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Gestational diabetes mellitus is a common complication in pregnant women. It is diagnosed between the 24th and 28th last menstrual period thanks to an oral glucose tolerance test with 75 g of glucose. Although blood glucose levels usually return to normal after childbirth, it can lead to some medium- and long-term complications, including cardiovascular, metabolic and renal complications. Early detection of various risk factors related to these complications would avoid some negative consequences for women with background of gestational diabetes.Le diabète gestationnel est une complication fréquente chez la femme enceinte. Il est diagnostiqué entre la 24ème et la 28ème semaine d’aménorrhée grâce à la réalisation d’une hyperglycémie provoquée par voie orale avec 75 g de glucose. Même si la glycémie se normalise après l’accouchement dans la plupart des cas, un antécédent de diabète gestationnel peut entraîner différentes complications à moyen et long termes, notamment sur le plan cardiovasculaire, métabolique et rénal. Un dépistage précoce des différents facteurs de risque liés à ces complications permettrait d’éviter certaines conséquences néfastes pour les femmes après un diabète gestationnel.

The differences of emissivity of secondary ions at masses 12 (C+ and C-), 24 (C2-) and 26 (C2H2- or CN-) of organic moitie and CO3Ca of semi thin sections of egg shell of quail allow the distinction between organic and inorganic carbon on images obtained with Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy. There differences of emissivity do not correspond only to the difference of concentration but to the difference of ionic yield. The emissivity at mass 26 (C2H2- or CN-) is higher than those obtained at mass 24 (C2-) in glycoproteinic material (rich in Nitrogen) and lower in the embedding material (Araldite, poor in Nitrogen). This result indicates that the ion present at mass 26 could by CN- rather than C2H2-.

Intoxication of Blattella by methylmercury leads to a storage of the ingested metal within the lysosomes of ileum. Mercury is always found associated with zinc, sulphur and copper. Lysosome, therefore, intervenes in a detoxication process in Insects which have been exposed to organic mercury. It is suggested that mercury might be trapped by metallothionein.

The effect of inorganic cobalt or organic cobalt in the form of vitamin B12 was studied on the growth of rumen ciliates in the presence of normal bacterial population and in the presence of reduced bacterial population. It was stated that concentration from 0.1 to 1 cobalt microgram/ml and 0.12 to 0.24 vitamin B12 microgram/ml stimulated growth of rumen ciliates. At rates 10 to 20 times weaker, cobalt in the form of vitamin B12 was more active than cobalt in inorganic form. With reduced bacterial population (10(3) B/ml) protozoa died within a few days but their survival was prolonged by adding cobalt, this effect being more pronounced with vitamin B12 than with inorganic cobalt. The growth of ciliates treated with antibiotics was stimulated by addition of bacteria, and this effect was more pronounced when the bacteria had been preincubated with cobalt. Incorporation of cobalt into rumen ciliates was studied using electron microprobe analysis. Cobalt was present in all the ciliate but essentially accumulated as granules in the endoplasm inside or outside the vacuoles. With reduced bacterial population, cobalt was also incorporated into the ciliates whatever the Co concentration. Indeed, ciliates seemed to need bacteria in order to use the organic cobalt for growth.

The egg-shell of Japanese quail was studied by several techniques. Semithin sections (1 micron thick) of non-decalcified shell were observed by normal and polarized light microscopy. Thin sections of non-decalcified shell, examined by transmission electron microscopy, permitted us to observe the forms and dimensions of crystals of calcite within different layers of the shell: mammilary layer, layer of cones, palissade layer and surface crystal layer. There appears to be two distinct zones in the layer of cones as well as in the superficial crystal layer. Electron microdiffraction revealed the orientation of calcite crystals in the columns. Some crystal defects (twins?) were described and the possibility of their artefactual formation during ultramicrotomy is discussed. Localization of Ca, Mg, P and S were made by X-ray microanalysis of semithin sections. This technique shows that shell membranes, and chiefly the true cuticle, are also mineralized but, in these layers, minerals are not crystallized. Otherwise the distribution of Mg is not uniform throughout the shell thickness; it is less concentrated in the external zone of the layer of cones. These results together with observation of developing shells by scanning electron microscopy allowed us to propose a scheme for shell organization of the quail egg. This organization was related with decalcification which occurs during hatching.