Some Aspects of Quebec\u27s Official Language Act

In July 1974, the legislature of Quebec passed an Official Language Act, declaring French to be the sole official language of the province. Although the majority of Quebec\u27s population speaks French, there is a significant minority of English-speaking Canadians living in the province who will be affected. This Act, commonly known as Bill 22, will also affect businesses, particularly American corporations with subsidiaries operating in Quebec. Bill 22 has sparked a controversy in Canada with respect to both its constitutionality and the power of the Province of Quebec to pass such legislation. Since no cases thus far have tested Bill 22, it is the purpose of this comment to survey some of the conflicting issues of its constitutionality together with the basic structure of the Act. The possible effects on two of the specific areas covered by the Bill, education and labor and business, will also be considered

Blockade des Ganglion cervicale superius des Truncus sympathicus: Ursachen für Fehlblockaden

Zusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Für die transorale Blockade des Ganglion cervicale superius (GCS) wurden die Ausbreitungsmuster von 3 verschiedenen Volumina untersuchten. Ziele waren, ein ideales Volumen und Ursachen für Fehlblockaden zu finden. Material und Methode: Es wurden 40 konservierte Köpfe untersucht. In 35 injizierten wir das Kontrastmittel Jopamiro®. In 30Köpfe wurden linksseitig 1ml, rechtsseitig 2ml und in 5Köpfe 5ml injiziert, wobei rechts das Spatium parapharyngeum (SPP) und links das Spatium praevertebrale (SPV) erreicht wurden. Alle Köpfe wurden mittels CT, Schnittbilder sowie 3D-Rekonstruktion, untersucht. In 5Köpfe injizierten wir 2ml blau gefärbtes Wasser für eine anschließende Dissektion. Ergebnis: 1 und 2ml zeigten sehr ähnliche Ausbreitungsmuster. Das SPP wurde durch eine nach lateral geführte Stichrichtung oder, bei Abweichung nach medial, durch ein Zurückziehen der Nadel erreicht. Bei 2 Widerständen erreichten wir das SPV und somit nicht mehr das GCS. Mit 5ml erreichten wir zahlreiche andere Kopfregionen. Schlussfolgerung: Ein Volumen von 1ml scheint ausreichend. Die Stichtechnik muss streng eingehalten werden, sonst erhöht sich das Risiko einer Fehlapplikatio

A supraomohyoidal plexus block designed to avoid complications

Interscalene blocks of the brachial plexus are used for surgery of the shoulder and are frequently associated with complications such as temporary phrenic block, Horner syndrome or hematoma. To minimize the risk of these complications, we developed an approach that avoids medially directed needle advancement and favors spread to lateral regions only: the supraomohyoidal block. We tested this procedure in 11 cadavers fixed by Thiel's method. The insertion site is at the lateral margin of the sternocleidomastoid muscle at the level of the cricoid cartilage. The needle is inserted in the axis of the plexus with an angle of approximately 35° to the skin, and advanced in lateral and caudal direction. Distribution of solution was determined in ten cadavers after bilateral injection of colored solution (20 and 30ml) and followed by dissection. In an eleventh cadaver, computerized tomography and 3D reconstruction after radio contrast injection was performed. In additional five cadavers we performed Winnie's technique with bilateral injection (20 and 30ml).Concerning the supraomohyoidal block the injection mass reached the infraclavicular region surrounded all trunks of the brachial plexus in the supraclavicular region and the suprascapular nerve in all cases. The solution did not spread medially beyond the lateral margin of the anterior scalene muscle into the scalenovertebral triangle. Therefore, phrenic nerve, stellate ganglion, laryngeal nerve nor the vertebral artery were exposed to the injected solution. Distribution was comparable with the use of 20 and 30ml of solution. Injections on five cadavers performing the interscalene block of Winnie resulted in an extended spread medially to the anterior scalene muscle.We conclude that our method may be a preferred approach due to its safety, because no structures out of interest were reached. Solution of 20ml is suggested to be enough for a successful bloc

A Reporter Screen in a Human Haploid Cell Line Identifies CYLD as a Constitutive Inhibitor of NF-κB

The development of forward genetic screens in human haploid cells has the potential to transform our understanding of the genetic basis of cellular processes unique to man. So far, this approach has been limited mostly to the identification of genes that mediate cell death in response to a lethal agent, likely due to the ease with which this phenotype can be observed. Here, we perform the first reporter screen in the near-haploid KBM7 cell line to identify constitutive inhibitors of NF-κB. CYLD was the only currently known negative regulator of NF-κB to be identified, thus uniquely distinguishing this gene. Also identified were three genes with no previous known connection to NF-κB. Our results demonstrate that reporter screens in haploid human cells can be applied to investigate the many complex signaling pathways that converge upon transcription factors

Diversity of 23S rRNA Genes within Individual Prokaryotic Genomes

The concept of ribosomal constraints on rRNA genes is deduced primarily based on the comparison of consensus rRNA sequences between closely related species, but recent advances in whole-genome sequencing allow evaluation of this concept within organisms with multiple rRNA operons. was the only species in which intragenomic diversity >3% was observed among 4 paralogous 23S rRNA genes.These findings indicate tight ribosomal constraints on individual 23S rRNA genes within a genome. Although classification using primary 23S rRNA sequences could be erroneous, significant diversity among paralogous 23S rRNA genes was observed only once in the 184 species analyzed, indicating little overall impact on the mainstream of 23S rRNA gene-based prokaryotic taxonomy

A genome-wide CRISPR screen identifies a restricted set of HIV host dependency factors

Host proteins are essential for HIV entry and replication and can be important nonviral therapeutic targets. Large-scale RNA interference (RNAi)-based screens have identified nearly a thousand candidate host factors, but there is little agreement among studies and few factors have been validated. Here we demonstrate that a genome-wide CRISPR-based screen identifies host factors in a physiologically relevant cell system. We identify five factors, including the HIV co-receptors CD4 and CCR5, that are required for HIV infection yet are dispensable for cellular proliferation and viability. Tyrosylprotein sulfotransferase 2 (TPST2) and solute carrier family 35 member B2 (SLC35B2) function in a common pathway to sulfate CCR5 on extracellular tyrosine residues, facilitating CCR5 recognition by the HIV envelope. Activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM) mediates cell aggregation, which is required for cell-to-cell HIV transmission. We validated these pathways in primary human CD4 + T cells through Cas9-mediated knockout and antibody blockade. Our findings indicate that HIV infection and replication rely on a limited set of host-dispensable genes and suggest that these pathways can be studied for therapeutic intervention

Circulating microRNAs in sera correlate with soluble biomarkers of immune activation but do not predict mortality in ART treated individuals with HIV-1 infection: A case control study

Introduction: The use of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) has dramatically reduced HIV-1 associated morbidity and mortality. However, HIV-1 infected individuals have increased rates of morbidity and mortality compared to the non-HIV-1 infected population and this appears to be related to end-organ diseases collectively referred to as Serious Non-AIDS Events (SNAEs). Circulating miRNAs are reported as promising biomarkers for a number of human disease conditions including those that constitute SNAEs. Our study sought to investigate the potential of selected miRNAs in predicting mortality in HIV-1 infected ART treated individuals. Materials and Methods: A set of miRNAs was chosen based on published associations with human disease conditions that constitute SNAEs. This case: control study compared 126 cases (individuals who died whilst on therapy), and 247 matched controls (individuals who remained alive). Cases and controls were ART treated participants of two pivotal HIV-1 trials. The relative abundance of each miRNA in serum was measured, by RTqPCR. Associations with mortality (all-cause, cardiovascular and malignancy) were assessed by logistic regression analysis. Correlations between miRNAs and CD4+ T cell count, hs-CRP, IL-6 and D-dimer were also assessed. Results: None of the selected miRNAs was associated with all-cause, cardiovascular or malignancy mortality. The levels of three miRNAs (miRs -21, -122 and -200a) correlated with IL-6 while miR-21 also correlated with D-dimer. Additionally, the abundance of miRs -31, -150 and -223, correlated with baseline CD4+ T cell count while the same three miRNAs plus miR- 145 correlated with nadir CD4+ T cell count. Discussion: No associations with mortality were found with any circulating miRNA studied. These results cast doubt onto the effectiveness of circulating miRNA as early predictors of mortality or the major underlying diseases that contribute to mortality in participants treated for HIV-1 infection