Brain structure across the lifespan : the influence of stress and mood

Normal brain aging is an inevitable and heterogeneous process characterized by a selective pattern of structural changes. Such heterogeneity arises as a consequence of cumulative effects over the lifespan, including stress and mood effects, which drive different micro- and macro-structural alterations in the brain. Investigating these differences in healthy age-related changes is a major challenge for the comprehension of the cognitive status. Herein we addressed the impact of normal aging, stress, mood, and their interplay in the brain gray and white matter (WM) structure. We showed the critical impact of age in the WM volume and how stress and mood influence brain volumetry across the lifespan. Moreover, we found a more profound effect of the interaction of aging/stress/mood on structures located in the left hemisphere. These findings help to clarify some divergent results associated with the aging decline and to enlighten the association between abnormal volumetric alterations and several states that may lead to psychiatric disorders.We are thankful to all study participants. This work was funded by the European Commission (FP7): "SwitchBox" (Contract HEALTH-F2-2010-259772) and co-financed by the Portuguese North Regional Operational Program (ON.2 - O Novo Norte) under the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN), through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). Jose M. Soares, Paulo Marques, and Nadine C. Santos are supported by fellowships of the project "SwitchBox"; Ricardo Magalhaes is supported by a fellowship from the project FCTANR/NEU-OSD/0258/2012 funded by FCT/MEC (www.fct.pt) and by ON.2 - ONOVONORTE - North - Portugal Regional Operational Programme 2007/2013, of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) 2007/2013, through FEDER

Relative Roles of the Cellular and Humoral Responses in the Drosophila Host Defense against Three Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections

BACKGROUND: Two NF-kappaB signaling pathways, Toll and immune deficiency (imd), are required for survival to bacterial infections in Drosophila. In response to septic injury, these pathways mediate rapid transcriptional activation of distinct sets of effector molecules, including antimicrobial peptides, which are important components of a humoral defense response. However, it is less clear to what extent macrophage-like hemocytes contribute to host defense. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In order to dissect the relative importance of humoral and cellular defenses after septic injury with three different gram-positive bacteria (Micrococcus luteus, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus), we used latex bead pre-injection to ablate macrophage function in flies wildtype or mutant for various Toll and imd pathway components. We found that in all three infection models a compromised phagocytic system impaired fly survival--independently of concomitant Toll or imd pathway activation. Our data failed to confirm a role of the PGRP-SA and GNBP1 Pattern Recognition Receptors for phagocytosis of S. aureus. The Drosophila scavenger receptor Eater mediates the phagocytosis by hemocytes or S2 cells of E. faecalis and S. aureus, but not of M. luteus. In the case of M. luteus and E. faecalis, but not S. aureus, decreased survival due to defective phagocytosis could be compensated for by genetically enhancing the humoral immune response. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results underscore the fundamental importance of both cellular and humoral mechanisms in Drosophila immunity and shed light on the balance between these two arms of host defense depending on the invading pathogen

Stimulating innovation in large companies: Observations and recommendations for Belgium

This article summarizes the results of a large scale research which was conducted in 41 large Belgian companies. One hundred thirty‐one innovation projects were studied in order to bring to light the factors encouraging or inhibiting the innovation process in large companies. A stage‐model of the innovation process is proposed, including the following phases: perception of the idea, conceptualization, development and operationalization. Favourable and unfavourable factors are emphasized at each stage. On the basis of these conclusions, recommendations are drawn which are aimed at managers, the public authorities, the universities and the trades unions. These recommendations concern three areas: increasing the technical‐economic forecasting capacity of the companies and of the economic community at large; stimulating the research efforts inside and outside the firm; organizing the innovation development process within the firm. Copyright © 1988, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reservedSCOPUS: ar.jFLWNAinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Place des prélèvements bactériologiques de brûlures dans la prise en charge des infections sévères chez les grands brûlés

LILLE2-BU Santé-Recherche (593502101) / SudocSudocFranceF

ROLE DE LA PYRAZINAMIDASE DANS LA RESISTANCE ACQUISE DE MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS AU PYRAZINAMIDE

PARIS5-BU-Necker : Fermée (751152101) / SudocPARIS-BIUM (751062103) / SudocSudocFranceF

Associations d'antibiotiques actives vis-à-vis de souches de pseudomonas aeruginosa multiresistantes

L émergence de souches de Pseudomonas aeruginosa multirésistantes, le plus souvent uniquement sensibles à la colistine et à la fosfomycine, nous a conduit à évaluer, in vitro, l efficacité de ces antibiotiques en association avec la rifampicine et le doripénème. Sept souches de P. aeruginosa multirésistantes, issues de prélèvements à visée diagnostique, ont été sélectionnées sur la base de leur antibiogramme. Les concentrations minimales inhibitrices (CMIs) des quatre antibiotiques ont été vérifiées par la méthode E-test et/ou en milieu liquide. L étude des associations a été réalisée par la méthode de l échiquier et au moyen de courbes de bactéricidie. Les concentrations utilisées pour la méthode des courbes de bactéricidie étaient de 4 mg/L pour la colistine, de 25 mg/L pour le doripénème, de 16 mg/L pour la rifampicine et de 65 mg/L pour la fosfomycine. Ces concentrations correspondaient aux concentrations sériques moyennes obtenues après administration de ces antibiotiques aux posologies usuelles. Lors de nos travaux, aucun effet antagoniste n a été détecté avec les associations testées. Par la technique de l échiquier, l association du doripénème avec la fosfomycine était synergique sur 4 souches. La colistine était synergique avec la rifampicine sur 3 souches et avec la fosfomycine sur 2 souches. L association du doripénème et de la rifampicine n était synergique que sur 1 souche. Deux associations étaient indifférentes : la colistine associée au doripénème, et la rifampicine en association avec la fosfomycine. Les courbes de bactéricidie ont montré une synergie entre la colistine et la rifampicine sur toutes les souches et, l association de la rifampicine et de la fosfomycine s est avérée synergique sur les deux souches pour lesquelles la CMI de la fosfomycine était la plus basse. Les trithérapies n ont pas présenté d intérêt par rapport aux bithérapies. Deux associations ont montré un effet synergique sur la majorité des souches testées : la colistine associée à la rifampicine, et le doripénème associé à la fosfomycine. L utilisation de ces deux bithérapies pourrait être proposée dans le traitement des infections à P. aeruginosa multirésistant.LILLE2-BU Santé-Recherche (593502101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Gestion des âges, gestion de la diversité. Nouvelles formes d'action sociale au sein des organisations ?recueil de textes

Troisième édition 1981-19822e an. du gr. Ec. de Comm. solvay, lic. en Sc. soc. lic. en Sc. pol.info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Performances of VITEK 2 Colorimetric Cards for Identification of Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Bacteria

Thepurpose of this study was to evaluate the new VITEK 2 identification cards that use colorimetric reading to identify gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria (GP and GN cards, respectively) in comparison to fluorimetric cards (ID-GPC and ID-GNB, respectively). A total of 580 clinical isolates and stock collection strains belonging to 116 taxa were included in the study. Of the 249 gram-positive strains tested with both the ID-GPC and GP cards, 218 (87.5%) and 235 (94.4%) strains were correctly identified (to the genus and species level), respectively. Of the 331 gram-negative strains tested with the ID-GNB and GN cards, 295 (89.1%) and 321 (97%) strains were correctly identified, respectively. Another focus of the study was to apply the percentages of correct identifications obtained in this study to the list of bacteria isolated in our laboratory (32,739 isolates) in the year 2004. We obtained 97.9% correct identifications with the colorimetric cards and 93.9% with fluorescent cards