Applying the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development to Water management

A strategic management of water is integral for any society aiming at moving towards sustainability. This thesis aims to provide a common understanding of how water management should be considered within sustainability constraints, using ‘backcasting’ from basic sustainability principles as a compass. With a common language, a constructive dialogue is then possible to unify all stakeholders to move together towards sustainability. To answer the research question “How can an interaction with water stakeholders be strategically developed to progress toward the service of water in a sustainable society”, a methodology based on Sustainability Life Cycle Assessment, the Template for Sustainable Product Development and Multi-Stakeholder Platforms has been utilised within one domestic and one industrial water user case study in Blekinge, Southern Sweden. In this locality, water is regarded as abundant in volume. Yet it was revealed that what is consumed by society is not water as such; but the purity of water. Within this context, opportunities to move towards sustainability have arisen and the case study organizations were able to utilise improvements in reporting and operations. Economic activity such as new infrastructure, pollutant trading schemes and product accreditation are amongst the many concepts identified as potential steps towards the service of water in a sustainable society

D-myo-inositol 1-phosphate as a surrogate of D-myo-inositol 1,4,5-tris phosphate to monitor G protein-coupled receptor activation.

International audiencePhospholipase C beta (PLC-beta)-coupled G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) activities traditionally are assessed by measuring Ca2+ triggered by D-myo-inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3), a PLC-beta hydrolysis product, or by measuring the production of inositol phosphate using cumbersome radioactive assays. A specific detection of IP3 production was also established using IP3 binding proteins. The short lifetime of IP3 makes this detection very challenging in measuring GPCR responses. Indeed, this IP3 rapidly enters the metabolic inositol phosphate cascade. It has been known for decades that lithium chloride (LiCl) leads to D-myo-inositol 1-phosphate accumulation on GPCR activation by inhibiting inositol monophosphatase, the final enzyme of the IP3 metabolic cascade. We show here that IP1 can be used as a surrogate of IP3 to monitor GPCR activation. We developed a novel homogeneous time-resolved fluorescence (HTRF) assay that correlates perfectly with existing methods and is easily amenable to high-throughput screening. The IP-One assay was validated on various GPCR models. It has the advantage over the traditional Ca2+ assay of allowing the measurement of inverse agonist activity as well as the analysis of PLC-beta activity in any nontransfected primary cultures. Finally, the high assay specificity for D-myo-inositol 1 monophosphate (IP1(1)) opens new possibilities in developing selective assays to study the functional roles of the various isoforms of inositol phosphates

Distinct VH repertoires in primary and secondary B cell lymphocyte subsets in the preimmune repertoire of A/J mice: The CRI-A idiotype is preferentially associated with the HSA(low) B cell subset

The anti-arsonate immune response of A/J mice is characterized by the occurrence of several recurrent idiotypes with a different temporal pattern of expression. The CRI-A idiotype is typically a memory idiotype since it appears late in the primary and dominates the secondary as well as subsequent immune responses. The CRI-C idiotype is present throughout the responses, including the primary one. Naive adult A/J mice treated repeatedly with anti-mu or anti-delta monoclonal antibodies exhibit a completely different balance of HSA(low) and HSA(high) B cell subsets and an opposite idiotype profile after immunization with p-azophenylarsonate coupled to hemocyanin. Anti-mu treatment leads to a striking enhancement of the HSA(low) cell subset associated with an earlier important synthesis of CRI-A(+) antibodies, while anti-delta treatment enhances significantly the HSA(high) compartment with a strong decrease of CRI-A and persistence of CRI-C1 antibodies. Semiquantitative PCR analysis reveals that the presence of CRI-A transcripts is associated with the HSA(low) compartment, while CRI-C transcripts are mainly associated with HSA(high) B cell subsets. This has been demonstrated with spleen cells of adult A/J mice treated with anti-mu or anti-delta antibodies and also with purified B cell subsets of unimmunized adult A/J mice and on neonatal spleen cells. It appears that the memory (CRI-A) idiotype is selected into the HSA(low) B cell subset before antigen arrival.FLWINSCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Personalised mechanical ventilation tailored to lung morphology versus low positive end-expiratory pressure for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome in France (the LIVE study): a multicentre, single-blind, randomised controlled trial

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Risques mineurs, changements majeurs

L’objectif de ce numéro est d’analyser comment s’opère, sous l’effet des dispositifs d’information et de communication, le couplage entre une culture généralisée du risque et une réorganisation du social, des pratiques et des modes de vie tant individuels que collectifs. À côté des nombreuses publications consacrées aux risques dits majeurs, nous nous inscrivons ici dans un horizon qui n’est pas celui de la catastrophe mais celui du vécu et du quotidien. Il s’agit de se pencher sur l’ordinaire du changement, lieu souterrain où s’opèrent de puissantes transformations. Consacré à des objets minuscules (telles les nanotechnologies) ou mineurs (l’e-cigarette, le menu de la cantine), explorant les lieux de la quotidienneté (l’école, l’hôpital, la table familiale ou l’entreprise), ce numéro ne se résout pas à la force des choses mais explore la dynamique sociale, humaine et communicationnelle en présence et la puissance de transformation en jeu. Dans le travail de qualification-configuration de la catégorie de risque est en jeu un processus civilisationnel de l’ordre de ce qu’étudiait Norbert Elias dans La Civilisation des Mœurs. La généralisation de la question du risque désormais présent dans tous les interstices de la vie avive la tension entre une idéologie libertaire de la créativité et une idéologie sécuritaire qui anime tous les aspects de la vie quotidienne : consommation de produits et de services, relations aux autres, fonctionnement des organisations, attentes envers les institutions. Une même tension anime l’espace discussionnel fondamentalement polémique du risque, marqué par l’articulation entre le saillant et le lisse, entre les aspérités de crises renouvelées et le lissage des discours préventifs construits à l’intention de destinataires virtuels dont est présupposée la capacité rationnelle et prudentielle. Le risque fonctionne comme un ferment communicationnel, comme un potentiel discussionnel qu’actualisent des groupes nombreux dans un éventail ouvert de thèmes, comme si une relecture complète de notre société pouvait se faire à partir de la catégorie de risque. Le caractère central et ambigu du risque l’installe au cœur de relations renouvelées entre les sphères scientifique, médiatique, politique et sociale. La généralisation du risque installe plus fortement la science en société, convoque scientifiques et experts dans l’espace de la société civile et des médias, la situe aux côtés du politique qui délibère et légifère. La question du risque n’est pas seulement une question technique ou statistique, elle est une question totale qui engage la production de la société elle-même

Psychiatric symptoms and mortality in older adults with major psychiatric disorders: results from a multicenter study

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