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There is a growing body of evidence that air pollution is a significant threat to health worldwide. The time exposure to air pollution leads diverse impact on the health. A short-term exposure increases hospital admission and mortality rate, causing mainly respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, including dyspnea; whereas a long-term exposure reduce life expectancy. Although the relationship between short term exposure to air pollution and several cardiovascular pathologies, such as coronaropathy, is widely established, the link regarding cardiac dyspnea is quite controversial. Nevertheless, previous studies are lead on few selected cities preventing a global overview on an entire territory. Here, we aim to fill this gap and finally establish the impact of pollution on cardiac dyspnea, using the “Région Sud” in the south of France, as a model. We focused on the period from 2013 to 2018 for which we dispose of clinical data of people having attended one of the 47 emergency departmentss of the region with symptoms related to cardiac dyspnea, collected by the gip e-santé ORUPACA, for a total of 43,404 events. We collected pollutants (NO2, PM10 and O3) and climate (temperature and pressure) measurements on a daily basis supplied by the French agency AtmoSud. We set up a reproducible statistical framework based on a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) to show the relationship between short term exposure to outdoor air pollution and the incidence of cardiac dyspnoea event for each of the defined 366 areas of the region. This study showed that each pollutant has a significant effect on triggering cardiac dyspnoea. Specifically, we found that the biggest cities of the region, with more than 300000 habitants, such as Marseille and Nice have a significant increase of 1,5 and 1,2 respectively, if the NO2 pass the threshold of 200 mg/m3, three days before the dyspnea event. In cities with habitants between 50000 and 100000, such as Avignon and Fréjus, we found that is the O3 to have the most significant effect on the cardiac dyspnea events. A peak of O3 over 180 mg/m3 in these cities, will increase of five times the number of dyspnea events after 6 days. We observed a milder effect of PM10 on dyspnea events and mainly on cities on the coast, such as Marseille, Nice and Toulon, for which the risk of dyspnea events significantly increase if the level of PM10 overcome 50 mg/m3. Importantly, we established the impact of three different pollutants on hospital admission for cardiac dyspnea in each of the 366 areas in the South of France. Overall, we observed that each pollutant impacts the cardiac dyspnea events on different time frame between the pollution peak and the event, such as: few days for NO2, between 6 and 8 days for O3 and the same day or the day before for PM10. Finally, we developed a user-friendly web application called HEART (Health, Environment in PACA Region Tool) to easily show the results of this study. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: Public grant(s) – EU funding. Main funding source(s): Idex UCAJEDI

Since the 1970's, the Cretaceous–Cenozoic migration of the India subcontinent is fairly well-established. Seafloor magnetic anomalies in the Indian Ocean allow positioning the subcontinent during this time frame. India broke-up slowly from Antarctica in the Early Cretaceous, speed up (~18-20 cm/year) in the Late Cretaceous, and then slow down (~5 cm/year) in the early Cenozoic, a period for which geologists report the first evidences of the India–Eurasia collision leading to the formation of the Himalayan–Tibetan Orogen. However, fossil records as well as biogeography deduced from molecular phylogeny cast a doubt on the tectonicists' confidence on their palaeopositions, because faunal evidences support India as a 'biotic ferry' from its break-up from Gondwana in the Jurassic and then connectivity between Asia and India as early as the Cretaceous. The two types of observations can be reconciled if an Indian Promontory formed when India separated from Australia and Antarctica. In our plate tectonics model, the Indian Promontory drifted northward together with the Indian plate from the Cretaceous, but collided as early as the Campanian with Eurasia, id est about 40 Ma before the northern margin of 'Greater India' collide and form the Himalayas. The proposed Indian Promontory can therefore solve the paradox of having evidences for early land connectivity between India and Asia, the need of excluding unrealistic 'Greater India' (i.e. 4000-4500 km at ca. 80 Ma), and the need of having a plate tectonic scenario consistent with geological records (subsidence curves, exotic origin of terranes from the promontory), geophysical records (age and structure of the Argo Abyssal Plain), and geodynamical consideration about stress transmission of forces acting at plate boundaries.

Resume Recemment, il a ete montre que les differences developpementales observees en memoire de travail tenaient en grande partie a une augmentation de la vitesse de traitement de l’information avec l’âge. La litterature rapporte tres souvent que les enfants intellectuellement precoces ou a haut potentiel intellectuel presenteraient une avance developpementale par rapport a leurs pairs de meme âge. Cette avance se situerait principalement dans les fonctions sous controle du cortex prefrontal. Le but de cette recherche est d’illustrer au travers de l’etude de deux cas d’enfants intellectuellement precoces, la variete des profils pouvant etre observes dans cette population. En fait, malgre un lien fort entre memoire de travail et vitesse de traitement dans le developpement typique, les enfants intellectuellement precoces presentent des heterochronies avec des avances developpementales dans une fonction sans necessairement presenter d’avances dans l’autre. Ces resultats permettent de discuter des caracteristiques du fonctionnement cognitif des enfants a haut potentiel intellectuel.

Re-evaluation of structural evolution on the Laminaria High (Timor Sea, Australia), shows that lithosphere flexure, associated with the Tertiary collision between the Australian north-west margin and the Banda volcanic arc, is an important mechanism for Neogene fault development and the reactivation of Jurassic structures. 2D elastic models of the lithosphere flexure show that increasing flexural extension is likely to affect the Laminaria High from the Late Miocene onwards. The evaluation of the Neogene fault slip history, based on instantaneous throw estimates, suggests an initiation of faulting during the Late Miocene when the Laminaria High entered the flexed area (forebulge). Increasing fault growth is recorded during the Pliocene and correlates with the Laminaria High reaching the hinge of the forebulge structure. Maximum episodes of fault growth are recorded between the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene when the Laminaria High was located near the forebulge hinge or in the slope where curvature and flexural stress are likely to be maximal. NNW extension associated with plate flexure allowed the oblique extensional reactivation of buried reservoir-bounding Jurassic structures. The orientation of the Jurassic structures relative to the flexural extensional front appears as a key factor controlling the type of segment linkage between the reactivated Jurassic faults and the newly developed Neogene faults. Observations from the Laminaria High suggest that with an angle > 20° between σ Hmax and strike orientation of the Jurassic faults, soft-linkage is likely to occur between Jurassic and Neogene segments. An angle

The sediments dynamics and structural development associated with the Late Jurassic rifting phase represent the key factors on the accumulation of hydrocarbon in the Timor Sea. On the Laminaria High (Bonaparte Basin) the main Oxfordian–Kimmeridgian E–W fault system forms structural traps where several discoveries have been made. Recent 3D seismic analysis has been performed based on a combination of classic structural analysis, structure-sensitive seismic attributes (grid-based, surface-based, full-volume) and meta-attribute computations. The analysis has revealed secondary reverse structures associated with the main E–W fabric and prone to act as secondary hydrocarbon traps and/or as migration barriers. The main E–W fault system consists of a complex series of sub-parallel faults that connect via relay ramps or accommodation zones. One of these zones is associated with a transverse anticline resulting from the development of a positive flower structure. The model presented in this article and supported by the interpretation of the seismic data demonstrates that the flower structure developed in an extensional setting. The formation of such a reverse structure can be related to the propagation process of the main E–W fault plane which grows by addition of secondary en-echelon tip faults. Isopach analysis and displacement pattern suggest that a zone of differential displacement occurs between two segments of the main fault plane, inducing local strike-slip movements able to form transpressional uplift associated with restraining bend. This structure related to a rotation of the stress field compartmentalises the early development of the adjacent graben and then controls the distribution of the syn-rift Frigate Fm (Oxfordian–Kimmeridgian).

During the Late Palaeozoic and the Mesozoic, the development and evolution of the North West Shelf of Australia have been mostly driven by rifting phases associated with the break-up of Gondwana. These extensional episodes, which culminated in the opening of the Neotethys Ocean during the Permo-Carboniferous and a series of abyssal plains during the Jurassic-Cretaceous, are characterised by different stress regimes and modes of extension, and therefore had distinctive effects on the margin, and particularly on the Northern Carnarvon Basin. Interpretation of 3D and 2D seismic data enables a structural and stratigraphic analysis of the Late Palaeozoic sediments deposited in the proximal part of the Dampier Sub-basin (Mermaid Nose). Based on their seismic characters, stratigraphic relationship, internal patterns, lateral continuity, and architecture, these units are associated here with the Pennsylvanian?–Early Sakmarian glaciogenic Lyons Group and the Sakmarian–Artinskian Callytharra Formation. The former were deposited in a half-graben whose development is associated with the onset of the Neotethys rifting, and the latter is characterised by restricted deposition, inversion of prograding patterns, and uplift. The integration of seismo-stratigraphic characterisation of the Late Palaeozoic sequences and Mesozoic data from one exploration well (Roebuck-1) enables the construction of subsidence curves for the Mermaid Nose and the interpretation of its geohistory. The tectonic subsidence curves show a striking Permo-Carboniferous rifting phase related to the Neotethys rifting and a discrete Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous event coeval with the opening and the spreading of the Argo Abyssal Plain. This result points out the predominance of the effects of the Permo-Carboniferous Neotethys episode, whereas the extension related to the Argo Abyssal Plain rifting that occurred later and closer to the studied area, had only limited effects on the subsidence of the proximal Dampier Sub-basin. Therefore, it supports a tectonic model with two distinct modes of extension for the Late Palaeozoic (widespread) and the Mesozoic (localised) rifting phases.

We developed a plate tectonic model for the Paleozoic and Mesozoic (Ordovician to Cretaceous) integrating dynamic plate boundaries, plate buoyancy, ocean spreading rates and major tectonic and magmatic events. Plates were constructed through time by adding/removing oceanic material, symbolized by synthetic isochrons, to major continents and terranes. Driving forces like slab pull and slab buoyancy were used to constrain the evolution of paleo-oceanic domains. This approach offers good control of sea-floor spreading and plate kinematics. This new method represents a distinct departure from classical continental drift reconstructions, which are not constrained, due to the lack of plate boundaries. This model allows a more comprehensive analysis of the development of the Tethyan realm in space and time. In particular, the relationship between the Variscan and the Cimmerian cycles in the Mediterranean^Alpine realm is clearly illustrated by numerous maps. For the Alpine cycle, the relationship between the Alpides senso stricto and the Tethysides is also explicable in terms of plate tectonic development of the Alpine Tethys^Atlantic domain versus the NeoTethys domain. fl 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Pre-Variscan basement elements of Central Europe appear in polymetamorphic domains juxtaposed through Variscan and/or Alpine tectonic events. Consequently, nomenclatures and zonations applied to Variscan and Alpine structures, respectively, cannot be valid for pre-Variscan structures. Comparing pre-Variscan relics hidden in the Variscan basement areas of Central Europe, the Alps included, large parallels between the evolution of basement areas of future Avalonia and its former peri- Gondwanan eastern prolongations (e.g. Cadomia, Intra-Alpine Terrane) become evident. Their plate-tectonic evolution from the Late Proterozoic to the Late Ordovician is interpreted as a continuous Gondwana-directed evolution. Cadomian basement, late Cadomian granitoids, late Proterozoic detrital sediments and active margin settings characterize the pre-Cambrian evolution of most of the Gondwana-derived microcontinental pieces. Also the Rheic ocean, separating Avalonia from Gondwana, should have had, at its early stages, a lateral continuation in the former eastern prolongation of peri-Gondwanan microcontinents (e.g. Cadomia, Intra-Alpine Terrane). Subduction of oceanic ridge (Proto-Tethys) triggered the break-off of Avalonia, whereas in the eastern prolongation, the presence of the ridge may have triggered the amalgamation of volcanic arcs and continental ribbons with Gondwana (Ordovician orogenic event). Renewed Gondwana-directed subduction led to the opening of Palaeo-Tethys.

The significance of the Brianconnais domain in the Alpine orogen is reviewed in the light of data concerning its collision with the active Adriatic margin and the passive Helvetic margin. The Brianconnais which formerly belonged to the Iberian plate, was located on the northern margin of the Alpine Tethys (Liguro-Piemont ocean) since its opening in the early-Middle Jurassic. Together with the Iberian plate the Brianconnais terrane was separated from the European plate in the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous, following the northern Atlantic, Bay of Biscay, Valais ocean opening. This was accompanied by the onset of subduction along the northern margin of Adria and the closure of the Alpine Tethys. Stratigraphic and metamorphic data regarding this subduction and the geohistory of the Brianconnais allows the scenario of subduction–obduction processes during the Late Cretaceous–early Tertiary in the eastern and western Alps to be specified. HP–LT metamorphism record a long-lasting history of oceanic subduction-accretion, followed in the Middle Eocene by the incorporation of the Brianconnais as an exotic terrane into the accretionary prism. Middle to Late Eocene cooling ages of the Brianconnais basement and the presence of pelagic, anorogenic sedimentation lasting until the Middle Eocene on the Brianconnais preclude any sort of collision before that time between this domain and the active Adria margin or the Helvetic margin. This is confirmed by plate reconstructions constrained by magnetic anomalies in the Atlantic domain. Only a small percentage of the former Brianconnais domain was obducted, most of the crust and lithospheric roots were subducted. This applies also to domains formerly belonging to the southern Alpine Tethys margin (Austroalpine–inner Carpathian domain). It is proposed that there was a single Palaeogene subduction zone responsible for the Alpine orogen formation (from northern Spain to the East Carpathians), with the exception of a short-lived Late Cretaceous partial closure of the Valais ocean. Subduction in the western Tethyan domain originated during the closure of the Meliata ocean during the Jurassic incorporating the Austroalpine–Carpathian domain as terranes during the Cretaceous. The subduction zone propagated into the northern margin of Adria and then to the northern margin of the Iberian plate, where it gave birth to the Pyrenean–Provencal orogenic belt. This implies the absence of a separated Cretaceous subduction zone within the Austro-Carpathian Penninic ocean. Collision of Iberia with Europe forced the subduction to jump to the SE margin of Iberia in the Eocene, creating the Apenninic orogenic wedge and inverting the vergence of subduction from south- to north-directed.

The Phanerozoic evolution of the western Tethyan region was dominated by terrane collisions and accretions, during the Variscan, Cimmerian and Alpine cycles. Most terranes were derived from Gondwana and present a similar early Palaeozoic evolution. Subsequently, they were detached from Gondwana and affected by different deformation and metamorphic events, which permit to decipher their geodynamic history. Lithospheric scale peri-Mediterranean transects show the present-day juxtaposition of these terranes, but do not allow to unravel their exotic nature or their duplication. To create a reliable palinspastic model around these transects, plate tectonics constraints must be taken into consideration in order to assess the magnitude of lateral displacements. For most of the transects and their different segments, thousand km scale differential transport can be demonstrated.

Reconstructions of the Tethyan realm have been a matter of debate for a long time. Controversies spring usually from a lack of well constrained geological data which can be interpreted in different ways, or, from a lack of constraints on the plate tectonics framework. The western Alps region tends to escape these shortcomings due to a wealth of geological data regarding for examples the rifting and spreading of the Alpine Tethys and its closure, the formation of the Alpine orogenic wedge and accompanying foreland basins, through precise datation of these many events. The larger plate tectonic framework is also well constrained through precise positioning, at least since the Jurassic, of the main plates surrounding the western Alpine Tethys domain, such as the European and African plates, but also the Iberic and Adria micro- plates and the Alboran fragments. Therefore, the Western Alps and surrounding regions represent a key-stone for the western Tethys reconstruction. A detail account of the geological evolution along a western Swiss Alps transect is presented here and confronted to the plate tectonic models derived from a larger western Tethys data base.

A bispectral method is presented for determining the global solar radiation at the earth's surface. The technique involves the use of VISSR data from GMS-3 to obtain cloud parameters which affect the incoming solar radiation, namely fractional cloud amount and cloud albedo. The fractional cloud amount is derived from the infra-red data and the cloud albedo from the visible data, respectively. The two effects are then combined into a single parameter for cloud effectiveness. It was found that the cloud effectiveness is linearly correlated with the atmospheric transmissivity. The regression parameters were estimated from a training data set with the help of pyranometers on the ground. The regression model was then tested by comparison with the estimated solar radiation for another time period and area. The results showed good agreement between the actual and model-derived hourly and daily global radiation with standard errors less than 12% and 14% of the mean, respectively.

The longitudinal-relaxation time τ1 is analysed in the frame-work of a model with discrete and equidistant electronic energy levels. The volume and temperature dependence of τ1 for lithium microscrystals is evaluated. The presented results are in qualitative agreement with the experimental data.

Recent research has led to the development of a new family of synthetic narcotic fentanyl derivatives. Two of these, sufentanil and alfentanil, are already in clinical use abroad and are presently under clinical investigation in the United States. Sufentanil is more potent than fentanyl and is claimed to have fewer side effects and less variability in patient cardiovascular responses under stress. It appears that its primary application will be for high-dose narcotic anesthesia in patients with cardiovascular disease. Alfentanil has a shorter duration of action and is claimed to have less postoperative ventilatory depression than fentanyl. It is being recommended for use via continuous intravenous infusion. It will probably become a popular anesthetic agent for outpatient and short surgical procedures. It should be remembered that at this time very little information concerning these agents is in print. Most of the research has been done by a handful of investigators and much has not been published in peer review publications. Based on the clinical impressions of our European colleagues, one can say that these agents should be as safe and as reliable as fentanyl, but any clinically significant advantages over their parent compound, especially in the case of sufentanil, will have to await more widespread use and controlled investigation.

Fentanyl pharmacokinetics was compared in two groups of adult patients, one group (n = 5) aged less than 50 years, and one group (n = 4) aged greater than 60 years. Despite equivalent doses of fentanyl (10 microgram/kg IV), serum drug concentrations were significantly higher in the older patient group. This was reflected by a prolonged terminal elimination half-life in the elderly compared with the younger patients (945 versus 265 minutes, respectively, p less than 0.005). Volumes of the central compartment and volumes of drug distribution were similar in both patient groups. However, drug clearance was markedly decreased in the elderly (265 versus 991 ml/min, p less than 0.005). These data suggest that a given dose of fentanyl will be clinically effective for a longer period in older patients than in younger patients.

A model system of gaseous electron mobility, excitation, and plasma activity was used to study direct effects of six gases, including four general anesthetics, in oxygen. Helium increased, and nitrogen had minimal effects on gaseous excitation. Nitrous oxide, as well as the potent anesthetics halothane, enflurane, and isoflurane, inhibited gaseous excitation, nitrous oxide having the weakest anesthetic effect. The data are compatible with the view that anesthetic inhibition is mediated by Van der Waals dipole dispersion interactions among anesthetic molecules (e.g., halogenated hydrocarbons) and electrons accelerated by the applied field. Dipole dispersion interactions may also mediate anesthetic effects on synaptic protein conformational control.

The blood-gas partition coefficient of enflurane was measured in nine nonobese and eight morbidity obese patients and correlated with weight, body mass index, and blood hemoglobin. The enflurane blood-gas partition coefficient was lower in the obese patients than in nonobese patients (mean +/- SEM: 2.03 +/- 0.02 versus 1.76 +/- 0.03, respectively, p less than 0.025). There was a negative correlation between enflurane blood solubility and both body mass index and weight (r = 0.59 and -0.55, respectively, p less than 0.01). A positive correlation was found between hemoglobin and the enflurane blood-gas partition coefficient (r = 0.69, p less than 0.01). Equilibrium between inspired and alveolar enflurane concentration should be faster in morbidity obese and anemic patients than in healthy, nonobese patients.

Reference CRPP-ARTICLE-1975-017doi:10.1007/BF01594046View record in Web of Science Record created on 2008-04-16, modified on 2017-05-12

The blood-gas partition coefficient of enflurane was measured in nine nonobese and eight morbidity obese patients and correlated with weight, body mass index, and blood hemoglobin. The enflurane blood-gas partition coefficient was lower in the obese patients than in nonobese patients (mean +/- SEM: 2.03 +/- 0.02 versus 1.76 +/- 0.03, respectively, p less than 0.025). There was a negative correlation between enflurane blood solubility and both body mass index and weight (r = 0.59 and -0.55, respectively, p less than 0.01). A positive correlation was found between hemoglobin and the enflurane blood-gas partition coefficient (r = 0.69, p less than 0.01). Equilibrium between inspired and alveolar enflurane concentration should be faster in morbidity obese and anemic patients than in healthy, nonobese patients.

Fentanyl pharmacokinetics was compared in two groups of adult patients, one group (n = 5) aged less than 50 years, and one group (n = 4) aged greater than 60 years. Despite equivalent doses of fentanyl (10 microgram/kg IV), serum drug concentrations were significantly higher in the older patient group. This was reflected by a prolonged terminal elimination half-life in the elderly compared with the younger patients (945 versus 265 minutes, respectively, p less than 0.005). Volumes of the central compartment and volumes of drug distribution were similar in both patient groups. However, drug clearance was markedly decreased in the elderly (265 versus 991 ml/min, p less than 0.005). These data suggest that a given dose of fentanyl will be clinically effective for a longer period in older patients than in younger patients.