Risky,early, controversial. Puberty in medical discourses

This article comes within the compass of a research program (entitled CorAge. Bodily Experiences and AgePassages among 9e13 year-olds (ANR-09-ENFT-017) conducted between 2009 and 2013 about the emergence of a \u201cnew\u201d age in life -\u201cpreadolescence\u201d- as instanced in France (Alsace, Lorraine) and Italy (Venetia). The impressive amount of references to \u201cearly puberty\u201d and \u201cprecocious puberty\u201d, in a context of feeling of a premature end of childhood, led us to make an in-depth study of this issue: \ufb01rst, through an analysis of international and French and Italian medical journals; second, through interviews with health professionals. Following the thesis of Foucault, we assume that the discourses on puberty timing participate of classi\ufb01cations of the child body drenched with moral representations of childhood, especially on gender and age issue. Our results: the question of whether a secular trend in puberty timing even exists continues to be debated between American and European scientists. Second, the terms \u201cpuberty\u201d, \u201cprecocious puberty\u201d, \u201cearly puberty\u201d have been used to indicate a variety of puberty markers, increasing confusion. A controversy has focused on early breast development in girls, because this attribute is questioning the order of ages and gender. Moreover, psychosocial factors presented as accelerating early puberty, do not demonstrate the relation between earliness and risk behavior. The literature, as it is moved by the female precocity, creates a medical category to objectify the complex and \ufb02exible process of puberty and invent female child precocity. These differences between American and European scholars and the interviews with French and Italian health professional show a gap between the international literature and practitioners, clinicians and nurses who regularly work with children: they neither \ufb01nd pubertal advancement, nor increase of \u201ctrue precocious puberty\u201d, although they share concerns about premature feminization of girls (France) or environmental toxicity (Italy) on children

Second order nonlinear frequency generation at the nanoscale in dielectric platforms

Nonlinear frequency generation at the nanoscale is a hot research topic which is gaining increasing attention in nanophotonics. The generation of harmonics in subwavelength volumes is historically associated with the enhancement of electric fields in the interface of plasmonic structures. Recently, new platforms based on high-index dielectric nanoparticles have emerged as promising alternatives to plasmonic structures for many applications. By exploiting optically induced electric and magnetic response via multipolar Mie resonances, dielectric nanoelements may lead to innovative opportunities in nanoscale nonlinear optics. Dielectric optical nanoantennas enlarge the volume of light–matter interaction with respect to their plasmonic counterpart, since the electromagnetic field can penetrate such materials, and therefore producing a high throughput of the generated harmonics. In this review, we first recap recent developments obtained in high refractive index structures, which mainly concern nonlinear second order effects. Moreover, we discuss configurations of dielectric nano-devices where reconfigurable nonlinear behavior is achieved. The main focus of this work concerns efficient Sum Frequency Generation in dielectric nano-platforms. The reported results may serve as a reference for the development of new nonlinear devices for nanophotonic applications

Comparative epigenetic analysis of tumour initiating cells and syngeneic EPSC-derived neural stem cells in glioblastoma

Epigenetic mechanisms which play an essential role in normal developmental processes, such as self-renewal and fate specification of neural stem cells (NSC) are also responsible for some of the changes in the glioblastoma (GBM) genome. Here we develop a strategy to compare the epigenetic and transcriptional make-up of primary GBM cells (GIC) with patient-matched expanded potential stem cell (EPSC)-derived NSC (iNSC). Using a comparative analysis of the transcriptome of syngeneic GIC/iNSC pairs, we identify a glycosaminoglycan (GAG)-mediated mechanism of recruitment of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in GBM. Integrated analysis of the transcriptome and DNA methylome of GBM cells identifies druggable target genes and patient-specific prediction of drug response in primary GIC cultures, which is validated in 3D and in vivo models. Taken together, we provide a proof of principle that this experimental pipeline has the potential to identify patient-specific disease mechanisms and druggable targets in GBM

Advances in Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs): challenges and road-map for future development

Recent advances in wireless communication technologies and auto-mobile industry have triggered a significant research interest in the field of vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) over the past few years. A vehicular network consists of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications supported by wireless access technologies such as IEEE 802.11p. This innovation in wireless communication has been envisaged to improve road safety and motor traffic efficiency in near future through the development of intelligent transportation system (ITS). Hence, governments, auto-mobile industries and academia are heavily partnering through several ongoing research projects to establish standards for VANETs. The typical set of VANET application areas, such as vehicle collision warning and traffic information dissemination have made VANET an interesting field of mobile wireless communication. This paper provides an overview on current research state, challenges, potentials of VANETs as well as the ways forward to achieving the long awaited ITS

Transitions à l’adolescence et diabète de type 1 : une approche socio-anthropologique

International audienc

Overview of broadband wireless access technologies and stochastic models for their performance evaluation

A brief overview of the most important up-to-date broadband wireless access technologies is presented. Recent stochastic approaches for the performance evaluation of these protocols are explained

Exploring seamless connectivity and proactive handover techniques in VANET systems

In order to provide Dependable Vehicular Communications for Improved Road Safety, it is necessary to have reliable Vehicular-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication. Such requirements demand that the handover process as vehicles move between adjacent Roadside Units (RSUs) be examined in detail to understand how seamless communication can be achieved. Since the use of beacons is a key part of VANETs, it is necessary to investigate how the beaconing process affects the opportunities to effect handovers. A framework is needed to be able to calculate the regions of overlap in adjacent RSU coverage ranges to guarantee ubiquitous connectivity. A highly mobile environment, therefore, makes this a serious challenge and points to the need to look at proactive handover techniques. This chapter, therefore, explores the development of the proactive handover mechanisms required to provide seamless connectivity and dependable communication in VANET environments

Overview of broadband wireless access technologies and stochastic models for their performance evaluation

A brief overview of the most important up-to-date broadband wireless access technologies is presented. Recent stochastic approaches for the performance evaluation of these protocols are explained