221 research outputs found

    Exploring regional irrigation water demand using typologies of farms and production units: an example from Tunisia

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    La plupart des méthodes utilisées pour prédire la consommation d'eau d'irrigation à l'échelle régionale sont fondées sur des modèles biophysiques et les assolements. Leur objectif est de fournir des estimations précises de la "demande d'eau" qui sont utiles pour la gestion des ressources en eau. Toutefois, dans le cas du libre accès à la ressource en eau, par exemple le pompage dans une nappe phréatique, il est seulement possible d'éviter la surexploitation au travers d'une "gestion" de la demande de l'eau basée sur les choix des agriculteurs et leurs comportement. Dans ce papier, nous proposons un cadre d'analyse pour représenter les activités agricoles en utilisant des typologies des exploitations agricoles et des unités de production agrégées à l'échelle régionale. Ce cadre peut être utilisé pour estimer la consommation d'eau d'irrigation et d'autres intrants, ainsi que la production agricole. Ce cadre peut également être utilisé pour évaluer les effets d'une technique, d'une mesure économique ou de changements institutionnels sur le revenu agricole, et de prévoir les conséquences de ces changements à l'échelle régionale. Nous avons utilisé cette méthode en Tunisie centrale pour estimer la demande en eau d'irrigation en 1999. Nous avons ensuite simulé les changements qui se produiraient si l'irrigation au goutte à goutte a été adoptée. Les résultats de la simulation a montré des économies d'eau et de main-d'½uvre, et une augmentation des rendements, avec une fertigation. Ainsi, l'utilisation de l'irrigation au goutte à goutte peut permettre aux agriculteurs d'étendre leurs superficies irriguées en goutte à goutte. Nous avons ensuite simulé l'adoption généralisée de l'irrigation au goutte à goutte et l'extension des zones irriguées: les résultats n'ont pas montré de baisse de besoins en eau à l'échelle régionale. Ces hypothèses ont été confirmées en 2005 en utilisant de nouvelles typologies pour évaluer la nouvelle demande en eau d'irrigation. Nous avons également simulé les effets de changements économiques sur les revenus agricoles. Une augmentation importante du coût de l'eau a touché une minorité d'exploitations, qui a consommé seulement 17% du total de l'eau d'irrigation, tandis qu'une légère diminution des prix de la pastèque et melon a touché une majorité des exploitations agricoles, qui a consommé 78% du total de l'eau d'irrigation. Les outils de gestion de la demande en eau des doivent donc se concentrer sur les effets d'une technique, des mesures économiques, ou de changements institutionnels et sur les choix des agriculteurs.GESTION DE L'EAU;MODELISATION;EAU D'IRRIGATION;AGRICULTEUR;IRRIGATION GOUTTE A GOUTTE;DEMANDE EN EAU;REGIONAL WATER DEMAND;FARMERS' CHOICES;FARMING SYSTEM;MODELING

    Usages agricoles de l'eau et valorisation dans la plaine de Kairouan, Tunisie centrale

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    International audienceLe bassin du Merguellil en Tunisie centrale a été retenu par le gouvernement comme zone pilote pour une étude de gestion intégrée de l'eau en milieu semi-aride. Le programme MERGUSIE (MErguellil : Ressources, Gestion et USages Intégrés de l'Eau) a été conçu pour réalisé cette étude. Ce programme de recherche-développement répond d'une part à un souci stratégique de traiter le problème de l'eau par une action simultanée sur l'offre et la demande, et d'autre part d'analyser en profondeur un bassin opposant une partie amont où se constituent les ressources en eau et avec peu d'usages hors des forages pour l'eau potable, à une plaine aval, à l'ouest de Kairouan, fortement agricole et pratiquant des productions irriguées à partir d'une nappe dont le niveau baisse d'année en année. Le lien entre ces deux zones se fait par le barrage d'El Haouareb, dont la retenue recharge la nappe à l'aval. Une première phase, de 1998 à 2001, a permis d'acquérir des connaissances sur la zone d'étude. La thèse de S. Feuillette (2001) a notamment montré la dynamique de multiplication des puits et d'extension des surfaces irriguées dans la plaine de Kairouan. Durant la seconde phase du programme, une typologie des exploitations agricoles dans le bassin amont a été réalisée (Albouchi, 2006) et les divers modes de conduite des cultures de pastèque et de piment dans la plaine aval ont été analysés (Champion, 2003) : il a été montré que l'irrigation ne concerne actuellement qu'une très faible minorité d'exploitations à l'amont du barrage, alors qu'on observe à l'aval une généralisation du goutte à goutte sur les cultures maraîchères et l'arboriculture. Nous avons donc choisi de mesurer l'impact de la généralisation de cette technique d'irrigation économe en eau sur l'évolution de la demande agricole en eau et sa valorisation. Pour réaliser cette évaluation nous avons mis en oeuvre les méthodes proposées par Le Grusse et al. (2006) qui se fondent sur l'agrégation des activités des exploitations agricoles à l'échelle régionale en utilisant une typologie des exploitations et de leurs activités de production. Nous avons proposé au CRDA de Kairouan d'actualiser la typologie réalisée par Feuillette (2001) pour (i) vérifier les hypothèses d'évolution proposées à cette époque, (ii) évaluer la nouvelle demande agricole en eau et sa valorisation à l'aval du barrage, et (iii) réfléchir aux possibles évolutions futures

    Computer-Assisted Generation of Patterns and Virtual Reality Techniques for Fashion Design

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    We present a methodology for the design of aesthetic patterns and their visualization on virtual clothes. Generated patterns are directly mapped on the dress of a virtual mannequin. Furthermore, patterns sets may be interactively mapped on the virtual dress using a specific 3D interaction technique called Back-and-Forth. Pattern generation involves different mathematical approaches such as iterated function systems (IFS) and nonlinear trajectory models. Both model parameters and color space exploration is performed through a simple user interface. This work contributes to promote both computer assistance in the context of mass customization for fashion design

    The nucleolar protein nucleophosmin is physiologically secreted by endothelial cells in response to stress exerting proangiogenic activity both in vitro and in vivo

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    Nucleophosmin (NPM), a nucleolar multifunctional phosphoprotein, acts as a stress sensor in different cell types. NPM can be actively secreted by inflammatory cells, however its biology on endothelium remains unexplored. In this study, we show for the first time that NPM is secreted by human vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) in the early response to serum deprivation and that NPM acts as a pro-inflammatory and angiogenic molecule both in vitro and in vivo. Accordingly, 24 h of serum starvation condition induced NPM relocalization from the nucleus to cytoplasm. Interestingly, NPM was increasingly excreted in HUVEC-derived conditioned media in a time dependent fashion upon stress conditions up to 24 h. The secretion of NPM was unrelated to cell necrosis within 24 h. The treatment with exogenous and recombinant NPM (rNPM) enhanced migration as well as the Intercellular Adhesion Molecule 1 (ICAM-1) but not Vascular cell adhesion protein 1 (VCAM-1) expression and it did not affect cell proliferation. Notably, in vitro tube formation by Matrigel assay was significantly increased in HUVEC treated with rNPM compared to controls. This result was confirmed by the in vivo injection of Matrigel plug assay upon stimulation with rNPM, displaying significant enhanced number of functional capillaries in the plugs. The stimulation with rNPM in HUVEC was also associated to the increased expression of master genes regulating angiogenesis and migration, including Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A (VEGF-A), Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF), Stromal derived factor-1 (SDF-1), Fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2), Platelet Derived Growth Factor-B (PDGF-B), and Matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP9). Our study demonstrates for the first time that NPM is physiologically secreted by somatic cells under stress condition and in the absence of cell necrosis. The analysis of the biological effects induced by NPM mainly related to a pro-angiogenic and inflammatory activity might suggest an important autocrine/paracrine role for NPM in the regulation of both phenomena

    Myc and Omomyc functionally associate with the Protein Arginine Methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) in glioblastoma cells

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    The c-Myc protein is dysregulated in many human cancers and its function has not been fully elucitated yet. The c-Myc inhibitor Omomyc displays potent anticancer properties in animal models. It perturbs the c-Myc protein network, impairs c-Myc binding to the E-boxes, retaining transrepressive properties and inducing histone deacetylation. Here we have employed Omomyc to further analyse c-Myc activity at the epigenetic level. We show that both Myc and Omomyc stimulate histone H4 symmetric dimethylation of arginine (R) 3 (H4R3me2s), in human glioblastoma and HEK293T cells. Consistently, both associated with protein Arginine Methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5)-the catalyst of the reaction-and its co-factor Methylosome Protein 50 (MEP50). Confocal experiments showed that Omomyc co-localized with c-Myc, PRMT5 and H4R3me2s-enriched chromatin domains. Finally, interfering with PRMT5 activity impaired target gene activation by Myc whereas it restrained Omomyc-dependent repression. The identification of a histone-modifying complex associated with Omomyc represents the first demonstration of an active role of this miniprotein in modifying chromatin structure and adds new information regarding its action on c-Myc targets. More importantly, the observation that c-Myc may recruit PRMT5-MEP50, inducing H4R3 symmetric di-methylation, suggests previously unpredictable roles for c-Myc in gene expression regulation and new potential targets for therapy

    Doxorubicin upregulates CXCR4 via miR-200c/ZEB1-dependent mechanism in human cardiac mesenchymal progenitor cells.

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    Doxorubicin (DOXO) treatment is limited by its cardiotoxicity, since it causes cardiac-progenitor-cell depletion. Although the cardioprotective role of the stromal cell-derived factor-1/C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (SDF1/CXCR4) axis is well established, its involvement during DOXO-induced cardiotoxicity has never been investigated. We showed that in a mouse model of DOXO-induced cardiomyopathy, CXCR4 <sup>+</sup> cells were increased in response to DOXO, mainly in human cardiac mesenchymal progenitor cells (CmPC), a subpopulation with regenerative potential. Our in vitro results showed a CXCR4 induction after 24 h of DOXO exposure in CmPC. SDF1 administration protected from DOXO-induced cell death and promoted CmPC migration. CXCR4 promoter analysis revealed zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) binding sites. Upon DOXO treatment, ZEB1 binding decreased and RNA-polymerase-II increased, suggesting a DOXO-mediated transcriptional increase in CXCR4. Indeed, DOXO induced the upregulation of miR-200c, that directly targets ZEB1. SDF1 administration in DOXO-treated mice partially reverted the adverse remodeling, decreasing left ventricular (LV) end diastolic volume, LV ejection fraction and LV anterior wall thickness in diastole, recovering LV end systolic pressure and reducing±dP/dt. Moreover, in vivo administration of SDF1 partially reverted DOXO-induced miR-200c and p53 protein upregulation in mouse hearts. In addition, downmodulation of ZEB1 mRNA and protein by DOXO was significantly increased by SDF1. In keeping, p21 mRNA, that is induced by p53 and inhibited by ZEB1, is induced by DOXO treatment and is decreased by SDF1 administration. This study showed new players of the DOXO-induced cardiotoxicity, that can be exploited to ameliorate DOXO-associated cardiomyopathy

    Effectiveness of a peer-led adolescent mental health intervention on HIV virological suppression and mental health in Zimbabwe: protocol of a cluster-randomised trial.

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    BACKGROUND: Adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) experience a high burden of mental health disorder which is a barrier to antiretroviral therapy adherence. In Zimbabwe, trained, mentored peer supporters living with HIV (Community Adolescent Treatment Supporters - CATS) have been found to improve adherence, viral suppression and psychosocial well-being among ALHIV. The Friendship Bench is the largest integrated mental health programme in Africa. We hypothesise that combining the CATS programme and Friendship Bench will improve mental health and virological suppression among ALHIV compared with the CATS programme alone. METHODS: We will conduct a cluster-randomised controlled trial in 60 clinics randomised 1:1 in five provinces. ALHIV attending the control arm clinics will receive standard CATS support and clinic support following the Ministry of Health guidelines. Those attending the intervention arm clinics will receive Friendship Bench problem-solving therapy, delivered by trained CATS. Participants with the signs of psychological distress will be referred to the clinic for further assessment and management. The primary outcome is HIV virological failure (≥1000 copies/ml) or death at 48 weeks. Secondary outcomes include the proportion of adolescents with common mental disorder symptoms (defined as Shona Symptom Questionnaire (SSQ-14) score ≥8), proportion with depression symptoms (defined as Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score ≥11), symptom severity (mean SSQ-14 and PHQ-9 scores) and EQ-5D score for health-related quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: This trial evaluates the effectiveness of peer-delivery of mental health care on mental health and HIV viral load among ALHIV. If effective this intervention has the potential to be scaled-up to improve these outcomes.Trial registration: PACTR201810756862405. 08 October 2018

    ВОЛНОВАЯ СТРУКТУРА РИТМА СЕРДЦА У БОЛЬНЫХ ОСТРЫМ ИНФАРКТОМ МИОКАРДА С ПОДЪЕМОМ СЕГМЕНТА ST В ЗАВИСИМОСТИ ОТ СПОСОБА РЕВАСКУЛЯРИЗАЦИИ

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    The authors studied the wave nature of the heart rate in the patients with acute myocardial infarction with ST segment elevation depending on the method of revascularization. Ninety-four male patients (mean age - 54.41±0.86 ys) without myocardial infarction in their past medical hystories participated in the study.Изучены волновая структура ритма сердца у больных острым инфарктом миокарда с подъемом сегмента ST в зависимости от способа реваскуляризации миокарда. С этой целью обследованы 94 мужчины (средний возраст - 54,41±0,86 года), не имеющих в анамнезе данных о перенесенном ранее инфаркте миокарда

    Increasing the simulation performance of large-scale evacuations using parallel computing techniques based on domain decomposition

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    Evacuation simulation has the potential to be used as part of a decision support system during large-scale incidents to provide advice to incident commanders. To be viable in these applications, it is essential that the simulation can run many times faster than real time. Parallel processing is a method of reducing run times for very large computational simulations by distributing the workload amongst a number of processors. This paper presents the development of a parallel version of the rule based evacuation simulation software buildingEXODUS using domain decomposition. Four Case Studies (CS) were tested using a cluster, consisting of 10 Intel Core 2 Duo (dual core) 3.16 GHz CPUs. CS-1 involved an idealised large geometry, with 20 exits, intended to illustrate the peak computational speed up performance of the parallel implementation, the population consisted of 100,000 agents; the peak computational speedup (PCS) was 14.6 and the peak real-time speedup (PRTS) was 4.0. CS-2 was a long area with a single exit area with a population of 100,000 agents; the PCS was 13.2 and the PRTS was 17.2. CS-3 was a 50 storey high rise building with a population of 8000/16,000 agents; the PCS was 2.48/4.49 and the PRTS was 17.9/12.9. CS-4 is a large realistic urban area with 60,000/120,000 agents; the PCS was 5.3/6.89 and the PRTS was 5.31/3.0. This type of computational performance opens evacuation simulation to a range of new innovative application areas such as real-time incident support, dynamic signage in smart buildings and virtual training environments
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