SCRIPTORIUM (Université de Moncton)
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Neurological manifestations of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19: Which liquid biomarker should we use?
No full textLong COVID syndrome, also known as post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), is characterized by persistent symptoms lasting 3–12 weeks post SARS-CoV-2 infection. Patients suffering from PASC can display a myriad of symptoms that greatly diminish quality of life, the most frequent being neuropsychiatric. Thus, there is an eminent need to diagnose and treat PASC related neuropsychiatric manifestation (neuro-PASC). Evidence suggests that liquid biomarkers could potentially be used in the diagnosis and monitoring of patients. Undoubtedly, such biomarkers would greatly benefit clinicians in the management of patients; however, it remains unclear if these can be reliably used in this context. In this mini review, we highlight promising liquid (blood and cerebrospinal fluid) biomarkers, namely, neuronal injury biomarkers NfL, GFAP, and tau proteins as well as neuroinflammatory biomarkers IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, and CPR associated with neuro-PASC and discuss their limitations in clinical applicability.udemauteur: Gilles Robichau
Impolitesse et stratégies communicationnelles chez les jeunes adultes en situation de jeux vidéos
Get PDFCette thèse contribue au champ de recherche des études sur le jeu vidéo et sur les interactions virtuelles. Elle aborde le thème des stratégies d’impolitesse et d’attaques aux faces (Face threatening ou FTA) dans ces conversations virtuelles. Selon les études en analyse interactionnelle, les règles de politesse jouent un rôle clé dans l’organisation des échanges verbaux et dans la construction de la relation entre les participant.e.s. Toutefois, certaines stratégies conversationnelles sont inverses à la politesse : elles attaquent, intentionnellement ou non, les faces et pourraient sembler menaçantes et impolies. Néanmoins, la perception de ces menaces aux faces est variable selon le contexte et les interactant.e.s. Elles peuvent, en fait, être utilisées stratégiquement pour créer des liens et aider à la construction identitaire. Nous avons donc voulu vérifier la fonction des stratégies d’impolitesse dans ce contexte précis des jeux vidéo diffusés en ligne où les conversations se déroulent à l’oral et en direct devant des spectateurs et spectatrices et, par la suite, découvrir les effets de ces actes sur les interactions entre les joueurs. Ainsi, nous nous sommes intéressée aux raisons pour lesquelles les adolescent.e.s et les jeunes adultes utilisent des attaques aux faces dans ces contextes virtuels et comment elles affectent le jeu relationnel. L’approche utilisée dans le cadre de cette recherche s’inspire de l’ethnométhodologie et l’analyse s’inscrit dans l’approche interactionnelle et linguistique mettant l’accent sur la dynamique de l’interaction et les relations entre les différents actes de langage des participant.e.s. L’analyse multimodale de conversations publiques diffusées sur les plateformes Twitch et YouTube prend en compte les différents niveaux de la conversation (verbal, paraverbal, non verbal, émotionnel) et valorise une approche intégrant tous les éléments de l’interaction. Nous avons donc pour objectif de favoriser une meilleure compréhension du rôle complexe des stratégies de menace aux faces d’impolitesse dans les interactions entre les joueurs de jeux vidéo. Tout un monde se développe virtuellement et les interactions humaines s’y adaptent. Il devient alors important de comprendre ces changements sociaux et leurs effets sur les relations entre les individus. Nous espérons que cette thèse permettra une meilleure compréhension des interactions en ligne et contribuera aux recherches sur les interactions dans les contextes virtuels, qui font désormais partie intégrante de nos vies
Throwing Capabilities of Manipulators
No full textThis paper explores the maximal distance throwing task for manipulators and shows that this characteristic can be incorporated into the kinematic design process. Indeed, knowing the maximum distance that a manipulator can throw objects is useful in determining the viability of certain throwing tasks it might be called upon to execute. This paper studies three optimization problems: the release state that maximizes the throwing distance, the kinematic trajectory subject to position, velocity, acceleration and jerk constraints, and finally the kinematic design of manipulators to maximize the workspace as well as the throwing distance. A planar RR, a spatial RRR and a wrist-partitioned 6R manipulator are used as case studies for these optimizations.udemauteur: André Gallan
HD 213258: A new rapidly oscillating, super slowly rotating, strongly magnetic Ap star in a spectroscopic binary
No full textWe report on HD213258, an Ap star that we recently identified as presenting a unique combination of rare, remarkable properties. Our study of this star is based on ESPaDOnS Stokes I and V data obtained at seven epochs spanning a time interval slightly shorter than 2 yr, on TESS data, and on radial velocity measurements from the CORAVEL data base. We confirm that HD213258, which was originally suspected to be an F str _ 4077 star, is definitely an Ap star. We found that, in its spectrum, the Fe ii _ 6149:2Å line is resolved into its two magnetically split components. The mean magnetic field modulus of HD213258, hBi _ 3:8 kG, which we determined from this splitting, does not show significant variations over _2 yr. Comparing our mean longitudinal field determinations with a couple of measurements from the literature, we show that the stellar rotation period is likely of the order of 50 yr, with a reversal of the field polarity. Moreover, HD213258 is a rapidly oscillating Ap (roAp) star, in which high overtone pulsations with a period of 7.58 min are detected. Finally, we confirm that HD213258 has a mean radial velocity exceeding (in absolute value) that of at least 99% of Ap stars. The radial velocity shows low amplitude variations, which suggests that the star is a single-line spectroscopic binary. It is also a known astrometric binary. While its orbital elements remain to be determined, its orbital period is likely one of the shortest known for a binary roAp star. Its secondary is close to the borderline between stellar and substellar objects. There is a significant probability that it is a brown dwarf. The pair represents a combination that has never been observed before. Most of the above-mentioned properties taken in isolation are only observed in a small fraction of the whole population of Ap stars. Thus, the probability that a single star possesses all of them is extremely low. This makes HD213258 an exceptionally interesting object that deserves to be studied in detail in the future.udemauteur: Viktor Khalack; Francis Leblan
A Review of Recent Advances in Deep Learning Models for Chest Disease Detection Using Radiography
No full textChest X-ray radiography (CXR) is among the most frequently used medical imaging modalities. It has a preeminent value in the detection of multiple life-threatening diseases. Radiologists can visually inspect CXR images for the presence of diseases. Most thoracic diseases have very similar patterns, which makes diagnosis prone to human error and leads to misdiagnosis. Computer-aided detection (CAD) of lung diseases in CXR images is among the popular topics in medical imaging research. Machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) provided techniques to make this task more efficient and faster. Numerous experiments in the diagnosis of various diseases proved the potential of these techniques. In comparison to previous reviews our study describes in detail several publicly available CXR datasets for different diseases. It presents an overview of recent deep learning models using CXR images to detect chest diseases such as VGG, ResNet, DenseNet, Inception, EfficientNet, RetinaNet, and ensemble learning methods that combine multiple models. It summarizes the techniques used for CXR image preprocessing (enhancement, segmentation, bone suppression, and data-augmentation) to improve image quality and address data imbalance issues, as well as the use of DL models to speed-up the diagnosis process. This review also discusses the challenges present in the published literature and highlights the importance of interpretability and explainability to better understand the DL models’ detections. In addition, it outlines a direction for researchers to help develop more effective models for early and automatic detection of chest diseases.udemauteur: Adnane Ait-Nasser; Moulay Akhlouf
Origin of dissolved organic sulfur in marine waters and the impact of abiotic sulfurization on its composition and fate
No full textDespite being the largest reservoir of organic sulfur in the ocean, the major source and reactivity of non-volatile dissolved organic sulfur (DOS) pool in the water column remain uncertain. Three experiments were conducted to fill these gaps. In the first one, sulfur isotopic composition (δ34S) of marine and estuarine organic matter, extracted with various methods, indicated that biotic assimilatory sulfate reduction (ASR) is the main formation pathway of DOS in marine waters and of particulate organic sulfur (POS) in oxic sediment. The abiotic sulfurization by sulfides and polysulfides (e.g., in sulfidic sediment) appeared a negligeable contributor to surface DOS but can nevertheless account for up to 39% of deep oceanic DOS. In contrast, abiotic sulfurization appears to be the dominant source of POS in anoxic sediments. In the two other experiments, the possible contribution of sedimentary porewater DOS to the overlaying water column and the stability of DOS in oxic water, before and after abiotic sulfurization, were assessed. Results indicated that the main sources of water-column and sedimentary DOS are different. Laboratory abiotic sulfurization decreased the stability of the dissolved organic matter (DOM) in oxic conditions but seems to increase the proportion of carboxyl-rich alicyclic molecules (CRAM). In addition, the S/C ratio of the DOM changed during degradation: DOS was immobilized in S-poor non‑sulfurized DOM, but DOS was selectively degraded in S-rich sulfurized DOM. The high degradation rate of porewater DOS could explain why it is not the main contributor to deepwater DOS. Biotic ASR appears as the principal source of both labile and non-labile DOS in marine waters. The preservation of DOS may not be related to sulfur speciation or origin but may be controlled by alterations targeting other elements and leaving behind more recalcitrant molecules containing sulfur atoms.udemauteur: Luc Trembla
Un ministère accompagnateur: Louis-Gilles Francoeur (avec la coll. de Jonathan Ramacieri) préface de Robert Laplante, La caution verte. Le désengagement de l'État québécois en environnement, Montréal, Écosociété, 2022, 222 pages
No full textVoilà un livre qui atteste de toute l’importance des médias, des instituts
de recherche, et des maisons d’édition indépendants pour la vigueur du débat
démocratique à l’ère de l’anthropocène.
Il aura ainsi fallu une collaboration entre
Louis-Gilles Francoeur, journaliste responsable de la couverture environnementale au
Devoir de 1982 à 2012, et l’économiste de
l’IRÉC, Jonathan Ramacieri, ainsi que la tribune Écosociété pour faire ce livre essentiel,
qui fournit une démonstration empirique
cruellement rigoureuse de ce que nous étions
nombreux à seulement soupçonner: que la
mission du ministère de l’Environnement
du Québec est, depuis sa fondation en 1979,
structurellement dévoyée par l’appareil
même de l’État québécois.udemauteur: Gabriel Arsenaul
Burrowing behaviour of soft-shell clams (Mya arenaria) following human disturbance
No full textThe soft-shell clam, Mya arenaria, is an endobenthic marine bivalve species that is abundant in the intertidal and shallow-subtidal zones of eastern Canadian and New England shores. In these coastal environments, clams are subjected to both natural and anthropogenic disturbances that can result in dislodgement from the sediment. This is especially relevant for harvested clam species that are managed by a legal size limit. Herein, live clams that are too small to be retained by harvesters are discarded back onto the sediment surface. These clams must reburrow in order to survive; however, the reburrowing behaviour of these clams after being disturbed is not well known. To fill this knowledge gap, a series of five field trials were conducted in Kouchibouguac National Park, New Brunswick, Canada, during the summer and fall of 2021 to measure reburrowing rates of discarded sub-legal sized (<50 mm) soft-shell clams. Three size groups (20–30, 31–40, and 41–50 mm) of soft-shell clams were excavated and returned to the sediment surface at three different tidal levels inside protective enclosures during low tide for each trial. Time to initiate and complete reburrowing was subsequently observed over a 24 h (h) period. Results showed that reburrowing time was not affected by size class; however, reburrowing time was affected by tidal level, site, and trial. Results suggest that disturbed clams discarded onto submerged sediment surfaces (tidal levels 2 and 3) reburrow quicker than those discarded onto air-exposed sediment (tidal level 1). Reburrowing rates of subtidally-discarded clams were faster during the first three months of the study (June–August) compared to rates observed in the September trials. Comparing reburrowing rates to environmental conditions during the trials suggested that decreasing salinity in September likely drove the slower reburrowing rates compared to rates observed earlier in the season; decreasing temperatures may also have had some influence. These findings suggest that discarding sub-legal sized clams onto submerged sediment will increase the probability of clam survival via faster reburrowing, and that environmental conditions at the time of discard can affect reburrowing rates.udemauteur: Gilles Miro
Association of School Health Relationship Difficulties with Lack of Regular Physical Activity in Younger Adolescents: A Population Based Study
No full textObjective: Lack of regular physical activity (LPA) and the number of days/week with physical activity >60 minutes/day (Ndw) may be associated with school-health-relational difficulties (SHRDs) during the life-course. This study assessed their associations and the confounding role of socioeconomic features (nationality, family structure, parents’ education/occupation/income) among younger adolescents. Methods: This cross-sectional population-based study included 1,559 middle-school adolescents from north-eastern France (10–18 years, 98% under 16 years, 778 boys and 781 girls). They completed over one-hour teaching period a questionnaire collecting last-12-month LPA and last-7-day Ndw (dependent variables), and risk factors including socioeconomic features, SHRDs (previous grade repetitions, last-12-month poor general health status/physical health/psychological health/social-relationships, depressive symptoms (and age at onset and duration from onset); cumulated number noted SHRDcn). Data were analyzed using logistic/linear regression models. Results: LPA was common (32.5%) and associated with all SHRDs (sex-age-adjusted odds ratio saOR reaching 1.99, p < .001) and depressive-symptoms duration (saOR 1.63 (p < .05) and 2.11 (p < .001) for 1–2 and ≥3 years, respectively, vs. no depressive symptoms). A dose-effect association was found between SHRDcn and LPA (24.0, 33.7, 45.6, and 53.5%; saOR 1.59, 2.58, and 3.43; for SHRDcn 1–2, 3–4, and ≥5 respectively, vs. SHRDcn = 0, p < .001). Ndw was similarly associated with all SHRDs and SHRDcn (sex-age-adjusted regression coefficient reaching −1.10 day/week, p < .001). These results were robust when controlling for socioeconomic features (18%<contribution<51%). Conclusions: Physical activity is associated with SHRDs, and socioeconomic features have an elevated confounding role. Healthcare providers can detect/reduce SHRDs and consequently improve physical activity among adolescents and prevent physical inactivity in adulthood.udemauteur: Slimane Belbraoue
