Benjamin Hoffmann, Les Paradoxes de la postérité

Pourquoi écrit-on ? C’est la question que pose le livre de Benjamin Hoffmann intitulé Les Paradoxes de la postérité, publié en janvier 2019. L’ouvrage invite à trouver une réponse nouvelle à cette question. « Etre écrivain, si l’on vous écoute, c’est travailler des mois durant à la rédaction d’un livre qui ne touchera probablement qu’une poignée de lecteurs » (p. 229). C’est une activité étrange. Le fait d’écrire, c’est une volonté d’exister pour la postérité, un refus de disparaître entièrem..

Widespread occurrence of non-phosphorylating glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase among gram-positive bacteria

The non-phosphorylating glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDHN, NADP+-specific, EC 1.2.1.9) is present in green eukaryotes and some Streptococcus strains. The present report describes the results of activity and immunoblot analyses, which were used to generate the first survey of bacterial GAPDHN distribution in a number of Bacillus, Streptococcus and Clostridium strains. Putative gapN genes were identified after PCR amplification of partial 700-bp sequences using degenerate primers constructed from highly conserved protein regions. Alignment of the amino acid sequences of these fragments with those of known sequences from other eukaryotic and prokaryotic GAPDHNs, demonstrated the presence of conserved residues involved in catalytic activity that are not conserved in aldehyde dehydrogenases, a protein family closely linked to GAPDHNs. The results confirm that the basic structural features of the members of the GAPDHN family have been conserved throughout evolution and that no identity exists with phosphorylating GAPDHs. Furthermore, phylogenetic trees generated from multiple sequence alignments suggested a close relationship between plant and bacterial GAPDHN families. [Int Microbiol 2005; 8(4):251-258

El Capital Intelectual y su Incidencia en la Producción de las Empresas Productoras de Banano en la Costa sur del Ecuador

El presente trabajo de investigación se lo realizó por el entorno extremadamente competitivo en el área agrícola exigiendo a las empresas productoras de banano un esfuerzo constante en la mejora de sus procesos de producción, comercialización, gestión y dirección económica con un capital de talento humano calificado en el área de siembra y administración de las fincas. De esta manera los pequeños productores de banano tradicional se han visto obligados a depender cada vez más de la información técnica en el área agrícola, administrativa financiera proporcionada por un capital intelectual humano de alto nivel que toma como base objetiva ejercer una función vital: la toma de decisiones, donde se aprecia que las agrícolas de economía familiar carecen de un capital intelectual idóneo para ejercer esta función, a diferencia de las fincas asociadas que su visión está orientando para insertarse y permanecer en el mercado bananero con productos de calidad, con volúmenes y periodicidad demandada, que permitan el desarrollo sostenible de la organización, en el mercado interno como internacional, dando prioridad en los estándar de calidad en la fruta de exportación.   This paper was carried out due to the extremely competitive environment in the agricultural area. This requires the banana-producing companies to make a constant effort to improve their production, marketing, management, and economic management processes with a capital of qualified human talent in the area of sowing and administration of the farms. Through this way, small traditional banana producers have been forced to rely more and more on technical information in the agricultural, administrative, and financial area provided by a high-level human intellectual capital. This gave rise to the objective of performing a vital function, which is decision-making. Here, it can be seen that family farmers lack the ideal intellectual capital to exercise this function. This is unlike the associated farms where their vision is guiding to insert and remain in the banana market with quality products, with volumes and demanded periodicity. This has also led to the sustainable development of the organization, in the domestic and international markets, by giving priority to quality standards in export fruit

Determination of carbendazim residues in Moroccan tomato samples using local enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and comparison with liquid chromatography

The fungicide carbendazim (CBZ) is not approved for agricultural uses in some countries but is still used by many farmers due to its effectiveness. For this reason, in previous work of the same authors, they developed a competitive enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) using rabbit polyclonal antibodies to detect CBZ. This study aimed to validate this in-house ELISA after extraction with methanol for CBZ analysis in tomato samples, and the results were compared with the conventional high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method after QuEChERS extraction. The results showed that both ELISA and HPLC methods have good repeatability, reproducibility and high precision with a good variation verified by principal components analysis (PCA). ANOVA tested the detection limit (LOD), and quantification limit (LOQ), and the values for ELISA (LOD = 0.026± 0.001 µg/L and LOQ = 0.083 ± 0.003 µg/L) were significantly lower than those obtained by HPLC (LOD = 0.61 ± 0.02 µg/L and LOQ = 1.85 ± 0.07 µg/L). ELISA and HPLC were used for analyzing CBZ in 100 Moroccan tomato samples. These two methods detected the presence of CBZ above the Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) level in 9 samples. However, the presence of the  CBZ was detected in the 79 samples by ELISA and quantified in 66 samples. In contrast, the presence of CBZ was detected in 57 and quantified in 35 samples by HPLC. These results showed that the ELISA system coupled with a simple methanol extraction is much more sensitive than HPLC after QuEChERS extraction

Correlation between circulating cortisol and indicators of stress and oxidant stress during the preslaughter operations in camels

In livestock, pre-slaughter stress begins at the farm or market, continues during transport and upon arrival at the slaughterhouse, ending at slaughter. In this investigation, a survey was conducted in the slaughterhouse of Casablanca in Morocco to record the duration of the preslaughter operations and the frequency of urination in camels. Two groups of camels were constituted, the least stressed animals (Group I, n= 12) and the most stressed animals (Group II, n= 12). Group I animals had a waiting time before loading ≤ 24 h, a loading time ≤ 15 min, an unloading time ≤ 5 min, a water and food deprivation time before slaughter ≤ 24 h, a duration of accompaniment to the slaughter room ≤ 11 min and a frequency of urination during this accompaniment < 3 times. Those in group II had higher duration and frequency values for the same parameters. In addition, serum stress [cortisol (COR)], oxidant stress biomarkers [malondialdehyde (MDA)] and activities of catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were analyzed in both groups, and correlations between these biomarkers and the durations of various preslaughter operations and the frequency of urination were established. The most stressed camels (G II) showed high serum concentrations of COR and MDA, and low CAT and SOD activities by comparison to the less stressed camels (G I) (P<0.05). Significant correlations were recorded between COR, MDA, CAT and SOD, and the durations of various preslaughter operations, and between COR and the frequency of urination

Análisis de las Habilidades Emocionales para el Emprendimiento de PYMES en la Provincia de El Oro

The research aimed to analyze the relationship between emotional skills and entrepreneurship of SME managers. For this work, use a quantitative type approach applied to a group of SME entrepreneurs in the province of El Oro, whose results were tabulated and analyzed using the multivariate technique of factorial and correlational analysis, whose results were values ​​greater than 0.9, what indicate precise and optimal consistency in the instruments; On the other hand, in the correlational analysis, it obtained as a result the values ​​that indicate that the categories as a whole, the statistically affected correlations, consequently, that demonstrated the relationship between the categories used in the research, in this case, the categories that correspond to emotional skills and entrepreneurship. For all this, it is necessary that the emotional skills that were considered in the study are not specific attributes in entrepreneurs, but rather, they are simultaneously harvested in each of the skills that strongly explain the action of entrepreneurship.La investigación tuvo como objetivo analizar la relación entre las habilidades emocionales y el emprendimiento de administradores de pymes. Para este trabajo usaron un enfoque de tipo  cuantitativo aplicado a un grupo de emprendedores de pymes en la provincia de El Oro, cuyos resultados fueron tabulados y analizados mediante la técnica multivariante del análisis factorial y correlacional, cuyos resultados fueron valores superiores a 0,9, lo que indico fiabilidad y consistencia óptima en los instrumentos; por otro lado en el análisis correlacional, dieron como resultado valores que indicaron que las categorías en su totalidad presentaron correlaciones estadísticamente significativas, en consecuencia quedo demostrada la relación existente entre las categorías usadas en la investigación, en este caso categorías que correspondieron a las habilidades emocionales y el emprendimiento. Por todo esto, resulta necesario que las habilidades emocionales que fueron consideradas en el estudio, no sean atributos aislados en los emprendedores, sino más bien, se cosechen simultáneamente en ellos cada una de las habilidades que explican fuertemente la acción de emprender

Complete Genome Sequence of Mycoplasma suis and Insights into Its Biology and Adaption to an Erythrocyte Niche

Mycoplasma suis, the causative agent of porcine infectious anemia, has never been cultured in vitro and mechanisms by which it causes disease are poorly understood. Thus, the objective herein was to use whole genome sequencing and analysis of M. suis to define pathogenicity mechanisms and biochemical pathways. M. suis was harvested from the blood of an experimentally infected pig. Following DNA extraction and construction of a paired end library, whole-genome sequencing was performed using GS-FLX (454) and Titanium chemistry. Reads on paired-end constructs were assembled using GS De Novo Assembler and gaps closed by primer walking; assembly was validated by PFGE. Glimmer and Manatee Annotation Engine were used to predict and annotate protein-coding sequences (CDS). The M. suis genome consists of a single, 742,431 bp chromosome with low G+C content of 31.1%. A total of 844 CDS, 3 single copies, unlinked rRNA genes and 32 tRNAs were identified. Gene homologies and GC skew graph show that M. suis has a typical Mollicutes oriC. The predicted metabolic pathway is concise, showing evidence of adaptation to blood environment. M. suis is a glycolytic species, obtaining energy through sugars fermentation and ATP-synthase. The pentose-phosphate pathway, metabolism of cofactors and vitamins, pyruvate dehydrogenase and NAD+ kinase are missing. Thus, ribose, NADH, NADPH and coenzyme A are possibly essential for its growth. M. suis can generate purines from hypoxanthine, which is secreted by RBCs, and cytidine nucleotides from uracil. Toxins orthologs were not identified. We suggest that M. suis may cause disease by scavenging and competing for host' nutrients, leading to decreased life-span of RBCs. In summary, genome analysis shows that M. suis is dependent on host cell metabolism and this characteristic is likely to be linked to its pathogenicity. The prediction of essential nutrients will aid the development of in vitro cultivation systems

DISEÑO DE UN SISTEMA PARA LA CORRECCIÓN DEL FACTOR DE POTENCIA EN LAS MAQUINARIAS DE LAS INSTALACIONES "LEOPAD S.A" DEL CANTÓN CHONE.

EL MUNDO TIENE UNA FUERTE DEPENDENCIA DE LA ENERGÍA ELÉCTRICA. NO ES IMAGINABLE LO QUE SUCEDERÍA SI ESTA MATERIA PRIMA ESENCIAL PARA MOVER EL DESARROLLO DE LOS PAÍSES LLEGASE A FALTAR. ESTÁ FUERA DE CUALQUIER DISCUSIÓN LA ENORME IMPORTANCIA QUE EL SUMINISTRO DE ELECTRICIDAD TIENE PARA EL HOMBRE HOY, QUE HACE CONFORTABLE LA VIDA COTIDIANA EN LOS HOGARES...LA PRESENTE INVESTIGACIÓN TIENE COMO OBJETIVO: DISEÑAR UN SISTEMA PARA LA CORRECCIÓN DEL FACTOR DE POTENCIA QUE REDUCE EL CONSUMO DE ENERGÍA OBTENIENDO UNA EFICIENCIA ÚTIL O EFECTIVA EN LAS MAQUINARIAS DE LAS INSTALACIONES "LEOPAD S.A" DEL CANTÓN CHONE. EN LO ESPECÍFICO: REALIZAR UN ANÁLISIS DEL ESTADO DEL ARTE REFERENTE AL FACTOR DE POTENCIA EN LAS MAQUINARIAS..

Amplia distribución de la gliceraldehído-3-fosfato deshidrogenasa no-fosforilante entre las bacterias gram-positivas

The non-phosphorylating glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDHN, NADP+ -specific, EC 1.2.1.9) is present in green eukaryotes and some Streptococcus strains. The present report describes the results of activity and immunoblot analyses, which were used to generate the first survey of bacterial GAPDHN distribution in a number of Bacillus, Streptococcus and Clostridium strains. Putative gapN genes were identified after PCR amplification of partial 700-bp sequences using degenerate primers constructed from highly conserved protein regions. Alignment of the amino acid sequences of these fragments with those of known sequences from other eukaryotic and prokaryotic GAPDHNs, demonstrated the presence of conserved residues involved in catalytic activity that are not conserved in aldehyde dehydrogenases, a protein family closely linked to GAPDHNs. The results confirm that the basic structural features of the members of the GAPDHN family have been conserved throughout evolution and that no identity exists with phosphorylating GAPDHs. Furthermore, phylogenetic trees generated from multiple sequence alignments suggested a close relationship between plant and bacterial GAPDHN families.La gliceraldehído-3-fosfato deshidrogenasa no-fosforilante (GAPDHN, NADP+ -específica, EC 1.2.1.9) está presente en organismos eucariotas fotosintéticos y en algunas cepas de Streptococcus y Clostridium. En este trabajo se presentan los resultados de los análisis de actividad e inmunotransferencia, que se utilizaron para la primera prospección de la distribución de GAPDHN bacteriana en diversas cepas de Bacillus, Streptococcus y Clostridium. Se han identificado genes putativos gapN mediante amplificación por PCR de secuencias parciales de 700 bp utilizando cebadores degenerados construidos a partir de regiones proteínicas muy conservadas. Las secuencias de aminoácidos de estos fragmentos se alinearon con las de otras secuencias conocidas de GAPDHN eucarióticas y procarióticas, lo que demuestra la presencia de residuos conservados que participan en la actividad catalítica y que no se han conservado en las aldehído deshidrogenasas, una familia de proteínas estrechamente relacionadas con las GAPDHN. Los resultados confirman que las características estructurales básicas de los miembros de la familia GAPDHN se han conservado durante la evolución y que no existe identidad con las GAPDH fosforilantes. Además, los árboles filogenéticos generados a partir de alineaciones de secuencia múltiples sugieren una estrecha relación entre las familias GAPDHN en plantas y bacterias.This work was supported by AECI (Spain) and Collaborative Grants from the Andalusian Government (Consejería de Presidencia, Junta de Andalucía, Ayuda de Cooperación al Desarrollo en el Ambito Universitario no. 52/02, 54/04, and PAI CVI-261 group) – Ministére d’Education et de la Recherche Scientifique and PARS (Morocco). FV was supported by an EU Marie Curie reintegration project no. 505303.Peer reviewe