L’objectif de cet article est de faire le point sur le programme de recherche PFC (« Phonologie du français contemporain : usages, variétés et structure »), plus de quinze ans après son lancement et d’illustrer le travail mené dans ce cadre par la question du schwa, phénomène bien connu dans le domaine de la variation phonologique et central à la phonologie du français. Après avoir brièvement présenté le programme, nous abordons la question du schwa en français et expliquons son traitement (...) dans PFC. Nous illustrons ensuite le travail effectué en nous penchant tout d’abord sur les variétés méridionales, que nous opposons aux variétés septentrionales, avant d’aborder la question du schwa dans les variétés suisses romandes. (shrink)

This contribution presents an adult education workshop implemented in the field of early childhood education. One of the specificities of education and care practices lies in the competences of the professionals to give a central role to the detailed observation of situations, in order to adjust their modalities of action. How can such observational work be developed and transformed? A participatory research-training approach aims to support the co-construction of an analytical view on observable phenomena in the course of interactions. In (...) a perspective of interactional analysis, it focuses on the modalities that favor the construction of such an analytical posture. (shrink)

This contribution reports on a study conducted as part of a research on early childhood educators’ vocational training in Geneva. We wish to better understand the interrelational positioning challenges that the students face during the activities in which they participate in the workplace. The multimodal analysis highlights the frequent shifts of the participants’ reciprocal positions in mentoring interactions, and shows the coexistence of two inverted asymmetrical relations in a form of “double-cross asymmetry”. In this context, the trainees’ positioning is vulnerable (...) to the professional events that emerge in the course of interaction. (shrink)

An innovative, multifaceted approach to scientific experiments as designed by and shaped through interaction with the modeling process The role of scientific modeling in mediation between theories and phenomena is a critical topic within the philosophy of science, touching on issues from climate modeling to synthetic models in biology, high energy particle physics, and cognitive sciences. Offering a radically new conception of the role of data in the scientific modeling process as well as a new awareness of the problematic aspects (...) of data, this cutting-edge volume offers a multifaceted view on experiments as designed and shaped in interaction with the modeling process. Contributors address such issues as the construction of models in conjunction with scientific experimentation; the status of measurement and the function of experiment in the identification of relevant parameters; how the phenomena under study are reconceived when accounted for by a model; and the interplay between experimenting, modeling, and simulation when results do not mesh. Highlighting the mediating role of models and the model-dependence of data measurement, this volume proposes a normative and conceptual innovation in scientific modeling--that the phenomena to be investigated and modeled must not be precisely identified at the start but specified during the course of the interactions arising between experimental and modeling activities. Contributors: Nancy D. Cartwright, U of California, San Diego; Anthony Chemero, U of Cincinnati; Ronald N. Giere, U of Minnesota; Jenann Ismael, U of Arizona; Tarja Knuuttila, U of South Carolina; Andrea Loettgers, U of Bern, Switzerland; Deborah Mayo, Virginia Tech; Joseph Rouse, Wesleyan U; Paul Teller, U of California, Davis; Michael Weisberg, U of Pennsylvania; Eric Winsberg, U of South Florida. (shrink)

Il faut bien commencer par ne rien comprendre, par comprendre qu'on ne comprend rien, il faut accepter qu'on ne sait rien, il faut savoir qu'on ne sait rien, pour tenter quelque mouvement hors de cette gangue de silence qui nous entoure à l'évidence, et obsède certains d'entre nous. Il faut bien commencer par se sentir écrasé de silence pour avoir envie de parler, de commencer une phrase, pour se pencher aux bords du silence et basculer dans le langage. Se défaire (...) d'un texte que l'on a écrit, d'une oeuvre d'art illustre, de son site web avant (ou après) sa mort, voire de son identité numérique tout entière, qu'est-ce que ça remue en soi? L'acte d'effacer s'apparente-t-il à une forme de destruction ou est-il au contraire le prolongement même d'un élan créateur? Prenant appui sur le geste de De Kooning effaçant un dessin de Rauschenberg, Isabelle Pariente-Butterlin mène une méditation qui interroge nos usages et nos disparitions (sur les réseaux et en dehors, dans l'Art et dans la vie). Entre les genres, prenant le pouls des phrases [qui] sont les sismographes de l'effacement qui parcourt le monde, un ouvrage fondamental sur l'écriture de l'absence et l'absence dans l'écriture est en train de se jouer. Sa composition même procédant à des effacements (des pans entiers de pages, gelés dans l'instant précédant leur disparition, sont amenés à la limite de la lisibilité), Erased est une clé pour qui cherche à comprendre les processus à l'oeuvre dans la fabrique de la déconstruction. (shrink)

Several tasks in artificial intelligence require the ability to find models about knowledge dynamics. They include belief revision, fusion and belief merging, and abduction. In this paper, we exploit the algebraic framework of mathematical morphology in the context of propositional logic and define operations such as dilation or erosion of a set of formulas. We derive concrete operators, based on a semantic approach, that have an intuitive interpretation and that are formally well behaved, to perform revision, fusion and abduction. Computation (...) and tractability are addressed, and simple examples illustrate the main results. (shrink)

Recent years have seen a notable increase in the production of scientific expertise by large multidisciplinary groups. The issue we address is how reports may be written by such groups in spite of their size and of formidable obstacles: complexity of subject matter, uncertainty, and scientific disagreement. Our focus is on the International Panel on Climate Change, unquestionably the best-known case of such collective scientific expertise. What we show is that the organization of work within the IPCC aims to make (...) it possible to produce documents that are indeed expert reports. To do so, we first put forward the epistemic norms that apply to expert reports in general, that is, the properties that reports should have in order to be useful and to help decision-making. Section 2 claims that these properties are: intelligibility, relevance and accuracy. Based on this analysis, section 3 points to the difficulties of having IPCC reports indeed satisfying these norms. We then show how the organization of work within the IPCC aims at and to a large extent secures intelligibility, relevance and accuracy, with the result that IPCC reports can be relied on for decision-making. Section 4 focuses on the fundamentals of IPCC’s work organization--that is, division of labour within the IPCC--while section 5 investigates three frameworks that were introduced over the course of the functioning of the IPCC: the reviewing procedure of IPCC reports, the language that IPCC authors use to express uncertainty and the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project. Concluding remarks are offered in section 6. (shrink)

Some studies have reported that, under some circumstances, participants sometimes reject the truth of conditional premises and give incorrect uncertain conclusions to MP and MT, despite the standard instructions to assume the truth of the premises. Instructions that emphasise the logical nature of the task, on the other hand, increase the number of valid conclusions to these two inferences. In this paper, we examine two possible explanations for the influence of instructions on the production of valid conclusions: (1) instructions trigger (...) a logical mode of thinking that is appropriate for the task to be solved, and (2) instructions affect the way that retrieved information is used when constructing a mental representation of the premises. In order to compare these two hypothesis, we used conditional causal relations having either many or few disabling conditions (i.e. cases of P and not-Q) and presented them in four different instructional conditions. When presented with the standard instructions to suppose the premises to be true, MP and MT inferences show a relatively low percentage of valid conclusions. However, when the logical nature of the task and the necessity to assume the truth of the premises are emphasised, the number of valid conclusions greatly increases. Also, if disabling conditions are made explicit or generated before the presentation of these logical instructions, the performance on MP and MT is lower than when only the logical instructions are presented. Finally, the instructions had no effect on AC and DA. From these results, we concluded that the instructions had an effect on the use of retrieved information rather than on inducing different modes of thinking. (shrink)

This book promotes the research of present-day women working in ancient and medieval philosophy, with more than 60 women having contributed in some way to the volume in a fruitful collaboration. It contains 22 papers organized into ten distinct parts spanning the sixth century BCE to the fifteenth century CE. Each part has the same structure: it features, first, a paper which sets up the discussion, and then, one or two responses that open new perspectives and engage in further reflections. (...) Our authors’ contributions address pivotal moments and players in the history of philosophy: women philosophers in antiquity, Cleobulina of Rhodes, Plato, Lucretius, Bardaisan of Edessa, Alexander of Aphrodisias, Plotinus, Porphyry, Peter Abelard, Robert Kilwardby, William Ockham, John Buridan, and Isotta Nogarola. The result is a thought-provoking collection of papers that will be of interest to historians of philosophy from all horizons. Far from being an isolated effort, this book is a contribution to the ever-growing number of initiatives which endeavour to showcase the work of women in philosophy. (shrink)

Jürgen Habermas, représentant majeur de l'Ecole de Francfort, est devenu un auteur classique mais son oeuvre complexe et multiforme, composée d'une cinquantaine d'ouvrages et d'un millier d'articles, continue d'être mal identifiée. Comment saisir la diversité de ses intérêts, des théories de l'action et du langage à la morale et au droit? C'est aussi un acteur, qui intervient régulièrement dans la presse et les débats publics. Comment articuler ces prises de position avec ses travaux proprement théoriques? Dialogues avec Jürgen Habermas, issu (...) d'un colloque international, offre un panorama complet du parcours intellectuel de Habermas, depuis ses premiers écrits jusqu'aux plus récents. L'espace public, l'agir communicationnel, la modernité, la démocratie, l'autonomie, les intérêts de connaissance, etc. sont ici discutés. Plus largement, c'est l'actualité même de sa pensée qui est soulignée et interrogée à propos de thèmes qui font débat : les effets du droit sur la société, la compréhension que l'on peut avoir des crises du capitalisme, ou encore le rapport complexe de la modernité aux religions. Cet ouvrage comprend deux textes inédits du philosophe, un texte d'ouverture sur l'Europe et un texte de clôture où il répond aux intervenants. (shrink)

This book details how quantification can serve both as evidence and as an instrument of government, whether when dealing with statistics on employment, occupational health and economic governance, or when developing public management or target-driven policies. In the process, it presents a thought-provoking homage to Alain Desrosières, who pioneered ways to study large numbers and the politics underlying them. It opens with a summary of Desrosières's contributions to the field in which several generations of researchers detail how this statistician and (...) historian profoundly influenced them. This tribute, based on personal testimonies, bears witness to the vitality of the school of thought and analytical framework Desrosières initiated. Next, a collection of essays explores the statistical argument in the neoliberal era, examining issues such as counting the homeless in Europe, measuring the performance of public services, and quantifying the effects of public action on the unemployed in France. The third part details the uses of quantification. It reveals that although statistics are frequently used to the advantage of those in power, they can also play a vital role in challenging and resisting both the conventions underlying the measurements as well as the measurements themselves.Featuring the work of economists, historians, political scientists, sociologists, and statisticians, this title provides readers with a thoughtful look at an influential figure in the history of statistics. It also shows how statistics are used to direct public policy, the degree of conflict that is possible in their production, and the disputes that can develop around their uses. (shrink)

"The Invention of Modern Science proposes a fruitful way of going beyond the apparently irreconcilable positions, that science is either "objective" or "socially constructed." Instead, suggests Isabelle Stengers, one of the most important and influential philosophers of science in Europe, we might understand the tension between scientific objectivity and belief as a necessary part of science, central to the practices invented and reinvented by scientists."--pub. desc.

La citation récurrente de Sg 9, 15 : « Le corps qui se corrompt appesantit l’âme et sa demeure de terre accable l’esprit aux multiples pensées », dans le corpus augustinien, semble être l’indice d’un mépris du corps, hérité de la tradition platonicienne du corps-prison. De fait, dans ses premières œuvres, Augustin cite Sg 9, 15 pour affirmer que le corps est un obstacle à la contemplation de la vérité. Mais, dans ses œuvres ultérieures, il utilise Sg 9, 15 pour (...) établir, contre les platoni­ciens, que le corps n’est pas la prison de l’âme et que le poids du corps est à imputer, non au corps lui-même, mais à sa corruptibilité : il n’y a donc pas à « fuir tout corps », comme le veut Porphyre. Face à Julien d’Éclane, enfin, il souligne, en citant Sg 9, 15, que la condition peineuse de l’homme aujourd’hui n’est pas le propre de la nature primitive de l’homme, mais la peine du péché qui a vicié la nature. (shrink)

Three experiments were conducted in order to validate 56 musical excerpts that conveyed four intended emotions (happiness, sadness, threat and peacefulness). In Experiment 1, the musical clips were rated in terms of how clearly the intended emotion was portrayed, and for valence and arousal. In Experiment 2, a gating paradigm was used to evaluate the course for emotion recognition. In Experiment 3, a dissimilarity judgement task and multidimensional scaling analysis were used to probe emotional content with no emotional labels. The (...) results showed that emotions are easily recognised and discriminated on the basis of valence and arousal and with relative immediacy. Happy and sad excerpts were identified after the presentation of fewer than three musical events. With no labelling, emotion discrimination remained highly accurate and could be mapped on energetic and tense dimensions. The present study provides suitable musical material for research on emotions.Keywords. (shrink)

Si l'analyse augustinienne du temps, dans le livre 11 des Confessions, ne cesse d'être revisitée par nos contemporains, il devient légitime de s'in­terroger sur la pertinence de ces relectures, ne serait-ce qu'en raison de ce que le philosophe ou le théologien peut y déceler comme indice de la pertinence et de la fécondité de la réflexion d'Augustin sur le temps. Trois « relectures » philosophiques, de Paul Ricoeur, de Jean-Toussaint Desanti et de Claude Romano, et une « variation théologique », (...) de Hans Urs von Balthasar, servent de base de réflexion à l'auteur, au terme de laquelle se dessinent des variations assez difficilement conciliables dans la mesure d'abord où elles témoignent de différences de degrés dans la fidélité à l'inspiration d'Augustin. Du moins y a-t-il là témoignage de la force du propos augustinien, passage obligé quand on s'interroge sur le temps.If the Augustinian analysis of time, in the eleventh book of the Confessions, does not cease to be revisited by our contemporaries, it becomes legitimate to ask about the pertinence of these rereadings, if only for the reason that the philosopher or theologian could discern an indication of the importance and fecundity of Augus­tin's reflection on time. Three philosophical « rereadings », of Paul Ricoeur, Jean-Toussaint Desanti, and Claude Romano, and a « theological variation », of Hans Urs von Balthasar, serve the author as a basis for reflection. At the end there appear some variations somewhat difficult to reconcile, in so far as they point out the differences of degree in the fidelity to Augustin's inspiration. At the least, this is a testimony to the power of the Augustinian position, a necessary passage when one questions time. (shrink)

Peut-on, comme l'a pensé Sartre, construire une philosophie concrète qui répudie les abstractions de la métaphysique en étendant la réduction phénoménologique au domaine entier de l'expérience humaine? Et peut-on fonder une telle démarche sur l'évidence de l'existence, promue au rang de certitude apodictique? Pour conduire cette enquête il a été nécessaire d'examiner la conscience, le monde, autrui, l'expérience morale et la vie politique, en suivant l'ordre d'apparition de ces thèmes dans l'œuvre philosophique sartrienne qui, depuis la Transcendance de l'ego jusqu'à (...) la Critique de la raison dialectique, forme un système cohérent mais foncièrement paradoxal et par là même, déroutant. Les paradoxes Sartriens solidarisent des propositions contradictoires, désarticulent les réalités considérées et les privent de toute consistance ontologique pour les soumettre au pouvoir de la conscience ou de la praxis, définies comme de pures puissances de désagrégation. Sartre étend ainsi à toute sa construction philosophique une matrice logique : le chiasme, dégagé par sa première œuvre d'envergure, l'imaginaire, qui tient l'objet perçu et l'objet en image pour deux corrélats de la conscience, contradictoires mais solidaires et mutuellement dépendants. A partir de ce point, on voit se déployer tout le drame de la néontologie sartrienne qui subordonne l'être au néant, la réalité à l'image, l'actuel au virtuel et reconnaît dans la destruction de ce qui demeure, l'ivresse dyonisiaque de la liberté. Cet effort grandiose pour tramer la fiction au tissu du réel est pourtant, de l'aveu même de son auteur, voué à l'échec. La conscience, en dissociant l'être, engendre la figure de l'Autre qui fait inlassablement retour, comme une puissance maléfique, et reverse à l'aliénation toutes les conquêtes de la liberté. La malédiction qui pèse sur la condition humaine décourage l'effort, annihile l'espoir et nous condamne à cultiver ce que Marx nommait, en la raillant, la critique critique, en d'autres termes, à nous complaire en un quiétisme inquiet, transposition assombrie du scepticisme satisfait que Sartre reprochait à la génération de ses grands parents. (shrink)

BackgroundNew metrics have been developed to assess the impact of research and provide an indication of online media attention and data dissemination. We aimed to describe online media attention of articles evaluating cancer treatments and identify the factors associated with high online media attention.MethodsWe systematically searched MEDLINE via PubMed on March 1, 2015 for articles published during the first 6 months of 2014 in oncology and medical journals with a diverse range of impact factors, from 3.9 to 54.4, and selected (...) a sample of articles evaluating a cancer treatment regardless of study design. Altmetric Explorer was used to identify online media attention of selected articles. The primary outcome was media attention an article received online as measured by Altmetric score (i.e., number of mentions in online news outlets, science blogs and social media). Regression analysis was performed to investigate the factors associated with high media attention, and regression coefficients represent the logarithm of ratio of mean (RoM) values of Altmetric score per unit change in the covariate.ResultsAmong 792 articles, 218 (27.5%) received no online media attention (Altmetric score = 0). The median [Q1–Q3] Altmetric score was 2.0 [0.0–8.0], range 0.0–428.0. On multivariate analysis, factors associated with high Altmetric score were presence of a press release (RoM = 10.14, 95%CI [4.91–20.96]), open access to the article (RoM = 1.48, 95%CI [1.02–2.16]), and journal impact factor (RoM = 1.10, 95%CI [1.07–1.12]. As compared with observational studies, systematic reviews were not associated with high Altmetric score (RoM = 1.46, 95%CI [0.74–2.86]; P = 0.27), nor were RCTs (RoM = 0.65, 95%CI [0.41–1.02]; P = 0.059) and phase I/ii non-RCTs (RoM = 0.58, 95%CI [0.33–1.05]; P = 0.07). The articles with abstract conclusions favouring study treatments were not associated with high Altmetric score (RoM = 0.97, 95%CI [0.60–1.58]; P = 0.91).ConclusionsMost important factors associated with high online media attention were the presence of a press release and the journal impact factor. There was no evidence that study design with high level of evidence and type of abstract conclusion were associated with high online media attention. (shrink)

We examined liking for happy- and sad-sounding music as a function of exposure, which varied both in quantity (number of exposures) and in quality (focused or incidental listening). Liking ratings were higher for happy than for sad music after focused listening, but similar after incidental listening. In the incidental condition, liking ratings increased linearly as a function of exposure. In the focused condition, liking ratings were an inverted U-shaped function of exposure, with initial increases in liking (after 2 exposures) followed (...) by decreases (after 8 or 32 exposures). The results documented that: (1) sad music is liked as much as happy music in some instances; (2) frequency of exposure causes both familiarity (positive) and over-familiarity (negative) effects; and (3) effects of exposure on liking differ for focused and incidental listening. (shrink)

This article explains how the issue of inclusion is central to Habermas’s theory of democracy and how it is deeply rooted in his conception of a political public sphere. After recalling Habermas’s views on the public sphere, I present and discuss various objections raised by other critical theorists: Oskar Negt and Alexander Kluge, Nancy Fraser, Axel Honneth and Iris Marion Young. These criticisms insist on the paradoxically excluding effects of a conception of democracy that promotes civic participation in the public (...) debate. Negt, Kluge and Fraser develop a Marxist line of analysis that question who can participate in the public sphere. Honneth and Young criticize in various ways the excluding effect of argumentation: are unargumentative speeches excluded from the public debate? I show how Habermas’s model can provide some responses to these various objections by drawing inspiration from his treatment of the gap between religious and post-metaphysical world views. (shrink)

Nombreux sont les commentateurs des lettres de Paul, en monde latin, à la fin du IVe et au début du Ve siècle, ce qui s’explique sans doute par les controverses doctrinales sur la personne du Christ, mais aussi par le souci de proposer un idéal de vie chrétienne : Paul est alors présenté comme un modèle de conversion et un maître spirituel. C’est dans ce contexte qu’il faut situer l’intérêt d’Augustin pour Paul, lequel est effectivement pour Augustin un maître. Même (...) s’il n’est pas possible d’examiner systématiquement l’interprétation qu’Augustin donne des lettres de Paul, I. Bochet souligne ici le rôle de Paul dans la vie et la pensée d’Augustin, rôle qui a été déterminant : dans sa conversion tout d’abord, dans sa formation théologique également, mais aussi dans son herméneutique scropturaire et dans son enseignement sur la grâce.At the end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth century in the Latin world, there were numerous commentaries on the letters of Paul, which is undoubtedly explained by the doctrinal controversies about the person of Christ, but also by a concern to propose an ideal of the Christian life. Paul, then, is presented as a model of conversion and a spiritual master. It is in this context that one should situate Augustine’s interest for Paul, who is effectively a master for Augustine. Even if it is not possible to systematically examine the interpretation that Augustine gives of Paul’s letters, I. Bochet underlines here the role of Paul in the life and thought of Augustine, a role that was determining: first all as regards his conversion, but equally in his theological formation, and also in his scriptural hermeneutic and in his teaching on grace. (shrink)

L’article présente et discute le livre de Michael Cameron, Christ Meets Me Everywhere. Augustine’s Early Figurative Exegesis. Dans cet ouvrage, M. Cameron expose la manière dont Augustin a élaboré sa méthode d’interprétation figurative de l’Ancien Testament, depuis ses premières œuvres jusqu’en 400 environ, c’est-à-dire jusqu’à la rédaction des Confessions, du De catechizandis rudibus et du Contra Faustum manichaeum. La force du livre est d’articuler la christologie d’Augustin à sa lecture figurative des Écritures: la manière dont Augustin a peu à peu (...) compris la profondeur de la médiation du Christ, à la fois Dieu et homme, grâce à la lecture de Paul et des Psaumes, est à lier à l’importance qu’il donne, dans l’Écriture, aux signa translata. M. Cameron montre bien le rôle qu’a joué Ambroise en permettant à Augustin de rattacher la Bible au cadre rhétorique qui lui était familier; il serait fécond de compléter ses remarques en analysant aussi la pratique exégétique d’Ambroise sur quelques exemples et en précisant le rôle de Tyconius dans la formation de l’exégèse figurative d’Augustin. Le jugement que porte M. Cameron sur le De doctrina christiana qu’il juge “expérimental et incomplet à bien des titres” mérite sans doute d’être un peu nuancé. (shrink)

Dans sa polémique contre Marcion, Tertullien définit à maintes reprises Dieu comme « la grandeur suprême ». Pour Tertullien, cette définition qui exprime la transcendance divine est celle que reconnaît « la conscience universelle », celle sur laquelle tous s'accordent. Le débat entre Tertullien et Marcion porte donc sur ce qui convient ou non à « la grandeur suprême » qu'est Dieu. Doit-on la penser, à la manière de Marcion, comme une transcendance telle qu'on ne peut la connaître et qui (...) exclut par principe tout contact réel avec le monde, a fortiori avec la chair ? Doit-on au contraire affirmer, avec Tertullien, que « c'est lorsque Dieu est tout petit au regard de l'homme qu'il est, au plus haut degré, grand. » Dans sa polémique contre Marcion, Tertullien fait appel à la raison : il dé¬nonce l'irrationalité du Dieu de Marcion. Pourtant, pour justifier l'incarnation, il n'hésite pas à utiliser à plusieurs reprises le paradoxe Pour dépasser ce qui paraît de prime abord contradictoire, il faudra s'interroger sur le statut du paradoxe, sur son rapport à la raison, mais aussi à la foi.In his polemic against Marcion, Tertullian frequently defines God as “the supreme greatness”. For Tertullian, this definition, which expresses divine transcendence, is the one that “the universal conscience” recognizes, the definition everyone agrees upon. Hence, the debate between Tertullian and Marcion is about what it is properly or not related to the “supreme greatness” that is God. Should this be thought of, as for Marcion, as a trancendence one cannot know and that excludes in principle all real contact with the world, a fortiori with the flesh? Or, on the contrary, must one say, with Tertullian, that it is “when God is quite small in the eyes of man that He is, in the highest degree, great”? In his polemic against Marcion, Tertullian appeals to reason: he denounces the irrationality of the God of Marcion. However, in order to justify the incarnation, Tertullian does not hesitate to use paradox several times. In order to surmount what may at first appear contradictory, we must question the status of paradox, its relation to reason and also to faith. (shrink)

This article sets out to show that Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) was translated by Félicité Brissot de Warville, the wife of the prominent Girondin leader, Jacques-Pierre Brissot de Warville, and annotated by both. The demonstration is carried out through a study of the works translated by them, together or singly, before 1792: the annotation of those earlier works is echoed by the themes of the notes in the later chapters of the Vindication. These notes reflect (...) J.-P. Brissot’s admiration for Quakers and for British intellectual figures such as Richard Price and Joseph Priestley (whom he knew), dislike of clergy and interest in education. Two long notes also express Félicité’s frustration at being confined to the role of mother and housewife, and can be paralleled with statements in her correspondence. To some extent, she appears as an alter ego of Wollstonecraft. (shrink)

IntroductionCognitive impairment is a highly prevalent non-motor feature of Parkinson’s disease. A better understanding of the underlying pathophysiology may help in identifying therapeutic targets to prevent or treat dementia. This study sought to identify metabolic alterations in the prefrontal cortex, a key region for cognitive functioning that has been implicated in cognitive dysfunction in PD.MethodsProton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy was used to investigate metabolic changes in the PFC of a cohort of cognitively normal individuals without PD, as well as PD participants (...) with either normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment, or dementia. Ratios to Creatine resonance were obtained for glutamate, glutamine and glutamate combined, N-acetylaspartate, myoinositol, and total choline, and correlated with cognitive scores across multiple domains administered to the PD participants only.ResultsWhen individuals retain cognitive capabilities, the presence of Parkinson’s disease does not create metabolic disturbances in the PFC. However, when cognitive symptoms are present, PFC Glu/Cre ratios decrease with significant differences between the PD-NC and PPD groups. In addition, Glu/Cre ratios and memory scores were marginally associated, but not after Bonferroni correction.ConclusionThese preliminary findings indicate that fluctuations in prefrontal glutamate may constitute a biomarker for the progression of cognitive impairments in PD. We caution for larger MRS investigations of carefully defined PD groups. (shrink)