La ramaderia extensiva a la Vall d'Alinyà. Un retrat de la ramaderia de muntanya del segle XXI

El projecte se centra en el la vall d’Alinyà, en els terrenys de la Fundació Territori i Paisatge que abasten des dels cims del Port del Comte, a més de 2.000 m d’altitud fins més avall del nucli de Perles en els 500 m, en un ambient de muntanya a la comarca de l’Alt Urgell, Catalunya. L’objectiu principal ha estat diagnosticar la situació de la ramaderia extensiva de la vall, tot predient la seva viabilitat socioeconòmica com a estratègia de futur, tant pel que fa la seva població, com per les característiques d’un paisatge en mosaic molt ben afaiçonat per la mà humana en el passat. Aquesta diversitat paisatgística assegurada per l’existència de la ramaderia extensiva, provoca una riquesa en biodiversitat ecològica, en front del creixement continu de la massa forestal causat per l’abandonament de les activitats a la muntanya. Un dels aspectes estudiats de la ramaderia de la vall, ha estat la gestió dels cinc ramats existents en l’actualitat, dos de vaques, un de cabres, un d’ovelles i un de cavalls. Des de la identificació dels moviments de transtermitància durant les diferents estacions de l’any, a la de l’obtenció dels diferents recursos alimentaris pel bestiar provinents directament de la natura. Les entrevistes personals als ramaders han estat una important font d’informació i de tractament de dades per poder diagnosticar la situació actual del sector i de la figura del pastor com a figura professional clau en la vessant socioeconòmica i paisatgística local. Es van poder identificar clarament els problemes amb els quals es troba la ramaderia extensiva i quins reptes presenta per poder arribar a ser un sector de futur per a la població de la vall. En aquest context es proposen mesures de millora de l’activitat i de difusió dels productes agroramaders de qualitat.

Treating high blood pressure: is reaching the target more important than the means? No, the means are important.

All major antihypertensive drug classes i.e. diuretics, beta-blockers, calcium antagonists and blockers of the renin-angiotensin system have been shown to effectively lower blood pressure and hence to reduce cardiovascular outcomes in hypertensive patients. These drugs decrease cardiovascular complications in hypertension essentially because they reduce systemic blood pressure. Nevertheless, there is growing evidence that the extent of the benefits differed between drug classes suggesting that the various classes of antihypertensive agents are not equivalent in their ability to protect against target organ damages and cardiovascular and renal endpoints. More recently, evidence has also accumulated to demonstrate that even combination therapies are not equally effective in reducing the occurrence of cardiovascular complications in hypertension. These recent observations suggest that the means to lower blood pressure are as important as the achieved target blood pressure in the management of hypertensive patients.

Explaining movements in the labor share

In this paper we study the evolution of the labor share in the OECD since 1970. We show it is essentially related to the capital-output ratio; that this relationship is shifted by factors like the price of imported materials or the skill mix; and that discrepancies between the marginal product of labor and the real wage (due to, e.g., product market power, union bargaining, and labor adjustment costs) cause departures from it. We provide estimates of the model with panel data on 14 industries and 14 countries for 1973-93 and use them to compute the evolution of the wage gap in Germany and the US.

Colonic movements in healthy subjects as monitored by a Magnet Tracking System.

The Magnet Tracking System (MTS) is a minimally-invasive technique of continuous evaluation of gastrointestinal motility. In this study, MTS was used to analyse colonic propulsive dynamics and compare the transit of a magnetic pill with that of standard radio-opaque markers. MTS monitors the progress in real time of a magnetic pill through the gut. Ten men and 10 women with regular daily bowel movements swallowed this pill and 10 radio-opaque markers at 8 pm. Five hours of recordings were conducted during 2 following mornings. Origin, direction, amplitude and velocity of movements were analysed relative to space-time plots of the pill trajectory. Abdominal radiographs were taken to compare the progress of both pill and markers. The magnetic pill lay idle for 90% of its sojourn in the colon; its total retrograde displacement accounted for only 20% of its overall movement. Analysis of these movements showed a bimodal distribution of velocities: around 1.5 and 50 cm min(-1), the latter being responsible for 2/3 of distance traversed. There were more movements overall and more mass movements in males. Net hourly forward progress was greater in the left than right colon, and greater in males. The position of the magnetic pill correlated well with the advancement of markers. MTS showed patterns and propulsion dynamics of colonic segments with as yet unmet precision. Detailed analysis of slow and fast patterns of colonic progress makes it possible to specify the motility of colonic segments, and any variability in gender. Such analysis opens up promising avenues in studies of motility disorders.

Protonation controls ASIC1a activity via coordinated movements in multiple domains.

Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) are neuronal Na(+)-conducting channels activated by extracellular acidification. ASICs are involved in pain sensation, expression of fear, and neurodegeneration after ischemic stroke. Functional ASICs are composed of three identical or homologous subunits, whose extracellular part has a handlike structure. Currently, it is unclear how protonation of residues in extracellular domains controls ASIC activity. Knowledge of these mechanisms would allow a rational development of drugs acting on ASICs. Protonation may induce conformational changes that control the position of the channel gate. We used voltage-clamp fluorometry with fluorophores attached to residues in different domains of ASIC1a to detect conformational changes. Comparison of the timing of fluorescence and current signals identified residues involved in movements that preceded desensitization and may therefore be associated with channel opening or early steps leading to desensitization. Other residues participated in movements intimately linked to desensitization and recovery from desensitization. Fluorescence signals of all mutants were detected at more alkaline pH than ionic currents. Their midpoint of pH dependence was close to that of steady-state desensitization, whereas the steepness of the pH fluorescence relationship was closer to that of current activation. A sequence of movements was observed upon acidification, and its backward movements during recovery from desensitization occurred in the reverse order, indicating that the individual steps are interdependent. Furthermore, the fluorescence signal of some labeled residues in the finger domain was strongly quenched by a Trp residue in the neighboring β-ball domain. Upon channel activation, their fluorescence intensity increased, indicating that the finger moved away from the β ball. This extensive analysis of activity-dependent conformational changes in ASICs sheds new light on the mechanisms by which protonation controls ASIC activity.

Is Drosophila nasuta Lamb (Diptera, Drosophilidae) currently reaching the status of a cosmopolitan species?

ABSTRACT In early March 2015, three males and two females of one unknown species of Drosophila were collected from a compost pile and some garbage cans in the west region of the city of São Paulo, state of São Paulo, Brazil. Morphologically it is easily identified by the presence of the following conspicuous features: a brownish dorsal stripe along pleura, an entirely iridescent silvery-whitish frons when seen directly from the front, and a row of cuneiform setae on anteroventral side of femur of foreleg; the former two traits being more evident in males. The species was easily reared in a modified banana-agar medium and two isofemale lines were established allowing to obtain mitotic cells showing a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 8. Based both on morphological and chromosomal features, in addition to the geographical distribution, we concluded that the unknown flies belong to Drosophila nasuta Lamb, 1914, a tropical species of the nasuta subgroup of the Drosophila immigrans species group. Photomicrographs of male imagines, terminalia, mitotic and meiotic metaphase plates, as well as of female mitotic metaphase, are included.

Enhancing clinically-relevant shoulder function assessment using only essential movements.

Kinematic functional evaluation with body-worn sensors provides discriminative and responsive scores after shoulder surgery, but the optimal movements' combination has not yet been scientifically investigated. The aim of this study was the development of a simplified shoulder function kinematic score including only essential movements. The P Score, a seven-movement kinematic score developed on 31 healthy participants and 35 patients before surgery and at 3, 6 and 12 months after shoulder surgery, served as a reference.Principal component analysis and multiple regression were used to create simplified scoring models. The candidate models were compared to the reference score. ROC curve for shoulder pathology detection and correlations with clinical questionnaires were calculated.The B-B Score (hand to the Back and hand upwards as to change a Bulb) showed no difference to the P Score in time*score interaction (P > .05) and its relation with the reference score was highly linear (R(2) > .97). Absolute value of correlations with clinical questionnaires ranged from 0.51 to 0.77. Sensitivity was 97% and specificity 94%.The B-B and reference scores are equivalent for the measurement of group responses. The validated simplified scoring model presents practical advantages that facilitate the objective evaluation of shoulder function in clinical practice.

Development of motor speed and associated movements from 5 to 18 years.

AIM: To study the development of motor speed and associated movements in participants aged 5 to 18 years for age, sex, and laterality. METHOD: Ten motor tasks of the Zurich Neuromotor Assessment (repetitive and alternating movements of hands and feet, repetitive and sequential finger movements, the pegboard, static and dynamic balance, diadochokinesis) were administered to 593 right-handed participants (286 males, 307 females). RESULTS: A strong improvement with age was observed in motor speed from age 5 to 10, followed by a levelling-off between 12 and 18 years. Simple tasks and the pegboard matured early and complex tasks later. Simple tasks showed no associated movements beyond early childhood; in complex tasks associated movements persisted until early adulthood. The two sexes differed only marginally in speed, but markedly in associated movements. A significant laterality (p<0.001) in speed was found for all tasks except for static balance; the pegboard was most lateralized, and sequential finger movements least. Associated movements were lateralized only for a few complex tasks. We also noted a substantial interindividual variability. INTERPRETATION: Motor speed and associated movements improve strongly in childhood, weakly in adolescence, and are both of developmental relevance. Because they correlate weakly, they provide complementary information.

Activation and inhibition of bimanual movements in school-aged children

The development of motor activation and inhibition was compared in 6-to-12 year-olds. Children had to initiate or stop the externally paced movements of one hand, while maintaining that of the other hand. The time needed to perform the switching task (RT) and the spatio-temporal variables show different agerelated evolutions depending on the coordination pattern (inor anti-phase) and the type of transition (activation, selective inhibition, non selective inhibition) required. In the anti-phase mode, activation perturbs the younger subjects' responses while temporal and spatial stabilities transiently decrease around 9 years when activating in the in-phase mode. Aged-related changes differed between inhibition and activation in the antiphase mode, suggesting either the involvement of distinct neural networks or the existence of a single network that is reorganized. In contrast, stopping or adding one hand in the in-phase mode shows similar aged-related improvement. We suggest that selectively stopping or activating one arm during symmetrical coordination rely on the two faces of a common processing in which activation could be the release of inhibition

Eye movements in the blind

Objectives : Eye movements are necessary to stabilize the retinal picture and to find a new object. This seems useless for blind people, so why do they nevertheless have them. We report on an EOG study on 29 blind volunteers and 5 volunteers with closed eyes. Material and methods: We recorded eye movements by EOG and let the volunteers fulfill different exercises by following an acoustic running point by gaze, pointing, imagining in the room, listing words that begin with the vocal U and a finger labyrinth. Results: We found slow eye movements as well as pathological eye movements in the blind subjects. We found that blind subjects have a horizontal preferency.The duration of fixation of pictures is shorter in the blind subjects. The blind could even modulate saccade amplitudes . Discussion: Eye movements seem to be structural properties of the brain which prepare the organism for certain situations-even if they do not take place. We think that eye movements are partially independent of the experience of view. We did not expect that the blind subjects could modify gaze according to the subject. This leads to the hypothesis of a preformed dimensional system.

Detection, analysis and monitoring of slope movements by high-resolution digital elevation models

Summary Detection, analysis and monitoring of slope movements by high-resolution digital elevation modelsSlope movements, such as rockfalls, rockslides, shallow landslides or debris flows, are frequent in many mountainous areas. These natural hazards endanger the inhabitants and infrastructures making it necessary to assess the hazard and risk caused by these phenomena. This PhD thesis explores various approaches using digital elevation models (DEMs) - and particularly high-resolution DEMs created by aerial or terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) - that contribute to the assessment of slope movement hazard at regional and local scales.The regional detection of areas prone to rockfalls and large rockslides uses different morphologic criteria or geometric instability factors derived from DEMs, i.e. the steepness of the slope, the presence of discontinuities, which enable a sliding mechanism, and the denudation potential. The combination of these factors leads to a map of susceptibility to rockfall initiation that is in good agreement with field studies as shown with the example of the Little Mill Campground area (Utah, USA). Another case study in the Illgraben catchment in the Swiss Alps highlighted the link between areas with a high denudation potential and actual rockfall areas.Techniques for a detailed analysis and characterization of slope movements based on high-resolution DEMs have been developed for specific, localized sites, i.e. ancient slide scars, present active instabilities or potential slope instabilities. The analysis of the site's characteristics mainly focuses on rock slopes and includes structural analyses (orientation of discontinuities); estimation of spacing, persistence and roughness of discontinuities; failure mechanisms based on the structural setting; and volume calculations. For the volume estimation a new 3D approach was tested to reconstruct the topography before a landslide or to construct the basal failure surface of an active or potential instability. The rockslides at Åknes, Tafjord and Rundefjellet in western Norway were principally used as study sites to develop and test the different techniques.The monitoring of slope instabilities investigated in this PhD thesis is essentially based on multitemporal (or sequential) high-resolution DEMs, in particular sequential point clouds acquired by TLS. The changes in the topography due to slope movements can be detected and quantified by sequential TLS datasets, notably by shortest distance comparisons revealing the 3D slope movements over the entire region of interest. A detailed analysis of rock slope movements is based on the affine transformation between an initial and a final state of the rock mass and its decomposition into translational and rotational movements. Monitoring using TLS was very successful on the fast-moving Eiger rockslide in the Swiss Alps, but also on the active rockslides of Åknes and Nordnesfjellet (northern Norway). One of the main achievements on the Eiger and Aknes rockslides is to combine the site's morphology and structural setting with the measured slope movements to produce coherent instability models. Both case studies also highlighted a strong control of the structures in the rock mass on the sliding directions. TLS was also used to monitor slope movements in soils, such as landslides in sensitive clays in Québec (Canada), shallow landslides on river banks (Sorge River, Switzerland) and a debris flow channel (Illgraben).The PhD thesis underlines the broad uses of high-resolution DEMs and especially of TLS in the detection, analysis and monitoring of slope movements. Future studies should explore in more depth the different techniques and approaches developed and used in this PhD, improve them and better integrate the findings in current hazard assessment practices and in slope stability models.Résumé Détection, analyse et surveillance de mouvements de versant à l'aide de modèles numériques de terrain de haute résolutionDes mouvements de versant, tels que des chutes de blocs, glissements de terrain ou laves torrentielles, sont fréquents dans des régions montagneuses et mettent en danger les habitants et les infrastructures ce qui rend nécessaire d'évaluer le danger et le risque causé par ces phénomènes naturels. Ce travail de thèse explore diverses approches qui utilisent des modèles numériques de terrain (MNT) et surtout des MNT de haute résolution créés par scanner laser terrestre (SLT) ou aérien - et qui contribuent à l'évaluation du danger de mouvements de versant à l'échelle régionale et locale.La détection régionale de zones propices aux chutes de blocs ou aux éboulements utilise plusieurs critères morphologiques dérivés d'un MNT, tels que la pente, la présence de discontinuités qui permettent un mécanisme de glissement ou le potentiel de dénudation. La combinaison de ces facteurs d'instabilité mène vers une carte de susceptibilité aux chutes de blocs qui est en accord avec des travaux de terrain comme démontré avec l'exemple du Little Mill Campground (Utah, États-Unis). Un autre cas d'étude - l'Illgraben dans les Alpes valaisannes - a mis en évidence le lien entre les zones à fort potentiel de dénudation et les sources effectives de chutes de blocs et d'éboulements.Des techniques pour l'analyse et la caractérisation détaillée de mouvements de versant basées sur des MNT de haute résolution ont été développées pour des sites spécifiques et localisés, comme par exemple des cicatrices d'anciens éboulements et des instabilités actives ou potentielles. Cette analyse se focalise principalement sur des pentes rocheuses et comprend l'analyse structurale (orientation des discontinuités); l'estimation de l'espacement, la persistance et la rugosité des discontinuités; l'établissement des mécanismes de rupture; et le calcul de volumes. Pour cela une nouvelle approche a été testée en rétablissant la topographie antérieure au glissement ou en construisant la surface de rupture d'instabilités actuelles ou potentielles. Les glissements rocheux d'Åknes, Tafjord et Rundefjellet en Norvège ont été surtout utilisés comme cas d'étude pour développer et tester les diverses approches. La surveillance d'instabilités de versant effectuée dans cette thèse de doctorat est essentiellement basée sur des MNT de haute résolution multi-temporels (ou séquentiels), en particulier des nuages de points séquentiels acquis par SLT. Les changements topographiques dus aux mouvements de versant peuvent être détectés et quantifiés sur l'ensemble d'un glissement, notamment par comparaisons des distances les plus courtes entre deux nuages de points. L'analyse détaillée des mouvements est basée sur la transformation affine entre la position initiale et finale d'un bloc et sa décomposition en mouvements translationnels et rotationnels. La surveillance par SLT a démontré son potentiel avec l'effondrement d'un pan de l'Eiger dans les Alpes suisses, mais aussi aux glissements rocheux d'Aknes et Nordnesfjellet en Norvège. Une des principales avancées à l'Eiger et à Aknes est la création de modèles d'instabilité cohérents en combinant la morphologie et l'agencement structural des sites avec les mesures de déplacements. Ces deux cas d'étude ont aussi démontré le fort contrôle des structures existantes dans le massif rocheux sur les directions de glissement. Le SLT a également été utilisé pour surveiller des glissements dans des terrains meubles comme dans les argiles sensibles au Québec (Canada), sur les berges de la rivière Sorge en Suisse et dans le chenal à laves torrentielles de l'Illgraben.Cette thèse de doctorat souligne le vaste champ d'applications des MNT de haute résolution et particulièrement du SLT dans la détection, l'analyse et la surveillance des mouvements de versant. Des études futures devraient explorer plus en profondeur les différentes techniques et approches développées, les améliorer et mieux les intégrer dans des pratiques actuelles d'analyse de danger et surtout dans la modélisation de stabilité des versants.