[The person of trust, a new tool in the physician-patient relationship.]

THE NOTION OF A PERSON OF TRUST: Introduced by the law dated March 4th 2002, the person of trust is there to accompany the patient in all his/her measures of care; this person is also conceived as an helper in medical decisions or when the patient participates in biomedical research protocols. DESIGNATION MODALITIES: Any adult, unprotected patient can designate a person of trust, whose intervention is not only limited to hospitalisation (the nursing staff are obliged to propose such a person), but can also intervene during care at home or at the doctor's. The designation is made in writing and can be revoked at any time. The person of trust can be a relative, a friend or even the treating physician. A SPECIFIC ROLE: The person of trust can be of help in medical measures in routine medicine when the patients needs to be accompanied, and in the case of diagnosis or serious prognosis, and when the patient is incapable of expressing him/herself

A new tool based on faecal stanols can distinguish specific mammalian species in modern and past environments

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Développement d'outils microbiologiques et chimiques permettant d'identifier l'origine des pollutions fécales dans les eaux de baignades

La pollution organique issue des effluents d'élevage et des stations d'épuration urbaines conduit à un problème essentiel de santé publique lié à la contamination des eaux de surface où s'exercent des activités sensibles telles que la baignade. S'il est possible de déterminer les pollutions localisées liées à un dysfonctionnement des systèmes de traitement, il est beaucoup plus difficile d'identifier les pollutions organiques diffuses qui participent pourtant majoritairement à la dégradation de la qualité des eaux de surface. La problématique des pollutions diffuses est d'autant plus importante que la nouvelle réglementation européenne concernant les eaux de baignade (Directive 2006/7/CE) demande de constituer des profils de baignade qui nécessitent une identification et une hiérarchisation des sources de pollutions fécales. Le dénombrement de Escherichia coli et des entérocoques intestinaux stipulé par les textes réglementaires européens, représente actuellement le seul outil analytique permettant la mise en évidence d'une contamination fécale du milieu aquatique, sans toutefois différencier l'origine humaine ou animale de cette contamination. Il est donc nécessaire de développer de nouvelles méthodes de détection de la pollution fécale qui puissent non seulement mettre en évidence une contamination mais aussi en indiquer l'origine. C'est d'ailleurs dans cet objectif que s'est développé depuis quelques années, le concept de "Microbial Source Tracking" ("Traceurs de Sources Microbiennes") qui consiste à identifier à l'aide de marqueurs microbiologiques ou chimiques les sources de pollutions fécales. Dans ce contexte, six laboratoires de recherche se sont associés pour développer des techniques de traçage des contaminations fécales afin de proposer un outil opérationnel utilisable pour différencier les sources de pollution, de leur point d'émission jusqu'au milieu récepteur final que constituent les eaux de surface. Les marqueurs qui ont fait l'objet de cette étude sont des molécules chimiques naturelles (stéroïdes, caféine), des molécules de synthèse retrouvées dans les effluents de stations d'épuration ou des rapports de fluorescence de la matière organique ainsi que des micro-organismes (bactériophages, bactéries). A la suite des développements méthodologiques, plusieurs marqueurs ont été sélectionnés : - bactéries appartenant aux groupes bactériens dominants du tractus intestinal humain (Bifidobacterium adolescentis) et porcin (Lactobacillus amylovorus) ; - Bacteroidales spécifiques des humains, porcins et bovins (HF183, Pig-2-Bac, Rum-2-Bac); - génogroupes humains des bactériophages F ARN spécifiques; - rapports de stéroïdes : coprostanol/(24ethylcoprostanol+coprostanol) (R1) et sitostanol/coprostanol (R2); - caféine, benzophénone et tri(2-chloroethyl)phosphate (TCEP)

Influence of genomic variation in FTO at 16q12.2, MC4R at 18q22 and NRXN3 at 14q31 genes on breast cancer risk

Breast cancer is a major cause of cancer-related deaths in women. It is known that obesity is one of the risk factors of breast cancer. The subject of our interest was genes: FTO, MC4R and NRXN3–associated with obesity. In this study we have analyzed frequencies of genomic variants in FTO, MC4R and NRXN3 in the group of 134 breast cancer patients. We genotyped two polymorphic sites located in FTO gene (rs993909 and rs9930506), one polymorphic site of MC4R gene (rs17782313) and one polymorphic site of NRXN3 gene (rs10146997). Our hypothesis was that above mentioned SNPs could participate in carcinogenesis. Our research has showed that only rs10146997 was significantly (P = 0.0445) associated with higher risk of breast cancer development (OR = 0.66 (95% CI 0.44–0.99)). Moreover, G allele carriers in rs10146997 of the NRXN3 gene were the youngest patients at onset of breast cancer. On the basis of our research we suggest that further functional may elucidate the role of genomic variation in breast cancer development

A versatile strategy for isolating a highly enriched population of intestinal stem cells

The isolation of pure populations of mouse intestinal stem cells (ISCs) is essential to facilitate functional studies of tissue homeostasis, tissue regeneration, and intestinal diseases. However, the purification of ISCs has relied predominantly on the use of transgenic reporter alleles in mice. Here, we introduce a combinational cell surface marker-mediated strategy that allows the isolation of an ISC population transcriptionally and functionally equivalent to the gold standard Lgr5-GFP ISCs. Used on reporter-free mice, this strategy allows the isolation of functional, transcriptionally distinct ISCs uncompromised by Lgr5 haploinsufficiency.Christian M. Nefzger, Thierry Jardé, Fernando J.Rossello, Katja Horvay, Anja S.Knaupp, David R.Powell ... et al

Relative Decay of Fecal Indicator Bacteria and Human-Associated Markers: A Microcosm Study Simulating Wastewater Input into Seawater and Freshwater

Fecal contaminations of inland and coastal waters induce risks to human health and economic losses. To improve water management, specific markers have been developed to differentiate between sources of contamination. This study investigates the relative decay of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB, Escherichia coli and enterococci) and six human-associated markers (two bacterial markers: Bacteroidales HF183 (HF183) and Bifidobacterium adolescentis (BifAd); one viral marker: genogroup II F-specific RNA bacteriophages (FRNAPH II); three chemical markers: caffeine and two fecal stanol ratios) in freshwater and seawater microcosms seeded with human wastewater. These experiments were performed in darkness, at 20 °C and under aerobic conditions. The modeling of the decay curves allows us (i) to compare FIB and markers and (ii) to classify markers according to their persistence in seawater (FRNAPH II < HF183, stanol ratios < BifAd, caffeine) and in freshwater (HF183, stanol ratios < FRNAPH II < BifAd < caffeine). Although those results depend on the experimental conditions, this study represents a necessary step to develop and validate an interdisciplinary toolbox for the investigation of the sources of fecal contaminations

Wnt and Neuregulin1/ErbB signalling extends 3D culture of hormone responsive mammary organoids

The development of in vitro culture systems quantitatively and qualitatively recapitulating normal breast biology is key to the understanding of mammary gland biology. Current three-dimensional mammary culture systems have not demonstrated concurrent proliferation and functional differentiation ex vivo in any system for longer than 2 weeks. Here, we identify conditions including Neuregulin1 and R-spondin 1, allowing maintenance and expansion of mammary organoids for 2.5 months in culture. The organoids comprise distinct basal and luminal compartments complete with functional steroid receptors and stem/progenitor cells able to reconstitute a complete mammary gland in vivo. Alternative conditions are also described that promote enrichment of basal cells organized into multiple layers surrounding a keratinous core, reminiscent of structures observed in MMTV-Wnt1 tumours. These conditions comprise a unique tool that should further understanding of normal mammary gland development, the molecular mechanism of hormone action and signalling events whose deregulation leads to breast tumourigenesis