JADE : un jeu de plateau pour l'apprentissage de l'ergonomie des logiciels

National audienceObjectifs À l’ère du numérique, dans une UE où tout est dématérialisé, le retour à des objets physiques dans une activité sociale déconnectée est en décalage avec les habitudes.JADE (Jeu d’Apprentissage De l’Ergonomie) est un jeu de société de plateau coopératif pédagogique. Nous l’avons imaginé pour l’utiliser en groupe lors du TD final d’un cours d’ergonomie des logiciels, afin d’aider les étudiant‧e‧s à prendre du recul sur l’enseignement dispensé en croisant les différents concepts étudiés. En effet, à l’issue de l’UE, elles‧ils maîtrisent bien les concepts, mais continuent à avoir des difficultés à mettre en pratique les liens entre ces concepts. Une utilisation en soutien est également envisagée.Le jeu vise deux publics cible : les étudiant‧e‧s en informatique et le grand public lors de la fête de la science. Nous ciblons en priorité les étudiant‧e‧s de L2/L3 qui suivent nos cours d’ergonomie (LifIHM Interactions Homme-Machine), mais nous pourrions faire utiliser le jeu aux étudiant‧e‧s de M1 qui n’ont pas suivi d’UE équivalente dans leur université d’origine. Une utilisation du jeu en groupes mixtes en début d’année pourrait réduire cet écart et constituer une activité d’intégration intéressante. Des déclinaisons dans d’autres UE sont également envisageables.Le jeuLe plateau est constitué d’une capture d’écran de l’interface du logiciel à évaluer ergonomiquement (le jeu comportera plusieurs tels plateaux). Des symboles représentent les concepts d’ergonomie. Ils sont déclinés sur un ensemble de dés qui permettent de désigner les points à étudier dans la partie. On retrouve également ces symboles sur les jetons qui matérialisent l’application correcte ou incorrecte des concepts sur le plateau.Nous envisageons de compléter le dispositif avec des fiches-concepts comportant le nom du concept, son symbole, sa description/définition, un exemple et un contre-exemple. Ces fiches pourront pointer, grâce à des QRcodes, vers des vidéos pédagogiques associées aux concepts, réalisées par les étudiant‧e‧s dans le cadre de l’UE :https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW3hlBH7lNJJCC4C_jkc8AcwzmsOE1xym Deux exemplaires du jeu ont été réalisés et testés une première fois auprès de 73 étudiant‧e‧s.Résultats attendusNous espérons une amélioration des compétences et surtout un meilleur recul des étudiant‧e‧s, ainsi qu’un meilleur réinvestissement des compétences acquises dans les UE suivantes, en stage et ultérieurement en milieu professionnel.Nous pensons également que ce jeu de société coopératif agira, au-delà de l’UE, sur la motivation des étudiant‧e‧s et sur la cohésion de groupe et leur sentiment d’appartenance à une promotion.Projet soutenu par l’Université Lyon 1 via l’AAP Pratiques Pédagogiques Innovantes 201

Does cardiac surgery in newborn infants compromise blood cell reactivity to endotoxin?

INTRODUCTION: Neonatal cardiac surgery is associated with a systemic inflammatory reaction that might compromise the reactivity of blood cells against an inflammatory stimulus. Our prospective study was aimed at testing this hypothesis. METHODS: We investigated 17 newborn infants with transposition of the great arteries undergoing arterial switch operation. Ex vivo production of the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), of the regulator of the acute-phase response IL-6, and of the natural anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in the cell culture supernatant after whole blood stimulation by the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide before, 5 and 10 days after the operation. Results were analyzed with respect to postoperative morbidity. RESULTS: The ex vivo production of TNF-α and IL-6 was significantly decreased (P < 0.001 and P < 0.002, respectively), whereas ex vivo production of IL-10 tended to be lower 5 days after the operation in comparison with preoperative values (P < 0.1). Ex vivo production of all cytokines reached preoperative values 10 days after cardiac surgery. Preoperative ex vivo production of IL-6 was inversely correlated with the postoperative oxygenation index 4 hours and 24 hours after the operation (P < 0.02). In contrast, postoperative ex vivo production of cytokines did not correlate with postoperative morbidity. CONCLUSION: Our results show that cardiac surgery in newborn infants is associated with a transient but significant decrease in the ex vivo production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6 together with a less pronounced decrease in IL-10 production. This might indicate a transient postoperative anti-inflammatory shift of the cytokine balance in this age group. Our results suggest that higher preoperative ex vivo production of IL-6 is associated with a higher risk for postoperative pulmonary dysfunction

Identification of Genes Regulating Gene Targeting by a High-Throughput Screening Approach

Homologous gene targeting (HGT) is a precise but inefficient process for genome engineering. Several methods for increasing its efficiency have been developed, including the use of rare cutting endonucleases. However, there is still room for improvement, as even nuclease-induced HGT may vary in efficiency as a function of the nuclease, target site, and cell type considered. We have developed a high-throughput screening assay for the identification of factors stimulating meganuclease-induced HGT. We used this assay to explore a collection of siRNAs targeting 19,121 human genes. At the end of secondary screening, we had identified 64 genes for which knockdown affected nuclease-induced HGT. Two of the strongest candidates were characterized further. We showed that siRNAs directed against the ATF7IP gene, encoding a protein involved in chromatin remodeling, stimulated HGT by a factor of three to eight, at various loci and in different cell types. This method thus led to the identification of a number of genes, the manipulation of which might increase rates of targeted recombination

Gender differences and inflammation: an in vitro model of blood cells stimulation in prepubescent children

Gender influences clinical presentations and markers in inflammatory diseases. In many chronic conditions, frequency of complications is greater in females, suggesting that continuous inflammatory reaction may induce greater damage in targeted organs and functions.Journal ArticleSCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Carbon dioxide gas hydrate crystallization in porous silica gel particles partially saturated with a surfactant solution

This paper reports on investigations into the way carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrate forms in porous silica gel partially saturated with pure water or with a surfactant solution. The experiments, conducted at two different temperatures (278.2 and 279.2 K) and under a loading pressure of 3.8 MPa, used silica particles of different nominal pore diameters (30 and 100 nm), saturated at 80% pore volume with pure water or with a 100 ppm solution of either sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) or polyoxyethylenesorbitan monoleate (Tween-80). They were run following the “hydrate precursor method” developed in previous works (Duchateau et al., 2009, 2010) to form bulk hydrate under controlled subcooling conditions, and adapted for studying hydrate formation behavior in porous media. The work demonstrated that the successive hydrate formation and decomposition cycles involved in this method do not alter the pore size distribution in the porous media. At the two temperatures investigated, silica gel particles with a nominal pore diameter of 100 nm proved better suited to comparing the CO2-hydrate formation behaviors: higher water-to-hydrate conversions (>90 mol%) were effectively obtained for all the conditions tested making comparison of the results much easier. Of the two surfactants used, only SDS was found to produce a positive effect on both the hydrate formation kinetics and the amount of hydrate formed. Our visual observations of quiescent bulk systems (without porous silica gel) suggest that when SDS is present, CO2 hydrate forms not only at the w/g interface (where it occurs without SDS too), but also in the bulk water phase. This may explain the beneficial effect observed on the porous medium

Risk factors for mortality among adult HIV/AIDS patients following antiretroviral therapy in Southwestern Ethiopia : an assessment through survival models

Introduction: Efforts have been made to reduce HIV/AIDS-related mortality by delivering antiretroviral therapy (ART) treatment. However, HIV patients in resource-poor settings are still dying, even if they are on ART treatment. This study aimed to explore the factors associated with HIV/AIDS-related mortality in Southwestern Ethiopia. Method: A non-concurrent retrospective cohort study which collected data from the clinical records of adult HIV/AIDS patients, who initiated ART treatment and were followed between January 2006 and December 2010, was conducted, to explore the factors associated with HIV/AIDS-related mortality at Jimma University Specialized Hospital (JUSH). Survival times (i. e., the time from the onset of ART treatment to the death or censoring) and different characteristics of patients were retrospectively examined. A best-fit model was chosen for the survival data, after the comparison between native semi-parametric Cox regression and parametric survival models (i. e., exponential, Weibull, and log-logistic). Result: A total of 456 HIV patients were included in the study, mostly females (312, 68.4%), with a median age of 30 years (inter-quartile range (IQR): 23-37 years). Estimated follow-up until December 2010 accounted for 1245 person-years at risk (PYAR) and resulted in 66 (14.5%) deaths and 390 censored individuals, representing a median survival time of 34.0 months (IQR: 22.8-42.0 months). The overall mortality rate was 5.3/100 PYAR: 6.5/100 PYAR for males and 4.8/100 PYAR for females. The Weibull survival model was the best model for fitting the data (lowest AIC). The main factors associated with mortality were: baseline age (> 35 years old, AHR = 3.8, 95% CI: 1.6-9.1), baseline weight (AHR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.90-0.97), baseline WHO stage IV (AHR = 6.2, 95% CI: 2.2-14.2), and low adherence to ART treatment AHR = 4.2, 95% CI: 2.5-7.1). Conclusion: An effective reduction in HIV/AIDS mortality could be achieved through timely ART treatment onset and maintaining high levels of treatment adherence

Non-specific protein-DNA interactions control I-CreI target binding and cleavage

Homing endonucleases represent protein scaffolds that provide powerful tools for genome manipulation, as these enzymes possess a very low frequency of DNA cleavage in eukaryotic genomes due to their high specificity. The basis of protein-DNA recognition must be understood to generate tailored enzymes that target the DNA at sites of interest. Protein-DNA interaction engineering of homing endonucleases has demonstrated the potential of these approaches to create new specific instruments to target genes for inactivation or repair. Protein-DNA interface studies have been focused mostly on specific contacts between amino acid side chains and bases to redesign the binding interface. However, it has been shown that 4 bp in the central DNA sequence of the 22-bp substrate of a homing endonuclease (I-CreI), which do not show specific protein-DNA interactions, is not devoid of content information. Here, we analyze the mechanism of target discrimination in this substrate region by the I-CreI protein, determining how it can occur independently of the specific protein-DNA interactions. Our data suggest the important role of indirect readout in this substrate region, opening the possibility for a fully rational search of new target sequences, thus improving the development of redesigned enzymes for therapeutic and biotechnological applications

The Number of X Chromosomes Influences Inflammatory Cytokine Production Following Toll-Like Receptor Stimulation

Sex differences are observed in the evolution of numerous inflammatory conditions. Women exhibit better clinical courses compared to men in acute inflammatory processes, yet worse prognosis in several chronic inflammatory diseases. Inflammatory markers are significantly different between prepubertal boys and girls, whose sex steroid levels are very low, suggesting genetics play a role. To evaluate the potential influence of the X chromosome, we studied cytokine production and protein phosphorylation following Toll-like receptor (TLR) activation in whole blood and purified neutrophils and monocytes of healthy adults of both sexes as well as subjects with Klinefelter syndrome. We recorded higher levels of inflammatory cytokines in men compared to both women and patients with Klinefelter syndrome following whole blood stimulation. In purified monocytes, production of inflammatory cytokines was also higher in men compared to women, while Klinefelter subjects expressed the same pattern of cytokine production as males, in contrast with whole blood analyses. These differences remained after adjusting for sex steroid levels. Our study revealed higher cytokine inflammatory responses in men than women, yet also compared to subjects with Klinefelter syndrome, who carry two copies of the X chromosome, like women, and thus potentially benefit from the cellular mosaicism of X-linked genes

Generation of redesigned homing endonucleases comprising DNA-binding domains derived from two different scaffolds

Homing endonucleases have become valuable tools for genome engineering. Their sequence recognition repertoires can be expanded by modifying their specificities or by creating chimeric proteins through domain swapping between two subdomains of different homing endonucleases. Here, we show that these two approaches can be combined to create engineered meganucleases with new specificities. We demonstrate the modularity of the chimeric DmoCre meganuclease previously described, by successfully assembling mutants with locally altered specificities affecting both I-DmoI and I-CreI subdomains in order to create active meganucleases with altered specificities. Moreover these new engineered DmoCre variants appear highly specific and present a low toxicity level, similar to I-SceI, and can induce efficient homologous recombination events in mammalian cells. The DmoCre based meganucleases can therefore offer new possibilities for various genome engineering applications