Monitoring the biological effects of pollution on the Algerian west coast using mussels <i>Mytilus galloprovincialis</i>

The Algerian west coast is the prime recipient of several forms of pollution; hence, the necessity for an impact assessment ofthis coastal pollution using a suite of recommended marine biomarkers, including lysosomal membrane stability in living cells by the Neutral Red Retention Time (NRRT) method, the evaluation of micronucleus (MN) frequency, and the determination ofacetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis, sampled from the large, polluted Oran Harbour (OH) and the Maârouf (Mrf) marine mussel farm between July 2005 and April 2006. The difference in the variations of the annual physical parameters between OH and Mrf corresponds to the influence of the domestic and industrial sewage discharged by the city of Oran. The biological data of the mussels (condition index, protein content) recorded at both sites were related to their natural reproductive cycle. This indicated that intrinsic variation between the sites due to different mussel development phases was minimal. The variation in the AChE activity of some organs of OH and Mrf mussels, with minimal inhibition in July and a higher NRRT recorded in the granular haemocytes in the Mrf than in the OH mussels during the autumn and spring, depends on the quality of the biotope and on generic stress factors. Moreover, the variation in MN frequency, in general reflecting a non-significant seasonal and spatial genotoxic effect of the contamination at the two sampling sites, requires further investigations regarding biotic and abiotic variations

An Improved Downlink MC-CDMA System for Efficient Image Transmission

International audienceImage compression is an essential stage of the data archiving and transmitting process, as it reduces the number of bits and the time required to complete the transmission. In this article, a study of image transmission over the Multi-Carrier Code Division Multiple Access (MC-CDMA) downlink system is presented. The solution proposed relies on source coding combined with channel coding. The Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) method is used in conjunction with the SPIHT coder to compress the image, then the data generated is transmitted with the MC-CDMA technique over a noisy channel. The results show that image transmissions performed over MC-CDMA using the SPIHT model are better than the traditional approach like MC-CDMA in the AWGN channel

Clinical utility of circulating tumor DNA sequencing with a large panel in patients with advanced soft‐tissue sarcomas

International audienceNo abstract availabl

Cell-free nucleic acids are present in blood products and regulate genes of innate immune response

Extracellular nucleic acids circulate in plasma. They are expected to be present in manufactured blood products eligible for transfusion, but little is known about their biological activity on human cells. The aim of this study is to investigate whether cell-free nucleic acids (CFNAs) are present and biologically active in red blood cell units (RBCUs), fresh frozen plasmas, and platelet concentrates