Genetically Determined Height and Coronary Artery Disease

Background: The nature and underlying mechanisms of an inverse association between adult height and the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) are unclear. 
Methods: We used a genetic approach to investigate the association between height and CAD, using 180 height-associated genetic variants. We tested the association between a change in genetically determined height of 1 SD (6.5 cm) with the risk of CAD in 65,066 cases and 128,383 controls. Using individual-level genotype data from 18,249 persons, we also examined the risk of CAD associated with the presence of various numbers of height-associated alleles. To identify putative mechanisms, we analyzed whether genetically determined height was associated with known cardiovascular risk factors and performed a pathway analysis of the height-associated genes. 
Results: We observed a relative increase of 13.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.4 to 22.1; P<0.001) in the risk of CAD per 1-SD decrease in genetically determined height. There was a graded relationship between the presence of an increased number of height-raising variants and a reduced risk of CAD (odds ratio for height quartile 4 versus quartile 1, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.68 to 0.84; P<0.001). Of the 12 risk factors that we studied, we observed significant associations only with levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides (accounting for approximately 30% of the association). We identified several overlapping pathways involving genes associated with both development and atherosclerosis. 
Conclusions: There is a primary association between a genetically determined shorter height and an increased risk of CAD, a link that is partly explained by the association between shorter height and an adverse lipid profile. Shared biologic processes that determine achieved height and the development of atherosclerosis may explain some of the association. (Funded by the British Heart Foundation and others.)

Traduire le mètre, traduire le rythme : les poèmes de Sappho par Philippe Brunet

En 1991, Philippe Brunet publie une traduction inédite de la poétesse grecque archaïque du VII ème siècle avant J.-C., Sappho. Dans cette traduction, celui-ci a tenté d'imiter et de faire ressentir le mètre grec en français. La difficulté de cette entreprise réside dans le fait que le français n'est pas une langue à accent de mot et qu'il ne ressent pas la quantité des syllabes. Les mètres poétiques du français se basent en effet sur le nombre des syllabes et non sur leur quantité. À la Renaissance, une telle tentative d'imitation du mètre grec avait déjà été entreprise par Jean-Antoine de Baïf. Mais celui-ci, oubliant les particularités accentuelles du français, n'a pas réussi à développer un système adéquat. Philippe Brunet quant à lui a su utiliser ces règles accentuelles françaises pour faire ressentir à son lecteur quelque chose du rythme quantitatif grec. Se servant autant de l'accent tonique que de l'accent initial, son système respecte dans son ensemble la langue française tout en créant un rythme nouveau. Une fois cette traduction comparée à d'autres, on peut également voir à quel point ses recherches sémantiques et prosodiques aident à la réalisation de ce rythme particulier. M ots-clé : Sappho, grec, traduction, rythme, mètre, métrique, accent.

Écoles catholiques et diversité religieuse en classe : cas du Collège catholique Père Aupiais de Cotonou en République du Bénin

Résumé La diversité religieuse est un fait bien attesté aujourd’hui en République du Bénin. Chrétiens, Musulmans, adeptes des religions traditionnelles et ceux d'autres spiritualités se côtoient autant dans la sphère publique que privée sur le territoire béninois. N’épargnant donc aucun domaine de la société béninoise, cette diversité s'exprime également dans les milieux scolaires notamment dans les écoles privées catholiques du pays. La volonté du diocèse de Cotonou d'ouvrir les portes de ses écoles à tous les enfants sans distinction de religions ni d'ethnies, entraine de facto l'épineux problème de la gestion de la diversité religieuse et du pluralisme dans ses institutions confessionnelles. Sensible à cette problématique en milieu scolaire auprès des jeunes, le cas du collège catholique Père Aupiais nous intéresse pour son approche du cours de religion dispensé aux élèves du premier cycle. Le présent travail dans une démarche praxéologique, observe, analyse et interprète un cours confessionnel de religion donné en classe de 5è secondaire dans ledit collège. Cette interprétation s’appuie sur des référents théoriques que sont le Magistère de l'Église, un texte biblique, l’approche pédagogique de Philippe Meirieu, la théologie dialogale de Richard Bergeron, l’apport de certains responsables d'écoles privées confessionnelles québécoises. Ces derniers constituent des éléments importants dans notre intervention dans le contexte de ce travail. Il s’agit en définitive de proposer quelques recommandations pour la mise en place d'un cours d'enseignement moral et religieux favorisant le « vivre ensemble ». L’intérêt de ce travail est de susciter le débat sur la gestion de la diversité et du pluralisme en milieu scolaire catholique béninois.

Estudio de prefactibilidad para el montaje de un centro de urgencias pediátrico en el Instituto de Ortopedia Infantil Roosevelt

Entregar elementos de juicio económicos, técnicos y financieros que ayuden al Instituto Roosevelt a decidir si se continua o no con el estudio de factibilidad para la realización del proyecto de inversión

Revisiting the Relationship between Income Distribution and Economic Growth

La mayoría de los modelos que exploran la relación entre la desigualdad en la distribución del ingreso y el crecimiento económico, postulan la existencia de una correlación negativa entre las dos que es generada a través de diferentes mecanismos. Paralelamente a los modelos teóricos, un número importante de estudios empíricos han tratado de evaluar esta relación. De este esfuerzo ha surgido un consenso amplio que valida la existencia de dicha relación negativa. No obstante, estudios recientes basados en el uso de datos de panel han producido el resultado contrario, documentando la presencia de una relación positiva entre desigualdad y crecimiento. El examen del debate generado a partir de estos resultados, así como el trabajo empírico adelantado en este estudio, indican que las estimaciones obtenidas en diversos trabajos pueden no ser tan robustas como se creía En consecuencia, se sugiere que la realización de estudios de caso por país puede ser una mejor vía para explorar este tema.

Niño de siempre, niño de hoy : ¿qué responsabilidad educativa?

Resumen tomado de la revista. Forma parte de un monográfico titulado: Imágenes de la infancia

Aprender, sí, pero ¿cómo?

Reflexión teórica y práctica de la actividad docente. Se aborda la relación pedagógica, la racionalización didáctica (definición y clasificación de objetivos) y las estrategias individuales del aprendizaje. Incluye una guía-metodológica para la elaboración de una situación-problema y un glosario de los principales términos técnicos.

Social perception gaze patterns, symptom severity and resting brain function measured using Arterial Spin Labelling

Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterised by qualitative alterations in reciprocal social interactions. Some recent studies show alterations in gaze patterns during social perception and rest-functional abnormalities in the ‘social brain network’. This study investigated: i) social perception gaze patterns in children with ASD and controls, ii) the relationship between autism clinical severity and social perception gaze patterns, iii) the relationship between resting cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and social perception gaze patterns. Methods: Nine children with ASD and 9 children with typical development were studied. Eye-tracking was used to detect gaze patterns during presentation of stimuli depicting social scenes. Autism clinical severity was established using the Autism Diagnostic Interview Revised (ADI-R). Arterial spin labelling MRI was used to quantify rCBF. Results: The ASD group looked less at social regions and more at non-social regions than controls. No significant correlation was found between ASD clinical severity and social perception gaze patterns. In the ASD group, gaze behaviour was related to rCBF in the temporal lobe regions at trend level. Positive correlations were found between temporal rCBF and gaze to the face region, while negative correlations were found between temporal rCBF and gaze to non-social regions. Conclusions: These preliminary results suggest that social perception gaze patterns are altered in children with ASD, and could be related to temporal rCBF.

Analyzing lateral root development: how to move forward

Roots are important to plants for a wide variety of processes, including nutrient and water uptake, anchoring and mechanical support, storage functions, and as the major interface between the plant and various biotic and abiotic factors in the soil environment. Therefore, understanding the development and architecture of roots holds potential for the manipulation of root traits to improve the productivity and sustainability of agricultural systems and to better understand and manage natural ecosystems. While lateral root development is a traceable process along the primary root and different stages can be found along this longitudinal axis of time and development, root system architecture is complex and difficult to quantify. Here, we comment on assays to describe lateral root phenotypes and propose ways to move forward regarding the description of root system architecture, also considering crops and the environment.

Northward migration of Afro-Siberian Knots Calidris canutus canutus : high variability in Red Knot numbers visiting staging sites on the French Atlantic coast, 1979–2009

The Afro–Siberian Red Knot subspecies, Calidris canutus canutus, winters mainly on Banc d’Arguin, Mauritania, West Africa. An International Wader Study Group project carried out in 1979 suggested that during northward migration Red Knots cover their migration between the wintering grounds and the Siberian breeding grounds in two long-distance non-stop flights, stopping only in the Wadden Sea in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Each year Red Knots also visit staging sites along the French Atlantic coast in addition to the German Wadden Sea. Ever since 1979, the French staging sites have been counted on a regular basis and here we present the count data from these 30 years. In some years more than 20% of the population used the French Atlantic coast as a staging site, but numbers are highly variable from one year to the next. We suggest that high numbers in France might occur when birds have to stop short of the Wadden Sea because of head-winds and/or a lack of tail-winds en route from West Africa.

CO2 laser manufacturing of miniaturised lenses for lab-on-a-chip systems

This article describes the manufacturing and characterisation of plano-convex miniaturised lenses using a CO2 laser engraving process in PMMA substrates. The technique allows for lenses to be fabricated rapidly and in a reproducible manner at depths of over 200 µm and for lens diameters of more than 3 mm. Experimental characterisation of the lens focal lengths shows good correlation with theory. The plano-convex lenses have been successfully embedded into capillary microfluidic systems alongside planar microlenses, allowing for a significant reduction of ancillary optics without a loss of detection sensitivity when performing fluorescence measurements. Such technology provides a significant step forward towards the portability of fluorescence- or luminescence-based systems for biological/chemical analysis.

Relação entre desenvolvimento econômico e transição/consolidação democrática: revisão da literatura

A relação entre Desenvolvimento Econômico e Transição/Consolidação democrática é o tema de maior polêmica na área de Política Comparada. Esse trabalho é uma revisão da literatura, e cobre os principais autores das linhas teóricas mais importantes sobre o tema. Os autores revisados são Seymour Lipset, Karl Deutsch, Barrington Moore Jr., Juan Linz, Guillermo O’Donnell, Phillipe Schmitter, Adam Przeworski, Michael E. Alvarez, José Antonio Cheibub, Fernando Limongi, Charles Boix, Susan Stokes, Daren Acemoglu, James Robinson, Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Evelyne Huber Stephens, John D. Stephens e Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pererira

A competência das enfermeiras obstétricas na atenção ao parto normal hospitalar

Esta dissertação enfoca a percepção de enfermeiras obstétricas sobre sua competência na atenção ao parto normal institucionalizado. Na construção do referencial teórico sobre competência, contribuíram principalmente as abordagens de Phillipe Perrenoud e Terezinha Rios. A pesquisa foi de cunho qualitativo, do tipo descritivo-exploratório, sendo a coleta de dados desenvolvida através de entrevistas individuais semi-estruturadas, realizadas com enfermeiras obstétricas atuantes em um hospital público de grande porte de Porto Alegre. Os dados foram analisados através de análise de conteúdo, segundo Bardin. Os dados sugerem que, para as enfermeiras entrevistadas, a competência das enfermeiras obstétricas na atenção ao parto normal hospitalar se constrói nos cursos de formação de especialista e na prática profissional. No entanto, nem sempre há espaço para o desenvolvimento dessa competência, nem na etapa de formação, nem quando já estão empregadas como enfermeiras especialistas. Nas entrevistas, está implícita uma noção de competência para a atenção ao parto normal hospitalar como algo complexo, o que fica ilustrado nas diversas dimensões destacadas como suas constituintes: competência técnica; competência humanizadora, intuição e competência relacional. As enfermeiras entrevistadas reconhecem que, na prática, o âmbito da sua competência na atenção ao parto normal, principalmente no tocante ao ato de partejar, corresponde apenas parcialmente ao enfatizado na formação. Sobre essa questão, surgiram posicionamentos contraditórios: algumas sentem necessidade de desenvolver a competência para o partejar; outras entendem que o partejar não integra o âmbito de sua competência num contexto institucionalizado. A pesquisa permite concluir que a ampliação do âmbito da competência das enfermeiras obstétricas no atendimento ao parto normal institucionalizado, principalmente com relação ao partejar, depende do desenvolvimento de uma competência ético-política, num processo que deve iniciar nos cursos de especialização e ter continuidade no próprio contexto da prática profissional, constituindo-se e consolidando-se individual e coletivamente.

Relação entre desenvolvimento econômico e transição/consolidação democrática: revisão da literatura

A relação entre Desenvolvimento Econômico e Transição/Consolidação democrática é o tema de maior polêmica na área de Política Comparada. Esse trabalho é uma revisão da literatura, e cobre os principais autores das linhas teóricas mais importantes sobre o tema. Os autores revisados são Seymour Lipset, Karl Deutsch, Barrington Moore Jr., Juan Linz, Guillermo O’Donnell, Phillipe Schmitter, Adam Przeworski, Michael E. Alvarez, José Antonio Cheibub, Fernando Limongi, Charles Boix, Susan Stokes, Daren Acemoglu, James Robinson, Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Evelyne Huber Stephens, John D. Stephens e Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pererira.