MPV17 does not control cancer cell proliferation

MPV17 is described as a mitochondrial inner membrane channel. Although its function remains elusive, mutations in the MPV17 gene result in hepato-cerebral mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome in humans. In this study, we show that MPV17 silencing does not induce depletion in mitochondrial DNA content in cancer cells. We also show that MPV17 does not control cancer cell proliferation despite the fact that we initially observed a reduced proliferation rate in five MPV17-silenced cancer cell lines with two different shRNAs. However, shRNA-mediated MPV17 knockdown performed in this work provided misguiding results regarding the resulting proliferation phenotype and only a rescue experiment was able to shed definitive light on the implication of MPV17 in cancer cell proliferation. Our results therefore emphasize the caution that is required when scientific conclusions are drawn from a work based on lentiviral vector-based gene silencing and clearly demonstrate the need to systematically perform a rescue experiment in order to ascertain the specific nature of the experimental results

Auditory spatial representations of the world are compressed in blind humans

Compared to sighted listeners, blind listeners often display enhanced auditory spatial abilities such as localization in azimuth. However, less is known about whether blind humans can accurately judge distance in extrapersonal space using auditory cues alone. Using virtualization techniques, we show that auditory spatial representations of the world beyond the peripersonal space of blind listeners are compressed compared to those for normally sighted controls. Blind participants overestimated the distance to nearby sources, and underestimated the distance to remote sound sources, in both reverberant and anechoic environments, and for speech, music and noise signals. Functions relating judged and actual virtual distance were well fitted by compressive power functions, indicating that the absence of visual information regarding the distance of sound sources may prevent accurate calibration of the distance information provided by auditory signals

miR-212/132 expression and functions: within and beyond the neuronal compartment

During the last two decades, microRNAs (miRNAs) emerged as critical regulators of gene expression. By modulating the expression of numerous target mRNAs mainly at the post-transcriptional level, these small non-coding RNAs have been involved in most, if not all, biological processes as well as in the pathogenesis of a number of diseases. miR-132 and miR-212 are tandem miRNAs whose expression is necessary for the proper development, maturation and function of neurons and whose deregulation is associated with several neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and tauopathies (neurodegenerative diseases resulting from the pathological aggregation of tau protein in the human brain). Although their involvement in neuronal functions is the most described, evidences point towards a role of these miRNAs in many other biological processes, including inflammation and immune functions. Incidentally, miR-132 was recently classified as a ‘neurimmiR’, a class of miRNAs operating within and between the neural and immune compartments. In this review, we propose an outline of the current knowledge about miR-132 and miR-212 functions in neurons and immune cells, by describing the signalling pathways and transcription factors regulating their expression as well as their putative or demonstrated roles and validated mRNA targets

Tentative de datation par racémisation des acides aminés de coquilles provenant du Tyrrhénien de Sardaigne

En Sardaigne deux niveaux marins a faune chaude sont attribués au Tyrrhénien : le premier inférieur nommé "Formation de Cala Mosca" et le second "Formation de Santa Reparata". Sur les échantillons de coquilles prélevées dans les dépôts tyrrhéniens on a mesuré le taux de racémisation sur une série d'acides aminés. Les datations absolues obtenues avec cette méthode sont discutées par rapport à des différentes températures moiennes de conservations.Two marine horizons with warm faunas, referable to Tyrrhenian stage are recognised in Sardinia : the lower marin level is called "Cala Mosca Formation", and the second one "Santa Reparata Formation". On some shell samples taken from these Tyrrhenian levels, the racemisation rate of aminoacids has been mesured. The results of the chronological data produced by the above mentioned analyses, taking account different medium temperatures of the environment, has been discussed.In Sardegna sono stati riconosciuti due livelli marini a fauna calda, attribuiti al Tirreniano, di cui quello inferiore è stato chiamato "Formazione di Cala Mosca" e quello superiore "Formazione di Santa Reparata". Su campioni di conchiglie prelevati nei depositi del Tirreniano è stato misurato il tasso di racemizzazione degli aminoacidi. Vengono discussi i risultati delle datazioni assolute dedotte dalle analisi, considerando diverse temperature medie di conservazione