119 research outputs found
When the nose must remain responsive: glutathione conjugation of the mammary pheromone in the newborn rabbit
In insects, xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes were demonstrated to regulate pheromones inactivation, clearing them from the olfactory periphery and keeping receptors ready for stimulation renewal. Here, we investigate whether similar processes could occur in mammals, focusing on the pheromonal communication between female rabbits and their newborns. Lactating rabbits emit in their milk a volatile aldehyde, 2-methylbut-2-enal, that elicits searching-grasping in neonates; called the mammary pheromone (MP), it is critical for pups which are constrained to find nipples within the 5 min of daily nursing. For newborns, it is thus essential to remain sensitive to this odorant during the whole nursing period to display several actions of sucking. Here, we show that the MP is enzymatically conjugated to glutathione in newborn olfactory epithelium (OE), in accordance with the high mRNA expression of glutathione transferases evidenced by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. This activity in the nose is higher than in the liver and in OE of newborns compared with weanlings (no more responsive to the pheromone). Therefore, the results pinpoint the existence of a high level of MP-glutathione conjugation activity in the OE of young rabbits, especially in the developmental window where the perceptual sensitivity toward the MP is crucial for survival
Should Metabolic Diseases Be Systematically Screened in Nonsyndromic Autism Spectrum Disorders?
Abstract Background: In the investigation of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), a genetic cause is found in approximately 10-20%. Among these cases, the prevalence of the rare inherited metabolic disorders (IMD) is unknown and poorly evaluated. An IMD responsible for ASD is usually identified by the associated clinical phenotype such as dysmorphic features, ataxia, microcephaly, epilepsy, and severe intellectual disability (ID). In rare cases, however, ASD may be considered as nonsyndromic at the onset of a related IMD
Juvenile neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus: identification of novel central neuroinflammation biomarkers
International audienceIntroduction Juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (j-SLE) is a rare chronic autoimmune disease affecting multiple organs. Ranging from minor features, such as headache or mild cognitive impairment, to serious and life-threatening presentations, j-neuropsychiatric SLE (j-NPSLE) is a therapeutic challenge. Thus, the diagnosis of NPSLE remains difficult, especially in pediatrics, with no specific biomarker of the disease yet validated. Objectives To identify central nervous system (CNS) disease biomarkers of j-NPSLE. Methods A 5-year retrospective tertiary reference monocentric j-SLE study. A combination of standardized diagnostic criteria and multidisciplinary pediatric clinical expertise was combined to attribute NP involvement in the context of j-SLE. Neopterin and interferon-alpha (IFN-α) protein levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were assessed, together with routine biological and radiological investigations. Results Among 51 patients with j-SLE included, 39% presented with j-NPSLE. J-NPSLE was diagnosed at onset of j-SLE in 65% of patients. No specific routine biological or radiological marker of j-NPSLE was identified. However, CSF neopterin levels were significantly higher in active j-NPSLE with CNS involvement than in j-SLE alone ( p = 0.0008). Neopterin and IFN-α protein levels in CSF were significantly higher at diagnosis of j-NPSLE with CNS involvement than after resolution of NP features (respectively p = 0.0015 and p = 0.0010) upon immunosuppressive treatment in all patients tested ( n = 10). Both biomarkers correlated strongly with each other ( R s = 0.832, p < 0.0001, n = 23 paired samples). Conclusion CSF IFN-α and neopterin constitute promising biomarkers useful in the diagnosis and monitoring of activity in j-NPSLE
Twin pregnancies: guidelines for clinical practice from the French College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians (CNGOF)
Being Moved: Louis XIV’s Triumphant Tenderness and the Protestant Object
This essay examines the place of affect in Le Triomphe de la Religion, a text from 1687 that praises Louis XIV for the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the forced conversion of French Protestants. It explores the role of the material object in this text and contrasts it with seventeenth-century Protestant fears about the seductive power of Catholic objects. Drawing on the work of affect theory, it suggest how attention to the strange relation between emotion and the material object might better illuminate our sense of what it meant to be religiously different in absolutist France
Le regard réciproque (ethnographie des désordres psychologiques à l'île de la Réunion)
This dissertation is about the representations and treatments of psychic disturbances in a Creole society, La Réunion (Indian Ocean). The hypothesis of research was that, in a plural society born from a colonial context, the representations and practices linked to the prevention and treatment of psychic disturbances deal with the question of the "other". Since we are part of this society, we had to take into account our own personal identity in order to describe the one of the people with whom we worked. We could not write an ethnography without reflecting on ourselves. We had to move from a classic and distant description to a reflexive one. By doing so, this research really introduces a methodological break in anthropological research...Cette thèse traite des conceptions du malheur psychologique et des conditions de sa prise en charge dans une société créole, l'île de la Réunion. Parti de l'hypothèse selon laquelle, dans ce type de société pluriculturelle et pluriethnique née de la colonisation, les représentations, le vécu et les pratiques liées à la prévention et au traitement des désordres psychiques pouvaient être considérés comme une modalité particulière de gestion de la différence, le chercheur s'est vite heurté au fait qu'elle appartenait au milieu étudié. Il lui fallut donc prendre en considération cette réalité, accepter d'explorer sa propre altérité, pour parvenir à rendre objectivement compte de celle des autres. Le recherche s'est donc déroulée sur la base d'une rupture méthodologique visant à intégrer à une première construction de l'objet qui se voulait classique et distanciée, des données relatives aux conséquences de l'implication de l'ethnographe dans les faits et les situations abordés...AIX-MARSEILLE3-BU Droit Sci.Eco. (130012102) / SudocSudocFranceF
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