La Clinique des Jeunes Saint-Denis, six ans plus tard

La Clinique des Jeunes Saint-Denis a été créée en 1977 dans le but d'assurer à une clientèle jeunesse des services médicaux et psychosociaux complets en matière de sexualité. Le travail en équipe multidisciplinaire a permis aux intervenants de continuer à évoluer et à se questionner sur les divers aspects de leur tâche. La réalité des besoins cliniques et de l'intervention curative y sont discutées: avortement, inceste, maladies transmises sexuellement, etc. Désireux de percevoir l'adolescent dans sa globalité et non plus dans sa seule dimension sexuelle, des groupes sont offerts et un grand souci d'action préventive reste toujours présent. Une recherche dans ce sens est amorcée.The Clinique des Jeunes St-Denis was founded in 1977 to provide complete medical and psychosocial services to young clients in matters of sexuality. The work assumed by a multi-disciplinary team has provided its members with an opportunity for growth and allowed them to investigate the different aspects of their work load. The actual clinical needs and the effective treatment are discussed : abortion, incest, sexually transmitted diseases, etc. Groups are formed in order to perceive the adolescent as a whole and not only its sexual dimension ; and a concern for preventive action is always present. A research on these matters has been initiated

Barcoded Transposon Directed Insertion-site Sequencing (TraDIS); a tool to improve our understanding of the functional genomics of Streptococcus equi subsp. equi

Strangles, caused by Streptococcus equi (S. equi) remains the most frequently diagnosed infectious disease of horses and is a cause of significant welfare and economic cost. Vaccine research has been limited by the time taken to make mutations in individual genes to determine their role in the disease process. However, the development of transposon directed insertion-site sequencing (TraDIS) technologies provides an opportunity to simultaneously determine the importance of every gene in S. equi under disease relevant conditions, significantly enhancing the capacity to identify new vaccine targets. In this project, a novel barcoded TraDIS technique was designed, which identified that 19.5 percent of the S. equi genome is essential to basic survival in rich medium in vitro, 73.4 percent of genes being non-essential, with the remainder either not defined or of an ambiguous assignment. Comparative analysis revealed that more than 83 percent of the essential gene set of S. equi was concordant with the essential genomes of S. pyogenes and S. agalactiae, highlighting the close genetic relationships between these important pathogenic bacteria. Barcoded libraries were exposed to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and whole equine blood, to simulate the interaction with the equine immune system. Sequencing of surviving mutants enabled identification of genes important to S. equi under these conditions in vitro. Fifteen and 36 genes were implicated in the survival of S. equi in H2O2 and whole equine blood, respectively. Results were validated by generating deletion mutant strains in 4 of the genes (pyrP, mnmE, addA and recG). Mutant strains were exposed to H2O2 or whole equine blood and surviving bacteria measured over time. An additional 2 deletion strains in eqbE and hasA, generated prior to this project, were also utilised. Barcoded TraDIS is proposed to reduce the effects of stochastic loss commonly seen in similar datasets, enhancing the ability to resolve differences in the fitness of mutants. To determine the in vivo capabilities of barcoded TraDIS, 12 Welsh mountain ponies were each infected with 2 of 3 barcoded libraries. Viable mutants were recovered and sequenced from the abscess material of infected lymph nodes and data analysed both exploiting (barcoded analysis; BC) and disregarding (per animal analysis; PA) the input library barcodes. Exploiting the barcodes enables output data to be combined on a per input library basis, as opposed to a per animal basis as is traditionally completed in comparable in vivo transposon library studies. From the BC analysis, sequencing identified 368 genes required for fitness. Mutations in a further 85 genes conferred a fitness advantage in vivo. In the PA analysis, only 97 genes required for fitness were identified, which were all similarly identified in the barcoded analysis. No genes in which an insertion conferred a fitness advantage were identified in the PA analysis. To validate these results and confirm the benefit of applying a barcoded technique, 12 genes required for fitness were selected, plus 1 control gene where transposon insertions did not alter fitness, for tagged allelic replacement mutagenesis and repeat challenge in vivo. Seven genes required for fitness in both methods of analysis were selected, plus an additional 5 genes uniquely identified by the BC analysis. All deletion mutants appeared to be attenuated in vivo, however the control mutants and wild-type S. equi did not behave as expected, confounding statistical analysis. Thirty-nine percent (14/36) and 60 percent (9/15) of fitness genes identified in the whole equine blood and H2O2 TraDIS screens, respectively, were also identified as being required for in vivo fitness. Nine consensus genes were identified as required in all 3 experiments. Comparison of the genes implicated in in vivo survival of S. equi to those in S. pyogenes in a non-human primate model of necrotising myositis and in a mouse model of subcutaneous infection, uncovered a set of 23 pan-species fitness genes. Eighteen genes were also commonly identified between the S. equi in vivo data and S. pyogenes ex vivo in human saliva, alluding to the potential genes required by S. equi to survive in the nasopharynx before translocation to the local lymph nodes. The data presented in this thesis provide an unprecedented insight into the mechanisms employed by S. equi to cause disease in the natural host. The data also shed light on the pan-streptococcal pathways important for virulence that are likely to be important for future development of novel therapeutics and vaccines.BBSRC DTP studentship Horse Trust HBLB Pet Pla

Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Early and Evolution of Alzheimer’s Disease Detections and Enhancing Senior Mental Health through Innovative Art-Singing Therapies: A Multidisciplinary Approach

The well-documented therapeutic potential of group singing for patients living with Alzheimer’s disease (PLAD) has been hindered by COVID-19 restrictions, exacerbating loneliness and cognitive decline among seniors in residential and long-term care centers (CHSLDs). Addressing this challenge, the multidisciplinary study aims to develop a patient-oriented virtual reality (XR) interaction system facilitating group singing for mental health support during confinement and enhancing the understanding of the links between Alzheimer’s disease, social interaction, and singing. The researchers also propose to establish an early AD detection system using voice, facial, and non-invasive biometric measurements and validate the efficacy of selected intervention practices. The methodology involves co-designing an intelligent environment with caregivers to support PLAD mental health through online group singing, addressing existing constraints in CHSLDs. The researchers will engage volunteers in remote singing interactions and validate the impact of voice stimulation for PLADs using a control group. The primary expected outcome is the development of an “Intelligent Learning Health Environment,” fostering interactions while adapting to individual PLAD situations and incrementally accumulating knowledge on AD signs. This environment will facilitate the transfer of knowledge and technologies to promote non-verbal interactions via singing, enabling intervention at the first symptoms. Additionally, the research will contribute to transforming CHSLDs’ living environments, informed by neuroscience insights, and potentially extend the “collaborative self-care” approach to support seniors in aging safely and healthily at home

Assessment of the quality and content of website health information about herbal remedies for menopausal symptoms

Objective: To assess quality, readability and coverage of website information about herbal remedies for menopausal symptoms. Study design: A purposive sample of commercial and non-commercial websites was assessed for quality (DISCERN), readability (SMOG) and information coverage. Main outcome measures: Non-parametric and parametric tests were used to explain variability of these factors across types of websites and to assess associations between website quality and information coverage. Results: 39 sites were assessed. Median quality and information coverage scores were 44/80 and 11/30 respectively. The median readability score was 18.7, similar to UK broadsheets. Commercial websites scored significantly lower on quality (p=0.014), but there were no statistical differences for information coverage or readability. There was a significant positive correlation between information quality and coverage scores irrespective of website provider (r=0.69, p<0.001, n=39). Conclusion: Overall website quality and information coverage is poor and the required reading level high

TESS Discovery of an ultra-short-period planet around the nearby M dwarf LHS 3844

Data from the newly-commissioned \textit{Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite} (TESS) has revealed a "hot Earth" around LHS 3844, an M dwarf located 15 pc away. The planet has a radius of $1.32\pm 0.02$ $R_\oplus$ and orbits the star every 11 hours. Although the existence of an atmosphere around such a strongly irradiated planet is questionable, the star is bright enough ($I=11.9$, $K=9.1$) for this possibility to be investigated with transit and occultation spectroscopy. The star's brightness and the planet's short period will also facilitate the measurement of the planet's mass through Doppler spectroscopy.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to ApJ Letters. This letter makes use of the TESS Alert data, which is currently in a beta test phase, using data from the pipelines at the TESS Science Office and at the TESS Science Processing Operations Cente

Transits of Known Planets Orbiting a Naked-Eye Star

© 2020 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.Some of the most scientifically valuable transiting planets are those that were already known from radial velocity (RV) surveys. This is primarily because their orbits are well characterized and they preferentially orbit bright stars that are the targets of RV surveys. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) provides an opportunity to survey most of the known exoplanet systems in a systematic fashion to detect possible transits of their planets. HD 136352 (Nu2 Lupi) is a naked-eye (V = 5.78) G-type main-sequence star that was discovered to host three planets with orbital periods of 11.6, 27.6, and 108.1 days via RV monitoring with the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph. We present the detection and characterization of transits for the two inner planets of the HD 136352 system, revealing radii of 1.482-0.056+0.058 R ⊕ and 2.608-0.077+0.078 R ⊕ for planets b and c, respectively. We combine new HARPS observations with RV data from the Keck/High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer and the Anglo-Australian Telescope, along with TESS photometry from Sector 12, to perform a complete analysis of the system parameters. The combined data analysis results in extracted bulk density values of ρb = 7.8-1.1+1.2 g cm-3 and ρc = 3.50-0.36+0.41 g cm-3 for planets b and c, respectively, thus placing them on either side of the radius valley. The combination of the multitransiting planet system, the bright host star, and the diversity of planetary interiors and atmospheres means this will likely become a cornerstone system for atmospheric and orbital characterization of small worlds.Peer reviewe

TOI-836 : a super-Earth and mini-Neptune transiting a nearby K-dwarf

Funding: TGW, ACC, and KH acknowledge support from STFC consolidated grant numbers ST/R000824/1 and ST/V000861/1, and UKSA grant ST/R003203/1.We present the discovery of two exoplanets transiting TOI-836 (TIC 440887364) using data from TESS Sector 11 and Sector 38. TOI-836 is a bright (T = 8.5 mag), high proper motion (∼200 mas yr−1), low metallicity ([Fe/H]≈−0.28) K-dwarf with a mass of 0.68 ± 0.05 M⊙ and a radius of 0.67 ± 0.01 R⊙. We obtain photometric follow-up observations with a variety of facilities, and we use these data-sets to determine that the inner planet, TOI-836 b, is a 1.70 ± 0.07 R⊕ super-Earth in a 3.82 day orbit, placing it directly within the so-called ‘radius valley’. The outer planet, TOI-836 c, is a 2.59 ± 0.09 R⊕ mini-Neptune in an 8.60 day orbit. Radial velocity measurements reveal that TOI-836 b has a mass of 4.5 ± 0.9 M⊕, while TOI-836 c has a mass of 9.6 ± 2.6 M⊕. Photometric observations show Transit Timing Variations (TTVs) on the order of 20 minutes for TOI-836 c, although there are no detectable TTVs for TOI-836 b. The TTVs of planet TOI-836 c may be caused by an undetected exterior planet.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

TOI-836: A super-Earth and mini-Neptune transiting a nearby K-dwarf

We present the discovery of two exoplanets transiting TOI-836 (TIC 440887364) using data from TESS Sector 11 and Sector 38. TOI-836 is a bright ($T = 8.5$ mag), high proper motion ($\sim\,200$ mas yr$^{-1}$), low metallicity ([Fe/H]$\approx\,-0.28$) K-dwarf with a mass of $0.68\pm0.05$ M$_{\odot}$ and a radius of $0.67\pm0.01$ R$_{\odot}$. We obtain photometric follow-up observations with a variety of facilities, and we use these data-sets to determine that the inner planet, TOI-836 b, is a $1.70\pm0.07$ R$_{\oplus}$ super-Earth in a 3.82 day orbit, placing it directly within the so-called 'radius valley'. The outer planet, TOI-836 c, is a $2.59\pm0.09$ R$_{\oplus}$ mini-Neptune in an 8.60 day orbit. Radial velocity measurements reveal that TOI-836 b has a mass of $4.5\pm0.9$ M$_{\oplus}$ , while TOI-836 c has a mass of $9.6\pm2.6$ M$_{\oplus}$. Photometric observations show Transit Timing Variations (TTVs) on the order of 20 minutes for TOI-836 c, although there are no detectable TTVs for TOI-836 b. The TTVs of planet TOI-836 c may be caused by an undetected exterior planet