Henry Bordeaux: the family as a basis of French society

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Existe-t-il un consensus social pour définir et comprendre la problématique de la violence conjugale?

Pourquoi certaines relations de couple, initialement harmonieuses, basculent-elles dans des rapports de violence et d'abus ? Quelle est l'ampleur de ce type d'abus ? Plusieurs études se sont penché sur ce phénomène pour tenter d'en circonscrire l'incidence et d'en saisir la dynamique. Ces recherches semblent faire ressortir un phénomène social d'une ampleur non négligeable. Ainsi, selon une étude réalisée par MacLeod et Cadieux en 1980, une femme sur dix serait battue sur une base régulière. Selon Statistique Canada, en 1993, 25 % des femmes canadiennes mentionnent avoir été victimes de violence de la part d'un conjoint depuis l'âge de 16 ans. Parmi ce groupe, 15 % de ces femmes vivent toujours avec leur conjoint. De plus, en dépit des programmes d'aide aux victimes de violence conjugale, le nombre de cas de violence déclarés ne semble pas avoir diminué. Ces résultats alarmants ont amené plusieurs chercheurs à se pencher sur cette dynamique. Dans les dix dernières années, certains progrès ont ainsi été réalisés dans la compréhension du phénomène de la violence faite aux femmes. Des programmes d'intervention, l'implication des gouvernements, la judiciarisation de certaines formes d'abus, la sensibilisation accrue de la population face à la violence conjugale ainsi que la dénonciation des cas de violence ont marqué ces progrès. En dépit de cette conscience sociale accrue vis-à-vis ce phénomène, la recherche se bute parfois à des obstacles. En dépit de modélisations complexes des concepts et des facteurs de prédiction du phénomène, les résultats se montrent parfois décevants. Existe-t-il donc un consensus social pour définir cette problématique et la dynamique qui y est associée ? Nous tenterons de répondre à cette question en révisant les diverses approches théoriques utilisées pour définir la violence conjugale. Nous tenterons ensuite de faire une analyse critique de ces théories en examinant les diverses recherches empiriques qui ont été menées dans ce domaine.Why is that some relationships, initially harmonious, tip into violence and abuse ? Many studies have examined the phenomenon to attempt to circumscribe the incidence and seize its dynamics. These studies seem to bring out a social phenomenon of quite serious amplitude. Thus, according to a study conducted by MacLeod and Cadieux in 1980, one in ten women is battered on a regular basis. According to Statistics Canada, in 1993, 25 % of Canadian women have been victim of violence by their partner since the age of sixteen. Among this group, 15 % are still living with the same partner. Moreover, despite programs destined to help victims of conjugal violence, the number of cases declared appears not to have diminished. Such alarming results have brought many researchers to study the problem further. In the last ten years, some progress has thus been realized in the understanding of the phenomenon of violence against women. Programs of intervention, government involvement, judiciarization of certain forms of abuse, sensitization of the public regarding conjugal violence as well as denunciation of cases of violence have marked this progress. In spite of a rising conscience regarding conjugal violence, research sometimes runs up against obstacles. In spite of complex modelization of concepts and factors of prediction of the phenomenon, results sometimes appear disappointing. Thus, is there a social consensus on a definition of the problem and its dynamics ? The authors will try to answer this question by reviewing different thoretical approaches used to define conjugal violence. They will then attempt to make a critical analysis of these theories by examining different empirical studies realized in this field

Mise en œuvre d’une formation infirmière réflexive sur la prévention de l’état confusionnel aigu chez les personnes âgées dans les milieux de soins chirurgicaux

Rapport de stage présenté en vue de l’obtention du grade de Maîtrise ès sciences (M.Sc.) en sciences infirmières option expertise-conseil en soins infirmiersDe 30 à 75 % des personnes âgées (PA) hospitalisées dans le système de santé québécois développeront un état confusionnel aigu (ÉCA) pendant leur séjour hospitalier, et ce, particulièrement en situation de soins postopératoires. L’ÉCA a des conséquences physiques et psychologiques importantes chez la PA et engendre de la détresse chez sa famille et les professionnels. Pour prévenir l’ÉCA chez les PA, plusieurs études démontrent l’efficacité de formations offertes aux infirmières sur des interventions non pharmacologiques qui intègrent, entre autres, la famille aux soins. Le but de ce stage était de s’appuyer sur ces études pour développer et mettre en œuvre une formation sur la prévention de l'ÉCA visant les infirmières d'une unité de chirurgie d’un centre hospitalier. La pratique réflexive a été l’approche choisie pour développer la formation, car plusieurs écrits témoignent de ses retombées positives sur la formation clinique des infirmières. Ce projet a permis aux infirmières de prendre conscience des meilleures stratégies de prévention auprès des PA ainsi que d’avoir une meilleure compréhension de l’impact de l’environnement et de leur pratique sur l’ÉCA et sur l’expérience du PA et de la famille durant un ÉCA. De plus, il a sensibilisé à l’importance de l’intégration de la famille aux soins dans le but de prévenir l’ÉCA. Ce projet a finalement inspiré des infirmières du milieu à se mobiliser afin d’assurer un changement dans les soins offerts aux PA pour prévenir l’ÉCA. Cette formation présente une stratégie concrète pour favoriser le transfert de connaissances et le développement de compétences chez les infirmières.Between 30% and 75% of older adults (OA) hospitalized in the Québec health care system will develop a delirium during their hospital stay, particularly in post-operative care settings. Delirium has significant physical and psychological consequences for OA and causes distress to family and professionals. To prevent delirium among OA, several studies show the effectiveness of training offered to nurses on nonpharmacological interventions that integrate, among others, the family to care. The purpose of this internship was to build on these studies to develop and implement a delirium prevention training for nurses in a surgical unit at a hospital. Reflective practice has been the approach chosen to develop the training, as several publications attest to its positive impact on the clinical training of nurses. This project allowed nurses to become aware of the best prevention strategies with OA and to gain a better understanding of the impact of the environment and their practice on delirium and the OA and family experience. In addition, it helped foster the integration of the family into care in order to prevent delirium. This project ultimately inspired nurses to mobilize to improve the prevention of delirium in OA. This training presents a concrete strategy for fostering knowledge transfer and competences development for nurses

Les facteurs organisationnels facilitant la réintégration professionnelle de policiers et policières de retour d'une assignation internationale

Le contexte de mondialisation et de mobilité de la main-d’oeuvre augmente l’intérêt pour la gestion des ressources humaines internationales. Sous étudiée par les chercheurs et négligée par les organisations, la réintégration est une phase cruciale du processus d’assignation internationale qui est pourtant difficilement vécue par les rapatriés. Le Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) participe aux opérations internationales de maintien de la paix onusiennes depuis 20 ans. Les spécificités du contexte de ces assignations limitent les possibilités d’y généraliser les résultats scientifiques actuels. C’est donc afin d’optimiser les pratiques de réintégration du personnel que la présente recherche a été menée dans le but d’identifier les facteurs organisationnels ayant le potentiel de faciliter la réussite de la réintégration professionnelle (RP) des policiers et policières SPVM de retour d’une opération internationale de maintien de la paix. Des policiers et policières du SPVM qui étaient de retour depuis un minimum de six mois et un maximum de trois ans (N = 116) ont donc répondu à un questionnaire bâti sur mesure pour l’étude. Celui-ci a permis de mesurer différents indicateurs de réussite de la RP ainsi qu’une liste de pratiques de soutien organisationnel, de caractéristiques de l’environnement de travail et des variables individuelles recensées à l’égard de la RP. Une première vague d’analyses en composantes principales a d’abord permis de confirmer la possibilité d’utiliser sept des huit regroupements de pratiques de soutien organisationnel et quatre des sept regroupements de caractéristiques de l’environnement de travail créés à priori. Une analyse en composantes principales a ensuite infirmé la possibilité de faire usage d’un score global de la réussite de la RP, mais confirmé celle de faire usage distinct des cinq indicateurs de réussite de la RP relevés à priori. Finalement, des analyses de régression multiple hiérarchiques réalisées sur chacun des indicateurs de la réussite de la réintégration ont permis de mettre en lumière l’importance que l’organisation maintienne le contact avec l’expatrié pendant l’assignation pour une meilleure réussite de la réintégration professionnelle. Cette pratique organisationnelle favorise l’engagement envers l’organisation, le bien-être psychologique des rapatriés et l’absence d’une intention de quitter l’organisation au retour. L’étude démontre également que les pratiques visant à s’assurer que le rapatrié connaisse le poste qu’il occupera au retour prédisent une meilleure performance au travail. Pour finir, l’étude met en lumière l’importance d’accorder une attention à certaines variables individuelles des rapatriés, telles que l’ancienneté, la position hiérarchique, le genre et le temps écoulé depuis le retour. Elle souligne également l’avantage de s’assurer que les rapatriés maintiennent une perception positive, autant du soutien organisationnel offert aux rapatriés que de l’accueil et du soutien de l’équipe de travail au retour, car ces conditions augmentent leur satisfaction au travail

Role of capsid sequence and immature nucleocapsid proteins p9 and p15 in Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 genomic RNA dimerization

AbstractHIV-1 genomic RNA (gRNA) dimerization is important for viral infectivity and is regulated by proteolytic processing of the Gag precursor protein (Pr55gag) under the direction of the viral protease. The processing occurs in successive steps and, to date, the step associated with formation of a wild-type (WT) level of gRNA dimers has not been identified. The primary cleavage divides Pr55gag into two proteins. The C-terminal polypeptide is termed NCp15 (NCp7–p1–p6) because it contains the nucleocapsid protein (NC), a key determinant of gRNA dimerization and packaging. To examine the importance of precursor polypeptides NCp15 and NCp9 (NCp7–p1), we introduced mutations that prevented the proteolytic cleavages responsible for the appearance of NCp9 or NCp7. Using native Northern blot analysis, we show that gRNA dimerization was impaired when both the secondary (p1–p6) and tertiary (p7–p1) cleavage sites of NCp15 were abolished, but unaffected when only one or the other site was abolished. Though processing to NCp9 therefore suffices for a WT level of gRNA dimerization, we also show that preventing cleavage at the p7–p1 site abolished HIV-1 replication. To identify the minimum level of protease activity compatible with a WT level of gRNA dimers, we introduced mutations Thr26Ser and Ala28Ser in the viral protease to partially inactivate it, and we prepared composite HIV-1 resulting from the cotransfection of various ratios of WT and protease-inactive proviral DNAs. The results reveal that a 30% processing of Pr55gag into mature capsid proteins (CA/CA-p2) yielded a WT level of gRNA dimers, while a 10% Pr55gag processing hardly increased gRNA dimerization above the level seen in protease-inactive virions. We found that full gRNA dimerization required less than 50% WT NC in complementation asssays. Finally, we show that if we destroy alpha helix 1 of the capsid protein (CA), gRNA dimerization is impaired to the same extent as when the viral protease is inactivated. Cotransfection studies show that this CA mutation, in contrast to the NC-disabling mutations, has a dominant negative effect on HIV-1 RNA dimerization, viral core formation, and viral replication. This represents the first evidence that a capsid mutation can affect HIV-1 RNA dimerization

Cation-dependent cleavage of the duplex form of the subtype-B HIV-1 RNA dimerization initiation site

The crystal structure of subtype-B HIV-1 genomic RNA Dimerization Initiation Site duplex revealed chain cleavage at a specific position resulting in 3′-phosphate and 5′-hydroxyl termini. A crystallographic analysis showed that Ba2+, Mn2+, Co2+ and Zn2+ bind specifically on a guanine base close to the cleaved position. The crystal structures also point to a necessary conformational change to induce an ‘in-line’ geometry at the cleavage site. In solution, divalent cations increased the rate of cleavage with pH/pKa compensation, indicating that a cation-bound hydroxide anion is responsible for the cleavage. We propose a ‘Trojan horse’ mechanism, possibly of general interest, wherein a doubly charged cation hosted near the cleavage site as a ‘harmless’ species is further transformed in situ into an ‘aggressive’ species carrying a hydroxide anion

Primary T-lymphocytes rescue the replication of HIV-1 DIS RNA mutants in part by facilitating reverse transcription

The dimerization initiation site (DIS) stem-loop within the HIV-1 RNA genome is vital for the production of infectious virions in T-cell lines but not in primary cells. In comparison to peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), which can support the replication of both wild type and HIV-1 DIS RNA mutants, we have found that DIS RNA mutants are up to 100 000-fold less infectious than wild-type HIV-1 in T-cell lines. We have also found that the cell-type-dependent replication of HIV-1 DIS RNA mutants is largely producer cell-dependent, with mutants displaying a greater defect in viral cDNA synthesis when viruses were not derived from PBMCs. While many examples exist of host–pathogen interplays that are mediated via proteins, analogous examples which rely on nucleic acid triggers are limited. Our data provide evidence to illustrate that primary T-lymphocytes rescue, in part, the replication of HIV-1 DIS RNA mutants through mediating the reverse transcription process in a cell-type-dependent manner. Our data also suggest the presence of a host cell factor that acts within the virus producer cells. In addition to providing an example of an RNA-mediated cell-type-dependent block to viral replication, our data also provides evidence which help to resolve the dilemma of how HIV-1 genomes with mismatched DIS sequences can recombine to generate chimeric viral RNA genomes

SHAPE analysis of the FIV Leader RNA reveals a structural switch potentially controlling viral packaging and genome dimerization

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infects many species of cat, and is related to HIV, causing a similar pathology. High-throughput selective 2′ hydroxyl acylation analysed by primer extension (SHAPE), a technique that allows structural interrogation at each nucleotide, was used to map the secondary structure of the FIV packaging signal RNA. Previous studies of this RNA showed four conserved stem–loops, extensive long-range interactions (LRIs) and a small, palindromic stem–loop (SL5) within the gag open reading frame (ORF) that may act as a dimerization initiation site (DIS), enabling the virus to package two copies of its genome. Our analyses of wild-type (wt) and mutant RNAs suggest that although the four conserved stem–loops are static structures, the 5′ and 3′ regions previously shown to form LRI also adopt an alternative, yet similarly conserved conformation, in which the putative DIS is occluded, and which may thus favour translational and splicing functions over encapsidation. SHAPE and in vitro dimerization assays were used to examine SL5 mutants. Dimerization contacts appear to be made between palindromic loop sequences in SL5. As this stem–loop is located within the gag ORF, recognition of a dimeric RNA provides a possible mechanism for the specific packaging of genomic over spliced viral RNAs

Nucleocapsid protein-mediated maturation of dimer initiation complex of full-length SL1 stemloop of HIV-1: sequence effects and mechanism of RNA refolding

Specific binding of HIV-1 viral protein NCp7 to a unique 35-base RNA stem-loop SL1 is critical for formation and packaging of the genomic RNA dimer found within HIV-1 virions. NCp7 binding stimulates refolding of SL1 from a metastable kissing dimer (KD) into thermodynamically stable linear dimer (LD). Using UV melting, gel electrophoresis and heteronuclear NMR, we investigated effects of various site-specific mutations within the full-length SL1 on temperature- or NCp7-induced refolding in vitro. Refolding involved intramolecular melting of SL1 stems but not dissociation of the intermolecular KD interface. Refolding required only two NCp7 molecules per KD but was limited by the amount of NCp7 present, implying that the protein does not catalytically promote refolding. Efficient refolding depended strictly on the presence and, to a lesser degree, on sequence of a highly conserved G-rich internal loop that normally limits thermal stability of the SL1 stem. Adding two base pairs to the lower stem created a hyperstable SL1 mutant that failed to refold, even when bound by NCp7 at high stoichiometries. NMR analysis of these kinetically trapped mutant RNA–protein complexes indicated that NCp7 initiates refolding by dissociating base pairs in the upper stem of SL1. This study illuminates structural transitions critical for HIV-1 assembly and replication

Novel Staufen1 ribonucleoproteins prevent formation of stress granules but favour encapsidation of HIV-1 genomic RNA

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Gag selects for and mediates genomic RNA (vRNA) encapsidation into progeny virus particles. The host protein, Staufen1 interacts directly with Gag and is found in ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes containing vRNA, which provides evidence that Staufen1 plays a role in vRNA selection and encapsidation. In this work, we show that Staufen1, vRNA and Gag are found in the same RNP complex. These cellular and viral factors also colocalize in cells and constitute novel Staufen1 RNPs (SHRNPs) whose assembly is strictly dependent on HIV-1 expression. SHRNPs are distinct from stress granules and processing bodies, are preferentially formed during oxidative stress and are found to be in equilibrium with translating polysomes. Moreover, SHRNPs are stable, and the association between Staufen1 and vRNA was found to be evident in these and other types of RNPs. We demonstrate that following Staufen1 depletion, apparent supraphysiologic-sized SHRNP foci are formed in the cytoplasm and in which Gag, vRNA and the residual Staufen1 accumulate. The depletion of Staufen1 resulted in reduced Gag levels and deregulated the assembly of newly synthesized virions, which were found to contain several-fold increases in vRNA, Staufen1 and other cellular proteins. This work provides new evidence that Staufen1-containing HIV-1 RNPs preferentially form over other cellular silencing foci and are involved in assembly, localization and encapsidation of vRNA.Fil: Abrahamyan, Levon G.. Davis Jewish General Hospital; CanadáFil: Chatel Chaix, Laurent. Davis Jewish General Hospital; CanadáFil: Ajamian, Lara. Mc Gill University; Canadá. Davis Jewish General Hospital; CanadáFil: Milev, Miroslav P.. Mc Gill University; Canadá. Davis Jewish General Hospital; CanadáFil: Monette, Anne. Mc Gill University; Canadá. Davis Jewish General Hospital; CanadáFil: Clément, Jean François. Davis Jewish General Hospital; CanadáFil: Song, Rujun. Mc Gill University; Canadá. Davis Jewish General Hospital; CanadáFil: Lehmann, Martin. Davis Jewish General Hospital; CanadáFil: DesGroseillers, Luc. University Of Montreal; CanadáFil: Laughrea, Michael. Mc Gill University; Canadá. Davis Jewish General Hospital; CanadáFil: Boccaccio, Graciela Lidia. Fundación Instituto Leloir; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquimicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Mouland, Andrew J.. Mc Gill University; Canadá. Davis Jewish General Hospital; Canad