ED Sciences de la Vie et de la Santé
Role of sympathetic autonomic nervous system in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
by Maëlle OLLIVIER (Institut de neurosciences cognitives et intégratives d'Aquitaine)
The defense will take place at 14h00 - Amphi BBS Bâtiment biologie santé BBS, 2 rue Dr Hoffmann-Martinot, 33000 Bordeaux
in front of the jury composed of
- Sandrine BERTRAND - Directrice de recherche - INCIA - CNRS UMR 5287 - Directeur de these
- Daniel ZYTNICKI - Directeur de recherche émérite - SPPIN - CNRS UMR 8003 - Rapporteur
- Cécile HILAIRE - Maîtresse de conférences - INM - Inserm - Rapporteur
- Stephanie CHEVALLIER - Maîtresse de conférences - NEUROCENTRE MAGENDIE - U1215 - Examinateur
- Marc LANDRY - Professeur des universités - Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives - CNRS UMR 5293 - Examinateur
- Florence PERRIN - Professeure des universités - INM - INSERM U1051 - Examinateur
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) was initially defined by Jean-Martin Charcot in 1869 as a disease exclusively affecting motor neurons. However, it is now recognized as a multisystem neurodegenerative disease, characterized by clinical, genetic, and neuropathological heterogeneity. Despite increasing advances in understanding Charcot's disease, around forty randomized clinical trials have not demonstrated significant therapeutic efficacy. This lack of success may be attributed to several potential factors, including the approach of treating ALS as a single entity without considering the different underlying causes and mechanisms involved. Although various non-motor symptoms related to autonomic nervous system dysfunctions have been described, few research projects have investigated the involvement of these alterations in the disease's development. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the role of the sympathetic autonomic nervous system in ALS, using an animal model carrying the SOD1*G93A mutation. Our study primarily focuses on a neuronal population located near motor neurons in the spinal cord, known as sympathetic preganglionic neurons. These neurons, considered the final relay of central control over sympathetic vasomotor flow to various organs of the body, are responsible for autonomous regulation and control, particularly of cardiac function. By combining genetic, biochemical, anatomical techniques with telemetric and behavioral approaches, we will study the function of preganglionic neurons and cardiovascular control during the development of ALS.
ED Sociétés, Politique, Santé Publique
The Parcoursup “moment”. Double-investigation” on post-bac orientation
by Alban MIZZI (Centre Emile Durkheim)
The defense will take place at 14h00 - Amphithéâtre Denucé Université de Bordeaux, Campus Victoire. 3ter place de la Victoire, 33000 Bordeaux
in front of the jury composed of
- Joël ZAFFRAN - Professeure des universités - Université de Bordeaux - Directeur de these
- Jean-François GIRET - Professeur des universités - Université de Bourgogne - Examinateur
- Philippe VITALE - Maître de conférences - Aix-Marseille Université - Examinateur
- Annabelle ALLOUCH - Maîtresse de conférences - Université de Picardie-Jules Verne - Rapporteur
- David MELO - Professeur des universités - Universitré Savoie Mont-Blanc - Rapporteur
In France, the successive failures of the Admission Post-Bac (APB) procedure that has organized access to higher education since 2009 will lead in 2018 to an “Orientation et réussite des étudiants (ORE)” reform giving rise to a new web application responsible for receiving and managing the wishes of baccalaureate holders: Parcoursup. On the one hand, it aims to emphasize merit by doing away with the lottery. On the other, it responds to diagnoses of a French university in decline and aims to breathe new life into it by giving it back the keys to its recruitment. Against a backdrop of mass school enrolment and the increasing importance of diplomas, high school students find themselves competing for access to higher education, and need to be strategic in their choices. This work is backed up by a “double survey” based on a methodology combining semi-structured interviews with commission managers, non-participant observations of the commissions, secondary analysis of open-access statistical data and, above all, qualitative follow-up of a cohort of 27 candidates upstream, at the heart of and downstream from the procedure and the waiting periods to which the procedure obliges. The fieldwork was carried out in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, where schools were selected according to criteria of representativeness (streams, social recruitment, territories). The thesis assimilates Parcoursup to a “moment”, a crucial temporality in which the ordeal of orientation is played out for high school students. It has a temporal dimension, but also a moral one: it generates a sense of injustice among applicants and their families, who suffer the emotional consequences. Parcoursup is a moment when the selectors and the selected, are confronted with moments that call into question their self-esteem as well as the principles of justice (merit and equality). The application of the ORE reform is operationalized locally in highly eclectic ways, following highly contextualized logics from one CEV to the next, giving rise to confusion in the way the verdict will be received by applicants. Beyond the apparent individualization of the relationship with the platform, the wait and the Parcoursup verdict have a social dimension, and candidates's strategies are part of competitive contexts and require emotional resources.