Closure of radial forearm free flap donor site: A comparative study between keystone flap and skin graft

Background The aim was to investigate the feasibility of radial forearm free flap (RFFF) donor site closure by keystone flap (KF) and compare its outcomes to those of skin graft (SG) closure. Methods One hundred and one patients who underwent RFFF for head and neck reconstruction were included (35 KF closure and 65 SG closure). Duration of wound healing and donor site complications was collected. After a minimal follow‐up of 1 year, patients were questioned about functional and esthetic impairment. Results Coverage of donor site by KF was successful in all cases. The duration of wound healing was longer after SG than after KF (32 days vs 18 days, P < .001). Healing complications, esthetic and functional results were not statistically different. Conclusion Forearm donor site closure by KF is a feasible alternative to the traditional SG. Its main advantages are the reduced wound healing time and the avoidance of a second donor site

Polarizing representations of immigrant communities in Belgian French-speaking online political discourse

In this study, we will present an analysis of how polarization, and more specifically polarizing representations of immigrant communities, are discursively constructed in the online discourse of Belgian French-speaking politicians. Our study is based on Facebook and Twitter messages from leading politicians from all major parties. They consist of two one-month samples, which were collected one month before and during the 2019 electoral campaign for the regional, national and European elections that took place on May 26th. We will show how a variety of linguistic devices, such as deixis and metaphors (Lakoff and Johnson 1980), contribute to creating an opposition between an in-group and an out-group and to presenting the out-group as a threat, thus producing polarizing representations of immigrant communities

La frontière entre opinion et discours de haine dans les tweets de personnalités politiques belges francophones

Nous présenterons une analyse de messages à la frontière entre opinion et discours de haine, basée sur un corpus de tweets de personnalités politiques belges francophones. Les tweets ont été collectés au cours de la campagne électorale de mai 2019 et durant les mois qui ont précédé cette campagne. Nous sélectionnons quatre personnalités importantes par parti. Nous montrerons que les messages du corpus analysé contiennent très peu de stratégies incitant ouvertement à la haine mais que certains messages se situent à la frontière entre opinion et discours de haine. Ceux-ci peuvent inclure des représentations polarisantes ou stéréotypées de certaines communautés, basées sur des critères liés à l’ethnicité, la religion ou l’orientation sexuelle. Nous analyserons les stratégies linguistiques utilisées pour construire ces représentations polarisantes, comme la déixis, la généralisation, le langage métaphorique, et la construction de l’agentivité et de l’intentionnalité. En outre, nous montrerons comment la combinaison de ces stratégies peut contribuer à la création d’un discours qui représente certaines communautés comme une menace. En dernier lieu, nous comparerons les résultats de cette analyse avec les productions des mêmes personnalités politiques sur Facebook

Combining genotypic and phenotypic analyses on single mutant zebrafish larvae

Zebrafish is a powerful animal model used to study vertebrate embryogenesis, organ development and diseases (Gut et al., 2017) [1]. The usefulness of the model was established as a result of various large forward genetic screens identifying mutants in almost every organ or cell type (Driever et al., 1996; Haffter et al., 1996) [2,3]. More recently, the advent of genome editing methodologies, including TALENs (Sander et al., 2011) [4] and the CRISPR/Cas9 technology (Hwang et al., 2013) [5], led to an increase in the production of zebrafish mutants. A number of these mutations are homozygous lethal at the embryonic or larval stages preventing the generation of homozygous mutant zebrafish lines. Here, we present a method allowing both genotyping and phenotype analyses of mutant zebrafish larvae from heterozygous zebrafish incrosses. The procedure is based on the genotyping of the larval tail after transection, whereas phenotypic studies are performed on the anterior part of the zebrafish larvae. • The method includes (i) a protocol for genotyping, (ii) protocols for paraffin embedding and histological analyses, (iii) protocols for protein and histone extraction and characterization by Western blot, (iv) protocols for RNA extraction and characterization by RT-PCR, and (v) protocols to study caudal spinal cord regeneration. • The technique is optimized in order to be applied on single zebrafish embryos and larvae. Keywords: Zebrafish, Genotyping, Protein extraction, Histone extraction, RNA extraction, Histology, Spinal cord regeneratio

A corpus-based study of the boundary between opinion and hatespeech in Belgian French- speaking online political discourse

In this study, we will present an analysis of discourses on the boundary between opinion expression and hatespeech, based on a corpus of online discourse of Belgian French-speaking politicians. Our corpus consists of the Facebook and Twitter productions from leading politicians from all major parties, which were collected one month right before and one month during the 2019 electoral campaign for the regional, national and European elections on May 26th 2019. While discourses falling within the legal qualification of hatespeech are extremely rare in this corpus, we will analyze the productions that are on the boundary between opinion expression and hatespeech, engaging in polarizing and stereotyping representations of certain communities based on criteria related to ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. We look into the linguistic strategies that are used to construe these polarizing representations, such as the use of deictics, generalization, metaphorical language use, and the construction of agentivity and intentionality (i.e. the representation of certain actions as intentional deeds, thus construing e.g. an immigrant group as willingly harming the local population). We both analyze the use of these individual strategies in our corpus and show how they are combined in creating a discourse that represents these communities as a threat. Finally, we will also discuss to which extent there are differences between discourse produced before and during the electoral campaign. In doing so, we show how a detailed discursive analysis based on a corpus of contemporary online data can contribute to a better understanding of the general public debate and of people's conceptualisations concerning these communities

The Mediterranean region under climate change

This book has been published by Allenvi (French National Alliance for Environmental Research) to coincide with the 22nd Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22) in Marrakesh. It is the outcome of work by academic researchers on both sides of the Mediterranean and provides a remarkable scientific review of the mechanisms of climate change and its impacts on the environment, the economy, health and Mediterranean societies. It will also be valuable in developing responses that draw on “scientific evidence” to address the issues of adaptation, resource conservation, solutions and risk prevention. Reflecting the full complexity of the Mediterranean environment, the book is a major scientific contribution to the climate issue, where various scientific considerations converge to break down the boundaries between disciplines