Implication du système gabaergique et des peptides neuromodulateurs dans la survenue des dyskinésies induites par la lévodopa

Ce travail explore certains mécanismes moléculaires impliqués dans la genèse des dyskinésies induites par la dopa thérapie. Nos travaux ont été effectués sur des échantillons de cerveaux de singes parkinsoniens ayant développé des complications motrices suite au traitement à la Lévodopa. Nos résultats montrent l'absence de corrélation entre les niveaux striataux de l'ARNm de la préprotachykinine et la survenue des dyskinésies et l'existence d'un lien de causalité entre l'augmentation des niveaux striataux des ARNm de la préproenképhaline et de la préprodynorphine ainsi que l'augmentation de la densité des récepteurs GABA-A au niveau des noyaux gris centraux et la physiopathologie de ces dyskinésies. Les traitements adjuvants avec le Ro 61-8048 , l'acide docosahéxaénoïque et le CI-I041 en association avec la Lévodopa, permettent de corriger certains paramètres biochimiques impliqués , dans la genèse de ces complications motrices et de prévenir ces dyskinésies sur le plan comportemental contrairement au Naltrexone qui les a exacerbées

La région : bilan économique et territorial

The data used in the preparation of this text have been collected from 13 regions (Grand Casablanca Chaouia-Ouardigha, Doukkala-Abda, Fès-Boulemane, Gharb-Chrarda-Bni Hsen, Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz, Meknès-Tafilalet, Oriental, Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer, Souss-Massa-Draa, Tadla-Azilal, Tanger-Tétouan, Taza- Al Hoceima-Taounate); they relate to the period 2003-2007 and include provisions on the financial potential of the Regional Council, its human capacity, international decentralized cooperation, and the use of equipment expenditures. In 2006, total local government spending has reached 10.23% of total public expenditure and 2.44% of GDP, the region one was barely 0.33% of total public expenditure. Whatever the source of receipts, they remain far below what is hoped by a regional council which is thought by the legislature as a place of stimulating the local regional development. To this, we must add the dysfunctions related to the management, remarkable in the gap between receipts and equipment expenses, which can be explained both by the inability of elected bodies to consume the limited resources available to them, and by administrative delays and obstacles, if any, from the exercise of guardianship. Staff in the region has changed little between 2003 and 2006 with an average of 22 people; the administration of the region remains very low. International decentralized cooperation is a development tool used by different regions and acts primarily as a lever to ensure the expertise that is lacking (to the regional council and staff) in various areas of development ; boards that have been most sensitive to this issue were the instigators of cooperation with regional councils benefiting from expertise in specific areas. Concerning listed actions of investment, they give the appearance of a dusting logic which put questions about the regional dimension of actions that remain less present in most cases ; several factors may explain this situation: the method of election of members of the Regional Council (elected from elected), the limited availability of human skills, the difficult emergence of a regional leadership (elite rooted in their territory) that list the real issues of development and assume, through a planning process that leaves room for one against institutionalized power (right to information, external evaluation of development choices, involvement of NGOs and civil society…).Les données de base de ce texte, collectées auprès de 13 régions (Grand Casablanca Chaouia-Ouardigha, Doukkala-Abda, Fès-Boulemane, Gharb-Chrarda-Bni Hsen, Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz, Meknès-Tafilalet, Oriental, Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer, Souss-Massa-Draa, Tadla-Azilal, Tanger-Tétouan, Taza- Al Hoceima-Taounate), se rapportent à la période 2003-2007 et portent notamment sur le potentiel financier du Conseil régional, ses capacités humaines, la coopération décentralisée internationale et l’usage des dépenses d’équipement. En 2006, le total des dépenses des collectivités locales a atteint  10,23% du total des  dépenses publiques et 2,44% du PIB ; celui des régions atteignait à peine 0,33% du total des dépenses publiques. Quelle que soit l’origine des recettes, elles restent très en deçà de ce que peut espérer un conseil régional qui est pensé par le législateur comme un lieu de dynamisation du développement local régional. A cela il faut ajouter  les dysfonctionnements liés à la gestion, remarquables dans le décalage entre les recettes et les dépenses d’équipement, qui peuvent s’expliquer aussi bien par l’incapacité des instances élues à consommer le peu de ressources dont elles disposent que par la lenteur des procédures administratives et aux entraves, éventuelles, de l’exercice de la tutelle. Le personnel de la région a peu évolué entre 2003 et 2006 ; avec une moyenne de 22 personnes, l’administration de la région reste très réduite. La coopération décentralisée constitue un levier de développement différemment utilisé par les régions ; elle agit surtout comme un levier pour assurer l’expertise qui manque (au conseil régional et à son personnel) dans les différents domaines du développement ; les conseils qui ont le plus été sensibles à cette question ont été les instigateurs d’une coopération avec des conseils régionaux bénéficiant d’’expertises dans des domaines spécifiques. Concernant les actions d’investissement répertoriées, elles donnent l’apparence d’une logique de saupoudrage qui invite à s’interroger sur la dimension régionale des actions qui reste peu présente dans la plupart des cas ; plusieurs facteurs peuvent expliquer cette situation : le mode d’élection des membres du conseil régional (élus des élus), la modicité des compétences humaines disponibles, la difficile émergence d’un leadership régional (élites ancrées dans leur territoire) qui pose les véritables enjeux de son développement et les assume, à travers un processus de planification qui laisse place à un contre pouvoir institutionnalisé (droit à l’information, évaluation externe des choix de développement, implication des ONG et de la société civile)

Automatic Detection of Moroccan Coastal Upwelling Zones using Sea Surface Temperature Images

International audienceAn efficient unsupervised method is developed for automatic segmentation of the area covered by upwelling waters in the coastal ocean of Morocco using the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) satellite images. The proposed approach first uses the two popular unsupervised clustering techniques, k-means and fuzzy c-means (FCM), to provide different possible classifications to each SST image. Then several cluster validity indices are combined in order to determine the optimal number of clusters, followed by a cluster fusion scheme, which merges consecutive clusters to produce a first segmentation of upwelling area. The region-growing algorithm is then used to filter noisy residuals and to extract the final upwelling region. The performance of our algorithm is compared to a popular algorithm used to detect upwelling regions and is validated by an oceanographer over a database of 92 SST images covering each week of the years 2006 and 2007. The results show that our proposed method outperforms the latter algorithm, in terms of segmentation accuracy and computational efficiency

Utilization and responsiveness of the asthma control test (ACT) at the initiation of therapy for patients with asthma: a randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this study was to assess the responsiveness of the asthma control test (ACT) to detect changes at the initiation of therapy and its utilization in the initiation of asthma treatment.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study was designed as a randomized clinical trial conducted in a primary care setting. The subjects were asthma patients who had not received controller therapy for at least two months. The patients were randomized into two groups: The Saudi Initiative for Asthma (SINA) group and the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) group. Treatment in the SINA group was initiated at step1 when the ACT scores ≥ 20, step 2 when the score between16-19, and step 3 when the score < 16 began at step 3. The GINA group patients were started on step 2 when they had persistent asthma symptoms or step 3 when they had severely uncontrolled disease.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Forty-five patients were analyzed in each group. The improvement in ACT score after treatment initiation was significantly higher when the SINA approach was used (2.9 in the SINA group compared to 1.7 in the GINA group (<it>p </it>= 0.04)). The improvement in FEV₁was 5.8% in the SINA group compared to 3.4% in the GINA group (<it>p </it>= 0.46). The number of patients who achieved asthma control at the follow-up visit and required no treatment adjustment was 33 (73.3%) in the SINA group and 27 (60%) in the GINA group (<it>p </it>= 0.0125).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The ACT was responsive to change at the initiation of asthma treatment and was useful for the initiation of asthma treatment.</p> <p>Trial Registration number</p> <p><a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN31998214">ISRCTN31998214</a></p

Consanguinity and reproductive health among Arabs

Consanguineous marriages have been practiced since the early existence of modern humans. Until now consanguinity is widely practiced in several global communities with variable rates depending on religion, culture, and geography. Arab populations have a long tradition of consanguinity due to socio-cultural factors. Many Arab countries display some of the highest rates of consanguineous marriages in the world, and specifically first cousin marriages which may reach 25-30% of all marriages. In some countries like Qatar, Yemen, and UAE, consanguinity rates are increasing in the current generation. Research among Arabs and worldwide has indicated that consanguinity could have an effect on some reproductive health parameters such as postnatal mortality and rates of congenital malformations. The association of consanguinity with other reproductive health parameters, such as fertility and fetal wastage, is controversial. The main impact of consanguinity, however, is an increase in the rate of homozygotes for autosomal recessive genetic disorders. Worldwide, known dominant disorders are more numerous than known recessive disorders. However, data on genetic disorders in Arab populations as extracted from the Catalogue of Transmission Genetics in Arabs (CTGA) database indicate a relative abundance of recessive disorders in the region that is clearly associated with the practice of consanguinity

Femmes, associations et politique à Casablancade Yasmine Berriane

1. L’objet du livre L’objet du livre porte sur l’étude des carrières de femmes dirigeantes d’associations « de quartier » à Casablanca. Il utilise ces cursus comme un angle d’observation de l’accès des femmes à la sphère publique et comme témoins de l’un des aspects des changements sociaux à l’œuvre aujourd’hui au Maroc. Ce livre met notamment en exergue les modalités de négociation/reconfiguration de la place des femmes enquêtées dans des rapports de pouvoir à différentes échelles, celles de..

Capture epoxy failure process by using a high speed camera

This study aims to investigate the properties and behavior of square epoxy specimens under uniaxial dynamic loading at high strain rates and investigate the effects of varying pressures on the failure of the specimens. The effect of artificial cracks of different orientations introduced in the specimen will also be investigated. Specimens with five different orientations of artificial cracks and a control specimen with not initial cracks will be used in this study. Split-Hopkinson Pressure bar equipment will be used for the dynamic tests. Static tests will also be conducted on the specimens using a universal compression testing machine. The results obtained from the static tests will be used for comparison of the behavior of the epoxy material under static and dynamic compression loads. A high speed camera will be used to see its ability in capturing the failure of the specimens during the dynamic tests and to show how the different orientations of the artificial cracks would affect the crack patterns of the specimens.Bachelor of Engineering (Civil