Genetic ablation of calcium-independent phospholipase A2γ induces glomerular injury in mice

Glomerular visceral epithelial cells (podocytes) play a critical role in the maintenance of glomerular permselectivity. Podocyte injury, manifesting as proteinuria, is the cause of many glomerular diseases. We reported previously that calcium-independent phospholipase A(2)γ (iPLA(2)γ) is cytoprotective against complement-mediated glomerular epithelial cell injury. Studies in iPLA(2)γ KO mice have demonstrated an important role for iPLA(2)γ in mitochondrial lipid turnover, membrane structure, and metabolism. The aim of the present study was to employ iPLA(2)γ KO mice to better understand the role of iPLA(2)γ in normal glomerular and podocyte function as well as in glomerular injury. We show that deletion of iPLA(2)γ did not cause detectable albuminuria; however, it resulted in mitochondrial structural abnormalities and enhanced autophagy in podocytes as well as loss of podocytes in aging KO mice. Moreover, after induction of anti-glomerular basement membrane nephritis in young mice, iPLA(2)γ KO mice exhibited significantly increased levels of albuminuria, podocyte injury, and loss of podocytes compared with wild type. Thus, iPLA(2)γ has a protective functional role in the normal glomerulus and in glomerulonephritis. Understanding the role of iPLA(2)γ in glomerular pathophysiology provides opportunities for the development of novel therapeutic approaches to glomerular injury and proteinuria

Le Modèle chaetognathe (phylogénie et EvoDevo)

AIX-MARSEILLE2-BU Sci.Luminy (130552106) / SudocSudocFranceF

SOLERA Demonstrator of Small Scale Solar Heating and Cooling System in INES Office Building

6 p.International audienceThis work was done in the SOLERA project (http://www.solera-project.eu), Sixth EU Framework Program (FP6), co-funded by EC and coordinated by Fraunhofer ISE. It started in November 2007 and will stop in November 2011. The goal of the project SOLERA is to install, operate and evaluate three different solar cooling systems of different sizes

Restricted expression of a median Hox gene in the central nervous system of chaetognaths

Hox genes encode a set of evolutionarily conserved transcription factors that regulate anterior-posterior patterning. Here we report the first developmental expression of a Hox gene from Chaetognatha. These metazoans have been shown recently to be part of the protostome group of bilaterians. We describe the analysis of the SceMed4 gene (a Spadella cephaloptera Median Hox gene) including its expression from late stages of egg development to 7 days after hatching. In all of these stages, SceMed4 is expressed in two lateral stripes in a restricted region of the developing ventral ganglion

Dynamic risk management response system to handle cyber threats

International audienceAppropriate response strategies against new and ongoing cyber attacks must be able to reduce risks down to acceptable levels, without sacrificing a mission for security. Existing approaches either evaluate impacts without considering missions' negative-side effects, or are manually based on traditional risk assessments, leaving aside technical difficulties. In this paper we propose a dynamic risk management response system (DRMRS) consisting of a proactive and reactive management software aiming at evaluating threat scenarios in an automated manner, as well as anticipating the occurrence of potential attacks. We adopt a quantitative risk-aware approach that provides a comprehensive view of the threats, by considering their likelihood of success, the induced impact, the cost of the possible responses, and the negative side-effects of a response. Responses are selected and proposed to operators based on financial, operational and threat assessments. The DRMRS is applied to a real case study of a critical infrastructure with multiple threat scenario