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In 2008, 30 active substances from plant protection products were banned from marketing in France. Nevertheless, the French Poison Control Centers continue to see cases of poisoning caused by these active substances that are no longer approved. The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of the reported cases in mainland France and in overseas French territories, over the period 2012-2016. A total of 408 cases of human exposure were reported during the study period. The most commonly reported substances were dichlorvos (24.8%, n = 108), paraquat (23.8%, n = 97), aldicarb (14.7%, n = 60), diuron (9.6%, n = 39), dinocap (5.1%, n = 21), methomyl (4.2%, n = 17), carbofuran (3.9%, n = 16), anthraquinone (2.9%, n = 12) and carbendazim (2.7%, n = 11). The number of cases of intoxication dropped sharply between 2012 (n = 119) and 2016 (n = 47), except in the overseas French territories. Among the 72 serious cases (severe or life-threatening or with a fatal outcome), the most common substances involved were paraquat (n = 34), aldicarb (n = 24) and carbofuran (n = 7). This study suggests persistent use of carbamate insecticides, the existence of illegal imports of dichlorvos or paraquat-based products, and the use of certain banned fungicides in the professional agricultural sector. Information and collection campaigns are therefore essential after the withdrawal of marketing authorization for the plant protection products., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Many rivers in the southern coastal region of the Western Cape Province, South Africa, are known to be in a poor state. Since the 1990s, the river water quality of this coastal region has been affected by increasing populations and by intensifying land use activities. Simplified risk assessment approaches are critical to identify in a timely manner areas where land use activities may impact water quality, particularly for regions with limited data. For this study, a simple assessment approach to estimate the impacts of land use activities on river water quality was improved by incorporating landscape potentials that take into account environmental factors. The methods were applied to two regions experiencing intensive land use along the southern coast. The findings indicate that the incorporation of the landscape potentials, (i) the landscape sediment generation potential and (ii) the diffuse nitrate potential, to estimate the impacts of sediment and nutrient inputs on river water quality need to be considered. Agricultural activities and informal settlements contribute to the increasing sediment and nutrient inputs of the river reaches. Areas with high proportions of river reaches at increasing pollution risk need to be managed on a large scale to ensure that all the potentially affected sub-catchments are included.

In this retrospective series of 97 cases of manchineel fruit ingestion reported to French Poison Control Centers between 2009 and 2017, we investigated cases of poisoning due to manchineel fruit (from the Hippomane mancinella tree). This fruit is known to be responsible for oropharyngeal and gastrointestinal tract lesions and possibly hypotension and bradycardia (previously attributed to the presence of physostigmine). The most commonly observed clinical signs were oropharyngeal pain, abdominal pain, diarrhea and oropharyngeal irritation. No major gastrointestinal tract lesions were observed in the five cases in which upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy was performed. One case of laryngeal edema and one case of bradycardia were observed, but analysis of the harvested fruits did not confirm the presence of physostigmine. Ingestion of manchineel fruit can cause mild abdominal pain and digestive irritation, requiring medical attention. Rarely, when several fruits have been ingested, severe oropharyngeal injury or hemodynamic disorders may require otorhinolaryngological consultation or cardiac monitoring for several hours, respectively., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Anthropometric data report that pelvic bone of African subjects are narrower and the pelvic cavity is deeper. The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of pelvic dimensions (PD) on Positive surgical margins (PSM) rate in Afro-Caribbean population after robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP)., Patients and Methods: Preoperative pelvic MRI of all patients who have had RALP at the University Hospital Center of Guadeloupe between January 2013 and December 2015 was retrospectively analyzed. PD, including the Height of the upper edge of the prostate (HP), the Apical Depth (AD) and Ischial Spines Distance (ISD), and indexes (prostate volumetric index [ISD/VP], apical depth index [ISD/AD] and prostate depth index [ISD/(AD/HP)]) were compared according to the presence or absence of PSM with uni and multivariate analysis., Results: One hundred and seventy-eight patients were included in the study, of whom 60 (33.7%) presented PSM. In univariate analysis, significant differences between the presence or absence of PSM were observed on the AD (30.3±8.7mm versus 24.8±8.0mm, P<0.001), the HP (9.5±8.5mm versus 16.8±11.9mm, P<0.001) and the ISD (89.6±8.8mm versus 96.1±8.4mm) as well as the indexes of apical depth and prostatic depth. In multivariate logistic regression, the ISD (P<0.001) and HP (P=0.02) were associated with increased likelihood of PSM, but not AD or indexes., Conclusion: This study suggests that interspinous distance is the best predictor of PSM during RALP in Afro-Caribbean patients. This measure may be useful to define the therapeutic pattern of patients with prostate cancer. A prospective study with a larger population, comparing RALP in Afro-Caribbean and in caucasians patients, would be needed., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Tinospora crispa is a popular traditional herbal plant commonly used throughout the world for treatment of various diseases, in particular type 2 diabetes mellitus. We report here a new case of toxic hepatitis in a 57-year old male patient in the French West Indies following the consumption of two aqueous extracts of fresh Tinospora crispa stems. It thus differs from two previously reported cases that concerned the chronic intake of powdered dry stems delivered in solid oral dosage forms (i.e. pellets and tablets). Liquid Chromatography-Diode Array Detection-Mass Spectrometry (LC/DAD/MS) analyses were performed on an aqueous extract of the offending sample that mimics the swallowed preparation. They revealed the presence of species-specific molecular marker borapetoside C (1) and thus enabled an unambiguous phytochemical identification. The exploration of tandem MS/MS data obtained by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-QTOF-HRMS) allowed the identification of 17 additional cis-clerodane-type furanoditerpenoid lactones, analogues of 1. These results support the hypothesis that the mechanisms underlying hepatotoxicity of Tinospora crispa are the same as those encountered with furanoditerpenoids-containing plants such as Teucrium chamaedrys or Dioscorea bulbifera. In the context of type 2 diabetes treatment, we recommend that Tinospora crispa intake should be more closely monitored for signs of hepatotoxicity.

Competing Interests: Les auteurs déclarent n’avoir aucun lien d’intérêts.

This retrospective case study analysed the incidence and symptoms of ciguatera fish poisoning (ciguatera) in Guadeloupe (French West Indies) between 2013 and 2016. Cases attending the emergency departments of the two public hospitals and the reports received by the regional health authority in charge of monitoring (ARS) were compiled. Two hundred and thirty-four cases of poisoning were observed, with a mean annual incidence of 1.47/10,000 (95% CI): 1.29-1.66), i.e 5 times higher than the previously reported incidence (1996-2006). The main species described as being responsible for poisoning were fish from the Carangidae family (n = 47) (jack), followed by fish from the Lutjanidae family (n = 27) (snapper), Serranidae family (n = 15) (grouper), Sphyraenidae family (n = 12) (barracuda), and Mullidae family (n = 12) (goatfish). One case of lionfish ciguatera was observed. 93.9% of patients experienced gastrointestinal symptoms, 76.0% presented neurological signs (mainly paresthesia, dysesthesia and pruritus) and 40.3% presented cardiovascular symptoms (bradycardia and/or hypotension). A high frequency (61.4%) of hypothermia (body temperature <36.5 °C) was observed. This study reports for the first time the relatively high frequency of cardiac symptoms and low body temperature. The monitoring of ciguatera poisoning throughout the Caribbean region must be improved, notably after reef disturbance due to Irma and Maria major cyclones.

Fish populations can be threatened by distorted sex ratios that arise during sex differentiation. Here we describe sex differentiation in a wild grayling (Thymallus thymallus) population that suffers from distorted sex ratios. We verified that sex determination is linked to the sex determining locus (sdY) of salmonids. This allowed us to study sex-specific gene expression and gonadal development. Sex-specific gene expression could be observed during embryogenesis and was strong around hatching. About half of the fish showed immature testes around eleven weeks after fertilization. This phenotype was mostly replaced by the "testis-to-ovary" or "ovaries" phenotypes during development. The gonads of the remaining fish stayed undifferentiated until six months after fertilization. Genetic sexing revealed that fish with undifferentiated gonads were all males, who grew larger than the genetic females during the observational period. Only 12% of the genetic males showed testicular tissue six months after fertilization. We conclude that sex differentiation starts before hatching, goes through an all-male stage for both sexes (which represents a rare case of "undifferentiated" gonochoristic species that usually go through an all-female stage), and is delayed in males. During these juvenile stages males grow faster than females instead of developing their gonads.

Background: In Guadeloupe (French West Indies), many marine envenomation cases by jellyfish are observed. Some of them might induce an Irukandji syndrome (IS). The aim of this study was to analyse the clinical features of IS from the envenomation cases in the two public hospitals in Guadeloupe, and to compare them to non-IS stings., Methods: All jellyfish envenomation cases between the 1st of January 2010 and the 1st of September 2016, from the emergencies data-base, have been extracted. The primary endpoint was the existence of an IS defined by a jellyfish sting followed by one of the symptoms among: severe lumbosacral, thoracic or abdominal pain, muscle cramps of the four limbs, profuse sweating, anxiety, restlessness, nausea, or vomiting., Results: Two hundred and eleven envenomation cases have been extracted, 45.0% of them happened between the 22nd and the 26th day of the lunar phase during a period from June to September. Ninety five patients had an IS. Three of them had Quincke's edema and one a cardiopulmonary failure. Other clinical signs have been associated with IS compared to other sting cases, including hypertension (51.6% vs 18.1%, p < 0.001), tremor (32.6% vs 14.7%, p = 0.0014), paresthesia (20.0% vs. 10.3%, p = 0.049), dyspnea (13.7% vs 3.4%, p = 0.006), and the pain evaluation by the visual analogue pain scale (7.5 ± 2.6 and 6.0 ± 2.6, p = 0.001)., Conclusion: Jellyfish envenomation is frequently associated with IS in Guadeloupean emergency wards. The IS cases were probably due to the species Alatina alata, and their periodicity can be determined according to the cycle of the moon. If patients showed symptoms slightly less severe than those in Australian studies, a case of cardiac decompensation, the first out of the Pacific, was observed. Based on our results, new definition of IS and severe IS are proposed., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have both implemented procedures in order to shorten review time for marketing authorizations with potential therapeutic added value, called priority review and accelerated assessment procedure, respectively. The aim of this study is to compare the new molecular entities (NME) assessed in shorter review time by both agencies and to investigate whether granting a shorter review time status subsequently predicts its therapeutic value attributed by a health technology assessment agency, the French Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS)., Methods: All NME approved by the EMA and the FDA with a therapeutic added value between 2007 and June 30, 2015 were extracted. We assessed the sensibility, the positive predictive value, and the EMA review time., Results: One hundred seventy-eight NME were approved by the FDA and the EMA and a therapeutic value was available for 160 NME. Eighty-eight (55.0 %) NME were on FDA priority review, 24 (15.0 %) on EMA accelerated procedure and 43 (26.9 %) were considered of high clinical added value. The sensibility was 86.0 % for the FDA and 30.2 % for the EMA. The positive predictive value was, respectively, 42.0 and 54.2 %. Twenty-five NME on FDA priority review and of high therapeutic added value were not on EMA accelerated assessment procedure, leading to a supplementary mean EMA review time of 146 days., Conclusion: The EMA was restrictive to grant a shorten review time status for products with therapeutic interest during the study period.

"Chiniy-trèf" is a traditional medicinal preparation used in Martinique, French West Indies, for the prevention of all kinds of attempted poisoning and hex. It is produced by the maceration in alcohol (mostly rum) of larvae (caterpillars) of the butterfly Battus polydamas ssp. cebriones, feeding on the leaves of Aristolochia trilobata. Aristolochic acids I and II that are well-known nephrotoxic and carcinogenic substances were identified on two samples of "chiniy-trèfl" by chromatographic methods., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aspalathus linearis (Burm. f.) R. Dahlgren (rooibos) is endemic to the Fynbos Biome of South Africa, which is an internationally recognized biodiversity hot spot. Rooibos is both an invaluable wild resource and commercially cultivated crop in suitable areas. Climate change predictions for the region indicate a significant warming scenario coupled with a decline in winter rainfall. First estimates of possible consequences for biodiversity point to species extinctions of 23% in the long term in the Fynbos Biome. Bioclimatic modelling using the maximum entropy method was used to develop an estimate of the realized niche of wild rooibos and the current geographic distribution of areas suitable for commercially production. The distribution modelling provided a good match to the known distribution and production area of A. linearis. An ensemble of global climate models that assume the A2 emissions scenario of high energy requirements was applied to develop possible scenarios of range/suitability shift under future climate conditions. When these were extrapolated to a future climate (2041-2070) both wild and cultivated tea exhibited substantial range contraction with some range shifts southeastwards and upslope. Most of the areas where range expansion was indicated are located in existing conservation areas or include conservation worthy vegetation. These findings will be critical in directing conservation efforts as well as developing strategies for farmers to cope with and adapt to climate change.

Can markets assist by providing support for ecological restoration, and if so, under what conditions? The first step in addressing this question is to develop a consistent methodology for economic evaluation of ecological restoration projects. A risk analysis process was followed in which a system dynamics model was constructed for eight diverse case study sites where ecological restoration is currently being pursued. Restoration costs vary across each of these sites, as do the benefits associated with restored ecosystem functioning. The system dynamics model simulates the ecological, hydrological and economic benefits of ecological restoration and informs a portfolio mapping exercise where payoffs are matched against the likelihood of success of a project, as well as a number of other factors (such as project costs and risk measures). This is the first known application that couples ecological restoration with system dynamics and portfolio mapping. The results suggest an approach that is able to move beyond traditional indicators of project success, since the effect of discounting is virtually eliminated. We conclude that systems dynamic modelling with portfolio mapping can guide decisions on when markets for restoration activities may be feasible., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Rationale: The analytical composition and botanical origin of honey are basic data used to determine the quality of this foodstuff. Although proteins are used to characterise the analytical composition of honey, they can be eliminated during its ultrafiltration and, in the case of honeys not saturated with their own pollen, the use of proteins does not work well. As acidity is a well-known characteristic of honey and organic acids are present at around 0.5% in honey, we therefore investigated an alternative method to the protein-based White method, using organic acids as new internal standards instead of proteins., Methods: The qualitative and quantitative analyses of 14 organic acids were carried out by ion chromatography with an electrochemical detector. The (13)C/(12)C isotopic ratios of the honeys, and of the organic acids extracted from them with an anion exchange resin, were determined by isotope ratio mass spectrometry., Results: Gluconic acid is the predominant organic acid in honey, at between 1.8 and 12.7 g/kg. For fir honey the major acid is galacturonic acid at around 4.6 g/kg. The isotopic ratios of honeys and of their acids are strongly linked. Correlations between the δ(13)C values of the honey and the acids were significant, and better than those obtained using proteins., Conclusions: This study has provided a method to differentiate honeys from seven botanical origins, based on organic acid analysis. By combining various organic acid contents and isotopic ratio values through statistical processing by Principal Component Analysis it is possible to differentiate honey samples as a function of their botanical origin., (Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Invasions by alien plants are a significant threat to the biodiversity and functioning of ecosystems and the services they provide. The South African Working for Water program was established to address this problem. It needs to formulate objective and transparent priorities for clearing in the face of multiple and sometimes conflicting demands. This study used the analytic hierarchy process (a multi-criteria decision support technique) to develop and rank criteria for prioritising alien plant control operations in the Western Cape, South Africa. Stakeholder workshops were held to identify a goal and criteria and to conduct pair-wise comparisons to weight the criteria with respect to invasive alien plant control. The combination of stakeholder input (to develop decision models) with data-driven model solutions enabled us to include many alternatives (water catchments), that would otherwise not have been feasible. The most important criteria included the capacity to maintain gains made through control operations, the potential to enhance water resources and conserve biodiversity, and threats from priority invasive alien plant species. We selected spatial datasets and used them to generate weights that could be used to objectively compare alternatives with respect to agreed criteria. The analysis showed that there are many high priority catchments which are not receiving any funding and low priority catchments which are receiving substantial allocations. Clearly, there is a need for realigning priorities, including directing sufficient funds to the highest priority catchments to provide effective control. This approach provided a tractable, consensus-based solution that can be used to direct clearing operations., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Invasive alien plants (IAPs) impose significant social costs on the population of the Agulhas Plain region in South Africa due to their adverse impacts on ecosystem goods and services (decreased water supply and increased fire risk). While the cost of clearing IAPs is considerable, this paper assesses opportunities to reduce some of the social and environmental burdens (e.g. disruptions of ecosystems which have negative impacts on livelihoods) by using IAP biomass to produce bio-energy. However, such an initiative could increase financial dependency on these plants and is thus considered to be a major risk factor which could create adverse incentives to illegally grow these plants. A participatory decision-making process with active stakeholder participation is a key element in managing such an initiative. We used a multi-stakeholder engagement process and the analytical hierarchy process to define and weigh suitable criteria for the assessment of different "IAP biomass to bio-energy" technology scenarios on the Agulhas Plain. Feasible scenarios were constructed by means of an expert panel which were then ranked according to stakeholder preference. The six criteria were: minimising impacts on natural resources; job creation; certainty of benefits to local people in the study area; development of skills for life; technology performance and cost efficiency. This ranking was largely determined by the preference for resource efficiency in terms of minimising impacts on natural ecosystems and the localisation of benefits. The smaller, modular technologies were consequently preferred since these realise direct local benefits while developing local skills and capacity in their manufacture, sales and maintenance. The rankings as obtained in this study are context-bound, which implies that the findings only have limited application to areas with similar biophysical and socio-economic characteristics. However, the method itself is fully generalisable, and the same prioritisation process can be followed in any study area to ensure that a participatory decision-making process fulfils local energy needs and contributes to sustainable development., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In an effort to develop local productions of aromatic and medicinal plants, a comprehensive assessment of the composition and biological activities of the essential oils (EOs) extracted from the aerial flowering parts of wild growing Lavandula stoechas L. collected from eleven different locations in northern Algeria was performed. The oils were characterized by GC-FID and GC/MS analyses, and 121 compounds were identified, accounting for 69.88-91.2% of the total oil compositions. The eleven oils greatly differed in their compositions, since only 66 compounds were common to all oils. Major EO components were fenchone (2; 11.27-37.48%), camphor (3, 1.94-21.8%), 1,8-cineole (1; 0.16-8.71%), and viridiflorol (10; 2.89-7.38%). The assessed in vitro biological properties demonstrated that the DPPH-based radical-scavenging activities and the inhibition of the β-carotene/linoleic acid-based lipid oxidation differed by an eight-fold factor between the most and the least active oils and were linked to different sets of molecules in the different EOs. The eleven EOs exhibited good antimicrobial activities against most of the 16 tested strains of bacteria, filamentous fungi, and yeasts, with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) ranging from 0.16 to 11.90 mg/ml., (Copyright © 2011 Verlag Helvetica Chimica Acta AG, Zürich.)

This paper reports an assessment of the current and potential impacts of invasive alien plants on selected ecosystem services in South Africa. We used data on the current and potential future distribution of 56 invasive alien plant species to estimate their impact on four services (surface water runoff, groundwater recharge, livestock production and biodiversity) in five terrestrial biomes. The estimated reductions in surface water runoff as a result of current invasions were >3000 million m(3) (about 7% of the national total), most of which is from the fynbos (shrubland) and grassland biomes; the potential reductions would be more than eight times greater if invasive alien plants were to occupy the full extent of their potential range. Impacts on groundwater recharge would be less severe, potentially amounting to approximately 1.5% of the estimated maximum reductions in surface water runoff. Reductions in grazing capacity as a result of current levels of invasion amounted to just over 1% of the potential number of livestock that could be supported. However, future impacts could increase to 71%. A 'biodiversity intactness index' (the remaining proportion of pre-modern populations) ranged from 89% to 71% for the five biomes. With the exception of the fynbos biome, current invasions have almost no impact on biodiversity intactness. Under future levels of invasion, however, these intactness values decrease to around 30% for the savanna, fynbos and grassland biomes, but to even lower values (13% and 4%) for the two karoo biomes. Thus, while the current impacts of invasive alien plants are relatively low (with the exception of those on surface water runoff), the future impacts could be very high. While the errors in these estimates are likely to be substantial, the predicted impacts are sufficiently large to suggest that there is serious cause for concern.