We are family : sexual diversity issues and the elementary curriculum in Quebec

The main question this study asked was to what extent teacher attitudes towards the inclusion of gay and lesbian issues in their teaching support the persistence of homophobic attitudes within society. This study offered an indication of teachers' attitudes regarding the inclusion of gay and lesbian issues into cycle I, cycle II and cycle III Moral Education, Geography, History and Citizenship Education, and English Language Arts curriculum in Quebec. Findings from the study suggested that generally teachers realize the benefits of including gay and lesbian issues in elementary school curriculum and are willing to incorporate them into their teachings, however many teachers also display homophobic attitudes

Méthode efficace d'assignation de tissus humains par tomodensitométrie à double énergie

Pour analyser les images en tomodensitométrie, une méthode stœchiométrique est gé- néralement utilisée. Une courbe relie les unités Hounsfield d’une image à la densité électronique du milieu. La tomodensitométrie à double énergie permet d’obtenir des informations supplémentaires sur ces images. Une méthode stœchiométrique a été dé- veloppée pour permettre de déterminer les valeurs de densité électronique et de numéro atomique effectif à partir d’une paire d’images d’un tomodensitomètre à double énergie. Le but de cette recherche est de développer une nouvelle méthode d’identification de tissus en utilisant ces paramètres extraits en tomodensitométrie à double énergie. Cette nouvelle méthode est comparée avec la méthode standard de tomodensitométrie à simple énergie. Par ailleurs, l’impact dosimétrique de bien identifier un tissu est déterminé. Des simulations Monte Carlo permettent d’utiliser des fantômes numériques dont tous les paramètres sont connus. Les différents fantômes utilisés permettent d’étalonner les méthodes stœchiométriques, de comparer la polyvalence et la robustesse des méthodes d’identification de tissus double énergie et simple énergie, ainsi que de comparer les distributions de dose dans des fantômes uniformes de mêmes densités, mais de compo- sitions différentes. La méthode utilisant la tomodensitométrie à double énergie fournit des valeurs de densi- tés électroniques plus exactes, quelles que soient les conditions étudiées. Cette méthode s’avère également plus robuste aux variations de densité des tissus. L’impact dosimé- trique d’une bonne identification de tissus devient important pour des traitements aux énergies plus faibles, donc aux énergies d’imagerie et de curiethérapie.A stoichiometric method is usually used to analyze computed tomography images. A curve links the Hounsfield units on the images to the electron density in a given me- dium. Dual-energy computed tomography gives additional information on a scan. A stoi- chiometric method was developed to acquire both electron density and effective atomic number from a pair of images. The aim of this research is to develop a new method to identify tissues using the parame- ters extracted from dual-energy computed tomography. This new method is compared to the standard single-energy computed tomography segmentation method. Furthermore, the effect of correctly assigning tissues on dose distribution is studied. Monte Carlo simulations allow the use of perfectly known numerical phantoms. Dif- ferent phantoms allowed the calibration of the stoichiometric methods, the comparison of the versatility and the robustness of the dual-energy and the single-energy methods, and the comparison of dose distribution in phantoms of same densities, but of different compositions. The dual-energy identification method gives more accurate values of electron density in any studied condition. This method is also more robust to tissues of variable density. The dosimetric impact of an accurate identification becomes more important for treatments using lower energy photons, such as imaging energies and brachytherapy

Pur-alpha functionally interacts with FUS carrying ALS-associated mutations

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder due to motor neuron loss. Fused in sarcoma (FUS) protein carrying ALS-associated mutations localizes to stress granules and causes their coalescence into larger aggregates. Here we show that Pur-alpha physically interacts with mutated FUS in an RNA-dependent manner. Pur-alpha colocalizes with FUS carrying mutations in stress granules of motoneuronal cells differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells and that are derived from ALS patients. We observe that both Pur-alpha and mutated FUS upregulate phosphorylation of the translation initiation factor eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha and consistently inhibit global protein synthesis. In vivo expression of Pur-alpha in different Drosophila tissues significatively exacerbates the neurodegeneration caused by mutated FUS. Conversely, the downregulation of Pur-alpha in neurons expressing mutated FUS significatively improves fly climbing activity. All these findings suggest that Pur-alpha, through the control of mRNA translation, might be involved in the pathogenesis of ALS associated with the mutation of FUS, and that an alteration of protein synthesis may be directly implicated in the disease. Finally, in vivo RNAi-mediated ablation of Pur-alpha produced locomotion defects in Drosophila, indicating a pivotal role for this protein in the motoneuronal function

Comparison between two packages for pectoral muscle removal on mammographic images

Background: Pectoral muscle removal is a fundamental preliminary step in computer-aided diagnosis systems for full-field digital mammography (FFDM). Currently, two open-source publicly available packages (LIBRA and OpenBreast) provide algorithms for pectoral muscle removal within Matlab environment. Purpose: To compare performance of the two packages on a single database of FFDM images. Methods: Only mediolateral oblique (MLO) FFDM was considered because of large presence of pectoral muscle on this type of projection. For obtaining ground truth, pectoral muscle has been manually segmented by two radiologists in consensus. Both LIBRA’s and OpenBreast’s removal performance with respect to ground truth were compared using Dice similarity coefficient and Cohen-kappa reliability coefficient; Wilcoxon signed-rank test has been used for assessing differences in performances; Kruskal–Wallis test has been used to verify possible dependence of the performance from the breast density or image laterality. Results: FFDMs from 168 consecutive women at our institution have been included in the study. Both LIBRA’s Dice-index and Cohen-kappa were significantly higher than OpenBreast (Wilcoxon signed-rank test P < 0.05). No dependence on breast density or laterality has been found (Kruskal–Wallis test P > 0.05). Conclusion: Libra has a better performance than OpenBreast in pectoral muscle delineation so that, although our study has not a direct clinical application, these results are useful in the choice of packages for the development of complex systems for computer-aided breast evaluation

Maximum Power of Thermally and Electrically Coupled Thermoelectric Generators

In a recent work, we have reported a study on the figure of merit of a thermoelectric system composed by thermoelectric generators connected electrically and thermally in different configurations. In this work, we are interested in analyzing the output power delivered by a thermoelectric system for different arrays of thermoelectric materials in each configuration. Our study shows the impact of the array of thermoelectric materials in the output power of the composite system. We evaluate numerically the corresponding maximum output power for each configuration and determine the optimum array and configuration for maximum power. We compare our results with other recently reported studies

Trophic factors differentiate dopamine neurons vulnerable to Parkinson's disease

Recent studies suggest a variety of factors characterize substantia nigra neurons vulnerable to Parkinson's disease, including the transcription factors pituitary homeobox 3 (Pitx3) and orthodenticle homeobox 2 (Otx2) and the trophic factor receptor deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC), but there is limited information on their expression and localization in adult humans. Pitx3, Otx2, and DCC were immunohistochemically localized in the upper brainstem of adult humans and mice and protein expression assessed using relative intensity measures and online microarray data. Pitx3 was present and highly expressed in most dopamine neurons. Surprisingly, in our elderly subjects no Otx2 immunoreactivity was detected in dopamine neurons, although Otx2 gene expression was found in younger cases. Enhanced DCC gene expression occurred in the substantia nigra, and higher amounts of DCC protein characterized vulnerable ventral nigral dopamine neurons. Our data show that, at the age when Parkinson's disease typically occurs, there are no significant differences in the expression of transcription factors in brainstem dopamine neurons, but those most vulnerable to Parkinson's disease rely more on the trophic factor receptor DCC than other brainstem dopamine neurons