Comparaison de la diète portfolio et d'une statine sur le phénotype de la taille des lipoprotéines de faible densité chez des sujets hypercholestérolémiques

Tableau d'honneur de la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales, 2006-200

Explaining small states’ changing patterns of peacekeeping contributions through role theory: the case of Austria and Belgium

This doctoral project explores the ways in which European small states’ approaches to peacekeeping have been affected by the changing nature of peace missions. The central objective is to explain the choices made by small states’ governments to participate in missions which no longer fit traditional peacekeeping models. The increasing need for comprehensive and robust responses to international crises characterised by intra-state violence has challenged small states whose elites and publics have been accustomed to deploying troops to low intensity missions tasked to separate parties. Throughout the Cold War and beyond, traditional peacekeeping developed along the norms of non-use of force, impartiality and consent. Identifying positively with the objectives and normative underpinnings of traditional peacekeeping, small states have actively committed their armed forces based on a perception of themselves as international norm entrepreneurs. This thesis challenges the notion that small states’ governments commit material and human resources to new types of peace operations motivated by such self-images. Transformations in the practice of peacekeeping are forcing foreign policy agents in small states to rethink the function(s) that their states should play in the international system towards peacekeeping. Three questions are considered: I) what new or existing roles are small states adopting in this evolving peacekeeping system? II) through what political processes do these roles emerge? and III) how do these roles affect decision-making on peacekeeping deployments? Small state research cannot effectively answer these questions nor comprehensively explain what small states do in international affairs because it lacks analytical tools to link structure and agency. A theoretical approach grounded in role theory is better suited to understand the foreign policies of small states and re-evaluate their peacekeeping credentials. A model depicting the interaction between role socialisation and domestic role processes is constructed to guide four empirical analyses of recent peacekeeping decisions taken by Austrian and Belgian governments. This theoretical foundation allows the contention that small states’ changing self-perceptions do not necessarily originate from internal ideational factors, as the norm entrepreneur argument suggests. Each case study traces how the interplay between external role demands and domestically conceived ideas about the state’s position in an evolving peacekeeping system informs Austria’s and Belgium’s adjustment to new peace missions. Austria’s decisions to withdraw from UNDOF in 2013, and to participate in EUFOR Chad 2007-2008, are telling cases of a small state adapting to new forms of peacekeeping through a reconfiguration of roles. This thesis also investigates the roles that have motivated the contributions made by two Belgian governments towards the Malian crisis, 2012-2013 and the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war. This project contributes to small state research by showing that these actors fulfil a broad range of functions in the international system. It also improves the way we explain small states’ foreign policy actions by providing a dynamic framework capturing the relationship between structure and agency, and by delving into the decision-making processes of small states. Additionally, it adds to the peacekeeping literature by providing an original account as to why states, and in particular small states, contribute troops to missions operating under evolving conditions. Finally, inputs are made to the scholarship on role theory by exploring how state size influences role conceptions and investigating how role socialisation and domestic role dynamics interact to affect the roles and decisions of an under-studied category of states

Reconstructing caribou seasonal biogeography in Little Ice Age (late Holocene) Western Alaska using intra-tooth strontium and oxygen isotope analysis

Acknowledgements This work was funded by an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AH/K006029/1) grant awarded to Rick Knecht, Kate Britton and Charlotta Hillerdal (Aberdeen). The onsite collection of samples was carried out by staff and students from the University of Aberdeen, volunteer excavators and the residents of Quinhagak. We also thank the Qanirtuuq Incorporated, Quinhagak, Alaska, and the people of Quinhagak for logistical and planning support for fieldwork and sampling permissions. Special thanks for Warren Jones and Qanirtuuq Incorporated (especially Michael Smith and Lynn Church), and to all Nunalleq project team members, particularly Edouard Masson-MacLean and Paul Ledger (Aberdeen). Thanks also to Alison Harris (Stockholm/York), Rebecca Lam and Sherri Strong (Memorial University) and Michael Maus (Johannes-Gutenberg Universität, Mainz) for methodological and technical assistance. Thank you to Dominic Demma (Alaska Department of Fish and Game) for providing information on the Mulchatna herd, to Edouard Masson-MacLean for comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript, and to the guest editors for inviting us to contribute to this special issue. Finally, the authors would like to thank the reviewers for their valuable and constructive comments on this manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Robust DoA estimation in case of multipath environment for a sense and avoid airborne radar

This paper deals with the sense and avoid problem for an helicopter. The objective of such a system is to early detect collision targets (typically high voltage wires). The Direction of Arrival (DoA) of the target is then a crucial information. In severe multipath environments (flight over a river, for instance) classical DoA estimation schemes dramatically degrade. In this paper, we make use of a method based on the Maximum Likelihood (ML) principle that can resolve two highly correlated and close targets. The major drawback of ML algorithms, namely the computational burden, is removed using an approximation for closely space targets. The contribution of this paper is twofold. We first extend the approximated ML DoA estimation to the case of Non Uniform Linear Antennas (NULA) and we complete the procedure by a detection scheme. Second, we attest the validity of this new processing on real radar data. Hence, we show that the proposed procedure is able to detect a high voltage wire, over a river, at ranges up to 1 km, where a capon beamformer cannot

Impact of systemic enzyme supplementation on low-grade inflammation in humans

Systemic enzyme therapy has been shown to be efficient in treating pain and inflammation associated with injury or musculoskeletal disorders. However, whether systemic enzyme supplementation also attenuates subclinical inflammation remains to be investigated. In this randomized controlled trial, we investigated the impact of systemic enzyme supplementation on inflammatory gene expression as well as on markers of inflammation in 24 adult men and women with subclinical inflammation (serum C-reactive protein [CRP] levels >1 mg/L and <10 mg/L). Participants were supplemented with systemic enzymes (Wobenzym®450 FIP from bromelain and 1440 FIP from trypsin, 6 tablets/d) or placebo for periods of 4 weeks separated by a 4-week washout period. Systemic enzyme supplementation had no impact on expression levels of whole blood cell inflammatory genes compared with placebo but significantly reduced serum IL-6 levels (p = 0.04). However, there was a significant sex × treatment interaction for IL-6 (p = 0.02) and CRP (p = 0.007). Specifically, both serum IL-6 and CRP concentrations were significantly reduced in men (p ≤ 0.03) but not in women (p ≥ 0.08). This study suggests that short-term supplementation with systemic enzymes may attenuate subclinical inflammation, with perhaps greater effects among men than among women

Xylosyltransferase-I Regulates Glycosaminoglycan Synthesis during the Pathogenic Process of Human Osteoarthritis

Loss of glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains of proteoglycans (PGs) is an early event of osteoarthritis (OA) resulting in cartilage degradation that has been previously demonstrated in both huma and experimental OA models. However, the mechanism of GAG loss and the role of xylosyltransferase-I (XT-I) that initiates GAG biosynthesis onto PG molecules in the pathogenic process of human OA are unknown. In this study, we have characterized XT-I expression and activity together with GAG synthesis in human OA cartilage obtained from different regions of the same joint, defined as “normal”, “late-stage” or adjacent to “late-stage”. The results showed that GAG synthesis and content increased in cartilage from areas flanking OA lesions compared to cartilage from macroscopically “normal” unaffected regions, while decreased in “late-stage” OA cartilage lesions. This increase in anabolic state was associated with a marked upregulation of XT-I expression and activity in cartilage “next to lesion” while a decrease in the “late-stage” OA cartilage. Importantly, XT-I inhibition by shRNA or forced-expression with a pCMV-XT-I construct correlated with the modulation of GAG anabolism in human cartilage explants. The observation that XT-I gene expression was down-regulated by IL-1β and up-regulated by TGF-β1 indicates that these cytokines may play a role in regulating GAG content in human OA. Noteworthy, expression of IL-1β receptor (IL-1R1) was down-regulated whereas that of TGF-β1 was up-regulated in early OA cartilage. Theses observations may account for upregulation of XT-I and sustained GAG synthesis prior to the development of cartilage lesions during the pathogenic process of OA

The role of heparan sulfate maturation in cancer: A focus on the 3O-sulfation and the enigmatic 3O-sulfotransferases (HS3STs)

Heparansulfate (HS) modifications are master regulators of the cross-talk between cell and matrix and modulate the biological activity of an array of HS binding proteins, including growth factors and chemokines, morphogens and immunity cell receptors. This review will highlight the importance of HS maturation mediated by N-deactetylase/sulfotransferases, 2O- and 6O-sulfotransferases in cancer biology, and will focus on the 3O-sulfotransferases and on the terminal, rare 3O-sulfation, and their important but still enigmatic impact in cancer progression. The review will also discuss the molecular mechanisms of action of these HS modifications with regards to ligand interactions and signaling in the cancer process and their clinical significance

The heparan sulfate sulfotransferase 3-OST3A (HS3ST3A) is a novel tumor regulator and a prognostic marker in breast cancer

International audienceHeparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycan chains are key components of the breast tumor microenvironment that critically influence the behavior of cancer cells. It is established that abnormal synthesis and processing of HS play a prominent role in tumorigenesis, albeit mechanisms remain mostly obscure. HS function is mainly controlled by sulfotransferases, and here we report a novel cellular and pathophysiological significance for the 3-O-sulfotransferase 3-OST3A (HS3ST3A), catalyzing the final maturation step of HS, in breast cancer. We show that 3-OST3A is epigenetically repressed in all breast cancer cell lines of a panel representative of distinct molecular subgroups, except in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) sloan-kettering breast cancer (SKBR3) cells. Epigenetic mechanisms involved both DNA methylation and histone modifications, producing different repressive chromatin environments depending on the cell molecular signature. Gain and loss of function experiments by cDNA and siRNA transfection revealed profound effects of 3-OST3A expression on cell behavior including apoptosis, proliferation, response to trastuzumab in vitro and tumor growth in xenografted mice. 3-OST3A exerted dual activities acting as tumor-suppressor in lumA-michigan cancer foundation (MCF)-7 and triple negative-MD Anderson (MDA) metastatic breast (MB)-231 cells, or as an oncogenic factor in HER2+-SKBR3 cells. Mechanistically, fluorescence-resonance energy transfer-fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy experiments indicated that the effects of 3-OST3A in MCF-7 cells were mediated by altered interactions between HS and fibroblast growth factor-7 (FGF-7). Further, this interplay between HS and FGF-7 modulated downstream ERK, AKT and p38 cascades, suggesting that altering 3-O-sulfation affects FGFR2IIIb-mediated signaling. Corroborating our cellular data, a clinical study conducted in a cohort of breast cancer patients uncovered that, in HER2+ patients, high level expression of 3-OST3A in tumors was associated with reduced relapse-free survival. Our findings define 3-OST3A as a novel regulator of breast cancer pathogenicity, displaying tumor-suppressive or oncogenic activities in a cell-and tumor-dependent context, and demonstrate the clinical value of the HS-O-sulfotransferase 3-OST3A as a prognostic marker in HER2+ patients

Bilan et perspectives des deux écoles techniques « notions et techniques en écologie » organisées par le Département EFPA

La création du Département «Écologie des Forêts, Prairies et milieux Aquatiques» a suscité de la part des personnels techniques concernés une volonté d’intégration collective sous le concept fédérateur de l’écologie. Pour cela deux écoles techniques ont été organisées sur des notions et méthodes d’écologie par un Comité de pilotage composé de techniciens et de scientifiques. L’objectif visait à familiariser les techniciens aux concepts de l’écologie et à les aider à se situer dans les thématiques de recherche du Département EFPA. Enfin, il s’agissait d’instaurer une communauté de pratique autour de l’écologie. Ces écoles ont rassemblé 79 personnes, en proposant visites sur le terrain et séances en salle. Deux animations ont particulièrement été appréciées, l’une sous forme d’un jeu en préambule, l’autre sous forme de présentations par des binômes techniciens/chercheurs. Les participants sont plutôt convaincus d’avoir progressé sur les notions en écologie et ils ont la volonté d’aller plus loin avec la création d’un Réseau de Technicien en Ecologie (RTE), la mise en place d’une liste de diffusion et l’organisation régulière de rencontres entre membres du réseau