GrassPlot v. 2.00 – first update on the database of multi-scale plant diversity in Palaearctic grasslands

Abstract: GrassPlot is a collaborative vegetation-plot database organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and listed in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD ID EU-00-003). Following a previous Long Database Report (Dengler et al. 2018, Phyto- coenologia 48, 331–347), we provide here the first update on content and functionality of GrassPlot. The current version (GrassPlot v. 2.00) contains a total of 190,673 plots of different grain sizes across 28,171 independent plots, with 4,654 nested-plot series including at least four grain sizes. The database has improved its content as well as its functionality, including addition and harmonization of header data (land use, information on nestedness, structure and ecology) and preparation of species composition data. Currently, GrassPlot data are intensively used for broad-scale analyses of different aspects of alpha and beta diversity in grassland ecosystems

A framework for human microbiome research

A variety of microbial communities and their genes (the microbiome) exist throughout the human body, with fundamental roles in human health and disease. The National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Human Microbiome Project Consortium has established a population-scale framework to develop metagenomic protocols, resulting in a broad range of quality-controlled resources and data including standardized methods for creating, processing and interpreting distinct types of high-throughput metagenomic data available to the scientific community. Here we present resources from a population of 242 healthy adults sampled at 15 or 18 body sites up to three times, which have generated 5,177 microbial taxonomic profiles from 16S ribosomal RNA genes and over 3.5 terabases of metagenomic sequence so far. In parallel, approximately 800 reference strains isolated from the human body have been sequenced. Collectively, these data represent the largest resource describing the abundance and variety of the human microbiome, while providing a framework for current and future studies

Structure, function and diversity of the healthy human microbiome

Author Posting. © The Authors, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of Nature Publishing Group. The definitive version was published in Nature 486 (2012): 207-214, doi:10.1038/nature11234.Studies of the human microbiome have revealed that even healthy individuals differ remarkably in the microbes that occupy habitats such as the gut, skin and vagina. Much of this diversity remains unexplained, although diet, environment, host genetics and early microbial exposure have all been implicated. Accordingly, to characterize the ecology of human-associated microbial communities, the Human Microbiome Project has analysed the largest cohort and set of distinct, clinically relevant body habitats so far. We found the diversity and abundance of each habitat’s signature microbes to vary widely even among healthy subjects, with strong niche specialization both within and among individuals. The project encountered an estimated 81–99% of the genera, enzyme families and community configurations occupied by the healthy Western microbiome. Metagenomic carriage of metabolic pathways was stable among individuals despite variation in community structure, and ethnic/racial background proved to be one of the strongest associations of both pathways and microbes with clinical metadata. These results thus delineate the range of structural and functional configurations normal in the microbial communities of a healthy population, enabling future characterization of the epidemiology, ecology and translational applications of the human microbiome.This research was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grants U54HG004969 to B.W.B.; U54HG003273 to R.A.G.; U54HG004973 to R.A.G., S.K.H. and J.F.P.; U54HG003067 to E.S.Lander; U54AI084844 to K.E.N.; N01AI30071 to R.L.Strausberg; U54HG004968 to G.M.W.; U01HG004866 to O.R.W.; U54HG003079 to R.K.W.; R01HG005969 to C.H.; R01HG004872 to R.K.; R01HG004885 to M.P.; R01HG005975 to P.D.S.; R01HG004908 to Y.Y.; R01HG004900 to M.K.Cho and P. Sankar; R01HG005171 to D.E.H.; R01HG004853 to A.L.M.; R01HG004856 to R.R.; R01HG004877 to R.R.S. and R.F.; R01HG005172 to P. Spicer.; R01HG004857 to M.P.; R01HG004906 to T.M.S.; R21HG005811 to E.A.V.; M.J.B. was supported by UH2AR057506; G.A.B. was supported by UH2AI083263 and UH3AI083263 (G.A.B., C. N. Cornelissen, L. K. Eaves and J. F. Strauss); S.M.H. was supported by UH3DK083993 (V. B. Young, E. B. Chang, F. Meyer, T. M. S., M. L. Sogin, J. M. Tiedje); K.P.R. was supported by UH2DK083990 (J. V.); J.A.S. and H.H.K. were supported by UH2AR057504 and UH3AR057504 (J.A.S.); DP2OD001500 to K.M.A.; N01HG62088 to the Coriell Institute for Medical Research; U01DE016937 to F.E.D.; S.K.H. was supported by RC1DE0202098 and R01DE021574 (S.K.H. and H. Li); J.I. was supported by R21CA139193 (J.I. and D. S. Michaud); K.P.L. was supported by P30DE020751 (D. J. Smith); Army Research Office grant W911NF-11-1-0473 to C.H.; National Science Foundation grants NSF DBI-1053486 to C.H. and NSF IIS-0812111 to M.P.; The Office of Science of the US Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 for P.S. C.; LANL Laboratory-Directed Research and Development grant 20100034DR and the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency grants B104153I and B084531I to P.S.C.; Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) grant to K.F. and J.Raes; R.K. is an HHMI Early Career Scientist; Gordon&BettyMoore Foundation funding and institutional funding fromthe J. David Gladstone Institutes to K.S.P.; A.M.S. was supported by fellowships provided by the Rackham Graduate School and the NIH Molecular Mechanisms in Microbial Pathogenesis Training Grant T32AI007528; a Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada Grant in Aid of Research to E.A.V.; 2010 IBM Faculty Award to K.C.W.; analysis of the HMPdata was performed using National Energy Research Scientific Computing resources, the BluBioU Computational Resource at Rice University

Rapport de synthèse de mission en Malaisie et Indonésie

Après leur participation à l'"International Cocoa Conference Challenges in the 90s", les auteurs ont visité les principaux centres de recherche en agronomie et technologie du café et du cacao afin d'évaluer les possibilités de coopération avec l'IRCC. Les thèmes retenus sont les suivants : 1) en Malaisie, le Malaysian Cocoa Board : évolution des précurseurs d'arôme au cours de la fermentation et du séchage du cacao; le Felda (Tun Razak) : traitement post récolte du café Liberica, traitement correct du cacao avec diminution des coûts de production; 2) en Indonésie, le RISPA (Medan) : contrôle de la qualité du cacao; le centre de recherches de Jember : agronomie et technologie du cacao et des cafés Robusta et Arabica; le centre de Bogor : scolyte du grain de café et fertilisation du cacaoyer; le groupe Hasfarm : café Arabica; la société Malabar Makmur : fourniture de matériel végétal de caféier Arabica et la société Multi-Agro : technologie du caca

Vie de femme et handicap moteur : sexualite et maternite Evry, 7 mars 2003, resumes

Available from INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : Y 34779 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueSIGLEAssistance Publique - Hopitaux de Paris, 75 - Paris (France). Mission HandicapsFRFranc

Intérêt de l’analyse chromosomique sur puce à ADN en cas de blocage de maturation méiotique testiculaire

National audienceIntroduction : L'azoospermie, définie par l'absence de spermatozoïdes dans l’éjaculat, affecte environ 1% des hommes. On définit 2 types d’azoospermie : l’obstructive, par blocage des voies éjaculatrices, et la non-obstructive (NOA), par défaut de la spermatogenèse. Les causes génétiques connues à l’origine des NOA sont le syndrome de Klinefelter, les microdélétions du chromosome Y, et les remaniements chromosomiques (20% des NOA). Différents phénotypes de NOA existent dont l’arrêt de maturation testiculaire dans environ 5% des cas où des délétions du gène TEX11 ont été décrites comme récurrentes. L’objectif de ce travail est de savoir si d’autres CNVs pourraient à l’origine d’arrêt de maturation. Matériel et méthode : Une cohorte de 20 patients, avec caryotype normal et sans microdélétion du chromosome Y, ont été inclus dans cette étude. Une puce Agilent Genetisure 400k CGH+SNP a été utilisée. Résultats : Au total, 989 CNVs ont été identifiés (49 ± 12 par patient). Après élimination des CNVs dus aux variations de l’ADN de référence et les CNVs récurrents, 236 CNVs ont alors été retenus, dont 56 nullosomies et 180 CNVs hétérozygotes. Parmi les nullosomies, deux gènes surexprimés dans les testicules ont été identifiés, dont un pour lequel l’invalidation chez la souris induit un arrêt de maturation. Aucune délétion du gène TEX11 n’a été identifiée. Discussion-Conclusion : Les résultats obtenus dans cette étude, en cours de validation, suggèrent un rôle des CNVs dans le phénotype d’arrêt de maturation chez les patients NOA. Les délétions homozygotes ou nullosomies pourraient entrainer la perte de l’expression de gènes candidats responsables de l’arrêt méiotique chez certains patients et les délétions hétérozygotes, pourraient être des facteurs de prédisposition à l’apparition d’un blocage méiotique. A noter la présence dans notre cohorte de 6 patients sur 20 consanguins

Testicular tumours discovered during infertility workup are predominantly benign and could initially be managed by sparing surgery

International audienceTo evaluate the pathological features and recurrence of incidental testis tumours treated by partial orchiectomy in a population of infertile men

The medical and economic consequences of automation in bacteriology: A case study in a French University Hospital

In a bacteriology laboratory where automated and non-automated procedures co-existed during the study period (1 year), patients were randomly assigned to each type of procedure and we observed the physicians behaviour as well as patients well-being in a surgical service using the results from the laboratory. Contrary to our expectations, the reduction in the time delay necessary to obtain information did not alter either the prescribing behaviour of physicians nor the welfare of patients. Besides, the gain in time was significantly lower than expected. We also discuss in detail the meaning and relevance of the results.

Cryptic splice site poisoning and meiotic arrest caused by a homozygous frameshift mutation in RBMXL2 : A case report

International audienceGene expression in meiotic cells in the testis is characterized by intense transcriptional activity and alternative splicing. These processes are mainly controlled by RNA-binding proteins expressed strongly in germ cells. Functional impairments in any of these proteins' functions can lead to defects in meiosis and thus severe male infertility. Here, we have identified a homozygous frameshift mutation (NM_014469.4:c.301dup; p.Ser101LysfsTer29) in the RNA-binding motif protein, X-linked like 2 (RBMXL2) gene in a man with an azoospermia due to meiotic arrest. As RBMXL2 is known to be crucial for safeguarding the meiotic transcriptome in mice testes, we hypothesized that this variant leads to cryptic splice site poisoning. To determine the variant's impact on spermatogenesis, we confirmed the absence of RBMXL2 protein in the patient's testis tissue and then evidenced abnormal expression of several spermatogenesis proteins (e.g. meiosis-specific with coiled-coil domain) known to be altered in rbmxl2 knock-out mice with meiotic arrest. Our results indicate that RBMXL2's function in spermatogenesis is conserved in mammals. We hypothesize that deleterious variant in the RBMXL2 gene can result in male infertility and complete meiotic arrest, due to the disruption of gene expression by cryptic splice site poisoning

Chefs et Rois sacrés

Le laboratoire « Systèmes de Pensée en Afrique noire » propose ici de soumettre à un éclairage nouveau le modèle classique des « rois divins » défini jadis par Frazer. Qu'on le considère comme un "corps-fétiche", qu'il se présente comme un "roi-prêtre", ou comme un "chef sacré", le roi, par son intronisation, acquière des propriétés uniques, qui sont discutées ici dans le détail et sous une grande variété de formes. Toutes ces variations tournent néanmoins autour de la même question: que faire d'un être unique chargé d'articuler l'ordre social et l'ordre naturel? Est-il placé au cœur de la société ou en dehors? Ou à la fois en-dedans ou en dehors