Prognostic Value of Routinely Measured Inflammatory Biomarkers in Older Cancer Patients: Pooled Analysis of Three Cohorts

BACKGROUND: The prognostic assessment of older cancer patients is complicated by their heterogeneity. We aimed to assess the prognostic value of routine inflammatory biomarkers. METHODS: A pooled analysis of prospective multicenter cohorts of cancer patients aged >/=70 was performed. We measured CRP and albumin, and calculated Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS) and CRP/albumin ratio. The GPS has three levels (0 = CRP /= 35 g/L, i.e., normal values; 1 = one abnormal value; 2 = two abnormal values). One-year mortality was assessed using Cox models. Discriminative power was assessed using Harrell's C index (C) and net reclassification improvement (NRI). RESULTS: Overall, 1800 patients were analyzed (mean age: 79 +/- 6; males: 62%; metastases: 38%). The GPS and CRP/albumin ratio were independently associated with mortality in patients not at risk of frailty (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval] = 4.48 [2.03-9.89] for GPS1, 11.64 [4.54-29.81] for GPS2, and 7.15 [3.22-15.90] for CRP/albumin ratio > 0.215) and in patients at risk of frailty (2.45 [1.79-3.34] for GPS1, 3.97 [2.93-5.37] for GPS2, and 2.81 [2.17-3.65] for CRP/albumin ratio > 0.215). The discriminative power of the baseline clinical model (C = 0.82 [0.80-0.83]) was increased by adding GPS (C = 0.84 [0.82-0.85]; NRI events (NRI+) = 10% [2-16]) and CRP/albumin ratio (C = 0.83 [0.82-0.85]; NRI+ = 14% [2-17]). CONCLUSIONS: Routine inflammatory biomarkers add prognostic value to clinical factors in older cancer patients

Thermodynamics of counter-utopia : Elements for a critical reading of the economy of English-American, French, English and Japanese counter- utopias in the twentieth century

La contre-utopie est une branche de la science-fiction qui, à l’opposé de l’utopie, s’attache à décrire non plus des mondes idéaux mais des sociétés cauchemardesques. Bien qu’ancien, le genre ne prend réellement son essor qu’à la fin du XIXème et au XXème siècle et accompagne donc les développements de la société industrielle pour lui renvoyer l’image de ses défauts.Cette thèse se propose de lire certaines des images forgées par contre-utopies à partir d’un schème scientifique, celui de la thermodynamique, soit cette discipline qui, à partir de l’étude de l’économie des machines à vapeur, a servi de tremplin à la révolution industrielle au XIXème siècle. Parce qu’elle a pour but de tracer une physique de la valeur économique, le recours à la thermodynamique va nous servir à analyser l’économie des contre-utopies et à tracer par ce biais les contours d’une théorie critique des sociétés décrites.S’intéressant à la contre-utopie dans la perspective d’une critique du monde industriel, les œuvres retenues pour le corpus, tant cinématographiques que littéraires, sont avant tout issues d’Amérique du nord (États-Unis), d’Europe (France, Grande-Bretagne) et du Japon et produites au cours du XXème siècle, siècle où les effets de l’industrialisation des sociétés dévoilent leur caractère néfaste. En examinant avec de nombreux exemples à l’appui comment la contre-utopie procède à une transposition politique de principes physiques, cette thèse a pour objectif de mettre en évidence les leçons de philosophie morale et politique que l’on peut retirer du genre tout en envisageant sous un angle nouveau les rapports entre science et science-fiction.Counter-utopia is a branch of science-fiction which, contrary to utopia, describes either ideal worlds but nightmarish societies. Although ancient, the genre really takes off at the end of the nineteenth and during the twentieth century, accompanying the developments of the industrial society to send it back the image of their main defects.This thesis suggests to read some of the images made by counter-utopias from a scientific scheme, that of the thermodynamics, a discipline which, from the study of the economy of steam engines, was one of the main springboard to the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century. Because it aims at drawing a physics of the economic value, the recourse to thermodynamics is going to serve us to analyze the economy of counter-utopias and to draw by this way the outlines of a critical theory of the described societies.Being interested in counter-utopia in the perspective of a criticism of the industrial world, the works held for the corpus, films and literature (novel and short stories), belong to works produced in North America (United-States), Europe (France, Great-Britain) and Japan during the twentieth century, a century in which the effects of the industrialization of societies show their fatal aspect. By examining with numerous examples how counter-utopia proceed to a political transposition of physical principles, this thesis has for objective to enlighten the lessons of moral and political philosophy given by the whole genre and to consider under a new angle the links between science and science fiction

Thermodynamique de la contre-utopie - éléments pour une lecture critique de l'économie des contre-utopies anglo-américaines, françaises, anglaises et japonaises au XXème siècle

La contre-utopie est une branche de la science-fiction qui, à l opposé de l utopie, s attache à décrire non plus des mondes idéaux mais des sociétés cauchemardesques. Bien qu ancien, le genre ne prend réellement son essor qu à la fin du XIXème et au XXème siècle et accompagne donc les développements de la société industrielle pour lui renvoyer l image de ses défauts.Cette thèse se propose de lire certaines des images forgées par contre-utopies à partir d un schème scientifique, celui de la thermodynamique, soit cette discipline qui, à partir de l étude de l économie des machines à vapeur, a servi de tremplin à la révolution industrielle au XIXème siècle. Parce qu elle a pour but de tracer une physique de la valeur économique, le recours à la thermodynamique va nous servir à analyser l économie des contre-utopies et à tracer par ce biais les contours d une théorie critique des sociétés décrites.S intéressant à la contre-utopie dans la perspective d une critique du monde industriel, les œuvres retenues pour le corpus, tant cinématographiques que littéraires, sont avant tout issues d Amérique du nord (États-Unis), d Europe (France, Grande-Bretagne) et du Japon et produites au cours du XXème siècle, siècle où les effets de l industrialisation des sociétés dévoilent leur caractère néfaste. En examinant avec de nombreux exemples à l appui comment la contre-utopie procède à une transposition politique de principes physiques, cette thèse a pour objectif de mettre en évidence les leçons de philosophie morale et politique que l on peut retirer du genre tout en envisageant sous un angle nouveau les rapports entre science et science-fiction.Counter-utopia is a branch of science-fiction which, contrary to utopia, describes either ideal worlds but nightmarish societies. Although ancient, the genre really takes off at the end of the nineteenth and during the twentieth century, accompanying the developments of the industrial society to send it back the image of their main defects.This thesis suggests to read some of the images made by counter-utopias from a scientific scheme, that of the thermodynamics, a discipline which, from the study of the economy of steam engines, was one of the main springboard to the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century. Because it aims at drawing a physics of the economic value, the recourse to thermodynamics is going to serve us to analyze the economy of counter-utopias and to draw by this way the outlines of a critical theory of the described societies.Being interested in counter-utopia in the perspective of a criticism of the industrial world, the works held for the corpus, films and literature (novel and short stories), belong to works produced in North America (United-States), Europe (France, Great-Britain) and Japan during the twentieth century, a century in which the effects of the industrialization of societies show their fatal aspect. By examining with numerous examples how counter-utopia proceed to a political transposition of physical principles, this thesis has for objective to enlighten the lessons of moral and political philosophy given by the whole genre and to consider under a new angle the links between science and science fiction.PARIS4-Bib. électronique (751059905) / SudocSudocFranceF

Additive influences of soil and climate gradients drive tree community composition of Central African rainforests

International audienceAim: Examining tree species-environment association can offer insight into the drivers of vegetation patterns and key information of practical relevance to forest management. Here, we aim to quantify the contribution of climate and soil gradients to variation in Central African tree species composition (abundance and occurrence). Location: Tropical rainforests of southern and eastern Cameroon. Methods: We established 82 1-ha permanent plots across seven localities and censused all trees ≥ 10 cm in diameter, representing a total of 37,733 trees and 455 species. In 60 of those plots, we measured ten soil variables describing texture and nutrients levels and extracted ten bioclimatic variables from global-gridded climate databases. We synthesized the main environmental gradients by conducting principal component analyses on climate and soil data respectively. We performed unconstrained and constrained non-symmetric correspondence analyses to account for the individual and joint contributions of climate and soil on species abundance and occurrence. Results: Climate and soil contributed similarly to variances of species abundance and occurrence (12–15 % variance for climate vs. 11–12 % variance for soil). Climate influence mostly concerns some abundant species, while some of the less abundant species were mainly driven by soil. Fractions of species variances accounted for by climate and soil show strong correlation when assessed from species occurrence and abundance data. Conclusion: Variation in occurrence and abundance of tropical forest trees can be partly shaped by both climate and soil gradients in Cameroon, which emphasizes the importance to jointly consider soil and climate in species distribution modeling. Less abundant species may express environmental influence differently than abundant species and convey complementary information about community assemblage. Though showing congruent patterns here, species abundance and occurrence reflect different interacting community processes and both should be examined to better understand vegetation patterns

Using terrestrial laser scanning data to estimate large tropical trees biomass and calibrate allometric models: A comparison with traditional destructive approach

1.Calibration of local, regional or global allometric equations to estimate biomass at the tree level constitutes a significant burden on projects aiming at reducing Carbon emissions from forest degradation and deforestation. The objective of this contribution is to assess the precision and accuracy of Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) for estimating volumes and aboveground biomass (AGB) of the woody parts of tropical trees, and for the calibration of allometric models. 2.We used a destructive dataset of 61 trees, with diameters and AGB of up to 186.6 cm and 60 Mg respectively, which were scanned, felled and weighed in the semi-deciduous forests of eastern Cameroon. We present an operational approach based on available software allowing to retrieve TLS volume with low bias and high accuracy for large tropical trees. Edition of the obtained models proved necessary, mainly to account for the complexity of buttressed parts of tree trunks, which were separately modelled through a meshing approach, and to bring a few corrections in the topology and geometry of branches, thanks to the AMAPStudio-Scan software. 3.Over the entire dataset, TLS derived volumes proved highly reliable for branches larger than 5 cm in diameter. The volumes of the remaining woody parts estimated for stumps, stems and crowns as well as for the whole tree proved very accurate (RMSE below 2.81% and R² above of 0.98) and unbiased. Once converted to AGB using mean local specific wood density values, TLS estimates allowed calibrating a biomass allometric model with coefficients statistically undistinguishable from those of a model based on destructive data. Un-edited Quantitative Structure Model (QSM) however lead to systematic overestimations of woody volumes and subsequently to significantly different allometric parameters. 4.We can therefore conclude that the non-destructive TLS approach can now be used as an operational alternative to traditional destructive sampling to build the allometric equations, although attention must be paid to the quality of QSM model adjustments to avoid systematic bia