Ethnobotanical Survey of Two Medicinal Plants (Heliotropium indicum L., Abrus precatorius L.,) Used in Traditional Medicine in West Africa

Since the time of our ancestors, natural products issued from plant play a therapeutic crucial role. About 25-30% of all medicines (drugs) available for the treatment of diseases are derived from natural products (from plants, animals, bacteria and fungi) or are derivatives of natural products. The aim of this research was to scientifically identify and supply tangible documentation on these two plants employed in the traditional medicine. From November 2020 to February 2021, an ethnobotanical survey was conducted within four markets at the south of Benin, employing a semistructured questionnaire. Two hundred respondents including 80% of females and 20% of males were interviewed. The 2 studied plants are mainly used for different types of sickness related to infections. Females’ herbalists are the most represented. From this research, it appears that the 2 plants are widely used for the treatment of severe infections. On the market, 95% of the leafy steam are sold against 5% of the roots for both plants. The main preparation way is decoction. Oral use is reported to be common in all region. The value of samples sold varies from 200F CFA (Financial Cooperation of Africa) to 1000F CFA. The decoctions are usually obtained through one of a mix of different types of plants. Traditional knowledge is transmitted from one generation to another by oral education. Till today there was no record found. During our study, we did no record prohibition or side effect related to these plants’ use. These medicinal plants occupy a crucial place within the therapeutic arsenal of west Africa. Our results constitute a vital tool to determine the true potentials of these plants. These results could lead to new improved traditional medicine

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome associated with COVID-19: An Emulated Target Trial Analysis.

RATIONALE: Whether COVID patients may benefit from extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) compared with conventional invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) remains unknown. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the effect of ECMO on 90-Day mortality vs IMV only Methods: Among 4,244 critically ill adult patients with COVID-19 included in a multicenter cohort study, we emulated a target trial comparing the treatment strategies of initiating ECMO vs. no ECMO within 7 days of IMV in patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (PaO2/FiO2 <80 or PaCO2 ≥60 mmHg). We controlled for confounding using a multivariable Cox model based on predefined variables. MAIN RESULTS: 1,235 patients met the full eligibility criteria for the emulated trial, among whom 164 patients initiated ECMO. The ECMO strategy had a higher survival probability at Day-7 from the onset of eligibility criteria (87% vs 83%, risk difference: 4%, 95% CI 0;9%) which decreased during follow-up (survival at Day-90: 63% vs 65%, risk difference: -2%, 95% CI -10;5%). However, ECMO was associated with higher survival when performed in high-volume ECMO centers or in regions where a specific ECMO network organization was set up to handle high demand, and when initiated within the first 4 days of MV and in profoundly hypoxemic patients. CONCLUSIONS: In an emulated trial based on a nationwide COVID-19 cohort, we found differential survival over time of an ECMO compared with a no-ECMO strategy. However, ECMO was consistently associated with better outcomes when performed in high-volume centers and in regions with ECMO capacities specifically organized to handle high demand. This article is open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Pronostic psycho-cognitif à long terme des patients traités pour un Syndrome de Détresse Respiratoire Aiguë sévère par ECMO (ExtraCorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) veino-veineuse

Thèse présentée sous la forme d'une "Thèse article"Objectif : le pronostic psycho-cognitif à long terme des patients survivants après un syndrome de détresse respiratoire aiguë (SDRA) sévère et traités par oxygénation extracorporelle à membrane veino-veineuse (ECMO-VV) est peu décrit. Notre objectif était de comparer la prévalence des séquelles cognitives et des troubles neuropsychiatriques à long terme chez des survivants de SDRA sévère traités ou non par ECMO-VV à l’aide d’une batterie de tests permettant une analyse fine des fonctions cognitives. Matériel et méthodes : tous les patients survivants d’un SDRA sévère traités entre 2011 et 2017 dans un centre régional de référence pour l’ECMO-VV étaient évalués de manière prospective, deux ans après leur sortie de réanimation. Le critère de jugement principal était l’évaluation des fonctions cognitives à l’aide de la Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale 4e edition (WAIS-IV) lors d’un entretien avec un psychologue clinicien. Les critères de jugement secondaires étaient la prévalence de troubles psychiatriques (anxiété, dépression, syndrome de stress post traumatique (PTSD)) ainsi que l’évaluation de la qualité de vie.Résultats : nous avons évalué 22 patients consécutifs survivants d’un SDRA sévère traités par ECMO-VV et 18 patients traités par ventilation conventionnelle à une médiane [intervalle interquartile] respectivement de 20 [17-22] et 22 [18-23] mois. Les fonctions cognitives étaient altérées chez 12 (55%) patients traités par ECMO-VV et 10 (56%) patients traités de manière conventionnelle (p=0,95). Huit (36%) patients traités par ECMO-VV présentaient des symptômes dépressifs modérés à sévères comparé à sept (39%) patients n’ayant pas reçu d’ECMO (p=0,87). Douze (55%) patients traités par ECMO-VV et huit (44%) patients traités de manière conventionnelle présentaient des symptômes anxieux modérés à sévères (p=0,53). Sept (33%) patients traités par ECMO contre huit patients n’ayant pas reçu d’ECMO étaient à haut risque de présenter un PTSD (p=0,48). La qualité de vie était comparable dans les 2 groupes.Conclusions : le recours à l’ECMO-VV ne semble pas aggraver le pronostic cognitif et neuropsychologique à long terme des patients traités pour un SDRA sévère

A multiple criteria tool for on farm ex ante evaluation of the sustainability of innovative cropping systems with low pesticide use in viticulture

National audienceInnovative cropping systems designed by researchers must be evaluated with respect to their environmental impacts and to their economic and social adoptability by farmers. Using a Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding method appears to be relevant as it enables to integrate both quantitative and qualitative information. A hierarchical tree of criteria was designed for the evaluation of grape cropping systems, focusing on practices of crop protection and soil surface management. Indicators were identified to qualify the candidate cropping systems with respect to each criteria. Because of the high diversity of farming systems in viticulture, a special care was devoted to the context of the farm i.e. its economic situation, its natural environment and the farmer’s priorities. The process of aggregation was then only partly determined with constant parameters, meaning that the stakeholders for whom the evaluation is performed must define the scale values of some indicators and the priorities among the economic and social criteria. This method of evaluation was tested by a panel of experts before being tested with farmer

A multiple criteria assessment approach for evaluating the sustainability of innovative cropping systems in viticulture

International audienceNovel cropping systems should be evaluated with respect to their contribution to sustainable development, i.e. their environmental impacts, economical performances and social acceptability for farmers. To this end, a multiple criteria assessment tool (DEXi) was adopted. Scales were defined to convert values of evaluation indicators (based on models and expert knowledge) into qualitative classes of criteria, that were then aggregated using ‘if… then…’ decision rules. The method was tested on two virtual grape producing farms defined with contrasting production objectives and availability of labor and equipment, and several cropping systems differing by their use of pesticides were compared. The environmental attributes evaluated were: biodiversity, energy use and quality of the soil, water and atmosphere compartments. The economic adoptability was evaluated through the satisfaction of grape production objectives, the stability of grape production, and the cost of implementation of the cropping system. For the social impacts, the attributes were: difficulty to implement the candidate system, task overlap, health risk, social recognition and free time. The study highlighted the need to adapt the assessment process to the stakeholders’ priorities: some of the indicators were calculated in reference to the present vinegrower’s practices and production objectives, some criteria could take qualitative values that reflected the vinegrower’s opinion, the scale to convert values of indicators into classes of criteria could reflect the vinegrower’s objectives and constraints, the aggregation of criteria were set up by vinegrowers for the social and economics criteria and by other stakeholders (e.g. watershed managers) for the environmental criteria

Uncovering the neural correlates of the ketogenic diet: the contribution of functional neuroimaging

Dans le contexte de la réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre encadrée par les accords internationaux comme le protocole de Kyoto et l’accord de Paris, la gestion des forêts apparaît comme un possible levier pour l’atténuation du changement climatique, mais de grandes incertitudes persistent sur la stratégie à adopter. Laisser pousser les forêts pour bénéficier du puits qu’elles représentent et ainsi augmenter la séquestration du carbone dans la biosphère terrestre ou augmenter les récoltes de bois pour substituer aux produits consommateurs de carburant fossile leurs alternatives issues de la forêt? Le projet BiCaFF (Bilan Carbone de la forêt française) a pour objectif d’évaluer plusieurs stratégies de gestion forestière et d’utilisation des produits de la filière bois pour la forêt française pour comparer les bénéfices de chaque stratégie sur la séquestration de carbone dans l’ensemble de la filière, de la forêt aux produits bois en prenant en compte les effets de substitution matériaux et énergie. Pour cela, la croissance de la forêt et la production de bois sont modélisées par deux approches empiriques complémentaires à deux échelles différentes. Ce document rapporte l’approche mise en place ainsi que les résultats du projet BiCaFF dont la partie scientifique a débuté en Juillet 2013. D’une part un modèle ‘empirique national’, modèle de projection de la ressource forestière adapté aux spécificités de la gestion de la forêt du territoire européen de la France, a été développé spécifiquement pour le projet BiCaFF. Des scénarios de gestion forestière ont été élaborés et validés par le comité de pilotage puis mis en oeuvre dans le modèle empirique sous forme d’analyse de sensibilité du bilan carbone à l’intensité de la mobilisation de bois dans différentes catégories de forêts. Un modèle de filière bois a également été développé pour estimer les flux de biomasse et les volumes de bois d’oeuvre, d’industrie, énergie résultant de chaque stratégie de mobilisation. Cette approche fournit un niveau de détails découlant des variables de l’inventaire forestier national mais n’est applicable qu’à une courte échelle de temps en raison de la non intégration des variations environnementales. D’autre part, un modèle ‘empirique grande échelle’ a été développé à partir des données de littérature à l’échelle de l’Europe et représente une forêt-type représentative de la forêt européenne. Cette approche fournit des simulations à long terme (150 ans) en prenant en compte l’incertitude sur la réponse des forêts au changement climatique et en intégrant le compartiment sol, mais présente un niveau de détails inférieur. Pour les deux parties de l’étude, à l’échelle de la France et pour une forêt européenne type, ce document décrit les hypothèses et méthodes de modélisation, les scénarios de mobilisation de la ressource forestière, et les résultats des simulations en termes de production de produits bois et de séquestration de carbone

Contextualization of on farm ex-ante evaluation of the sustainability of innovative cropping systems in viticulture, using a multiple criteria assessment tool (DEXi)

International audienc

Electrical Properties of Metal-Insulator-Metal Structure Based on HfO2-Al2O3 Nanolaminate Stacks

International audienc

Carbohydrate production in relation to microphytobenthic biofilm development: an integrated approach in a tidal mesocosm

International audienceExperiments were performed to evaluate short-term changes in sediment extracellular carbohydratesfor a multispecific assemblage of benthic diatoms in relation to physiological status,endogenous migratory rhythms, and environmental conditions. For this purpose, a mesocosmwas used, which simulated both tidal and dark: light alternating cycles under controlled conditions.Scanning electronic microscopy in combination with picture analyses indicated thatnatural diatom migration patterns were reproduced in the mesocosm. Two EPS fractions wereoperationally separated in colloidal carbohydrate measurements: alcohol-soluble EPS (termed‘‘soluble EPS’’) and alcohol-insoluble EPS (termed ‘‘bound EPS’’). Microphytobenthic biomassfollowed a logistic-type curve and converged toward a maximal value termed the ‘‘biotic capacityof the local environment.’’ Both EPS fractions showed oscillations with production duringphotosynthetic periods and sharp decreases during night immersion periods. Productions ofboth EPS fractions increased with Chl a production during light periods suggesting a lightdependence in relation to migratory patterns. The decreases in both EPS fractions, which occurredduring night immersion periods suggest that carbohydrate hydrolysis and/or washawayaffected both EPS fractions similarly in benthic environments. Our results confirm the theoryaccording to which the two distinct fractions are under different metabolic controls. No changein soluble EPS release was obtained during the transition from logarithmic to stationary phase.On the other hand, a metabolism modification of microalgae, probably related to ammoniumdepletion, occurred when cells entered the stationary phase, since there was a high enhancementin bound EPS production. Mesocosm results can serve as a system of reference useful to characterizebiofilm development in field investigations and to revisit the effective implication ofeach EPS fraction in sediment stabilit

Occup Environ Med

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the impact of intensity of both smoking and occupational exposure to asbestos on the risk of lung cancer throughout the whole exposure history. METHODS: Data on 2026 male cases and 2610 male controls came from the French ICARE (Investigation of occupational and environmental causes of respiratory cancers) population-based, case-control study. Lifetime smoking history and occupational history were collected from standardised questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. Occupational exposure to asbestos was assessed using a job exposure matrix. The effects of annual average daily intensity of smoking (reported average number of cigarettes smoked per day) and asbestos exposure (estimated average daily air concentration of asbestos fibres at work) were estimated using a flexible weighted cumulative index of exposure in logistic regression models. RESULTS: Intensity of smoking in the 10 years preceding diagnosis had a much stronger association with the risk of lung cancer than more distant intensity. By contrast, intensity of asbestos exposure that occurred more than 40 years before diagnosis had a stronger association with the risk of lung cancer than more recent intensity, even if intensity in the 10 years preceding diagnosis also had a significant effect. CONCLUSION: Our results illustrate the dynamic of the effect of intensity of both smoking and occupational exposure to asbestos on the risk of lung cancer. They confirm that the timing of exposure plays an important role, and suggest that standard analytical methods assuming equal weights of intensity over the whole exposure history may be questionable