Cooperative SLAM-based object transportation by two humanoid robots in a cluttered environment

International audienceIn this work, we tackle the problem of making two humanoid robots navigate in a cluttered environment while transporting a very large object that simply can not be moved by a single robot. We present a complete navigation scheme, from the incremental construction of a map of the environment and the computation of collision-free trajectories to the control to execute those trajectories. We present experiments conducted on real Nao robots, equipped with RGB-D sensors mounted on their heads, moving an object around obstacles. Our experiments show that a significantly large object can be transported without changing the robot's main hardware, and therefore enacting the capacity of humanoid robots in real-life situations

Application of microsatellite genotyping to the study of a restricted Leishmania infantum focus: different genotype compositions in isolates from dogs and sand flies

Leishmania infantum polymorphism was studied by DNA microsatellite analysis of 110 L. infantum stocks (94 from dogs, 15 from sand flies, and 1 from a human visceral case) from a rural leishmaniasis-endemic area (Priorat) in northeastern Spain. Three microsatellites of the eight present in three fragments (internal transcribed spacer, Lm4, and Lm2) of L. infantum nuclear DNA are polymorphic inside the focus, resulting in 17 genotypes. Isolates from dogs and sand flies had different allelic compositions and shared only four genotypes. Microsatellite analysis is useful for L. infantum genotyping and epidemiologic tracking. Its application with strains from dogs and vectors in an area endemic for leishmaniasis shows the heterogeneous distribution of L. infantum in hosts living in sympatric conditions

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Éditorial -- Présence autochtone à la Maison Louis-Bertrand -- Le métissage au Bas-Saint-Laurent (1685-1849) -- Transformation du tissu urbain de la ville de Rimouski entre 1948 et 2004 -- La Buick Jouvin-Desrosiers -- SECTION SPÉCIALISÉE: Denis Riverin et la Compagnie des pêches sédentaires au Canada : les difficultés d'implantation d'une industrie de la pêche en Nouvelle-France (suite et fin) -- CHRONIQUES: Vieux écrits : La grande « détresse » de 1816 -- Des livres à lire

Les phlébotomes (Diptera-Psychodidae) de l'île de Chypre.II - Presence de Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum Nicolle, 1908 (zymodeme MON 1) chez Phlebotomus (Larroussius) tobbi Adler et Theodor, 1930

Dans le foyer leishmanien cypriote, les auteurs ont disseque 2910 femelles de phlebotomes appartenant a 11 especes : Phlebotomus papatasi, P. sergenti, P. jacusieli, P. alexandri, P. tobbi, P. galilaeus, P. mascittii, P. economidesi, Sergentomyia fallax, S. minuta et S. azizi . Les deux larroussius (P. galilaeus et P. tobbi ) sont les especes les plus abondantes. Elles representent plus de 60 % des captures realisees avec des pieges CDC. Des promastigotes ont ete observees chez un seul specimen appartenant a l'espece P. tobbi . Elles ont ete mises en culture puis identifiees selon la methode isoenzymatique. La souche de Leishmania isolee appartient a l'espece Leishmania infantum , zymodeme MON 1. Le meme zymodeme a ete aussi isole et identifie chez quatre chiens de l'ile. En l'absence des vecteurs habituels de L. infantum dans l'est mediterraneen (P. neglectus ef P. syriacus) et en raison de sa repartition a Chypre, P. tobbi constitue vraisemblablement un bon vecteur local. Sa faible anthropophilie expliquerait peut-etre le tres faible nombre de cas humains. Le role de P. galilaeus dans la transmission de la leishmaniose a Chypre reste a preciser

Présence simultanée chez le chien de deux zymodèmes du complexe Leishmania infantum

Jusqu'à présent, les prélèvements en vue de l'identification des Leishmania réalisés chez un même hôte et au même moment n'avaient pas permis de mettre en évidence plus d'un zymodème à la fois. Ainsi, sur le pourtour méditerranéen où circule L. infantum MON-1, c'est lui, et lui seul, que l'on isole habituellement de leishmanioses viscérales (LV) humaines, canines et vulpines, ainsi que des vecteurs Phlebotomus perniciosus et P. ariasi (1, 3, 4). Plus rarement, dans les leishmanioses cutanées (LC) ou dans certaines formes de LV, des parasites biochimiquement très proches (petits variants) sont isolés indépendamment (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8). Exceptionnellement deux zymodèmes ont été isolés chez un même hôte mais à des périodes différentes. Ainsi Rioux et coll. (9) ont relaté la succession de L. infantum MON-1 et MON-29 au cours de deux épisodes de LC humaine survenus à trois ans d'intervalle. Il s'agissait d'une patiente âgée de 53 ans, domiciliée dans la proche banlieue de Montpellier. Ces zymodèmes se différencient par trois systèmes enzymatiques (G6PD, NP1, MDH) sur 15

Leishmania tropica au Maroc. III. Rôle vecteur de Phlebotomus sergenti. A propos de 89 isolats.

In a Moroccan focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania tropica, 7,907 female sandflies captured with CDC traps were dissected from summer to autumn 1989. Among species of the genus Phlebotomus, only P. sergenti harbored promastigotes. Eighty-nine strains belonging to the complex L. tropica were isolated. The frequency of vector infection was zero in June, rose to 1.3% in August, and reached 9.9% in October, which indicates that the period of high risk is at the end of the hot season. Out of 89 strains isolated, 74 were completely typed and corresponded to the following four zymodemes: MON-102 (one strain), MON-107 (56 strains), MON-122 (two strains), and MON-123 (15 strains). Only the first two were observed in humans. The distribution of zymodemes MON-102 and MON-107 was very different in humans, dogs, and the vector. In one of the sites surveyed, which was strongly dominated by MON-107, the absence of human cases involving this zymodeme suggests the existence of a wild reservoir

Infestation naturelle de Phlebotomus ariasi et Phlebotomus perniciosus (Diptera, Psychodidae) par Leishmania infantum (Kinetoplastida-Trypanosomatidae) en Catalogne (Espagne)

Deux enquêtes successives sur les vecteurs de Leishmania infantum, réalisées dans le Priorat (Catalogne, Espagne), ont permis la dissection de 8 329 Phlébotomes ♀ dont 6 775 Larroussius (2 123 Phlebotomus ariasi et 4 652 P. perniciosus). Au total dix- huit souches ont été isolées chez ce même sous-genre et rapportées, par l'analyse enzymatique, à L. infantum MON-1, MON-29, MON-77. Ces souches se répartissent entre P. ariasi (11 souches : quatre MON-1, sept MON-29) et P. perniciosus (sept souches : un MON-1, cinq MON-29, un MON-77). Par ailleurs un chien, originaire du même foyer, hébergeait un quatrième zymodème (MON-105) mis en évidence au laboratoire par gorgement sur P. perniciosus d'élevage

Wild-type VHL Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinomas Are a Distinct Clinical and Histologic Entity: A 10-Year Follow-up

International audienceBackground: Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is an aggressive tumor with 50% risk of metastases at initial diagnosis or at follow-up. An inactivation of the tumor-suppressor gene von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) is present in >70% of sporadic cases by two of three different mechanisms: locus deletion, gene mutation, or promoter hypermethylation. Objective: To correlate the complete status of the VHL gene with clinical and pathologic criteria. Design, setting, and participants We retrospectively included 98 patients with ccRCC who underwent surgery between 2002 and 2005. VHL gene deletions (71 of 98; 72.4%), mutations (68 of 98; 69.4%), and promoter hypermethylations (13 of 98; 13.3%) were screened by gene copy analysis, gene sequencing, and methylation-specific multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification, respectively. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis Relationships between VHL subgroups and the studied criteria were analyzed using chi-square and Student t tests. Survival was analyzed with the log-rank test and Kaplan-Meier curves. Results and limitations: Compared with ccRCCs with two events (66.3%), tumors with no or one genetic event (33.6%) were associated with a higher nuclear grade IV (p = 0.02), metastases (p = 0.04), sarcomatoid component (p = 0.01), dense lymphocyte infiltrate (p = 0.013), and vascular endothelial growth factor overexpression (>30%) (p = 0.003), which was also an independent factor after multivariate analysis. Furthermore, wild-type VHL tumors (no inactivating event, 11.2%) were associated with nodal involvement (p = 0.019), and patients with this type of tumor had a specific survival of 33 mo compared with patients with ccRCCs having one or two VHL inactivating events (107 mo; p = 0.016). The retrospective design with small number of wild-type tumors was a limitation of this work. Conclusions: This long-term study (10-yr clinical follow-up) confirms that ccRCCs with wild-type VHL are highly aggressive tumors that need to be formally identified. Patient summary Among activated VHL tumors, the wild-type subgroup defines an aggressive phenotype with worse survival rates, suggesting that these tumors must be more thoroughly screene

Propos liminaires

Rioux Jean-Antoine. Propos liminaires. In: Ecologia mediterranea, tome 24 n°2, 1998. p. 107

Propos liminaires

Rioux Jean-Antoine. Propos liminaires. In: Ecologia mediterranea, tome 24 n°2, 1998. p. 107