Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Cognitive deficits in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome compared to those with major depressive disorder and healthy controls

Object: It is frequently reported that cognitive complaints accompany the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). However, studies on cognition in CFS have yielded conflicting results. The neuropsychological literature on this subject is plagued by methodological difficulties, including, for example, the existence of comorbid depression, which is also associated with cognitive impairments. Patients and Methods: Twenty-five patients with CFS, 25 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), and 25 healthy control subjects were given standardized tests of attention, working memory, and verbal and visual episodic memory, and were also tested for effects related to lack of effort/simulation, suggestibility, and fatigue. Results: Patients with CFS had slower phasic alertness, and also had impaired working, visual and verbal episodic memory compared to controls. They were, however, no more sensitive than the other groups to suggestibility or to fatigue induced during the cognitive session. Cognitive impairments in MDD patients were strongly associated with depression and subjective fatigue; in patients with CFS, there was a weaker correlation between cognition and depression (and no correlation with fatigue). Conclusions: This study confirms the presence of an objective impairment in attention and memory in patients with CFS but with good mobilization of effort and without exaggerated suggestibility

Les Patineurs : musique de ballet / Meyerbeer, comp. ; Lambert, arr.. Le Cid / Massenet, comp. ; Lambert, arr. ; orchestre Symphonique de Londres ; Robert Irving, dir.

Titre uniforme : Lambert, Constant (1905-1951). Compositeur. [Les patineurs]Titre uniforme : Massenet, Jules (1842-1912). Compositeur. [Le Cid. Acte 2. Ballet]. Arr.Comprend : Les patineurs / Meyerbeer, comp. ; Lambert, arr. ; Le Cid / Massenet, comp. ; Lambert, arr.BnF-Partenariats, Collection sonore - BelieveContient une table des matière

Tocilizumab induces corticosteroid sparing in rheumatoid arthritis patients in clinical practice

International audienceObjective. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of introducing tocilizumab (TCZ) as co-therapy with CS in patients with RA.Methods. This study was an open, observational, retrospective multicentre study. RA patients treated with oral CS for >3 months who started treatment with TCZ between December 2009 and June 2011 in five centres were included. Variables included demographic data, disease history, co-treatments, disease activity and dose of CS at inclusion and at weeks 4, 8, 12 and 24. The evolution of disease activity and of the dose of CS (analysis of variance with repeated measures) were analysed, searching for factors correlated with changes in the dose of CS.Results. Inclusion of 130 patients [women 80.8%, mean age 56.7 years (S.D. 14.0), RA duration 16.3 years (S.D. 10.4), mean baseline 28-joint DAS (DAS28) 5.1 (S.D. 1.4), mean baseline dose of CS 10.0 mg/day (S.D. 8.2) prednisone equivalent. Decreases in the mean daily dose of CS and in the DAS28 were observed during follow-up [respectively 6.5mg (S.D. 4.8) at week 24 (P < 0.0001) and 3.0mg (S.D. 1.4) at week 24 (P < 0.0001)]. The only variable that correlated with the decrease in the dose of CS was the initial dose of the drug (r = 0.82, P < 0.001).Conclusion. The introduction of TCZ led to rapid and long-lasting CS sparing that did not correlate with the reduction in disease activity. It is possible that in patients treated with high-dose CS, the main objective of the clinician is to reduce dosage of CS rather than RA activity

Efficacy and safety of tocilizumab in elderly patients with rheumatoid arthritis

International audienc