Apprivoiser une bête noire

Sous forme d'un récit chronologique et dynamique à deux voix, et avec comme toile de fond une association de ce qui est agréable avec ce qui l'est moins, les auteurs de cet article présentent leur expérience d'une pratique pédagogique de pairage de cours en vue de faire émerger et de stimuler l'intérêt pour le français chez des étudiants ayant des difficultés dans cette matière, les cours concernés étant Mise à niveau en français (MNF) et un cours non obligatoire de psychologie, donc choisi par les étudiants eux-mêmes, Difficultés psychologiques et sexuelles. S'appuyant sur une succession d'activités d'écriture, suivies de corrections, le déroulement de l'expérimentation d'interdisciplinarité est illustré par un tableau détaillé, où sont mis en lumière les points communs entre les deux cours. Chacun leur tour, les deux auteurs commentent les résultats de cette expérience, soulignant l'avantage de la correction similaire dans chaque cours, qui a permis aux étudiants de corriger leurs lacunes en français, et envisageant la généralisation de cette pratique à d'autres disciplines, comme les mathématiques

Biodiversity of lepidopteran pests and their parasitoids in organic and conventional cranberry crop

A 2-year study was conducted in the main cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton) growing region of Québec to determine the biodiversity of lepidopteran pests and their parasitoids, which may differ in organic and conventional integrated pest management (IPM) systems. We also aimed to compare densities and parasitism on five caterpillar pest species of primary economic importance: Macaria sulphurea (Packard), Macaria brunneata (Thunberg), Xylena nupera (Lintner), Rhopobota naevana (Hübner) and Sparganothis sulfureana (Clemens), which accounted for more than 80% of the pest community each year. The lepidopteran pest communities clearly varied between the two pest management systems, suggesting efficacy differences among them. Rhopobota naevana was dominant on organic farms, whereas conventional farms had greater pest richness and evenness, with M. sulphurea, M. brunneata and X. nupera being the most abundant. Based on laboratory rearing of field collected caterpillars, the parasitoid community was composed of 25 species or taxa (22 from primary pests) and communities were not significantly different between the two farming regimes. The most common species belonged to the braconid genera Aleiodes, Meteorus, Microplitis, Oncophanes; ichneumonids Hyposoter, Exetastes, Phytodietus; and tachinids Campylocheta, Nemorilla. Of the five primary pests, X. nupera was the most parasitized, while no parasitoids were reared from M. brunneata. Annual parasitism rate of the primary pests ranged 20–40% and data showed that it was explainable by host availability rather than farming system

Nature of fatty acids in high fat diets differentially delineates obesity-linked metabolic syndrome components in male and female C57BL/6J mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Adverse effects of high-fat diets (HFD) on metabolic homeostasis are linked to adipose tissue dysfunction. The goal of this study was to examine the effect of the HFD nature on adipose tissue activity, metabolic disturbances and glucose homeostasis alterations in male mice compared with female mice.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>C57BL/6J mice were fed either a chow diet or HFD including vegetal (VD) or animal (AD) fat. Body weight, plasmatic parameters and adipose tissue mRNA expression levels of key genes were evaluated after 20 weeks of HFD feeding.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>HFD-fed mice were significantly heavier than control at the end of the protocol. Greater abdominal visceral fat accumulation was observed in mice fed with AD compared to those fed a chow diet or VD. Correlated with weight gain, leptin levels in systemic circulation were increased in HFD-fed mice in both sexes with a significant higher level in AD group compared to VD group. Circulating adiponectin levels as well as adipose tissue mRNA expression levels were significantly decreased in HFD-fed male mice. Although its plasma levels remained unchanged in females, adiponectin mRNA levels were significantly reduced in adipose tissue of both HFD-fed groups with a more marked decrease in AD group compared to VD group. Only HFD-fed male mice were diabetic with increased fasting glycaemia. On the other hand, insulin levels were only increased in AD-fed group in both sexes associated with increased resistin levels. VD did not induce any apparent metabolic alteration in females despite the increased weight gain. Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors gamma-2 (PPARγ2) and estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) mRNA expression levels in adipose tissue were decreased up to 70% in HFD-fed mice but were more markedly reduced in male mice as compared with female mice.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The nature of dietary fat determines the extent of metabolic alterations reflected in adipocytes through modifications in the pattern of adipokines secretion and modulation of key genes mRNA expression. Compared with males, female mice demonstrate higher capacity in controlling glucose homeostasis in response to 20 weeks HFD feeding. Our data suggest gender specific interactions between the diet's fatty acid source, the adipocyte-secreted proteins and metabolic disorders.</p

Améliorer la compréhension et la gestion des conflits d’intérêts des experts conseillant la prise de décisions en santé publique

Étude de cas / Case studyAu Québec, au Canada et ailleurs dans le monde, des comités consultatifs d’experts conseillent et orientent les décideurs gouvernementaux dans le choix de nouveaux médicaments, de vaccins à utiliser ou encore d’interventions à mettre en place. Parallèlement, ces experts bénéficient d’un appui de plus en plus important d’entreprises privées pour réaliser leurs recherches ou en diffuser les résultats. Cette situation les met à risque de conflits d’intérêts et peut, éventuellement, miner la confiance de la population envers la prise de décision publique. Cette étude de cas suscite des réflexions pertinentes quant à ce qui constitue une gestion saine et optimale des situations de conflits d’intérêts par les membres experts et les organisations dans lesquelles ils ont un rôle-conseil.In Québec, in Canada and elsewhere in the world, expert advisory committees advise and guide government decision-makers in the choice of new drugs, vaccines to be used or interventions to be put in place. In parallel, these experts are receiving increasing support from private companies to conduct their research or to disseminate the results of their research. Such situations place them at risk of conflicts of interest and may eventually undermine confidence in public decision-making. This case study stimulates reflection into what constitutes sound and optimal management of conflict of interest situations by expert members and the organizations in which they have an advising role

The Prostanoid 15-Deoxy-D 12,14 -Prostaglangin-J 2 Reduces Lung Inflammation and Protects Mice Against Lethal Influenza Infection

Background. Growing evidence indicates that influenza pathogenicity relates to altered immune responses and hypercytokinemia. Therefore, dampening the excessive inflammatory response induced after infection might reduce influenza morbidity and mortality. Methods. Considering this, we investigated the effect of the anti-inflammatory molecule 15-deoxy-D 12,14 -prostaglandin J 2 (15d-PGJ 2 ) in a mouse model of lethal influenza infection. Results. Administration of 15d-PGJ 2 on day 1 after infection, but not on day 0, protected 79% of mice against lethal influenza infection. In addition, this treatment considerably reduced the morbidity associated with severe influenza infection. Our results also showed that treatment with 15d-PGJ 2 decreased influenza-induced lung inflammation, as shown by the diminished gene expression of several proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Unexpectedly, 15d-PGJ 2 also markedly reduced the viral load in the lungs of infected mice. This could be attributed to maintained type I interferon gene expression levels after treatment. Interestingly, pretreatment of mice with a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARc) antagonist before 15d-PGJ 2 administration completely abrogated its protective effect against influenza infection. Conclusions. Our results demonstrate for the first time that treatment of mice with 15d-PGJ 2 reduces influenza morbidity and mortality through activation of the PPARc pathway. PPARc agonists could thus represent a potential therapeutic avenue for influenza infections

COMPARING GC×GC-TOFMS-BASED METABOLOMIC PROFILING AND WOOD ANATOMY FOR FORENSIC IDENTIFICATION OF FIVE MELIACEAE (MAHOGANY) SPECIES

Illegal logging and associated trade have increased worldwide. Such environmental crimes represent a major threat to forest ecosystems and society, causing distortions in market prices, economic instability, ecological deterioration, and poverty. To prevent illegal imports of forest products, there is a need to develop wood identification methods for identifying tree species regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Species of Wild Fauna andFlora in Trade (CITES) and other look-alike species. In this exploratory study, we applied metabolomic profiling of five species (Swietenia mahagoni, Swietenia macrophylla, Cedrela odorata, Khaya ivorensis, and Toona ciliata) using two-dimensional gas chromatog- raphy combined with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC3GC-TOFMS). We also performed qualitative, quantitative (based on the measurement of vessel area, tangential vessel lumina diameter,vessel element length, ray height, and ray width), and machine-vision aided (XyloTron) wood anatomy on a subsample of wood specimens to explore thepotential and limits of each approach. Fifty dried xylaria wood specimens were ground, extracted with methanol, and subsequently analyzed by GC3GC-TOFMS. In this study, the four genera could easily be identified using qualitative wood anatomy and chemical profiling. At the spe- cies level, Swietenia macrophylla and Swietenia mahagoni specimens were found to share many major metabolites and could only be differentiated after feature selection guided by cluster resolution (FS-CR) and visualization using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Expectedly, specimens from the two Swiete- nia spp. could not be distinguished based on qualitative wood anatomy. However, significant differences in quantitative anatomical features were obtained for these two species. Excluding T. ciliata that was not included in the reference database of end grain images at the time of testing (2021), the XyloTron could successfully identify the majority of the specimens to the right genus and 50% of the specimens to the right species. The machine-vision tool was particularly successful at identifying Cedrela odorata samples, where all samples were correctly identified. Despite the limited number of specimens available for thisstudy, our preliminary results indicate that GC3GC-TOFMS-based metabolomic profiles could be used as comple- mentary method to differentiate CITES-regulated wood specimens at the genus and species levels.

Portrait of blood-derived extracellular vesicles in patients with Parkinson's disease.

The production of extracellular vesicles (EV) is a ubiquitous feature of eukaryotic cells but pathological events can affect their formation and constituents. We sought to characterize the nature, profile and protein signature of EV in the plasma of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and how they correlate to clinical measures of the disease. EV were initially collected from cohorts of PD (n = 60; Controls, n = 37) and Huntington's disease (HD) patients (Pre-manifest, n = 11; manifest, n = 52; Controls, n = 55) - for comparative purposes in individuals with another chronic neurodegenerative condition - and exhaustively analyzed using flow cytometry, electron microscopy and proteomics. We then collected 42 samples from an additional independent cohort of PD patients to confirm our initial results. Through a series of iterative steps, we optimized an approach for defining the EV signature in PD. We found that the number of EV derived specifically from erythrocytes segregated with UPDRS scores corresponding to different disease stages. Proteomic analysis further revealed that there is a specific signature of proteins that could reliably differentiate control subjects from mild and moderate PD patients. Taken together, we have developed/identified an EV blood-based assay that has the potential to be used as a biomarker for PD

Cartographie des mesures de soutien à la santé mentale des étudiant.es et des employé.es de l’UQAC

Cartographie des mesures de soutien à la santé mentale des étudiant.es et des employé.es de l’UQA

Santé mentale et population universitaire : un laboratoire-vivant au service de la communauté : rapport de recherche

Cette étude a trois objectifs : 1) Identifier les principaux enjeux de santé des étudiant·es et des employé·es de l’UQAC en contexte pandémique, 2) Répertorier l’ensemble des mesures de soutien à la santé mises à la disposition des étudiant·es et des employé·es de l’UQAC, et 3) Identifier de nouvelles solutions à mettre en place afin de pallier les manques et de soutenir les étudiant·es et les employé·es de l’UQAC