A message in a bottle: extrapharmacological effects of alcohol on aggression

"The physiological and expectancy effects of alcohol consumption on the aggressive behavior of 116 general-population males aged 18–45 years were analyzed separately in a naturalistic field experiment using a 3 × 3 Balanced Placebo Design (BPD). Participants were given a non-alcoholic drink, a drink targeting a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of .05%, or a drink targeting a BAC of .1%. Within these three groups, three expectancy levels were induced regarding the quantity of alcohol ingested. Aggressive behavior was measured as retaliation against an aggressive confederate, in the form of amounts of hot sauce and salt administered in a taste test. Expectancies significantly increased aggressive behavior, whereas actual quantity of alcohol ingested was unrelated to aggression. Aggressive dispositions also predicted aggressive behavior." [author's abstract

Effect of prolonged treatment with tyramine on glucose tolerance in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

The biogenic amine tyramine has been reported to stimulatein vitro glucose transport in adipocytes, cardiomyocytes and skeletal muscle, and to improvein vivo glucose utilization in rats. These effects were dependent on amine oxidation, since they were blocked by inhibitors of monoamine oxidase (MAO) and semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO). We thus tested in this work whether a prolonged treatment with tyramine could improve glucose tolerance in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. First, tyramine content of standard rodent chow was determined by HPLC and daily tyramine intake of control rats was estimated to be around 26 μmol/kg body weight. Then, tyramine was administred during 3 weeks in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats at 29 μmol/kg by daily i.p. injection alone or together with vanadate 0.02 μmol/kg. In another group of diabetic rats, tyramine was subcutaneously delivered at 116 μmol/kg/day by osmotic minipumps. All tyramine treatments resulted in a decrease of the hyperglycemic responses to an i.p. glucose load. Adipocytes isolated from either untreated or treated diabetic rats were sensitive to the stimulation of glucose uptake by tyramine. However, diabetic animals receiving tyramine for three weeks did not recover from their hyperglycemia, hypoinsulinemia and glucosuria. These results show that the improvement of glucose tolerance induced by prolonged tyramine administration occurs in an insulin-depleted model and probably results from peripheral insulin-like actions of the oxidation of MAO/SSAO substrates, such as the stimulation of glucose uptake into adipocytes

Large-scale sequencing identifies multiple genes and rare variants associated with Crohn’s disease susceptibility

peer reviewe

Ce que le débat public nous dit du territoire et de son aménagement

Depuis 1997, une trentaine de débats publics sur de grands projets d'infrastructures ont été organisés en France. Cette nouvelle procédure est avant tout une réponse des pouvoirs publics à la généralisation de la contestation des projets d'équipements, qui menaçait de paralysie la politique d'aménagement du territoire. Le monopole de l'Etat et le consensus sur les objectifs des politiques d'aménagement du territoire, qui prévalaient jusqu'aux années 1980, ont laissé la place à un système d'acteurs complexe et instable, défendant des intérêts et des représentations du territoire largement contradictoires. La contestation est d'autant plus efficace que les luttes des écologistes et des riverains convergent très largement. Le débat public entraîne une évolution des pratiques des acteurs, qu'ils soient maîtres d'ouvrage, services de l'Etat, élus locaux ou associations.Since 1997 approximately thirty public debates have taken place in France concerning major infra-structure projects. This new procedure is primarily a response by government to the growing challenge to such projects which threatens to paralyse regional policy. The state monopoly which characterised this field and the consensus on the aims of such policy which prevailed until the 1980s have given way to a more complex and unstable system of actors, defending widely contradictory interests and perceptions of regional development.  Contesting regional development policies has been facilitated by the convergent interests of ecologists and the residents directly concerned by new infrastructures. Public debates have led to changes in the behaviour of actors whether they be developers, government services, local politicians or associations

Grand Paris : du conflit au compromis. Les apports de l'approche géopolitique

International audienceThe local geopolitical approach allows a better understanding of territorial governance issues and conflicts over planning policies and regional development, as the example of the Great Paris shows. The debate revolved around two main questions: what should be the system of governance for the metropolis of Paris and what should be its development strategy? Through the analysis of the goals, the strategies and power relations (alliance or rivalries) between the different actors involved (State, Regional Council of Ile-de-France, main local councillors and authorities, political parties), I will explain the dynamics of the three year conflict (2007-2010) over the Great Paris project and the content of the final compromise reached in January 2011. My main finding is that the choices that were made are as much the result of power relationships between various actors as of technical constraints.L'approche géopolitique locale permet une appréhension bien meilleure des questions de gouvernance territoriale et des conflits autour des politiques d'aménagement, comme le montre l'exemple du Grand Paris. Le débat portait sur deux questions essentielles : quel système de gouvernance pour la métropole parisienne et quelle stratégie de développement ? L'analyse des objectifs, des stratégies et des relations (alliances/rivalités) des différents acteurs impliqués-l'Etat, le Conseil régional d'Ile-de-France, les principaux élus locaux, les partis politiques-permet de comprendre la dynamique du conflit qui les a opposés pendant trois ans (2007-2010) et le contenu du compromis final obtenu en janvier 2011. Les politiques d'aménagement et les systèmes de gouvernance apparaissent donc comme étant autant le résultat du jeu des acteurs et des rapports de forces qu'ils ont construits que le résultat d'impératifs techniques

Nouvelle géopolitique des régions françaises (chapitres sur l'Ile-de-France et le Centre),

Nouvelle géopolitique des régions françaises (chapitres sur l'Ile-de-France et le Centre)