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International audience; Dietary patterns, or the combination of foods and beverages intake, have been associated with better cognitive function in older persons. To date, no study has investigated the link between a posteriori nutrient patterns based on food intake, and cognitive decline in longitudinal analyses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between nutrient patterns and cognitive function and decline in two longitudinal cohorts of older persons from France and Canada. The study sample was composed of participants from the Three-City study (3C, France) and the Quebec Longitudinal Study on Nutrition and Successful Aging (NuAge, Quebec, Canada). Both studies estimated nutritional intakes at baseline, and carried out repeated measures of global cognitive function for 1,388 and 1,439 individuals, respectively. Nutrient patterns were determined using principal component analysis methodology in the two samples, and their relation with cognitive function and decline was estimated using linear mixed models. In 3C, a healthy nutrient pattern, characterized by higher intakes of plant-based foods, was associated with a higher global cognitive function at baseline, as opposed to a Western nutrient pattern, which was associated with lower cognitive performance. In NuAge, we also found a healthy nutrient pattern and a Western pattern, although no association was observed with either of these patterns in the Canadian cohort. No association between any of the nutrient patterns and cognitive decline was observed in either cohort. There is a need for longitudinal cohorts focusing on nutrient patterns with substantial follow-up, in order to evaluate more accurately associations between nutrition and cognition in older persons.

Few studies have been interested in the relationship between dietary patterns and activity limitation in older adults yet. We analysed the association between dietary patterns and the risk of self-reported activity limitation – that is mobility restriction, limitation in instrumental activities in daily living (IADL) and in activities in daily living (ADL) – in community-dwellers aged 67+ years initially free of activity limitation in 2001–2002 and re-examined at least once over 10 years – that is 583 participants for mobility restriction, 1114 for IADL limitation and 1267 for ADL limitation. At baseline, five sex-specific dietary clusters were derived by hybrid clustering method from weekly frequency of intake of twenty food and beverage items. Self-reported mobility restriction, limitations in IADL and in ADL were assessed using the Rosow–Breslau, the Lawton–Brody and the Katz scales, respectively. Associations between dietary clusters and the risk of each activity limitation were assessed using Cox proportional hazard models. In models adjusted for socio-demographic and health-related covariates, compared with the ‘Healthy’ cluster the ‘Biscuits and snacking’ cluster was associated with a higher risk of mobility restriction (hazard ratio (HR)=3·0; 95 % CI 1·6, 5·8) and limitation in IADL (HR=2·1; 95 % CI 1·1, 4·2) in men and limitation in ADL in women (HR=2·3; 95 % CI 1·3, 4·0). In this French cohort of community-dwellers aged 67+ years, some unhealthy dietary patterns may increase the risk of activity limitation all along the disablement process in older adults.

L’enseignement a distance serait, pour certains, devenu la reponse a toutes les situations d’enseignement et de formation complexes, quels que soient le public cible, les contenus transmis et les competences visees. Il permettrait de resoudre la difficulte majeure de la copresence spatiale entre l’enseignant et ses apprenants (distance spatiale) et pourrait ainsi permettre d’apprendre « quand on veut » (distance temporelle) et de rapprocher les milieux professionnels, academiques et culturelles (distance socio-economique et socio-culturelle). Mais comme le souligne G. Jacquinot, les defis de la formation a distance sont bien d’apprivoiser la distance et de supprimer l’absence, pour cela il est necessaire d’user avec connaissance d’une ingenierie de formation adaptee. Il s’agira au cours de cette presentation de resituer l’attrait de l’enseignement a distance et son evolution et de presenter les differentes dimensions de l’ingenierie de formation de l’EAD (technologique, pedagogique mais aussi economique). De plus les elements favorables et ceux nefastes au developpement d’une FAD seront pointes, pour mettre en evidence l’importance de ne concevoir un enseignement a distance uniquement en ayant une connaissance precise des contenus d’apprentissage, des profils des futurs apprenants et de l’environnement economique dans lequel se developpera la formation.

Objective: To analyze the association between dietary patterns and the 12-year risk of frailty and its components in community-dwelling elderly French adults. Design: A prospective cohort study. Setting: The Bordeaux sample of the Three-City Study. Participants: A total of 972 initially nonfrail nondemented participants (336 men and 636 women) aged 73 years on average, re-examined at least once over 12 years. Measurements: Five sex-specific dietary clusters were previously derived at baseline. Frailty incident to the baseline visit was defined as having at least three out of the following 5 criteria: unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, low energy expenditure, slowness, and muscle weakness. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were used to assess the association between dietary clusters and the risk of frailty and its components. Results: In total, 78 men for 3719 person-years and 221 women for 7027 person-years became frail over the follow-up. In multivariate analyses, men in the “pasta” pattern and women in the “biscuits and snacking” pattern had a significantly higher risk of frailty compared with those in the “healthy” pattern [hazard ratio (HR) 2.2; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1–4.4 and HR 1.8; 95% CI 1.2–2.8, respectively; P = .09 and P = .13 for the global test of significance of risk difference across clusters, respectively]. In men, “biscuits and snacking” and “pasta” patterns were significantly associated with higher risk for muscle weakness (HR 3.3; 95% CI 1.6–7.0 and HR 2.1; 95% CI 1.2–3.7, respectively; P = .003 for global test). Conclusions: This 12-year prospective population-based study suggests that some particular unhealthy dietary patterns may increase the risk of frailty in older adults.

Background: Dietary and nutrient patterns have been linked to health outcomes related to aging. Food intake is influenced by environmental and genetic factors. The aim of the present study was to compare nutrient patterns across two elderly populations sharing a common ancestral cultural background, but living in different environments. Methods: The diet quality, lifestyle and socioeconomic characteristics of participants from the Three-City Study (3C, France, n = 1712) and the Quebec Longitudinal Study on Nutrition and Successful Aging (NuAge, Quebec, Canada, n = 1596) were analyzed. Nutrient patterns and their food sources were identified in the two samples using principal component analysis. Diet quality was compared across sample-specific patterns by describing weekly food intake and associations with the Canadian Healthy Eating Index (C-HEI). Results: Three nutrient patterns were retained in each study: a healthy, a Western and a more traditional pattern. These patterns accounted for 50.1% and 53.5% of the total variance in 3C and NuAge, respectively. Higher education and non-physical occupations over lifetime were associated with healthy patterns in both studies. Other characteristics such as living alone, having a body mass index lower than 25 and being an ex-smoker were associated with the healthy pattern in NuAge. No association between these characteristics and the nutrient patterns was noted in 3C. The healthy and Western patterns from each sample also showed an inverse association with C-HEI. Conclusion: The two healthy patterns showed important similarities: adequate food variety, consumption of healthy foods and associations with common sociodemographic factors. This work highlights that nutrient patterns derived using a posteriori methods may be useful to compare the nutritional quality of the diet of distinct populations.

Background Childhood autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is a rare and severe disease characterized by hemolysis and positive direct antiglobulin test (DAT). Few epidemiologic indicators are available for the pediatric population. The objective of our study was to reliably estimate the number of AIHA cases in the French Aquitaine region and the incidence of AIHA in patients under 18 years old. Procedure In this retrospective study, the capture–recapture method and log-linear model were used for the period 2000–2008 in the Aquitaine region from the following three data sources for the diagnosis of AIHA: the OBS'CEREVANCE database cohort, positive DAT collected from the regional blood bank database, and the French medico-economic information system. Results A list of 281 different patients was obtained after cross-matching the three databases; 44 AIHA cases were identified in the period 2000–2008; and the total number of cases was estimated to be 48 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 45–55). The calculated incidence of the disease was 0.81/100,000 children under 18 years old per year (95% CI 0.76–0.92). Conclusion Accurate methods are required for estimating the incidence of AIHA in children. Capture–recapture analysis corrects underreporting and provides optimal completeness. This study highlights a possible under diagnosis of this potentially severe disease in various pediatric settings. AIHA incidence may now be compared with the incidences of other hematological diseases and used for clinical or research purposes.

Something as basic as the arithmetic mean can produce errors and cause difficulties with students in the humanities and social sciences. It is recognized this public feels aversion with statistics and has gained a negative opinion against this discipline (Gordon, 2004 p.46-47). So what are the recurring errors and the main difficulties encountered by students ? To answer this question we start from a broader survey questionnaire developed by Jean-Claude Régnier. In this work we restrict ourselves to responses collected during three academic years (2009-2011) with students enrolled in Learning sciences Master 2. We extrapolate a situation that describes an event of daily life and assess procedural knowledge (Anderson, 1976, 1990; Tardif, 1992) by calculating a weighted arithmetic mean. This study therefore aims to characterize the mistakes made by students. The analysis of the responses identifies a wide variety of errors. Students acknowledge awareness of the method of averaging, but when it comes to applying less than half of them succeeds.Errors found are of various kinds, they range from misunderstanding of the statement to surface errors like wrong reporting of data. It appears that the competence to read a statement or to extract the relevant information may not be sufficiently controlled, even in subjects who have reached university 5th year., Une notion aussi élémentaire que la moyenne arithmétique peut produire des erreurs et engendrer des difficultés auprès d'étudiants de sciences humaines et sociales. Il est admis que ce public dans sa majorité s’est forgé une opinion négative à l'encontre de la statistique et peut éprouver jusqu’à de l’aversion envers cette discipline (Gordon, 2004 p.46-47). Quelles sont alors les erreurs récurrentes et les principales difficultés rencontrées par les étudiants ? Pour répondre à cette question nous partons d’une enquête plus ample par questionnaire mise au point par Jean-Claude Régnier. De ces travaux nous nous limitons aux réponses récoltées durant trois années universitaires (2009 à 2011) auprès d'étudiants de Master 2 inscrits en sciences de l’éducation. Nous en extrapolons une situation qui décrit un événement de la vie quotidienne et évalue des connaissances procédurales (Anderson, 1976, 1990 ; Tardif, 1992) à travers le calcul d’une moyenne arithmétique pondérée. Cette étude a donc pour objectif de caractériser les erreurs commises par les étudiants. L’analyse des réponses obtenues permet d’identifier des erreurs très variées. Les étudiants attestent qu’ils connaissent la méthode de calcul de la moyenne mais lorsqu’il s’agit de l’appliquer moins de la moitié d’entre eux y parvient. Les erreurs relevées sont de divers ordres, elles vont de l’incompréhension de l’énoncé à des erreurs de surface comme le report erroné des données. Il apparait que la compétence de savoir lire un énoncé comme celle d’en extraire l’information pertinente ne soient pas suffisamment maîtrisées, même chez des sujets ayant atteint la 5ème année d’études universitaires.

International audience; SThis is an issue that discuss statistic knowledges and your insertion in the Brazilian school curriculum of mathematics. First, we use the concept of "numeramentality" to express an analytical perspective that allows the study of knowledges which produce, organize and regulate the ways of thinking and acting in the contemporary and are based on the action to quantify, measure. Then we wonder about the risk as contemporary value to exercise the government of populations and individuals, and how it became a school curriculum component, which chooses the school theme and therefore the most appropriate knowledge. In this context, we note as the Brazilian curriculum agrees to demands and practices of the governmental order even though its knowledges have an epistemological importance. Finally, in our point of view, the use of themes such as inflation, growth, life expectancy for teaching Statistics provides the most political and social urgency in relation to ways of behaving face of the the risks and uncertainty. Finally, what is taught as statistical knowledge in school is only a form to be socially desirable subject.; Il s’agit d’une discussion sur les savoirs statistiques et leur insertion dans le curriculum scolaire brésilien des mathématiques. En premier lieu, nous utilisons le concept de « numéramentalité » pour exprimer une perspective analytique adéquate à l’étude des savoirs capables de produire, organiser et régulariser des façons de penser et d’agir dans la contemporanéité basées sur la quantification, la codification, la mesure. Ensuite, nous nous interrogeons sur le risque comme question contemporaine de l’exercice de gouvernement des populations et des individus et sur comment cette notion devient une composante curriculaire scolaire qui orientent les thématiques et par conséquent, les savoirs choisis comme les plus adéquats. Dans ce cadre, nous remarquons que le curriculum scolaire brésilien est en accord avec les demandes et pratiques d’ordre gouvernemental même si ces savoirs revêtent une importance épistémologique. Enfin, à notre avis, l’usage de thématiques comme l’inflation, la croissance, l’espérance de vie pour l’enseignement de la Statistique répondent à une urgence politique et sociale en rapport avec les façons de se conduire devant les risques et les incertitudes. Pour ainsi dire, ce qui s’enseigne comme connaissance statistique à l’école n’est peut-être qu’une forme socialement souhaitable d’être sujet