The “ethnographic surrealism” of Jean Rouch

Using James Clifford's notion of “ethnographic surrealism,” this paper focuses on the “surrealist” features of the film work of Jean Rouch. First, drawing extensively from an interview held with Rouch in May 1988, I outline the influence that the “ethnographic surrealism” of the 1930s had on Rouch. I then go on to discuss “surrealism” in Rouch's use of the camera, choice of subject matter, techniques of narration, and relationship to his subject. I conclude by demonstrating that Rouch's current work at the Cinémathèque Française and the Comité du Film Ethnographique offer excellent examples of his ability to cross disciplinary boundaries and thus extend the original spirit of “ethnographic surrealism” into the present.     

Genetic characterization of an isolated alpine population using seroprotein markers: Vallouise (Briançonnais)

The aim of the “Dauphiné Project” is to reconstruct, with a wide perspective and multidisciplinary approach, the anthropological history of some mountain populations in both the French and the Italian parts of the Ancient Dauphiné. Within the “Dauphiné Project”, the present study is an analysis of seroproteins conducted on blood samples of subjects living in Vallouise, small mountain community (Briançonnais); they are male and female adults from families native to the zones for at least two generations. In particular, the third component of complement (C3), the group specific component (Gc) and properdin B factor (Bf) were considered, these being very important markers in human genetics research. The data for these systems are the first results of the biological study of populations of the Western Alps. They add to our otherwise scantly knowledge about the distribution of these polymorphisms in the populations under study. The results were compared with those in the literature on European populations, particularly of the Mediterranean area, in order to identify origins and microevolutionary processes, as well as biotransformations related to environmental adaptation.     

Advances in the study of structure and function of G protein-coupled receptors (about awarding the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2012 to Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka)

The 2012 Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded to Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka “for study in G-protein-coupled receptors” (GPCR). In this review there are discussed and analyzed the most important discoveries of these Nobel Laureates dealing with study of structure and functions of GPCR. In the 1980s they were the first in the world to clone GPCR-the β₂-adrenergic receptor. After 20 years the group headed by B. Kobilka first obtained this receptor in the crystallic form and established its three-dimensional structure. In the course of the studies, unique approaches were developed for purifications and crystallization of other receptors. In the 1980s, R. Lefkowitz and his colleagues discovered proteins β-arrestins that regulate the signal transduction realized via GPCR. Subsequently they showed β-arrestins to be the most important participants of signal transduction and to be responsible for transduction of signal from the receptor activated with hormone to intracellular signal cascades regardless of heterotrimeric G-proteins. These and other outstanding discoveries of R. Lefkowitz and B. Kobilka have become the ground of the new field of molecular biology and pharmacology-molecular endocrinology of GPCR.     

Human paleopathology and some diseases in living primitive societies: A review of the recent literature

The paper reviews publications in human paleopathology since about 1960, especially with regard to the implications of disease in man's evolution. Recent publications pertaining to pathology and illness in present day “primitive” societies that might be analogous to conditions prevailing in the past, are also noted.     

Preuves Cinétiques de l'Existence d'une Période de Compétence pour la Transformation Microstome-Macrostome dans le Cycle Cellulaire de Tetrahymena paravorax

RÉSUMÉ. Des expérimentations portant sur des cellules isolées ont montré que 77% des microstomes de Tetrahymena paravorax, prélevés au hasard dans des cultures en phase logarithmique de croissance, se transforment directement en macrostomes en présence de “stomatine.” Ces macrostomes apparaissent à des moments variés entre 1,5 et 9 h après l'addition de la stomatine (“point 50% de transformations” vers 2,5 h). La compétence pour le remplacement oral est en relation avec la position dans le cycle cellulaire. Les pourcentages de transformation les plus élevés sont observés avec les populations testées pendant la première moitié de la période moyenne d'interfission. La formation des macrostomes est d'autant plus rapide que l'ǎge initial des microstomes est plus proche du point médian du cycle cellulaire (“point de compétence”). Dans la seconde moitié de ce cycle, le temps moyen de transformation reste à peu près constant, mais le pourcentage de divisions augmente: le “point de transition” (50% de divisions) se trouve au début d'une phase terminale représentant 19–20% de la durée totale du cycle. La transformation des produits de bipartition antérieur et postérieur est nettement asynchrone: dans la majorité des paires cellulaires, l'opisthe se transforme avant le proter. Les cellules-soeurs se divisent aussi de manière asynchrone: le temps de génération du proter est plus long que celui de l'opisthe. Le problème de l'acquisition de la compétence pour le changement de phénotype est discuté en envisageant les corrélations éventuelles avec certains processus majeurs du cycle cellulaire. SYNOPSIS. Seventy-seven percent of the microstomes of Tetrahymena paravorax taken from random samples of log-phase cultures transform directly into macrostomes in the presence of “stomatin.” These macrostomes appear between 1.5 and 9 h after addition of stomatin (“50% transformation point,”～ 2.5 h). Competence for oral replacement is related to the position in the cell cycle. The highest percentages of transformation are observed in populations tested during the first half of the mean interfission period. Formation of macrostomes is more rapid when the initial age of the microstomes is nearer to the midpoint of the cell cycle (“competence point”). In the 2nd half of this cycle, the mean transformation time remains approximately constant, but the percentage of cells undergoing division is increasing. The “transition point” (50% divided cells) is found at the beginning of a terminal phase which accounts for 19–20% of the cell cycle. Transformation of anterior and posterior fission products is fairly asynchronous; in the majority of individual pairs, the opisthe is transformed before the proter. The daughter cells also divide asynchronously, the generation time of the proter being longer than that of the opisthe. The problem of acquisition of competence for phenotypic change is discussed in light of possible correlations with certain major processes of the cell cycle.     

Spontaneous Generation and Disease Causation: Anton de Bary’s Experiments with Phytophthora infestans and Late Blight of Potato

Anton de Bary is best known for his elucidation of the life cycle of Phytopthora infestans, the causal organism of late blight of potato and the crop losses that caused famine in nineteenth-century Europe. But while practitioner histories often claim this accomplishment as a founding moment of modern plant pathology, closer examination of de Bary’s experiments and his published work suggest that his primary motiviation for pursing this research was based in developmental biology, not agriculture. De Bary shied away from making any recommendations for agricultural practice, and instead focused nearly exclusively on spontaneous generation and fungal development – both concepts promoted through prize questions posted by the Académie des Sciences in the 1850s and 1860s. De Bary’s submission to the Académie’s 1859 Alhumbert prize question illustrates his own contributions to debates about spontaneous generation and demonstrates the practical applications of seemingly philosophical questions – such as the origin of life.     

DISCUSSION PAPER

Principal Stratification Designs to Estimate Input Data Missing Due to Death Nous nous intéressons à des études portant sur des cohortes d'individus après la survenue d'un événement critique, comme une blessure, et ayant les caractéristiques suivantes. Premièrement, les études sont conçues pour mesurer des variables d'“input”, qui décrivent la période avant l'événement critique, et pour caractériser la distribution des variables d'“input” dans la cohorte. Deuxièmement, les études sont conçues pour mesurer des variables d'“output”, principalement la mortalité après l'événement critique et pour caractériser la distribution prédictive (conditionnelle) de la mortalité connaissant les variables d'“input” dans la cohorte. De telles études présentent souvent la complication que les données d'“input” manquent pour ceux qui meurent peu après l'événement critique car le recueil des données est réalisé après l'événement. Les méthodes standard de prise en compte des “inputs” manquants, telles que les méthodes d'imputation ou de pondération basées sur l'hypothèse que l'on peut ignorer le processus de données manquantes, sont connues comme étant en général non valides quand le processus de données manquantes ne peut être ignoré, c'est à dire quand la distribution des “inputs” est différente chez ceux qui meurent et ceux qui survivent. Pour répondre à ce problème, nous proposons un nouveau schéma qui recueille et utilise l'information sur une autre variable importante—un traitement ou une variable sous contrôle externe, qui, si elle avait étéà son niveau optimal aurait pu empêcher le décès de ceux qui sont morts. Nous montrons que ce nouveau schéma peut être utilisé pour faire des inférences valides pour la distribution marginale des “inputs” dans la cohorte entière et pour la distribution conditionnelle de la mortalité connaissant les “inputs”, également dans la cohorte entière, même si le processus de données manquante ne peut être ignoré. Le contexte crucial que nous utilisons est la stratification principale basée sur les “outputs” potentiels, comme ici la mortalité après les deux niveaux de traitement. Nous montrons aussi à l'aide de données préliminaires sur des blessures, que notre approche peut donner des résultats qui sont plus raisonnables que les résultats obtenus par les méthodes standard, et ceci de façon relativement dramatique. Ainsi notre approche suggère que le recueil en routine de données sur des variables qui pourraient être utilisées comme traitement possible dans de telles études d'“inputs” et de mortalité devrait être fait en routine.     

From Basic Research to Molecular Breeding——Chinese Scientists Play A Central Role in Boosting World Rice Production

On November 18, 2018, the Future Science Prize Awarding Ceremony was held in Beijing. In the area of life science, Professors Jiayang Li, Longping Yuan, and Qifa Zhang shared the prize for their pioneering contributions in producing high-yield, superior-quality rice through systematic study of molecular mechanisms associated with speci?c rice features and application of novel approaches in rice breeding. The Future Science Prize is also touted as ‘‘China's Nobel Prize", fully af?rming their achievements in rice basic research and breeding.     

Ethnographic surreality,possession and the unconscious

In the Second Manifesto of Surrealism, issued by André Breton in 1929, surrealism was described as “a total recuperation of our psychic strength by a means of none other than vertiginous descent into ourselves, systematic illumination of the hidden places and progressive darkening of the other places, a perpetual walk in the forbidden zone”. Surrealism sought to represent the unconscious and forbidden zones of the psyche, of the body, of the noumenal world within, which offered access, for surrealists, to energies and intuitions repressed by “civilized” modes of perception. For Jean Rouch, the significance of surrealism, of automatic writing and ciné‐transe, rested in the potential escape they offered from the formal constraints of conventional film and of conventional perception and observation. In his celebration of ciné‐transe, and of the technological apparatus that makes it possible, it is possible to detect his desire for a freeing‐up of the constraints of consciousness—a desire to “write with the body”, to dream, to tap the unexplored power of the unconscious in its overturning of “reality”, of system, and of convention. As a phaneroscopic “wide‐angle lens”, surreality aimed to document the scientifically unexplainable, the immense experiential overload of ritual possession. It attempted to make visible, in the movement between observation and participation and across disjunctive points of view; the crossings‐over into the unconscious world by which possessed Songhay dancers gained access to powers of phaneroscopic perception. By adopting filmic techniques which follow the surrealist practice of creating “verbal and visual collage”, in which randomly‐generated images, emerging out of a trance‐like state (of “automatic writing” or "ciné‐transe"), are juxtaposed in indeterminate and polyphonic relations with each other in an attempt to disturb or destroy patterns of perception which are confining, rationalistic, linear, or restricted to conscious phenomena, Rouch believed he could create powerful representations of the unknowable. This paper relates the phaneroscopic practice of ethnographic surrealism to psychoanalytic models of the unconscious. In a discussion of Rouch's interpretation of the Hauka spirit cult in his film Les Maîtres Fous, the paper argues that the neo‐Freudian paradigm which allowed him to depict the Sohghay's weekend Hauka rites as a parodic reversion to “savagery” (which both reversed the hierarchy of colonizer/colonized and enabled participants to experience a therapeutic release from the traumas of colonization) has been challenged by Lacanian and post‐Lacanian “re‐readings” of Freud that call into question the extent to which the unconscious can be equated with a pre‐linguistic state characterized by disjunctive “primitive” and “instinctive” energies. The surrealist longing for a rupture of the symbolic order of Western rationalism and a return to the “imaginary order” of the unconscious is confounded in the Lacanian conception of the unconscious as a zone inhabited by the “discourse of the Other”. However, the work of Gillès Deleuze and Félix Guanari [1977] provides a means of conceptualizing the unconscious in terms that avoid simplistic binary logic (phenomenon/noumenon; signifier/signified; subject/object; conscious/unconscious; civilization/savagery). The unconscious is not the “unrepresentable” Other of consciousness; it is a schizophrenic phaneron, a signifying “machine”, a transgressive producer of “group fantasy”. Rejecting both Freud's Oedipal model (the unconscious as primal imagery or “ghostly signifieds"), and the Lacanian notion of the unconscious (as a play of “empty signifiers"). Deleuze and Guattari argue that the unconscious cannot be accounted for in terms of the individual child and its entry into language any more than it can be conceived of as the domain of the primitive. On the contrary, the unconscious is constituted as “group fantasy”, as collective public memory which need not be reduced to elemental (Oedipal) signifiers: “all delirium possesses a world‐historical, political and racial content”. The schizophrenic embodies the public nature of unconscious meaning, since schizophrenia is primarily a communication disorder in which an individual never sees himself in terms of a linguistically‐generated “selfhood”, and fails to adopt the “false” identity which is offered to him in the language of the Other. Schizophrenia is characterized by a refusal to treat some meanings as superior to others, to remain within the bounds of a stable identity, or to distinguish between material (noumenal) things and actions and their (phenomenal) meanings. The schizophrenic unconscious treats all experience as signs, registering language in the same way as the body registers physical stimuli. Thus “meanings in the unconscious are simply meanings as workings of the body” [Harland 1987:174–175]. The schizophrenic as a model for the unconscious holds several implications for those interested in representing the experiential power of public rituals, for the public meanings in circulation during such rituals are material and noumenal, and are registered on the bodies of the dancers as they transgress boundaries and pass beyond consciousness. Rouch's surreality attempted to inscribe this unconscious production of public meaning as it was manifested in the movements of the ritual and in the movements of the camera‐body.     

De-indigenized but not defeated: race and resistance in Colombia's Peace Community and Campesino University

Despite the institution of multicultural policies and pluriethnic governments across Latin America, racist violence against Indigenous and Afro-descendant groups persists. Yet the racial facets of violence against non-ethnic campesinos remain unexplored. Integrating scholarship on race as a global structure and Latin American racial formations, I offer an account of racialization in Colombia. This article analyzes the racial dynamics of resistance to extractivism in Colombia's Campesino University, uniting Indigenous and campesino groups like the San José de Apartadó Peace Community. While the dominant race lexicon separates “campesinos” like San José's peasants from “Indigenous” and “Black” groups, I argue that the identifier campesino mestizo hides how San José's farmers were “de-indigenized” yet remain racialized as the less-than-human “Indigenous savage”. If racialization works to dominate but also divide the subaltern, then Campesino University participants’ cross-ethnic solidarity network against what they affirm is a shared experience of racist violence both unveils and counters racism.     

Jules Cotard: sa vie, son œuvre

Jules Cotard was a psychiatrist at the Vanves asylum. Described as a sharp observer and clinician, he also had a passion for clinical research. Jules Cotard was always ready to modify, question, or even abandon a hypothesis if clinical facts and scientific analysis made him deem it necessary to do so. He devoted most of his writing to “negation delirium”, (also known as “nihilistic delusion”): “Du délire hypochondriaque dans une forme grave de mélancolie (“Concerning hypochondriac delusion in serious melancholy”)” in 1880, “Du délire des négations (“Concerning negation delirium”)” in 1882, “Perte de la vision mentale dans une mélancolie anxieuse (“Loss of mental vision in anxious melancholy”)” in 1884 and “Du délire d’énormité (“Concerning delusions of enormity”)” in 1888. Long after his death, there was much controversy and debate about the existence of negation delirium. J. Séglas and J. Régis were the main contributors to the development and clarification of his work. Thus it is this most unusual of syndromes, Cotard’s syndrome, that has caused Jules Cotard to be part of the history of French psychiatry since the end of the 19th century.     

The Nobel Prize as a Reward Mechanism in the Genomics Era: Anonymous Researchers,Visible Managers and the Ethics of Excellence

The Human Genome Project (HGP) is regarded by many as one of the major scientific achievements in recent science history, a large-scale endeavour that is changing the way in which biomedical research is done and expected, moreover, to yield considerable benefit for society. Thus, since the completion of the human genome sequencing effort, a debate has emerged over the question whether this effort merits to be awarded a Nobel Prize and if so, who should be the one(s) to receive it, as (according to current procedures) no more than three individuals can be selected. In this article, the HGP is taken as a case study to consider the ethical question to what extent it is still possible, in an era of big science, of large-scale consortia and global team work, to acknowledge and reward individual contributions to important breakthroughs in biomedical fields. Is it still viable to single out individuals for their decisive contributions in order to reward them in a fair and convincing way? Whereas the concept of the Nobel prize as such seems to reflect an archetypical view of scientists as solitary researchers who, at a certain point in their careers, make their one decisive discovery, this vision has proven to be problematic from the very outset. Already during the first decade of the Nobel era, Ivan Pavlov was denied the Prize several times before finally receiving it, on the basis of the argument that he had been active as a research manager (a designer and supervisor of research projects) rather than as a researcher himself. The question then is whether, in the case of the HGP, a research effort that involved the contributions of hundreds or even thousands of researchers worldwide, it is still possible to “individualise” the Prize? The “HGP Nobel Prize problem” is regarded as an exemplary issue in current research ethics, highlighting a number of quandaries and trends involved in contemporary life science research practices more broadly.     

Who Will Manage American Patients With Diabetes? Residents’ Career Preferences and Perceptions of Diabetes Care

ObjectiveTo identify the factors that encourage or discourage internal medicine and pediatric residents regarding specializing in endocrinology with a focus on diabetes.MethodsWe conducted an electronic survey of internal medicine and pediatric residents using a $10 participation incentive. A total of 653 residents responded to the survey (estimated response rate of 9.2%)—626 from residency programs that were contacted for our survey and 27 from referrals.ResultsAmong internal medicine and pediatric residents surveyed, 39 respondents (6.0%) planned to specialize in endocrinology, and 27 of these (4.1% of total respondents) planned to focus on diabetes. “Intellectual satisfaction, ” “emotional satisfaction, ” and “work-life balance” were identified by respondents as the most important factors in their choice of a specialty, with ratings of 5.5, 5.4, and 5.3 on a 6-point Likert scale. Among these factors identified as most important to a medical career, endocrinology with a focus on diabetes scored poorly with regard to intellectual and emotional satisfaction but received high ranking with regard to lifestyle. With regard to other factors, endocrinology was rated negatively on “compensation, ” “number of procedures, ” and “patient adherence to prescribed treatment.” Exposure to diabetes during training had no major influence on the decision to enter endocrinology.ConclusionEndocrinology with a focus on diabetes care is not an attractive specialty for most internal medicine and pediatric residents. Therefore, new strategies to attract residents to the field of diabetes care are needed. (Endocr Pract. 2011;17:235-239)     

Party competition and the production of nationhood in the immigration context: particularizing the universal for political gain in France and Québec

Analysing parties’ media representations in the context of France’s 2010 legal ban of Islamic facial coverings and Québec’s (rejected) Charter of Values in 2013, this paper foregrounds the neglected role that party competition plays in shaping the construction of nationhood in public debates around immigrant religious practices. Our findings show that in these debates, political parties aim to maintain their distinct identities by generating a particular universalism, in which purportedly “universal” values, such as gender equality, are imbricated with particularistic images of nationhood.     

Visualizing Biological Membrane Organization and Dynamics

Biological membranes are fascinating. Santiago Ramón y Cajal, who received the Nobel prize in 1906 together with Camillo Golgi for their work on the nervous system, wrote “[…]in the study of this membrane[…] I felt more profoundly than in any other subject of study the shuddering sensation of the unfathomable mystery of life”². The visualization and conceptualization of these biological objects have profoundly shaped many aspects of modern biology, drawing inspiration from experiments, computer simulations, and the imagination of scientists and artists. The aim of this review is to provide a fresh look on current ideas of biological membrane organization and dynamics by discussing selected examples across fields.     

Us and them: From prejudice to racism. An original analysis of race and racism

This paper present the content of the Musée de l'Homme exhibition “Us and them: from prejudice to racism” and provides a detailed explanation of how this content has been presented to the public. In a second section of this paper we explain some of the analysis and concepts, from a biological anthropology perspective, that were the foundation of the exhibition and provides some information about the current situation in France.     

H.J. Muller's contributions to mutation research

H. J. Muller is best known for his Nobel Prize work on the induction of mutations by ionizing radiation. Geneticists are less familiar with his contributions to mutation and how he related the process of mutagenesis to the gene and distinguished gene mutations from other genetic and epigenetic events such as polyploidy, chromosome rearrangements, and position effects. The hallmark of Muller's contributions is his design of genetic stocks to solve genetic problems and allow experimentation to reveal new phenomena. In this review I relate Muller's personality to his teaching and research and present a history of Muller's ideas on mutation from his first days in Morgan's fly lab to his final thoughts on what became called “Muller's ratchet”, a term he did not get to enjoy because it was coined seven years after his death.     

La psychose hallucinatoire chronique doit-elle disparaître ? Une revue historique

At the beginning of the 19th century, while the semiology of hallucinations was being identified for the first time (Esquirol, 1817; Baillarger, 1856), a number of French alienists isolated partial delusions which are characterized by disorders of perception: “folie sensoriale” (Lélut, 1836), “monomanie sensoriale” (Aubanel, Calmeil, 1839), “délire des sensations” (Michéa, 1851). Others authors pointed that hallucinations were the main symptom of monomanias and mystic delusions (Brierre de Boismont, 1845; Baillarger, 1856). In 1882, Magnan introduces the concept of chronic delusion. But as most studies of the time were focused on degeneracy, it was not until the end of the century that persecutory delusions of a hallucinatory nature were distinguished from those of a “reasoning” or “combinatory” nature (Falret, 1878; Mendel, 1883; Sérieux, 1890). Between 1892 and 1900, J. Séglas, physician of the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, was able to differentiate between hallucinatory patients with sensory and motor dysfunctions, in analogy with aphasias. The latter, also called “persécutés-possédés”, present delusions of being controlled and thought broadcasting (depersonalization). On the other hand, Chronic Hallucinatory Psychosis (CHP) was used initially to identify patients suffering from hallucinations without delusion or hallucinosis (Séglas and Cotard, 1908; Dide and Gassiot, 1910). In 1911 and then 1913, G. Ballet first used the term in its present French meaning to refer to Séglas’ patients with persecutory delusions of a hallucinatory nature. Séglas’ pupils then describe “influence psychosis” (Lévy-Darras, 1914; Ceillier, 1924), less famous nowadays than the “psychosis based on mental automatism” (G. de Clérambault, 1920-1926). In the 1930s, students of H. Claude at Sainte-Anne hospital criticize the concept of CHP (Ey, Nodet), because of the prevalence of delusional ideas on perceptive disorders. After 1945, most semiology of hallucinations is integrated into the “first rank symptoms” of schizophrenia by K. Schneider. Although it has not been retained by DSM-IV and ICD-10, French CHP could be integrated as a syndromic form into late-onset schizophrenia.     

The unfalsifiability of cladograms and its consequences

Popper's falsificationism provides the normative reference system in recent discussions regarding theory and methodology of systematics. According to Popper, the falsifiability of a hypothesis represents a necessary precondition for its corroborability. It is shown that cladograms, independent of “strict”, “methodological” or “sophisticated” falsification, are not falsifiable in principle. No present observation is prohibited by any tree hypothesis and, thus, no Popperian test of cladograms exists. It is shown that the congruence test, which is commonly said to represent a Popperian test of cladograms, instead tests sets of apomorphy hypotheses. Three different strategies that have been proposed to circumvent this problem are discussed and refuted: (1) referring to Popper's convention to renounce ad hoc maneuvers; (2) referring to Popper's treatment of probability hypotheses; and (3) decoupling corroboration from falsification. As a consequence, within a Popperian framework the unfalsifiability of cladograms implies that cladograms cannot explain any present day observation and, thus, represent metaphysical hypotheses. However, Popper's falsificationism has been criticized and questioned by many philosophers before and it seems to be about time that phylogeneticists develop their own philosophy of phylogenetics that meets their specific requirements of a historical science that is not seeking for universal laws and regularities, but instead reconstructing particular historical events. © The Willi Hennig Society 2007.     

Évaluation des pratiques professionnelles. Pertinence des indications de la tomographie à émission de positons en cancérologie

IntroductionAs part of the health care quality and safety policy in France, Professional Practice Assessment (PPA) are mandatory in the health services “certification” process. We present our study regarding the pertinence of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) indications in oncology.Materials and methodsA multidisciplinary task group used the Quick Audit method with two rounds of 100 request forms each. The assessment list of criteria comprised four items of decreasing relevance grading the PET scans clinical indications, which were derived from the three French published guidelines (SOR [FNCLCC], “Guide du bon usage des examens d’imagerie médicale” [SFR-SFMN], “Guide pour la rédaction de protocoles pour la TEP au FDG en cancérologie” [SFMN]) and five additional items: clinical information, patient's body weight, previous treatments dates, diabetes, claustrophobia.ResultsThe first round showed that 68% of the requested scans corresponded to the two most relevant groups of indications (SOR Standards and Options). The request forms were correctly filled in regarding the clinical information, but this was not the case for the other items we tested. Several actions were conducted: dedicated PET request form, availability of the SOR on the hospital intranet, boost of the referring physicians awareness during the multidisciplinary oncology meetings (Réunions de Concertation Pluridisciplinaires RCP). The second round showed a better pertinence of the PET scans indications (75% versus 68%); the patient's body weight was more frequently mentioned on the request form.DiscussionThis study is an example of PPA in our discipline. It led to an improvement of the oncologic PET scans clinical indications in our hospital. This work is pursued in everyday discussion with the referring clinicians, especially during the RCP.