Diversity and Plurality in the Study of Knowledge Sharing in Geographically Distributed Communities

The sharing of knowledge between geographically distributed communities is an activity that is routinely undertaken in almost all large organizations but one that poses several problems for the researcher. This paper examines some of the key issues that need to be taken into account when undertaking research in this area. Its focus is knowledge sharing in the type of geographically distributed communities found in large multi-site and multi-national organizations. It highlights some of the conceptual problems associated with this type of knowledge sharing and presents a case study of an on-line knowledge sharing community in a large multi-national organization. It reflects on the issues raised by the literature and the case study and concludes by arguing that the search for generic solutions for these issues risks underplaying the importance of the diversity and plurality of viewpoints that are found in such group

Sourds et malentendants comme publics de la musique. Le statut ambigu des technologies numériques dans une démarche d’accessibilité

La notion d’accessibilité culturelle soulève des questions qui s’articulent aujourd’hui aux problématiques liées aux technologies numériques. Dans le champ du handicap, l’accessibilité culturelle par le numérique souffre toutefois du peu de recherches, notamment de recherches empiriques. Les besoins, les pratiques et l’avis des personnes concernées par les processus d’accessibilité restent donc largement méconnus, ce qui maintient une certaine ambiguïté sur le rôle et le statut des technologies dans le cours de ces processus. En prenant comme point d’entrée les expériences musicales des personnes sourdes et malentendantes, observées lors d’un festival hip-hop, nous analysons en quoi le numérique participe de ces expériences musicales singulières et comment celles-ci interrogent en retour la notion d’accessibilité. Nous verrons ainsi que les enjeux spécifiques des technologies numériques résident dans le fait qu’elles contribuent à la fois à définir les processus d’accessibilité et leurs utilisateurs.The notion of cultural accessibility raises questions that are linked to issues related to digital technologies. However, in the field of disability, cultural accessibility through digital technology suffers from a lack of research, particularly empirical research. As a result, the needs, practices and opinions of those concerned by accessibility processes remain largely unknown, and the role and status of technologies in these processes remains ambiguous. Taking the musical experiences of deaf and hard of hearing audiences during a hip-hop festival, as an entry point, we question how digital technology participates in their singular musical experiences. We observe that these experiences challenge the notion of accessibility and that digital technologies’ contribution to both defining accessibility processes and their users raises specific issues.El concepto de accesibilidad cultural plantea preguntas que ahora están relacionadas con problemáticas vinculadas a las tecnologías digitales. Sin embargo, dentro del ámbito de la discapacidad, la accesibilidad cultural digital adolece de unos estudios limitados, incluyendo los estudios empíricos. Por lo tanto, las necesidades, prácticas y opiniones de las personas afectadas por el proceso de accesibilidad siguen siendo en gran parte desconocidas. Esto mantiene cierta ambigüedad sobre el rol y el estado de las tecnologías en estos procesos. Tomando como primer punto las experiencias musicales de las personas sordas totalmente o parcialmente, observados durante un festival de hip-hop, analizaremos cómo participa la tecnología digital de estas experiencias musicales singulares y cómo éstas experiencias plantean el problema de la accesibilidad. Veremos que los desafíos específicos a las tecnologías digitales radican en el hecho de que contribuyen a definir tanto los procesos de accesibilidad como sus usuarios

Microglial Involvement in Neuroplastic Changes Following Focal Brain Ischemia in Rats

The pathogenesis of ischemic stroke is a complex sequence of events including inflammatory reaction, for which the microglia appears to be a major cellular contributor. However, whether post-ischemic activation of microglial cells has beneficial or detrimental effects remains to be elucidated, in particular on long term brain plasticity events. The objective of our study was to determine, through modulation of post-stroke inflammatory response, to what extent microglial cells are involved in some specific events of neuronal plasticity, neurite outgrowth and synaptogenesis. Since microglia is a source of neurotrophic factors, the identification of the brain-derived neurophic factor (BDNF) as possible molecular actor involved in these events was also attempted. As a means of down-regulating the microglial response induced by ischemia, 3-aminobenzamide (3-AB, 90 mg/kg, i.p.) was used to inhibit the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1). Indeed, PARP-1 contributes to the activation of the transcription factor NF-kB, which is essential to the upregulation of proinflammatory genes, in particular responsible for microglial activation/proliferation. Experiments were conducted in rats subjected to photothrombotic ischemia which leads to a strong and early microglial cells activation/proliferation followed by an infiltration of macrophages within the cortical lesion, events evaluated at serial time points up to 1 month post-ictus by immunostaining for OX-42 and ED-1. Our most striking finding was that the decrease in acute microglial activation induced by 3-AB was associated with a long term down-regulation of two neuronal plasticity proteins expression, synaptophysin (marker of synaptogenesis) and GAP-43 (marker of neuritogenesis) as well as to a significant decrease in tissue BDNF production. Thus, our data argue in favour of a supportive role for microglia in brain neuroplasticity stimulation possibly through BDNF production, suggesting that a targeted protection of microglial cells could represent an innovative approach to potentiate post-stroke neuroregeneration

Kangaroo mother care had a protective effect on the volume of brain structures in young adults born preterm

Q1Q1Jóvenes adultosAim: The protective effects of Kangaroo mother care (KMC) on the neurodevelop-ment of preterm infants are well established, but we do not know whether the ben-efits persist beyond infancy. Our aim was to determine whether providing KMC in infancy affected brain volumes in young adulthood. Method: Standardised cognitive, memory and motor skills tests were used to determine the brain volumes of 20-year-old adults who had formed part of a randomised controlled trial of KMC versus incubator care. Multivariate analysis of brain volumes was conducted according to KMC exposure. Results: The study comprised 178 adults born preterm: 97 had received KMC and 81 were incubator care controls. Bivariate analysis showed larger volumes of total grey matter, basal nuclei and cerebellum in those who had received KMC, and the white matter was better organised. This means that the volumes of the main brain structures associated with intelligence, attention, memory and coordination were larger in the KMC group. Multivariate lineal regression analysis demonstrated the direct rela-tionship between brain volumes and duration of KMC, after controlling for potential confounders. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the neuroprotective effects of KMC for pre-term infants persisted beyond childhood and improved their lifetime functionality and quality of life.https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6697-5837https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1923-3934https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5464-2701Revista Internacional - IndexadaA1N

The use of leukocytes’ secretome to individually target biological therapy in autoimmune arthritis : a case report

Background: Biological agents have allowed remarkable improvement in controlling autoimmune arthropathies, although none of the numerous biologics readily available represent a universal treatment standard. Moreover, classi‑ cal and genetic predictors are currently unsatisfactory to predict individual response to a biologic, and the best treat‑ ment selection is still based on a trial-and-error approach. Here, we report a clinical case demonstrating the usefulness of examining the leukocytes’ secretome of patients. We set up and standardized a protocol that examines a patient’s immune responses to establish the secretome of the blood mononuclear leukocytes and personalize the biotherapy. Case presentation: A 24-year-old woman was diagnosed with active early rheumatoid arthritis. The initial treat‑ ment regimen (prednisone, methotrexate, hydroxychloroquine, naproxen) was inefcient, as well as the anti-TNF adalimumab. The diagnosis was revised as possible rheumatoid arthritis-like psoriatic arthritis and adalimumab was replaced by abatacept (IgG1 Fc-CTLA-4) to no avail. Five years later, abatacept was replaced by the anti-IL-12/ IL-23 ustekinumab with no objective control over the symptoms. The patient was thus enrolled in a prospective study based on the quantifcation of cytokines secreted by peripheral blood leukocytes stimulated with well-known immune activators of pattern recognition receptors and cytokine signalling. The results of this study revealed that plasma concentrations of cytokines were similar between the patient and healthy donors. In comparison to leuko‑ cytes from healthy donors, the patient’s secretome showed a unique overproduction of IL-6. The anti-IL-6 receptor tocilizumab was, therefore, administered with a rapid improvement of her active psoriatic arthritis that remained dependent on low prednisone dosage. Clinical parameters progressively returned to normal levels and her quality of life was greatly improved, despite the major delay to begin the present personalized treatment. Conclusions: An efcient way to efectively treat patients with complex autoimmune arthropathies, and avoid irreversible disability, is to know their leukocytes’ secretome to identify abnormally secreted cytokines and personalize their biotherapy, as exemplifed by this case report

Temperature measurement of sub-micrometric ICs by scanning thermal microscopy

Surface temperature measurements were performed with a Scanning Thermal Microscope mounted with a thermoresistive wire probe of micrometrSurface temperature measurements were performed with a Scanning Thermal Microscope mounted with a thermoresistive wire probe of micrometric size. A CMOS device was designed with arrays of resistive lines 0.35µm in width. The array periods are 0.8 µm and 10µm to study the spatial resolution of the SThM. Integrated Circuits with passivation layers of micrometric and nanometric thicknesses were tested. To enhance signal-to-noise ratio, the resistive lines were heated with an AC current. The passivation layer of nanometric thickness allows us to distinguish the lines when the array period is 10μm. The results raise the difficulties of the SThM measurement due to the design and the topography of ICs on one hand and the size of the thermal probe on the other hand.ic size. A CMOS device was designed with arrays of resistive lines 0.35µm in width. The array periods are 0.8 µm and 10µm to study the spatial resolution of the SThM. Integrated Circuits with passivation layers of micrometric and nanometric thicknesses were tested. To enhance signal-to-noise ratio, the resistive lines were heated with an AC current. The passivation layer of nanometric thickness allows us to distinguish the lines when the array period is 10μm. The results raise the difficulties of the SThM measurement due to the design and the topography of ICs on one hand and the size of the thermal probe on the other hand

Digital Heterodyne Holography Reveals the Non-Quasi-Static Scattering Behaviour of Transversally Coupled Nanodisk Pairs

We reconstruct the full three-dimensional scattering pattern of longitudinal and transverse modes in pairs of coupled gold nanodisks using digital heterodyne holography. Near-field simulations prove that, in our experimental conditions, the induced dipoles in the longitudinal mode are in phase while they are nearly in opposite phase for the transverse mode. The scattering efficiency of the two modes is of the same order of magnitude, which goes against the common belief that antisymmetric transverse modes are “dark.” The analysis of the reconstructed hologram in the Fourier plane allows us to estimate the angular scattering pattern for both excited modes. In particular, the antisymmetric transverse mode scatters light mostly into one half-plane, demonstrating that the quasi-static approximation breaks down in nanodisk pairs even for an interparticle distance lower than λ/4

Nearby Construction Impedes the Progression to Overt Autoimmune Diabetes in NOD Mice

Construction nearby animal houses has sporadically been reported to affect various aspects of animal health. Most of the reports have focussed on the impact on stress hormone levels and the hypersensitivity of animals relative to humans. There has also been an anecdotal report on the impact of construction on autoimmune diabetes in NOD mice. Here, we describe that nearby construction significantly impedes the progression to overt diabetes in female NOD mice offspring. We demonstrate that this was not due to a genetic drift or to particularities associated with our specific mouse colony. Interestingly, although the glycemia levels remained low in mice born from mothers subject to construction stress during gestation, we detected an active autoimmune reaction towards pancreatic islet cells, as measured by both the degree of insulitis and the presence of insulin autoantibody levels in the serum. These results suggest that the external stress imposed during embryonic development does not prevent but significantly delays the autoimmune process. Together, our findings emphasize the impact of surrounding factors during in vivo studies and are in agreement with the hypothesis that both environmental and genetic cues contribute to autoimmune diabetes development