IFN-γ and TNF-α synergize to inhibit CTGF expression in human lung endothelial cells.

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF/CCN2) is an angiogenetic and profibrotic factor, acting downstream of TGF-β, involved in both airway- and vascular remodeling. While the T-helper 1 (Th1) cytokine interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) is well characterized as immune-modulatory and anti-fibrotic cytokine, the role of IFN-γ in lung endothelial cells (LEC) is less defined. Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is another mediator that drives vascular remodeling in inflammation by influencing CTGF expression. In the present study we investigated the influence of IFN-γ and TNF-α on CTGF expression in human LEC (HPMEC-ST1.6R) and the effect of CTGF knock down on human LEC. IFN-γ and TNF-α down-regulated CTGF in human LEC at the promoter-, transcriptional- and translational-level in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The inhibitory effect of IFN-γ on CTGF-expression could be almost completely compensated by the Jak inhibitor AG-490, showing the involvement of the Jak-Stat signaling pathway. Besides the inhibitory effect of IFN-γ and TNF-α alone on CTGF expression and LEC proliferation, these cytokines had an additive inhibitory effect on proliferation as well as on CTGF expression when administered together. To study the functional role of CTGF in LEC, endogenous CTGF expression was down-regulated by a lentiviral system. CTGF silencing in LEC by transduction of CTGF shRNA reduced cell proliferation, but did not influence the anti-proliferative effect of IFN-γ and TNF-α. In conclusion, our data demonstrated that CTGF was negatively regulated by IFN-γ in LEC in a Jak/Stat signaling pathway-dependent manner. In addition, an additive effect of IFN-γ and TNF-α on inhibition of CTGF expression and cell proliferation could be found. The inverse correlation between IFN-γ and CTGF expression in LEC could mean that screwing the Th2 response to a Th1 response with an additional IFN-γ production might be beneficial to avoid airway remodeling in asthma

Gestion générique et raffinement de systèmes électroniques à haut niveau

Revue de littérature -- Hauts niveaux d'abstraction -- Réutilisation -- Automatisation et assistance de la conception -- SpaceCodesign -- IP-XACT -- Mode de connexion -- Composants et designs -- Extensions -- Structure logicielle -- Gestion de la bibliothèque -- Designs -- Projets -- Outils de la plateforme -- Signaux obligatoires -- Importation de paramètres -- Génération d'adaptateurs -- Automatisation du raffinement -- Composants utilisateur -- Exploration du partitionnement logiciel-matériel -- Liens directs -- Vers l'implémentation matérielle -- Contraintes et spécifications dans les fichiers IP-XACT -- Méthode -- Cas particuliers et générateurs -- Outils supplémentaires pour la génération de fichiers IP-XACT -- Application -- Présentation du système -- Création du premier design -- Second design et partitionnement -- Génération bas niveau

Mementoes of the broken body: Cormac McCarthy’s aesthetic politics

This thesis analyses representations of the broken body in Cormac McCarthy’s novels. McCarthy presents bodies remarkable in their unwholesomeness, often marked by wounds and scars, alcoholism and illness, or forms of monstrosity. The majority of these bodies exist in marginalised spaces at the fringe of mainstream society, and the markings on their bodies correlate to their lifestyle. Expanding upon the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu to include a broader understanding of class structures, this thesis demonstrates how McCarthy connects an aesthetics of the body to class hierarchies, categorising the unbeautiful body as lower class and the beautiful body as upper class. Using the screenplay The Gardener’s Son to illustrate the theoretical nuances, Chapter One introduces the overall thesis and the underlying theoretical approach. The project expands the sociology of Bourdieu to include the poor and marginalised under- and lower class, and forms a dialogue with Foucault’s work on biopolitics and criminality, as well as Nietzsche’s approach to morality. This reading of the body within class and power hierarchies analyses the dynamics of class and power through an aesthetics of the body, and forms of community and resistance to society’s dominant power structures. Chapter Two utilises the theory of the aesthetic politics of the body to read wounded and scarred characters in Suttree and the Border Trilogy. I locate selected characters’ positions within the class hierarchy. This application of the theory allows for an understanding both of power hegemonies and the mechanics of their reinforcement, for example through law-enforcement, as well as delineating forms of resistance against systems of power, such as community and kindness. Similarly, Chapter Three traces power structures, class hierarchies, and forms of resistance through a reading of drunk and sick bodies in The Orchard Keeper, Outer Dark, Suttree, and Cities of the Plain. Chapters Four and Five offer readings of monstrous bodies in the Appalachian works, Outer Dark and Child of God, and the Southwestern novels, Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men, respectively. Whereas Chapters Two and Three consider the potential for unity and community amongst the lower classes, Chapters Four and Five read monstrosity as a signifier of division and ostracism, as well as visible manifestation of the corruption generated within and by hegemonic systems of power and associated hierarchical social structures. McCarthy’s latest novel The Road is the focus of the postscript in Chapter Six. Situated in a post-apocalyptic, post-societal environment, the body-politics evident throughout the preceding nine novels do not apply to the social structures in The Road. Whereas McCarthy revisits tropes of illness, community, and monstrosity in The Road, the Postscript offers an adjusted reading of collapsed societal and power structures. My research shows that this system of classifying the body reveals McCarthy’s concern with a politics of the body that underlies American social hierarchies and power structures, an approach that has hitherto received little attention in McCarthy criticism

Pratique généalogique amateur en France, à l\u27ère du numérique (La)

La pratique généalogique amateur est en pleine évolution en France, aujourd’hui où le numérique est accessible à tout le monde. Les généalogistes ont des possibilités multiples de faire leurs recherches et de mettre en valeur leurs résultats. L’étude se base notamment sur un corpus de bases de données généalogiques en ligne et de blogs de particuliers consacrés à ce domaine

Geometric Meshing of Discrete Surfaces

International audienceMost computer-aided design (CAD) systems include a boundary representation (B-rep) where a surface is modeled by a collection of patches, each patch being defined by a function sigma from a parametric domain in R2 to a face in R3. To generate a mesh of such a surface, an indirect approach can be used [1]. In this case, the size and shape of the elements to be generated on the surface are specified by metrics M3, which are converted into metrics M2 in the parametric domain using the first partial derivatives of sigma in order to control meshing in two dimensions. The initial metrics M3 on the surface are either isotropic or anisotropic, and can depend from geometric features to generate a "geometric mesh". To obtain an isotropic geometric mesh, the prescribed size is proportional to the minimum radius of curvature at any point of the surface. For an anisotropic geometric mesh, the prescribed size depends on the two principal curvatures and the two corresponding principal directions. All these geometric features are based on the first and second partial derivatives of sigma. To summarize, the indirect approach for surface meshing needs the evaluation of sigma, its first partial derivatives and possibly its second partial derivatives. In practice, these computations are realized by CAD queries, which in some cases may be time-consuming, non-parallelizable, or return degenerate values. To overcome these problems, a discrete model made up of triangles can be built from the continuous CAD model. Then, an approximation of sigma and it first partial derivatives can be computed efficiently; since the first derivatives are constant on each triangle, they can even be stored to increase speed. The second partial derivatives are null but curvatures can be approximated at each vertex and then interpolated in order to generate an isotropic geometric mesh [2]. We now propose a new approach where the first and second derivatives of sigma are computed at the vertices of the discrete model, based on Taylor expansions. This approach improves efficiency to generate isotropic geometric meshes, and makes it possible to generate anisotropic geometric meshes. [1] H. Borouchaki, P. Laug, P.L. George, Parametric Surface Meshing using a Combined Advancing- Front / Generalized-Delaunay Approach, Int. J. Numer. Meth. Eng. (49)1-2:233-259, 2000.[2] P. Laug, H. Borouchaki, Discrete CAD Model for Visualization and Meshing, 25th International Meshing Roundtable, Procedia Engineering (163)149–161, 2016

The BL2D Mesh Generator: Beginner's Guide, User's and Programmer's Manual

The BL2D software package is a bidimensional, adaptive and anisotropic mesh generator. Its architecture is very modular. This report is made up of three main parts: a beginner's guide (for users who are new to BL2D), a user's manual (for more experienced users) and a programmer's manual (for developers wishing to add new functionalities)