Populations réfugiées : de l'exil au retour

Depuis la fin de la guerre au Liban en 1990, on observe dans les camps de réfugiés palestiniens installés depuis 50 ans autour de Beyrouth, une réorganisation morphologique et démographique majeure. Accompagnant ces changements, des liens se rétablissent, ou s'établissent, entre les réfugiés et les populations environnantes, par-delà des frontières encore très marquées. Ils sont isolés au coeur de territoires qui échappent largement à l'autorité du pays d'accueil, à l'image des camps de Chatila et de Borj el Brajneh en banlieu sud. (Résumé d'auteur

Secretion mechanisms of volatile organic compounds in specialized cells of aromatic plants

The present review focuses on cells secreting volatile odorant compounds. This cell type is found in a wide variety of plants, grouped under the term aromatic plants. Such secreting cells are very diverse in morphology, from highly specialized trichomes to nonspecialized cells, including the secretory epidermal cells of petals and osmophores. In these various types of cell, the biosynthetic pathways of three main groups of volatile organic compounds are recognized: isoprenoids, fatty acid derivatives and aromatic compounds. The precise cellular localization of these pathways has not yet been elucidated in all cases, though many of the enzymes involved have already been cloned. These have been found to be frequently located in plastids but also in endoplasmic reticulum or even cytosol. Two alternative mechanisms of secretion termed granulocrine and eccrine have been postulated to exist. Recent studies support the fact that both mechanisms could exist for different compounds and different plants. This review will discuss also the route by which secreted molecules make their way through the cell wall and cuticle

Diagnostic study, design and implementation of an integrated model of care in France: a bottom-up process with continuous leadership

<strong>Background: </strong>Sustaining integrated care is difficult, in large part because of problems encountered securing the participation of health care and social service professionals and, in particular, general practitioners (GPs). <p><br /><strong>Purpose: </strong>To present an innovative bottom-up and pragmatic strategy used to implement a new integrated care model in France for community-dwelling elderly people with complex needs.</p><p><br /><strong>Results: </strong>In the first step, a diagnostic study was conducted with face-to-face interviews to gather data on current practices from a sample of health and social stakeholders working with elderly people. In the second step, an integrated care model called Coordination Personnes Agées (COPA) was designed by the same major stakeholders in order to define its detailed characteristics based on the local context. In the third step, the model was implemented in two phases: adoption and maintenance. This strategy was carried out by a continuous and flexible leadership throughout the process, initially with a mixed leadership (clinician and researcher) followed by a double one (clinician and managers of services) in the implementation phase.</p><p><br /><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The implementation of this bottom-up and pragmatic strategy relied on establishing a collaborative dynamic among health and social stakeholders. This enhanced their involvement throughout the implementation phase, particularly among the GPs, and allowed them to support the change practices and services arrangements</p

Ab initio probing of the electronic band structure and Fermi surface of fluorine-doped WO3 as a novel low-TC superconductor

First-principles calculations were performed to investigate the electronic structure and the Fermi surface of the newly discovered low-temperature superconductor: fluorine-doped WO3. We find that F doping provides the transition of the insulating tungsten trioxide into a metallic-like phase WO3-xFx, where the near-Fermi states are formed mainly from W 5d with admixture of O 2p orbitals. The cooperative effect of fluorine additives in WO3 consists in change of electronic concentration as well as the lattice constant. At probing their influence on the near-Fermi states separately, the dominant role of the electronic factor for the transition of tungsten oxyfluoride into superconducting state was established. The volume of the Fermi surface gradually increases with the increase of the doping. In the sequence WO3 \rightarrow WO2.5F0.5 the effective atomic charges of W and O ions decrease, but much less, than it is predicted within the idealized ionic model - owing to presence of the covalent interactions W-O and W-F.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Reproducibility of blood tests of liver fibrosis in clinical practice

Objectives:To evaluate the inter-laboratory reproducibility of blood test for liver fibrosis: FibroMeter, Fibrotest, APRI and their composites variables. Design and methods: Four studies, including 147 patients, were performed: study #1 included 2 metachronous blood samples and 2 laboratories; studies #2, #3 and #4 included synchronous samples with assays delayed at day 1 in 12 laboratories, at day 0 in 10 laboratories and at day 0 or 1 in 2 laboratories, respectively. Agreement was evaluated by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ric). Results: In studies #1, #2 and #4, ric for FibroMeter was 0.893, 0.942 and 0.991, respectively. In study #3, the ric were: FibroMeter: 0.963, Fibrotest: 0.984, APRI: 0.949. Large simulated variations in composite variables had a weak impact on FibroMeter. Conclusions: When blood marker limits are controlled, inter-laboratory agreement of blood tests is excellent in clinical practice conditions. Blood tests are robust against the variability of composite blood variables

Regulation of xylem fiber differentiation by gibberellins through DELLA-KNAT1 interaction

[EN] The thickening of plant organs is supported by secondary growth, a process by which new vascular tissues (xylem and phloem) are produced. Xylem is composed of several cell types, including xylary fibers, parenchyma and vessel elements. In Arabidopsis, it has been shown that fibers are promoted by the class-I KNOX gene KNAT1 and the plant hormones gibberellins, and are repressed by a small set of receptor-like kinases; however, we lack a mechanistic framework to integrate their relative contributions. Here, we show that DELLAs, negative elements of the gibberellin signaling pathway, physically interact with KNAT1 and impair its binding to KNAT1-binding sites. Our analysis also indicates that at least 37% of the transcriptome mobilized by KNAT1 is potentially dependent on this interaction, and includes genes involved in secondary cell wall modifications and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. Moreover, the promotion by constitutive overexpression of KNAT1 of fiber formation and the expression of genes required for fiber differentiation were still reverted by DELLA accumulation, in agreement with post-translational regulation of KNAT1 by DELLA proteins. These results suggest that gibberellins enhance fiber development by promoting KNAT1 activity.This work was funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia (BFU2016-80621-P, BIO2016-71933-P and BIO2016-79147-R to M.A.B., D.A. and J.A., respectively). A.F-B. and N.B-T. were recipients of a Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad FPI Fellowships (BES-2011-045689 and BES-2014-068868, respectively), and A.S.-M. and M.A.B. acknowledge funding from the European Union (H2020-MSCA-IF-2016-746396). J.A. is supported by a Ramon y Cajal contract from the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (RYC-2014-15752).Felipo-Benavent, A.; Urbez Lagunas, C.; Blanco-Touriñán, N.; Serrano Mislata, A.; Baumberger, N.; Achard, P.; Agustí, J.... (2018). Regulation of xylem fiber differentiation by gibberellins through DELLA-KNAT1 interaction. Development. 145(23). https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.164962S1452

Overview of the current use of levosimendan in France: a prospective observational cohort study

Abstract Background Following the results of randomized controlled trials on levosimendan, French health authorities requested an update of the current use and side-effects of this medication on a national scale. Method The France-LEVO registry was a prospective observational cohort study reflecting the indications, dosing regimens, and side-effects of levosimendan, as well as patient outcomes over a year. Results The patients included ( n = 602) represented 29.6% of the national yearly use of levosimendan in France. They were treated for cardiogenic shock ( n = 250, 41.5%), decompensated heart failure ( n = 127, 21.1%), cardiac surgery-related low cardiac output prophylaxis and/or treatment ( n = 86, 14.3%), and weaning from veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation ( n = 82, 13.6%). They received 0.18 ± 0.07 µg/kg/min levosimendan over 26 ± 8 h. An initial bolus was administered in 45 patients (7.5%), 103 (17.1%) received repeated infusions, and 461 (76.6%) received inotropes and or vasoactive agents concomitantly. Hypotension was reported in 218 patients (36.2%), atrial fibrillation in 85 (14.1%), and serious adverse events in 17 (2.8%). 136 patients (22.6%) died in hospital, and 26 (4.3%) during the 90-day follow-up. Conclusions We observed that levosimendan was used in accordance with recent recommendations by French physicians. Hypotension and atrial fibrillation remained the most frequent side-effects, while serious adverse event potentially attributable to levosimendan were infrequent. The results suggest that this medication was safe and potentially associated with some benefit in the population studied