs, notamment au sein des rédactions, sont-elles reconfigurées en situation de controverse ? Pour répondre à ces questions générales, trois études de ces controverses sont ici ciblées, renvoyant à des préoccupations citoyennes majeures : le changement climatique, les perturbateurs endocriniens et les organismes génétiquement modifiés. Une analyse qui permet de mieux comprendre les controverses, les pratiques des journalistes scientifiques et leur place particulière dans une profession en mutation

Primary biliary cirrhosis

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a chronic and slowly progressive cholestatic liver disease of autoimmune etiology characterized by injury of the intrahepatic bile ducts that may eventually lead to liver failure. Affected individuals are usually in their fifth to seventh decades of life at time of diagnosis, and 90% are women. Annual incidence is estimated between 0.7 and 49 cases per million-population and prevalence between 6.7 and 940 cases per million-population (depending on age and sex). The majority of patients are asymptomatic at diagnosis, however, some patients present with symptoms of fatigue and/or pruritus. Patients may even present with ascites, hepatic encephalopathy and/or esophageal variceal hemorrhage. PBC is associated with other autoimmune diseases such as Sjogren's syndrome, scleroderma, Raynaud's phenomenon and CREST syndrome and is regarded as an organ specific autoimmune disease. Genetic susceptibility as a predisposing factor for PBC has been suggested. Environmental factors may have potential causative role (infection, chemicals, smoking). Diagnosis is based on a combination of clinical features, abnormal liver biochemical pattern in a cholestatic picture persisting for more than six months and presence of detectable antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA) in serum. All AMA negative patients with cholestatic liver disease should be carefully evaluated with cholangiography and liver biopsy. Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is the only currently known medication that can slow the disease progression. Patients, particularly those who start UDCA treatment at early-stage disease and who respond in terms of improvement of the liver biochemistry, have a good prognosis. Liver transplantation is usually an option for patients with liver failure and the outcome is 70% survival at 7 years. Recently, animal models have been discovered that may provide a new insight into the pathogenesis of this disease and facilitate appreciation for novel treatment in PBC

Un nouvel outil de découverte de l'inconnu

Robert Aymar, Director General of CERN, considers that the proton collider, LHC, will be ready in 200

Un pied de biche dans une main, un trousseau de clefs dans l'autre

Michel Spiro, Director of the National institute for nuclear physics, explain the hopes caused by the LHC, the most powerful particle accelerator, that should start this year. (1/2 page

Les noces d'or du Cern avec la matière

Aged 50, the European Center for nuclear Research remains super-activ

Le LHC va peut-être nous révéler un monde nouveau

Michel Spiro, Director of the National Institue of Nuclear Physics and Particle Physics of the CNRS was member of the team which discovered the W boson at CERN in 1983: it is what made it possible to Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meer to be awarded the Nobel Prize in 198