Le Mezzetin : [estampe] / gravé par Benoît II Audran ; d'après Watteau

Référence bibliographique : Dacier et Vuaflart, 215

La Sultane : [estampe] / gravé par Benoît II Audran ; d'après Watteau

Référence bibliographique : Dacier et Vuaflart, 214

Le Concert Champêtre : [estampe] / gravé par Benoît II Audran ; d'après Watteau

Référence bibliographique : Dacier et Vuaflart, 72

Predicting species distributions for conservation decisions.

Species distribution models (SDMs) are increasingly proposed to support conservation decision making. However, evidence of SDMs supporting solutions for on-ground conservation problems is still scarce in the scientific literature. Here, we show that successful examples exist but are still largely hidden in the grey literature, and thus less accessible for analysis and learning. Furthermore, the decision framework within which SDMs are used is rarely made explicit. Using case studies from biological invasions, identification of critical habitats, reserve selection and translocation of endangered species, we propose that SDMs may be tailored to suit a range of decision-making contexts when used within a structured and transparent decision-making process. To construct appropriate SDMs to more effectively guide conservation actions, modellers need to better understand the decision process, and decision makers need to provide feedback to modellers regarding the actual use of SDMs to support conservation decisions. This could be facilitated by individuals or institutions playing the role of 'translators' between modellers and decision makers. We encourage species distribution modellers to get involved in real decision-making processes that will benefit from their technical input; this strategy has the potential to better bridge theory and practice, and contribute to improve both scientific knowledge and conservation outcomes.

Endothelial dysfunction in systemic lupus erythematosus: evaluation with 13N-ammonia PET.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) affects multiple organs and systems, severely involving the cardiovascular system. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of endothelial dysfunction with N-13-ammonia PET in asymptomatic SLE patients. Methods: We enrolled 16 women with SLE and 16 healthy women. Myocardial blood flow (MBF) was quantified in a 64-slice PET/CT scanner at rest, during a cold pressor test (CPT), and during stress. Endothelium-dependent vasodilation index, %Delta MBF, and myocardial flow reserve (MFR) were calculated. Results: There were 16 women in the SLE group (mean age +/- SD, 31.4 +/- 8.3 y) and 16 women in the healthy control group (31.5 +/- 11.1 y). Mean endothelium-dependent vasodilatation index and %Delta MBF were significantly lower in SLE patients (1.18 +/- 0.55 vs. 1.63 +/- 0.65, P = 0.04, and 18 +/- 55 vs. 63 +/- 65, P = 0.04, respectively). MFR was also lower in the SLE group (2.41 +/- 0.59 vs. 2.73 +/- 0.77, P = 0.20). Conclusion: SLE patients who are free of active disease present abnormal coronary flow and endothelial dysfunction. It is necessary to develop and intensify treatment strategies directed to CAD in SLE patients.

Allostatic working memory processing in schizophrenia: Human and animal model coherence

The most evident symptoms of schizophrenia are severe impairment of cognitive functions like attention, abstract reasoning and working memory. The latter has been defined as the ability to maintain and manipulate on-line a limited amount of information. Whereas several studies show that working memory processes are impaired in schizophrenia, the specificity of this deficit is still unclear. Results obtained with a new paradigm, involving visuospatial, dynamic and static working memory processing, suggest that schizophrenic patients rely on a specific compensatory strategy. An animal model of schizophrenia with a transient deficit in glutathione during the development reveals similar substitutive processing, masking the impairment in working memory functions in specific test conditions only. Taken together, these results show coherence between working memory deficits in schizophrenic patients and in animal models. More generally, it is possible to consider that the pathological state may be interpreted as a reduced homeostatic reserve. However, this may be balanced in specific situations by efficient allostatic strategies. Thus, the pathological condition would remain latent in several situations, due to such allostatic regulations. However, to maintain a performance based on highly specific strategies requires in turn specific conditions, limitating adaptative resources in humans and in animals. In summary, we suggest that the psychological and physical load to maintain this rigid allostatic state is very high in patients and animal subjects.

Planning for Wooded Acreages and Woodlands, August 2005

PM2002B: People own wooded acreages and woodlands for a variety of reasons that may include: timber production, firewood production, recreation, wildlife habitat, aesthetics, and alternative forest products. Most of Iowa’s forestland is privately held, and the majority of ownership is fragmented into an average of ten acres (Forest Reserve Survey, 2004). In fact, the average size of an individual forest or woodlot ownership has been steadily declining for several years due in part to population growth, urban sprawl, and changes in land ownership. Studies indicate that the probability of a sustainable woodlot decreases as the population increases. At the same time, most woodlot owners want to be good stewards and protect and enhance the forest that they own. To achieve this goal, careful forest planning and management is required especially when managing the land for multiple objectives.

Quantification of myocardial blood flow with 82Rb positron emission tomography: clinical validation with 15O-water.

PURPOSE: Quantification of myocardial blood flow (MBF) with generator-produced (82)Rb is an attractive alternative for centres without an on-site cyclotron. Our aim was to validate (82)Rb-measured MBF in relation to that measured using (15)O-water, as a tracer 100% of which can be extracted from the circulation even at high flow rates, in healthy control subject and patients with mild coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS: MBF was measured at rest and during adenosine-induced hyperaemia with (82)Rb and (15)O-water PET in 33 participants (22 control subjects, aged 30 ± 13 years; 11 CAD patients without transmural infarction, aged 60 ± 13 years). A one-tissue compartment (82)Rb model with ventricular spillover correction was used. The (82)Rb flow-dependent extraction rate was derived from (15)O-water measurements in a subset of 11 control subjects. Myocardial flow reserve (MFR) was defined as the hyperaemic/rest MBF. Pearson's correlation r, Bland-Altman 95% limits of agreement (LoA), and Lin's concordance correlation ρ (c) (measuring both precision and accuracy) were used. RESULTS: Over the entire MBF range (0.66-4.7 ml/min/g), concordance was excellent for MBF (r = 0.90, [(82)Rb-(15)O-water] mean difference ± SD = 0.04 ± 0.66 ml/min/g, LoA = -1.26 to 1.33 ml/min/g, ρ(c) = 0.88) and MFR (range 1.79-5.81, r = 0.83, mean difference = 0.14 ± 0.58, LoA = -0.99 to 1.28, ρ(c) = 0.82). Hyperaemic MBF was reduced in CAD patients compared with the subset of 11 control subjects (2.53 ± 0.74 vs. 3.62 ± 0.68 ml/min/g, p = 0.002, for (15)O-water; 2.53 ± 1.01 vs. 3.82 ± 1.21 ml/min/g, p = 0.013, for (82)Rb) and this was paralleled by a lower MFR (2.65 ± 0.62 vs. 3.79 ± 0.98, p = 0.004, for (15)O-water; 2.85 ± 0.91 vs. 3.88 ± 0.91, p = 0.012, for (82)Rb). Myocardial perfusion was homogeneous in 1,114 of 1,122 segments (99.3%) and there were no differences in MBF among the coronary artery territories (p > 0.31). CONCLUSION: Quantification of MBF with (82)Rb with a newly derived correction for the nonlinear extraction function was validated against MBF measured using (15)O-water in control subjects and patients with mild CAD, where it was found to be accurate at high flow rates. (82)Rb-derived MBF estimates seem robust for clinical research, advancing a step further towards its implementation in clinical routine.

Sweet sixteen for ANLS.

Since its introduction 16 years ago, the astrocyte-neuron lactate shuttle (ANLS) model has profoundly modified our understanding of neuroenergetics by bringing a cellular and molecular resolution. Praised or disputed, the concept has never ceased to attract attention, leading to critical advances and unexpected insights. Here, we summarize recent experimental evidence further supporting the main tenets of the model. Thus, evidence for distinct metabolic phenotypes between neurons (mainly oxidative) and astrocytes (mainly glycolytic) have been provided by genomics and classical metabolic approaches. Moreover, it has become clear that astrocytes act as a syncytium to distribute energy substrates such as lactate to active neurones. Glycogen, the main energy reserve located in astrocytes, is used as a lactate source to sustain glutamatergic neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity. Lactate is also emerging as a neuroprotective agent as well as a key signal to regulate blood flow. Characterization of monocarboxylate transporter regulation indicates a possible involvement in synaptic plasticity and memory. Finally, several modeling studies captured the implications of such findings for many brain functions. The ANLS model now represents a useful, experimentally based framework to better understand the coupling between neuronal activity and energetics as it relates to neuronal plasticity, neurodegeneration, and functional brain imaging.

A Comparison of the Management Models of Protected Areas between China and the Southern African Region

A Comparison of the Management Models of Protected Areas between China and the African South Region allows reading and evaluating the similarities and differences in the use of management model as a management tool for protected areas in China and South African Region. Specifically, some positive and negative features of the management approaches for the two regions. Secondary data was collected from various related literature such as policy documents, students‟ dissertations/thesis, scientific articles and magazines. Based on the method above, the study found out that China's first nature reserve was the Dingus Mountain Nature Reserve in Zhaoqing, Guangdong province established in 1956. By the end of 2005, about 2,349 nature reserves of various kinds were set up throughout the country, covering a total area of 149.95 million ha and accounting for 15 percent of the total land territory. The study further found that Southern Africa has approximately 4,390 protected areas out of 11487920 total land areas and Eastern Africa has approximately 1838144 protected areas, which is equivalent to 15.0% of the total land areas. South Africa in this region had its first declared natural park in 1926 after Paul Kruger (a war hero) had alerted the authorities of the extinguishing threat of some animal species of region.

Emerging Biofuels: Outlook of Effects on U.S. Grain, Oilseed, and Livestock Markets, 2007

Projections of U.S. ethanol production and its impacts on planted acreage, crop prices, livestock production and prices, trade, and retail food costs are presented under the assumption that current tax credits and trade policies are maintained. The projections were made using a multi-product, multi-country deterministic partial equilibrium model. The impacts of higher oil prices, a drought combined with an ethanol mandate, and removal of land from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) relative to baseline projections are also presented. The results indicate that expanded U.S. ethanol production will cause long-run crop prices to increase. In response to higher feed costs, livestock farmgate prices will increase enough to cover the feed cost increases. Retail meat, egg, and dairy prices will also increase. If oil prices are permanently $10-per-barrel higher than assumed in the baseline projections, U.S. ethanol will expand significantly. The magnitude of the expansion will depend on the future makeup of the U.S. automobile fleet. If sufficient demand for E-85 from flex-fuel vehicles is available, corn-based ethanol production is projected to increase to over 30 billion gallons per year with the higher oil prices. The direct effect of higher feed costs is that U.S. food prices would increase by a minimum of 1.1% over baseline levels. Results of a model of a 1988-type drought combined with a large mandate for continued ethanol production show sharply higher crop prices, a drop in livestock production, and higher food prices. Corn exports would drop significantly, and feed costs would rise. Wheat feed use would rise sharply. Taking additional land out of the CRP would lower crop prices in the short run. But because long-run corn prices are determined by ethanol prices and not by corn acreage, the long-run impacts on commodity prices and food prices of a smaller CRP are modest. Cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass and biodiesel from soybeans do not become economically viable in the Corn Belt under any of the scenarios. This is so because high energy costs that increase the prices of biodiesel and switchgrass ethanol also increase the price of cornbased ethanol. So long as producers can choose between soybeans for biodiesel, switchgrass for ethanol, and corn for ethanol, they will choose to grow corn. Cellulosic ethanol from corn stover does not enter into any scenario because of the high cost of collecting and transporting corn stover over the large distances required to supply a commercial-sized ethanol facility.

RV contractility and exercise-induced pulmonary hypertension in chronic mountain sickness: a stress echocardiographic and tissue Doppler imaging study.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate right ventricular (RV) and left ventricular function and pulmonary circulation in chronic mountain sickness (CMS) patients with rest and stress echocardiography compared with healthy high-altitude (HA) dwellers. BACKGROUND: CMS or Monge's disease is defined by excessive erythrocytosis (hemoglobin >21 g/dl in males, 19 g/dl in females) and severe hypoxemia. In some cases, a moderate or severe increase in pulmonary pressure is present, suggesting a similar pathogenesis of pulmonary hypertension. METHODS: In La Paz (Bolivia, 3,600 m sea level), 46 CMS patients and 40 HA dwellers of similar age were evaluated at rest and during semisupine bicycle exercise. Pulmonary artery pressure (PAP), pulmonary vascular resistance, and cardiac function were estimated by Doppler echocardiography. RESULTS: Compared with HA dwellers, CMS patients showed RV dilation at rest (RV mid diameter: 36 ± 5 mm vs. 32 ± 4 mm, CMS vs. HA, p = 0.001) and reduced RV fractional area change both at rest (35 ± 9% vs. 43 ± 9%, p = 0.002) and during exercise (36 ± 9% vs. 43 ± 8%, CMS vs. HA, p = 0.005). The RV systolic longitudinal function (RV-S') decreased in CMS patients, whereas it increased in the control patients (p < 0.0001) at peak stress. The RV end-systolic pressure-area relationship, a load independent surrogate of RV contractility, was similar in CMS patients and HA dwellers with a significant increase in systolic PAP and pulmonary vascular resistance in CMS patients (systolic PAP: 50 ± 12 mm Hg vs. 38 ± 8 mm Hg, CMS vs. HA, p < 0.0001; pulmonary vascular resistance: 2.9 ± 1 mm Hg/min/l vs. 2.2 ± 1 mm Hg/min/l, p = 0.03). Both groups showed comparable systolic and diastolic left ventricular function both at rest and during stress. CONCLUSIONS: Comparable RV contractile reserve in CMS and HA suggests that the lower resting values of RV function in CMS may represent a physiological adaptation to chronic hypoxic conditions rather than impaired RV function. (Chronic Mountain Sickness, Systemic Vascular Function [CMS]; NCT01182792).

Monetary policy with signal extraction from the bond market

Monetary policy is conducted in an environment of uncertainty. This paper sets upa model where the central bank uses real-time data from the bond market togetherwith standard macroeconomic indicators to estimate the current state of theeconomy more efficiently, while taking into account that its own actions influencewhat it observes. The timeliness of bond market data allows for quicker responsesof monetary policy to disturbances compared to the case when the central bankhas to rely solely on collected aggregate data. The information content of theterm structure creates a link between the bond market and the macroeconomythat is novel to the literature. To quantify the importance of the bond market asa source of information, the model is estimated on data for the United Statesand Australia using Bayesian methods. The empirical exercise suggests that thereis some information in the US term structure that helps the Federal Reserve toidentify shocks to the economy on a timely basis. Australian bond prices seemto be less informative than their US counterparts, perhaps because Australia is arelatively small and open economy.

The daily market for funds in Europe: Mathematical appendix

This paper includes the derivations of the main expressions in the paper ``The Daily Market for Funds in Europe: Has Something Changed With the EMU?'' by G. Pérez Quirós and H. Rodríguez Mendizábal.

Iowa Budget Report, Building on our Progress: Protecting our Priorities, 2009

*********** Some files are large and will take time to load. *********** Seven Files: 1)Report Cover, 2)Table of Contents, 3)Statewide Financial Summaries, 4)Department Budgets, 5)Capitol Projects, 6)Associated Financial Documents, 7)Budget Report. To Members of the 82nd General Assembly, As we begin the second year of our Administration, we are pleased to submit the Fiscal Year 2009 budget for the State of Iowa pursuant to Iowa Code Section 8.21 and our constitutional authority. This budget recognizes the progress that we began last year with improvements in education, economic development, energy independence, and health care; provides funding for new policy initiatives in these areas; and is based on fiscally sound budget practices. Building on last year’s accomplishments, our Fiscal Year 2009 General Fund budget proposes an additional $75 million for increasing teachers’ salaries as part of our goal to move Iowa closer to the national average. We lay the foundation for student achievement by recommending $32.1 million for pre-school education, and we also propose $177.5 million in total for community colleges and $726.2 million in total for Regents universities. To make our State more energy independent, our General Fund budget appropriates the second-year funding of $25 million for the new Iowa Power Fund. The newly established Office of Energy Independence will soon start making awards from the Power Fund. Apart from the budget, we will be making several proposals to implement the new State energy plan. We have pledged to expand the number of Iowans who have health-care coverage. As a result, we are recommending additional funding for enrollment growth in the State Children Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). These additional funds will help the State provide coverage for another 25 percent of children who are eligible but not yet enrolled in hawk-i and the Iowa Medicaid Program. To protect the safety of Iowans, we are recommending issuance of revenue bonds for approximately $260 million in net proceeds to build a new state penitentiary in Ft. Madison, renovate and expand the Women’s Correctional Institution at Mitchellville, upgrade kitchen facilities at the Rockwell City and Mt. Pleasant Correctional Institutions, and expand Community-Based Correctional Facilities in Ottumwa, Sioux City, Waterloo, and Des Moines. Additionally, we are including funding for developing a prototype program for providing parolees and low-risk offenders with mental health and drug abuse treatment and educational services to help them make a crime-free re-entry into our communities. As part of this Capitals Budget, we also propose using $20 million for the State’s matching share for building new facilities at the Iowa Veterans Home. Iowa Budget Report iv Fiscal Year 2009 Importantly, our budget continues to fully fund our State’s Reserve Funds to help buffer Iowa from any future economic downturn. We recommend reimbursing $78.2 million to the Property Tax Credit Fund as part of our multi-year proposal to correct bad budgeting practices and eventually restore $160.0 million to this Fund. To provide more transparency, we are transferring operational expenditures in the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund to the General Fund and expenditures from the Endowment for Healthy Iowans and Healthy Iowans Tobacco Trust Funds to the General Fund. We believe that Iowa has charted a new course of becoming energy independent, providing quality pre-school education, recognizing the importance of our teachers, and providing greater health coverage for children. Our Fiscal Year 2009 budget and policy priorities reflect our continuing faith in Iowa’s ability to be the best state in the nation. We look forward to working with you in a bi-partisan and all-inclusive manner to build on our progress and protect our priorities. Sincerely, Chester J. Culver Governor Patty Judge Lt. Governor