Natural hazards, disasters and local development

International audienceThis publication is aimed at individuals and institutions aware of the need to integrate reconstruction programs as part of a strategy to achieve the sustainable improvement of the living conditions of populations. The objective of this document is to show the interest, relevance and potential of local materials in at-risk situations but also and particularly to demonstrate that ignoring or banning the use of local materials and their associated know-how, as part of reconstruction, risk prevention and management or development projects, inevitably leads to even more vulnerable and dependent affected (or likely to be affected) populations. Beyond housing reconstruction, the idea is to implement sustainable conditions for better prevention and risk preparedness, for and by local populations, by taking into account and valorizing their knowledge and know-how: their own building culture. Through the organization of seminars and international meetings, and with the proliferation of operational partnerships in the field, our team was able to begin structuring the knowledge in the field. This document is therefore intended to present the conclusions of a shared reflection process. The theoretical and methodological elements proposed are illustrated by case studies of several recent initiatives, reflecting the different approaches developed and their results. This document does not provide instructions to be followed, but is intended as a basis for reflection. It opens new doors into more effective programs of reconstruction and prevention in high-risk area

Conserved Regulation of p53 Network Dosage by MicroRNA–125b Occurs through Evolving miRNA–Target Gene Pairs

MicroRNAs regulate networks of genes to orchestrate cellular functions. MiR-125b, the vertebrate homologue of the Caenorhabditis elegans microRNA lin-4, has been implicated in the regulation of neural and hematopoietic stem cell homeostasis, analogous to how lin-4 regulates stem cells in C. elegans. Depending on the cell context, miR-125b has been proposed to regulate both apoptosis and proliferation. Because the p53 network is a central regulator of both apoptosis and proliferation, the dual roles of miR-125b raise the question of what genes in the p53 network might be regulated by miR-125b. By using a gain- and loss-of-function screen for miR-125b targets in humans, mice, and zebrafish and by validating these targets with the luciferase assay and a novel miRNA pull-down assay, we demonstrate that miR-125b directly represses 20 novel targets in the p53 network. These targets include both apoptosis regulators like Bak1, Igfbp3, Itch, Puma, Prkra, Tp53inp1, Tp53, Zac1, and also cell-cycle regulators like cyclin C, Cdc25c, Cdkn2c, Edn1, Ppp1ca, Sel1l, in the p53 network. We found that, although each miRNA–target pair was seldom conserved, miR-125b regulation of the p53 pathway is conserved at the network level. Our results lead us to propose that miR-125b buffers and fine-tunes p53 network activity by regulating the dose of both proliferative and apoptotic regulators, with implications for tissue stem cell homeostasis and oncogenesis

Triangle network motifs predict complexes by complementing high-error interactomes with structural information

BackgroundA lot of high-throughput studies produce protein-protein interaction networks (PPINs) with many errors and missing information. Even for genome-wide approaches, there is often a low overlap between PPINs produced by different studies. Second-level neighbors separated by two protein-protein interactions (PPIs) were previously used for predicting protein function and finding complexes in high-error PPINs. We retrieve second level neighbors in PPINs, and complement these with structural domain-domain interactions (SDDIs) representing binding evidence on proteins, forming PPI-SDDI-PPI triangles.ResultsWe find low overlap between PPINs, SDDIs and known complexes, all well below 10%. We evaluate the overlap of PPI-SDDI-PPI triangles with known complexes from Munich Information center for Protein Sequences (MIPS). PPI-SDDI-PPI triangles have ~20 times higher overlap with MIPS complexes than using second-level neighbors in PPINs without SDDIs. The biological interpretation for triangles is that a SDDI causes two proteins to be observed with common interaction partners in high-throughput experiments. The relatively few SDDIs overlapping with PPINs are part of highly connected SDDI components, and are more likely to be detected in experimental studies. We demonstrate the utility of PPI-SDDI-PPI triangles by reconstructing myosin-actin processes in the nucleus, cytoplasm, and cytoskeleton, which were not obvious in the original PPIN. Using other complementary datatypes in place of SDDIs to form triangles, such as PubMed co-occurrences or threading information, results in a similar ability to find protein complexes.ConclusionGiven high-error PPINs with missing information, triangles of mixed datatypes are a promising direction for finding protein complexes. Integrating PPINs with SDDIs improves finding complexes. Structural SDDIs partially explain the high functional similarity of second-level neighbors in PPINs. We estimate that relatively little structural information would be sufficient for finding complexes involving most of the proteins and interactions in a typical PPIN

Epithelial, metabolic and innate immunity transcriptomic signatures differentiating the rumen from other sheep and mammalian gastrointestinal tract tissues

Background. Ruminants are successful herbivorous mammals, in part due to their specialized forestomachs, the rumen complex, which facilitates the conversion of feed to soluble nutrients by micro-organisms. Is the rumen complex a modified stomach expressing new epithelial (cornification) and metabolic programs, or a specialised stratified epithelium that has acquired new metabolic activities, potentially similar to those of the colon? How has the presence of the rumen affected other sections of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of ruminants compared to non-ruminants? Methods. Transcriptome data from 11 tissues covering the sheep GIT, two stratified epithelial and two control tissues, was analysed using principal components to cluster tissues based on gene expression profile similarity. Expression profiles of genes along the sheep GIT were used to generate a network to identify genes enriched for expression in different compartments of the GIT. The data from sheep was compared to similar data sets from two non-ruminants, pigs (closely related) and humans (more distantly related). Results. The rumen transcriptome clustered with the skin and tonsil, but not the GIT transcriptomes, driven by genes from the epidermal differentiation complex, and genes encoding stratified epithelium keratins and innate immunity proteins. By analysing all of the gene expression profiles across tissues together 16 major clusters were identified. The strongest of these, and consistent with the high turnover rate of the GIT, showed a marked enrichment of cell cycle process genes (P = 1.4 E−46), across the whole GIT, relative to liver and muscle, with highest expression in the caecum followed by colon and rumen. The expression patterns of several membrane transporters (chloride, zinc, nucleosides, amino acids, fatty acids, cholesterol and bile acids) along the GIT was very similar in sheep, pig and humans. In contrast, short chain fatty acid uptake and metabolism appeared to be different between the species and different between the rumen and colon in sheep. The importance of nitrogen and iodine recycling in sheep was highlighted by the highly preferential expression of SLC14A1-urea (rumen), RHBG-ammonia (intestines) and SLC5A5-iodine (abomasum). The gene encoding a poorly characterized member of the maltase-glucoamylase family (MGAM2), predicted to play a role in the degradation of starch or glycogen, was highly expressed in the small and large intestines. Discussion. The rumen appears to be a specialised stratified cornified epithelium, probably derived from the oesophagus, which has gained some liver-like and other specialized metabolic functions, but probably not by expression of pre-existing colon metabolic programs. Changes in gene transcription downstream of the rumen also appear have occurred as a consequence of the evolution of the rumen and its effect on nutrient composition flowing down the GIT

Le facteur séisme dans l'architecture vernaculaire:un décryptage entre déterminants culturels, types de structures et ressources cognitives parasismiques

A large part of ancient built environments in earthquake prone areas have been accomplished exclusively thanks to the experience that their builders developed over centuries of practice. Several of the resulting techniques have showed a satisfactory performance during earthquakes, attesting sometimes of risk cultures. Nowadays, the seismic phenomenon is not systematically considered as a factor that might have been taken into account by ancient builders. A lack of knowledge about vernacular building cultures and their correlation with these phenomena raises the probability that interventions on ancient built stock and prevention activities do not take advantage of site potentialities, even increasing its vulnerability. These issues have been investigated on the basis of the following research assumption: decoding the link between vernacular architecture and earthquakes considering cultural, structural and cognitive aspects, could contribute to reduce the vulnerability of people and ancient built environments, thanks to an in-depth understanding of mechanisms and dynamics supporting their resilience. Thus, this research aimed at highlighting questions and arguments fostering the appreciation of inventiveness inherent to past building cultures and enhancing their value in contemporary practice. Correlation factors between vernacular built environment and seismic phenomena have been explored through three research axes. The first one considers cultural determinants, namely the aspects that have a marked impact on the society reactions to earthquakes. The second one investigates types of vernacular structures that could be qualified as paraseismic. The third research axe concerns cognitive resources regarding effectiveness of a particular building practice implemented in many seismic regions, based on the integration of horizontal wood elements in masonry walls. The exploration of these axes has been accomplished through literature review and field studies considering vernacular built environment from multiple perspectives. It has been perceived as an environment permeated by resilience strategies referred to measures reducing building vulnerability and to precautionary behaviours adopted by populations (L'Aquila Province, Italy). At the same time, buildings have been examined as testimony of structural solutions adapted to the historical seismicity of the area (territory of North Anatolian Fault, Turkey), and as the expression of knowledge closely related to horizontal forces effects (Ohrid Lake region, Macedonia & Albania). Findings from this research highlight the potential of an approach questioning aspects referred to perception, technique and knowledge. Decoding the link between vernacular architecture and earthquakes as between cultural determinants, types of structures and cognitive resources, thus becomes a source of substantial and contextualized elements from which develop resilience strategies that are multi- and trans-disciplinary

Learning from vernacular building practices: a starting point for risk mitigation

In most natural disaster prone areas, vernacular builders have implemented affordable strategies that have proven to perform adequately during natural hazards. Learning from these practices represents a great potential to further strengthen the resilience of contemporary societies dealing with these risks. This paper presents an approach for the identification and the valorisation of disaster resilient local building practices on the basis of two methodologies developed for the analysis of vernacular building cultures in risk prone areas. One focuses on issues concerning the exploration of vernacular architecture seismic performance; the other explores the relation between building technical features and factors influencing the resilience of communities living in areas affected by various types of natural hazards. This combined approach aims to explore and put forward ways to further benefit from the inventiveness inherent to vernacular building cultures in order to pragmatically contribute to the vulnerability reduction process of present-day built environment

From Kutcha to Pucca. Proposition de reconstruction d'habitats résistant aux calamités naturelles pour les villages de l'Orissa (Kendrapara District, Orissa State, Inde)

Situé sur la côte orientale du subcontinent indien, Orissa est l'Etat le plus pauvre de toute l'Inde. Sa pauvreté se manifeste explicitement dans la précarité des habitations en terre et en paille des zones rurales, périodiquement détruites par des catastrophes naturelles. C'est donc dans un contexte caractérisé par une précarité qui s'étend au-delà du domaine de l'habitat, et par une extrême vulnérabilité aux calamités naturelles, que notre projet se situe. Il représente une tentative de contribuer à une amélioration des conditions de vie de la population rurale, en faisant face à la fragilité des habitations actuelles, et en essayant de valoriser les potentialités présentes in situ. Notre proposition a, donc, comme objet la conception d'habitats adéquats et protégés, à travers la définition d'un système constructif low-cost, qui soit spatialement flexible, pour s'adapter aux exigences des habitants, et qui soit résistant à l'impact des calamités naturelles, pour s'adapter aux conditions environnementales

Aléas naturels, catastrophes et développement local

Cet ouvrage porte sur le rôle de la communauté internationale et des décideurs locaux dans le cadre des réponses à apporter face aux catastrophes naturelles. Il s'adresse donc plus particulièrement à ceux, individus ou institutions, qui ont conscience de la nécessité d'inscrire les programmes de reconstruction dans une perspective de développement durable. Ce document ne propose pas de recettes, mais une base de réflexion sur le sujet, ainsi que des éléments de méthode. Il ouvre des pistes nouvelles, vers plus d'efficacité des programmes de reconstruction et de prévention, dans les zones à risque

Riesgos naturales, Catástrofes y Desarrollo local: Estrategias integradas para la gestión de riesgos a través del fortalecimiento de dinámicas locales : de la reconstrucción a la prevención

International audienceEste libro es para todas las personas e instituciones que han reconocido la necesidad de integrar los programas de reconstrucción en una perspectiva de mejora sostenible de las condiciones de vida de poblaciones en contextos de riesgo. El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar el interés, la pertinencia y el potencial de los materiales locales, pero sobre todo demostrar que ignorar, o incluso prohibir el uso de materiales y conocimientos técnicos locales en proyectos asociados con la reconstrucción, gestión y prevención de riesgos o el desarrollo conduce inevitablemente a que las poblaciones afectadas resulten aún más vulnerables y dependientes. Más allá de la reconstrucción de la vivienda, la idea es establecer condiciones sostenibles para una mejor prevención y preparación ante el riesgo de parte la población local, teniendo en cuenta y valorando sus conocimientos: es decir, su cultura constructiva. A través de la organización de seminarios y reuniones internacionales, y con la difusión de asociaciones operativas en el campo, nuestro equipo fue capaz de comenzar a estructurar conocimientos sobre el tema. Este libro pretende así hacer un balance de esta reflexión compartida. Los elementos teóricos y metodológicos propuestos se ilustran mediante estudios de caso de varias iniciativas recientes que reflejan los enfoques desarrollados y los resultados que ofrecen. Este documento no propone recetas, sino una base para la reflexión sobre el tema, abriendo nuevas vías a programas más eficaces de reconstrucción y prevención en zonas de riesgo