University of Lorraine

About: University of Lorraine is a education organization based out in Nancy, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Nonlinear system. The organization has 11942 authors who have published 25010 publications receiving 425227 citations. The organization is also known as: Lorraine University.

Life-time prevalence and psychosocial correlates of adolescent direct self-injurious behavior: a comparative study of findings in 11 European countries.

Abstract: Objectives: To investigate the prevalence and associated psychosocial factors of occasional and repetitive direct self-injurious behavior (D-SIB), such as self-cutting, -burning, -biting, -hitting, and skin damage by other methods, in representative adolescent samples from 11 European countries. Methods: Cross-sectional assessment of adolescents was performed within the European Union funded project, Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE), which was conducted in 11 European countries. The representative sample comprised 12,068 adolescents (F/M: 6,717/5,351; mean age: 14.9 0.89) recruited from randomly selected schools. Frequency of D-SIB was assessed by a modified 6-item questionnaire based on previously used versions of the Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory (DSHI). In addition, a broad range of demographic, social, and psychological factors was assessed. Results: Overall lifetime prevalence of D-SIB was 27.6%; 19.7% reported occasional D-SIB and 7.8% repetitive D-SIB. Lifetime prevalence ranged from 17.1% to 38.6% across countries. Estonia, France, Germany, and Israel had the highest lifetime rates of D-SIB, while students from Hungary, Ireland, and Italy reported low rates. Suicidality as well as anxiety and depressive symptoms had the highest odds ratios for both occasional and repetitive D-SIB. There was a strong association of D-SIB with both psychopathology and risk-behaviors, including family related neglect and peer-related rejection/victimization. Associations between psychosocial variables and D-SIB were strongly influenced by both gender and country. Only a minor proportion of the adolescents who reported D-SIB ever received medical treatment. Conclusion: These results suggest high lifetime prevalence of D-SIB in European adolescents. Prevalence as well as psychosocial correlates seems to be significantly influenced by both gender and country. These results support the need for a multidimensional approach to better understand the development of SIB and facilitate culturally adapted prevention/intervention. Keywords: Direct self-injurious behavior, self-harm, nonsuicidal self-injury, psychopathology, gender, adolescents, suicide.

Chronic vagal stimulation for the treatment of low ejection fraction heart failure: results of the NEural Cardiac TherApy foR Heart Failure (NECTAR-HF) randomized controlled trial

Abstract: Aim The neural cardiac therapy for heart failure (NECTAR-HF) was a randomized sham-controlled trial designed to evaluate whether a single dose of vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) would attenuate cardiac remodelling, improve cardiac function and increase exercise capacity in symptomatic heart failure patients with severe left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction despite guideline recommended medical therapy. Methods Patients were randomized in a 2 : 1 ratio to receive therapy (VNS ON) or control (VNS OFF) for a 6-month period. The primary endpoint was the change in LV end systolic diameter (LVESD) at 6 months for control vs. therapy, with secondary endpoints of other echocardiography measurements, exercise capacity, quality-of-life assessments, 24-h Holter, and circulating biomarkers. Results Of the 96 implanted patients, 87 had paired datasets for the primary endpoint. Change in LVESD from baseline to 6 months was −0.04 ± 0.25 cm in the therapy group compared with −0.08 ± 0.32 cm in the control group ( P = 0.60). Additional echocardiographic parameters of LV end diastolic dimension, LV end systolic volume, left ventricular end diastolic volume, LV ejection fraction, peak V02, and N -terminal pro-hormone brain natriuretic peptide failed to show superiority compared to the control group. However, there were statistically significant improvements in quality of life for the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire ( P = 0.049), New York Heart Association class ( P = 0.032), and the SF-36 Physical Component ( P = 0.016) in the therapy group. Conclusion Vagal nerve stimulation as delivered in the NECTAR-HF trial failed to demonstrate a significant effect on primary and secondary endpoint measures of cardiac remodelling and functional capacity in symptomatic heart failure patients, but quality-of-life measures showed significant improvement.

New approaches narrow global species estimates for beetles, insects, and terrestrial arthropods

Abstract: It has been suggested that we do not know within an order of magnitude the number of all species on Earth [May RM (1988) Science 241(4872):1441–1449]. Roughly 1.5 million valid species of all organisms have been named and described [Costello MJ, Wilson S, Houlding B (2012) Syst Biol 61(5):871–883]. Given Kingdom Animalia numerically dominates this list and virtually all terrestrial vertebrates have been described, the question of how many terrestrial species exist is all but reduced to one of how many arthropod species there are. With beetles alone accounting for about 40% of all described arthropod species, the truly pertinent question is how many beetle species exist. Here we present four new and independent estimates of beetle species richness, which produce a mean estimate of 1.5 million beetle species. We argue that the surprisingly narrow range (0.9–2.1 million) of these four autonomous estimates—derived from host-specificity relationships, ratios with other taxa, plant:beetle ratios, and a completely novel body-size approach—represents a major advance in honing in on the richness of this most significant taxon, and is thus of considerable importance to the debate on how many species exist. Using analogous approaches, we also produce independent estimates for all insects, mean: 5.5 million species (range 2.6–7.8 million), and for terrestrial arthropods, mean: 6.8 million species (range 5.9–7.8 million), which suggest that estimates for the world’s insects and their relatives are narrowing considerably.