Entreprises sociales d’insertion en Suisse : Une première approche

En collaboration avec Marie-Danièle Bruttin, directrice adjointe du Département de l’action sociale et de la santé du canton de Genève. Recherche réalisée par la Haute école santé- social Valais, Suisse.Dans la diversité des structures visant à favoriser la réinsertion ou l’insertion de personnes en difficulté, les entreprises sociales sont une nouvelle forme organisationnelle de cette volonté de lutter contre l’exclusion de publics dépourvus de travail, que ce soient notamment des personnes en situation de handicap, des chômeurs en fin de droit ou encore des personnes à l’aide sociale. L’originalité de ces entreprises tient au fait de concilier des objectifs économiques et sociaux en offrant à des personnes en difficulté un travail dans un réel contexte de production, ceci en vue de leur (ré)insertion. Après avoir défini ce concept d’entreprise sociale qui recouvre des réalités variées, nous avons pu identifier divers types d’entreprises sociales d’insertion en Suisse. Ces dernières sont toutes confrontées à divers freins dans leur développement, dont un manque de reconnaissance de la part des pouvoirs publics. C’est en se basant sur les approches théoriques du tiers secteur, que nous avons montré que les entreprises sociales d’insertion devraient être reconnues comme des partenaires complémentaires à l’État et au marché dans la prise en charge des problèmes sociaux

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types

Organization of Microgels at the Air−Water Interface under Compression: Role of Electrostatics and Cross-Linking Density

International audiencePoly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAM) microgels are soft and deformable particles, which can adsorb at liquid interfaces. In the present paper, we study the two-dimensional organization of charged and quasi-neutral microgels with differentcross-linking densities, under compression at the air−water interface and the transfer of the microgel monolayer onto asolid substrate at different surface pressures. At low cross-linking densities, the microgels form highly ordered hexagonal lattices on the solid substrate over large areas, with a unique lattice parameter that decreases continuously as the surface pressure increases. We thus prove that the microgel conformation evolves at the air− water interface. The microgels undergo a continuous transition from a highly flattened state at low surface coverage, where the maximal polymer segments are adsorbed at the interface, to entangled flattened microgels, and finally the thickening of the layer up to a dense hydrogel layer of compacted microgels. Moreover, two batches of microgels, with and without charges, are compared. The contribution of electrostatic interactions is assessed via changing the charge density of the microgels or modulating the Debye length..

Rationalization and Prediction of the Equivalent Alkane Carbon Number (EACN) of Polar Hydrocarbon Oils with COSMO-RS σ‑Moments

The equivalent alkane carbon numbers (EACNs) of 20 polar hydrocarbon oils are determined by the fishtail method. These values supplemented by 43 already reported EACNs of other hydrocarbons are rationalized by using the COSMO-RS σ-moments as descriptors for a QSPR analysis. A reliable model, with only two meaningful physicochemical parameters, namely the surface area (<i>M</i>₀^<i>X</i>) and the overall polarity (<i>M</i>₂^<i>X</i>) of the oil <i>X</i>, is able to predict the EACN values of a large variety of oils including (cyclo)­alkanes, (cyclo)­alkenes, terpenes, aromatics, alkynes, and chloroalkanes and to rationalize structural effects on EACNs. Furthermore, the dependence of the EACN of homologous oils on the chain length provides some molecular insight into how the different oils penetrate into the interfacial film of surfactants

Modifications of Interfacial Proteins in Oil-in-Water Emulsions Prior to and During Lipid Oxidation

Lipid oxidation is a major cause for the degradation of biological systems and foods, but the intricate relationship between lipid oxidation and protein modifications in these complex multiphase systems remains unclear. The objective of this work was to have a spatial and temporal insight of the modifications undergone by the interfacial or the unadsorbed proteins in oil-in-water emulsions during lipid oxidation. Tryptophan fluorescence and oxygen uptake were monitored simultaneously during incubation in different conditions of protein-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions. Kinetic parameters demonstrated that protein modifications, highlighted by decrease of protein fluorescence, occurred as an early event in the sequence of the reactions. They concerned more specifically the proteins adsorbed at the oil/water interface. The reactions led in a latter stage to protein aggregation, carbonylation, and loss of protein solubility

Self-Supported Fibrin-Polyvinyl Alcohol Interpenetrating Polymer Networks: An Easily Handled and Rehydratable Biomaterial

A fibrin hydrogel at physiological concentration (5 mg/mL) was associated with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) inside an interpenetrating polymer networks (IPN) architecture. Previously, PVA has been modified with methacrylate functions in order to cross-link it by free-radical polymerization. The fibrin network was synthesized by the enzymatic hydrolysis of fibrinogen by thrombin. The resulting self-supported materials simultaneously exhibit the properties of the fibrin hydrogel and those of the synthetic polymer network. Their storage modulus is 50-fold higher than that of the fibrin hydrogel and they are completely rehydratable. These materials are noncytotoxic toward human fibroblast and the fibrin present on the surface of PVAm-based IPNs favors cell development

OrfX, a Nucleomodulin Required for Listeria monocytogenes Virulence

International audienceListeria monocytogenes is a bacterial pathogen causing severe food-borne infections in humans and animals. Listeria can enter into host cells and survive and multiply therein, due to an arsenal of virulence determinants encoded in different loci on the chromosome. Several key Listeria virulence genes are clustered in Listeria pathogenicity island 1. This important locus also contains orfX (lmo0206), a gene of unknown function. Here, we found that OrfX is a small, secreted protein whose expression is positively regulated by PrfA, the major transcriptional activator of Listeria virulence genes. We provide evidence that OrfX is a virulence factor that dampens the oxidative response of infected macrophages, which contributes to in-tracellular survival of bacteria. OrfX is targeted to the nucleus and interacts with the regulatory protein RybP. We show that in macrophages, the expression of OrfX decreases the level of RybP, which controls cellular infection. Collectively, these data reveal that Listeria targets RybP and evades macrophage oxidative stress for efficient infection. Altogether, OrfX is after LntA, the second virulence factor acting directly in the nucleus. IMPORTANCE Listeria monocytogenes is a model bacterium that has been successfully used over the last 30 years to refine our understanding of the molecular, cellular , and tissular mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis. The major virulence factors of pathogenic Listeria species are located on a single chromosomal locus. Here, we report that the last gene of this locus encodes a small secreted nucleomodulin, OrfX, that is required for bacterial survival within macrophages and in the infected host. This work demonstrates that the production of OrfX contributes to limiting the host innate immune response by dampening the oxidative response of macrophages. We also identify a target of OrfX, RybP, which is an essential pleiotropic regulatory protein of the cell, and uncover its role in host defense. Our data reinforce the view that the secretion of nucleomodulins is an important strategy used by microbial pathogens to promote infection