L’ascension professionnelle et le plafond de verre dans les entreprises privées au Québec

En dépit du consensus social québécois sur l’égalité de fait à atteindre, l’histoire de l’émancipation des femmes reste à parachever. Sur le marché du travail, les échelons supérieurs des organisations, tant privées que publiques, demeurent la prérogative des hommes qui occupent, dans une proportion très élevée, les postes les plus influents dans la majorité des entreprises au Québec et ailleurs. Le présent article s’intéresse au phénomène du plafond de verre et, plus précisément, à la pérennité des facteurs qui contribuent à son édification au sein d’une culture organisationnelle donnée, soit les milieux de la gestion et des finances dans les entreprises privées au Québec. À la suite de l’évolution des valeurs sociétales en matière d’égalité des sexes en Occident, comment peut-on en effet expliquer le maintien de cet effet frontière au cours de la carrière ascendante des femmes cadres? Pour répondre à cette question centrale, les auteures proposent un exposé en quatre temps. Elles tracent d’abord un portrait de la présence des femmes dans les échelons supérieurs des organisations québécoises et canadiennes. Par la suite, elles mettent en évidence les principaux facteurs qui érigent le plafond de verre, puis elles décrivent brièvement les orientations théoriques et méthodologiques qui ont guidé leur étude. Enfin, elles présentent un bref aperçu des résultats préliminaires de recherche et esquissent quelques pistes d’analyse.Despite Quebec’s social consensus on reaching a factual equality, the history of women’s emancipation is yet to be completed. In the work place, staff position within private and public organisations remain men’s prerogative, since they occupy a very high proportion of the influent positions of most enterprises here and abroad. The current article investigates the « glass ceiling » phenomenon, and more precisely the sustainability of the factors contributing to its edification within a given organizational culture in the midst of management and finance in private enterprises of Quebec. Following the evolution of societal values of the Western world in matters of equality between sexes, how can we indeed explain the containment of this frontier effect while the career of leading women is ascending? To answer this crucial question, we propose a four steps analysis. First, we will draw a brief picture of women presence in the higher levels of canadian and quebequer organisation. Second, we will identify the main factors that erect the « glass ceiling » and, third, we will try to understand in which way the gender relations within the organizational culture contribute to the reproduction of theses factors. Finally, we will present and comment our preliminary research results

Association between disruption of CD4 receptor dimerization and increased human immunodeficiency virus type 1 entry

BACKGROUND: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) enters target cells by a membrane fusion process that involves a series of sequential interactions between its envelope glycoproteins, the CD4 receptor and CXCR4/CCR5 coreceptors. CD4 molecules are expressed at the cell surface of lymphocytes and monocytes mainly as monomers, but basal levels of CD4 dimers are also present at the cell surface of these cells. Previous evidence indicates that the membrane distal and proximal extracellular domains of CD4, respectively D1 and D4, are involved in receptor dimerization. RESULTS: Here, we have used A201 cell lines expressing two CD4 mutants, CD4-E91K, E92K (D1 mutant) and CD4-Q344E (D4 mutant), harboring dimerization defects to analyze the role of CD4 dimerization in HIV-1 entry. Using entry assays based on β-lactamase-Vpr or luciferase reporter activities, as well as virus encoding envelope glycoproteins derived from primary or laboratory-adapted strains, we obtained evidence suggesting an association between disruption of CD4 dimerization and increased viral entry efficiency. CONCLUSION: Taken together, our results suggest that monomeric forms of CD4 are preferentially used by HIV-1 to gain entry into target cells, thus implying that the dimer/monomer ratio at the cell surface of HIV-1 target cells may modulate the efficiency of HIV-1 entry

Ten years of integrated care: backwards and forwards. The case of the province of Québec, Canada

<strong>Introduction: </strong>Québec's rapidly growing elderly and chronically ill population represents a major challenge to its healthcare delivery system, attributable in part to the system's focus on acute care and fragmented delivery. <strong></strong><p><strong>Description of policy practice: </strong>Over the past few years, reforms have been implemented at the provincial policy level to integrate hospital-based, nursing home, homecare and social services in 95 catchment areas. Recent organizational changes in primary care have also resulted in the implementation of family medicine groups and network clinics. Several localized initiatives were also developed to improve integration of care for older persons or persons with chronic diseases.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Conclusion and discussion</strong>: Québec has a history of integration of health and social services at the structural level. Recent evaluations of the current reform show that the care provided by various institutions in the healthcare system is becoming better integrated. The Québec health care system nevertheless continues to face three important challenges in its management of chronic diseases: implementing the reorganization of primary care, successfully integrating primary and secondary care at the clinical level, and developing effective governance and change management.</p><p>Efforts should focus on strengthening primary care by implementing nurse practitioners, developing a shared information system, and achieving better collaboration between primary and secondary care.</p

Abnormal insulin-like growth factor 1 signaling in human osteoarthritic subchondral bone osteoblasts

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 is a key factor in bone homeostasis and could be involved in bone tissue sclerosis as observed in osteoarthritis (OA). Here, we compare the key signaling pathways triggered in response to IGF-1 stimulation between normal and OA osteoblasts (Obs). Primary Obs were prepared from the subchondral bone of tibial plateaus of OA patients undergoing knee replacement or from normal individuals at autopsy. Phenotypic characterization of Obs was evaluated with alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin release. The effect of IGF-1 on cell proliferation, alkaline phosphatase and collagen synthesis was evaluated in the presence or not of 50 ng/ml IGF-1, whereas signaling was studied with proteins separated by SDS-PAGE before western blot analysis. We also used immunoprecipitation followed by western blot analysis to detect interactions between key IGF-1 signaling elements. IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R), Shc, Grb2, insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-1, and p42/44 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) levels were similar in normal and OA Obs in the presence or absence of IGF-1. After IGF-1 stimulation, the phosphorylation of IGF-1R in normal and OA Obs was similar; however, the phosphorylation of IRS-1 was reduced in OA Ob. In addition, the PI3K pathway was activated similarly in normal and OA Obs while that for p42/44 MAPK was higher in OA Obs compared to normal. p42/44 MAPK can be triggered via an IRS-1/Syp or Grb2/Shc interaction. Interestingly, Syp was poorly phosphorylated under basal conditions in normal Obs and was rapidly phosphorylated upon IGF-1 stimulation, yet Syp showed a poor interaction with IRS-1. In contrast, Syp was highly phosphorylated in OA Obs and its interaction with IRS-1 was very strong initially, yet rapidly dropped with IGF-1 treatments. The interaction of Grb2 with IRS-1 progressively increased in response to IGF-1 in OA Obs whereas this was absent in normal Ob. IGF-1 stimulation altered alkaline phosphatase in Ob, an effect reduced in the presence of PD98059, an inhibitor of p42/44 MAPK signaling, whereas neither IGF-1 nor PD98059 had any significant effect on collagen synthesis. In contrast, cell proliferation was higher in OA Obs compared to normal under basal conditions, and IGF-1 stimulated more cell proliferation in OA Obs than in normal Ob, an effect totally dependent on p42/44 MAPK activiy. The altered response of OA Obs to IGF-1 may be due to abnormal IGF-1 signaling in these cells. This is mostly linked with abnormal IRS-1/Syp and IRS-1/Grb2 interaction in these cells

Modélisation d’un métier du lien social dans le cadre d’un programme d’intervention nutritionnelle en contexte scolaire défavorisé

Le métier d’agent de développement social dans le cadre d’une intervention nutritionnelle est mal connu, notamment parce qu’il est en cours de définition dans l’action. L’intention de cet article est de mieux comprendre l’agencement des sources conceptuelles de ce métier du lien social afin de contribuer à une meilleure compréhension de son émergence. À partir d’une perspective qualitative, nous avons élaboré une cartographie des différentes représentations des logiques d’intervention caractérisant le développement social dans le cadre du programme Petits cuistots-Parents en réseau. La modélisation proposée illustre l’étonnante dispersion des activités de développement social et révèle les conditions pragmatiques du métier.The social development agent profession is little known, notably because it is in the process of being defined through action. The intention of this article is to comprehend the harmonization of the conceptual sources of this social linkage profession in order to shed light on its emergence. From a qualitative perspective, a map of the various representations of the intervention logics that characterize social development, in the context of the program Petits cuistots-Parents en réseau, was elaborated. The modelization proposed illustrates the astonishing dispersion of social development activities and reveals the pragmatic conditions of the profession

Effets des stages en soirée sur l'apprentissage d'étudiantes en soins infirmiers et recommandations pédagogiques

La présente recherche a été subventionnée par le ministère de l'Éducation et de l'Enseignement supérieur dans le cadre du Programme d'aide à la recherche sur l'enseignement et l'apprentissage (PAREA).Comprend des références bibliographiques

Relationship-Based Care and Behaviours of Residents in Long-Term Care Facilities

Introduction. In long-term care (LTC), person-centred approaches are encouraged. One such approach, relationship-based care (RBC), aims among other things to reduce residents’ agitated behaviours. RBC has been used in numerous Quebec LTC facilities over the past decade but it has never been studied. Objective. Explore correlations between use of RBC by trained caregivers and the frequency of agitated and positive behaviours of residents with cognitive impairments. Methods. Two independent raters observed fourteen caregiver/resident dyads in two LTC facilities during assistance with hygiene and dressing. Checklists were used to quantify caregivers’ RBC use and residents’ agitated and positive behaviours. Results. Scores for RBC use were high, suggesting good application of the approach by caregivers. Correlation analyses showed that offering residents realistic choices and talking to them during care were associated with both positive and agitated behaviours (P from 0.03 to 0.003). However, many other components of RBC were not associated with residents’ behaviours during care. Conclusions. There were only a few quantitative links between the RBC checklist items and the frequency of agitated or positive behaviours. Other studies with a more rigorous research design are needed to better understand the impact of relationship-based care on residents’ behaviours