Reconnaissance du travail des familles d'accueil pour enfants : le cas du Québec

En matière de protection de l’enfance, l’État peut intervenir exceptionnellement dans la vie des familles, et plus rarement, se substituer à elles (Comité d’experts sur la révision de la Loi sur la protection de la jeunesse, 2004). Le placement d’enfants en milieux substituts est clairement une mesure d’exception. Lorsque cette procédure est envisagée, le type de placement le plus couramment utilisé est le placement en famille d’accueil (Thoburn, 2007). Les familles qui accueillent ces enfants occupent alors une place centrale dans la réponse à leurs besoins et reçoivent un soutien de l’État pour réaliser leur engagement. Au cours des dernières années, la situation des familles d’accueil a fait l’objet de débats au Québec. Le but de cette étude est d’examiner cette situation et plus précisément la reconnaissance du travail des familles d’accueil par les services sociaux

Familles et réseau familial extra-résidentiel : une réflexion sur les limites de la définition statistique de la famille

Monoparentalité et recomposition familiale font dorénavant partie de la vie familiale. Dans ce contexte, souvent les parents séparés ne vivent plus au quotidien avec leurs enfants, sans que ne s’éteignent les droits et les obligations qui les unissent. Le maintien de ces relations parent-enfants met en cause la pertinence de la définition statistique de la famille fondée sur la corésidence. Les résultats d’une analyse fondée sur l’Enquête sociale générale de 2001 réalisée par Statistique Canada montrent que le nombre de ménages qui, à un moment ou l’autre, accueillent des enfants de moins de 18 ans augmente de 13 %, lorsque l’on tient compte du réseau familial extra-résidentiel. La vérification de l’existence de relations concrètes entre parents et enfants qui ne vivent pas ensemble rencontre cependant des embûches liées aux perceptions divergentes des parents selon qu’ils habitent ou non avec leurs enfants, ainsi qu’aux difficultés associées à la représentativité des échantillons des parents non résidants.Lone-parenthood and step-parenthood are now part of contemporary family life. In this context, separated parents often do not live on a daily basis with their children, while still assuming rights and responsibilities towards them. The maintenance of these parent-children relationships questions the relevance of the traditional definition of the family based on co-residence. An analysis of the 2001 General Social Survey conducted by Statistics Canada shows a 13 % increase in the number of households that include children aged less than 18 years, when taking into account the extra-residential family network. Verifying the existence of concrete relationships between family members who are not living together proves, however, to be difficult, because of the divergent perceptions of parents depending on whether or not they live with their children, and of the problems associated with reaching a representative sample of non-residing parents

Isolation of structurally distinct lignin–carbohydrate fractions from maize stem by sequential alkaline extractions and endoglucanase treatment

Sequential fractionation of extractive-free maize stems was carried out using two mild alkaline extractions (0.5 and 2 M NaOH, 20 'C, 24 h) before and after endoglucanase treatment. This procedure provided two lignin–carbohydrate fractions (LC1 and LC2) recovered after each alkali treatment. LC1 and LC2 contained 39% and 8% of the total lignin amount, respectively. These two fractions contained structurally distinct lignin molecules. While the content of resistant interunit bonds in lignin was 77% in LC1, it was increased up to 98% in LC2. Not unexpectedly, both alkali-soluble fractions contained substantial amount of p-coumaric and ferulic acids ether-linked to lignins. These results outline heterogeneity of maize stem lignins related to fractionation of grass materials

Expression of Viral Antigen by the Liver Leads to Chronic Infection Through the Generation of Regulatory T Cells

Referred to by David E. Kaplan " Does Massive Antigen Burden Allow Hepatic Viruses to Induce Regulatory T Cells and Their Tolerance and Persistence?" CMGH Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Volume 1, Issue 3, May 2015, Pages 259-261International audienceThe constant exposure of the liver to food and bacterial antigens through the mesenteric circulation requires it to maintain tolerance while preserving the ability to mount an effective immune response against pathogens. We investigated the contribution of the liver's tolerogenic nature on the establishment of chronic viral infections. Methods: TTR-NP mice, which express the nucleoprotein (NP) of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) specifically in hepatocytes under control of a modified transthyretin (TTR) promoter, were infected with the Armstrong (Arm) or WE acute strains of LCMV. Results: The infection persisted for at least 147 days in TTR-NP mice. Expression of NP by the liver induced a strong peripheral tolerance against NP that was mediated by interleukin-10-secreting CD4+ regulatory T cells, leading to high PD-1 (programmed death-1) expression and reduced effector function of virus-specific T cells. Despite an active immune response against LCMV, peripheral tolerance against a single viral protein was sufficient to induce T-cell exhaustion and chronic LCMV Armstrong (Arm) or WE infection by limiting the antiviral T-cell response in an otherwise immunocompetent host. Regulatory T-cell depletion of chronically infected TTR-NP mice led to functional restoration of LCMV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ Tcell responses and viral clearance. Conclusions: Expression of a viral antigen by hepatocytes can induce a state of peripheral tolerance mediated by regulatory Tcells that can lead to the establishment of a chronic viral infection. Strategies targeting regulatory T cells in patients chronically infected with hepatotropic viruses could represent a promising approach to restore functional antiviral immunity and clear infection

Association of Polyaminergic Loci With Anxiety, Mood Disorders, and Attempted Suicide

The polyamine system has been implicated in a number of psychiatric conditions, which display both alterations in polyamine levels and altered expression of genes related to polyamine metabolism. Studies have identified associations between genetic variants in spermidine/spermine N1-acetyltransferase (SAT1) and both anxiety and suicide, and several polymorphisms appear to play important roles in determining gene expression.We genotyped 63 polymorphisms, spread across four polyaminergic genes (SAT1, spermine synthase (SMS), spermine oxidase (SMOX), and ornithine aminotransferase like-1 (OATL1)), in 1255 French-Canadian individuals who have been followed longitudinally for 22 years. We assessed univariate associations with anxiety, mood disorders, and attempted suicide, as assessed during early adulthood. We also investigated the involvement of gene-environment interactions in terms of childhood abuse, and assessed internalizing and externalizing symptoms as endophenotypes mediating these interactions. Overall, each gene was associated with at least one main outcome: anxiety (SAT1, SMS), mood disorders (SAT1, SMOX), and suicide attempts (SAT1, OATL1). Several SAT1 polymorphisms displayed disease-specific risk alleles, and polymorphisms in this gene were involved in gene-gene interactions with SMS to confer risk for anxiety disorders, as well as gene-environment interactions between childhood physical abuse and mood disorders. Externalizing behaviors demonstrated significant mediation with regards to the association between OATL1 and attempted suicide, however there was no evidence that externalizing or internalizing behaviors were appropriate endophenotypes to explain the associations with mood or anxiety disorders. Finally, childhood sexual abuse did not demonstrate mediating influences on any of our outcomes.These results demonstrate that genetic variants in polyaminergic genes are associated with psychiatric conditions, each of which involves a set of separate and distinct risk alleles. As several of these polymorphisms are associated with gene expression, these findings may provide mechanisms to explain the alterations in polyamine metabolism which have been observed in psychiatric disorders

Imbalanced Lignin Biosynthesis Promotes the Sexual Reproduction of Homothallic Oomycete Pathogens

Lignin is incorporated into plant cell walls to maintain plant architecture and to ensure long-distance water transport. Lignin composition affects the industrial value of plant material for forage, wood and paper production, and biofuel technologies. Industrial demands have resulted in an increase in the use of genetic engineering to modify lignified plant cell wall composition. However, the interaction of the resulting plants with the environment must be analyzed carefully to ensure that there are no undesirable side effects of lignin modification. We show here that Arabidopsis thaliana mutants with impaired 5-hydroxyguaiacyl O-methyltransferase (known as caffeate O-methyltransferase; COMT) function were more susceptible to various bacterial and fungal pathogens. Unexpectedly, asexual sporulation of the downy mildew pathogen, Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis, was impaired on these mutants. Enhanced resistance to downy mildew was not correlated with increased plant defense responses in comt1 mutants but coincided with a higher frequency of oomycete sexual reproduction within mutant tissues. Comt1 mutants but not wild-type Arabidopsis accumulated soluble 2-O-5-hydroxyferuloyl-l-malate. The compound weakened mycelium vigor and promoted sexual oomycete reproduction when applied to a homothallic oomycete in vitro. These findings suggested that the accumulation of 2-O-5-hydroxyferuloyl-l-malate accounted for the observed comt1 mutant phenotypes during the interaction with H. arabidopsidis. Taken together, our study shows that an artificial downregulation of COMT can drastically alter the interaction of a plant with the biotic environment

Natalizumab treatment shows low cumulative probabilities of confirmed disability worsening to EDSS milestones in the long-term setting.

Abstract Background Though the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) is commonly used to assess disability level in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), the criteria defining disability progression are used for patients with a wide range of baseline levels of disability in relatively short-term trials. As a result, not all EDSS changes carry the same weight in terms of future disability, and treatment benefits such as decreased risk of reaching particular disability milestones may not be reliably captured. The objectives of this analysis are to assess the probability of confirmed disability worsening to specific EDSS milestones (i.e., EDSS scores ≥3.0, ≥4.0, or ≥6.0) at 288 weeks in the Tysabri Observational Program (TOP) and to examine the impact of relapses occurring during natalizumab therapy in TOP patients who had received natalizumab for ≥24 months. Methods TOP is an ongoing, open-label, observational, prospective study of patients with RRMS in clinical practice. Enrolled patients were naive to natalizumab at treatment initiation or had received ≤3 doses at the time of enrollment. Intravenous natalizumab (300 mg) infusions were given every 4 weeks, and the EDSS was assessed at baseline and every 24 weeks during treatment. Results Of the 4161 patients enrolled in TOP with follow-up of at least 24 months, 3253 patients with available baseline EDSS scores had continued natalizumab treatment and 908 had discontinued (5.4% due to a reported lack of efficacy and 16.4% for other reasons) at the 24-month time point. Those who discontinued due to lack of efficacy had higher baseline EDSS scores (median 4.5 vs. 3.5), higher on-treatment relapse rates (0.82 vs. 0.23), and higher cumulative probabilities of EDSS worsening (16% vs. 9%) at 24 months than those completing therapy. Among 24-month completers, after approximately 5.5 years of natalizumab treatment, the cumulative probabilities of confirmed EDSS worsening by 1.0 and 2.0 points were 18.5% and 7.9%, respectively (24-week confirmation), and 13.5% and 5.3%, respectively (48-week confirmation). The risks of 24- and 48-week confirmed EDSS worsening were significantly higher in patients with on-treatment relapses than in those without relapses. An analysis of time to specific EDSS milestones showed that the probabilities of 48-week confirmed transition from EDSS scores of 0.0–2.0 to ≥3.0, 2.0–3.0 to ≥4.0, and 4.0–5.0 to ≥6.0 at week 288 in TOP were 11.1%, 11.8%, and 9.5%, respectively, with lower probabilities observed among patients without on-treatment relapses (8.1%, 8.4%, and 5.7%, respectively). Conclusions In TOP patients with a median (range) baseline EDSS score of 3.5 (0.0–9.5) who completed 24 months of natalizumab treatment, the rate of 48-week confirmed disability worsening events was below 15%; after approximately 5.5 years of natalizumab treatment, 86.5% and 94.7% of patients did not have EDSS score increases of ≥1.0 or ≥2.0 points, respectively. The presence of relapses was associated with higher rates of overall disability worsening. These results were confirmed by assessing transition to EDSS milestones. Lower rates of overall 48-week confirmed EDSS worsening and of transitioning from EDSS score 4.0–5.0 to ≥6.0 in the absence of relapses suggest that relapses remain a significant driver of disability worsening and that on-treatment relapses in natalizumab-treated patients are of prognostic importance

PHARE : une expérience de veille informationnelle : où Borges rencontre Netvibes et Delicious

L’article décrit la mise en place de PHARE, un service de veille informationnelle dédiée à la clientèle professorale de l’Université Laval. Deux services Web, soit Netvibes et Delicious, sont utilisés de façon combinée afin de créer un espace numérique qui permet aux professeur(e)s d’être informé(e)s sur les plus récentes publications de périodiques fréquemment consultés ainsi que des nouvelles acquisitions par domaine de recherche. L’initiative s’inscrit dans cette fonction essentielle de la bibliothéconomie qui est d’assurer constance, prévisibilité et pertinence dans la recherche.This article summarises the implementation of PHARE, an information-monitoring service intended for the teaching staff of Université Laval. Two web-based services, Netvibes and Delicious, are used together to create a numeric zone allowing professors to be informed of new periodical publications and recent acquisitions, by research interest or subject. The initiative is part of an essential library service aimed at ensuring consistency, visibility and relevance in research.En el artículo se describe la implementación de PHARE, un servicio de vigilia informativa dedicado a los profesores de la Universidad Laval. Se utilizan dos servicios Web en forma combinada, Netvibes y Delicious, para crear un espacio digital que permite a los profesores recibir información sobre las últimas publicaciones de los periódicos consultados con mayor frecuencia, así como sobre las nuevas adquisiciones en cada área de investigación. La iniciativa se inscribe en la función esencial de la biblioteconomía, de asegurar constancia, previsibilidad y pertinencia en la búsqueda