JOE : le robot-compagnon des enfants asthmatiques

National audienceJOE is a connected companion-robot which aims to help young asthmatic children to take their medicines. "Child autonomy" and "parents serenity" are the key words of the creators of this small robot : LUDOCARE start-up [1]. In this demonstration, we will present how JOE works with a focus on the tracing system and the personalization that aim at making JOE smarter. Then we will explain all the steps of a medical treatment with JOE, from the alarm to the personalization of the reward given that ends the treatment, thanks to the trace-based analysis.JOE est un robot-compagnon connecté à destination des enfants asthmatiques visant à les aider à prendre leur traitement. "Autonomie de l'enfant" et "sérénité des parents" sont les maîtres mots des créateurs de ce robot : la start-up LUDOCARE [1]. Dans cette démonstration, nous nous proposons de présenter JOE et son fonctionnement en insistant sur les mécanismes de traçage et de personnalisation qui visent à rendre JOE plus intelligent. Nous détaillerons comment s'effectue une prise de traitement pour l'enfant avec JOE, depuis l'alarme qui rappelle le traitement jusqu'à la personnalisation de la récompense donnée pour clôturer la prise. Nous expliquerons également comment sont exploitées les traces des interactions entre JOE et son jeune utilisateur

Sow influence on neonatal survival : a special focus on colostrum

Session : Pregnancy, partutition and the neonateInternational audienc

AdcAII, a new pneumococcal Zn-binding protein homologous with ABC transporters: biochemical and structural analysis.

International audienceRegulation of metal homeostasis is vital for pathogenic bacteria facing drastic metal concentration changes in various locations within the host during invasion. Metal-binding receptors (MBRs), one of the extracellular components of ATP-binding cassette transporters, have been shown to be essential in this process. Streptococcus pneumoniae expresses two characterized MBRs: PsaA and AdcA, two extracellular lipoproteins encoded by the psaABCD and adcRCBA operons, respectively. The Mn- and Zn-uptake functions of PsaA and AdcA, respectively, have been well established. Here we describe AdcAII as a third putative S. pneumoniae MBR. The analysis of a phylogenetic tree built from the sequence alignment of 68 proteins reveals a subgroup of members displaying an unusual genetic operon organisation. The adcAII gene belongs to a 6670-nucleotide-long transcript spanning the spr0903 to spr0907 loci encoding for the CcdA, thioredoxine, YfnA, AdcAII and PhtD proteins. Two adjacent repeats of imperfect AdcR-binding consensus sequence were identified upstream of the adcAII gene, suggesting a transcriptional co-regulation of adcAII and phtD genes. Biophysical and structural studies of recombinant AdcAII were performed to identify the metal specificity of the protein. Using electrospray mass spectrometry in native conditions, we found that Zn was bound to recombinant AdcAII. Screening of the effect of 10 cationic ions on the thermal stability of AdcAII revealed that Zn had the most pronounced stabilizing effect. The crystal structure of AdcAII has been solved to 2.4 A resolution. One Zn ion is bound to each AdcAII molecule in a symmetrical active site composed of three His and one Glu. The structure almost perfectly superimposed on the known MBR structures. The presence of a flexible 15-residue-long loop close to the metal-binding site is specific to those specialized in Zn transport. Taken together, these functional and structural data provide new perspectives related to the physiological role of AdcAII in pneumococcus Zn homeostasis

Erosion of the coastal mekong delta: Assessing natural against man induced processes

International audienceThe Lower Mekong Delta Coastal Zone (LMDCZ) is emblematic of the coastal erosion problem facing many tropical deltas. Over the last 3500 years, large river sediment fluxes expanded the delta seaward, and waves and currents formed the Ca Mau Peninsula to the southwest. Since the middle of the 20th century, the LMDCZ is affected by various human activities that include reduction of river fluxes due to damming and sand mining, land subsidence due to groundwater extraction, and reduction of protective coastal mangroves in favor of agriculture and aquaculture. Coastal erosion is observed along many sections of the delta, with a rate of up to 50 m per year in some areas. However, the role of human activities remains difficult to assess because of its complexity. The present modeling study is designed to sort out the contribution of natural hydrodynamic redistribution of sediments from man-induced erosion. The modeling system used is based on CROCO, forced by global reanalyses at the boundaries and at the surface, including wave statistics (required by the sediment transport model). Tides and realistic river forcing are also included. Calibration and validation relies on a combination of in situ and remotely-sensed observations, and laboratory experiments. Once validated, coastal dynamics are investigated by performing sensitivity experiments for both the hydro- and sediment dynamics. The results suggest that while wind is the main factor driving the coastal currents, the sediment dynamics is essentially the result of re-suspension due to wave-induced bed shear stress. The suspended sediments are then redistributed by coastal currents that are not limited to the nearshore zone. Strong seasonality of the process is observed with the northeast winter monsoon being the season of strongest re-suspension and sediment redistribution. The annual sediment budget is characterized by important local disequilibrium, with alongshore patterns that are in agreement with the observed shoreline evolution. The effect of a decrease in river sediment supply is difficult to evaluate because the estuarine zone is still in accretion, apart from the particular case of Go Cong shores. Far from the estuarine zone, subsidence is an additional strong candidate to explain erosion in areas that should naturally be accreting. Synthesizing these results, the study proposes a first attempt at a "taxonomy and geography" of processes along the coastal Mekong delta that can explain the recent observations of shoreline changes and help design protection measures

Erosion of the coastal Mekong delta : assessing natural against man induced processes

The Lower Mekong Delta Coastal Zone (LMDCZ) is emblematic of the coastal erosion problem facing many tropical deltas. Over the last 3500 years, large river sediment fluxes expanded the delta seaward, and waves and currents formed the Ca Mau Peninsula to the southwest. Since the middle of the 20th century, the LMDCZ is affected by various human activities that include reduction of river fluxes due to damming and sand mining, land subsidence due to groundwater extraction, and reduction of protective coastal mangroves in favor of agriculture and aquaculture. Coastal erosion is observed along many sections of the delta, with a rate of up to 50 m per year in some areas. However, the role of human activities remains difficult to assess because of its complexity. The present modeling study is designed to sort out the contribution of natural hydrodynamic redistribution of sediments from man-induced erosion. The modeling system used is based on CROCO, forced by global reanalyses at the boundaries and at the surface, including wave statistics (required by the sediment transport model). Tides and realistic river forcing are also included. Calibration and validation relies on a combination of in situ and remotely-sensed observations, and laboratory experiments. Once validated, coastal dynamics are investigated by performing sensitivity experiments for both the hydro- and sediment dynamics. The results suggest that while wind is the main factor driving the coastal currents, the sediment dynamics is essentially the result of re-suspension due to wave-induced bed shear stress. The suspended sediments are then redistributed by coastal currents that are not limited to the nearshore zone. Strong seasonality of the process is observed with the northeast winter monsoon being the season of strongest re-suspension and sediment redistribution. The annual sediment budget is characterized by important local disequilibrium, with alongshore patterns that are in agreement with the observed shoreline evolution. The effect of a decrease in river sediment supply is difficult to evaluate because the estuarine zone is still in accretion, apart from the particular case of Go Cong shores. Far from the estuarine zone, subsidence is an additional strong candidate to explain erosion in areas that should naturally be accreting. Synthesizing these results, the study proposes a first attempt at a "taxonomy and geography" of processes along the coastal Mekong delta that can explain the recent observations of shoreline changes and help design protection measures

Biochemical and Structural Characterization of the Subclass B1 Metallo-β-Lactamase VIM-4 ▿

The metallo-β-lactamase VIM-4, mainly found in Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Acinetobacter baumannii, was produced in Escherichia coli and characterized by biochemical and X-ray techniques. A detailed kinetic study performed in the presence of Zn2+ at concentrations ranging from 0.4 to 100 μM showed that VIM-4 exhibits a kinetic profile similar to the profiles of VIM-2 and VIM-1. However, VIM-4 is more active than VIM-1 against benzylpenicillin, cephalothin, nitrocefin, and imipenem and is less active than VIM-2 against ampicillin and meropenem. The crystal structure of the dizinc form of VIM-4 was solved at 1.9 Å. The sole difference between VIM-4 and VIM-1 is found at residue 228, which is Ser in VIM-1 and Arg in VIM-4. This substitution has a major impact on the VIM-4 catalytic efficiency compared to that of VIM-1. In contrast, the differences between VIM-2 and VIM-4 seem to be due to a different position of the flapping loop and two substitutions in loop 2. Study of the thermal stability and the activity of the holo- and apo-VIM-4 enzymes revealed that Zn2+ ions have a pronounced stabilizing effect on the enzyme and are necessary for preserving the structure

French coastal network for carbonate system monitoring: The CocoriCO2 dataset

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have risen steadily and have induced a decrease of the averaged surface ocean pH by 0.1 units, corresponding to an increase in ocean acidity of about 30 %. In addition to ocean warming, ocean acidification poses a tremendous challenge to some marine organisms, especially calcifiers. The need for long-term oceanic observations of pH and temperature is a key element to assess the vulnerability of marine communities and ecosystems to these pressures. Nearshore productive environments, where a large majority of shellfish farming activities are conducted, are known to present pH levels as well as amplitudes of daily and seasonal variations that are much larger than those observed in the open ocean. Yet, to date, there are very few coastal observation sites where these parameters are measured simultaneously and at high frequency. To bridge this gap, an observation network was initiated in 2021 in the framework of the CocoriCO(2) project. Six sites were selected along the French Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines based on their importance in terms of shellfish production and the presence of high- and low-frequency monitoring activities. At each site, autonomous pH sensors were deployed, both inside and outside shellfish production areas, next to high-frequency CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth) probes operated through two operating monitoring networks. pH sensors were set to an acquisition rate of 15 min, and discrete seawater samples were collected biweekly in order to control the quality of pH data (laboratory spectrophotometric measurements) as well as to measure total alkalinity and dissolved inorganic carbon concentrations for full characterization of the carbonate system. While this network has been up and running for more than 2 years, the acquired dataset has already revealed important differences in terms of pH variations between monitored sites related to the influence of diverse processes (freshwater inputs, tides, temperature, biological processes). Data are available at 10.17882/96982 (Petton et al., 2023a)

French coastal network for carbonate system monitoring: The CocoriCO2 dataset

International audienceSince the beginning of the industrial revolution, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have risen steadily and have induced a decrease of the averaged surface ocean pH by 0.1 units, corresponding to an increase in ocean acidity of about 30%. In addition to ocean warming, ocean acidification poses a tremendous challenge to some marine organisms, especially calcifiers. The need for long-term oceanic observations of pH and temperature is a key element to assess the vulnerability of marine communities and ecosystems to these pressures. Nearshore productive environments, where a large majority of shellfish farming activities are conducted, are known to present pH levels as well as amplitudes of daily and seasonal variations that are much larger than those observed in the open ocean. Yet, to date, there are very few coastal observation sites where these parameters are measured simultaneously and at high frequency

French coastal network for carbonate system monitoring: the CocoriCO2 dataset

International audienceSince the beginning of the industrial revolution, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have risen steadily and have induced a decrease of the averaged surface ocean pH by 0.1 units, corresponding to an increase in ocean acidity of about 30 %. In addition to ocean warming, ocean acidification poses a tremendous challenge to some marine organisms, especially calcifiers. The need for long-term oceanic observations of pH and temperature is a key element to assess the vulnerability of marine communities and ecosystems to these pressures. Nearshore productive environments, where a large majority of shellfish farming activities are conducted, are known to present pH levels as well as amplitudes of daily and seasonal variations that are much larger than those observed in the open ocean. Yet, to date, there are very few coastal observation sites where these parameters are measured simultaneously and at high frequency. To bridge this gap, an observation network was initiated in 2021 in the framework of the CocoriCO2 project. Six sites were selected along the French Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines based on their importance in terms of shellfish production and the presence of high- and low-frequency monitoring activities. At each site, autonomous pH sensors were deployed, both inside and outside shellfish production areas, next to high-frequency CTD (conductivity–temperature–depth) probes operated through two operating monitoring networks. pH sensors were set to an acquisition rate of 15 min, and discrete seawater samples were collected biweekly in order to control the quality of pH data (laboratory spectrophotometric measurements) as well as to measure total alkalinity and dissolved inorganic carbon concentrations for full characterization of the carbonate system. While this network has been up and running for more than 2 years, the acquired dataset has already revealed important differences in terms of pH variations between monitored sites related to the influence of diverse processes (freshwater inputs, tides, temperature, biological processes). Data are available at https://doi.org/10.17882/96982 (Petton et al., 2023a)