Partners’ Experiences of Relationship Continuity in Acquired Brain Injury

Background: Research in dementia suggests that spousal carers differ in terms of whether they perceive their relationship with the person with dementia as continuous with the pre-morbid relationship or as radically changed, and that these differences may be associated with how spouses respond to the challenges of caregiving. The aim of this study was to explore whether the conceptual framework of relationship continuity (which comprises five dimensions) may also be applicable to understanding the experience of spousal carers in acquired brain injury. Method: Five spouses were interviewed about their relationship, and the data were analysed using Template Analysis. The applicability of the framework was evaluated by assessing (1) whether the accounts of each participant provided material relevant to each of the five dimensions of relationship continuity, and (2) whether the accounts suggested a close link between the dimensions (i.e. whether participants who showed continuity on one dimension tended to show continuity on the other dimensions). The association between continuity/discontinuity and responses to the challenges of care-giving was also explored. Findings: Findings suggested that the two criteria were met and that the framework may be useful in understanding the experience of spousal carers in brain injury. Furthermore, those who perceived discontinuity drew on medical models for making sense of changes in their partner, experienced greater subjective burden, and expressed doubts about remaining within the relationship. Those who perceived discontinuity also reported experiencing less warmth and affection from their partner

Prise en charge de l’état bucco-dentaire des personnes âgées diabétiques par les médecins généralistes et les chirurgiens-dentistes

Ces vingt dernières années, la prévalence mondiale du diabète a augmenté de façon importante passant à 285 millions de patients en 2010. Il est connu que le diabète a pour complications de nombreuses répercussions bucco-dentaires. Néanmoins, cela n’a jamais été étudié chez les personnes de plus de 65 ans, qui constituent pourtant une fraction importante de la population diabétique. Méthodes : L’objectif de cette étude épidémiologique, prospective, non interventionnelle, multicentrique réalisée en seine maritime sur une durée de 20 mois était d’évaluer la prise en charge de l’état bucco-dentaire des patients âgés diabétiques par les médecins généralistes et les chirurgiens dentistes. Résultats : Dans cette étude, la totalité des patients d’âge moyen de 74.6 ans avaient un diabète de type 2, évoluant majoritairement depuis plus de 10 ans, traités par antidiabétiques oraux. La majorité des patients (16/26) avaient un suivi tous les trois mois en consultations de médecine générale Concernant le suivi dentaire, 2/3 des patients consultaient tous les 2 ans et plus, essentiellement pour des dégâts et douleurs. La plaque et le tartre étaient présents chez plus de 2/3 des patients et 15 patients présentaient des rétentions alimentaires lors de la visite chez leur dentiste. On notait la présence de xérostomie chez 42.9% des patients. Le nombre de dents moyen chez ces patients était inférieur au nombre de dents nécessaire pour avoir une mastication correcte.17% des patients estimaient avoir renoncé à des soins dentaires et 41.3% avoir des difficultés à obtenir des rendez-vous avec leur chirurgien dentiste. Dans cette étude, 50% des médecins et 42.3% des dentistes sollicités estimaient avoir une formation complète initiale sur le diabète de la personne âgée. En outre, 11% des patients n’avaient pas tenu informés leur chirurgien dentiste de leur diabète. Seuls 11.5% des médecins et 34.6% des odontologistes déclaraient réaliser des courriers à destinations de leurs confrères. Par ailleurs, 88.5% des praticiens sollicités souhaitaient la mise en place d’un dispositif de liaison. Conclusion : Le médecin généraliste a donc ici un rôle central de coordination et de prévention, en tant que premier acteur de la filière de soins dans la prise en charge de la santé orale du diabétique âgé, vis-à-vis du patient et du chirurgien-dentiste. La prise en charge médicale des personnes âgées diabétiques reste un enjeu important à venir pour la santé publique, compte tenu de l’allongement de l’espérance de vie et de l’augmentation des personnes poly pathologiques

Study of the genetic determinism of muscular development

National audienc

Morphometric analysis of muscle cross sections using multicolor immunofluorescence imaging

Morphometric analysis of muscle cross sections using multicolor immunofluorescence imaging . International Conference on Biomedical Engineering (ICBE 2018

Evolution de la parenté au Ladakh

International audienceIn 1938 prince Peter of Greece visited six families in Leh. In 1981 Crook and Shakya visited the same families and I did the same in 2003, 2010 and 2016. In 1977, 1978 and 1979 Sander studied the families of Wanla. I visited some of them in 2016. The goal of this articles is to compare the evolution from the old system (fraternal polyandry) to the new one (end of the right of primogeniture, sharing of the land between the brothers) between the only town, Leh, and a remote village. Surprisingly the differences are very small/weak.En 1938 Pierre de Grèce rendait visite à six familles de Leh. En 1981 Crook et Shakya revisitaient ces six familles et prolongeaient les arbres généalogiques jusqu’à 1981. J’en ai fait autant en 2003, 2010 et 2016. En 1977, 1978, 1979 Sander étudiait les familles de Wanla. J’en ai revisité certaines en 2016. Le but de cet article est de comparer l’évolution de la parenté de l’ancien système (la polyandrie fraternelle) au nouveau (le partage des terres entre les frères, la fin de la polyandrie et du système de primogéniture), entre la seule ville du Ladakh et un village reculé. On est alors assez surpris de constater que les différences sont très faibles

Effects of GASP-1 or GASP- 2 overexpression on muscle development and metabolism

Effects of GASP-1 or GASP- 2 overexpression on muscle development and metabolism. Muscle Development, Regeneration and Disease 201

Overexpression of both full-length and truncated isoforms of bovine PGC-1alpha enhances myoblasts differentiation

Plant transpiration (T), biologically controlled movement of water from soil to atmosphere, currently lacks sufficient estimates in space and time to characterize global ecohydrology. Here we describe the Transpiration Estimation Algorithm (TEA), which uses both the signals of gross primary productivity and evapotranspiration (ET) to estimate temporal patterns of water use efficiency (WUE, i.e., the ratio between gross primary productivity and T) from which T is calculated. The method first isolates periods when T is most likely to dominate ET. Then, a Random Forest Regressor is trained on WUE within the filtered periods and can thus estimate WUE and T at every time step. Performance of the method is validated using terrestrial biosphere model output as synthetic flux data sets, that is, flux data where WUE dynamics are encoded in the model structure and T is known. TEA reproduced temporal patterns of T with modeling efficiencies above 0.8 for all three models: JSBACH, MuSICA, and CASTANEA. Algorithm output is robust to data set noise but shows some sensitivity to sites and model structures with relatively constant evaporation levels, overestimating values of T while still capturing temporal patterns. The ability to capture between-site variability in the fraction of T to total ET varied by model, with root-mean-square error values between algorithm predicted and modeled T/ET ranging from 3% to 15% depending on the model. TEA provides a widely applicable method for estimating WUE while requiring minimal data and/or knowledge on physiology which can complement and inform the current understanding of underlying processes. Plain Language Summary While it is widely known that plants need water to survive, exactly how much water plants in an ecosystem use is hard to quantify. However, many places have been measuring how much total water leaves an ecosystem, both the water plants use directly and the water that simply evaporates from the soil or the surfaces of leaves, using eddy covariance towers. These eddy covariance towers also measure the coming and going of carbon, such as the total amount of carbon taken up by photosynthesis. Here we present the idea that by using the signals from both photosynthesis and total water losses together, we can capture the water signal related to plants, namely, transpiration, using an algorithm called Transpiration Estimation Algorithm (TEA). To verify that TEA is working the way we expect, we test it out using artificial ecosystem simulations where transpiration and photosynthesis come from mathematical models. By thoroughly testing TEA, we have a better idea of how it will work in a real world situation, hopefully opening the door for a better understanding on how much water ecosystems are using and how it might affect our changing planet

Alterations in Adiposity and Glucose Homeostasis in Adult Gasp-1 Overexpressing Mice

Background/Aims: Myostatin is known as a powerful negative regulator of muscle growth playing a key role in skeletal muscle homeostasis. Recent studies revealed that myostatin-deficient mice lead to an increase of insulin sensitivity, a decrease of adiposity and a resistance to obesity, showing that myostatin can also impact on metabolism. Thus, myostatin appeared as a potential therapeutic target to treat insulin resistance. Methods: We generated transgenic mice overexpressing Gasp-1, a myostatin inhibitor. Results: Surprisingly, we found that these mice gained weight with age due to an increase in fat mass associated with ectopic fat accumulation. In addition, these mice developed an adipocyte hypertrophy, hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, muscle and hepatic insulin resistance. Understanding the molecular networks controlling this insulin resistance responsiveness in overexpressing Gasp-1 mice is essential. Molecular analyses revealed a deregulation of adipokines and muscle cytokines expression, but also an increase in plasma myostatin levels. The increase in myostatin bioactivity by a positive feedback mechanism in the Tg(Gasp-1) transgenic mice could lead to this combination of phenotypes. Conclusion: Altogether, these data suggested that overexpressing Gasp-1 mice develop most of the symptoms associated with metabolic syndrome and could be a relevant model for the study of obesity or type 2 diabetes