Urban node project

Treball desenvolupat dins el marc del programa 'European Project Semester'.The world is continuously facing the evolution of technologies and environmental issues. The Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and more precisely la Escola Politècnica Superior D'enginyeria De Vilanova I La Geltrú and a local company Neàpolis decided to initiate a project called The Urban Node in 2013. The idea and focus was to develop a innovative urban element that could gathe

Forêts et sociétés dans les environnements méditerranéens : une ardente vulnérabilité ?

International audienceOften considered as common phenomena, forest fires in the Mediterranean hit the headlines every summer, even when nothing, or almost nothing, is worth to be told. Moreover, the scientific discourse seems to take for granted the Mediterranean environment’s vulnerability. This assumption doubtlessly prevents a thorough discussion about these questions of vulnerabilities.The purpose of this article is to discuss the concept of vulnerability, how it applies to Mediterranean environments and to analyze the significant issues. At first, it will draw up an inventory of the vulnerabilities of the Mediterranean environment then reconsider the vulnerability of spatial structures, including the wildland-urban interface. And finally, thanks to interviews, think about the environment as a political object, crystallizing debates and game actors.Analyzing vulnerabilities in terms of discourses would be a key to understanding this type of environmental crises.Souvent qualifiés de phénomènes banals, les incendies de forêt en Méditerranée défrayent pourtant la chronique chaque été, même quand il n’y a rien, ou si peu, à raconter. Par ailleurs, les discours savants semblent tenir pour un acquis la vulnérabilité de l’environnement méditerranéen. Ce postulat empêche sans doute une réflexion approfondie sur ces questions de vulnérabilités.L’objectif de cet article est de discuter le concept de vulnérabilité, la manière dont il s’applique aux environnements méditerranéens et d’analyser les enjeux significatifs. Dans un premier temps, il s’agira de dresser un état des lieux de la vulnérabilité de l’environnement méditerranéen pour ensuite reconsidérer la vulnérabilité des structures spatiales, sous l’angle, notamment, des interfaces habitat-forêt. Et enfin, à partir d’entretiens, de s’interroger sur l’environnement comme objet politique, cristallisant des débats et des jeux d’acteurs.Analyser les vulnérabilités sous l’angle des discours serait alors une clé de compréhension pour ce type de crises environnementales

One-year emergency department visits for children < 18 years of age, associated factors and frequency of primary general practitioner or pediatrician visits before: a French observational study (2018–19)

Abstract Background This study was designed to identify factors associated with at least one emergency department (ED) visit and those associated without consultation by a general practitioner or paediatrician (GPP) before ED visit. Levels of annual consumption of healthcare services as a function of the number of ED visit were reported. Methods This retrospective study focused on children < 18 years of age living in mainland France and followed for one-year after their birth or birthday in 2018. Children were selected from the national health data system, which includes data on healthcare reimbursements, long-term chronic diseases (LTD) eligible for 100% reimbursement, and individual complementary universal insurance (CMUc) status granted to households with a low annual income. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) were estimated using multivariate logistic regression. Results There were 13.211 million children included (94.2% of children; girls 48.8%). At least one annual ED visit was found for 24% (1: 16%, 2: 5%, 3 or more: 3%) and 14% of visits led to hospitalization. Factors significantly associated with at least one ED visit were being a girl (47.1%; OR = 0.92), age < 1 year (9.1%; OR = 2.85), CMUc (22.7%, OR = 1.45), an ED in the commune of residence (33.3%, OR = 1.15), type 1 diabetes (0.25%; OR = 2.4), epilepsy (0.28%; OR = 2.1), and asthma (0.39%; OR = 2.0). At least one annual short stay hospitalisation (SSH) was found for 8.8% children of which 3.4% after an ED visit. A GPP visit the three days before or the day of the ED visit was found for 19% of children (< 1 year: 29%, 14–17 years: 13%). It was 30% when the ED was followed by SSH and 17% when not. Significant factors associated with the absence of a GPP visit were being a girl (OR = 0.9), age (1 year OR = 1.4, 14–17 years OR = 3.5), presence of an ED in the commune of residence (OR = 1.12), epilepsy LTD (OR = 1.1). Conclusion The low level of visits to GPP prior to a visit to the ED and the associated factors are the elements to be taken into account for appropriate policies to limit ED overcrowding. The same applies to factors associated with a visit to the ED, in order to limit daily variations

Usefulness of Syndromic Surveillance during Ultra-endurance Running Races: Example with the “Grand Raid de la Réunion” Ultra Trail

The "Grand Raid de la Réunion" is one of the hardest ultra trails in the world. This endurance running race has consequences on health's runners. We used syndromic surveillance to estimate the health impact of this sporting event on the Emergency Departments (ED) of Reunion Island. During the race's period, a global increase of the ED visits all causes was observed. The syndromic surveillance system detected a significant ED visits' increase for hydro-electrolytic disorders. These results highlight the usefulness of syndromic surveillance to estimate the impact on health of a mass gathering on a sporting event of great magnitude

Syndromic Surveillance Based on Emergency Visits: A Reactive Tool for Unusual Events Detection

During the past years, syndromic surveillance based on emergency visits allowed to monitor seasonal epidemics in Reunion Island and to measure their health impact. Nevertheless, its ability to detect minor unusual events still had to be demonstrated. Between 2011 and 2012, several small scale unusual health events were detected (autochthonous cases of measles, family foodborne illness etc.), leading to health alerts and requiring immediate control measures

Syndromic Surveillance Based on Emergency Visits: A Reactive Tool for Unusual Events Detection

OBJECTIVE: To show with examples that syndromic surveillance system can be a reactive tool for public health surveillance. INTRODUCTION: The late health events such as the heat wave of 2003 showed the need to make public health surveillance evolve in France. Thus, the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance has developed syndromic surveillance systems based on several information sources such as emergency departments (1). In Reunion Island, the chikungunya outbreak of 2005–2006, then the influenza pandemic of 2009 contributed to the implementation and the development of this surveillance system (2–3). In the past years, this tool allowed to follow and measure the impact of seasonal epidemics. Nevertheless, its usefulness for the detection of minor unusual events had yet to be demonstrated. METHODS: - Qualitative indicators for the alert (every visit whose diagnostic relates to a notifiable disease or potential epidemic disease); - Quantitative indicators for the epidemic/cluster detection (number of visits based on syndromic grouping). Daily and weekly analyses are carried out. A decision algorithm allows to validate the signal and to organize an epidemiological investigation if necessary. RESULTS: Each year, about 150 000 visits are registered in the six emergency departments that is 415 consultations per day on average. Several unusual health events on small-scale were detected early. In August 2011, the surveillance system allowed to detect the first autochthonous cases of measles, a few days before this notifiable disease was reported to health authorities (Figure 1). In January 2012, the data of emergency departments allowed to validate the signal of viral meningitis as well as to detect a cluster in the West of the island and to follow its trend. In June 2012, a family foodborne illness was detected from a spatio-temporal cluster for abdominal pain by the surveillance system and was confirmed by epidemiological investigation (Figure 2). CONCLUSIONS: Despite the improvement of exchanges with health practitioners and the development of specific surveillance systems, health surveillance remains fragile for the detection of clusters or unusual health events on small scale. The syndromic surveillance system based on emergency visits has proved to be relevant for the identification of signals leading to health alerts and requiring immediate control measures. In the future, it will be necessary to develop these systems (private practitioners, sentinel schools) in order to have several indicators depending on the degree of severity

Biosurveillance des masses d'eau en Normandie (France) en utilisant la moule saumâtre, Mytilopsis leucophaeata

International audienc

A non-canonical Grb2–PLC-γ1–Sos cascade triggered by lipovitellin 1, an apolipoprotein B homologue

International audienc

Using an Emergency Department Syndromic Surveillance System to Assess the Impact of Cyclone Bejisa, Reunion Island

On January 2, 2014 the cyclone Bejisa struck Reunion Island. In anticipation, an epidemiological surveillance was set up in order to assess the impact in the aftermath of the cyclone. Short-term health effects were assessed using a syndromic surveillance system based on data of EDs and EMS. A peak of calls to the EMS was observed the day of the cyclone and an increase of ED visits over the next two days. At the same time, a significant increase of visits for trauma, burns, conjunctivitis was detected. The reactivity and the flexibility of the syndromic surveillance system allowed to rapidly assess the health impact of the cyclone

Using a Syndromic Approach to Study Health Impact and Risk Factors of Alcohol Intoxication in Reunion Island

In Reunion Island, alcohol is a major public health problem. Syndromic surveillance system based on ED data was used for describe alcohol intoxication visits between 2010-2012 and factors associated with their variations. During the study period, alcohol intoxication was the second leading cause of all visits in ED. Time-series models showed a robust association between ED visits and days of minimum social benefits payment, weekends, public holidays. These results will be transmitted to health authorities in order to orient the public health policies