Formation trinationale Franco-Suisse-Allemande « Information Communication Systems » à l’Université de Haute Alsace

La formation trinationale « Information Communication Systems » a pour objectif la formation de Licence (Bachelor) dans le domaine des sciences pour l’ingénieur en électronique, automatique et informatique industrielle. Ce parcours est réalisé entre les trois partenaires de la Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz en Suisse, la Hochschule de Furtwangen en Allemagne et l’Université de Haute Alsace à Mulhouse. Les étudiants provenant des baccalauréats scientifiques S ou STI, s’inscrivent dans ce cursus sur 3 années dont deux effectuées dans les universités partenaires et obtiennent les diplômes des trois pays. Le diplôme est validé lors du septième semestre par un stage de fin d’études dans une entreprise du domaine. La formation ICS fait partie d’un ensemble de formations transfrontalières proposées par l’Université de Haute Alsace. Son modèle de fonctionnement proche du LMD, fourni une souplesse de fonctionnement et permet son adaptation à d’autres domaines pour un coût de fonctionnement réduit

Differential Regulation of Myocardial E3 Ligases and Deubiquitinases in Ischemic Heart Failure

The pathological changes of ubiquitination and deubiquitination following myocardial infarction (MI) and chronic heart failure (CHF) have been sparsely examined. We investigated the expression of muscle-specific E3 ubiquitin ligases and deubiquitinases in MI and CHF. Therefore, mice were assigned to coronary artery ligation for 3 days or 10 weeks as well as for sham operation (each n = 10). Expression of E3 ligases (MAFBX, MURF1, CHIP, ITCH, MDM2) and deubiquitinases (A20, CYLD, UCH-L1, USP14, USP19) was determined. After MI and in CHF, the mRNA expression of MURF1, CHIP and MDM2 (all p < 0.05) was decreased. Protein expression analyses revealed that ITCH expression decreased in CHF (p = 0.01), whereas MDM2 expression increased in MI (p = 0.02) and decreased in CHF (p = 0.02). Except for USP19 mRNA expression that decreased at 3 days and 10 weeks (both p < 0.01), the expression of other deubiquitinases remained unaffected after MI and CHF. The expression of myocardial E3 ligases is differentially regulated following MI, raising the question of whether an upstream regulation exists that is activated by MI for tissue protection or whether the downregulation of E3 ligases enables myocardial hypertrophy following MI

Immune Monitoring Assay for Extracorporeal Photopheresis Treatment Optimization After Heart Transplantation

Background: Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) induces immunological changes that lead to a reduced risk of transplant rejection. The aim of the present study was to determine optimum conditions for ECP treatment by analyzing a variety of toleranceinducing immune cells to optimize the treatment. Methods: Ten ECP treatments were applied to each of 17 heart-transplant patients from month 3 to month 9 post-HTx. Blood samples were taken at baseline, three times during treatment, and four months after the last ECP treatment. The abundance of subsets of tolerance-inducing regulatory T cells (Tregs) and dendritic cells (DCs) in the samples was determined by flow cytometry. A multivariate statistical model describing the immunological status of rejection-free heart transplanted patients was used to visualize the patient-specific immunological improvement induced by ECP. Results: All BDCA+ DC subsets (BDCA1+ DCs: p < 0.01, BDCA2+ DCs: p < 0.01, BDCA3+ DCs: p < 0.01, BDCA4+ DCs: p < 0.01) as well as total Tregs (p < 0.01) and CD39+ Tregs (p < 0.01) increased during ECP treatment, while CD62L+ Tregs decreased (p < 0.01). The cell surface expression level of BDCA1 (p < 0.01) and BDCA4 (p < 0.01) on DCs as well as of CD120b (p < 0.01) on Tregs increased during the study period, while CD62L expression on Tregs decreased significantly (p = 0.04). The cell surface expression level of BDCA2 (p = 0.47) and BDCA3 (p = 0.22) on DCs as well as of CD39 (p = 0.14) and CD147 (p = 0.08) on Tregs remained constant during the study period. A cluster analysis showed that ECP treatment led to a sustained immunological improvement. Conclusions: We developed an immune monitoring assay for ECP treatment after heart transplantation by analyzing changes in tolerance-inducing immune cells. This assay allowed differentiation of patients who did and did not show immunological improvement. Based on these results, we propose classification criteria that may allow optimization of the duration of ECP treatment

Everolimus-Induced Immune Effects after Heart Transplantation: A Possible Tool for Clinicians to Monitor Patients at Risk for Transplant Rejection

Background: Patients treated with an inhibitor of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTORI) in a calcineurin inhibitor (CNI)-free immunosuppressive regimen after heart transplantation (HTx) show a higher risk for transplant rejection. We developed an immunological monitoring tool that may improve the identification of mTORI-treated patients at risk for rejection. Methods: Circulating dendritic cells (DCs) and regulatory T cells (Tregs) were analysed in 19 mTORI- and 20 CNI-treated HTx patients by flow cytometry. Principal component and cluster analysis were used to identify patients at risk for transplant rejection. Results: The percentages of total Tregs (p = 0.02) and CD39+ Tregs (p = 0.05) were higher in mTORI-treated patients than in CNI-treated patients. The principal component analysis revealed that BDCA1+, BDCA2+ and BDCA4+ DCs as well as total Tregs could distinguish between non-rejecting and rejecting mTORI-treated patients. Most mTORI-treated rejectors showed higher levels of BDCA2+ and BDCA4+ plasmacytoid DCs and lower levels of BDCA1+ myeloid DCs and Tregs than mTORI non-rejectors. Conclusion: An mTORI-based immunosuppressive regimen induced a sufficient, tolerance-promoting reaction in Tregs, but an insufficient, adverse effect in DCs. On the basis of patient-specific immunological profiles, we established a flow cytometry-based monitoring tool that may be helpful in identifying patients at risk for rejection

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Immigration represents a promising counter-narrative for Rust Belt cities in the 21st century. Increasingly, both immigrants and refugees are part of the comeback stories of Northeastern and Midwestern cities from Buffalo, to Dayton and Pittsburgh. This review explores recent research in urban geography and allied disciplines focusing on the international migration patterns, processes, and politics reshaping the urban geography of the American Rust Belt. Recent research sheds crucial light on how im/migrant lives are reshaping urban landscapes of Rust Belt cities, and conversely, how local immigration policies in these cities are rearranging the uneven geographies of immigrant receptivity across the U.S. Overall, this review highlights the limitations of the singular spatial imaginary of the Rust Belt advanced previously by many urbanists. Rather, this review illustrates the rich, complex, and tangled contemporary spatial nuances associated with international migration in this region. These spatial nuances are complicated by increasingly exclusionary immigration policy and rhetoric at the federal level since January of 2017

Highly potent human hematopoietic stem cells first emerge in the intraembryonic aorta-gonad-mesonephros region

Human HSCs appear first in the embryonic dorsal aorta, and only later in the yolk sac, liver, and placenta; a single human AGM region HSC can generate at least 300 daughter HSCs that are retransplantable into secondary recipient mice

Human CD34+ CD133+ Hematopoietic Stem Cells Cultured with Growth Factors Including Angptl5 Efficiently Engraft Adult NOD-SCID Il2rγ−/− (NSG) Mice

Increasing demand for human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in clinical and research applications necessitates expansion of HSCs in vitro. Before these cells can be used they must be carefully evaluated to assess their stem cell activity. Here, we expanded cord blood CD34+ CD133+ cells in a defined medium containing angiopoietin like 5 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 and evaluated the cells for stem cell activity in NOD-SCID Il2rg−/− (NSG) mice by multi-lineage engraftment, long term reconstitution, limiting dilution and serial reconstitution. The phenotype of expanded cells was characterized by flow cytometry during the course of expansion and following engraftment in mice. We show that the SCID repopulating activity resides in the CD34+ CD133+ fraction of expanded cells and that CD34+ CD133+ cell number correlates with SCID repopulating activity before and after culture. The expanded cells mediate long-term hematopoiesis and serial reconstitution in NSG mice. Furthermore, they efficiently reconstitute not only neonate but also adult NSG recipients, generating human blood cell populations similar to those reported in mice reconstituted with uncultured human HSCs. These findings suggest an expansion of long term HSCs in our culture and show that expression of CD34 and CD133 serves as a marker for HSC activity in human cord blood cell cultures. The ability to expand human HSCs in vitro should facilitate clinical use of HSCs and large-scale construction of humanized mice from the same donor for research applications.Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology ( Infectious Diseases research grant

Murine hematopoietic stem cell activity is derived from pre-circulation embryos but not yolk sacs.

The embryonic site of definitive hematopoietic stem cell (dHSC) origination has been debated for decades. Although an intra-embryonic origin is well supported, the yolk sac (YS) contribution to adult hematopoiesis remains controversial. The same developmental origin makes it difficult to identify specific markers that discern between an intraembryonic versus YS-origin using a lineage trace approach. Additionally, the highly migratory nature of blood cells and the inability of pre-circulatory embryonic cells (i.e., 5-7 somite pairs (sp)) to robustly engraft in transplantation, even after culture, has precluded scientists from properly answering these questions. Here we report robust, multi-lineage and serially transplantable dHSC activity from cultured 2-7sp murine embryonic explants (Em-Ex). dHSC are undetectable in 2-7sp YS explants. Additionally, the engraftment from Em-Ex is confined to an emerging CD31+CD45+c-Kit+CD41- population. In sum, our work supports a model in which the embryo, not the YS, is the major source of lifelong definitive hematopoiesis