Protection contre les crues et renaturation de la Drance à Martigny - Du barrage filtrant de La Condémine au pont de Courvieux

La Ville de Martigny en Valais a été victime à plusieurs reprises de débordements de la Drance, occasionnés par des débâcles glaciaires et des crues à fort charriage. Pour remédier à cette situation de risque important, un projet d’aménagement du cours d’eau et de ses abords a été développé. Outre la protection contre les crues, le projet vise des objectifs de renaturation, particulièrement difficiles à mettre en oeuvre dans le contexte urbain. Les principes de dimensionnement sont clairement définis et les principales mesures proposées sont passées en revue. Elles concernent en particulier la gestion sédimentaire grâce à un dépotoir contrôlé par un barrage filtrant, le rétablissement de la libre migration piscicole, l’approfondissement du lit sur quelque 1‘500 m pour permettre le libre transit sous les nombreux ponts concernés, la stabilisation du lit et des berges, la surélévation adéquate des digues selon un concept de débordement différencié en cas de surcharge, la protection des ponts susceptibles d’être mis en charge et de leurs fondations ainsi que le concept d’élargissement du lit sur le secteur aval de la Drance avant son raccordement au Rhône. La réalisation de l’ensemble des travaux est planifiée sur 7 ans, à partir de 2018

Development of a Space Bioreactor using Microtechnology

A miniature bio-reactor for the cultivation of cells aboard Spacelab is presented. Yeast cells are grown in a 3 milliliter reactor chamber. A supply of fresh nutrient medium is provided by a piezo-electric silicon micro-pump. In the reactor, pH, temperature, and redox potential are monitored and the pH is regulated at a constant value. The complete instrument is fitted in a standard experiment container of 63 x 63 x 85 mm. The bioreactor was used on the IML-2 mission in July 1994 and is being refurbished for a reflight in the spring of 1996

A comparative descriptive analysis of perceived quality of caring attitudes and behaviours between haemodialysis patients and their nurses

Despite its importance in nursing, perceived quality of the nurse-patient relationship has seldom been researched. This study sought to examine and compare the quality of caring attitudes and behaviours as perceived by haemodialysis patients and their nurses. Design This comparative descriptive study involved 140 haemodialysis patients and 101 nurses caring for them in ten haemodialysis units in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Methods Participants completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Caring Nurse-Patient Interaction Scale (CNPI-70). Results Both nurses and patients reported a high frequency of caring attitudes and behaviours. Patients gave higher ratings than nurses did on all the caring dimensions, except spirituality. Implications are discussed

Brief Report: Switching From TDF to TAF in HIV/HBV-Coinfected Individuals With Renal Dysfunction-A Prospective Cohort Study.

Whereas tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) can lead to renal adverse events, tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) has a more favorable renal safety profile. However, the impact of replacing TDF with TAF on renal function and liver parameters among HIV/hepatitis B virus (HBV)-coinfected individuals with renal dysfunction remains unclear. We included all participants from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study with an HIV/HBV coinfection who switched from TDF to TAF and had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <90 mL/min/1.73 m and a suppressed HIV viral load (<200 cp/mL). We assessed changes in eGFR, urine protein-to-creatinine ratio, and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) after 1 year using mixed-effect models with interrupted time series. Among 106 participants (15.1% women, median age 53 years), eGFR was 60-89 mL/min/1.73 m in 84 (79.2%) and <60 mL/min/1.73 m in 22 (20.8%) individuals at the time of switch. One year after the switch from TDF to TAF, individuals with an eGFR between 60 and 89 mL/min/1.73 m experienced increases in eGFR of 3.2 mL/min/1.73 m (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2 to 5.2), whereas those with an eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m experienced improvements of 6.2 mL/min/1.73 m (95% CI 2.4 to 10.0). Urine protein-to-creatinine ratio decreased overall (-6.3 mg/mmol, 95% CI -10.0 to -2.7), and ALT levels declined in patients with elevated baseline levels (-11.8 IU/L, 95% CI -17.3 to -6.4) 1 year after replacing TDF with TAF. Switching from TDF to TAF among HIV/HBV-coinfected individuals with renal impairment led to improvements in eGFR, a decline in proteinuria, and to ALT normalization in those with elevated ALT levels

Assessing the degrowth discourse: a review and analysis of academic degrowth policy proposals

Debates around ecological and social limits to economic growth and new ways to deal with resource scarcity without compromising human wellbeing have re-emerged in the last few years, especially with the increasing calls for a degrowth approach. In this paper, a framework is developed to support a systematic analysis of degrowth in the selected academic literature. This article attempts to present a clearer notion of what degrowth academic literature has been exploring, by identifying, organizing and analysing a set of proposals for action retrieved from a selection of articles. The framework is applied to classify these proposals according to their alignment to ecological economics policy objectives (sustainable scale, fair distribution, and efficient allocation), type of approach (top-down versus bottom-up), and geographical focus (local, national, or international). A total of 128 peer-reviewed articles focused on degrowth were reviewed, and 54 that include proposals for action were analysed. The proposals identified align with three broad goals: (1) Reduce the environmental impact of human activities; (2) Redistribute income and wealth both within and between countries; and (3) Promote the transition from a materialistic to a convivial and participatory society. The findings indicate that the majority of degrowth proposals are national top-down approaches, focusing on government as a major driver of change, rather than local bottom-up approaches, as advocated by many degrowth proponents. The most emphasised aspects in the degrowth literature are related to social equity, closely followed by environmental sustainability. Topics such as population growth and the implications of degrowth for developing nations are largely neglected, and represent an important area for future research. Moreover, there is a need for a deeper analysis of how degrowth proposals would act in combination

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types

A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

peer reviewe