Testing the Effect of Relative Pollen Productivity on the REVEALS Model : A Validated Reconstruction of Europe-Wide Holocene Vegetation

Reliable quantitative vegetation reconstructions for Europe during the Holocene are crucial to improving our understanding of landscape dynamics, making it possible to assess the past effects of environmental variables and land-use change on ecosystems and biodiversity, and mitigating their effects in the future. We present here the most spatially extensive and temporally continuous pollen-based reconstructions of plant cover in Europe (at a spatial resolution of 1° × 1°) over the Holocene (last 11.7 ka BP) using the 'Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites' (REVEALS) model. This study has three main aims. First, to present the most accurate and reliable generation of REVEALS reconstructions across Europe so far. This has been achieved by including a larger number of pollen records compared to former analyses, in particular from the Mediterranean area. Second, to discuss methodological issues in the quantification of past land cover by using alternative datasets of relative pollen productivities (RPPs), one of the key input parameters of REVEALS, to test model sensitivity. Finally, to validate our reconstructions with the global forest change dataset. The results suggest that the RPPs.st1 (31 taxa) dataset is best suited to producing regional vegetation cover estimates for Europe. These reconstructions offer a long-term perspective providing unique possibilities to explore spatial-temporal changes in past land cover and biodiversity

Genotype, nitrogen and herbivory shape plant defense: the case of a vitamin-enriched maize

ABSTRACTThe cultivation of crops with novel traits could interfere with ecosystem services delivered by arthropods through bottom-up effects. Here we tested the hypothesis that a vitamin enriched maize (CarolightR) is similar in terms of plant-arthropod interactions to its wild type when compared in controlled environment and under field conditions. In order to assess the robustness of their equivalence we tested two nitrogen availability regimes. We used arthropod field abundance, the behavior and fitness of a keystone maize herbivore - the leafhopperZyginidia scutellaris- and above ground chemistry of maize plants (volatile, hormone and metabolite profiling) as indicators of potential changes in plant-insect interactions. Nitrogen availability was the key driver of herbivore abundance and behavior, and determined direct and indirect chemical defense in maize plants. Both genotypes presented similar constitutive and inducible phytohormone profiles independently of the nitrogen regime. However, feeding by the herbivore suppressed the levels of JA-Ile and JA, without impairing the release of induced plant volatiles. CarolightRand M37W differed to some degree in the concentrations of phenolics (hydroxycinnamic acids and lignans) and in the abundance of a volatile compound. Overall the effect of maize genotype on the herbivores was smaller than the effect of nitrogen fertilization.HIGHLIGHTWe show the separate and interactive effects of nitrogen availability and genotype on the performance and behavior of a herbivore, and related these changes to constitutive and inducible maize defenses.</jats:sec

Médicaments et chaleur : étude SIRIUS cas-témoins multicentrique chez les sujets de plus de 65 ans durant l'été 2007 en France

Objectif : Évaluer les médicaments responsables d'effets indésirables liés à la chaleur. 
Méthodes : Nous avons effectué une étude cas-témoin multicentrique (Toulouse, Besançon, Marseille) incluant 36 cas (patients de plus de 65 ans hospitalisés pour hyperthermie ou déshydratation sévère entre le 1er juillet et le 31 août 2007) et 51 témoins appariés. Nous avons comparé les médicaments consommés et leur adaptation posologique en fonction de la valeur de la fonction rénale. 
Résultats : Les cas prenaient plus de médicaments que les témoins (4,3 vs. 3,9; p < 0,001), en particulier des neuroleptiques (3,6 % vs. 0,5 % ; p = 0,007). À l'inclusion, la clairance de la créatinine était disponible pour seulement 12 patients (moyenne : 31,6 mL/min). 
Conclusion : Malgré son manque de puissance, cette étude montre que les patients souffrant de déshydratation pendant l'été sont ceux avec une fonction rénale altérée, prenant plus de médicaments (en particulier des neuroleptiques). La réalisation de ce travail pilote devrait permettre d'améliorer la méthodologie d'études ultérieures en cas de vague de canicule

Clinical trial on the efficacy of exhaled carbon monoxide measurement in smoking cessation in primary health care

Abstract Background Smoking cessation is beneficial for our health at any point in life, both in healthy people and in people already suffering from a smoking-related disease. Any help to quit smoking can produce considerable benefits for Public Health. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the efficacy of the CO-oximetry technique together with brief advice in smoking cessation, in terms of reduction of the number of cigarettes or in the variation of the motivation to quit smoking at month 12 compared with brief advice alone. Methods/Design Randomised, parallel, single-blind clinical trial in a primary health care setting in Majorca (Spain). Smokers in contemplation or pre-contemplation phase will be included in the study. Exclusion criteria: Smokers in preparation phase, subjects with a terminal illness or whose health status does not allow them to understand the study or complete the informed consent, and pregnant or breastfeeding women. The subjects will be randomly assigned to the control group (CG) or the intervention group (IG). The CG will receive brief advice, and the IG will receive brief advice together with a measurement of exhaled CO. There will be follow-up evaluations at 6 and 12 months after inclusion. 471 subjects will be needed per group in order to detect a difference between groups ≥ 5%. Primary outcome: sustained smoking cessation (at 6 and 12 months) confirmed by urine cotinine test. Secondary outcomes: point smoking cessation at 6 and 12 months both confirmed by urine cotinine analysis and self-reported, reduction in cigarette consumption, and variation in phase of smoking cessation. Discussion CO-oximetry is an inexpensive, non-invasive, fast technique that requires little technical training; making it a technique for risk assessment in smokers that can be easily applied in primary care and, if proven effective, could serve as a reinforcement aid in smoking cessation intervention activities. Trial Registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN67499921</p

Las teorías de la guerra justa en el siglo XVI y sus expresiones contemporáneas

La parte medular de este libro está dedicada al análisis de las tesis de los teólogos y filósofos españoles del siglo xvi, quienes -desde Vitoria, Las Casas y Ginés de Sepúlveda hasta Acosta- debatieron acerca de la justicia de la guerra contra los indios. En los últimos años, el contexto teórico y político ha transformado y enriquecido los términos del debate. La filosofía política, que durante mucho tiempo sólo reconoció sus raíces anglosajonas y francesas, se interesa cada vez más por sus raíces hispánicas. Por otro lado, los debates sobre "la teoría de la guerra justa" han tomado, desde hace unos veinte años, una nueva actualidad, bajo el efecto de las teorías llamadas "del derecho de ingerencia" y de la empresa de filósofos estadounidenses que tienden a construir una teoría moral de la guerra justa, apta para legitimar el recurso a la fuerza, substituyendo a las instituciones internacionales. Los textos aquí reunidos tienen como objetivo, entonces, analizar no sólo el estado actual de las investigaciones, en Francia y en México, sobre el alcance de los debates del siglo xvi español, sino también sus prolongaciones más actuales

Implications of Iron Deficiency in STEMI Patients and in a Murine Model of Myocardial Infarction

In patients with a first anterior ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention, iron deficiency (ID) was associated with larger infarcts, more extensive microvascular obstruction, and higher frequency of adverse left ventricular remodeling as assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. In mice, an ID diet reduced the activity of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase/soluble guanylate cyclase/protein kinase G pathway in association with oxidative/nitrosative stress and increased infarct size after transient coronary occlusion. Iron supplementation or administration of an sGC activator before ischemia prevented the effects of the ID diet in mice. Not only iron excess, but also ID, may have deleterious effects in the setting of ischemia and reperfusion