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Fanny Levy,1 Pierre Leboucher,2 Gilles Rautureau,2 Odile Komano,2 Bruno Millet,1 Roland Jouvent1 1Department of Adults Psychiatry, 2PRISME-Virtual Reality, ICM-A- IHU, UPMC UMR_S 975, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, GH Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France Objective: Fear of falling is defined as an ongoing concern about falling that is not explained by physical examination. Focusing on the psychological dimension of this pathology (phobic reaction to walking), we looked at how virtual reality associated with serious games can be used to treat this pathology.Methods: Participants with fear of falling were randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a waiting list. The therapy consisted of 12 weekly sessions of virtual reality exposure therapy associated with serious games.Results: Sixteen participants were included. The mean age of the treatment group was 72years and that of the control group was 69years. Participants’ scores on the fear of falling measure improved after treatment with virtual reality associated with serious games, leading to a significant difference between the two groups.Conclusion: Virtual reality exposure therapy associated with serious games can be used in the treatment of fear of falling. The two techniques are complementary (top-down and bottom-up processes). To our knowledge, this is the first time that a combination of the two has been assessed. There was a specific effect of this therapy on the phobic reaction. Further studies are needed to confirm its efficacy and identify its underlying mechanism. Keywords: fear of falling, virtual reality exposure therapy, serious games, phobia, anxiety disorders

National audience; L’impulsivité est une dimension transnosographique fréquemment retrouvée en psychiatrie et ses conséquences sur les soins sont majeures. Il a donc été réalisé une étude originale de cohorte, prospective, observationnelle et analytique sur les conséquences de l’impulsivité sur l’adhésion aux soins dans trois services d’hospitalisation spécialisés en addictologie. La population étudiée comprenait 85 patients âgés de 18 à 70 ans, hospitalisés à l’établissement public de santé mentale du Morbihan pour une ou plusieurs addictions. L’impulsivité a été évaluée à l’aide de la BIS-11 en début de prise en charge pour tous les patients inclus. La mesure de l’adhésion thérapeutique réalisée à l’issue de la cure a nécessité la création d’une échelle d’évaluation composée de l’évaluation numérique simple par les équipes soignantes, les psychiatres et le rapport entre durée de soins réalisée et prévue. Le résultat principal de l’étude révèle une corrélation négative significative entre la dimension motrice de l’impulsivité et l’adhésion aux soins (r = −0,37 et p = 0,001). Les autres dimensions de l’impulsivité ont également été évaluées, sans résultat significatif, de même que les différentes modalités d’hospitalisation (libre ou sous contrainte, programmée ou non, etc.), qui n’ont pas prouvé avoir de conséquences sur l’adhésion thérapeutique. Ces résultats originaux permettent de s’interroger sur l’adaptation des soins en addictologie aux patients impulsifs sur le plan moteur, vers des cures plus courtes et plus efficaces sur le plan de la santé publique. [Introduction Impulsivity is a transnosographical dimension with major consequences on medical care with which psychiatrists are frequently confronted. Furthermore, compliance is a major variable that can affect the efficiency of therapeutics and hospitalizations in psychiatry. A study was carried out in three drug and alcohol rehabilitation hospitalization units to find out if impulsivity can have consequences on compliance. Method The studied population was composed of 85 patients aged from 18 to 70, hospitalized for one or more addiction disorders in a psychometric hospital in Vannes (France). Impulsivity was measured for all patients with the BIS-11 at the beginning of the rehabilitation program. Because no tool to evaluate a total rehab program compliance existed, a scale, used at the end of the hospitalization, was created to measure patient compliance. This score was composed of two simple numeric scales (one used by the nurses and one used by the patient's psychiatrist) and a coefficient of hospitalization duration that was the ratio of completed to planned days of hospitalization. Correlations were made between the different dimensions: impulsivity and compliance, impulsivity and hospitalization conditions, compliance and hospitalization conditions (voluntary or involuntary, planned by a psychiatrist or not, etc.). Results The main statistically significant result of the study was a negative correlation existing between the motor dimension of impulsivity and compliance (r = −0.37 and P = 0.001). The other dimensions of impulsivity showed no significant correlation with compliance score. The study revealed that the different hospitalization conditions showed no link with compliance or impulsivity. Conclusion These original results show that motor impulsive patients need an adaptation of the rehabilitation programs. Shorter programs might be more efficient]

International audience; Background and Objectives: We investigated idiom comprehension in patients with schizophrenia, and the involvement of working memory and executive functions in this comprehension. Methods: Nineteen patients with schizophrenia aged 22-46 years (mean = 34.73 years) took part in this study, and were matched for age and education level with a control group. Our assessment consisted of (1) an experimental task assessing idiom comprehension through short stories, (2) three tasks assessing verbal, visuospatial and multimodal spans, and (3) four tasks assessing executive functions (Hayling test, Stroop test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and Trail Making Test). Results and Conclusion: Results highlighted several deficits in the comprehension of idioms in patients with schizophrenia. An executive deficit is not sufficient to explain these difficulties. Nevertheless, the conceptual disorganization observed in the patients conduce them to not focus their attention on the relevant elements avoiding the comprehension of idioms.

Foliar late blight disease of potato ranks among the costliest of crop disease worldwide. Genetic resistance is an environmentally friendly and cost effective alternative to chemical controls and wild potato species are rich sources of resistance genes. In this study, we examined the effects of the late blight resistance gene RB, isolated from the wild potato Solanum bulbocastanum and under the control of its endogenous promoter, in transgenic cultivated potato. In multi-year tests, the RB transgene provided effective disease resistance in a variety of genetic backgrounds, including commercially prominent potato cultivars, in the absence of fungicides. Application of RB transgene-specific assays allowed estimation of RB copy numbers and transcript levels. A clear trend of enhanced resistance with increasing copy numbers and increasing transcript levels emerged. Our results indicate that RB, like other disease resistance genes, is constitutively transcribed at low levels. Significantly, two independent transgenic lines, each with an estimated 15 copies of the RB transgene, maintain high RB transcript levels and are ranked among the most resistant of 57 lines surveyed. Thus even in these ultra-high copy number lines, innate RNA silencing mechanisms have not been fully activated. Previous proposals that transgene transcript levels must surpass a threshold in order to trigger RNA silencing may therefore apply to disease resistance genes as well. Strategies for the deployment of RB are discussed in light of the current research.

Il contributo intende dimostrare come le prefazioni degli "antiromanzi" dell'abate Lorent Bordelon mantengano il loro statuto testuale a dispetto dei procedimenti metafinzionali che vengono messi in atto dall'autore.