Phytoseiid mite diversity (Acari: Mesostigmata) and assessment of their spatial distribution in French apple orchards

The present study reports the results of surveys carried out over two years in 173 apple orchards in France. Eleven species of Phytoseiidae were observed, among them three were dominant: Amblyseius andersoni, Kampimodromus aberrans and Typhlodromus (Typhlodromus) pyri. Cydnodromus californicus was also found but only in some orchards and nearly always in association with one of three dominant species. This observation confirms the faunal modification initiated more than ten years ago. Amblyseius andersoni was recorded in high densities in nearly all the regions considered. Typhlodromus (T.) pyri was also widespread, even if particularly frequent and abundant in the Rh¶ne-Alpes region. Kampimodromus aberrans was localised in some regions; it was especially frequent and abundant in the Mediterranean region. An identification key containing the eleven reported species is provided. TaylorÆs law was applied in order to characterize the Phytoseiidae distribution in apple orchards. The distribution is clearly aggregative, whatever the region and the Phytoseiidae species considered. Relationships between the occupation rate and the mean number of Phytoseiidae per leaf was established and an abacus was constructed to facilitate surveys and the counting during practical assessments of Phytoseiidae fauna in apple orchards

Schizophrenia and quality of life: a one-year follow-up in four EU countries

BACKGROUND: This article systematically monitors the quality of life (QOL) of patients with schizophrenia from seven different sites across four European countries: France, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. METHODS: A one-year prospective cohort study was carried out. Inclusion criteria for patients were: a clinical lifetime diagnosis of schizophrenia according to ICD-10 (F20) diagnostic criteria for research, age between 18 and 65 years and at least one contact with mental health services in 1993. Data concerning QOL were recorded in seven sites from four countries: France, Portugal, Ireland and Spain, and were obtained using the Baker and Intagliata scale. At baseline, 339 patients answered the QOL questionnaire. At one-year follow-up, Spain could not participate, so only 263 patients were contacted and 219 agreed to take part. QOL was compared across centres by areas and according to a global index. QOL was correlated with presence of clinical and social problems, needs for care and interventions provided during the one-year follow-up. RESULTS: We did not find any link between gender and QOL. There were some significant differences between centres concerning many items. What is more, these differences were relative: in Lisbon where the lowest level of satisfaction was recorded, people were satisfied with food but highly dissatisfied with finances, whereas in St Etienne, where the highest level of satisfaction was recorded, people were less satisfied with food when they were more satisfied with finances. The evolution in one year among those respondents who took part in the follow-up (excluding the subjects from Granada) showed different patterns depending on the items. CONCLUSION: The four countries have different resources and patients live in rather different conditions. However, the main differences as far as their QOL is concerned very much depend on extra-psychiatric variables, principally marital status and income

Agro-hydrology and multi temporal high resolution remote sensing: toward an explicit spatial processes calibration

The recent and forthcoming availability of high resolution satellite image series offers new opportunities in agro-hydrological research and modeling. We investigated the perspective offered by improving the crop growth dynamic simulation using the distributed agro-hydrological model, Topography based Nitrogen transfer and Transforma­ tion (TNT2), using LAI map series derived from 105 Formosat-2 (F2) images during the period 2006-2010. The TNT2 model (Beaujouan et al., 2002), calibrated with dis­ charge and in-stream nitrate fluxes for the period 1985-2001, was tested on the 2006-201O dataset (climate, land use, agricultural practices, discharge and nitrate fluxes at the outlet). A priori agricultural practices obtained from an extensive field survey such as seeding date, crop cultivar,and fertilizer amount were used as input variables.Con­tinuous values of LAI as a function of cumulative daily temperature were obtained at the crop field level by fitting a double logistic equation against discrete satellite-derived LAI. Model predictions of LAI dynamics with a priori input parameters showed an temporal shift with observed LAI profiles irregularly distributed in space (between field crops) and time (between years). By re-setting seeding date at the crop field level, we proposed an optimization method to minimize efficiently this temporal shift and better fit the crop growth against the spatial observations as well as crop production. This optimization of simulated LAI has a negligible impact on water budget at the catchment scale (1 mm yr-1 in average) but a noticeable impact on in-stream nitrogen fluxes(around 12%) which is of interest considering nitrate stream contamination issues and TNT2 model objectives. This study demonstrates the contribution of forthcoming high spatial and temporal resolution products of Sentinel-2 satellite mission in improving agro-hydrological modeling by constraining the spatial representation of crop productivity

Préface

Dedieu Gérard, Probst J.L. Préface. In: Sciences Géologiques. Bulletin, tome 50, n°1-4, 1997. The global carbon cycle in the terrestrial biosphere, sous la direction de Gérard Dedieu et Jean-Luc Probst. pp. 3-5

Régulation de l'expression des porines chez Campylobacter jejuni

AIX-MARSEILLE2-BU Méd/Odontol. (130552103) / SudocPARIS-BIUP (751062107) / SudocSudocFranceF

Préface

Dedieu Gérard, Probst J.L. Préface. In: Sciences Géologiques. Bulletin, tome 50, n°1-4, 1997. The global carbon cycle in the terrestrial biosphere, sous la direction de Gérard Dedieu et Jean-Luc Probst. pp. 3-5

Environmental Regulation of Campylobacter jejuni Major Outer Membrane Protein Porin Expression in Escherichia coli Monitored by Using Green Fluorescent Protein

Porins allow exchanges between bacteria and their environment. In the gram-negative food-borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni two porins, major outer membrane protein (MOMP) and Omp50, have been identified. MOMP is synthesized at a very high level under laboratory culture conditions, suggesting that its promoter functions very efficiently under these conditions. In Campylobacter samples, we observed that MOMP porin expression increased at a high temperature (42°C) or a high pH (pH 8.5) compared to expression at a low temperature (31°C) or an acidic pH (pH 5.5). To study the regulation of MOMP expression at the transcriptional level, we constructed an momp-gfp fusion in which gfp expression was put under the control of the momp promoter. Interestingly, we observed the same pattern of regulation in Escherichia coli, as monitored by green fluorescent protein production, that was found in Campylobacter. The ranges of pH and temperature tested are physiologically relevant, because they can be found in the digestive tracts of both birds and humans, which are both colonized by Campylobacter. Our results suggest that a component of the regulatory mechanism is conserved in C. jejuni and E. coli. However, medium osmolarity and sodium salicylate did not have a significant effect on C. jejuni momp promoter activity in E. coli, suggesting that major regulatory elements of E. coli porin expression do not participate in MOMP regulation. In contrast, mechanisms involving DNA supercoiling may be involved, as shown by DNA gyrase inhibition assays. These findings are a step towards determining the role of outer membrane proteins in the adaptation of C. jejuni to its environment

Deciphering structure and topology of conserved COG2042 orphan proteins

Background: The cluster of orthologous group COG2042 has members in all sequencedEukaryota as well as in many Archaea. The cellular function of these proteins of ancient originremains unknown. PSI-BLAST analysis does not indicate a possible link with even remotely-relatedproteins that have been functionally or structurally characterized. As a prototype among COG2042orthologs, SSO0551 protein from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus waspurified to homogeneity for biophysical characterization.Results: The untagged protein is thermostable and behaves as a monomeric protein in gel filtrationexperiment. Several mass spectrometry-based strategies were combined to obtain a set of lowresolution structural information. Kinetic data from limited proteolysis with various endoproteasesare concordant in pointing out that region Glu73-Arg78 is hyper-sensitive, and thus accessible andflexible. Lysine labeling with NHS-biotin and cross-linking with DTSSP revealed that the 35 aminoacid RLI motif at the N terminus is solvent exposed. Cross-links between Lys10-Lys14 and Lys23-Lys25 indicate that these residues are spatially close and in adequate conformation to be crosslinked. These experimental data have been used to rank multiple three-dimensional modelsgenerated by a de novo procedure.Conclusion: Our data indicate that COG2042 proteins may share a novel fold. Combiningbiophysical, mass-spectrometry data and molecular model is a useful strategy to obtain structuralinformation and to help in prioritizing targets in structural genomics program