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Although studies used machine learning algorithms to predict performances in sports activities, none, to the best of our knowledge, have used and validated two artificial intelligence techniques: artificial neural network (ANN) and k-nearest neighbor (KNN) in the running discipline of marathon and compared the accuracy or precision of the predicted performances. Official French rankings for the 10-km road and marathon events in 2019 were scrutinized over a dataset of 820 athletes (aged 21, having run 10 km and a marathon in the same year that was run slower, etc.). For the KNN and ANN the same inputs (10-km race time, body mass index, age and sex) were used to solve a linear regression problem to estimate the marathon race time. No difference was found between the actual and predicted marathon performances for either method (p>0,05). All predicted performances were significantly correlated with the actual ones, with very high correlation coefficients (r>0,90; p

The wind speed varies significantly within a neighborhood due to building and vegetation size and position. A good estimation of these spatial variations is useful for several applications (outdoor thermal comfort, air pollution, building energy consumption and thermal comfort, etc.) but might be time-consuming using Computational Fluid Dynamic tools and difficult to produce for non experts.URock is a Python library that has been developped within UMEP, a city-based climate service tool integrated as plug-in in the free and open source QGIS software. It is based on the Röckle approach already used in non open source softwares such as QUIC-URB and SkyHelios: first an initial wind field is set according to empirical laws derived from wind tunnel observations; second the mass air flow is balanced minimizing the modifications of the initial wind field. This method is less accurate than traditional CFD method but quicker and simple to implement for non specialists. This work presents the evaluation of URock against wind tunnel observations.

URock 2023a is an open source diagnostic model dedicated to wind field calculation in urban setting. It is based on a quick method initially proposed by Röckle and already implemented in the proprietary software QUIC-URB. First, the model method is described as well as its implementation in the free and open source geographic information system called QGIS. Then it is evaluated against wind tunnel measurements and QUIC-URB simulations for four different building settings plus one case with an isolated tree. The correlation between URock and QUIC-URB is high and URock reproduces quite well the spatial variations of the wind speed observed in the wind tunnel experiments. Sources of improvements are highlighted, which are applicable both for URock and QUIC-URB. URock 2023a is available via the Urban Multiscale Environment Predictor (UMEP), a city-based climate service tool designed for researchers and service providers presented as a plugin for QGIS. The model, data and scripts used to write this manuscript can be freely accessed at https://zenodo.org/record/7681245.

Background Selection for feed efficiency is one of the best ways to decrease poultry production costs and environmental impacts. While literature on its genetic determinism is abundant, it is limited to one or a few periodic values over the animals’ lifespans. With the development of new phenotyping tools, kinetics of growth and feed intake are now available, providing access to daily data on feed efficiency. In this study, over the course of 6 weeks, we described the kinetics of body weight (BW), average daily weight gain (ADG), feed intake (FI), and daily cumulative feed conversion ratio (DCFCR) using electronic feed stations. We then estimated the genetic parameters of daily data in two fast growing lines of chicken divergently selected for breast meat ultimate pH (heritability and genetic correlations with breast meat yield and pH). Results Birds from the line selected to have a more acidic meat (pHu-), were more efficient than those selected to have a less acidic meat (pHu+), with a 4.3% higher BW from d7 to d29 and 5.0% better feed efficiency from d12 to slaughter. The line effect for ADG and DCFCR appeared to be significant as early as d5, which is consistent with the early age at which metabolic differences between the two lines appear. Genetic parameters estimated within each line revealed different genetic determinisms of growth and feed efficiency, with a higher impact of maternal effects on BW during the growing phase (d10 to d20) in the pHu+ line and much higher heritability values of DCFCR during the finishing phase (d26-d42) in the pHu- line. Conclusion Genetic profiles of daily performance highlighted the difference between both lines. Their behavior during dietary transitions reinforced the already known impact of these periods in the animals’ lives. Based on the profiles of genetic parameters within each line, it seems feasible to identify early criteria for selecting feed efficiency, but they must be defined for each line, as the genetic determinism of these traits is line-dependent.

Background LV asymmetric remodeling (LVAR) is a feature commonly found in AS patients and it is presumed to be mainly related to the severity of valve stenosis. The aim of this study was to determine the associated factors and impact on left ventricular (LV) systolic function of LVAR in patients with mild and moderate aortic valve stenosis (AS). Methods Clinical, Doppler-echocardiographic and computed-tomographic data of 155 AS patients with preserved LV ejection fraction (≥50%) prospectively recruited in the PROGRESSA study ( NCT01679431 ) were analyzed. LVAR was defined as a septal wall thickness ≥ 13 mm and a ratio of septal/posterior wall thickness > 1.5. LV global longitudinal strain (LV-GLS) was available in 129 patients. Plasma levels of N-terminal natriuretic B-type peptides (Nt-proBNP) were also measured. Results Mean age was 63 ± 15 years (70% men). LVAR was present in 21% (n = 33) of patients. A series of nested multivariate analysis revealed that age was the only factor associated with LVAR (all p ≤ 0.03). Additionally, these patients had higher baseline Nt-proBNP ratio (median [25–75 percentiles]: 1.04 [0.66–2.41] vs. 0.65 [0.33–1.19], p = 0.02), and significantly reduced LV-GLS (17.9[16.6–19.5] vs. 19.3[17.4–20.7] |%|, p = 0.04). A 1:1 matched analysis showed a significant association of LVAR with reduced LV-GLS (17.9[16.6–19.5] vs. 19.8[18.1–20.7] |%|, p = 0.02) and elevated Nt-proBNP (134[86–348] vs. 83[50–179]pg/ml, p = 0.03). Multivariable analysis also revealed that LVAR remains significantly associated with reduced LV-GLS (p = 0.03) and elevated Nt-proBNP (p = 0.001). LVAR was significantly associated with increased risk of major adverse cardiac events and death (Hazard ratio [95% confidence interval]: 2.32[1.28–4.22], p = 0.006). Conclusions LVAR was found in ~20% of patients with mild or moderate AS and was not related to the degree of AS severity or concomitant comorbidities, but rather to older age. LVAR was significantly associated with reduced LV longitudinal systolic function, increased Nt-proBNP levels, and higher risk of major adverse events and death. These findings provide support for closer clinical and echocardiographic surveillance of patients harboring this adverse LV remodeling feature.

BACKGROUND Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is the reference method for evaluation of aortic stenosis (AS), and it is extensively used to quantitate left ventricular (LV) mass and volumes. Regional upper septal hypertrophy (USH) or septal bulge is a frequent finding in patients with AS and may lead to overestimation of LV mass when using linear measurements. The objective of this study was to compare estimates of LV mass obtained by two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiographic LV dimensions measured at different levels of the LV cavity with those obtained by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). METHODS One hundred six patients (mean age, 63 ± 15 years; 68% men) with AS were included in this subanalysis of the PROGRESSA study. Two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiographic measurements of LV dimensions were obtained at the basal level (BL; as recommended in guidelines), immediately below the septal bulge (BSB), and at a midventricular level (ML). Regional USH was defined as a basal interventricular septal thickness ≥ 13 mm and >1.3 times the thickness of the septal wall at the ML. Agreement between transthoracic echocardiographic and CMR measures was evaluated using Bland-Altman analysis. RESULTS The distribution of AS severity was mild in 23%, moderate in 57%, and severe in 20% of patients. Regional USH was present in 28 patients (26%). In the whole cohort, two-dimensional TTE overestimated LV mass (bias: BL, +60 ± 31 g; BSB, +59 ± 32 g; ML, +54 ± 32 g; P = .02). The biplane Simpson method slightly but significantly underestimated LV end-diastolic volume (bias -10 ± 20 mL, P

This study examined the validity and compared the precision and accuracy of a distance-time linear model (DTLM), a power law and a nomogram to predict the distance running performances of female runners. Official rankings of French women (“senior” category: between 23 and 39 years old) for the 3000-m, 5000-m, and 10,000-m track-running events from 2005 to 2019 were examined. Performances of runners who competed in the three distances during the same year were noted (n=158). Mean values and standard deviation (SD) of actual performances were 11.28±1.33, 19.49±2.34 and 41.03±5.12 for the 3000-m, 5000-m, and 10,000-m respectively. Each performance was predicted from two other performances. Between the actual and predicted performances, only DTLM showed a difference (p0.90), except for DTLM in the 3000-m, which showed a high correlation coefficient (p0.895). Bias and 95% limits of agreement were acceptable because, whatever the method, they were≤–3.7±10.8% on the 3000-m, 1.4±4.3% on the 5000-m, and -2.5±7.4% on the 10,000-m. The study confirms the validity of the three methods to predict track-running performance and suggests that the most accurate and precise model was the nomogram followed by the power law, with the DTLM being the least accurate.

The optimal timing for mitral valve (MV) surgery in asymptomatic patients with primary mitral regurgitation (MR) remains controversial. We aimed at evaluating the relation between left ventricular ejection time (LVET) and outcome in patients with moderate or severe chronic primary MR because of prolapse. Clinical, Doppler echocardiographic, and outcome data prospectively collected from 302 patients (median age 61 [54 to 74] years, 34% women) with moderate or severe primary MR were analyzed. Patients were retrospectively stratified by quartiles of LVET. The primary end point of the study was the composite of need for MV surgery or all-cause mortality. During a median follow-up time of 66 (25th to 75th percentile, 33 to 95) months, 178 patients reached the primary end point. Patients in the lowest quartile of LVET (lt;260 ms) were at high risk for adverse events compared with those in the other quartiles of LVET (global p = 0.005), whereas the rate of events was similar for the other quartiles (p = NS for all). After adjustment for clinical predictors of outcome, including age, gender, history of atrial fibrillation, MR severity, and current recommended triggers for MV surgery in asymptomatic primary MR, LVETlt;260 ms was associated with an increased risk of events (adjusted hazard ratio 1.49, 95% confidence interval 1.03 to 2.16, p = 0.033). In conclusion, we observed that shorter LVET is associated with increased risk of adverse events in patients with moderate or severe primary MR because of prolapse. Further studies are required to investigate whether shorter LVET has a direct effect on outcomes or is solely a risk marker in primary MR.

Information describing the elements of urban landscapes is required as input data to study numerous physical processes (e.g., climate, noise, air pollution). However, the accessibility and quality of urban data is heterogeneous across the world. As an example, a major open-source geographical data project (OpenStreetMap) demonstrates incomplete data regarding key urban properties such as building height. The present study implements and evaluates a statistical approach that models the missing values of building height in OpenStreetMap. A random forest method is applied to estimate building height based on a building’s closest environment. A total of 62 geographical indicators are calculated with the GeoClimate tool and used as independent variables. A training dataset of 14 French communes is selected, and the reference building height is provided by the BDTopo IGN. An optimized random forest algorithm is proposed, and outputs are compared with an evaluation dataset. At building scale for all cities, at least 50 % of the buildings have their height estimated with an error of less than 4 m (the cities' median building heights range from 4.5 to 18 m). Two communes (Paris and Meudon) demonstrate building height results that deviate from the main trend due to their specific urban fabrics. Putting aside these two communes, when building height is averaged at a regular grid scale (100 m×100 m), the median absolute error is 1.6 m, and at least 75 % of the cells of any city have an error lower than 3.2 m. This level of magnitude is quite reasonable when compared to the accuracy of the reference data (at least 50 % of the buildings have a height uncertainty equal to 5 m). This work offers insights about the estimation of missing urban data using statistical methods and contributes to the use of open-source datasets based on open-source software. The software used to produce the data is freely available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6372337 (Bocher et al., 2021b), and the dataset can be freely accessed at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6855063 (Bernard et al., 2021).

International audience; Human activities induce changes on land use and land cover. These changes are most significant in urban areas where topographic features (e.g., building, road) affect the density of impervious surface areas and introduce a range of urban morphological patterns. Those characteristics impact the energy balance and modify the climate locally (e.g., inducing the so-called Urban Heat Island phenomenon).Therefore, there is a need for georeferenced morphological indicators as well as urban classifications (such as Local Climate Zones) that can be directly used for planning or as inputs of climate models. GeoClimate is dedicated to this purpose: it converts raw geographical data (OpenStreetMap and French BDTopo) into indicators useful for climate applications (sky view factor, vegetation fraction, etc.) However, its application is not limited to the climate field.The indicators calculated in GeoClimate can also be used for other diagnostic or planning purposes: studying the territory fragmentation, the influence of the urban fabric on pollution (noise or air chemical transport), the energy consumption, etc. GeoClimate is available as free and open source geospatial software.

Wind speed is one of the key parameter affecting human thermal comfort: high wind speed during winter and low wind speed during summer may exacerbate respectively cold and heat stress. In urban areas, where more than 50% of the world population is currently living, the wind field is strongly affected by the size and the organization of the obstacles (mainly buildings and trees). Simple and quick estimation of the wind speed and direction in an urban setting could then be an interesting information for urban planning purpose. To calculate a high resolution three-dimensional wind field in an urban setting, Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) models are mostly used. They usually solve advection and turbulence equations by an iterative process which is too long for most of the urban planning applications. To reduce this time, Röckle (1990) proposed:to decrease the number of iteration by initializing the wind field around buildings: this is done by modeling empirically the wind speed and direction using results from wind tunnel observations, to solve only the advection equation from this initial wind field since the turbulence is supposed roughly “solved” by the initialization. At our knowledge, at least two models have been developed using this approach: QUIC-URB (Brown et al. 2018) and the second is part of the SkyHelios software (Fröhlich and Matzarakis, 2018). However: (i) none of these softwares are open-source (i.e. source code is not freely available), it is then rather complicated to propose scientific improvements and (ii) none of them are integrated in a commonly used GIS-based urban planning tool which would popularize their use by urban planners.Our presentation will focus on the development of our tool called URock, an open-source application of the Röckle methodology. If the results produced by this tool are consistent with observation, it should be included in QGIS (a commonly used urban planning GIS) through the plug-in UMEP (Lindberg et al. 2017).ReferencesBrown, Michael John. Quick Urban and Industrial Complex (QUIC) CBR Plume Modeling System: Validation-Study Document. No. LA-UR-18-29993. Los Alamos National Lab.(LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States), 2018.Fröhlich, Dominik, and Andreas Matzarakis. "Spatial estimation of thermal indices in Urban Areas—Basics of the SkyHelios Model." Atmosphere 9.6 (2018): 209.Lindberg F, Grimmond CSB, Gabey A, Huang B, Kent CW, Sun T, Theeuwes N, Järvi L, Ward H, Capel-Timms I, Chang YY, Jonsson P, Krave N, Liu D, Meyer D, Olofson F, Tan JG, Wästberg D, Xue L, Zhang Z (2018) Urban Multi-scale Environmental Predictor (UMEP) - An integrated tool for city-based climate services. Environmen tal Modelling and Software.99, 70-87 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2017.09.020Röckle, R., 1990: Bestimmung der Strömungsverhältnisse im Bereich komplexer Bebauungsstruk-turen. PhD thesis Fachbereich Mechanik der Technischen Hochschule Darmstadt Darmstadt.

International audience; Poultry production currently relies on the use of soybean as the main protein and energy source. Reducing its proportion in poultry diets and partly replacing it with local feedstuffs would improve sustainability by reducing dependence on importations and the environmental impact of production. In this study, we evaluated the impact of replacing soybean by sunflower meal, fava bean, canola meal, and dried distillers’ grains with solubles on the performance of rapid- and slow-growing chickens. Animals were reared in groups and on the floor. Individual body weight and feed intake data were collected throughout each animal’s life thanks to an electronic feed station. At 5 weeks (for broilers) and 12 weeks (for slow- growing chickens), the birds were slaughtered to obtain carcass composition and meat quality data. Adaptation to the alternative diet was studied separately for each genotype. Firstly, we did ANOVA with diet effect on daily data of individual body weight, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio. Secondly, the variability of performances within the group was studied by ANOVA with effects of diet, period and their interaction. Finally, the correlations between daily performances and final performances at slaughter were calculated to understand the construction of final phenotypes and to identify early indicators of final performances.The results first showed that the animals adapted well to the alternative diet, mean daily and final performances being mostly similar between the two diets for both genotypes (

Current management of patients with aortic valve disease, including aortic valve stenosis (AS), aortic valve regurgitation (AR), and mixed aortic valve disease (MAVD), remains challenging. American and European guideline recommendations regarding the timing of intervention are mainly based on the assessment of disease severity (ie, grading), presence of symptoms related to aortic valve disease, left ventricular systolic dysfunction, or LV enlargement. Furthermore, the decision regarding the type of intervention (ie, surgical vs transcatheter) is primarily based on risk assessment from surgical risk scores. There is, however, less emphasis on the importance of the assessment of anatomic and functional cardiac repercussions of aortic valve disease to guide the clinical management of these patients. Recently, a novel approach has been proposed to improve the management of aortic valve disease with 2 main components for risk stratification of the disease: 1) grading the severity of aortic valve disease, and 2) staging the extent of extravalvular cardiac damage associated with aortic valve disease with the use of echocardiography. To date, this novel approach of extravalvular cardiac damage staging was proposed and validated only in the context of AS but could be extended to other valvular heart diseases, including AR and MAVD. Further studies are also needed to test the incremental value of additional imaging parameters (eg, myocardial fibrosis by magnetic resonance) as well as blood biomarkers (eg, natriuretic peptide, cardiac troponin, and others) to the existing cardiac damage staging schemes.

Introduction: Transcatheter valve-in-valve implantation (ViV) has emerged as an alternative to redo surgery (REDO) for the treatment of failed surgical aortic bioprostheses. However, there are few studies comparing clinical and hemodynamic outcomes between REDO and ViV in both the short- and long- term follow-up. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare hemodynamic and clinical outcomes between REDO and ViV. Methods: A total of 184 patients who underwent REDO or ViV at our institution between 2003 and 2017 were included in this study. Clinical and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) data were collected for each patient. TTE was performed prior and after the reintervention and were retrospectively analyzed in an echocardiography core laboratory. An inverse propensity treatment weighting (IPTW) was used to compare outcomes between groups. Results: 104 patients underwent REDO and 80 underwent ViV. Prevalence of suboptimal valve hemodynamics (mean gradient ≥ 20 mmHg and/or ≥ moderate aortic regurgitation) following reintervention was higher in ViV group (29.8% vs. 61.3%, p Conclusions: ViV was associated with lower risk of 30-day but higher risk of long-term mortality compared to REDO.

Prosthetic choice for mitral valve replacement is generally driven by patient age and patient and surgeon preference, and current guidelines do not discriminate between different etiologies of mitral valve disease. Our objective was to assess and compare short- and long-term outcomes after mitral valve replacement among patients with biological or mechanical prostheses in the setting of severe ischemic mitral regurgitation.Between 2000 and 2016, 424 patients underwent mitral valve replacement for severe ischemic mitral regurgitation at our institution, using biological prosthesis in 188 (44%) and mechanical prosthesis in 236 (56%). A 1:1 propensity score match (n = 126 per group) and inverse probability of treatment weighting were used to compare groups. Short-term outcomes included in-hospital mortality and other cardiovascular adverse events. Long-term outcomes included survival and hospital readmission for cardiovascular causes, stroke, and major bleeding.In-hospital mortality and early postoperative adverse events were similar between groups in the propensity score match and inverse probability of treatment weighting cohorts. Overall long-term survival was similar at 5 and 9 years, but mechanical prosthesis recipients were more frequently readmitted to hospital for cardiovascular causes, including stroke and non-neurological bleeding in propensity score matching and inverse probability of treatment weighting analyses (all P values .004). Type of prosthesis did not independently influence all-cause mortality (hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% confidence interval, 0.71-1.43; P = .959), but placement of a mechanical prosthesis was associated with increased risk of readmission for cardiovascular events (hazard ratio, 1.65; 95% confidence interval, 1.17-2.32; P = .004) among matched patients.The type of prosthesis has no influence on long-term survival among patients with severe ischemic mitral regurgitation undergoing mitral valve replacement. There may be an increased risk of neurologic events and serious bleeding associated with mechanical prostheses.

International audience; This article presents the construction of a dataset describing French cities in terms of morphology, construction materials, and human behaviour related to building energy consumption. It describes an improvement of the urban climate model TEB to take into account the variety of building use and human behaviour at district scale. These developments are useful for modeling the urban climate and its interaction with building energy consumption and can help to better quantify the effect of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures in French cities.; Cet article présente l'assemblage d'un jeu de données caractérisant les villes françaises en termes de morphologie, matériaux de construction et comportements énergétiques. Il expose une amélioration du modèle de climat urbain TEB pour prendre en compte une variété d'usages et de comportements énergétiques à l'échelle du quartier. Ces développements permettent de modéliser le climat urbain et son interaction avec la consommation énergétique dans les bâtiments et aideront à mieux quantifier l'effet de mesures d'atténuation et d'adaptation face au changement climatique dans les villes françaises.

International audience; Shelters used to protect air temperature sensors from solar radiation induce a measurement error. This work presents a semi-empirical model based on meteorological variables to evaluate this error. The model equation is based on the analytical solution of a simplified energy balance performed on a naturally ventilated shelter. Two main physical error causes are identified from this equation: one is due to the shelter response time and the other is due to its solar radiation sensitivity. A shelter intercomparison measurement campaign performed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is used to perform a non-linear regression of the model coefficients. The regression coefficient values obtained for each shelter are found to be consistent with their expected physical behavior. They are then used to simply classify shelters according to their response time and radiation sensitivity characteristics. Finally, the ability of the model to estimate the temperature error within a given shelter is assessed and compared to the one of two existing models (proposed by Cheng and by Nakamura). For low-response-time shelters, our results reduce the root mean square error by about 15% (0.07 K) on average when compared with other compensation schemes.

International audience; Green areas induce smaller increases in the air temperature than built-up areas. They can offer a solution to mitigating the urban heat island impacts during heat waves, since the cool air generated by a park is diffused into its immediate surroundings through forced or natural convection. The purpose of this study is to characterize the effect of several variables (park size, morphology of surrounding urban area, and wind speed) on the spreading of cool air. A parametric study is performed to run computational fluid dynamics simulations. The air temperature entering the computational domain was set at 35 °C, and the 2-m high surface included within the 34 °C isotherm was defined as an indicator of cool air spreading. The effects of park shape and orientation were negligible in comparison with size effects. The number of buildings was better correlated with the cooled surface area than the typical urban parameters identified in the literature (i.e., building density, aspect ratio, or mean building height). Since the number of buildings is obviously related to the number of streets, this result suggests that the greater the number of streets around a park, the wider the area that cool air spreads.

The sky view factor (SVF) has an important role in the analysis of the urban micro-climate. A new vector-based SVF calculation tool was implemented in a free and open source Geographic Information System named OrbisGIS. Its accuracy and computational performance are compared to the ones of an existing raster based algorithm used in SAGA-GIS. The study is performed on 72 urban blocks selected within the Paris commune territory. This sample has been chosen to represent the heterogeneity of nine of the ten Local Climate Zone built types. The effect of the algorithms&rsquo, input parameters (ray length, number of directions and grid resolution) is investigated. The combination minimizing the computation time and the SVF error is identified for SAGA-GIS and OrbisGIS algorithms. In both cases, the standard deviation of the block mean SVF estimate is about 0.03. A simple linear relationship having a high determination coefficient is also established between block mean SVF and the facade density fraction, confirming the results of previous research. This formula and the optimized combinations for the OrbisGIS and the SAGA-GIS algorithms are finally used to calculate the SVF of every urban block of the Paris commune.

International audience; A growing demand from urban planning services and various research thematics concerns urban fabric characterization. Several projects (such as WUDAPT) are currently lead in the urban climate field to answer this demand. However there is currently a need to propose standardized methods to calculate urban indicators and to automatically classify the urban fabric for any city in the world as well as to propose platforms to share these methods and the associated results. Our contribution answers partially to this challenge. A total of 64 standardized urban morphological indicators are calculated for three scales of analysis: building, block and a reference spatial unit (RSU). A supervised classification is performed for the building and the RSU scales using a regression trees model based on these indicators and on 10 urban fabric typological classes defined by urbanists and architects. A processing chain is proposed to realize indicator calculation and urban fabric classification for any french municipality according to reference data provided by the French National Geographical Institute (IGN). Spatial reasoning and morphological indicators description are formalized with SQL language and statistical analysis is carried out with R language. Finally a geoprocessing framework based on free and open source softwares, conform to the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards and ready to serve open data is built. Indicators values and classification results for 6% of the french municipalities (corresponding to 41% of all french buildings) are available through a web cartographic portal by any person interested in such analysis.

International audience; In a dense urban area, pavement watering could be a solution to mitigate the Urban Heat Island. For now, mainly experimental studies have been used to evaluate watering techniques. In this study, a soil model dedicated to pavement watering has been developed within the urban climate model SOLENE-Microclimat. This watering model is presented and evaluated via a measurement campaign performed on an asphalt car park during hot days. The measurements campaign reveals that the surface cooling is mainly due to evaporation (80%). However, under warm conditions, the heat flux exchanged between the runoff water and the surface should also be modelled. Indeed, watering events are modelled through a runoff convective heat flux and a latent heat flux. The mean daily RMSE between estimated and observed surface temperature is 1.04 °C, 0.86 °C, 0.66 °C, 0.35 °C and 0.21 °C.

International audience; Radiative balance and heat storage capacity modifications play a major role in urban heat island formation. Urban shape determines the receipt and loss of radiation and consequently the heat storage potential, thus resulting in a higher air temperature.In order to analyze the interactions between climate and urban shape, the territory is partitioned from the road network into elementary areas: the city blocks.Nine geographical and two climatic indicators are computed at city block scale. The geographical ones are produced thanks to OrbisGIS platform from geographical data supplied by the French IGN. The first climatic indicator, the urban albedo, is computed from solar simulations with Solene model on 230 city blocks to characterize the radiative balance. The second one, the air temperature time shift, is calculated from three years of measurements between eight city blocks and a reference sites to characterize the heat storage properties of the urban fabric.Relationships between those climatic and geographical indicators are investigated using linear regression analysis. Facade density is the geographical indicator which best explains both radiative and heat storage properties at city block scale. From the relationships identified previously and geographical data, climatic maps are produced to assess urban vulnerability to climate change

International audience; Urban air temperature varies along time and space. This contribution proposes a methodology to model these variations from empirical models. Four air temperature networks are implemented in three west France cities. The period [1.4-1.8] of a normalized night is investigated. Three empirical models are established, in order to predict temporal and spatial air temperature variation. They are gathered under the name of model group. Urban heat island (UHI) intensity is explained according to one temporal model using meteorological variables. Temperature spatial variations are explained from two models using geographical informations averaged in a 500 m radius buffer circle. The first one represents the mean UHI value for a given location, the second the variability of the UHI around its mean value. 32 model groups are calibrated from data sampled by one network. The accuracy of their estimations is tested comparing estimated to observed values from the three other networks. The most accurate model is identified and its performances are analyzed. Night-time UHI intensity variations are explained all along the year by wind speed and nebulosity values calculated after sunset. During spring and summer season UHI variations are mainly driven by Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) value whereas building density or surface density are predominant explicative variables during colder seasons. The model is finally applied to the city of Nantes during a summer night to illustrate the interest of this work to urban planning applications. Several warm areas located outside the city center are identified according to this method. Their high UHI value is mainly caused by their low NDVI value.

International audience; The main purpose of this study is to propose a model that well reproduces the heat storage flux into urban ground as well as surface temperature evolution. For that purpose a complete bibliographic review is first achieved. Some lacks are identified and the methodology to define the model in agreement with the conclusions of the literature review is presented as well as the way to assess its performances. Three nodes distributions are proposed regarding ground temperature profiles using an analytic solution. A sensitivity study is achieved on a large number of parameters: the material properties, the size of the layers, the deep boundary condition, and the convective heat transfer coefficient. The model ability to reproduce heat conduction transfer is validated thanks to a measurement campaign realized on a large asphalt˚Corresponding parking lot during two clear and hot days. The RMSE between estimated and observed surface temperature is 0.75 0 C. The validation also include comparison with temperature at 4 different depths. The RMSE are 0.73 0 C, 0.48 0 C, 0.21 0 C and 0.06 0 C respectively at 5cm, 10cm, 34cm and 50cm. Performances obtained with the model using different nodes distributions are discussed and compared with results from the literature. The model presents better performances than most of others models applied in quite similar conditions. Finally, the application of the proposed model at a yearly scale demonstrates that the accuracy loss caused by the decrease of the nodes number depends on weather conditions. In particular, the most difficult days to simulate are clear and sunny days.

The aim of the present study was to establish the presence of BMP type I and II receptor presence in preantral follicles and to investigate the effect of BMP4 supplementation on preantral follicle activation and development during organotypic culture of prepubertal ovine ovarian cortex pieces. Ovine ovarian fragments were cultured with varying concentrations (0, 25, 50 or 100 ng/ml) of BMP4 in the presence or absence of FSH in the culture media to determine the optimal minimum dose for preantral follicle activation and development. Follicular morphometry, immunohistochemistry for BMPR-IA, BMPR-IB, BMPR-II, proliferating cell nuclear antigen and TUNEL progesterone and 17β-oestradiol production were assessed. Follicle and oocyte diameter were positively influenced by the addition of BMP4 to culture. However, there was no effect of BMP4 on primordial follicle activation. Treatment with BMP4 reduced progesterone synthesis but had no effect on oestradiol. The percentage of primordial follicles stained with TUNEL was significantly greater in the culture without BMP4 compared to other culture systems after 9 days of culture. There was an increase in PCNA immunoreactivity in all follicles regardless of treatment. Treatment with BMP4 increases the size of oocytes and follicles but has minimal effects on follicular dynamics during in vitro culture of ovarian cortical tissue of sheep.

The process of folliculogenesis is a complex and dynamic process that is regulated by positive and negative factors. During folliculogenesis in the mammalian ovary, the primordial follicle pool is gradually reduced through successive waves of follicle growth. It is important that this pool is carefully regulated, otherwise premature ovarian failure will occur. This process results in the ovulation of an ovocyte or more commonly, the loss of ovocytes through atresia. The majority of research has concentrated on the positive regulators of follicle growth with very little attention on the negative regulators. Nonetheless, there are several factors that have been observed to inhibit follicle activation and development. In this review, we summarize those here.

Urban Heat Island (UHI) is defined as the air temperature difference between the city and its surrounding areas. This phenomenon varies spatially (depending on the type of urban fabric constituting each neighborhood) and temporally (depending on the time of the day, on the season and on the weather conditions). This contribution proposes a methodology to model the UHI spatially and temporally using simple models built with free and open sources softwares (orbisGIS and python language). Ten air temperature sensors have been implemented in several neighborhoods of the Nantes urban area (a west coast french conurbation). The difference of UHI is observed and modeled for each of those sites. Spatial differences are modeled according to geographical indicators characterizing the urban surroundings of each temperature station. Temporal variations are modeled according to weather conditions (such as wind speed, solar radiations, etc.) for different time scales : diurnal and nocturnal differences, daily variations and seasonal variations. The objective is to create a method which may be applied for any city in France. Geographical indicators are then calculated with OrbisGIS software from geographical data which are homogeneous and available at the french territory scale. Wheather conditions are recorded by MeteoFrance stations, which follow the same standard for the measurement of climatic parameters all around France. Climatic data analysis and modeling are performed with Python language using libraries such as Pandas and StatsModels. Modeled established according to the Nantes temperature dataset are verificated according to new air temperature networks implemented in the city of Nantes as well as other cities of west France (Angers, La Roche-sur-Yon).

STUDY HYPOTHESIS Is the c-Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway implicated in primordial follicle activation? STUDY FINDING Culture of ovine ovarian cortex in the presence of two different c-Jun phosphorylation inhibitors impeded pre-antral follicle activation. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Despite its importance for fertility preservation therapies, the mechanisms of primordial follicle activation are poorly understood. Amongst different signalling pathways potentially involved, the JNK pathway has been previously shown to be essential for cell cycle progression and pre-antral follicle development in mice. STUDY DESIGN, SAMPLES/MATERIALS, METHODS Ovine ovarian cortex pieces were cultured with varying concentrations of SP600125, JNK inhibitor VIII or anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) in the presence of FSH for 9 days. Follicular morphometry and immunohistochemistry for proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), apoptosis and follicle activation (Foxo3a) were assessed. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE Inhibition of primordial follicle activation occurred in the presence of SP600125, JNK inhibitor VIII and AMH when compared with controls (all P < 0.05) after 2 days of culture. However, only in the highest concentrations used was the inhibition of activation associated with induction of follicular apoptosis (P < 0.05). In growing follicles, PCNA antigen expression was reduced when the JNK inhibitors or AMH were used (P < 0.05 versus control), indicating reduced proliferation of the somatic compartment. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION Although we evaluated the effects of inhibition of c-Jun phosphorylation on primordial follicle development, we did not determine the cellular targets and mechanism of action of the inhibitors. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS These results are the first to implicate the JNK pathway in primordial follicle activation and could have significant consequences for the successful development of fertility preservation strategies and our understanding of primordial follicle activation. LARGE SCALE DATA n/a. STUDY FUNDING AND COMPETING INTERESTS Dr Michael J. Bertoldo and the laboratories involved in the present study were supported by a grant from 'Region Centre' (CRYOVAIRE, Grant number #320000268). There are no conflicts of interest to declare.

Anesthesia induces a reconfiguration of the repertoire of functional brain states leading to a high function-structure similarity. However, it is unclear how these functional changes lead to loss of consciousness. Here we suggest that the mechanism of conscious access is related to a general dynamical rearrangement of the intrinsic hierarchical organization of the cortex. To measure cortical hierarchy, we applied the Intrinsic Ignition analysis to resting-state fMRI data acquired in awake and anesthetized macaques. Our results reveal the existence of spatial and temporal hierarchical differences of neural activity within the macaque cortex, with a strong modulation by the depth of anesthesia and the employed anesthetic agent. Higher values of Intrinsic Ignition correspond to rich and flexible brain dynamics whereas lower values correspond to poor and rigid, structurally driven brain dynamics. Moreover, spatial and temporal hierarchical dimensions are disrupted in a different manner, involving different hierarchical brain networks. All together suggest that disruption of brain hierarchy is a new signature of consciousness loss. The authors thank Jordy Tasserie for help with data transfer; Morgan Dupont and Wilfried Pianezzola for help with animal experiments; Alexis Amadon, Hauke Kolster, Laurent Laribière, Jérémy Bernard, Eric Giacomini, Michel Luong, Edouard Chazel, and the NeuroSpin magnetic resonance imaging and informatics teams for help with imaging tools; Sébastien Mériaux and Joël Cotton for animal facilities; and Jean-Robert Deverre, for administrative support, Commissariat à l’Énergie atomique et aux Énergies alternatives (CEA /Joliot). The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers for your relevant remarks and positive consideration. The first author also appreciate the support from Comisión Nacional de Investigación Ciencia y Tecnología (CONICYT, currently ANID) through Programa Formacion de Capital Avanzado (PFCHA), Doctoral scholarship Becas Chile: CONICYT PFCHA/DOCTORADO BECAS CHILE/2016 - 72170507.