Independence of first- and second-order memories in newborn rabbits.

WOS:000291649400006International audienceThe mammary pheromone promotes the acquisition of novel odorants (CS1) in newborn rabbits. Here, experiments pinpoint that CS1 becomes able to support neonatal learning of other odorants (CS2). We therefore evaluated whether these first- and second-order memories remained dependent after reactivation. Amnesia induced after CS2 recall selectively blocked this memory, when recall and amnesia of CS1 left the souvenir of CS2 safe; this finding partially differed from results obtained in adult mammals. Thus, in this model of neonatal appetitive odor learning, second-order memory seems to depend on first-order memory for its formation but not for its maintenance

Animal welfare: new governance in France and european projects

The General States of 2010 were aimed at reforming the Health governance in Agriculture in France. One of the aims was, in particular to give a better definition of the notion of “health veterinarian” (habilitated or mandated). Since these, a new organization was set up. It affects in particular the settlement of new consultative committees for animal protection at the national level as well as at the regional level. In addition a project of a single “Welfare Law” is being setting up by the European institutions in the context of the other laws: Food Law and Health Law. This follows the New 2012- 2015 Animal Welfare Strategy of the European commission. This strategy would modernize and simplify the old European texts and would be inspired by the HACCP system. This new paradigm would give more responsibilities to operators. It would be based on auto controls which results would be checked at the end by official veterinarians in all Member states of the UnionDepuis les États généraux du sanitaire de 2010, destinés à réformer la gouvernance sanitaire en France et en particulier à mieux redéfinir les missions du vétérinaire sanitaire (habilité ou mandaté), une nouvelle organisation s’est mise en place concernant notamment la construction et la consultation de comités dédiés à la protection animale au niveau national et régional. Cette nouvelle organisation est explicitée dans cet article. Par ailleurs, dans le contexte général de la mise en place de « Paquets cadres » par l’Union Européenne comme le Paquet Hygiène ou le Paquet Santé « Health Law », est prévue, pour faire suite au Plan d’action 2012-2015 de la Commission européenne, une « Welfare Law ». Le but de ce projet, affiché par les instances communautaires, est de moderniser et simplifier les textes communautaires actuels concernant la protection des animaux. Pour ce faire, la Commission se base, comme dans les autres « Law » d’une obligation de résultats primant sur l’obligation et le contrôle des moyens, système inspiré des pratiques « HACCP ». Ce système octroie plus de responsabilités aux opérateurs ou professionnels. Il prévoit, entre autres, des autocontrôles dont les résultats seront à postériori contrôlés par les vétérinaires officiels (en France : inspecteurs de santé publique vétérinaires

"Live” Prussian blue fading by time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Prussian blue (PB) is an artists' pigment that has been frequently used in many artworks but poses several problems of conservation because of its fading under light and anoxia treatment. PB fading is due to the reduction of iron(III) into iron(II) and depends a lot on the object investigated. Due to the complexity of the structure, the precise physico-chemical mechanisms behind the redox process remain obscure. In this paper, we present a procedure to investigate light- and anoxia-induced fading of PB-paper samples by means of time resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy performed at the Fe K-edge. A system composed of a visible light source and a flux-controlled environmental cell allowed light, gas and humidity to be modified in situ. The synchrotron X-ray beam was evidenced to induce a reduction of PB and to play a major role in the kinetics. The analysis of the PB fading kinetics of a sample submitted to various gas and light environments showed that both synchrotron beam and anoxia were influencing PB reduction in a correlated way. In comparison, light was found to play a minor role. Finally, we have demonstrated that the type of paper substrate could influence significantly the kinetics of reduction. Several hypotheses to explain the correlation between PB reduction mechanism and substrate are presente

Structure of the carbon layers deposited on the toroidal pump limiter of Tore Supra

International audienceScanning and transmission electron microscopy analyses have been performed for tiles extracted from the toroidal pump limiter of Tore Supra for erosion- and deposition-dominated zones. Deposit thicknesses have been estimated for the plasma-facing top and the gap side lateral surfaces. Deposit thickness profiles have been measured inside gaps, showing that deposition mainly occurs in the first millimetre and that both poloidal and toroidal gap deposition is asymmetric. Quantitative information on the deposit volume and on D-retention are thus obtained from these measurements. Carbon probed at the tile top surfaces is mainly amorphous carbon, due either to the amorphization induced by ion bombardment in the erosion dominated zone, or to deposit formation processes in the deposition-dominated zones. Deposits are tip-shaped and are oriented, which should give information on transport processes