Performance aux tests d’intelligence : vers une inversion de l’effet Flynn ?

Des nombreuses études ont montré une augmentation des scores aux tests d’aptitudes à travers les générations (« effet Flynn »). Différentes hypothèses d’ordre biologique, social et/ou éducationnels ont été élaborées afin d’expliquer ce phénomène. L’objectif de cette recherche est d’examiner l’évolution des performances aux tests d’aptitudes sur la base d’étalonnages datant de 1991 et de 2002. Les résultats suggèrent une inversion non homogène de l’effet Flynn. La diminution concerne plus particulièrement les tests d’aptitudes scolaires, comme ceux évaluant le facteur verbal et numérique. Cette étude pourrait refléter un changement de l’importance accordée aux différentes aptitudes peu évaluées en orientation scolaire et professionnelle.Several studies indicated an increase across generations in scores to aptitude tests (“Flynn effect”). This phenomenon has been variously attributed to biological, social and/or educational factors. The aim of this research was to study the evolution in performances of those taking aptitude tests using results from standardizations carried out in 1991 and 2002. The results identified a non-homogeneous trend opposite to the Flynn effect. A reduction in performance was observed for the school aptitude tests, like those assessing the verbal and numerical factors. This study may suggest a change in the importance given by our society to aptitudes, which are usually not assessed in vocational guidance

Higher Toxicity with 42 Gy in 10 Fractions as a Total Dose for 3D-Conformal Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation: Results from a Dose Escalation Phase II Trial

Objective: Recent recommendations regarding indications of accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) have been put forward for selected breast cancer (BC) patients. However, some treatment planning parameters, such as total dose, are not yet well defined. The Institut Gustave Roussy has initiated a dose escalation trial at the 40 Gy/10 fractions/5 days and at a further step of total dose (TD) of 42 Gy/10 fractions/5 days. Here, we report early results of the latest step compared with the 40 Gy dose level. Methods and materials: From October 2007 to March 2010, a total of 48 pT1N0 BC patients were enrolled within this clinical trial: 17 patients at a TD of 42 Gy/10f/5d and 31 at a TD of 40 Gy/10f/5d. Median follow-up was 19 months (min-max, 12–26). All the patients were treated by APBI using a technique with 2 minitangents and an “enface” electrons delivering 20% of the total dose. Toxicities were systematically assessed at 1; 2; 6 months and then every 6 months. Results: Patients’ recruitment of 42 Gy step was ended owing to persistent grade 3 toxicity 6 months after APBI completion (n = 1). Early toxicities were statistically higher after a total dose of 42 Gy regarding grade ≥2 dry (p = 0.01) and moist (p = 0.05) skin desquamation. Breast pain was also statistically higher in the 42 Gy step compared to 40 Gy step (p = 0.02). Other late toxicities (grade ≥2 fibrosis and telangectasia) were not statistically different between 42 Gy and 40 Gy. Conclusions: Early toxicities were more severe and higher rates of late toxicities were observed after 42 Gy/10 fractions/5 days when compared to 40 Gy/10 fractions/5 days. This data suggest that 40 Gy/10 fractions/5 days could potentially be the maximum tolerance for PBI although longer follow-up is warranted to better assess late toxicities

Pseudohypoaldosteronisms, report on a 10-patient series

Background. Type 1 pseudohypoaldosteronism (PHA1) is a salt-wasting syndrome caused by mineralocorticoid resistance. Autosomal recessive and dominant hereditary forms are caused by Epithelial Na Channel and Mineralocorticoid Receptor mutation respectively, while secondary PHA1 is usually associated with urological problems. Methods. Ten patients were studied in four French pediatric units in order to characterize PHA1 spectrum in infants. Patients were selected by chart review. Genetic, clinical and biochemistry data were collected and analyzed. Results. Autosomal recessive PHA1 (n = 3) was diagnosed at 6 and 7 days of life in three patients presenting with severe hyperkalaemia and weight loss. After 8 months, 3 and 5 years on follow-up, neurological development and longitudinal growth was normal with high sodium supplementation. Autosomal dominant PHA1 (n = 4) was revealed at 15, 19, 22 and 30 days of life because of failure to thrive. At 8 months, 3 and 21 years of age, longitudinal growth was normal in three patients who were given salt supplementation; no significant catch-up growth was obtained in the last patient at 20 months of age. Secondary PHA1 (n = 3) was diagnosed at 11, 26 days and 5 months of life concomitantly with acute pyelonephritis in three children with either renal hypoplasia, urinary duplication or bilateral megaureter. The outcome was favourable and salt supplementation was discontinued after 3, 11 and 13 months. Conclusions. PHA1 should be suspected in case of severe hyperkalemia and weight loss in infants and need careful management. Pathogenesis of secondary PHA1 is still challenging and further studies are mandatory to highlight the link between infection, developing urinary tract and pseudohypoaldosteronis

Construire sa vie (Life designing) : un paradigme pour l’orientation au 21e siècle

Ce texte est la traduction française de l’article publié dans le Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75(3) : Savickas, M. L., Nota, L., Rossier, J., Dauwalder, J.-P., Duarte, M. E., Guichard, J., Soresi, S., Van Esbroeck, R., & van Vianen, A. E. M., « Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the 21st century » (239-250), © 2009, avec la permission de Elsevier. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00018791 ***** La nouvelle organisation sociale du travail du début du 21e siècle pose une série de questions et lance de nombreux défis aux spécialistes de l’accompagnement en orientation professionnelle. Compte tenu de la mondialisation du conseil en orientation, c’est dans un cadre international que nous avons décidé d’aborder ces questions, puis de formuler des réponses potentiellement innovantes. Cette approche permet d’éviter les difficultés que soulève la création de modèles et de méthodes dans un pays donné en tentant ensuite de les exporter dans d’autres, où ils doivent être adaptés pour être utilisés. Cet article présente le premier résultat tangible de cette collaboration : un modèle et des méthodes d’accompagnement des personnes. Le modèle « Construire sa vie », destiné à des interventions d’accompagnement en orientation se fonde sur cinq présupposés concernant les personnes et leur vie professionnelle : des possibilités liées aux contextes, des processus dynamiques, une progression non linéaire, des perspectives multiples et des configurations individuelles. En partant de ces présupposés, nous avons bâti un modèle en contexte, se réclamant de l’épistémologie du constructionnisme social, reconnaissant en particulier que les connaissances et l’identité d’un individu sont le produit d’interactions sociales et que le sens est co-construit, via la médiation du discours. Le cadre général « construire sa vie » s’appuie sur les théories de la construction de soi (Guichard, 2005) et de la construction des parcours professionnels (Savickas, 2005), qui décrivent les conduites d’orientation et leurs développements. Ce cadre concerne toute la vie, il est holiste, tient compte des contextes et est préventif.At the beginning of the 21st century, a new social arrangement of work poses a series of questions and challenges to scholars who aim to help people develop their working lives. Given the globalization of career counseling, we decided to address these issues and then to formulate potentially innovative responses in an international forum. We used this approach to avoid the difficulties of creating models and methods in one country and then trying to export them to other countries where they would be adapted for use. This article presents the initial outcome of this collaboration, a counseling model and methods. The life-designing model for career intervention endorses five presuppositions about people and their work lives: contextual possibilities, dynamic processes, non-linear progression, multiple perspectives, and personal patterns. Thinking from these five presuppositions, we have crafted a contextualized model based on the epistemology of social constructionism, particularly recognizing that an individual’s knowledge and identity are the product of social interaction and that meaning is co-constructed through discourse. The life-design framework for counseling implements the theories of self-constructing (Guichard, 2005) and career construction (Savickas, 2005) that describe vocational behavior and its development. Thus, the framework is structured to be life-long, holistic, contextual, and preventive

Characterisation and use of β-lactoglobulin fibrils for microencapsulation of lipophilic ingredients and oxidative stability thereof

There is a growing interest in using fibrils from food grade protein, e.g. β-lactoglobulin, as functional ingredients. In the present study, the functionality of fibrillar β-lactoglobulin from whey protein isolate (WPI) was compared to native WPI in terms of interfacial dilatational rheology and emulsifying activity at acidic conditions (pH 2.0 and 3.0). We report here for the first time data on microencapsulation of fish oil by spray-drying as well as oxidative stability of the oil in emulsions and microcapsules in dependence of WPI conformation. WPI fibrils exerted a significantly higher elasticity at the oil–water (o/w) interface and a better emulsifying activity at a fixed oil content compared to native WPI. Microencapsulation efficiency was also higher with fibrillar WPI (>95%) compared to native WPI (∼90%) at pH 2.0 and a total oil and protein content of 40% and 2.2%, respectively, in the final powder. The oxidative deterioration was lower in emulsions and microcapsules prepared with fibrillar than with native WPI. This was attributed to improved interfacial barrier properties provided by fibrils and antioxidative effects of coexisting unconverted monomers, particularly hydrophilic peptides

Models of classroom assessment for course-based research experiences

Course-based research pedagogy involves positioning students as contributors to authentic research projects as part of an engaging educational experience that promotes their learning and persistence in science. To develop a model for assessing and grading students engaged in this type of learning experience, the assessment aims and practices of a community of experienced course-based research instructors were collected and analyzed. This approach defines four aims of course-based research assessment—(1) Assessing Laboratory Work and Scientific Thinking; (2) Evaluating Mastery of Concepts, Quantitative Thinking and Skills; (3) Appraising Forms of Scientific Communication; and (4) Metacognition of Learning—along with a set of practices for each aim. These aims and practices of assessment were then integrated with previously developed models of course-based research instruction to reveal an assessment program in which instructors provide extensive feedback to support productive student engagement in research while grading those aspects of research that are necessary for the student to succeed. Assessment conducted in this way delicately balances the need to facilitate students’ ongoing research with the requirement of a final grade without undercutting the important aims of a CRE education

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics' resources: focus on curated databases

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (www.isb-sib.ch) provides world-class bioinformatics databases, software tools, services and training to the international life science community in academia and industry. These solutions allow life scientists to turn the exponentially growing amount of data into knowledge. Here, we provide an overview of SIB's resources and competence areas, with a strong focus on curated databases and SIB's most popular and widely used resources. In particular, SIB's Bioinformatics resource portal ExPASy features over 150 resources, including UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, ENZYME, PROSITE, neXtProt, STRING, UniCarbKB, SugarBindDB, SwissRegulon, EPD, arrayMap, Bgee, SWISS-MODEL Repository, OMA, OrthoDB and other databases, which are briefly described in this article