Analyse généalogique et structure de la population. L’ascendance des natifs de la vallée de la Valserine (Jura français), XVIIe-XXesiècles

Nous avons procédé à la reconstitution des réseaux généalogiques ascendants de tous les individus nés dans la vallée de la Valserine (Jura français) tels qu’ils sont connus par le dépouillement systématique des registres paroissiaux et d’état civil des cinq communes de cette vallée, de la fin du XVIIes. à nos jours. Notre propos est de mener une analyse quantitative de ces réseaux généalogiques ascendants pour caractériser l’ensemble de la population native de la vallée. S’agit-il d’une population homogène ou au contraire est-elle formée de plusieurs groupes présentant des histoires généalogiques contrastées ? Les analyses, fondées sur la complétude de l’information disponible, montrent que les individus nés dans la vallée peuvent être classés en deux groupes : ceux dont l’ascendance locale, par un ancêtre au moins, est établie depuis l’origine des documents disponibles et ceux ne possédant pas d’ascendance locale continue. Cette observation est vérifiée quelle que soit la période de naissance étudiée et révèle l’existence d’une « structure généalogique » de la population. Nous proposons également une méthode originale pour établir le coefficient de déperdition de l’information généalogique entre la seconde et la quatrième générations ascendantes, calcul établi aussi bien de manière relative qu’absolue. Finalement, nous reprenons la conclusion d’une étude précédente (Heyer 1993), mais en montrant que la structure de population observée (existence d’un noyau stable permanent et de flux constants d’entrées et de sorties) n’est pas une construction observée uniquement au XXes. du fait des mouvements migratoires récents. Une structure identique pouvait déjà être observée parmi les natifs du début du XVIIIes. L’étude des rangs SOSA des ascendants montre un lien entre la probabilité de maintien sur place d’une lignée familiale et le sexe des ascendants.Using the parish and civil records of five townships of the Valserine Valley, we have reconstructed the genealogical networks of all the individuals born in this valley from the end of the 17th century to the present day. Our goal is to make a quantitative analysis of these genealogical networks to characterise this population. Is this population homogeneous or can we find several groups with contrasting genealogical histories? Our analysis shows the existence of two groups of natives: the individuals with at least one ancestor present in the valley, in each generation, from the end of the 17th century, and those whose local ancestry is not continuous. This observation can be made whatever the period of birth studied and it reveals the existence of a genealogical structure in the population. We also propose an original method to calculate a coefficient of loss (absolute and relative) of the genealogical information between the second and the fourth ascending generation. Finally, we take up the conclusion of a previous study (Heyer 1993) but by showing that this population structure (a permanent stable nucleus with constant flows of immigrants and emigrants) is not a construction observed only during the 20th century due to recent migrations. In fact, the same observation can be made for the individuals born at the beginning of the 18th century. The SOSA rankings of the ancestors show a relation between the probability for a genealogical line to stay in the valley and the sex of the ancestors born in the valley

New Material of the Earliest Hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad

Anthropolog

Diverse and potentially manipulative signalling with ascarosides in the model nematode C. elegans

BACKGROUND: Animals use environmental information to make developmental decisions to maximise their fitness. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans measures its environment to decide between arresting development as dauer larvae or continuing to grow and reproduce. Worms are thought to use ascarosides as signals of population density and this signalling is thought to be a species-wide honest signal. We compared recently wild C. elegans lines’ dauer larva arrest when presented with the same ascaroside signals and in different food environments. RESULTS: We find that the hitherto canonical dauer larva response does not hold among these lines. Ascaroside molecules can, depending on the food environment, both promote and repress dauer larva formation. Further, these recently wild C. elegans lines also produce ascaroside mixtures that induce a wide diversity of dauer larva formation responses. We further find that the lines differ in the quantity and ratios of ascaroside molecules that they release. Some of the dauer larva formation responses are consistent with dishonest signalling. CONCLUSIONS: Together, the results suggest that the idea that dauer larva formation is an honestly-signalled C. elegans-wide effect does not hold. Rather, the results suggest that ascaroside-based signalling is a public broadcast information system, but where the correct interpretation of that information depends on the worms’ context, and is a system open to dishonest signalling

Violencia Institucional: La toma de control de los municipios por los protestantes en el sur de Francia (1560-1562)

Based on a close and detailed investigation of local and strangely neglected municipal sources, combined with the meticulous scrutiny of documents conserved in the Russian archives for the period 1559-1562, and a focus on institutional history, I demonstrate how the early Calvinistic consistories cleverly manipulated the particular municipal organization (the consulates) of Midi communities and managed to take them over with relative ease. In many of these communities, which greatly varied in size, we find that the consistories were turned into “political councils”; this subsequently enabled them to control the election of magistrates (consuls) and, even before the beginning of the wars of Religion, to ensure that they controlled the municipalities, though the Protestants were very much a minority. This is a major factor towards explaining the famous “Protestant crescent” that characterizes the South of France with its tones of civil religion.Este artículo tiene como objetivo demostrar cómo los consistorios calvinistas, en su primera época, supieron manipular de manera inteligente una forma concreta de organización municipal de los pueblos del sur de Francia, los consulados, lo que les permitió hacerse con el poder municipal con relativa facilidad. Para ello se realiza un análisis minucioso y detallado de fuentes locales que han sido extrañamente marginadas, combinando dicha información con el escrutinio de los documentos conservados en los archivos rusos para el periodo 1559-1562, aplicando una perspectiva de la historia institucional. En muchas de las comunidades analizadas, las cuales varían enormemente en tamaño, encontramos que los consistorios se convirtieron en “consejos políticos”. Esta transformación permitió a la pequeña minoría protestante controlar la elección de magistrados locales (cónsules) y asegurar con ello el control de los municipios antes incluso de que estallaran las guerras de religión. Este factor es fundamental para entender la famosa “medial luna protestante” que se expandió por el sur de Francia y sus discursos de religión cívica

Les espaces de cuisine d’un édifice public ou collectif d’<i>Augustonemetum</i>/Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme)

International audienceDuring the excavations of Carré Jaude 2 in Clermont-Ferrand, a building, identified as a schola, has been partially uncovered adjacent to a vast public square. Built in the middle of the 2nd century AD, it was burnt down, during the 3rd quarter of the 3rd century. A series of service rooms located to the south of richly decorated public latrines, with an ornamental basin, are mainly devoted to activities such as cooking: a main kitchen, equipped with two tiled ovens and a rectangular stonework construction which could be a raised hob; a room equipped with a flat tiled hearth and manhole access to a drain; another room with a hydraulic concrete floor probably contained a water tank; a utility room contained a large stone mortar set into the floor; a storeroom for stocking foodstuffs and crockery. The interpretation of this archaeological complex is also documented by a religious inscription uncovered in the demolition layers of one of the rooms and the analysis of the finds and the plant and animal remains.Dans le cadre des fouilles du Carré Jaude 2 à Clermont-Ferrand, a été partiellement reconnu un édifice interprété comme une schola, implanté à proximité d’une grande place publique. Construit vers le milieu du IIe s. apr. J. C., il a été incendié vers le troisième quart du IIIe s. Au sud de latrines collectives richement décorées, associées à un bassin ornemental, se développe une série de pièces de service en grande partie dévolues à la préparation de repas : une cuisine principale équipée de deux fours en tuiles et d’une structure maçonnée rectangulaire pouvant correspondre à la base d’une table de cuisson ; une pièce pourvue d’un foyer plat en tuiles et d’un regard d’accès à l’égout ; une salle dotée d’un sol de béton hydraulique, qui abritait probablement une cuve d’eau ; un local comportant un grand mortier de broyage encastré dans le sol ; une resserre réservée au stockage de denrées et de vaisselle. Cet ensemble est documenté par l’étude d’une inscription religieuse découverte dans les niveaux de destruction de l’une des pièces, ainsi que par l’analyse du mobilier et des restes fauniques et carpologiques

Relationship between foramen magnum position and locomotion in extant and extinct hominoids

International audienceFrom the Miocene Sahelanthropus tchadensis to Pleistocene Homo sapiens, hominins are characterized by a derived anterior position of the foramen magnum relative to basicranial structures. It has been previously suggested that the anterior position of the foramen magnum in hominins is related to bipedal locomotor behavior. Yet, the functional relationship between foramen magnum position and bipedal locomotion remains unclear. Recent studies, using ratios based on cranial linear measurements, have found a link between the anterior position of the foramen magnum and bipedalism in several mammalian clades: marsupials, rodents, and primates. In the present study, we compute these ratios in a sample including a more comprehensive dataset of extant hominoids and fossil hominins. First, we verify if the values of ratios can distinguish extant humans from apes. Then, we test whether extinct hominins can be distinguished from non-bipedal extant hominoids. Finally, we assess if the studied ratios are effective predictors of bipedal behavior by testing if they mainly relate to variation in foramen magnum position rather than changes in other cranial structures. Our results confirm that the ratios discriminate between extant bipeds and non-bipeds. However, the only ratio clearly discriminating between fossil hominins and other extant apes is that which only includes basicranial structures. We show that a large proportion of the interspecific variation in the other ratios relates to changes in facial, rather than basicranial, structures. In this context, we advocate the use of measurements based only on basicranial structures when assessing the relationship between foramen magnum position and bipedalism in future studies

The Family Name as Socio-Cultural Feature and Genetic Metaphor: From Concepts to Methods

A recent workshop entitled The Family Name as Socio-Cultural Feature and Genetic Metaphor: From Concepts to Methods was held in Paris in December 2010, sponsored by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and by the journal Human Biology. This workshop was intended to foster a debate on questions related to the family names and to compare different multidisciplinary approaches involving geneticists, historians, geographers, sociologists and social anthropologists. This collective paper presents a collection of selected communications

Tyrosine kinase signalling in breast cancer: Tyrosine kinase-mediated signal transduction in transgenic mouse models of human breast cancer

The ability of growth factors and their cognate receptors to induce mammary epithelial proliferation and differentiation is dependent on their ability to activate a number of specific signal transduction pathways. Aberrant expression of specific receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) has been implicated in the genesis of a significant proportion of sporadic human breast cancers. Indeed, mammary epithelial expression of activated RTKs such as ErbB2/neu in transgenic mice has resulted in the efficient induction of metastatic mammary tumours. Although it is clear from these studies that activation these growth factor receptor signalling cascades are directly involved in mammary tumour progression, the precise interaction of each of these signalling pathways in mammary tumourigenesis and metastasis remains to be elucidated. The present review focuses on the role of several specific signalling pathways that have been implicated as important components in RTK-mediated signal transduction. In particular, it focuses on two well characterized transgenic breast cancer models that carry the polyomavirus middle T(PyV mT) and neu oncogenes