A map and a database for flint-bearing formations in Southern France: A tool for Petroarchaeology

Une carte des principales formations à silex du sud de la France est en cours de réalisation. Elle propose, à tous les préhistoriens, une base nécessaire au développement d’études interrégionales sur la circulation des silex. Elle est le fruit d’une collaboration entre des acteurs impliqués dans la problématique de caractérisation de la provenance des silex. Elle regroupe les résultats de leurs prospections systématiques ou ciblées dans six régions (Aquitaine, Auvergne, Languedoc-Roussillon, Midi-Pyrénées, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur, Rhône-Alpes). Elle intègre, en plus, le dépouillement d’un grand nombre de documents : i) les principaux articles et thèses traitant des formations à silex du sud de la France ; ii) plus de 200 fiches issues de la base de données du sous-sol BSS du BRGM, qui permettent de visualiser des logs ou des documents scannés ; iii) 529 cartes géologiques à 1/50 000 et leurs notices. La carte est organisée en trois couches de données superposables : une carte des affleurements ou gîtes primaires, une carte des altérites et des formations superficielles remaniées et une carte des formations alluviales. La carte existera dans deux versions numériques aisément actualisables : une version dans un format PDF et une version sous la forme d’un SIG. C’est l’ensemble de la formation contenant le ou les même(s) type(s) de silex qui est prise en compte, le terme de formation désignant un terrain possédant des caractères communs et qui constitue un ensemble cartographiable. Chacune des formations recensées fait l’objet d’une notice simplifiée qui décrit l’encaissant et - le ou les - type(s) de silex présent(s). Ces notices descriptives et explicatives contiennent des photos à toutes les échelles (de la formation à l’échelle microscopique). Des références bibliographiques géologiques et archéologiques complèteront chaque notice. La version définitive de ces notices constituera un atlas. Les archéologues et géologues disposeront ainsi de fiches descriptives pour chaque type de silex et son encaissant. Elles serviront aux diagnoses analytiques (structures, textures et compositions minéralogiques).A map of the main flint bearing formations in the South of France is under construction. It will provide an essential basis to develop interregional studies about flint procurements and travels. It results from collaboration between actors involved in topic flint sourcing. It includes results of their systematic surveys and studies in six regions (Aquitaine, Auvergne, Languedoc-Roussillon, Midi-Pyrenees, Provence-Alpes - Côte d’Azur, Rhône-Alpes). Moreover, it includes a large number of associated data : i) The main papers and those dealing with flint bearing formations of southern France, ii) more than 200 records from the under-soil database BSS BRGM, which give access to logs or scanned documents iii) 529 geological maps at 1/50 000 and their leaflets. The map is organized in three superimposed layers : a map of outcrops or primary deposits, a map of surficial weathered formation and a revised map of alluvial formations. The map is available in two versions which are easily updatable : a PDF version and an interactive GIS version. In this document, every formation containing the same type (s) (s) of flint is taken into account and forms a mappable entity. Every listed formation is linked to a text which describes the parent rock and/or the type(s) of flint(s). These records contain descriptive and explanatory pictures at different scale (naked eye to microscopic scale). Geological and archaeological references complement every record. The final version will constitute an atlas. Archaeologists and geologists will find description sheets of every type of flint and bearing rock. They will help for analytical diagnoses (structure, texture and mineralogical composition)

Does air pollution play a role in infertility?: a systematic review

Abstract Background Air pollution is involved in many pathologies. These pollutants act through several mechanisms that can affect numerous physiological functions, including reproduction: as endocrine disruptors or reactive oxygen species inducers, and through the formation of DNA adducts and/or epigenetic modifications. We conducted a systematic review of the published literature on the impact of air pollution on reproductive function. Eligible studies were selected from an electronic literature search from the PUBMED database from January 2000 to February 2016 and associated references in published studies. Search terms included (1) ovary or follicle or oocyte or testis or testicular or sperm or spermatozoa or fertility or infertility and (2) air quality or O3 or NO2 or PM2.5 or diesel or SO2 or traffic or PM10 or air pollution or air pollutants. The literature search was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We have included the human and animal studies corresponding to the search terms and published in English. We have excluded articles whose results did not concern fertility or gamete function and those focused on cancer or allergy. We have also excluded genetic, auto-immune or iatrogenic causes of reduced reproduction function from our analysis. Finally, we have excluded animal data that does not concern mammals and studies based on results from in vitro culture. Data have been grouped according to the studied pollutants in order to synthetize their impact on fertility and the molecular pathways involved. Conclusion Both animal and human epidemiological studies support the idea that air pollutants cause defects during gametogenesis leading to a drop in reproductive capacities in exposed populations. Air quality has an impact on overall health as well as on the reproductive function, so increased awareness of environmental protection issues is needed among the general public and the authorities

Transcriptome analysis of scarce biological material: a pragmatic approach to increase differential screening performance

National audienc

Caractérisation par transcriptomique de cellules blastocytaires cultivées et transduites in vitro en vue de l'établissement de lignées de cellules souches embryonnaires (ES)

National audienc

Revealing the dynamics of gene expression during embryonic genome activation and first differentiation in the rabbit embryo with a dedicated array screening

Chantier qualité GAInternational audienceEarly mammalian development is characterized by extensive changes in nuclear functions that result from epigenetic modifications of the newly formed embryonic genome. While the first embryonic cells are totipotent, this status spans only a few cell cycles. At the blastocyst stage, the embryo already contains differentiated trophectoderm cells and pluripotent inner cell mass cells. Concomitantly, the embryonic genome becomes progressively transcriptionally active. During this unique period of development, the gene expression pattern has been mainly characterized in the mouse, in which embryonic genome activation (EGA) spans a single cell cycle after abrupt epigenetic modifications. To further characterize this period, we chose to analyze it in the rabbit, in which, as in most mammals, EGA is more progressive and occurs closer to the first cell differentiation events. In this species, for which no transcriptomic arrays were available, we focused on genes expressed at EGA and first differentiation and established a 2,000-gene dedicated cDNA array. Screening this with pre-EGA, early post-EGA, and blastocyst embryos divided genes into seven clusters of expression according to their regulation during this period and revealed their dynamics of expression during EGA and first differentiation. Our results point to transient properties of embryo transcriptome at EGA, due not only to the transition between maternal and embryonic transcripts but also to the transient expression of a subset of embryonic genes whose functions remained largely uncharacterized. They also provide a first view of the functional consequences of the changes in gene expression program

Rabbit as a model for embryo development

National audienc

Conséquences d’une exposition maternelle à un cocktail de contaminants alimentaires sur le développement et la croissance foeto-placentaire chez le lapin

International audienc

Does Embryo Culture Medium Influence the Health and Development of Children Born after In Vitro Fertilization?

In animal studies, extensive data revealed the influence of culture medium on embryonic development, foetal growth and the behaviour of offspring. However, this impact has never been investigated in humans. For the first time, we investigated in depth the effects of embryo culture media on health, growth and development of infants conceived by In Vitro Fertilization until the age of 5 years old. This single-centre cohort study was based on an earlier randomized study. During six months, in vitro fertilization attempts (No. 371) were randomized according to two media (Single Step Medium--SSM group) or Global medium (Global group). This randomized study was stopped prematurely as significantly lower pregnancy and implantation rates were observed in the SSM group. Singletons (No. 73) conceived in the randomized study were included (42 for Global and 31 for SSM). The medical data for gestational, neonatal and early childhood periods were extracted from medical records and parental interviews (256 variables recorded). The developmental profiles of the children in eight domains (social, self-help, gross motor, fine motor, expressive language, language comprehension, letter knowledge and number knowledge--270 items) were compared in relation to the culture medium. The delivery rate was significantly lower in the SSM group than in the Global group (p<0.05). The culture medium had no significant effect on birthweight, risk of malformation (minor and major), growth and the frequency of medical concerns. However, the children of the Global group were less likely than those of the SSM group to show developmental problems (p = 0.002), irrespective of the different domains. In conclusion, our findings showed that the embryo culture medium may have an impact on further development