Les Aventures de Gil Blas de Santillane / Una aventura de Gil Blas (René Jolivet, 1956): The banal story of a co-production in colour

En los años cincuenta, la dictadura franquista en España decide, por motivos económicos, abrirse a cooperaciones internacionales. Esta apertura se traduce en una nueva legislación acerca de las coproducciones cinematográficas, que permite en primer lugar al cine popular desarrollar colaboraciones. Sin embargo, como lo demuestra el caso de Una aventura de Gil Blas de René Jolivet, estos proyectos comunes dan lugar de manera sistemática a un fenómeno de dobles versiones, menos visible y menos estudiado que el de las versiones múltiples creadas por censura ulterior del Estado español en películas vistas como subversivas.In the 1950s, when the Franco dictatorship in Spain decided to open up its economy to international cooperative agreements, new laws were passed concerning co-productions in cinema, which encouraged cooperations particularly in popular cinema. As in the case of «Una aventura de Gil Blas» by René Jolivet, these common projects systematically gave rise to double versions, a phenomenon which, in comparison with multiple versions caused years later by government censorship of so-called subversive films, is less acknowledged and studied

Influence of barley malting operating parameters on T-2 and HT-2 toxinogenesis of Fusarium langsethiae, a worrying contaminant of malting barley in Europe.

The fungus Fusarium langsethiae, exclusively described in Europe at present, seems to have taken the place of other Fusarium species in barley fields over the last 5 years. It has proved to be a highly toxic type-A trichothecene producer (T-2 and HT-2 toxins). The aim of this work was to study the ecotoxinogenesis of this fungus the better to identify and manage the health risk it may pose during the beer manufacturing process. The influence of temperature and water activity on its growth rate and production of toxins are particularly assessed from a macroscopic point of view. Different cultures were grown on sterilized rehydrated barley with a water activity between 0.630 and 0.997 and a temperature ranging from 5 to 35°C. Biomass specific to F. langsethiae and T-2 and HT-2 toxins were quantified by real-time polymerase chain reaction and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, respectively. It appears that the optimal temperature and water activity for F. langsethiae toxinogenesis are 28°C and 0.997. This fungus was able to produce 2.22 g kg−1 of these toxins in 16 days on barley in optimal production conditions. The malting process seems to be a critical step because, in its temperature range, specific production was six times higher than under optimal temperatures for fungus growth. In the short-term, this work will help redefine the process conditions for malting. In the medium-term, the results will contribute to the development of a molecular tool to diagnose the presence of this contaminant and the detection of the toxins in barley, from fields to the end product

Mutation of exposed hydrophobic amino acids to arginine to increase protein stability

BACKGROUND: One strategy to increase the stability of proteins is to reduce the area of water-accessible hydrophobic surface. RESULTS: In order to test it, we replaced 14 solvent-exposed hydrophobic residues of acetylcholinesterase by arginine. The stabilities of the resulting proteins were tested using denaturation by high temperature, organic solvents, urea and by proteolytic digestion. CONCLUSION: Altough the mutational effects were rather small, this strategy proved to be successful since half of the mutants showed an increased stability. This stability may originate from the suppression of unfavorable interactions of nonpolar residues with water or from addition of new hydrogen bonds with the solvent. Other mechanisms may also contribute to the increased stability observed with some mutants. For example, introduction of a charge at the surface of the protein may provide a new coulombic interaction on the protein surface

Mortalité maternelle et accès aux soins obstétricaux : analyse d'implantation du système de référence-évacuation dans la Région de Kayes (composante Mali); soutien scientifique aux équipes de recherche - rapport technique final

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Improvement of Drosophila acetylcholinesterase stability by elimination of a free cysteine

BACKGROUND: Acetylcholinesterase is irreversibly inhibited by organophosphate and carbamate insecticides allowing its use for residue detection with biosensors. Drosophila acetylcholinesterase is the most sensitive enzyme known and has been improved by in vitro mutagenesis. However, it is not sufficiently stable for extensive utilization. It is a homodimer in which both subunits contain 8 cysteine residues. Six are involved in conserved intramolecular disulfide bridges and one is involved in an interchain disulfide bridge. The 8(th) cysteine is not conserved and is present at position 290 as a free thiol pointing toward the center of the protein. RESULTS: The free cysteine has been mutated to valine and the resulting protein has been assayed for stability using various denaturing agents: temperature, urea, acetonitrile, freezing, proteases and spontaneous-denaturation at room temperature. It was found that the C290V mutation rendered the protein 1.1 to 2.7 fold more stable depending on the denaturing agent. CONCLUSION: It seems that stabilization resulting from the cysteine to valine mutation originates from a decrease of thiol-disulfide interchanges and from an increase in the hydrophobicity of the buried side chain

Formulation and processing of screen-printing vehicles for sacrificial layers on thick-film and LTCC substrates

Ceramic technologies such as thick-film and LTCC (Low Temperature Cofired Ceramic) are excellent platforms for the fabrication of mesoscale devices such as sensors, actuators, microreactors and MEMS packaging. This work presents two alternative screen-printing vehicles for the processing of sacrificial materials and low-firing thick films: 1) a non-aggressive glycol-based vehicle for screen printing thick sacrificial layers onto thin LTCC, and 2) a "high non-evaporables" vehicle for mineral / carbon sacrificial materials allowing subsequent overprinting in the dried state. Their formulation, processing and applications are discussed with regard to the physical and chemical properties of the solvents, plasticisers and binders

Structuration of zero-shrinkage LTCC using mineral sacrificial materials

Recently, LTCC (low-temperature co-fired ceramic) technology has increasingly found applications beyond pure electronics, in fields such as microfluidics, sensors and actuators, due to the ease of shaping the tapes in the green (unfired) state. Accurate control of hollow structures such as channels, membranes, cavities and gaps below cantilevers has remained difficult, however, although carbon-based sacrificial materials and adhesive/solvent-assisted low-pressure lamination techniques are adequate for several uses. Mineral sacrificial pastes (MSP), introduced by several groups including our laboratory, allow in principle much better control of open structures such as bridges and cantilevers, as they are removed only after the firing step. In practice, accurate dimensional control has been limited by deformation of the LTCC during sintering, due to shrinkage mismatch with the MSP. Attempts to eliminate this problem have met with limited success, as it is very difficult to perfectly match the shrinkage curve of the MSP (which must retain open porosity) to that of the LTCC substrate. Therefore, in this work, we endeavour to investigate MSP materials on self-constraining "zero- shrinkage" LTCC tape, which is therefore compatible with a low degree of sintering of the MSP. We present results of optimising the MSP formulation accordingly, to achieve reasonable consolidation, low deformation of LTCC and easy removal in weak acid solutions. Important topics such organic vehicle formulation and complete release processes (etching, rinsing and drying) of thin structures are also addressed

Structuration of thin bridge and cantilever structures in thick-film technology using mineral sacrificial materials

Thick-film and LTCC (Low Temperature Cofired Ceramic) technologies find increasing use in meso-scale sensors, actuators and related devices that feature excellent dimensional, thermal and chemical stability at moderate cost. While several materials and processes allow fabrication of structures such as channels, membranes and relatively short bridges, obtaining slender bridges and cantilevers with good shape control for applications such as microforce sensors has hitherto remained a challenging task. This work presents techniques based on mineral sacrificial materials that allow fabrication of such intricate structures in thick-film technology, and are also applicable to LTCC. Aspects such as optimal sacrificial materials, paste formulation, structure design and final chemical etching are addressed, with the aim of obtaining reproducible structures

Improved access to comprehensive emergency obstetric care and its effect on institutional maternal mortality in rural Mali

Also published in the project's final report as annex AA maternity referral system that included basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric care, transportation to obstetric health services, and community cost-sharing schemes was implemented in six rural health districts in Kayes region, Mali. Maternal mortality rates decreased more among women referred for emergency obstetric care than among those who presented to the district health centre without referral. Nearly half (47.5%) of the reduction in deaths was attributable to fewer deaths from hemorrhage, demonstrating that national programmes can be implemented in low-income countries that are able to rapidly improve the coverage of obstetric services and reduce the risk of maternal mortality