41 research outputs found

    Alaskan Opinions on Global Warming

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    Genomics and metagenomics of trimethylamine-utilizing Archaea in the human gut microbiome

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    International audienceThe biological significance of Archaea in the human gut microbiota is largely unclear. We recently reported genomic and biochemical analyses of the Methanomassiliicoccales, a novel order of methanogenic Archaea dwelling in soil and the animal digestive tract. We now show that these Methanomassiliicoccales are present in published microbiome data sets from eight countries. They are represented by five Operational Taxonomic Units present in at least four cohorts and phylogenetically distributed into two clades. Genes for utilizing trimethylamine (TMA), a bacterial precursor to an atherosclerogenic human metabolite, were present in four of the six novel Methanomassiliicoccales genomes assembled from ELDERMET metagenomes. In addition to increased microbiota TMA production capacity in long-term residential care subjects, abundance of TMA-utilizing Methanomassiliicoccales correlated positively with bacterial gene count for TMA production and negatively with fecal TMA concentrations. The two large Methanomassiliicoccales clades have opposite correlations with host health status in the ELDERMET cohort and putative distinct genomic signatures for gut adaptation

    SCALABLE AND DETAIL-PRESERVING GROUND SURFACE RECONSTRUCTION FROM MOBILE LASER SYSTEMS FOR DRIVING SIMULATORS ENGINES

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    International audienceDriving simulation engines represent a cost effective solution for vehicle development, being employed for performing feasibility studies, tests failure and for assessing new functionalities. Nevertheless, they require geometrically accurate and realistic 3D models in order to allow driver's training. This paper presents the Automatic Ground Surface Reconstruction (AGSR) method, a framework which exploits 3D data acquired by mobile laser systems. They are particularly attractive due to their fast acquisition at terrestrial level. Nevertheless, such a mobile acquisition introduces several constraints for the existing 3D surface reconstruction algorithms. The proposed surface modeling framework produces a regular surface and recovers sharp depth features within a scalable and detail-preserving framework. Experimental results on real data acquired in urban environments allow us to conclude on the effectiveness of the proposed method

    Automatic Ground Surface Reconstruction from mobile laser systems for driving simulation engines

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    International audienceDriving simulation engines represent a cost effective solution for vehicle development, being employed for performing feasibility studies, tests failure and for assessing new functionalities. Nevertheless, they require geometrically accurate and realistic 3D models in order to allow drivers training. This paper presents the Automatic Ground Surface Reconstruction (AGSR) method, a framework which exploits 3D data acquired by Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS) systems. They are particularly attractive due to their fast acquisition at terrestrial level. Nevertheless, such a mobile acquisition introduces several constraints for the existing 3D surface reconstruction algorithms. The proposed surface modeling framework produces a regular surface and recovers sharp depth features within a scalable and detail-preserving framework. Experimental results on real data acquired in urban environments allow us to conclude on the effectiveness of the proposed method

    Combined treatments in hepatocellular carcinoma: Time to put them in the guidelines?

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    The time for battling cancer has never been more suitable than nowadays and fortunately against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) we do have a far-reaching arsenal. Moreover, because liver cancer comprises a plethora of stages-from very early to advanced disease and with many treatment options–from surgery to immunotherapy trials–it leaves the clinician a wide range of options. The scope of our review is to throw light on combination treatments that seem to be beyond guidelines and to highlight these using evidence-based analysis of the most frequently used combination therapies, discussing their advantages and flaws in comparison to the current standard of care. One particular combination therapy seems to be in the forefront: Transarterial chemoembolization plus ablation for medium-size non-resectable HCC (3-5 cm), which is currently at the frontier between Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer classification A and B. Not only does it improve the outcome in contrast to each individual therapy, but it also seems to have similar results to surgery. Also, the abundance of immune checkpoint inhibitors that have appeared lately in clinical trials are bringing promising results against HCC. Although the path of combination therapies in HCC is still filled with uncertainty and caveats, in the following years the hepatology and oncology fields could witness an HCC guideline revolution

    Scalable and Detail-Preserving Ground Surface Reconstruction from Large 3D Point Clouds Acquired by Mobile Mapping Systems

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    International audienceThe currently existing mobile mapping systems equipped with active 3D sensors allow to acquire the environment with high sampling rates at high vehicle velocities. While providing an effective solution for environment sensing over large scale distances, such acquisi-tion provides only a discrete representation of the geometry. Thus, a continuous map of the underlying surface must be built. Mobile acquisition introduces several constraints for the state-of-the-art surface reconstruction algorithms. Smoothing becomes a difficult task for recovering sharp depth features while avoiding mesh shrinkage. In addition, interpolation-based techniques are not suitable for noisy datasets acquired by Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS) systems. Furthermore, scalability is a major concern for enabling real-time rendering over large scale distances while preserving geometric details. This paper presents a fully automatic ground surface recon-struction framework capable to deal with the aforementioned constraints. The proposed method exploits the quasi-flat geometry of the ground throughout a morphological segmentation algorithm. Then, a planar Delaunay triangulation is applied in order to reconstruct the ground surface. A smoothing procedure eliminates high frequency peaks, while preserving geometric details in order to provide a regular ground surface. Finally, a decimation step is applied in order to cope with scalability constraints over large scale distances. Experimental results on real data acquired in large urban environments are presented and a performance evaluation with respect to ground truth measurements demonstrate the effectiveness of our method

    Ferroptosis Induction and YAP Inhibition as New Therapeutic Targets in Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GISTs)

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    GISTs are sarcomas of the gastrointestinal tract often associated with gain-of-function mutations in KIT or PDGFRA receptor genes. While most GISTs initially respond to tyrosine kinase inhibitors, relapses due to acquired resistance frequently occur. The induction of ferroptosis, an iron-dependent form of non-apoptotic cell death, emerged as a novel therapeutic approach in cancers and remains poorly characterized in GISTs. We studied hallmarks of ferroptosis, i.e., lipid peroxidation, iron and glutathione content, and GPX4 protein expression in imatinib-sensitive (GIST882) and -resistant (GIST48) GIST cell lines. GIST cells were highly sensitive to the induction of ferroptosis by RSL3, which was reversed by liproxstatin and deferoxamine. Lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis were mediated by VP and CA3 in GIST cells through a significant decrease in antioxidant defenses. Moreover, VP, but surprisingly not CA3, inhibited a series of target genes downstream of YAP in GIST cells. The ferroptosis marker TFRC was also investigated by immunohistochemistry in GIST tissue arrays. TFRC expression was observed in all samples. High TFRC expression was positively correlated with high-risk GISTs, elevated mitotic count, and YAP nuclear localization, reflecting YAP activation. This study highlights ferroptosis as a novel cell death mechanism in GISTs, and a potential therapeutic target to overcome resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors
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