Why and how to contribute to libre software when you integrate them into an in-house application ?

Free or open source software are common tools that everybody can use and customise at its convenience to create in-house applications. Using and customising free software is not sufficient to ensure that this in-house application will be maintainable at mid or long term. This paper draws lessons from our in-house project, the development of a groupware Web platform for researchers, to help defining a policy through which efficient contributions can be made to open source software so that the in-house projects may remain viable

Interaction of human dipeptidyl peptidase IV and human immunodeficiency virus type-1 transcription transactivator in Sf9 cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPPIV) also known as the T cell activation marker CD26 is a multifunctional protein which is involved in various biological processes. The association of human-DPPIV with components of the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV1) is well documented and raised some discussions. Several reports implicated the interaction of human-DPPIV with the HIV1 transcription transactivator protein (HIV1-Tat) and the inhibition of the dipeptidyl peptidase activity of DPPIV by the HIV1-Tat protein. Furthermore, enzyme kinetic data implied another binding site for the HIV1-Tat other than the active centre of DPPIV. However, the biological significance of this interaction of the HIV1-Tat protein and human-DPPIV has not been studied, yet. Therefore, we focused on the interaction of HIV1-Tat protein with DPPIV and investigated the subsequent biological consequences of this interaction in <it>Spodoptera frugiperda </it>cells, using the BAC-TO-BAC baculovirus system.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The HIV1-Tat protein (Tat-<it>BRU</it>) co-localized and co-immunoprecipitated with human-DPPIV protein, following co-expression in the baculovirus-driven <it>Sf9 </it>cell expression system. Furthermore, tyrosine phosphorylation of DPPIV protein was up-regulated in Tat/DPPIV-co-expressing cells after 72 h culturing and also in DPPIV-expressing <it>Sf9 </it>cells after application of purified recombinant Tat protein. As opposed to the expression of Tat alone, serine phosphorylation of the Tat protein was decreased when co-expressed with human-DPPIV protein.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We show for the first time that human-DPPIV and HIV1-Tat co-immunoprecipitate. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the interaction of HIV1-Tat and human-DPPIV may be involved in signalling platforms that regulate the biological function of both human-DPPIV and HIV1-Tat.</p

Solution to the Thomson problem for Clifford tori with an application to Wigner crystals

In its original version, the Thomson problem consists of the search for the minimum-energy configuration of a set of point-like electrons that are confined to the surface of a two-dimensional sphere (${\cal S}^2$) that repel each other according to Coulomb's law, in which the distance is the Euclidean distance in the embedding space of the sphere, {\em i.e.}, $\mathbb{R}^3$. In this work, we consider the analogous problem where the electrons are confined to an $n$-dimensional flat Clifford torus ${\cal T}^n$ with $n = 1, 2, 3$. Since the torus ${\cal T}^n$ can be embedded in the complex manifold $\mathbb{C}^n$, we define the distance in the Coulomb law as the Euclidean distance in $\mathbb{C}^n$, in analogy to what is done for the Thomson problem on the sphere. The Thomson problem on a Clifford torus is of interest because super-cells with the topology of Clifford torus can be used to describe periodic systems such as Wigner crystals. In this work we numerically solve the Thomson problem on a square Clifford torus. To illustrate the usefulness of our approach we apply it to Wigner crystals. We demonstrate that the equilibrium configurations we obtain for a large numbers of electrons are consistent with the predicted structures of Wigner crystals. Finally, in the one-dimensional case we analytically obtain the energy spectrum and the phonon dispersion law

Suite au débat…

Héritages historiques, structures spatiales et mouvements sociaux : pour une vision plus optimiste de la Pologne postcommuniste. (Martine Berger)L’analyse « géopolitique » et « géoculturelle » de Bohdan ne fait pratiquement pas référence à un point qui revient sans cesse dans les discussions que nous pouvons avoir avec nos collègues géographes polonais : la Pologne a relevé, au xixe siècle, de trois « empires » différents, qui n’ont pas eu, à l’égard des territoires qu’ils contrôlaient, la mê..

Suite au débat…

Héritages historiques, structures spatiales et mouvements sociaux : pour une vision plus optimiste de la Pologne postcommuniste. (Martine Berger)L’analyse « géopolitique » et « géoculturelle » de Bohdan ne fait pratiquement pas référence à un point qui revient sans cesse dans les discussions que nous pouvons avoir avec nos collègues géographes polonais : la Pologne a relevé, au xixe siècle, de trois « empires » différents, qui n’ont pas eu, à l’égard des territoires qu’ils contrôlaient, la mê..

Clinical relevance and implementation into daily practice of pharmacist-prescribed medication for the management of minor ailments

Background: Autonomous pharmacist prescribing was legally introduced in Switzerland in 2019 with the reclassification from prescription medication to pharmacist prescribing of 105 medications for sixteen indications. Its aim was to limit medical consultations and healthcare costs.Objectives: To evaluate the clinical relevance of the pharmacy prescribing medications compared to the over-the-counter medications (OTCs) and to evaluate its implementation into daily practice.Methods: A comparison was undertaken by clinical pharmacists to evaluate chemical and galenical equivalences between pharmacy prescribing medications and OTCs using compendium. ch and pharmavista. ch. Then, a scoping review was carried out in October 2021 to determine clinical relevance according to clinical guidelines’ recommendations. Clinical relevance was completed by determining if pharmacy prescribing medications were part of a homogeneous therapeutic class (no differences in efficacy and safety considered in clinical guidelines, but rather inter-molecular differences) that included an OTC medication. To identify the most clinically relevant pharmacy prescribing medications, first-line treatments were considered. The implementation into daily practice in Swiss community pharmacies was evaluated through an online questionnaire distributed via e-mail from the national pharmacists’ association and LinkedIn®. It included 15 questions divided in: pharmacy demographics, experience on pharmacy prescribing, use of prescribing medications and opinion about the them.Results: Of the 105 pharmacy prescribing medications, 20 (19.0%) were first-line treatments without OTC equivalences. Six of them were OTCs reclassified for safety reasons. Ten medications (9.5%) showed a negative clinical relevance (they were not first-line therapeutic options to support pharmacist when managing patients or considered as to be avoided) compared to the OTCs available. For the questionnaire, 283 pharmacists from the German (40.3%), French (37.1%) and Italian-speaking regions (16.9%) answered. In the previous 6 months, 41.7% pharmacies had delivered 10–50 medications and 30.0% between 1 and 10 medications. In situations where patients could be equally treated with a pharmacy prescribing medication or OTC (with an identical OTC, similar OTC or an OTC for the same therapeutic group): 75.6%, 74.9% and 84.8% of pharmacists, respectively, would have chosen OTCs because it required less documentation and it did not require patients’ payment for the service. In addition, pharmacists’ lack of training was also mentioned as barrier for providing the service.Conclusion: Most pharmacist prescribing medications do not present clinical advantages compared to OTCs. In addition, other barriers for implementation were also pharmacists’ training and patient medications costs

HOX11L2/TLX3 is transcriptionally activated through T-cell regulatory elements downstream of BCL11B as a result of the t(5;14)(q35;q32).

International audienceThe t(5;14)(q35;q32) chromosomal translocation is specifically observed in up to 20% of childhood T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). It affects the BCL11B/CTIP2 locus on chromosome 14 and the RANBP17-TLX3/HOX11L2 region on chromosome 5. It leads to ectopic activation of TLX3/HOX11L2. To investigate the reasons of the association between t(5;14) and T-ALL, we isolated the translocation breakpoints in 8 t(5;14) patients. Sequence analyses did not involve recombinase activity in the genesis of the translocation. We used DNAse1 hypersensitive experiments to locate transcriptional regulatory elements downstream of BCL11B. By transient transfection experiments, 2 of the 6 regions demonstrated cis-activation properties in T cells and were also effective on the TLX3 promoter. Our data indicate that the basis of the specific association between t(5;14) and T-ALL lies on the juxtaposition of TLX3 to long-range cis-activating regions active during T-cell differentiation

A prospective, observational study of fidaxomicin use for Clostridioides difficile infection in France.

To describe the characteristics, management and outcomes of hospitalised patients with Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) treated with and without fidaxomicin. This prospective, multicentre, observational study (DAFNE) enrolled hospitalised patients with CDI, including 294 patients treated with fidaxomicin (outcomes recorded over a 3-month period) and 150 patients treated with other CDI therapies during three 1-month periods. The primary endpoint was baseline and CDI characteristics of fidaxomicin-treated patients. At baseline, the fidaxomicin-treated population included immunocompromised patients (39.1%) and patients with severe (59.2%) and recurrent (36.4%) CDI. Fidaxomicin was associated with a high rate of clinical cure (92.2%) and low CDI recurrence (16.3% within 3 months). Clinical cure rates were ≥90% in patients aged ≥65 years, those receiving concomitant antibiotics and those with prior or severe CDI. There were 121/296 (40.9%) patients with adverse events (AEs), 5.4% with fidaxomicin-related AEs and 1.0% with serious fidaxomicin-related AEs. No fidaxomicin-related deaths were reported. Fidaxomicin is an effective and well-tolerated CDI treatment in a real-world setting in France, which included patients at high risk of adverse outcomes.Trial registration: Description of the use of fidaxomicin in hospitalised patients with documented Clostridium difficile infection and the management of these patients (DAFNE), NCT02214771, www.ClinicalTrials.gov