Plasticity of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis respiratory chain and its impact on tuberculosis drug development.

The viability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) depends on energy generated by its respiratory chain. Cytochrome bc1-aa3 oxidase and type-2 NADH dehydrogenase (NDH-2) are respiratory chain components predicted to be essential, and are currently targeted for drug development. Here we demonstrate that an Mtb cytochrome bc1-aa3 oxidase deletion mutant is viable and only partially attenuated in mice. Moreover, treatment of Mtb-infected marmosets with a cytochrome bc1-aa3 oxidase inhibitor controls disease progression and reduces lesion-associated inflammation, but most lesions become cavitary. Deletion of both NDH-2 encoding genes (Δndh-2 mutant) reveals that the essentiality of NDH-2 as shown in standard growth media is due to the presence of fatty acids. The Δndh-2 mutant is only mildly attenuated in mice and not differently susceptible to clofazimine, a drug in clinical use proposed to engage NDH-2. These results demonstrate the intrinsic plasticity of Mtb's respiratory chain, and highlight the challenges associated with targeting the pathogen's respiratory enzymes for tuberculosis drug development

Exploring Spatial Menu Representation and Apartment-Based Categorization for Online Shopping

Part 1: E-commerceInternational audienceThis work aims to explore, design and implement better and intuitive categorization schemes and menu representations for online shops that enrich and improve the shopping experience. We utilize the Apartment metaphor, in which products are categorized into rooms and furniture representing departments and shelves. Furthermore, we developed a realistic and interactive map-based spatial menu representation based on prior research findings. In a comparative user study, we evaluated our new menu categorization and representation in comparison with the current standard in online shops, based on real data from a local retailer. The results show that our apartment-based categorization in combination with a spatial representation outperforms all other conditions regarding all tested variables of performance (success rate, task completion time) and preferences (user experience, usability, workload)

Anatomia microcirúrgica da artéria coróidea anterior

São apresentadas as características anatômicas da artéria coróidea anterior (AChA), encontradas nas dissecações de 100 hemisférios cerebrais de cadáveres humanos, realizadas sob microscópio cirúrgico. Foi encontrada uma AChA por hemisfério cerebral, 98% originando-se da artéria carótida interna (ACI) 2,4mm distai à origem da artéria comunicante posterior (ACoP) e 4,7mm proximal à bifurcação da ACI. Em 29% dos hemisférios havia ramos perfurantes emergindo da porção comunicante da ACI. A média do calibre da AChA foi 0,9mm na sua porção cisternal e 0,7mm na porção plexal. Os ramos mais freqüentes da porção cisterna da AChA foram para o trato óptico, pedúnculo cerebral, uncus e corpo geniculado lateral. Foram observadas anastomoses de ramos da AChA com ramos da artéria cerebral posterior, ACoP, artéria cerebral média e ACI. Os resultados são comparados àqueles da literatura