93 research outputs found

    Listeners Exploit Syntactic Structure On-Line to Restrict Their Lexical Search to a Subclass of Verbs

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    Many experiments have shown that listeners actively build expectations about up-coming words, rather than simply waiting for information to accumulate. The online construction of a syntactic structure is one of the cues that listeners may use to construct strong expectations about the possible words they will be exposed to. For example, speakers of verb-final languages use pre-verbal arguments to predict on-line the kind of arguments that are likely to occur next (e.g., Kamide, 2008, for a review). Although in SVO languages information about a verb's arguments typically follows the verb, some languages use pre-verbal object pronouns, potentially allowing listeners to build on-line expectations about the nature of the upcoming verb. For instance, if a pre-verbal direct object pronoun is heard, then the following verb has to be able to enter a transitive structure, thus excluding intransitive verbs. To test this, we used French, in which object pronouns have to appear pre-verbally, to investigate whether listeners use this cue to predict the occurrence of a transitive verb. In a word detection task, we measured the number of false alarms to sentences that contained a transitive verb whose first syllable was homophonous to the target monosyllabic verb (e.g., target “dort” /dɔʁ/ to sleep and false alarm verb “dorlote” /dɔʁlɔt/ to cuddle). The crucial comparison involved two sentence types, one without a pre-verbal object clitic, for which an intransitive verb was temporarily a plausible option (e.g., “Il dorlote” / He cuddles) and the other with a pre-verbal object clitic, that made the appearance of an intransitive verb impossible (“Il le dorlote” / He cuddles it). Results showed a lower rate of false alarms for sentences with a pre-verbal object pronoun (3%) compared to locally ambiguous sentences (about 20%). Participants rapidly incorporate information about a verb's argument structure to constrain lexical access to verbs that match the expected subcategorization frame

    Overview of the marine litter status in the Atlantic Area: floating litter

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    CleanAtlantic is an INTERREG Atlantic Area Programme project that aimed at protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Atlantic Area by improving capabilities to monitor, prevent and remove (macro) marine litter. Besides, the project also contributed to raise awareness and change attitudes among stakeholders and to improve marine litter managing systems. To achieve these aims, the work was organised in 8 work packages. The present deliverable aims at synthesizing the main results achieved on the frame of the action 1 of work package 4, which focused on the Regional characterisation of marine litter in the Atlantic Area. More specifically, this report deals with the assessment of the floating litter data available in this area. Additionally, the major key findings, gaps on monitoring and research as well as potential improvements and recommendations are identified

    Influence of association state and DNA binding on the O2-reactivity of [4Fe-4S] fumarate and nitrate reduction (FNR) regulator

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    The fumarate and nitrate reduction (FNR) regulator is the master switch for the transition between anaerobic and aerobic respiration in Escherichia coli. Reaction of dimeric [4Fe-4S] FNR with O2 results in conversion of the cluster into a [2Fe-2S] form, via a [3Fe-4S] intermediate, leading to the loss of DNA binding through dissociation of the dimer into monomers. In the present paper, we report studies of two previously identified variants of FNR, D154A and I151A, in which the form of the cluster is decoupled from the association state. In vivo studies of permanently dimeric D154A FNR show that DNA binding does not affect the rate of cluster incorporation into the apoprotein or the rate of O2-mediated cluster loss. In vitro studies show that O2-mediated cluster conversion for D154A and the permanent monomer I151A FNR is the same as in wild-type FNR, but with altered kinetics. Decoupling leads to an increase in the rate of the [3Fe-4S]1+ into [2Fe-2S]2+ conversion step, consistent with the suggestion that this step drives association state changes in the wild-type protein. We have also shown that DNA-bound FNR reacts more rapidly with O2 than FNR free in solution, implying that transcriptionally active FNR is the preferred target for reaction with O2

    Overview of the marine litter status in the Atlantic Area: beach, floating and seabed litter

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    CleanAtlantic is an INTERREG Atlantic Area Programme project that aimed at protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Atlantic Area by improving capabilities to monitor, prevent and remove (macro) marine litter. Besides, the project also contributed to raise awareness and change attitudes among stakeholders and to improve marine litter managing systems. To achieve these aims, the work was organised in 8 work packages. The present deliverable aims at synthesizing the main results obtained on the frame of the action 1 of work package 4, which focused on the Regional characterisation of marine litter in the Atlantic Area. With this purpose, an overview of marine litter status in beach, floating and seabed compartments in the Atlantic Area is presented. Additionally, the major key findings, gaps on monitoring and research as well as potential improvements and recommendations are identified. Links to the complete dedicated reports for each compartment are included in the references section. Also, an interactive map for spatial visualization of data on beach, floating and seabed litter composition and abundance in the Atlantic Area was created and is presented at the end of this report

    Three Pseudomonas putida FNR Family Proteins with Different Sensitivities to O-2

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    The Escherichia coli fumarate-nitrate reduction regulator (FNR) protein is the paradigm for bacterial O2-sensing transcription factors. However, unlike E. coli, some bacterial species possess multiple FNR proteins that presumably have evolved to fulfill distinct roles. Here, three FNR proteins (ANR, PP_3233, and PP_3287) from a single bacterial species, Pseudomonas putida KT2440, have been analyzed. Under anaerobic conditions, all three proteins had spectral properties resembling those of [4Fe-4S] proteins. The reactivity of the ANR [4Fe-4S] cluster with O2 was similar to that of E. coli FNR, and during conversion to the apo-protein, via a [2Fe-2S] intermediate, cluster sulfur was retained. Like ANR, reconstituted PP_3233 and PP_3287 were converted to [2Fe-2S] forms when exposed to O2, but their [4Fe-4S] clusters reacted more slowly. Transcription from an FNR-dependent promoter with a consensus FNR-binding site in P. putida and E. coli strains expressing only one FNR protein was consistent with the in vitro responses to O2. Taken together, the experimental results suggest that the local environments of the iron-sulfur clusters in the different P. putida FNR proteins influence their reactivity with O2, such that ANR resembles E. coli FNR and is highly responsive to low concentrations of O2, whereas PP_3233 and PP_3287 have evolved to be less sensitive to O2

    Genetic landscape of a large cohort of Primary Ovarian Insufficiency : New genes and pathways and implications for personalized medicine

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    Background Primary Ovarian Insufficiency (POI), a public health problem, affects 1-3.7% of women under 40 yield-ing infertility and a shorter lifespan. Most causes are unknown. Recently, genetic causes were identified, mostly in single families. We studied an unprecedented large cohort of POI to unravel its molecular pathophysiology.Methods 375 patients with 70 families were studied using targeted (88 genes) or whole exome sequencing with pathogenic/likely-pathogenic variant selection. Mitomycin-induced chromosome breakages were studied in patients' lymphocytes if necessary. Findings A high-yield of 29.3% supports a clinical genetic diagnosis of POI. In addition, we found strong evidence of pathogenicity for nine genes not previously related to a Mendelian phenotype or POI: ELAVL2, NLRP11, CENPE, SPATA33, CCDC150, CCDC185, including DNA repair genes: C17orf53(HROB), HELQ, SWI5 yielding high chromo-somal fragility. We confirmed the causal role of BRCA2, FANCM, BNC1, ERCC6, MSH4, BMPR1A, BMPR1B, BMPR2, ESR2, CAV1, SPIDR, RCBTB1 and ATG7 previously reported in isolated patients/families. In 8.5% of cases, POI is the only symptom of a multi-organ genetic disease. New pathways were identified: NF-kB, post-translational regulation, and mitophagy (mitochondrial autophagy), providing future therapeutic targets. Three new genes have been shown to affect the age of natural menopause supporting a genetic link.Interpretation We have developed high-performance genetic diagnostic of POI, dissecting the molecular pathogene-sis of POI and enabling personalized medicine to i) prevent/cure comorbidities for tumour/cancer susceptibility genes that could affect life-expectancy (37.4% of cases), or for genetically-revealed syndromic POI (8.5% of cases), ii) predict residual ovarian reserve (60.5% of cases). Genetic diagnosis could help to identify patients who may benefit from the promising in vitro activation-IVA technique in the near future, greatly improving its success in treating infertility.Funding Universite? Paris Saclay, Agence Nationale de Biome?decine.Copyright (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)Peer reviewe

    Tuning of Synaptic Integration in the Medial Entorhinal Cortex to the Organization of Grid Cell Firing Fields

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    SummaryNeurons important for cognitive function are often classified by their morphology and integrative properties. However, it is unclear if within a single class of neuron these properties tune synaptic responses to the salient features of the information that each neuron represents. We demonstrate that for stellate neurons in layer II of the medial entorhinal cortex, the waveform of postsynaptic potentials, the time window for detection of coincident inputs, and responsiveness to gamma frequency inputs follow a dorsal-ventral gradient similar to the topographical organization of grid-like spatial firing fields of neurons in this area. We provide evidence that these differences are due to a membrane conductance gradient mediated by HCN and leak potassium channels. These findings suggest key roles for synaptic integration in computations carried out within the medial entorhinal cortex and imply that tuning of neural information processing by membrane ion channels is important for normal cognitive function

    Aide à la décision pour la conservation des populations de saumon atlantique (Salmo salar L.)

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    The sustainable management of natural living resources is a major issue in a context of increasing scarcity due to human impact and of pervasive uncertainty. Improving existing tools and developing new ones to advise decision makers on the potential evolution of natural living resources, according to various management and environmental scenarios, is requested. This PhD aims at contributing to the development of a methodology for decision making for natural living resources management, while taking into account major sources of uncertainty. This is achieved through the study case of the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) population of the Nivelle River (France). This population is subjected to a long term monitoring program and the species has been extensively studied. Atlantic salmon is a threatened species but still targeted by commercial and recreational fisheries. It illustrates the duality between conservation and exploitation which is at the heart of natural living resource management. To manage a population, it is necessary to understand its dynamics and to predict its evolution under various management and environmental scenarios. The Bayesian approach provides a coherent framework to quantify uncertainty in its different forms. Hierarchical models allow the assimilation of multiple sources of data and to make spatio-temporal inferences and predictions. A Bayesian state space model, i.e. a Bayesian dynamic hierarchical model, is constructed to study the dynamics of the population of interest and to predict its evolution. The decision theory under uncertainty provides a framework to help an individual in its choices, but its application still raises difficulties. In theory, a utility function depending on the consequences of alternative actions reflects the preferences of a single individual involved in a decision problem. In practice, its construction is challenging. Firstly, it is difficult to assign a value for each consequence. Secondly, there is usually more than one individual involved in the decision problem. Consequently, we obtain a set of utility functions. Due to the various and often conflicting interests the decision maker has to take into account, the utility function is multivariate. In this PhD, a set of bivariate utility functions is constructed. It accounts for the uncertainty about the function, the variation of preferences among stakeholders and the dual interests of exploitation vs conservation. Next, a robustness analysis is performed to study if the optimal decision, i.e. associated to the maximum expected utility, varies when the utility function varies. The methodology developed in this PhD proved practicable and fruitful. It provides a coherent framework for organizing the interactions between scientists, stakeholders and decision makers for reaching a common understanding of decision problems in the management of natural living resources. By acknowledging explicitly the diversity among stakeholders, it allows to identify potential conflict and it helps guiding decision makers towards acceptable trade-off actions. However, it requires a high level of training and expertise in modelling and computation. It involves also thoughtful and time consuming analyses. How to render these requirements compatible with the current level of expertise and the short term agendas of management bodies is a main challenge for the near future.La gestion durable des ressources naturelles vivantes est un problème majeur dans un contexte de raréfaction, dû à l'impact de l'homme et à une incertitude omniprésente. Améliorer les outils existant et en développer de nouveaux pour conseiller les gestionnaires sur l'évolution potentielle des ressources naturelles vivantes, selon divers scénarios environnementaux et de gestion, est nécessaire. Cette thèse a pour but de contribuer au développement d'une méthodologie pour l'aide à la décision pour la gestion des ressources naturelles vivantes, tout en prenant en compte les sources d'incertitude majeures. Ce travail est appliqué au cas de la population de saumon atlantique (Salmo salar L.) de la Nivelle (France). Cette population fait l'objet d'un programme de suivi à long terme et cette espèce a été largement étudiée. Cette dernière est menacée mais elle est toujours ciblée par la pêche commerciale et récréative. Elle illustre la dualité entre conservation et exploitation, qui est au cœur de la gestion des ressources naturelles vivantes. Pour gérer une population, il est nécessaire de comprendre sa dynamique et de prédire son évolution sous divers scénarios environnementaux et de gestion. L'approche Bayésienne fournit un cadre cohérent pour quantifier l'incertitude sous ses différentes formes. Les modèles hiérarchiques permettent l'assimilation de sources de données multiples et de faire des inférences et des prédictions sur des grandeurs spatio-temporelles inconnues. Un modèle stochastique d'état Bayésien, i.e. un modèle hiérarchique Bayésien dynamique, est construit pour étudier la dynamique de la population d'intérêt et pour prédire son évolution. La théorie de la décision en univers incertain fournit un cadre pour aider un individu dans ses choix, mais son application reste difficile. En théorie, une fonction d'utilité qui dépend des conséquences des alternatives de gestion reflète les préférences d'un individu unique impliqué dans un problème décisionnel. En pratique, sa construction est malaisée. Premièrement, il est difficile de définir une valeur pour chaque conséquence. Deuxièmement, il y a généralement plus d'un individu impliqué dans le problème décisionnel. Par conséquent, on obtient une classe de fonctions d'utilité. De par les différents intérêts, souvent conflictuels, que les gestionnaires ont à prendre en compte, la fonction d'utilité est multi variée. Dans cette thèse, une classe de fonctions d'utilité bi-variées est construite. Elle prend en compte l'incertitude concernant la fonction, les variations de préférence entre les acteurs et la dualité d'intérêts exploitation vs conservation. Ensuite, une analyse de la robustesse est réalisée pour étudier si la décision optimale, i.e. l'utilité espérée maximale, varie lorsque la fonction d'utilité varie. La méthodologie développée dans cette thèse s'est avérée possible et fructueuse. Elle fournit un cadre cohérent pour organiser les interactions entre scientifiques, acteurs et gestionnaires pour atteindre une compréhension commune des problèmes de décision dans la gestion des ressources naturelles vivantes. En reconnaissant explicitement la diversité des acteurs, elle permet d'identifier des conflits potentiels et de guider les gestionnaires vers des compromis acceptables. Cependant, elle demande un haut niveau de formation et d'expertise en modélisation et en calcul. Elle implique également un temps d'analyse important. Comment rendre ces exigences compatibles avec le niveau actuel d'expertise et les agendas à court terme des structures de gestion est un challenge principal pour le futur

    Substances prioritaires DCE : Cohérence et applicabilité des seuils mollusques existants en milieu marin : DCE (NQE, VGE) et OSPAR (EAC, BAC)

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    L’évaluation de la qualité chimique du milieu marin s’appuie, depuis près de 40 ans en France, sur la recherche des substances dans des espèces sentinelles et intégratrices : les mollusques (moules, huîtres). La  bioaccumulation au sein de ces organismes permet de quantifier des contaminants chimiques présents à l’état de trace dans le milieu environnant. De façon à développer une surveillance plus appropriée au milieu marin, un travail de détermination de valeurs guides environnementales (VGE) sur les mollusques, alternatives aux Normes de Qualité Environnementales (NQE) fixées par la DCE dans l’eau, est engagé par Ifremer depuis 2015 en collaboration avec l’ONEMA / AFB. Les NQE eau sont dérivés en VGE mollusques en utilisant des facteurs de conversion : facteur de bioaccumulation (BAF) et de bioconcentration (BCF). La présente étude concerne les substances de l’état chimique de la DCE disposant de seuils NQE ou VGE applicables aux mollusques (Sire, Amouroux, 2016). L’objectif est de vérifier 1) la cohérence des seuils mollusques  existants (DCE et OSPAR) et 2) de les confronter aux données de surveillance disponibles. Les résultats acquis par le ROCCH sur la période 2009-2014 sont traités et interprétés vis-à-vis des seuils mollusques (VGE, NQE, EAC, BAC et EC). Ces deux étapes permettent de mettre en évidence 3) les substances pour lesquelles aucune comparaison vis à vis du seuil VGE mollusques n’est possible (pas de seuil OSPAR et pas de résultats ROCCH) et 4) d’identifier les substances pour lesquelles le seuil VGE mollusques paraît ou non applicable
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