OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE KNOWLEDGE: IMPACTS ON CONSUMER DEMAND FOR GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE EUROPEAN UNION

In the growing body of literature on consumer acceptance of genetically modified (GM) foods, there are significant differences on the impact of knowledge on acceptance of GM foods. One potential explanation is the manner in which knowledge is measured. The goal of this study is to differentiate and examine the impact of both subjective and objective knowledge related to acceptance of genetically modified foods. Data from surveys collected in the United States, England, and France is used.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Functional magnetic resonance imaging : cerebral function alterations in subthreshold and suprathreshold spinal cord stimulation

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Suivi de l’efficacité des passages à petite et moyenne faune sur la route 175 - Bulletin d'information no 4 - mai 2014

Les routes et la circulation ont des répercussions néfastes sur nombre de populations fauniques et de processus écologiques. En effet, les routes constituent des barrières pour les animaux et limitent leurs déplacements. Elles réduisent par ailleurs la qualité et l’accessibilité des habitats à proximité. Outre leur incidence sur le taux de mortalité, ces obstacles peuvent entraver les mouvements migratoires des animaux, leur accès aux ressources ainsi que le flux génétique et la dispersion des jeunes adultes. Les routes ont également plusieurs effets sur le niveau des populations. Ainsi, elles compromettent les relations entre prédateurs et proies, et elles nuisent à la richesse des espèces et à la composition d’ensemble des communautés. Toutefois, beaucoup de ces effets sont plus complexes et ne deviennent apparents qu’après un certain temps. Il peut donc être difficile de prévoir leur ampleur. C’est pourquoi les programmes de surveillance à long terme sont essentiels à l’obtention de données plus précises. Qui plus est, des mesures d’atténuation sont nécessaires afin de réduire les effets néfastes des routes sur les populations d’animaux sauvages. Ce projet de recherche contribuera à déterminer si les passages fauniques sont efficaces dans le cas de petits et moyens mammifères et s’il convient ou non d’appliquer des mesures d’atténuation supplémentaires. L’étude de l’efficacité de telles mesures pour la grande faune a fait l’objet de travaux distincts. D’une durée de quatre ans, le présent projet permettra de recueillir de précieuses données en vue de l’élaboration d’un plan de surveillance et de gestion adaptative à long terme. Le présent projet de recherche comprend trois objectifs principaux : 1. mesurer le taux de collision des voitures avec de petits et moyens mammifères, caractériser les lieux de collision et évaluer l’effet des mesures d’atténuation sur la fréquence des mortalités routières par comparaison avec les tronçons de route non protégés; 2. évaluer la performance des cinq types de passage faunique pour les petits et moyens mammifères; 3. évaluer l’efficacité des mesures d’atténuation au chapitre de l’augmentation de la perméabilité de la route pour les individus et le flux génétique, en particulier dans le cas de la martre d’Amérique

Monitoring the effectiveness of wildlife passages for medium-sized and small mammals along HW 175: News Bulletin no 4

Roads and traffic negatively impact many wildlife populations and ecological processes because they act as barriers to the movements of animals, reduce habitat accessibility, and reduce habitat quality next to the road. These limitations can affect an animal’s migration pattern, its access to resources, it mortality rate, gene flow, and the dispersal opportunities for the young. Roads also have several effects on the level of populations, such as changes in predator-prey relationships, decreases in species richness, and overall community composition. However, many of these higher-level effects have a response delay, therefore predicting their magnitudes can be difficult. For this reason, long-term monitoring projects are essential to arrive at more accurate impact predictions in the future. In addition, mitigation measures are needed to reduce a road’s impacts on wildlife populations. This research project will determine whether the passageways are effective for medium-sized and small mammals and whether further road management is needed. The effectiveness of the mitigation measures for large mammals has been studied in a separate project. This four-year project will provide important information for adaptive management and long-term monitoring of road mitigation. This research project has three main objectives: 1. To characterize the locations and rates of vehicle collisions with small to medium-sized mammals and to evaluate the difference in the frequency of highway- related mortality between areas of the highway with mitigation measures and areas without. 2. To determine the performance of the four types of passages for small to medium-sized mammals. 3. To assess how well the mi;ga;on measures provide for the permeability of the highway for individuals and for gene flow across the road, with a focus on the American marten

Chapitre 23 - Sécurité alimentaire et nutrition, liées par One Health

Introduction Ce chapitre décrit les liens interdépendants entre la santé humaine et animale en tenant compte de la sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle. Les aspects phytosanitaires apparaissent aussi clairement comme indissociables (chap. 22). Une étude de cas récente et des recherches en cours sont présentées pour illustrer la valeur ajoutée d’une coopération plus étroite entre les différents secteurs en lien avec la santé et..

UBVRIz Light Curves of 51 Type II Supernovae

We present a compilation of UBV RIz light curves of 51 type II supernovae discovered during the course of four different surveys during 1986 to 2003: the Cerro Tololo Supernova Survey, the Calan/Tololo Supernova Program (C&T), the Supernova Optical and Infrared Survey (SOIRS), and the Carnegie Type II Supernova Survey (CATS). The photometry is based on template-subtracted images to eliminate any potential host galaxy light contamination, and calibrated from foreground stars. This work presents these photometric data, studies the color evolution using different bands, and explores the relation between the magnitude at maximum brightness and the brightness decline parameter (s) from maximum light through the end of the recombination phase. This parameter is found to be shallower for redder bands and appears to have the best correlation in the B band. In addition, it also correlates with the plateau duration, being thus shorter (longer) for larger (smaller) s values.Comment: 110 pages, 9 Figures, 6 Tables, accepted in A

Medial Prefrontal-Hippocampal Connectivity and Motor Memory Consolidation in Depression and Schizophrenia

Item does not contain fulltextBACKGROUND: Overnight memory consolidation is disturbed in both depression and schizophrenia, creating an ideal situation to investigate the mechanisms underlying sleep-related consolidation and to distinguish disease-specific processes from common elements in their pathophysiology. METHODS: We investigated patients with depression and schizophrenia, as well as healthy control subjects (each n = 16), under a motor memory consolidation protocol with functional magnetic resonance imaging and polysomnography. RESULTS: In a sequential finger-tapping task associated with the degree of hippocampal-prefrontal cortex functional connectivity during the task, significantly less overnight improvement was identified as a common deficit in both patient groups. A task-related overnight decrease in activation of the basal ganglia was observed in control subjects and schizophrenia patients; in contrast, patients with depression showed an increase. During the task, schizophrenia patients, in comparison with control subjects, additionally recruited adjacent cortical areas, which showed a decrease in functional magnetic resonance imaging activation overnight and were related to disease severity. Effective connectivity analyses revealed that the hippocampus was functionally connected to the motor task network, and the cerebellum decoupled from this network overnight. CONCLUSIONS: While both patient groups showed similar deficits in consolidation associated with hippocampal-prefrontal cortex connectivity, other activity patterns more specific for disease pathology differed.10 p

Chronic HIV infection induces transcriptional and functional reprogramming of innate immune cells

Chronic inflammation and immune dysfunction play a key role in the development of non-AIDS-related comorbidities. The aim of our study was to characterize the functional phenotype of immune cells in people living with HIV (PLHIV). We enrolled a cross-sectional cohort study of PLHIV on stable antiretroviral therapy and healthy controls. We assessed ex vivo cytokine production capacity and transcriptomics of monocytes and T cells upon bacterial, fungal, and viral stimulation. PLHIV exhibited an exacerbated proinflammatory profile in monocyte-derived cytokines, but not in lymphocyte-derived cytokines. Particularly, the production of the IL-1 beta to imiquimod, E. coli LPS, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis was increased, and this production correlated with plasma concentrations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and soluble CD14. This increase in monocyte responsiveness remained stable over time in subsequent blood sampling after more than 1 year. Transcriptome analyses confirmed priming of the monocyte IL-1 beta pathway, consistent with a monocyte-trained immunity phenotype. Increased plasma concentrations of beta-glucan, a well-known inducer of trained immunity, were associated with increased innate cytokine responses. Monocytes of PLHIV exhibited a sustained proinflammatory immune phenotype with priming of the IL-1 beta pathway. Training of the innate immune system in PLHIV likely plays a role in long-term HIV complications and provides a promising therapeutic target for inflammation-related comorbidities