La terre des aînés : Représentations du sol dans le système à maison pyrénéen

À l'aide d'exemples empiriques, cet article traite du rapport qu'entretiennent les populations pyrénéennes du système à maison à leur « sol ». La polysémie de ce terme, loin de présenter une difficulté, a permis d'envisager plusieurs échelles d'observation conduisant à éclairer divers aspects du fonctionnement social du système à maison pyrénéen constituant la trame de la recherche. À la question des représentations du sol pour les populations locales, nous verrons que celles-ci sont fortement indexées aux règles d'organisation sociale en vigueur dans le système à maison pyrénéen. Ce paramètre, de première importance, doit être pris en considération par les gestionnaires lors de toute action d'aménagement des territoires.Relying on empirical examples, this article discusses the relationship of populations of the pyrenean house centred system to their "soil". The polysemy of this term, far from constituting a difficulty, enabled us to explore several levels of observation which enlightened different aspects of the social functioning of the Pyrenean house-centred system to which constitutes the frame of this research. To the question of representations of the soil for local people, we see that they are heavily indexed to the rules of social organization existing in the pyrenean house centred system, and that managers should take it into consideration for any action of regional planning

Centralité et concentration

La théorie des lieux centraux « obsède » les géographes depuis 50 ans. Il s'agit d'abord de considérer les contours du « dogme » christallérien et de commenter les travaux des héritiers de Christaller. En deçà de la centrante des fonctions urbaines étudiées par Christaller, il faut se pencher sur la structure des réseaux urbains et surtout sur l'évolution, en longue période, de la répartition des villes selon leur taille. Un indice de structuration hiérarchique est utilisé ici à cette fin. Il est appliqué à l'évolution de la structure urbaine de la France entre 1831 et 1911.Central place theory has « obsessed » geographersduring the past50years. The contours of the christallerian « dogma » are considered, and research in this tradition is assessed. Central place theory focusses on the centrality of urban functions. The concentration of population within urban networks must also be considered and, in particular, the long term evolution of the distribution of cities according to size. An index of hierarchical structuration is used here to this end. The index isapplied to the evolution of the French urban structure between 1831 and 1911

Stress et santé au travail chez les éducatrices en garderie : le rôle atténuateur du soutien social

Dans cette étude, qui concerne le milieu de travail en garderie, quatre questions sont abordées: l'état de stress des travailleuses en garderies est-il plus élevé que celui observé dans une population standard ? Y a-t-il des dimensions du travail qui sont davantage associées à l'état de stress personnel ? Quel lien peut-on établir entre l'état de stress et l'état de santé dans cette population ? Enfin, le soutien social peut-il atténuer l'impact nocif de certains environnements de travail ? Cent soixante-cinq travailleuses, dont 85 % sont des éducatrices, participent à l'étude sur une base volontaire à la suite de la sélection aléatoire de leur garderie. Elles répondent à cinq questionnaires afin de mesurer l'état de stress, la santé mentale, la santé physique, le soutien émotif du conjoint et l'échelle de stresseurs au travail. Selon les résultats obtenus, l'état de stress de ces travailleuses n'est pas plus élevé, en moyenne, que celui observé dans une population standard; toutefois, les situations de travail concernant le contrôle des enfants, les relations entre les membres du personnel ainsi que l'impression de surcharge sont parmi les situations environnementales les plus stressantes. Par ailleurs, ces situations de travail, même les plus stressogènes, ne sont pas associées à l'état de santé physique ou mental des travailleuses. C'est l'état de stress qui, par son rôle de variable intermédiaire, fait le lien entre les sources de tensions et l'état de santé. Enfin, le soutien social est relié à l'état de stress mais n'a aucun lien direct avec l'état de santé physique ou mental. Le soutien apporté par le conjoint représente une protection efficace et régulière contre une élévation de l'état de stress. Plusieurs implications méthodologiques sont discutées.This study, which focuses on the child care work environment, asks four questions : Is the state of stress among child care workers greater than that observed in a normal population? Are there aspects of the work itself that are more associated with the worker's personal state of stress? What link can we establish between the state of stress and the state of health of this group? Finally, can supportive relationships lessen the negative impact of certain work environments? 165 female workers, of which 85% are teachers, took part in the study on a volunteer basis after their child care centre had been selected arbitrarily. Subjects answered five questionnaires to measure the state of their stress, mental health, physical health, the emotional support of their spouse and the importance given to stress-related factors in the workplace. Results show that the state of stress of these workers is, on the average, no higher than that found in a normal population. However, work situations involving child supervision, interpersonal relations among staff, as well as feelings of being overworked are considered the most stressful. These work situations, even the most stress-producing, are not associated to a worker's state of physical or mental stress. It's the stress state itself, in its role as an intermediate variable, that makes the connection between sources of stress and the person's state of health. Finally, emotional support is linked to the state of stress, but has no direct link to the state of physical or mental health. A spouse's support is nonetheless considered as regular and effective protection against increases in the state of stress. A number of methodological implications are also discussed

Plate boundary segmentation in the northeastern Caribbean from geodetic measurements and Neogene geological observations

AbstractThe Caribbean–North America plate boundary in the northeastern Caribbean shows a remarkable example of along-strike transition from plate boundary–normal subduction in the Lesser Antilles, oblique subduction with no strain partitioning in Puerto Rico, and oblique subduction/collision with strain partitioning further west in Hispaniola. We show that this segmentation is well marked in the interseismic strain, as measured using space geodetic data, and in the Neogene deformation regime, as derived from geological observations. Hence, interseismic segmentation, which reproduces the geological segmentation persistent over a long time interval, is inherited from the geological history and long-term properties of the plate boundary. This result is relevant to the assessment of seismic hazard at convergent plate boundaries, where geodetic measurements often show interseismic segmentation between fully–and partially–coupled plate interface regions

Lunel – Dassargues

Date de l'opération : 1992 (SU) Inventeur(s) : Mercier Catherine ; Raynaud Claude (CNRS) Entre Camargue et Garrigues, à mi-chemin entre Nîmes et Montpellier, l'habitat de Dassargues occupe la rive droite d'un fleuve, le Vidourle (Fig. n°1 : Dassargues et le Lunellois, situation régionale ). L'étude du site s'insère dans une recherche pluridisciplinaire sur le peuplement et l'aménagement du littoral languedocien, de la conquête romaine à la fin du Moyen Age. Ténue au début de la période roma..

The metabolic signature associated with the Western dietary pattern : a cross-sectional study

Background: Metabolic profiles have been shown to be associated to obesity status and insulin sensitivity. Dietary intakes influence metabolic pathways and therefore, different dietary patterns may relate to modifications in metabolic signatures. The objective was to verify associations between dietary patterns and metabolic profiles composed of amino acids (AAs) and acylcarnitines (ACs). Methods: 210 participants were recruited in the greater Quebec City area between September 2009 and December 2011. Dietary patterns had been previously derived using principal component analysis (PCA). The Prudent dietary pattern was characterised by higher intakes of vegetables, fruits, whole grain products, non-hydrogenated fat and lower intakes of refined grain products, whereas the Western dietary pattern was associated with higher intakes of refined grain products, desserts, sweets and processed meats. Targeted metabolites were quantified in 37 participants with the Biocrates Absolute IDQ p150 (Biocrates Life Sciences AG, Austria) mass spectrometry method (including 14 amino acids and 41 acylcarnitines). Results: PCA analysis with metabolites including AAs and ACs revealed two main components explaining the most variance in overall data (13.8%). PC1 was composed mostly of medium- to long-chain ACs (C16:2, C14:2, C14:2-OH, C16, C14:1-OH, C14:1, C10:2, C5-DC/C6-OH, C12, C18:2, C10, C4:1-DC/C6, C8:1 and C2) whereas PC2 included certain AAs and short-chain ACs (xLeu, Met, Arg, Phe, Pro, Orn, His, C0, C3, C4 and C5). The Western dietary pattern correlated negatively with PC1 and positively with PC2 (r = −0.34, p = 0.05 and r = 0.38, p = 0.03, respectively), independently of age, sex and BMI. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the Western dietary pattern is associated with a specific metabolite signature characterized by increased levels of AAs including branched-chain AAs (BCAAs) and short-chain ACs

An interaction effect between glucokinase gene variation and carbohydrate intakes modulates the plasma triglyceride response to a fish oil supplementation

A large inter-individual variability in the plasma triglyceride (TG) response to fish oil consumption has been observed. The objective was to investigate the gene-diet interaction effects between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within glucokinase (GCK) gene and dietary carbohydrate intakes (CHO) on the plasma TG response to a fish oil supplementation. Two hundred and eight participants were recruited in the greater Quebec City area. The participants completed a 6-week fish oil supplementation (5 g fish oil/day: 1.9-2.2 g EPA and 1.1 g DHA). Thirteen SNPs within GCK gene were genotyped using TAQMAN methodology. A gene-diet interaction effect on the plasma TG response was observed with rs741038 and CHO adjusted for age, sex and BMI (p = 0.008). In order to compare the plasma TG response between genotypes according to CHO, participants were divided according to median CHO. Homozygotes of the minor C allele of rs741038 with high CHO >48.59 % had a greater decrease in their plasma TG concentrations following the intake of fish oil (p < 0.05) than C/C homozygotes with low CHO and also than the other genotypes either with high or low CHO. The plasma TG response to a fish oil supplementation may be modulated by gene-diet interaction effects involving GCK gene and CHO

Pelvic floor muscles training to reduce symptoms and signs of vulvovaginal atrophy : a case study

Objective: Vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA), caused by decreased levels of estrogen, is a common problem in aging women. Main symptoms of VVA are vaginal dryness and dyspareunia. First-line treatment consists of the application of local estrogen therapy (ET) or vaginal moisturizer. In some cases however, symptoms and signs persist despite those interventions. This case study describes a 77-year-old woman with severe VVA symptoms despite use of local ET and the addition of pelvic floor muscle (PFM) training to her treatment. Methods: A patient with stress urinary incontinence and VVA was referred to a randomized clinical trial on PFM training. On pretreatment evaluation while on local ET, she showed VVA symptoms on the ICIQ Vaginal Symptoms questionnaire and the ICIQ-Female Sexual Matters associated with lower urinary tract Symptoms questionnaire, and also showed VVA signs during the physical and dynamometric evaluation of the PFM. She was treated with a 12-week PFM training program. Results: The patient reported a reduction in vaginal dryness and dyspareunia symptoms, as well as a better quality of sexual life after 12 weeks of PFM training. On posttreatment physical evaluation, the PFMs' tone and elasticity were improved, although some other VVA signs remained unchanged. Conclusions: Pelvic floor muscle training may improve some VVA symptoms and signs in women taking local ET. Further study is needed to investigate and confirm the present case findings and to explore mechanisms of action of this intervention for VVA