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Participatory ecodesign of crop management based on Life Cycle Assessment: an approach to inform the strategy of a Protected Denomination of Origin. A case study in viticulture
No full textInternational audienceSince the context on environmental issues is challenging, the Cognac protected denomination of origin (PDO) adopted life cycle assessment (LCA) to inform its environmental strategy, initially focusing on vineyard soil management. This study developed a participatory eco-design approach involving stakeholders to inform the PDOs’ strategy for transitioning to less impactful crop management practices. It did this by drawing on literature that emphasises the use of participatory design, serious games, and LCA to foster knowledge sharing, engagement, and sustainability assessment. The approach that was put to the test in the Cognac PDO involved 17 elected officials with varying levels of experience. The participants used the serious game known as Vitigame (a game done for participatory ecodesign in viticulture) to ecodesign a soil management and fertilisation pathway for 2030, with the process guided by the results of the LCA. Exchange dynamics, LCA results, and participant feedback were analysed. The study revealed diverse dynamics and efficient ecodesign strategies among the participant groups, which resulted in a reduction of environmental impacts by up to 51% and raised new questions for the territory. The diversity of participants presented challenges, highlighting the need to improve LCA knowledge sharing. The workshop’s results could inform the PDO’s strategic planning. The interest of this innovative process including a serious game was confirmed, suggesting potential applications to other viticultural PDOs and adaptability to diverse sectors
Digital tablet activities to alleviate preoperative anxiety: variability in anxiety and flow levels in children
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PFAS et Pesticides dans nos eaux: Quelles conséquences pour la santé humaine ? quelles solutions ?
No full textInternational audiencePFAS et Pesticides dans nos eaux.Quelles conséquences pour la santé humaine ? quelles solutions
Why are SDHI pesticides of concern to beekeepers and scientists?
No full textInternational audienceResults show that SDHIs pose a significant threat to pollinators, biodiversity and public health. Given that mitochondrial dysfunction at the level of succinate dehydrogenase can lead to serious diseases such as neurodevelopmental disorders and cancer, it is imperative to better assess the toxicity of SDHIs at low doses and over the long term. Our findings also show that maximum residue limits (MRLs) should be reduced to offer better protection. As SDHIs are frequently used in combination with other fungicides, such as triazoles and strobilurins (e.g., straw cereals), it is necessary to promote alternative methods to reduce the use of SDHIs
Litter C:N Ratio and Soil Water Retention Drive Early CO₂ and N₂O Emissions from Recycled Litter on Urban Lawns
No full textInternational audienceUrban green spaces (UGSs) play a vital role in enhancing urban sustainability by providing ecosystem services. Lawns, which can cover up to 50–70% of UGSs worldwide, differ in their vegetation cover and generate substantial litter from a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. Much of this litter is exported, although recycling it into soil could improve soil health while reducing indirect greenhouse gas emissions associated with litter blowing, transport, and composting [1, 2]. However, litter decomposition may also lead to direct emission of nitrous oxide (N₂O)—a powerful greenhouse gas[3].Litter biochemistry influence on N₂O fluxes during litter decomposition was studied on two lawn soils from a low- and a high-intensity management. The high-intensity management soil had higher organic C and N contents and greater water retention capacity. Five litter types with contrasted biochemistry (e.g., C:N ratios and lignin content) were selected from twenty-eight representative UGS species, which included trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. These litters were applied at the soil surface and incubated in the lab for 14 days (15°C, soil water content near field capacity). Carbon dioxide (CO₂) and N₂O emissions, along with mineral nitrogen dynamics, were measured throughout the incubation. Cumulative CO₂ and N₂O emissions depend on litter C:N ratio and soil water retention capacity. Green litter with low C:N ratio (i.e., Lolium) induced higher emissions, while senescent litters with high C:N ratios (e.g., Fraxinus, Meadow grasses) induced microbial nitrogen immobilization thus limiting emissions. The high-intensity management soil showed the highest cumulative N₂O emissions across all litter types (1.5 kg N ha-1 on average) due to higher soil water retention capacity. N₂O emission factors (1.2–3.7%) exceeded the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change default for crop residues (0.6%). A power regression with C:N ratios from the twenty-eight collected litter types suggested average N₂O emission factors of 3.5% for green and 1.5% for senescent litters. These findings suggest for the first time that recycling litter on an intensively managed lawn soil can result in significant N₂O emissions, due to organically rich conditions promoting notably high water retention capacity. However, litter recycling on a soil with lower water retention capacity, typically the low-intensity management soil, may represent a sustainable practice with low N₂O emission potential, while also providing substantial benefits for soil fertility, C storage, water cycling, and biodiversity
"Hospes vs. Hostis: Hotels as Unhomely Spaces of Revelation in Six Short Stories by Daphne du Maurier"
No full textInternational audienceDaphne du Maurier’s short stories depict hotels as spaces that subvert the traditional ideals of hospitality, transforming them into sites of revelation, unease, or existential crisis. In “Panic,” the French hotel in Montparnasse becomes the antithesis of hospitality. This unheimlich space, marked by claustrophobia and moral ambiguity, hosts the illicit liaison of two young lovers. Their encounter exposes the tension between sexual impulses and societal imperatives, drawing parallels between the alienating atmosphere of the hotel and the characters’ doomed relationship.In “The Little Photographer” and “The Rendezvous,” du Maurier highlights the artifice inherent in human relationships. Vanity and egoism lead the protagonists to stage sexual encounters within hotel settings or close to them, only for these spaces to serve as the theatrical backdrop for their humiliation and the unraveling of their self-centered delusions.In “Ganymede,” “Don’t Look Now,” and “Not After Midnight,” hotels in Venice and Crete operate as tourist traps where visitors are ensnared by local or foreign conmen, by a seasonal decay reminiscent of Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice, or by their own psychological vulnerabilities. These spaces, tied to the ebb and flow of the tourist season, offer both anonymity and exposure, emphasizing how temporary lodgings reflect the fragility of identity. In such contexts, characters either confront the disintegration of their personalities or undergo moments of profound self-realization, always at a great cost.In this paper, I therefore propose to explore how du Maurier reimagines hotels as unhomely and liminal settings where characters confront their desires, fears, and identities. I will argue that her portrayal of hotels captures the liminal tension between hospitality and hostility, intimacy and isolation, offering a critique of the social and psychological dimensions of temporary spaces
Documenter les espaces de vie des Gilets jaunes pour éclairer l’émergence et la dynamique du mouvement. De l’automobilité défendue à la métropolisation combattue ?
No full textInternational audienceYellow Vest’s contestation takes place at the end of 2018 and reopens debates about territorial inequalities and theirs impacts on activism and politics. Following many researches, our study relies on an ecological and statistical approach crossed with social geography and political sociology so as to shed light on Yellow Vests’s socialization spaces and how they can explain the emergence, the evolution as well as the duration of a contestation. Reforms concerning notably mobility in 2018 in France seem to have triggered a peripheral engagement leaning towards a criticism of the tax system, which is decided by rejected central authorities. Far away from energetic or desertification concerns, the fact that metropolitan militants joined up to the movement can be explained by a wish to opposite the alleged « winners of globalisation » on their ground, once the movement have been politicized leftwards in city-centers.Fin 2018, le mouvement des Gilets Jaunes surgit et relance les débats autour des inégalités territoriales, posant à nouveau frais la question de l’impact de celles-ci sur l’engagement politique. À la suite d’autres travaux, notre étude analyse, par une approche écologique statistique étayée par la géographie sociale et la sociologie politique, en quoi la diversité des espaces de vie des Gilets Jaunes peut contribuer à expliquer l’émergence, l’évolution comme la durée d’une contestation. Les réformes notamment mobilitaires de 2018 semblent avoir activé des dispositions à un engagement situé en périphérie, tourné vers la critique d’une fiscalité imposée par un pouvoir central altérisé. Loin des préoccupations énergétiques ou de désertification, le ralliement de militants plus métropolitains semble surtout s’expliquer par la tentation d’une opposition commune, et sur leur terrain, aux prétendus « gagnants de la mondialisation », une fois politisée la lutte au sein d’espaces plutôt acquis à la gauche
Association between mycophenolic acid treatment and infection with specific strains of Pneumocystis jirovecii in solid organ transplant recipients in France and Switzerland: a multicentre, retrospective, cross-sectional study
No full textInternational audienceBackground: Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) case clusters involving solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients have been reported worldwide. Mycophenolic acid, an immunosuppressant used to prevent rejection in SOT recipients that targets the inosine 5 ′ -monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) protein, has been hypothesised to exert selective pressure on Pneumocystis jirovecii, with the missense mutation G1020A (Ala261Thr) in the impdh gene a possible marker of such selective pressure. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that SOT recipients harbour P jirovecii with mutations in the impdh gene and are infected with specific P jirovecii strains.Methods: In this retrospective, multicentre, cross-sectional study of nationally representative, individual-level data, we included SOT recipients, regardless of the organ transplanted, involved or not in a PCP case cluster, and non-SOT recipients (control group) without mycophenolic acid exposure, diagnosed with PCP from 26 French and one Swiss secondary health-care centres. We included patients aged 18 years or older for whom archival P jirovecii DNA extracts were available in sufficient quantity and quality. P jirovecii specimens were characterised using a multilocus sequence typing method including impdh gene analysis. The primary outcome of this study was the detection of the G1020A (Ala261Thr) mutation in the impdh gene. A multivariable logistic regression was done to assess the relation between this mutation and the following variables retrieved from medical records: age, mycophenolic acid exposure at the time of PCP diagnosis, involvement in a PCP case cluster, PCP prophylaxis, and clinical outcome.Findings: 58 SOT recipients (44 treated with mycophenolic acid) and 59 non-SOT recipients (control group; not treated with mycophenolic acid) diagnosed with PCP between Jan 1, 2001, and Dec 31, 2021, were enrolled. The G1020A (Ala261Thr) mutation was detected in P jirovecii specimens from 40 (68⋅9%) SOT recipients (37 treated with mycophenolic acid) and in none of the P jirovecii specimens from the patients in the control group. The multivariable analysis showed that the allele characterised by the G1020A mutation was associated with mycophenolic acid exposure at the time of PCP diagnosis (adjusted odds ratio 73⋅61 [95% CI 17⋅41-455⋅70]; p<0⋅0001) and involvement in a PCP case cluster (12⋅77 [1⋅58-171⋅90]; p=0⋅029), whereas it was not associated with age, PCP prophylaxis, and clinical deterioration. A second missense mutation, G1020T (Ala261Ser) was identified in P jirovecii specimens from three SOT recipients (two treated with mycophenolic acid). Two specific multilocus genotypes (MLG-31 and MLG-34) of P jirovecii associated with Ala261Thr and Ala261Ser substitutions in IMPDH, respectively, were detected only in SOT recipients (38 patients with MLG-31 and three patients with MLG-34).Interpretation SOT recipients in this study were primarily infected with specific P jirovecii strains with mutations in the impdh gene, which might confer a selective advantage as both the G1020A (Ala261Thr) and G1020T (Ala261Ser) are associated with mycophenolic acid resistance in other fungi. Mycophenolic acid selective pressure might explain the maintenance and circulation of these P jirovecii strains within this patient population, and consequently their potential involvement in PCP case clusters
Prenatal nicotine exposure induces epigenetic alterations in the Notch signaling genes in the proximal colon in rats
No full textInternational audienceBackground: Prenatal nicotine exposure (PNE) has been shown to significantly impact fetal development, leading to various pathologies in adulthood.Objectives: In this study, we analyzed the epigenetic effects of PNE on the proximal colon.Results: We show here that PNE decreases the length of the colon crypts and induces a higher Ki-67 index. The genes related to metabolic pathways, tight junctions, and neurodegenerative processes were downregulated in PNE colons, and genes related to inflammation and oxygen transporter activity were upregulated. We observed a decrease in acetylated H4Ac and H3K9Ac marks. Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis demonstrated reduced DNA methylation of genes related to cell adhesion and metabolic pathways and increased methylation levels at thermogenesis, GABAergic synapsing, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease-related genes. The Notch signaling pathway was deregulated in PNE rats.Conclusion: PNE leads to perturbation of proximal colon functioning, plausibly through nicotine-induced epigenetic alterations
Population pharmacokinetics of mycophenolic acid and Bayesian estimator in lung transplant adults recipients in the early post-transplant period
No full textInternational audienceMycophenolic acid (MPA), administered as its prodrug Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), is widely used to prevent rejection after organ solid transplantation. Few population pharmacokinetic studies of MPA in lung transplantation are available, so the present study was designed to describe the population pharmacokinetics (PK) of MPA and develop a maximum a posteriori Bayesian estimator of MPA area under the curve (AUC0-12h) in lung transplant (LT) recipients in the early post-transplant period. We conducted a single-center retrospective study in the Plessis-Robinson hospital (France), including LT recipients receiving MMF in whom at least one concentration-time profile was available during the first 3 months post-transplantation. MPA was measured before intake and 0.5, 1, 2, 4 ± 6 hours post-administration. Patients were divided into an index group (N=72) and a validation group (N=46). A population PK model and a Bayesian estimator with three sampling times were built with the index dataset and externally evaluated with the validation dataset. Analyses were performed using nonlinear mixed-effects models with Monolix® software. The PK model was built using 97 MPA profiles in the index dataset. MPA PK was best described using a two-compartment model with a lag time and first-order absorption and elimination. The significant covariates on the MPA apparent clearance were creatinine, body weight and ciclosporin co-administration and the posttransplantation time on the apparent volume of the central compartment. The model was successfully evaluated in the 60 MPA profiles from the validation dataset. The best Bayesian estimator included samples just before intake, 1 and 4 hours post-administration. The prediction of AUC was unbiased in both datasets and had a precision around 20 %. This is the first Bayesian estimator allowing the prediction of AUC in LT patients without cystic fibrosis in the early post-transplant period, providing a tool to improve the therapeutic drug monitoring of MPA