Ca-DTPA was used for the medical treatment of plutonium and americium contaminations in the CEA and AREVA plants from 1970 to 2003. This report is a survey of the administered injections of Ca-DTPA as a chelating molecule. This report will be part of the registration process for Ca-DTPA by intravenous administration, submitted by the Pharmacie Centrale des Armées. Out of 1158 injections administered to 469 persons, 548 events of possible or confirmed contaminations were reported. These employees were followed by occupational physicians according to the current regulations. The first part of the report is a summary of the most recent findings. Due to its short biological period and its limited action in the blood, Ca-DTPA does not chelate with plutonium and americium as soon as these elements are deposited in the target organs. This justifies an early treatment, even in cases of suspected contamination, followed by additional injections, if necessary. The second part presents data concerning these 1158 injections (contamination routes, posology, adverse effects, ...). These incidents took place at work, were most often minor, and did not require follow-up treatment. A study concerning the efficacy of the product was conducted on a group of people having received 5 or more injections. These results were compared with the efficacy theoretically estimated. Posologies and therapeutic recommendations were proposed based on these observations. Additional studies are needed to confirm these findings. This document is the first summary in this field. It is the result of the collaboration of the occupational medical departments, the laboratories of the CEA and the AREVA and a working group CEA-AREVA-SPRA.

According to a 4×4 Latin square design, four adult ovariectomised sows fed at a similar energy level (516 kJ ME/kg body weight (BW)0·75 per d) received one of four diets successively: a control low-dietary-fibre (DF) diet (diet C, 100 g total DF/kg DM) and three fibre-rich diets (200 g total DF/kg DM) that corresponded to a combination of diet C and maize bran (diet MB), wheat bran (diet WB), or sugar-beet pulp (diet SBP). Sows were adapted to the diet for 12 d before an 8 d measurement period. Digestibility of energy and nutrients in the diets, and total heat production (HP) and its components (fasting HP, activity HP and thermic effect of feeding (TEF), were measured. The TEF was partitioned between a short-term component (TEFst) and a long-term component (TEFlt). Total tract digestibility of nutrients and energy was greater for diet C; among the three other diets, the digestibility coefficients were higher for diet SBP than for diets MB and WB. Energy losses from CH4 were linearly related to the digestible total DF intake (+1·4 kJ/g). Fasting HP at zero activity averaged 260 kJ/kg BW0·75 per d. Activity HP represented 20 % total HP, or 83 kJ/kg BW0·75 per d on average. Total TEF and TEFlt were higher (P<0·05) for diet WB than for the other diets. However, total HP (406 kJ/kg BW0·75 per d) was not significantly affected by diet characteristics. Our results suggest that metabolic utilisation of dietary energy is little affected by the addition and origin of DF, at least under the conditions of the present study.

La Peste, « ce grand personnage de l'histoire d'hier » (B. Bennassar), n'a commencé à livrer ses secrets historiques que pour la grande épidémie qui a commencé en 1348. Les deux pandémies antérieures — celle de l'Antiquité, celle du Haut Moyen Age — attendent encore au seuil de l'historiographie. Les histoires générales du Haut Moyen Age ignorent ce grand et long événement ou le mentionnent sans s'y attarder. Ces silences ou demi-silences ne s'expliquent pas seulement par l'ignorance ou la paresse intellectuelle des historiens. Ils sont en partie justifiés par les difficultés d'une information sûre. Les textes sont peu nombreux et vagues, l'historiographie de la peste est encombrée par des études de valeur scientifique douteuse, la chronologie et la géographie du phénomène sont malaisées à établir.

L'idée d'une enquête sur le sel dans l'histoire est née en 1955 à la Faculté des Lettres de Lille, dans le cadre du séminaire et des travaux pratiques d'histoire du Moyen Age dirigés par le professeur Michel Mollat, avec la collaboration de Jacques Le Goff, assistant à la Faculté. Il s'agissait de proposer aux étudiants lillois un thème d'histoire économique qui leur permît d'aborder l'ensemble des problèmes posés par l'étude d'un grand personnage de l'histoire économique, un produit-clé. Déjà le vin, la laine, les rutaines, la guède, entre autres, avaient été poussés sur le devant de la scène médiévale par d'eminents historiens. Mais il s'agissait là de protagonistes illustres, de produits nobles. Peut-être valait-il la peine de s'attaquer à l'un de ces produits qu'à ce moment précis Armando Sapori groupait parmi les marchandises pauvres, face aux marchandises riches, objet de plus d'attention de la part des historiens. Le blé, le bois, la pierre s'offraient alors, mais parurent trop difficiles d'abord, en raison surtout de la documentation. Restait le sel, sur lequel Henri Hauser avait naguère appelé l'intérêt.