Florence Malhomme, Musica humana. La musique dans la pensée de l’humanisme italien

Sous l’influence du modèle musical conçu par Pythagore, Platon puis Cicéron, transmis au Moyen Âge latin par Augustin, Macrobe, Martianus Capella et Boèce, les humanistes de la Renaissance italienne ont accordé à la musique une place de premier plan dans l’encyclopédie des savoirs, et ils ont développé à son sujet une réflexion théorique poussée et complexe, généralement méconnue de nos contemporains. On peut savoir gré à la musicologue Florence Malhomme de proposer dans ce beau livre un parc..

La lettre de consolation de Plutarque à sa femme traduite par La Boétie et ses prolongements chez Montaigne, Céline et Michaël Fœssel

D’un point de vue méthodologique, cet article met en œuvre une démarche simple dont on sait la valeur heuristique : la mise en série. Il s’agira de donner à lire (avec un apparat critique minimal) puis de mettre en perspective quatre textes liés entre eux par le fait que chacun est inspiré, très explicitement, de la lecture du précédent, quatre textes qui nous invitent à réfléchir sur le pouvoir de l’écriture face à l’épreuve du deuil. Voici d’abord un bref aperçu de ce corpus et de la façon..

La récriture protestante du Psautier de Baïf : les Pseaumes en vers mezurez d’Odet de La Noue sur une musique de Claude Le Jeune (1e partie)

Jean-Antoine de Baïf is the fi rst catholic poet who achieves a complete translation of the David’sBook of Psalms specifi cally created to be set to music in order to challenge Marot andBèze’s own translation adopted by Calvinists. Baïf’s fi rst fi fteen psalms are set to music bythe composer Claude Le Jeune around 1570. After that, the protestant poet Odet de La Nouereleases a new text for Le Jeune’s music. How does this Calvinist poet adopt the Psalter whenrewriting a paraphrase claimed to be a catholic one?Jean Vignes presents the political and musical context of La Noue’s work, and introducesthe major steps of the creation process of Baïf and La Noue’s works, as well as their intentionsand goals

New key-tools for pollen identification in research and education

Pollen ID offers a free and easy access to various palynological information and compiles in the same web-space a pollen database and different services through a friendly user interface. Pollen ID proposes, or will propose, pollen and plant descriptions, terminology learning with an illustrated glossary and interactive images, identification keys, pollen analysis, pollen diagram construction, links with vegetation and climate data. The Pollen ID project is presently restricted to the European and Mediterranean geographical area, but it will be extended to other regions as well. This project is still in progress; its content and user interface – presently in French - will be soon available in English. In its final shape, the Pollen ID project will include palynological applications such as pollen determination tests, several original pollen analysis exercises with representations in diagrams and an easy interpretation of vegetation and climate. Pollen ID is accessible on http://lisupmc. snv.jussieu.fr/pollen/

Combining Microfluidics, Optogenetics and Calcium Imaging to Study Neuronal Communication In Vitro

International audienceIn this paper we report the combination of microfluidics, optogenetics and calcium imaging as a cheap and convenient platform to study synaptic communication between neuronal populations in vitro. We first show that Calcium Orange indicator is compatible in vitro with a commonly used Channelrhodopsine-2 (ChR2) variant, as standard calcium imaging conditions did not alter significantly the activity of transduced cultures of rodent primary neurons. A fast, robust and scalable process for micro-chip fabrication was developed in parallel to build micro-compartmented cultures. Coupling optical fibers to each micro-compartment allowed for the independent control of ChR2 activation in the different populations without crosstalk. By analyzing the post-stimuli activity across the different populations, we finally show how this platform can be used to evaluate quantitatively the effective connectivity between connected neuronal populations

Synapto-protective drugs evaluation in reconstructed neuronal network

Chronic neurodegenerative syndromes such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, or acute syndromes such as ischemic stroke or traumatic brain injuries are characterized by early synaptic collapse which precedes axonal and neuronal cell body degeneration and promotes early cognitive impairment in patients. Until now, neuroprotective strategies have failed to impede the progression of neurodegenerative syndromes. Drugs preventing the loss of cell body do not prevent the cognitive decline, probably because they lack synapto-protective effects. The absence of physiologically realistic neuronal network models which can be easily handled has hindered the development of synapto-protective drugs suitable for therapies. Here we describe a new microfluidic platform which makes it possible to study the consequences of axonal trauma of reconstructed oriented mouse neuronal networks. Each neuronal population and sub-compartment can be chemically addressed individually. The somatic, mid axon, presynaptic and postsynaptic effects of local pathological stresses or putative protective molecules can thus be evaluated with the help of this versatile “brain on chip” platform. We show that presynaptic loss is the earliest event observed following axotomy of cortical fibers, before any sign of axonal fragmentation or post-synaptic spine alteration. This platform can be used to screen and evaluate the synapto-protective potential of several drugs. For instance, NAD+ and the Rho-kinase inhibitor Y27632 can efficiently prevent synaptic disconnection, whereas the broad-spectrum caspase inhibitor zVAD-fmk and the stilbenoid resveratrol do not prevent presynaptic degeneration. Hence, this platform is a promising tool for fundamental research in the field of developmental and neurodegenerative neurosciences, and also offers the opportunity to set up pharmacological screening of axon-protective and synapto-protective drugs

IIKC: An Interactive Identification Key for female Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from the West Palearctic region

In 2006, bluetongue virus (BTV) outbreaks appeared surprisingly in northern Europe and widely affected most of the European countries. Correct identification of Culicoides species (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), known as BTV vectors, is a key component of all studies intending to understand vector dynamics and to develop vector control strategies. A computer-based system, Xper2, was used to develop an Interactive Identification Key (IIKC) for female Culicoides from the West Palearctic region. The current version of IIKC includes 108 taxa, 61 descriptors and 837 pictures and schemes. IIKC is a powerful tool for routinely identifying Culicoides species and for training young specialized taxonomists

Fostered and left behind alleles in peanut: interspecific QTL mapping reveals footprints of domestication and useful natural variation for breeding

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Polyploidy can result in genetic bottlenecks, especially for species of monophyletic origin. Cultivated peanut is an allotetraploid harbouring limited genetic diversity, likely resulting from the combined effects of its single origin and domestication. Peanut wild relatives represent an important source of novel alleles that could be used to broaden the genetic basis of the cultigen. Using an advanced backcross population developed with a synthetic amphidiploid as donor of wild alleles, under two water regimes, we conducted a detailed QTL study for several traits involved in peanut productivity and adaptation as well as domestication.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 95 QTLs were mapped in the two water treatments. About half of the QTL positive effects were associated with alleles of the wild parent and several QTLs involved in yield components were specific to the water-limited treatment. QTLs detected for the same trait mapped to non-homeologous genomic regions, suggesting differential control in subgenomes as a consequence of polyploidization. The noteworthy clustering of QTLs for traits involved in seed and pod size and in plant and pod morphology suggests, as in many crops, that a small number of loci have contributed to peanut domestication.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In our study, we have identified QTLs that differentiated cultivated peanut from its wild relatives as well as wild alleles that contributed positive variation to several traits involved in peanut productivity and adaptation. These findings offer novel opportunities for peanut improvement using wild relatives.</p

Construction of chromosome segment substitution lines in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) using a wild synthetic and QTL mapping for plant morphology

Chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSLs) are powerful QTL mapping populations that have been used to elucidate the molecular basis of interesting traits of wild species. Cultivated peanut is an allotetraploid with limited genetic diversity. Capturing the genetic diversity from peanut wild relatives is an important objective in many peanut breeding programs. In this study, we used a marker-assisted backcrossing strategy to produce a population of 122 CSSLs from the cross between the wild synthetic allotetraploid (A. ipae¨nsis6A. duranensis)4x and the cultivated Fleur11 variety. The 122 CSSLs offered a broad coverage of the peanut genome, with target wild chromosome segments averaging 39.2 cM in length. As a demonstration of the utility of these lines, four traits were evaluated in a subset of 80 CSSLs. A total of 28 lines showed significant differences from Fleur11. The line6trait significant associations were assigned to 42 QTLs: 14 for plant growth habit, 15 for height of the main stem, 12 for plant spread and one for flower color. Among the 42 QTLs, 37 were assigned to genomic regions and three QTL positions were considered putative. One important finding arising from this QTL analysis is that peanut growth habit is a complex trait that is governed by several QTLs with different effects. The CSSL population developed in this study has proved efficient for deciphering the molecular basis of trait variations and will be useful to the peanut scientific community for future QTL mapping studies. (Résumé d'auteur