Characterization of the biochemical activity of the open reading frame "YqiQ" of Bacillus subiltilis

The goal of this research is to provide a greater chemical understanding of the mechanisms by which Bacillus subtilis transforms itself into a spore during times of nutrient deprivation. The area of interest of this study lies in the mother cell metabolic gene (mmg) operon, which is activated by a sigma-E transcription factor, during the early stages of sporulation. This operon is proposed to play roles in fatty acid metabolism, the methyl citric acid cycle, and the citric acid cycle during the intermediate stages of sporulation. The genes within this operon: mmgA,mmgB, mmgC, mmgD, mmgE, and yqiQ encode for proteins that have proposed biochemical roles to promote the above activities. The goal of this thesis is to biochemically confirm the activity of the protein encoded by the yqiQ gene. Our hypothesis is that this gene encodes for a 2-methylisocitrate lyase, the last enzyme of the methylcitric acid cycle. Methylisocitrate lyases catabolize 2-methylisocitrate into pyruvate and succinate, interconnecting the activities of the methylcitric acid cycle and the citric acid cycle of the bacterium. This pathway ultimately allows for the entrance of propionate from the metabolism of odd-chain fatty acids into the bacteria's citric acid cycle to promote ATP production. From work done in this lab previously, yqiQ has been cloned, and its protein was isolated and purified. In this work we optimized the yield of this purification producing approximately 2.17 milligrams per liter of culture. We are studying the "reverse" reaction by utilizing an assay which uses equimolar concentrations of pyruvate and succinate to produce 2-methylisocitrate (1). The reverse reaction is being conducted due to the lack of commercial availability of 2-methylisocitrate. Results have been able to provide partial evidence of this conversion over time. In order to investigate the proposed "forward" reaction mechanism, we are also working on the chemical synthesis of 2-methylisocitrate

A variational approach for geoacoustic inversion using adjoint modeling of a PE approximation model with non local impedance boundary conditions

The adjoint model method of control theory is known to give accurate and efficient data assimilation processes in oceanography and meteorology. However, it has rarely been applied in underwater acoustics for inversion purposes. Based on the back-propagation of the mismatch between observations and their predictions, the adjoint model can produce the corrections to the associated direct forward model input parameters. In this paper, the adjoint of a parabolic equation propagation model with non local impedance boundary conditions at the water sediment interface is used in order to determine an acoustically equivalent representation of the seabed. The bottom is represented by these boundary conditions that play the role of the control parameter

The Readability of Information and Consent Forms in Clinical Research in France

BACKGROUND: Quantitative tools have been developed to evaluate the readability of written documents and have been used in several studies to evaluate information and consent forms. These studies all showed that such documents had a low level of readability. Our objective is to evaluate the readability of Information and Consent Forms (ICFs) used in clinical research. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Clinical research protocols were collected from four public clinical research centers in France. Readability was evaluated based on three criteria: the presence of an illustration, the length of the text and its Flesch score. Potential effects of protocol characteristics on the length and readability of the ICFs were determined. Medical and statutory parts of the ICF form were analyzed separately. The readability of these documents was compared with that of everyday contracts, press articles, literary extracts and political speeches. We included 209 protocols and the corresponding 275 ICFs. The median length was 1304 words. Their Flesch readability scores were low (median: 24), and only about half that of selected press articles. ICF s for industrially sponsored and randomized protocols were the longest and had the highest readability scores. More than half (52%) of the text in ICFs concerned medical information, and this information was statistically (p<0.05) more readable (Flesch: 28) than statutory information (Flesch: 21). CONCLUSION: Regardless of the field of research, the ICFs for protocols included had poor readability scores. However, a prospective analysis of this test in French should be carried out before it is put into general use

Toward variational data assimilation for coupled models: first experiments on a diffusion problem

International audienceNowadays, coupled models are increasingly used in a wide variety of fields including weather forecasting. We consider the problem of adapting existing variational data assimilation methods to this type of application while imposing physical constraints at the interface between the models to be coupled. We propose three data assimilation algorithms to address this problem. The proposed algorithms are distinguished by their choice of cost function and control vector as well as their need to reach convergence of the iterative coupling method (the Schwarz domain decomposition method is used here). The performance of the methods in terms of computational cost and accuracy are compared using a linear 1D diffusion problem.De nos jours, les modèles couplés sont de plus en plus utilisés dans de nombreux domaines, dont les prévisions météorologiques. Nous essayons ici d'adapter les méthodes courantes d'assimilation de données variationnelles à ce type d'applications tout en imposant des contraintes physiques entre les deux modèles couplés. Nous proposons trois méthodes d'assimilation de données pour ce problème. Les différents algorithmes se distinguent par le choix de leur fonction coût, de leur vecteur de contrôle et du nombre d'itérations de couplage nécessaires (nous utilisons les méthodes de Schwarz pour coupler nos modèles). Ces méthodes sont comparées dans le cadre d'un problème linéaire de diffusion 1D en analysant leur coût de calcul et la qualité de leur analyse

La teoria politica nel pensiero libertino intorno a F.A. Cappelletti, "Science, Religion et Politique dans l’utopie libertine", Parigi, 2013

Il libro presenta un’analisi completa ed approfondita delle opere degli scrittori del libertinismo, dai più celebri come Cyrano de Bergerac ai meno noti. Il risultato cui perviene Cappelletti è che la produzione letteraria del libertinismo, nonostante racconti di storie di viaggi fantastici, contiene i semi del pensiero rivoluzionario che si svilupperà compiutamente nel XVIII secolo, riconducibili ad elementi di teoria politica moderna

Slučaj karcinoma stanica prstena pečatnjaka žučnog mjehura: Imunohistokemija i diferencijalna dijagnostika

The morphological spectrum of gallbladder carcinoma is broad and variable. Most of these tumors are tubular adenocarcinomas. There are some tumors with unusual morphology that may be difficult to classify due to their rarity. One of such tumors is the signet-ring cell carcinoma, which is a highly aggressive, mucin producing variant of gallbladder adenocarcinoma predominantly or exclusively composed of signet-ring cells. Histologically, these tumors are similar to their counterparts in other organs such as stomach, colon and breast, and should not be misinterpreted as metastatic carcinoma from one of these primary sites. The literature about this variant of carcinoma is sparse and little is known about it. We found only three cases of signet-ring cell carcinoma of the gallbladder previously reported. We present the case of an 86-year-old woman with signet-ring cell carcinoma of the gallbladder and discuss the potential diagnostic dilemmas and pitfalls.Morfološki spektar karcinoma žučnog mjehura širok je i raznolik. Većina tumora su tubularni adenokarcinomi. Postoje neki tumori neobične morfologije koje je teže klasificirati zbog njihove rijetkosti. Jedan od takvih tumora je karcinom stanica prstena pečatnjaka, visoko agresivna varijanta adenokarcinoma žučnjaka koja proizvodi sluz, a pretežito je ili isključivo sastavljena od stanica tipa prstena pečatnjaka. Histološki, ovi su tumori slični svojim pandanima u drugim organima kao što su želudac, debelo crijevo i dojka te ih se ne bi smjelo pogrešno interpretirati kao metastatske karcinome iz spomenutih organa. Literatura na temu ovoga tipa karcinoma je rijetka i o njemu se malo zna. Našli smo samo 3 prethodno objavljena slučaja ovoga karcinoma. U članku se prikazuje slučaj 86-godišnje žene s karcinomom stanica prstena pečatnjaka žučnjaka i raspravlja o potencijalnim dijagnostičkim dvojbama i mogućim pogreškama

Simulation numérique du système cardiovasculaire

Les progrès réalisés en mathématiques appliquées permettent aujourd’hui d’envisager la simulation sur ordinateur de certains compartiments du système cardiovasculaire. Nous proposons de faire un point sur quelques modèles, en nous focalisant sur la simulation de l’écoulement du sang dans des artères déformables et sur la simulation de la contraction du myocarde sous l’effet de la propagation d’un signal électrique. Nous tentons également de présenter des applications possibles de ce type de travaux.In this article, we aim at giving a non-technical overview of some mathematical models currently used in the numerical simulation of the cardiovascular system. A hierarchy of models for blood flows in large arteries is briefly described as well as an electromechanical model for the heart. We discuss some possible applications of the numerical simulations of such models, for example the optimization of prostheses. We also address the issue of the data assimilation for the calibration of the models

Effectiveness of ixekizumab for the treatment of moderate‐to‐severe plaque psoriasis with involvement of difficult‐to‐treat areas: A 52‐week multicenter retrospective study

Biological drugs have dramatically changed the approach to treating moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, achieving excellent skin clearance and safety outcomes. However, the management of difficult-to-treat areas (e.g., scalp, palms/soles, nails, and genitalia) still represents a challenge in psoriasis treatment. Data in the literature on difficult-to-treat sites are limited and, frequently, no specific analysis is performed during clinical trials. We conducted a 52-week, retrospective study to evaluate the effectiveness of ixekizumab in 120 patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis of at least one difficult-to-treat area (scalp, palmoplantar surfaces, nails, and genitalia). Ninety-nine patients had scalp psoriasis, 35 had involvement of the palms or soles, 27 were affected by genital psoriasis, and 22 patients reported involvement of the nails. After 1 year of treatment, 96% of patients with scalp involvement, 95.6% of patients with palmoplantar psoriasis, 95.2% of patients with genital psoriasis, and 85% of patients with nail involvement achieved a site-specific Physician's Global Assessment of 0 or 1 (clear or almost clear). No serious adverse events were observed during the study. Our study supports the effectiveness of ixekizumab in plaque psoriasis involving difficult-to-treat sites