La gestion des déchets dangereux en milieu industriel

La gestion des déchets dangereux en milieu industriel est présentée du point de vue du générateur. Une approche permettant d'intégrer cette gestion aux opérations d'une entreprise, de rejoindre chaque employé dans ses tâches quotidiennes et de mettre en pratique les concepts du développement durable est élaborée. La réglementation occupant une très grande place, celle-ci sera scrutée autant aux niveaux québécois et canadien qu'international. Puisque le Projet de règlement sur les matières dangereuses abrogera sous peu l'actuel règlement sur les déchets dangereux, une emphase y est mise pour en dégager les impacts. Pour intégrer la gestion aux opérations quotidiennes, un certain nombre de moyens devront être déployés. L'inventaire et la caractérisation des déchets produits et de ceux présentant un potentiel de le devenir, devront être réalisés à trois niveaux en remontant jusqu'à l'étape de l'acquisition des biens et services. L'application du principe des 3R-V-E aux déchets dangereux (Réduction, Réutilisation, Recyclage, Valorisation et Élimination) suivra pour ensuite mettre en place un système de ségrégation et de consolidation des déchets selon une logistique économique, simple, cohérente à travers l'établissement et sécuritaire autant pour les travailleurs que pour l'environnement. Enfin, autant pour des raisons environnementales que de responsabilité, la vérification des fournisseurs qui offrent des services de disposition de déchets bouclera la boucle en s'assurant que ces derniers appliquent de bonnes pratiques de gestion et se conforment aux lois et règlements en vigueur

L’influence des relations familiales et sociales sur la consommation de médicaments psychotropes chez les personnes âgées

Les psychotropes occupent le deuxième rang dans la consommation de médicaments chez les personnes âgées. L'objectif de cette étude est de vérifier un modèle explicatif de la consommation de psychotropes dans cette population. Notre principale hypothèse est que la qualité des relations qu'entretient une personne âgée avec autrui, et particulièrement avec ses enfants, a une influence directe sur son bien-être psychologique, lequel a une influence directe sur la non-consommation de psychotropes. Une enquête a été réalisée auprès d'un échantillon de 500 personnes âgées de 65 à 84 ans, vivant à domicile. Au cours des trois mois précédant l'entrevue, 31,8 % des répondants ont consommé des psychotropes. Les données empiriques n'ayant pas permis de vérifier le modèle théorique retenu, des analyses multivariées ont conduit à l'élaboration d'un modèle explicatif de la consommation qui met en évidence que le bien-être psychologique et la santé sont les meilleurs prédicteurs de cette consommation. Un bien-être psychologique élevé diminue la consommation alors qu'un mauvais état de santé l'augmente. Les relations sociales influencent directement le bien-être psychologique alors que les relations familiales ont un effet de moindre importance. Le modèle explicatif proposé explique 13 % du phénomène de la consommation de psychotropes chez les personnes âgées.Psychotropic drugs are the second most commonly used medication by Quebec's elderly. The objective of this study is to test a theoretical model of psychotropic drug use in the elderly. The principal hypothesis is that the quality of relationships the elderly person has with others, particularly with his or her children, has a direct influence on his or her psychological well-being, which, in turn, directly affects the consumption of psychotropic agents. A survey was conducted on a sample of 500 elderly people, aged 65-84 years, living at home. 31.8% of the respondents used psychotropic drugs during the three-month period preceding the interview. Path analysis led to the elaboration of a modified model for the consumption of psychotropic drugs by the elderly which indicates that the best predictors of consumption are both the psychological well-being and the state of health of the individual. More elevated is the psychological well-being, less is the consumption of psychotropic drugs, whereas poor health condition increases it. The quality of an individual's social relationships has a direct influence on his or her psychological well-being, whereas family relationships are of lesser importance. Our model accounts for 13% of the predictors of psychotropic consumption by the elderly

Competitive Adsorption and Diffusion of Gases in a Microporous Solid

The experimental and theoretical study of the co-adsorption and co-diffusion of several gases through a microporous solid and the instantaneous (out of equilibrium) distribution of the adsorbed phases is particularly important in many fields, such as gas separation, heterogeneous catalysis, purification of confined atmospheres, reduction of exhaust emissions contributing to global warming, etc. The original NMR imaging technique used gives a signal characteristic of each adsorbed gas at each instant and at each level of the solid and therefore the distribution of several gases in competitive diffusion and adsorption. But it does not allow to determine separately the inter- and intra-crystallite quantities. A new fast and accurate analytical method for the calculation of the coefficients of co-diffusing gases in the intra- and inter-crystallite spaces of microporous solid (here ZSM 5 zeolite) is developed, using high-performance methods (iterative gradient methods of residual functional minimization and analytical methods of influence functions) and mathematical co-adsorption models, as well as the NMR spectra of each adsorbed gas in the bed. These diffusion coefficients and the gas concentrations in the inter- and intra-crystallite spaces are obtained for each position in the bed and for different adsorption times

Le yoga et le plein air comme façons de promouvoir la santé mentale des étudiants en travail social de l’Université du Québec à Chicoutimi : portrait d’une expérience pilote

Les études les plus récentes indiquent que la prévalence des troubles mentaux, en particulier l’anxiété et la dépression, est très élevée au sein des populations universitaires. Les étudiants en travail social, notamment en raison du contexte particulier des stages, mais également de la nécessaire conciliation étude-travail-famille, sont également à risque de vivre de la détresse psychologique. Afin de promouvoir la santé mentale des étudiants, deux programmes, l’un axé sur le yoga et l’autre sur le plein air, ont été mis en place à l’hiver 2016. Cet article vise à rendre compte de cette expérience et de ses retombées perçues par les participants et les professionnels chargés d’offrir ces programmes

Self-assembly Controls Self-cleavage of HHR from ASBVd (−): a Combined SANS and Modeling Study

International audienceIn the Avocado Sunblotch Viroid (ASBVd: 249-nt) from the Avsunviroidae family, a symmetric rolling-circle replication operates through an autocatalytic mechanism mediated by hammerhead ribozymes (HHR) embedded in both polarity strands. The concatenated multimeric ASBVd (+) and ASBVd (−) RNAs thus generated are processed by cleavage to unit-length where ASBVd (−) self-cleaves with more efficiency. Absolute scale small angle neutron scattering (SANS) revealed a temperature-dependent dimer association in both ASBVd (−) and its derived 79-nt HHR (−). A joint thermodynamic analysis of SANS and catalytic data indicates the rate-determining step corresponds to the dimer/monomer transition. 2D and 3D models of monomeric and dimeric HHR (−) suggest that the inter-molecular contacts stabilizing the dimer (between HI and HII domains) compete with the intra-molecular ones stabilizing the active conformation of the full-length HHR required for an efficient self-cleavage. Similar competing intra- and inter-molecular contacts are proposed in ASBVd (−) though with a remoter region from an extension of the HI domain

Le thème du dragon chez les enfants au regard des structures anthropologiques de l’imaginaire chez Gilbert Durand

Cet article entend montrer l’actualité du thème du dragon chez les enfants au Québec, à partir d’une étude portant sur les productions culturelles (livres et films) qui leur sont destinées, mais aussi à partir d’une analyse de tests anthropologiques (AT.9) complétés par 194 enfants de six à douze ans entre 2009 et 2019. Cette analyse des AT.9, contextualisée par celle de la culture environnante des enfants, nous permet de conclure à une persistance du thème du dragon, à une pluralité des interprétations de cette figure et à la pertinence de la théorie des structures anthropologiques de l’imaginaire (G. Durand) pour notre époque, y compris auprès des enfants. De tout ceci émerge un constat : dès six ans, les enfants possèdent déjà les structures anthropologiques mais aussi certaines figures culturelles que l’on retrouve chez les adultes et dans les grandes cultures de l’humanité

Quiescence status of glioblastoma stem-like cells involves remodelling of Ca 2+ signalling and mitochondrial shape

International audienceQuiescence is a reversible cell-cycle arrest which allows cancer stem-like cells to evade killing following therapies. Here, we show that proliferating glioblastoma stem-like cells (GSLCs) can be induced and maintained in a quiescent state by lowering the extracellular pH. Through RNAseq analysis we identified Ca 2+ signalling genes differentially expressed between proliferating and quiescent GSLCs. Using the bioluminescent Ca 2+ reporter EGFP-aequorin we observed that the changes in Ca 2+ homeostasis occurring during the switch from proliferation to quiescence are controlled through store-operated channels (SOC) since inhibition of SOC drives proliferating GSLCs to quiescence. We showed that this switch is characterized by an increased capacity of GSLCs' mitochondria to capture Ca 2+ and by a dramatic and reversible change of mitochondrial morphology from a tubular to a donut shape. Our data suggest that the remodelling of the Ca 2+ homeostasis and the reshaping of mitochondria might favours quiescent GSLCs' survival and their aggressiveness in glioblastoma. Multiform glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive brain tumours with very poor prognosis. Despite a combination of surgical resection, radiotherapy and temozolomide (TMZ)-based chemotherapy, more than 90% of the patients show recurrence and the mean survival period rarely exceeds 2 years 1. According to the cancer stem cell model, the GBM lethality is due to a small sub-population of tumour cells with stem-like properties, called Glioblastoma Stem-Like Cells (GSLCs). The GSLCs have been further characterized as slow-cycling or relatively quiescent cells 2 , identified in vivo in a mouse model of glioblastoma 3 and in human glioblastoma tumors 4. These quiescent GSLCs are highly resistant to TMZ treatment 5. Quiescence is a cell-cycle arrest state which differs from the one observed in differentiation or senescence by the fact that it is reversible. Transcriptional profiling data reveals that quiescent stem cells are characterized by a common gene signature with the down-regulation of genes associated with cell-cycle progression (i.e. CCNA2, CCNB1 and CCNE2) and the upregulation of genes classified as tumour suppressors, including the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 (CDKN1A) and the G0/G1 switch gene 2 (G0S2) 6,7. These data also show that quiescence is a G 0 phase and not a prolonged G 1 phase 8. Furthermore, quiescence is actively regulated by signals provided by the stem cell microenvironment. In glioblastoma tumours, quiescent stem-like tumour cells are found close to necrotic tissues, in specific niches characterized by an hypoxic 4,5,9 and acidic microenviron-ment 10,11. The role of the microenvironment in the control of GSLCs quiescence is still poorly understood. Considering that quiescence represents a strategy for GSLCs to evade killing, it is of utmost importance to better characterize the quiescent GSLCs and to understand what governs the transition from a proliferative to a quiescence state. Here, we performed transcriptomic analysis using RNAseq to establish the RNA signatures of proliferative and quiescent GSLCs. We showed that genes involved in Ca 2+ signalling are modulated in GSLCs and we explored the causal role of Ca 2+ during this transition. Our data points out the reversible remodelling of mitochondrial morphology from tubular to donut shape, associated with an increased capacity of mitochon-dria to capture Ca 2+ and with the modification of the kinetics of Ca 2+ influx through SOC. The remodelling o

Post-disaster health status of train derailment victims with posttraumatic growth

In July 2013, a train derailment causing explosions and a fire in downtown Lac-Mégantic (Municipalité Régionale de Comté du Granit, Quebec, Canada) resulted in the death of 47 people and the destruction of many homes and other buildings. This article compares the physical and psychological health of 624 adults from the Granit area exposed to this disaster three years after the tragedy, comparing based on the presence or absence of posttraumatic growth. Women, people with high levels of social support, lower levels of education, and with lower incomes were more likely to show posttraumatic growth. For psychological health, the presence of post-traumatic stress symptoms and the use of antidepressants were positively related to posttraumatic growth. Our study demonstrates that, over time, many people managed to initiate a recovery process and to see benefits from this disaster

Refining the Pediatric Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome

Since its introduction into the medical literature in the 1970s, the term multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (or some variant) has been applied broadly to any patient with >1 concurrent organ dysfunction. However, the epidemiology, mechanisms, time course, and outcomes among children with multiple organ dysfunction vary substantially. We posit that the term pediatric multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (or MODS) should be reserved for patients with a systemic pathologic state resulting from a common mechanism (or mechanisms) that affects numerous organ systems simultaneously. In contrast, children in whom organ injuries are attributable to distinct mechanisms should be considered to have additive organ system dysfunctions but not the syndrome of MODS. Although such differentiation may not always be possible with current scientific knowledge, we make the case for how attempts to differentiate multiple organ dysfunction from other states of additive organ dysfunctions can help to evolve clinical and research priorities in diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy from largely organ-specific to more holistic strategies

Non-hyperbolic ergodic measures and horseshoes in partially hyperbolic homoclinic classes

We study a rich family of robustly non-hyperbolic transitive diffeomorphisms and we show that each ergodic measure is approached by hyperbolic sets in weak$*$-topology and in entropy. For hyperbolic ergodic measures, it is a classical result of A. Katok. The novelty here is to deal with non-hyperbolic ergodic measures.Comment: 25 pages and 1 figur