Les plans locaux d’urbanisme intercommunaux

Editorial de Daniel Delaveau, Président de l’Assemblée des Communautés de France : L’urbanisme fait partie des sujets sur lesquels notre sensibilité d’élu local est vive ; c’est une compétence symbolique à laquelle nous sommes, je crois légitimement, très attachés. Nos décisions en matière de planification urbaine s’inscrivent durablement dans nos territoires, elles sont des marqueurs importants de nos mandats locaux. Il nous faut cependant donner un sens nouveau à cette planification urbaine au regard des évolutions très profondes qu’ont connues nos territoires ces dernières décennies. Un partage des réflexions et décisions dans le cadre collégial qu’offrent nos communautés peut indéniablement contribuer à relever ce défi. C’est une conviction désormais ancienne des instances nationales de l’AdCF qui ont souhaité poursuivre leur programme d’étude et d’observation engagé sur le sujet de l’urbanisme intercommunal dès 2006. L’enjeu est d’adapter la planification urbaine à l’échelle du fonctionnement de nos territoires. Nous observons, d’ailleurs souvent en tant que maires, que nos limites municipales sont dépassées par l’essentiel de nos enjeux. En milieu rural comme dans les espaces urbains ou périurbains, nos problématiques de déplacement, de paysage, d’habitat, de commerce, d’agriculture, de biodiversité ou encore d’environnement ne peuvent plus être traitées convenablement à notre seule échelle municipale tant elles la transgressent. Seul document opposable aux tiers, le PLU revêt une dimension stratégique majeure dans la gestion des sols ; son évolution apparaît indispensable pour la cohérence de nos politiques publiques. Dans le cadre des travaux préparatoires au Grenelle de l’Environnement, dans lesquels elle s’est beaucoup investie, l’AdCF a milité pour une élaboration intercommunale du PLU dans une logique de coproduction et de coresponsabilité entre communes. Cette logique du « faire ensemble » pour gagner collectivement en compétence continue d’animer l’ensemble de ses travaux. Diverses dispositions du Code de l’urbanisme relatives au PLUi, soutenues voire suggérées par notre association, illustrent cette volonté de respect des avis et des ambitions municipales. Mais il convient naturellement de dépasser la simple addition des volontés des communes membres ; l’enjeu est de construire un plan local d’urbanisme communautaire qui assure une mise en oeuvre des orientations stratégiques des communautés. La présente étude atteste de la réussite de nombreuses communautés compétentes en matière de PLU. Elle souligne également les difficultés que peuvent rencontrer ces 200 communautés de communes, d’agglomération ou urbaines. Par le recueil de témoignages, elle pointe les spécificités du PLUi notamment sur le champ de la gouvernance politique. Elle complète en outre les notes à caractère plus juridique ou technique régulièrement produites par l’AdCF. L’AdCF joue un rôle actif dans l’animation du « club PLUi » initié et piloté par les services du ministère de l’Égalité des territoires et du Logement. Je souhaite que cette étude alimente ses travaux et, sans attendre les très probables débats parlementaires sur un transfert plus systématique du PLU, qu’elle contribue à éclairer les nombreuses réflexions initiées sur cette compétence majeure dans nos communautés

Evaluation of the effectiveness of an Internet-based continuing education program on pharmacy-based minor ailment management: a randomized controlled clinical trial

O objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar a efetividade de um programa de educação continuada (EC) à distância, relacionado ao gerenciamento clínico de problemas autolimitados de saúde em farmácias comunitárias. Realizou-se um ensaio clínico controlado randomizado em farmácias comunitárias no Brasil. Os farmacêuticos comunitários foram alocados em dois grupos: intervenção (n = 61) e controle (n = 60). Os farmacêuticos comunitários do grupo intervenção participaram de um programa de EC à distância. Os farmacêuticos comunitários do grupo controle não receberam intervenção educativa. A percepção dos participantes, os resultados de aprendizagem e hábitos de prática foram avaliados. A satisfação dos estudantes com o programa de CE foi elevada em todos os momentos avaliados (média ± desvio padrão = 4,2 ± 0,4). Os escores de aprendizagem e prática aumentaram significativamente ao final do estudo em relação ao início do estudo (p < 0,001) e foram significativamente melhores que os do grupo controle (p < 0,001). O presente programa de EC à distância é uma estratégia educacional viável para melhorar a percepção dos participantes, os resultados da aprendizagem e hábitos de prática relacionados ao gerenciamento clínico de problemas autolimitados de saúde em farmácias comunitárias.The aim of this work was to evaluate the effectiveness of an internet-based continuing education (CE) program on pharmacy-based minor ailment schemes (PMASs). A controlled randomized clinical trial was conducted in community pharmacies in Brazil. Community pharmacists (CPs) were enrolled in two groups: intervention (n = 61) and control (n = 60). CPs who were enrolled to the intervention group participated in an Internet-based CE program. CPs in the control group received no educational intervention. We evaluated participant perception, learning outcomes, and practice performance. Learner satisfaction with the CE program was high for every point evaluated (mean ± standard deviation = 4.2 ± 0.4). Posttest learner outcome scores and practice performance in the intervention group after the conclusion of the CE program significantly improved compared with pretest scores (p < 0.001) and were significantly better compared with the control group (p < 0.001). The present Internet-based CE program is a viable educational strategy for improving participant perception, learning outcomes, and practice performance in PMASs

Existence of long-lasting experience-dependent plasticity in endocrine cell networks

Experience-dependent plasticity of cell and tissue function is critical for survival by allowing organisms to dynamically adjust physiological processes in response to changing or harsh environmental conditions. Despite the conferred evolutionary advantage, it remains unknown whether emergent experience-dependent properties are present in cell populations organized as networks within endocrine tissues involved in regulating body-wide homeostasis. Here we show, using lactation to repeatedly activate a specific endocrine cell network in situ in the mammalian pituitary, that templates of prior demand are permanently stored through stimulus-evoked alterations to the extent and strength of cell–cell connectivity. Strikingly, following repeat stimulation, evolved population behaviour leads to improved tissue output. As such, long-lasting experience-dependent plasticity is an important feature of endocrine cell networks and underlies functional adaptation of hormone release

The ImageCLEF 2011 plant images classification task

International audienceImageCLEFs plant identification task provides a testbed for the system-oriented evaluation of tree species identification based on leaf images. The aim is to investigate image retrieval approaches in the con- text of crowdsourced images of leaves collected in a collaborative manner. This paper presents an overview of the resources and assessments of the plant identification task at ImageCLEF 2011, summarizes the retrieval approaches employed by the participating groups, and provides an anal- ysis of the main evaluation results

1H-NMR Urinary Metabolic Profile, A Promising Tool for the Management of Infants with Human Cytomegalovirus-Infection

Abstract: Congenital human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is the most common mother-to-child transmitted infection in the developed world. Certain aspects of its management remain a challenge. Urinary metabolic profiling is a promising tool for use in pediatric conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the urinary metabolic profile in HCMV-infected infants and controls during acute care hospitalization. Urine samples were collected from 53 patients at five hospitals participating in the Spanish congenital HCMV registry. Thirty-one cases of HCMV infection and 22 uninfected controls were included. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectra were obtained using NOESYPR1D pulse sequence. The dataset underwent orthogonal projection on latent structures discriminant analysis to identify candidate variables affecting the urinary metabolome: HCMV infection, type of infection, sex, chronological age, gestational age, type of delivery, twins, and diet. Statistically significant discriminative models were obtained only for HCMV infection (p = 0.03) and chronological age (p < 0.01). No significant differences in the metabolomic profile were found between congenital and postnatal HCMV infection. When the HCMV-infected group was analyzed according to chronological age, a statistically significant model was obtained only in the neonatal group (p = 0.01), with the differentiating metabolites being betaine, glycine, alanine, and dimethylamine. Despite the considerable variation in urinary metabolic profiles in a real-life setting, clinical application of metabolomics to the study of HCMV infection seems feasible

Progressive Structural Defects in Canine Centronuclear Myopathy Indicate a Role for HACD1 in Maintaining Skeletal Muscle Membrane Systems

Mutations in HACD1/PTPLA cause recessive congenital myopathies in humans and dogs. Hydroxyacyl-coA dehydratases are required for elongation of very long chain fatty acids, and HACD1 has a role in early myogenesis, but the functions of this striated muscle-specific enzyme in more differentiated skeletal muscle remain unknown. Canine HACD1 deficiency is histopathologically classified as a centronuclear myopathy (CNM). We investigated the hypothesis that muscle from HACD1-deficient dogs has membrane abnormalities in common with CNMs with different genetic causes. We found progressive changes in tubuloreticular and sarcolemmal membranes and mislocalized triads and mitochondria in skeletal muscle from animals deficient in HACD1. Furthermore, comparable membranous abnormalities in cultured HACD1-deficient myotubes provide additional evidence that these defects are a primary consequence of altered HACD1 expression. Our novel findings, including T-tubule dilatation and disorganization, associated with defects in this additional CNM-associated gene provide a definitive pathophysiologic link with these disorders, confirm that dogs deficient in HACD1 are relevant models, and strengthen the evidence for a unifying pathogenesis in CNMs via defective membrane trafficking and excitation-contraction coupling in muscle. These results build on previous work by determining further functional roles of HACD1 in muscle and provide new insight into the pathology and pathogenetic mechanisms of HACD1 CNM. Consequently, alterations in membrane properties associated with HACD1 mutations should be investigated in humans with related phenotypes

Assessing changes in global fire regimes

PAGES, Past Global Changes, is funded by the Swiss Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences and supported in kind by the University of Bern, Switzerland. Financial support was provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation award numbers 1916565, EAR-2011439, and EAR-2012123. Additional support was provided by the Utah Department of Natural Resources Watershed Restoration Initiative. SSS was supported by Brigham Young University Graduate Studies. MS was supported by National Science Centre, Poland (grant no. 2018/31/B/ST10/02498 and 2021/41/B/ST10/00060). JCA was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101026211. PF contributed within the framework of the FCT-funded project no. UIDB/04033/2020. SGAF acknowledges support from Trond Mohn Stiftelse (TMS) and University of Bergen for the startup grant ‘TMS2022STG03’. JMP participation in this research was supported by the Forest Research Centre, a research unit funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia I.P. (FCT), Portugal (UIDB/00239/2020). A.-LD acknowledge PAGES, PICS CNRS 06484 project, CNRS-INSU, Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, University of Bordeaux DRI and INQUA for workshop support.Background The global human footprint has fundamentally altered wildfire regimes, creating serious consequences for human health, biodiversity, and climate. However, it remains difficult to project how long-term interactions among land use, management, and climate change will affect fire behavior, representing a key knowledge gap for sustainable management. We used expert assessment to combine opinions about past and future fire regimes from 99 wildfire researchers. We asked for quantitative and qualitative assessments of the frequency, type, and implications of fire regime change from the beginning of the Holocene through the year 2300. Results Respondents indicated some direct human influence on wildfire since at least ~ 12,000 years BP, though natural climate variability remained the dominant driver of fire regime change until around 5,000 years BP, for most study regions. Responses suggested a ten-fold increase in the frequency of fire regime change during the last 250 years compared with the rest of the Holocene, corresponding first with the intensification and extensification of land use and later with anthropogenic climate change. Looking to the future, fire regimes were predicted to intensify, with increases in frequency, severity, and size in all biomes except grassland ecosystems. Fire regimes showed different climate sensitivities across biomes, but the likelihood of fire regime change increased with higher warming scenarios for all biomes. Biodiversity, carbon storage, and other ecosystem services were predicted to decrease for most biomes under higher emission scenarios. We present recommendations for adaptation and mitigation under emerging fire regimes, while recognizing that management options are constrained under higher emission scenarios. Conclusion The influence of humans on wildfire regimes has increased over the last two centuries. The perspective gained from past fires should be considered in land and fire management strategies, but novel fire behavior is likely given the unprecedented human disruption of plant communities, climate, and other factors. Future fire regimes are likely to degrade key ecosystem services, unless climate change is aggressively mitigated. Expert assessment complements empirical data and modeling, providing a broader perspective of fire science to inform decision making and future research priorities.Peer reviewe

Testing the Effect of Relative Pollen Productivity on the REVEALS Model : A Validated Reconstruction of Europe-Wide Holocene Vegetation

Reliable quantitative vegetation reconstructions for Europe during the Holocene are crucial to improving our understanding of landscape dynamics, making it possible to assess the past effects of environmental variables and land-use change on ecosystems and biodiversity, and mitigating their effects in the future. We present here the most spatially extensive and temporally continuous pollen-based reconstructions of plant cover in Europe (at a spatial resolution of 1° × 1°) over the Holocene (last 11.7 ka BP) using the 'Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites' (REVEALS) model. This study has three main aims. First, to present the most accurate and reliable generation of REVEALS reconstructions across Europe so far. This has been achieved by including a larger number of pollen records compared to former analyses, in particular from the Mediterranean area. Second, to discuss methodological issues in the quantification of past land cover by using alternative datasets of relative pollen productivities (RPPs), one of the key input parameters of REVEALS, to test model sensitivity. Finally, to validate our reconstructions with the global forest change dataset. The results suggest that the RPPs.st1 (31 taxa) dataset is best suited to producing regional vegetation cover estimates for Europe. These reconstructions offer a long-term perspective providing unique possibilities to explore spatial-temporal changes in past land cover and biodiversity

Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities

Trees structure the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns of common tree species using inventory data on 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm across 1,568 locations1,2,3,4,5,6 in closed-canopy, structurally intact old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia and Southeast Asia. We estimate that 2.2%, 2.2% and 2.3% of species comprise 50% of the tropical trees in these regions, respectively. Extrapolating across all closed-canopy tropical forests, we estimate that just 1,053 species comprise half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm. Despite differing biogeographic, climatic and anthropogenic histories7, we find notably consistent patterns of common species and species abundance distributions across the continents. This suggests that fundamental mechanisms of tree community assembly may apply to all tropical forests. Resampling analyses show that the most common species are likely to belong to a manageable list of known species, enabling targeted efforts to understand their ecology. Although they do not detract from the importance of rare species, our results open new opportunities to understand the world’s most diverse forests, including modelling their response to environmental change, by focusing on the common species that constitute the majority of their trees.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Evaluation of the effectiveness of an Internet-based continuing education program on pharmacy-based minor ailment management: a randomized controlled clinical trial

ABSTRACT The aim of this work was to evaluate the effectiveness of an internet-based continuing education (CE) program on pharmacy-based minor ailment schemes (PMASs). A controlled randomized clinical trial was conducted in community pharmacies in Brazil. Community pharmacists (CPs) were enrolled in two groups: intervention (n = 61) and control (n = 60). CPs who were enrolled to the intervention group participated in an Internet-based CE program. CPs in the control group received no educational intervention. We evaluated participant perception, learning outcomes, and practice performance. Learner satisfaction with the CE program was high for every point evaluated (mean ± standard deviation = 4.2 ± 0.4). Posttest learner outcome scores and practice performance in the intervention group after the conclusion of the CE program significantly improved compared with pretest scores (p < 0.001) and were significantly better compared with the control group (p < 0.001). The present Internet-based CE program is a viable educational strategy for improving participant perception, learning outcomes, and practice performance in PMASs