Traduction et validation canadienne-fran?aise du Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form.

The authors have translated the Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form (Nisonger CBRF) into French. The resulting Grillee d'évaluation comportementale pour enfants Nisonger (GéCEN) was completed by 383 parents and 328 teachers. The congruence coefficients between the factor structure obtained from the Québec data and that obtained from the American data are also presented. Except for the congruence coefficient for the irritability scale from the GéCEN-teacher, the congruence coefficients for the parent and teacher profiles exhibit a good level of factor stability between the Nisonger CBRF, and the GéCEN. The internal consistency indicators are good to excellent for the GéCEN-parent and the GéCEN-teacher. The clinical applications of this dual diagnosis assessment tool (mental retardation and psychopathology) among children and teenagers are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Failure of a Fusion Welded Ball Joint as a Result of Modification in MnS Direction

A failure investigation was performed on a ball joint from an ATV front suspension system. The location of the fracture was the bearing ball/stud interface, which is a fusion-welded joint, and occurred after approximately 20 h of field-testing. The two parts are made out of carbon steel and were previously heat-treated. Many elongated MnS inclusions were found in the stud material, and these inclusions were parallel to the symmetry axis. Even though these inclusions were not significantly sized, their number was important. Macroscopic evidence showed that the joint failed in a ductile mode under centered tensile overload. Microscopic examination showed that MnS orientation changed in the fusion joint area. The inclusions had been redirected during the welding process and laid parallel to the fracture surface. This reorientation caused a significant decrease in the effective cross section of the joint and overload fracture occurred.     

Facteurs associés aux problèmes de comportement intériorisés et extériorisés chez des adolescentes agressées sexuellement.

The present study investigated the associated factors of internalising and externalising behaviour problems among sexually abused adolescents. One hundred fifty-eight female adolescent victims of sexual abuse, aged between 13 and 17 years, were recruited. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires measuring cognitive distortions, coping strategies, empowerment, behaviour problems, perception of their relationship with their mother and father, maternal support, characteristics of the sexual abuse as well as other forms of violence experienced. Results show that interpersonal distrust and general self-attributions of blame are two factors associated with both internalising and externalising behaviour problems. In addition, the mother/daughter relationship is associated with externalising behaviour problems. These results partially support Spaccarelli's model. They also highlight the important role of cognitive distortions, particularly general self-attributions of blame and interpersonal distrust, which may be targeted in treatments that are aimed at reducing behavioural problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measure of circularity for parts of digital boundaries and its fast computation

This paper focuses on the design of an effective method that computes the measure of circularity of a part of a digital boundary. An existing circularity measure of a set of discrete points, which is used in computational metrology, is extended to the case of parts of digital boundaries. From a single digital boundary, two sets of points are extracted so that the circularity measure computed from these sets is representative of the circularity of the digital boundary. Therefore, the computation consists of two steps. First, the inner and outer sets of points are extracted from the input part of a digital boundary using digital geometry tools. Next, the circularity measure of these sets is computed using classical tools of computational geometry. It is proved that the algorithm is linear in time in the case of convex parts thanks to the specificity of digital data, and is in O(nlogn) otherwise. Experiments done on synthetic and real images illustrate the interest of the properties of the circularity measure.     

Novel TTLL5 Variants Associated with Cone-Rod Dystrophy and Early-Onset Severe Retinal Dystrophy

Variants of the TTLL5 gene, which encodes tubulin tyrosine ligase-like family member five, are a rare cause of cone dystrophy (COD) or cone-rod dystrophy (CORD). To date, only a few TTLL5 patients have been clinically and genetically described. In this study, we report five patients harbouring biallelic variants of TTLL5. Four adult patients presented either COD or CORD with onset in the late teenage years. The youngest patient had a phenotype of early onset severe retinal dystrophy (EOSRD). Genetic analysis was performed by targeted next generation sequencing of gene panels and assessment of copy number variants (CNV). We identified eight variants, of which six were novel, including two large multiexon deletions in patients with COD or CORD, while the EOSRD patient harboured the novel homozygous p.(Trp640*) variant and three distinct USH2A variants, which might explain the observed rod involvement. Our study highlights the role of TTLL5 in COD/CORD and the importance of large deletions. These findings suggest that COD or CORD patients lacking variants in known genes may harbour CNVs to be discovered in TTLL5, previously undetected by classical sequencing methods. In addition, variable phenotypes in TTLL5-associated patients might be due to the presence of additional gene defects.     

Assessing the Antimicrobial Activity of Polyisoprene Based Surfaces

There has been an intense research effort in the last decades in the field of biofouling prevention as it concerns many aspects of everyday life and causes problems to devices, the environment, and human health. Many different antifouling and antimicrobial materials have been developed to struggle against bacteria and other micro- and macro-organism attachment to different surfaces. However the “miracle solution” has still to be found. The research presented here concerns the synthesis of bio-based polymeric materials and the biological tests that showed their antifouling and, at the same time, antibacterial activity. The raw material used for the coating synthesis was natural rubber. The polyisoprene chains were fragmented to obtain oligomers, which had reactive chemical groups at their chain ends, therefore they could be modified to insert polymerizable and biocidal groups. Films were obtained by radical photopolymerization of the natural rubber derived oligomers and their structure was altered, in order to understand the mechanism of attachment inhibition and to increase the efficiency of the anti-biofouling action. The adhesion of three species of pathogenic bacteria and six strains of marine bacteria was studied. The coatings were able to inhibit bacterial attachment by contact, as it was verified that no detectable leaching of toxic molecules occurred.     

Preparation, characterisation of thermally treated Algerian dolomite powders and application to azo-dye adsorption

Dolomite powder from Ouled Mimoun, Tlemcen (western region of Algeria) was thermally treated within the temperature range 450-1000 °C. The modifications undergone by dolomite, inherent to thermal treatment, were investigated from X-ray diffraction patterns. The results were also discussed using scanning electronic microscopy and nitrogen adsorption. The XRD data, analysed from X Pert Plus program, showed that the dolomite phase ceases at 700 °C and is relayed by the formation of in situ calcite and periclase. The crystallographic parameters of these two phases tend towards that of pure periclase and calcite at 1000 and 900 °C, respectively. SEM analysis indicated that the morphological properties were profoundly affected. SEM images of D-1000 (sample treated at 1000 °C) indicated that the original particle shape of dolomite (presence of discrete grains having sharp edges with presence of cleavages) was totally destroyed, leading to small spherical particles with a diameter of 0.1 μm. The specific surface area value of D-1000 increased more than 6 times against that of the raw dolomite. Adsorption of azo-dye Orange I from aqueous solutions onto untreated and treated dolomites was also reported. The isotherms were of L-type. The interaction was explained by electrostatic considerations between sulfonate groups of the dye (D-SO₃Na), which are dissociated in the aqueous system, and positively charged adsorption sites. The affinity of orange I for the dolomitic solids follows the sequence D-900 > D-1000 > D-800 > > D-600 > raw dolomite. The maximum retention capacity shown by D-900 was explained and correlated with its crystallographic properties.     

Spatial heterogeneity of personal exposure to airborne metals in French urban areas

The spatial distribution of urban population exposures to ambient air particles was investigated as part of the Genotox'ER study conducted in four metropolitan areas (Grenoble, Paris, Rouen and Strasbourg) in France. In each city, 60 to 90 non-smoking adult and children volunteers were selected. Subjects lived in three different urban sectors: one highly exposed to traffic emissions, one influenced by local industrial sources, and a background urban environment. The Harvard Chempass multi-pollutant personal sampler was used to sample PM10 and PM2.5 particles during 48 h during two different seasons ('hot' and 'cold'). The elemental composition of the filters was analysed by Particle-Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE). Sixteen elements were found to be over the method detection limits: Al, Si, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb. The relative concentrations of elements of crustal origin (Si, Al, Ca) were higher in the coarse fraction of PM10 filters, while elements associated with combustion processes (traffic emissions or industrial combustion) presented higher relative concentrations in the PM2.5 fraction (S, Ni, V, Pb). Spatial heterogeneity of elemental exposures by urban sector is substantial for some metals of health concern, with 20% to 90% greater exposure values, on average, in the traffic proximity or industrial sectors, compared to the background sector, for Fe, Zn, Cu, V and Cr. This spatial heterogeneity should not be overlooked in epidemiological or risk assessment studies.     

The Application of Mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) Oil in Cosmetic Formulations

The depletion of natural resources, the increasing use of valuable land surface for human activities, and the generation of waste are detrimental to the planet. Sustainable alternatives to guarantee a sufficient supply of food, feed, and biomaterials are needed. Insects may hold an interesting position in a circular economy to tackle contemporary societal challenges. Using insects for food, feed, biomaterial production, and to valorize side-streams, have gained increased interest. Mealworms are amenable to large-scale farming. Herein, the potential of mealworm oil for implementation in a cosmetic hand cream is evaluated. It is shown that mealworms are rich in oil (≈30% of the dry weight), and the oil can be extracted using hexane or ethyl acetate as a solvent. The euthanization step of mealworms has profound effect on the free fatty acid content. The fatty acid profile indicates a large proportion of unsaturated fatty acids, which is promising for use in cosmetic applications. In a proof of concept, the mealworm oil is implemented in a hand cream and compared to hand cream containing macadamia nut oil. No differences in odor and aspect/stability are observed, but mealworm creams are slightly less white color. Mealworm oil is suitable for cosmetics applications. Practical applications: Several insect species can be sustainably reared on low-value organic side-streams, requiring only small amounts of land-surface, less water, and producing less greenhouse gases. In addition, they have short life cycles and can be reared continuously and locally. This implies that insects are an interesting source of biological materials including proteins and oils. Insect oils, including oil of mealworms, have interesting fatty acid profiles that make them amenable to replace oils of vegetable origin for applications within cosmetics. The results indicate that mealworm oil can be a novel, sustainable ingredient for use in the cosmetics industry.