Working with parents to support their disabled children’s social and school inclusion. An exploratory counseling study

This article synthesizes the long-lasting counseling process of a family with a child suffering from a chronic illness. The provided intervention model draws on a series of principles from various theoretical approaches, namely systemic, psychodynamic, and resiliency. Family functioning and support is considered a catalytic parameter in assisting children with disabilities to fully develop their potential. This project is based on a family and child-centered integrative counseling model adopting the nonmedical conception of disability. Through the presentation of a case study of a couple who faced a critical situation in the life of their child, this article briefly describes the way the family dynamics were readdressed through this intervention counseling model. In addition, this work attempts to give a picture of the complex and confusing emotional states parents may go through when dealing with physical and psychological health-threatening situations and present guidelines for integrated counseling models. © 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, LL

Mexican elites in the United States: An introductory investigation of privileged Mexicans in South Texas

Privileged Mexicans--first generation elite Mexican immigrants living in the United States-Mexican border--are herein described in terms of their cultural capital. Levels of assimilation are explored. A greater knowledge of this group, not yet fully appreciated in the literature, may advance sociological knowledge in a transitional region. The sample comprises wealthy, professional business people, architects, physicians, academicians, socialites, writers, artists and their families. Facilitated through interviews in Spanish, participant observation, and a detailed questionnaire, the study examines their attitudes toward South Texas, toward Mexican Americans, and evaluates the process of their integration into the community. Questions focus on religion, education, language, friendship ties, economic and institutional connections. Data gathered about privileged Mexicans suggest difficulties in relating to the masses, especially with Mexican Americans, and raise doubts about original suppositions about their potential influence

Dynamic Load Modelling Using Real Time Estimated States

Dynamic load models are necessary for accurate monitoring and control of the system during various events as well as for better understanding the behavior and the characteristics of the system. In this paper, a realistic approach of load modelling using real time estimated states is studied. Since Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) are not installed yet at every bus, a linear state estimator is used to provide the state of the buses without PMUs. The overall impact of the real time estimated states and the inaccurate load model parameters are studied on the IEEE 39-bus dynamic test system. In addition, the realistic approach of load modelling is enhanced by using various load types while errors that affect the estimated states, such as line parameter errors and measurement gross errors are also considered. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis with inaccurate load model parameters is performed to show their effect on the results of load modelling

The Theta Paradox: 4-8 Hz EEG Oscillations Reflect Both Sleep Pressure and Cognitive Control

Human electroencephalographic (EEG) oscillations characterize specific behavioral and vigilance states. The frequency of these oscillations is typically sufficient to distinguish a given state; however, theta oscillations (4-8 Hz) have instead been found in near-opposite conditions of drowsiness during sleep deprivation and alert cognitive control. While the latter has been extensively studied and is often referred to as "frontal midline theta," (fmTheta) the former has been investigated far less but is considered a marker for sleep pressure during wake. In this study we investigated to what extent theta oscillations differed during cognitive tasks and sleep deprivation. We measured high-density EEG in 18 young healthy adults (nine female) performing six tasks under three levels of sleep deprivation. We found both cognitive load and sleep deprivation increased theta power in medial prefrontal cortical areas; however, sleep deprivation caused additional increases in theta in many other, predominantly frontal, areas. The sources of sleep deprivation theta (sdTheta) were task dependent, with a visual-spatial task and short-term memory (STM) task showing the most widespread effects. Notably, theta was highest in supplementary motor areas during passive music listening, and highest in the inferior temporal cortex (responsible for object recognition) during a spatial game. Furthermore, while changes in task performance were correlated with increases in theta during sleep deprivation, this relationship was not specific to the EEG of the same task and did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. Altogether, these results suggest that both during sleep deprivation and cognition theta oscillations may preferentially occur in cortical areas not involved in ongoing behavior.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Electroencephalographic (EEG) research in sleep has often remained separate from research in cognition. This has led to two incompatible interpretations of the function of theta brain oscillations (4-8 Hz): that they reflect local sleep events during sleep deprivation, or that they reflect cognitive processing during tasks. With this study, we found no fundamental differences between theta oscillations during cognition and theta during sleep deprivation that would suggest different functions. Instead, our results indicate that in both cases, theta oscillations are generated by cortical areas not required for ongoing behavior. Therefore, at least in humans, theta may reflect either cortical disengagement or inhibition

miRNAs mediate SnRK1-dependent energy signaling in Arabidopsis

The SnRK1 protein kinase, the plant ortholog of mammalian AMPK and yeast Snf1, is activated by the energy depletion caused by adverse environmental conditions. Upon activation, SnRK1 triggers extensive transcriptional changes to restore homeostasis and promote stress tolerance and survival partly through the inhibition of anabolism and the activation of catabolism. Despite the identification of a few bZIP transcription factors as downstream effectors, the mechanisms underlying gene regulation, and in particular gene repression by SnRK1, remain mostly unknown. microRNAs (miRNAs) are 20-24 nt RNAs that regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally by driving the cleavage and/or translation attenuation of complementary mRNA targets. In addition to their role in plant development, mounting evidence implicates miRNAs in the response to environmental stress. Given the involvement of miRNAs in stress responses and the fact that some of the SnRK1-regulated genes are miRNA targets, we postulated that miRNAs drive part of the transcriptional reprogramming triggered by SnRK1. By comparing the transcriptional response to energy deprivation between WT and dcl1-9, a mutant deficient in miRNA biogenesis, we identified 831 starvation genes misregulated in the dcl1-9 mutant, out of which 155 are validated or predicted miRNA targets. Functional clustering analysis revealed that the main cellular processes potentially co-regulated by SnRK1 and miRNAs are translation and organelle function and uncover TCP transcription factors as one of the most highly enriched functional clusters. TCP repression during energy deprivation was impaired in miR319 knockdown (MIM319) plants, demonstrating the involvement of miR319 in the stress-dependent regulation of TCPs. Altogether, our data indicates that miRNAs are components of the SnRK1 signaling cascade contributing to the regulation of specific mRNA targets and possibly tuning down particular cellular processes during the stress response.FCT fellowships: (SFRH/BPD/47280/2008, SFRH/BD/33563/2008), EMBOLong-Term Fellowship, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Award, Max Planck Society funds, Marie Curie IRG grant, EMBO Installation grant (FCT), Marie Curie Actions FP7-People-2010-ITN

Stronger adaptive response among small-scale fishers experiencing greater climate change hazard exposure

Progressive climate-driven environmental changes are threatening the global livelihoods of small-scale fishers, yet how their adaptation responses vary in relation to hazard exposure is poorly understood. We use a systematic review approach to identify a global data set of 301 reported adaptation responses (remaining, adaptive, and transformative) of small-scale fishers to climate change and analyse their spatial agreement with estimated geographical location of global coastal hotspot areas for specific climate change hazards associated to those responses (long-term trends in sea surface temperature, cumulative intensity of marine heatwaves, frequency of tropical storms, and intensity of associated storm surges). Only 37% of responses were found in climate change hotspots. Despite this, our results evidence that fishers are responding more passively in areas with lower exposure levels to abrupt climatic events. The relative proportion of adaptive and transformative responses increase with climate change hazard exposure

Optimized detection of circulating anti-nuclear envelope autoantibodies by immunofluorescence

BACKGROUND: Antinuclear antibodies are useful diagnostic tools in several autoimmune diseases. However, the routine detection of nuclear envelope autoantibodies using immunofluorescence (IF) is not always easy to perform in patients' sera because of the presence of autoantibodies to other nuclear and cytoplasmic components which could mask the characteristic rim-like pattern of nuclear envelope autoantibodies. This is particularly common in sera from patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), which generaly have high titres of anti-mitochondrial antibodies. Therefore, we have assayed a number of commercial slides and alternative fixation conditions to optimize the detection of anti-nuclear envelope antibodies (ANEA) in PBC sera. METHODS: We have explored the presence of ANEA in 33 sera from patients with established PBC using three different Hep2 commercial slides and home-made slides with HeLa and Hep2 cells fixed with methanol, ethanol, 1% or 4% formaldehyde. RESULTS: We observed that the IF pattern was related to the cell type used (Hep2 or HeLa), the manufacturer and the cell fixation scheme. When both cell lines were fixed with 1% formaldehyde, the intensity of the cytoplasmic staining was considerably decreased regardless to the serum sample, whereas the prevalence of cytoplasmic autoantibodies was significantly lowered, as compared to any of the Hep2 commercial slide and fixation used. In addition, the prevalence of ANEA was importantly increased in formaldehyde-fixed cells. CONCLUSION: Immunofluorescence using appropriately fixed cells represent an easy, no time-consuming and low cost technique for the routine screening of sera for ANEA. Detection of ANEA is shown to be more efficient using formaldehyde-fixed cells instead of commercially available Hep2 cells

Fluorogenic tagging of protein 3-nitrotyrosine with 4-(aminomethyl)benzenesulfonate (ABS) in tissues: a useful alternative to immunohistochemistry for fluorescence microscopy imaging of protein nitration

Protein tyrosine nitration is a common biomarker of biological aging and diverse pathologies associated with the excessive formation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. Recently, we suggested a novel fluorogenic derivatization procedure for the detection of 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) using benzylamine derivatives to convert specifically protein or peptide bound 3-NT to a highly fluorescent benzoxazole product. In the current study, we applied this procedure to fluorogenic derivatization of protein 3-NT in sections from adult rat cerebellum in order to: (i) test this method in imaging nitrated proteins in fixed brain tissue sections, and (ii) compare the chemical approach to immunohistochemical labeling with anti-3-NT antibodies. Immunofluorescence analysis of cerebellar sections using anti-3-NT antibodies showed differential levels of immunostaining in the molecular, Purkinje, and granule cell layers of the cerebellar cortex; in agreement with previous reports, the Purkinje cells were most highly labeled. Importantly, fluorogenic derivatization reactions of cerebellar proteins with 4-(aminomethyl)benzenesulfonic acid (ABS) and K3Fe(CN)6 at pH 9, following sodium dithionite (SDT) reduction of 3-NT to 3-aminotyrosine (3-AT), showed a very similar pattern of relative intensity of cell labeling and improved resolution when compared with antibody labeling. Our data demonstrate that ABS-derivatization may be either a useful alternative or a complimentary approach to immunolabeling in imaging protein nitration in cells and tissues, including under conditions of dual labeling with antibodies to cell proteins, thus allowing for cellular co-localization of nitrated proteins and any protein of interest

C3G overexpression in glomerular epithelial cells during anti-GBM-induced glomerulonephritis

The guanine nucleotide exchange factor C3G, along with the CrkII adaptor protein, mediates GTP activation of the small GTPase proteins Rap1 and R-Ras, facilitating their activation of downstream signaling pathways, which had been found to be important in the pathogenesis of glomerulonephritis. We found that expression of C3G protein was upregulated in glomerular epithelial cells in an experimental model of accelerated anti-GBM antibody-induced glomerulonephritis expression. To determine the consequence of its increased expression, we transfected C3G (using adenoviral constructs) into cultured glomerular epithelial cells and measured the activated forms (i.e., GTP-bound) forms of Rap1 and R-Ras. Activation of Rap1 was not affected by C3G; however, the basal level of GTP-bound R-Ras was decreased. Further, C3G over-expression enhanced the activation of R-Ras in response to endothelin. Overexpression of C3G also led to a significant reduction in glomerular epithelial cell spreading and decreased the cells' E-cadherin expression and augmented their migration. We found that C3G was overexpressed in accelerated anti-GBM antibody-induced glomerulonephritis and suggest that this modulates glomerular epithelial cell morphology and behavior

Approche innovante pour concevoir un habitat capacitant pour personnes fragilisées

Carnets du Greps Université Lyon