Programme de remédiation cognitive pour patients présentant une schizophrénie ou un trouble associé (Recos) : résultats préliminaires [Cognitive remediation program for individuals living with schizophrenia (Recos): preliminary results].

BACKGROUND: Nowadays, cognitive remediation is widely accepted as an effective treatment for patients with schizophrenia. In French-speaking countries, techniques used in cognitive remediation for patients with schizophrenia have been applied from those used for patients with cerebral injury. As cognitive impairment is a core feature of schizophrenia, the Département de psychiatrie du CHUV in Lausanne (DP-CHUV) intended to develop a cognitive remediation program for patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disease (Recos-Vianin, 2007). Numerous studies show that the specific cognitive deficits greatly differ from one patient to another. Consequently, Recos aims at providing individualized cognitive remediation therapy. In this feasibility trial, we measured the benefits of this individualized therapy for patients with schizophrenia. Before treatment, the patients were evaluated with a large battery of cognitive tests in order to determine which of the five specific training modules - Verbal memory, visuospatial memory and attention, working memory, selective attention, reasoning - could provide the best benefit depending on their deficit. OBJECTIVES: The study was designed to evaluate the benefits of the Recos program by comparing cognitive functioning before and after treatment. METHOD: Twenty-eight patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (schizophrenia [n=18], schizoaffective disorder [n=5], schizotypal disorder [n=4], schizophreniform disorder [n=1], DSM-IV-TR) participated in between one and three of the cognitive modules. The choice of the training module was based on the results of the cognitive tests obtained during the first evaluation. The patients participated in 20 training sessions per module (one session per week). At the end of the training period, the cognitive functioning of each patient was reevaluated by using the same neuropsychological battery. RESULTS: The results showed a greater improvement in the cognitive functions, which were specifically trained, compared to the cognitive functions, which were not trained. However, an improvement was also observed in both types of cognitive functions, suggesting an indirect cognitive gain. CONCLUSION: In our view, the great heterogeneity of the observed cognitive deficits in schizophrenia necessitates a detailed neuropsychological investigation as well as an individualized cognitive remediation therapy. These preliminary results need to be confirmed with a more extended sample of patients.

Changes in Running Mechanics and Spring-Mass Behaviour during a 5-km Time Trial

Research into the biomechanical manifestation of fatigue during exhaustive runs is increasingly popular but additional understanding of the adaptation of the spring-mass behaviour during the course of strenuous, self-paced exercises continues to be a challenge in order to develop optimized training and injury prevention programs. This study investigated continuous changes in running mechanics and spring-mass behaviour during a 5-km run. 12 competitive triathletes performed a 5-km running time trial (mean performance: 17 min 30 s) on a 200 m indoor track. Vertical and anterior-posterior ground reaction forces were measured every 200 m by a 5-m long force platform system, and used to determine spring-mass model characteristics. After a fast start, running velocity progressively decreased (- 11.6%; P<0.001) in the middle part of the race before an end spurt in the final 400-600 m. Stride length (- 7.4%; P<0.001) and frequency (- 4.1%; P=0.001) decreased over the 25 laps, while contact time (+ 8.9%; P<0.001) and total stride duration (+ 4.1%; P<0.001) progressively lengthened. Peak vertical forces (- 2.0%; P<0.01) and leg compression (- 4.3%; P<0.05), but not centre of mass vertical displacement (+ 3.2%; P>0.05), decreased with time. As a result, vertical stiffness decreased (- 6.0%; P<0.001) during the run, whereas leg stiffness changes were not significant (+ 1.3%; P>0.05). Spring-mass behaviour progressively changes during a 5-km time trial towards deteriorated vertical stiffness, which alters impact and force production characteristics.

Inequality and Risk-Taking Behaviour

This paper investigates social influences on attitudes to risk and offers an evolutionary explanation of risk-taking by young low-ranked males. Becker, Murphy and Werning (2005) found that individuals about to participate in a status tournament may take fair gambles even though they are risk averse in both wealth and status. Here their model is generalised by use of the insight of Hopkins and Kornienko (2010) that in a tournament or status competition one can consider equality in terms of the status or rewards available as well as in initial endowments. While Becker et al. found that risk-taking is increasing in the equality of initial endowments, it is found here that it is increasing in the inequality of rewards in the tournament. Further, it is shown that the poorest will be risk loving if the lowest level of status awarded is sufficiently low. Thus, the disadvantaged in society rationally engage in risky behavior when social rewards are sufficiently unequal. Finally, as greater inequality in terms of social status induces gambling, it can cause greater inequality of wealth.

Social norms, morals and self-interest as determinants of pro-environment behaviour.

This paper considers the role which selfish, moral and social incentives and pressures play in explaining the extent to which stated choices over pro-environment behaviours vary across individuals. The empirical context is choices over household waste contracts and recycling actions in Poland. A theoretical model is used to show how cost-based motives and the desire for a positive self- and social image combine to determine the utility from alternative choices of recycling behaviour. We then describe a discrete choice experiment designed to empirically investigate the effects such drivers have on stated choices. Using a latent class model, we distinguish three types of individual who are described as duty-orientated recyclers, budget recyclers and homo oeconomicus. These groups vary in their preferences for how frequently waste is collected, and the number of categories into which household waste must be recycled. Our results have implications for the design of future policies aimed at improving participation in recycling schemes.

Consumer Behaviour in a Social Context: Implications for Environmental Policy

In this paper we summarise some of our recent work on consumer behaviour, drawing on recent developments in behavioural economics, in which consumers are embedded in a social context, so their behaviour is shaped by their interactions with other consumers. For the purpose of this paper we also allow consumption to cause environmental damage. Analysing the social context of consumption naturally lends itself to the use of game theoretic tools, and indicates that we seek to develop links between economics and sociology rather than economics and psychology, which has been the more predominant field for work in behavioural economics. We shall be concerned with three sets of issues: conspicuous consumption, consumption norms and altruistic behaviour. Our aim is to show that building links between sociological and economic approaches to the study of consumer behaviour can lead to significant and surprising implications for conventional economic policy prescriptions, especially with respect to environmental policy.

Moral Behaviour, Altruism and Environmental Policy

Free‐riding is often associated with self‐interested behaviour. However if there is a global mixed pollutant, free‐riding will arise if individuals calculate that their emissions are negligible relative to the total, so total emissions and hence any damage that they and others suffer will be unaffected by whatever consumption choice they make. In this context consumer behaviour and the optimal environmental tax are independent of the degree of altruism. For behaviour to change, individuals need to make their decisions in a different way. We propose a new theory of moral behaviour whereby individuals recognise that they will be worse off by not acting in their own self‐interest, and balance this cost off against the hypothetical moral value of adopting a Kantian form of behaviour, that is by calculating the consequences of their action by asking what would happen if everyone else acted in the same way as they did. We show that: (a) if individuals behave this way, then altruism matters and the greater the degree of altruism the more individuals cut back their consumption of a ’dirty’ good; (b) nevertheless the optimal environmental tax is exactly the same as that emerging from classical analysis where individuals act in self‐interested fashion.

Long-term effect of a school-based physical activity program (KISS) on fitness and adiposity in children: a cluster-randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: School-based intervention studies promoting a healthy lifestyle have shown favorable immediate health effects. However, there is a striking paucity on long-term follow-ups. The aim of this study was therefore to assess the 3 yr-follow-up of a cluster-randomized controlled school-based physical activity program over nine month with beneficial immediate effects on body fat, aerobic fitness and physical activity. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Initially, 28 classes from 15 elementary schools in Switzerland were grouped into an intervention (16 classes from 9 schools, n = 297 children) and a control arm (12 classes from 6 schools, n = 205 children) after stratification for grade (1st and 5th graders). Three years after the end of the multi-component physical activity program of nine months including daily physical education (i.e. two additional lessons per week on top of three regular lessons), short physical activity breaks during academic lessons, and daily physical activity homework, 289 (58%) participated in the follow-up. Primary outcome measures included body fat (sum of four skinfolds), aerobic fitness (shuttle run test), physical activity (accelerometry), and quality of life (questionnaires). After adjustment for grade, gender, baseline value and clustering within classes, children in the intervention arm compared with controls had a significantly higher average level of aerobic fitness at follow-up (0.373 z-score units [95%-CI: 0.157 to 0.59, p = 0.001] corresponding to a shift from the 50th to the 65th percentile between baseline and follow-up), while the immediate beneficial effects on the other primary outcomes were not sustained. CONCLUSIONS: Apart from aerobic fitness, beneficial effects seen after one year were not maintained when the intervention was stopped. A continuous intervention seems necessary to maintain overall beneficial health effects as reached at the end of the intervention. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ControlledTrials.com ISRCTN15360785.

3D geoelectrical monitoring to follow hydric soil behaviour during rainfall

RESUME Durant les dernières années, les méthodes électriques ont souvent été utilisées pour l'investigation des structures de subsurface. L'imagerie électrique (Electrical Resistivity Tomography, ERT) est une technique de prospection non-invasive et spatialement intégrée. La méthode ERT a subi des améliorations significatives avec le développement de nouveaux algorithmes d'inversion et le perfectionnement des techniques d'acquisition. La technologie multicanale et les ordinateurs de dernière génération permettent la collecte et le traitement de données en quelques heures. Les domaines d'application sont nombreux et divers: géologie et hydrogéologie, génie civil et géotechnique, archéologie et études environnementales. En particulier, les méthodes électriques sont souvent employées dans l'étude hydrologique de la zone vadose. Le but de ce travail est le développement d'un système de monitorage 3D automatique, non- invasif, fiable, peu coûteux, basé sur une technique multicanale et approprié pour suivre les variations de résistivité électrique dans le sous-sol lors d'événements pluvieux. En raison des limitations techniques et afin d'éviter toute perturbation physique dans la subsurface, ce dispositif de mesure emploie une installation non-conventionnelle, où toutes les électrodes de courant sont placées au bord de la zone d'étude. Le dispositif le plus approprié pour suivre les variations verticales et latérales de la résistivité électrique à partir d'une installation permanente a été choisi à l'aide de modélisations numériques. Les résultats démontrent que le dispositif pôle-dipôle offre une meilleure résolution que le dispositif pôle-pôle et plus apte à détecter les variations latérales et verticales de la résistivité électrique, et cela malgré la configuration non-conventionnelle des électrodes. Pour tester l'efficacité du système proposé, des données de terrain ont été collectées sur un site d'étude expérimental. La technique de monitorage utilisée permet de suivre le processus d'infiltration 3D pendant des événements pluvieux. Une bonne corrélation est observée entre les résultats de modélisation numérique et les données de terrain, confirmant par ailleurs que le dispositif pôle-dipôle offre une meilleure résolution que le dispositif pôle-pôle. La nouvelle technique de monitorage 3D de résistivité électrique permet de caractériser les zones d'écoulement préférentiel et de caractériser le rôle de la lithologie et de la pédologie de manière quantitative dans les processus hydrologiques responsables d'écoulement de crue. ABSTRACT During the last years, electrical methods were often used for the investigation of subsurface structures. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) has been reported to be a useful non-invasive and spatially integrative prospecting technique. The ERT method provides significant improvements, with the developments of new inversion algorithms, and the increasing efficiency of data collection techniques. Multichannel technology and powerful computers allow collecting and processing resistivity data within few hours. Application domains are numerous and varied: geology and hydrogeology, civil engineering and geotechnics, archaeology and environmental studies. In particular, electrical methods are commonly used in hydrological studies of the vadose zone. The aim of this study was to develop a multichannel, automatic, non-invasive, reliable and inexpensive 3D monitoring system designed to follow electrical resistivity variations in soil during rainfall. Because of technical limitations and in order to not disturb the subsurface, the proposed measurement device uses a non-conventional electrode set-up, where all the current electrodes are located near the edges of the survey grid. Using numerical modelling, the most appropriate arrays were selected to detect vertical and lateral variations of the electrical resistivity in the framework of a permanent surveying installation system. The results show that a pole-dipole array has a better resolution than a pole-pole array and can successfully follow vertical and lateral resistivity variations despite the non-conventional electrode configuration used. Field data are then collected at a test site to assess the efficiency of the proposed monitoring technique. The system allows following the 3D infiltration processes during a rainfall event. A good correlation between the results of numerical modelling and field data results can be observed since the field pole-dipole data give a better resolution image than the pole-pole data. The new device and technique makes it possible to better characterize the zones of preferential flow and to quantify the role of lithology and pedology in flood- generating hydrological processes.

The Electoral Determinants of Collective Remittances: The Mexican 3x1 Program for Migrants

The 3x1 Program for Migrants is a matching grant scheme that seeks to direct the money sent by migrant organizations abroad to the provision of public and social infrastructure, and to productive projects in migrants’ communities of origin. To do so, the municipal, state, and federal administrations match the amount sent by hometown associations by 3 to 1. This opens the door to the political manipulation of the program. We explore the impact of a particular facet of Mexican political life on the operation of the 3x1: its recent democratization and the increasing political competition at the municipal level. Relying on the literature on redistributive politics, we posit that an increasing number of effective parties in elections may have two different effects. On the one hand, the need to cater to more heterogeneous constituencies may increase the provision of public projects. On the other hand, since smaller coalitions are needed to win elections under tighter competition, fewer public and more private (clientelistic) projects could be awarded. Using a unique dataset on the 3x1 Program for Migrants for over 2,400 municipalities in the period 2002 through 2007, we find a lower provision of public goods in electorally competitive jurisdictions. Thus, we remain sceptical about the program success in promoting public goods in politically competitive locations with high migration levels.

Complex landslide behaviour and structural controlled by the structures: A 3D conceptual model example of Åknes rockslide, Norway

Åknes is an active complex large rockslide of approximately 30?40 Mm3 located within the Proterozoic gneisses of western Norway. The observed surface displacements indicate that this rockslide is divided into several blocks moving in different directions at velocities of between 3 and 10 cm year?1. Because of regional safety issues and economic interests this rockslide has been extensively monitored since 2004. The understanding of the deformation mechanism is crucial for the implementation of a viable monitoring system. Detailed field investigations and the analysis of a digital elevation model (DEM) indicate that the movements and the block geometry are controlled by the main schistosity (S1) in gneisses, folds, joints and regional faults. Such complex slope deformations use pre-existing structures, but also result in new failure surfaces and deformation zones, like preferential rupture in fold-hinge zones. Our interpretation provides a consistent conceptual three-dimensional (3D) model for the movements measured by various methods that is crucial for numerical stability modelling. In addition, this reinterpretation of the morphology confirms that in the past several rockslides occurred from the Åknes slope. They may be related to scars propagating along the vertical foliation in folds hinges. Finally, a model of the evolution of the Åknes slope is presented.

Colonoscopy is the preferred colorectal cancer screening method in a population-based program.

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Various screening methods for colorectal cancer (CRC) are promoted by professional societies; however, few data are available about the factors that determine patient participation in screening, which is crucial to the success of population-based programs. This study aimed (i) to identify factors that determine acceptance of screening and preference of screening method, and (ii) to evaluate procedure success, detection of colorectal neoplasia, and patient satisfaction with screening colonoscopy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Following a public awareness campaign, the population aged 50 - 80 years was offered CRC screening in the form of annual fecal occult blood tests, flexible sigmoidoscopy, a combination of both, or colonoscopy. RESULTS: 2731 asymptomatic persons (12.0 % of the target population) registered with and were eligible to take part in the screening program. Access to information and a positive attitude to screening were major determinants of participation. Colonoscopy was the method preferred by 74.8 % of participants. Advanced colorectal neoplasia was present in 8.5 %; its prevalence was higher in males and increased with age. Significant complications occurred in 0.5 % of those undergoing colonoscopy and were associated with polypectomy or sedation. Most patients were satisfied with colonoscopy and over 90 % would choose it again for CRC screening. CONCLUSIONS: In this population-based study, only a small proportion of the target population underwent CRC screening despite an extensive information campaign. Colonoscopy was the preferred method and was safe. The determinants of participation in screening and preference of screening method, together with the distribution of colorectal neoplasia in different demographic categories, provide a rationale for improving screening procedures.

Effect of magnesium sulphate and L-tryptophan and genotype on the feed intake, behaviour and meat quality of pigs

Sixty-nine entire male pigs with different halothane genotype (homozygous halothane positive – nn –, n=36; and homozygous halothane negative – NN-, n=33) were fed with a supplementation of magnesium sulphate (Mg) and/or L-tryptophan (Trp) in the diet for 5 days before slaughter. Animals were housed individually and were submitted to stressful ante mortem conditions (mixed in the lorry according to treatments and transported 1 hour on rough roads). Individual feed intake was recorded during the 5-d treatment. At the abattoir, pig behaviour was assessed in the raceway to the stunning system and during the stunning period by exposure to CO2. Muscle pH, colour, water holding capacity, texture and cathepsin activities were determined to assess meat quality. The number of pigs with an individual feed intake lower than 2 kg/d was significantly different among diets (P&0.05; Control: 8.7 %; Mg&Trp: 43.5 %; Trp: 17.4 %) and they were considered to have inadequate supplement intake. During the ante mortem period, 15.2 % of pigs included in the experiment died, and this percentage decreased to 8.7 % in those pigs with a feed intake & 2kg/day, all of them from the stress-sensitive pigs (nn). In general, no differences were observed in the behaviour of pigs along the corridor leading to the stunning system and inside the CO2 stunning system. During the stunning procedure, Trp diet showed shorter periods of muscular excitation than control and Mg&Trp diets. The combination of a stressful ante mortem treatment and Mg&Trp supplementation led to carcasses with high incidence of severe skin lesions. Different meat quality results were found when considering all pigs or considering only those with adequate supplement intake. In this later case, Trp increased pH45 (6.15) vs Control diet (5.96) in the Longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle (P&0.05) and pH at 24h (Trp: 5.59 vs C: 5.47) led to a higher incidence of dark, firm and exudative (DFD) traits in SM muscle (P&0.05). Genotype affected negatively all the meat quality traits. Seventy-five percent of LT and 60.0 % of the SM muscles from nn pigs were classified as pale, soft and exudative (PSE), while none of the NN pigs showed these traits (P&0.0001). No significant differences were found between genotypes on the incidence of DFD meat. Due to the negative effects observed in the Mg&Trp group in feed intake and carcass quality, the utilization of a mixture of magnesium sulphate and tryptophan is not recommended.

The brazilian leishmaniasis control program

The control methods used in Brazil for both cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis by the Ministry of Health's National Health Foundation (Fundação Nacional de Saúde) are presented. Data referring to the programme between 1980 and 1991 is presented. There was an increase in the total number of notified cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis until 1987 and from this date onwards the number has remained between 23,000 and 26,000 per year. There were significantly fewer cases of visceral leishmaniasis during the same period and until 1991 the greatest number of cases reported in one year was 2,511 in 1985. The overall picture is that it is difficult to evaluate to what extent the control methods employed have reduced the number of cases of either form of the disease. It is suggested that there is an urgent need for a closer approximation of research and health workers to review the actual control strategies and to define procedures capable of assessing accurately their impact.

Sexual behaviour and stridulation during mating in Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)

Factors affecting mating behaviour in the bug Triatoma infestans were quantitatively studied in the laboratory. Experimental conditions were established so that the probability of copulation increased with the time elapsed since the first adult meal. Copulatory attempts by males did not vary as a function of time, but rejections by females became significantly less frequent with the post feeding time. Non-receptive females displayed four types of rejection behaviour, i.e. flattening, stridulation, evasion and abdominal movements. The occurrence of stridulation performed by females in a sexual context was observed in a regular fashion and was quantified for the first time in this species.