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As a kind of traditional Chinese medicine, Pulsatilla chinensis (Bunge) Regel is well known for its anti-inflammation and anti-cancer activities, which are attributed to its active components including total saponins and monomers. To clarify the synthesis and metabolism mechanisms of class components in callus terpenes of P. chinensis, a certain concentration of salicylic acid (SA) hormone elicitor was added to the callus before being analysed by transcriptomic and metabolomic techniques. Results showed that the content of Pulsatilla saponin B4 in the callus suspension culture was significantly increased up to 1.99% with the addition of SA. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in 122 metabolic pathways, such as terpenoid metabolism-related pathways: terpenoid skeleton synthesis pathway, monoterpenoid biosynthesis pathways, diterpenoid biosynthesis pathways, and ubiquinone and other terpenoid-quinone biosynthesis pathways. A total of 31 differentially accumulated metabolites were obtained from four differential groups. Amongst 21 kinds of known chemical components in P. chinensis, deoxyloganic acid was the only monoterpenoid; the others are triterpenoids. In summary, this study found that SA elicitors can affect the metabolic changes of terpenoids in P. chinensis callus, which provided a basis for analysing the genetic regulation of terpenoid components of leucons.

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Reactive oxygen species (ROS) carried or induced by particulate matter (PM) are suspected of inducing oxidative stress in vivo, leading to adverse health impacts such as respiratory or cardiovascular diseases. The oxidative potential (OP) of PM, displaying the ability of PM to oxidize the lung environment, is gaining strong interest in examining health risks associated with PM exposure. In this study, OP was measured by two different acellular assays (dithiothreitol, DTT, and ascorbic acid, AA) on PM10 filter samples from 15 yearly time series of filters collected at 14 different locations in France between 2013 and 2018, including urban, traffic and Alpine valley site typologies. A detailed chemical speciation was also performed on the same samples, allowing the source apportionment of PM using positive matrix factorization (PMF) for each series, for a total number of more than 1700 samples. This study then provides a large-scale synthesis of the source apportionment of OP using coupled PMF and multiple linear regression (MLR) models. The primary road traffic, biomass burning, dust, MSA-rich, and primary biogenic sources had distinct positive redox activity towards the OPDTT assay, whereas biomass burning and road traffic sources only display significant activity for the OPAA assay. The daily median source contribution to the total OPDTT highlighted the dominant influence of the primary road traffic source. Both the biomass burning and the road traffic sources contributed evenly to the observed OPAA. Therefore, it appears clear that residential wood burning and road traffic are the two main target sources to be prioritized in order to decrease significantly the OP in western Europe and, if the OP is a good proxy of human health impact, to lower the health risks from PM exposure.

International audience; Abstract. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) carried or induced by particulate matter (PM) are suspected of inducing oxidative stress in vivo, leading to adverse health impacts such as respiratory or cardiovascular diseases. The oxidative potential (OP) of PM, displaying the ability of PM to oxidize the lung environment, is gaining strong interest in examining health risks associated with PM exposure. In this study, OP was measured by two different acellular assays (dithiothreitol, DTT, and ascorbic acid, AA) on PM10 filter samples from 15 yearly time series of filters collected at 14 different locations in France between 2013 and 2018, including urban, traffic and Alpine valley site typologies. A detailed chemical speciation was also performed on the same samples, allowing the source apportionment of PM using positive matrix factorization (PMF) for each series, for a total number of more than 1700 samples. This study then provides a large-scale synthesis of the source apportionment of OP using coupled PMF and multiple linear regression (MLR) models. The primary road traffic, biomass burning, dust, MSA-rich, and primary biogenic sources had distinct positive redox activity towards the OPDTT assay, whereas biomass burning and road traffic sources only display significant activity for the OPAA assay. The daily median source contribution to the total OPDTT highlighted the dominant influence of the primary road traffic source. Both the biomass burning and the road traffic sources contributed evenly to the observed OPAA. Therefore, it appears clear that residential wood burning and road traffic are the two main target sources to be prioritized in order to decrease significantly the OP in western Europe and, if the OP is a good proxy of human health impact, to lower the health risks from PM exposure.

International audience; Volcanic sulfate aerosols play a key role in air quality and climate. However, the rate of oxidation of sulfur dioxide (SO2) precursor gas to sulfate aerosols (SO4^2-) in volcanic plumes is poorly known, especially in the troposphere. Here we determine the chemical speciation as well as the intensity and temporal persistence of the impact on air quality of sulfate aerosols from the 2014-2015 Holuhraun flood lava eruption of Icelandic volcano Bárðarbunga. To do so, we jointly analyse a set of SO2 observations from satellite (OMPS and IASI) and ground-level measurements from air quality monitoring stations together with high temporal resolution mass spectrometry measurements of an Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) performed far from the volcanic source. We explore month/year long ACSM data in France from stations in contrasting environments, close and far from industrial sulfur-rich activities. We demonstrate that volcanic sulfate aerosols exhibit a distinct chemical signature in urban/rural conditions, with NO3:SO4 mass concentration ratios lower than for non-volcanic background aerosols. These results are supported by thermodynamic simulations of aerosol composition, using the ISORROPIA II model, which show that ammonium sulfate aerosols are preferentially formed at a high concentration of sulfate, leading to a decrease in the production of particulate ammonium nitrate. Such a chemical signature is however more difficult to identify at heavily polluted industrial sites due to a high level of background noise in sulfur. Nevertheless, aged volcanic sulfates can be distinguished from freshly emitted industrial sulfates according to their contrasting degree of anion neutralization. Combining AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) sunphotometric data with ACSM observations, we also show a long persistence over weeks of pollution in volcanic sulfate aerosols, while SO2 pollution disappears in a few days at most. Finally, gathering 6-month long datasets from 27 sulfur monitoring stations of the EMEP (European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme) network allows us to demonstrate a much broader large-scale European pollution, in both SO2 and SO4 , associated with the Holuhraun eruption, from Scandinavia to France. While widespread SO2 anomalies, with ground-level mass concentrations far exceeding background values, almost entirely result from the volcanic source, the origin of sulfate aerosols is more complex. Using a multi-site concentration-weighted trajectory analysis, emissions from the Holuhraun eruption are shown to be one of the main sources of SO4 at all EMEP sites across Europe and can be distinguished from anthropogenic emissions from eastern Europe but also from Great Britain. A wide variability in SO2:SO4 mass concentration ratios, ranging from 0.8 to 8.0, is shown at several stations geographically dispersed at thousands of kilometres from the eruption site. Despite this apparent spatial complexity, we demonstrate that these mass oxidation ratios can be explained by a simple linear dependency on the age of the plume, with a SO2-to-SO4 oxidation rate of 0.23 h−1. Most current studies generally focus on SO2, an unambiguous and more readily measured marker of the volcanic plume. However, the long persistence of the chemical fingerprint of volcanic sulfate aerosols at continental scale, as shown for the Holuhraun eruption here, casts light on the impact of tropospheric eruptions and passive degassing activities on air quality, health, atmospheric chemistry and climate.

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The chemical composition of submicron particles (PM₁) was monitored for over one year (July 2013-September 2014), at high temporal resolution (< 30 min), using an Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) for the non-refractory fraction (NR-PM₁ : organic, sulfate, nitrate, ammonium and chloride) and an aethalometer for black carbon (BC), together with micrometeorology parameters. An intensive campaign (July 2014) completed the data set including the monitoring of volatile organic compounds by PTR-TOFMS. The chosen site has an urban background typology, under the influence of a large area with industrial and harbor activities. The chemical composition of aerosols was analyzed globally, seasonally and using four wind sectors. A study of the SO₂-to-SO₄ conversion in the industrial sector has shown that this process is favored at high relative humidity (> 70%), low vertical turbulence (σw : 0-0.5 m sˉ¹) and low wind speed (0-2 m sˉ¹). Using PMF (Positive Matrix factorization) source receptor modeling, three primary sources of organic species, relatied to traffic, combustion of biomass and domestic cooking, have been identified, as well as a secondary source. The seasonal and sector PMF analyses, with and without constraints, helped to identify two additional factors in the marine and industrial sectors. Some specific events (sea breezes, high pollution events and nearby ship movements) were studied, allowing to extract an average mass spectrum associated with ship emissions for the latter, ShOA (Ship-like organic aerosol). This factor only contributes to 0.5% of the particulate organic fraction on average but up to more than 90% over short periods., La composition chimique des particules submicroniques (PM₁) a été suivie pendant plus d'un an ( juillet 2013- septembre 2014), à résolution temporelle fine (< 30 min.), à l'aide d'un analyseur ACSM pour la fraction non-réfractaire (organiques, sulfates, nitrates, ammoniums et chlorures) et d'un aethalomètre (carbone suie), complétés par une observation micro-météorologique. Une campagne intensive (juillet 2014) a enrichi le jeu de données avec le suivi de composés organiques volatils par analyse PTR-ToFMS. Le site de mesure est de type urbain de fond, sous l'influence d'une large zone industrielle et portuaire. La composition chimique des aérosols a été analysée de manière globale, saisonnière et selon 4 secteurs de vent. L'étude de la conversion SO₂-SO₄ dans le secteur industriel a montré que ce processus est favorisé à humidité relative élevée (> 70%), faible turbulence verticale (σw : 0-0.5 m sˉ¹) et faible vitesse de vent (0-2 m sˉ¹). À l'aide d'un modèle source récepteur PMF (Positive Matrix Factorization), trois sources primaires d'espèces organiques, liées au trafic, à la combustion de biomasse et à la cuisson domestique, ont été identifiées, ainsi qu'une source secondaire. Les analyses PMF saisonnière et par secteur, avec et sans contraintes, ont permis d'identifier 2 facteurs supplémentaires en secteurs marin et industriel. Quelques cas (brises de mer, épisodes de pollution et passages de bateaux) ont été étudiés, permettant dans le dernier cas d'extraire un spectre de masse moyen lié aux émissions des navires, ShOA (Ship-like Organic Aerosol). Ce facteur contribue en moyenne pour seulement 0.5% à la fraction organique particulaire mais jusqu'à plus de 90% sur de courtes périodes.

Converging evidences show that face categorization and recognition are represented in specific brain areas. It is also known from behavioral studies that spatial frequency of pictures takes different roles in different face categorizations, e.g. identity information is carried more by low frequency features, and gender is represented by both high and low frequencies while high frequency is more important for face expression. However, there is no solid experimental data about the neural mechanism of the different contributions of spatial frequencies on face categorization up to now. ECoG was collected from epilepsy patients while they underwent a monitoring session to locate their epilepsy foci with implanted subdural surface electrodes. Pictures with different gender, facial expression and identities were presented to the patients, while they were required to perform a simple detection task to maintain their focus on the pictures. The changes of traditional face related components, N170, were analyzed by event related potentials and the significant changes was also verified on each electrode by permutation test. The N170 latency is found to be delayed for high spatial frequency (HSF) pictures. For faces of unknown person, low spatial frequency (LSF) presentation results in a longer N170 latency, but not for faces of well-known movie stars. Female faces show longer N170 latency in HSF conditions compared to LSF, but male faces have no such effect. No significant effect was found on N170 component for expression. However, analysis based on individual electrodes showed that more frontal electrodes are involved in expression representation; the identity-specific sites are more likely to respond to LSF stimuli, and the gender-specific sites have equal responses to both LSF and HSF stimuli, while the expression-specific sites are also more likely to respond to the LSF stimuli, which is inconsistent with existing behavioral studies, and show significant differences as early as 114 milliseconds. It fits with the cognitive model that expression related information has been analyzed briefly in occipital-temporal areas in the early stage before other brain areas are involved for further processing. In summary, spatial frequency's contributions to identity and gender could be represented by N170 in traditional face related brain areas while expression information, instead of carrying by N170, is distributed in a wider area in occipital temporal region for fast analysis and relayed to other areas, e.g. frontal cortex. This is the first study to study the neural mechanism of spatial frequency's contributions in face categorization by ECoG, and provides a new perspective to understand the brain dynamics of feature processes for face perception.

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To compare effectiveness and safety between three-dimensional electroanatomical mapping system (3D-EAMS)-assisted and conventional radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) of atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardias (AVNRT). 108 patients were evenly randomized to undergo conventional or 3D-EAMS

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Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

The following gives an overview of AI techniques and processes: $$ DATA MINING: The process of extracting previously unknown information from existing data, often with the help of another AI program, using statistical and visualization techniques to discover and present knowledge in a form that is easily comprehensible to humans. Also known as Knowledge Discovery. Master of Science

Monitoring of ultrafine particles (UFP) in the ambient air is ongoing since 2012 in France. A national working group was created in 2014, including nowadays five French regional air quality monitoring networks. The main instrument selected to monitor UFP is the particle sizer “UFP-3031” (TSI Inc.). It measures the particle number concentration between 20 and 800 nm with six size channels. Two intercomparisons were organized in 2014 and 2015, which evaluated the accuracy of this instrument through a comparison with other techniques (such as Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer, SMPS), and through uncertainty calculations. Recently, several networks have been also equipped with CPC (condensation particle counter) to be able to measure the total UFP number concentration from 7 nm. This work presents the main results of short and long-term measurement of UFP which have been carried out in various environments: urban/traffic sites, near heavy industry zones (Dunkerque and Fos-sur-Mer in northern and southern France, respectively), near harbor area (Nice)… For urban/ traffic environment, the number concentration and size distribution are compared at the national level; it appears that they vary significantly depending on the influence of road traffic around the site. The concentration levels near traffic sites are at least twice than in the urban area, especially for UFP smaller than 50 nm. Additionally, the UFP measurement also makes it possible to improve the identification of specific sources and to understand the atmospheric physicochemical phenomena. The relationship between UFP and industrial emissions, ferries, forest fires was clearly identified in different places in France. During summer, the UFP monitoring also shows the formation of new particles (between 20-30 nm or smaller) in the afternoon, due to photochemical reactions. From 2019, the French national strategy on UFP will start putting a particular emphasis on the impact of UFP on human health.