FIMCAR III: Car-to-Car Test Results

The assessment of compatibility in frontal impacts has to address the importance of different vehicle structures. A critical component in the assessment is to identify, quantitatively, what constitutes good performing structures. In particular, the concepts of structural alignment and structural interaction need to be investigated. Structural alignment is incorporated in the FIMCAR candidate compatibility assessments to achieve geometric alignment of identifiable crashworthiness structures. Structural interaction is also a global assessment of how structures interact with a collision partner during the crash. The performance of lower vehicle structures in a crash has been identified as important as they may not be evaluated in a structural alignment assessment, but can contribute to structural interaction and thereby improve collision outcome. There has been, however, no clear definition of the characteristics for lower load paths that improve vehicle safety and how these structures manifest themselves in proposed test procedures. FIMCAR has developed a vehicle crash test program that investigates the performance of vehicle structures using three different test series. The first test series used Super mini vehicles with different front end architectures. These tests with, and without, geometric alignment allowed the effectiveness of a lower load path to be compared to a case without a lower load path. A second set of tests investigated the importance of lower load paths for SUV type vehicles where the main front structures may not align with the main structures in a collision partner, but a lower load path may offset the consequences of this initial misalignment. A final test series investigated how the lower load paths in higher SUV type vehicles influence safety in side impact conditions and thus identify potential side effects of a new assessment procedure. Results of the test program show that the presence of a lower load path contributes to a more robust performance of the vehicle. The rearward offset of a lower load path could be reviewed and used to quantify when a lower structure design can contribute to structural interaction in both frontal and side impact configurations

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Hypomagnésémie chez les enfants transplantés

ANGERS-BU Médecine-Pharmacie (490072105) / SudocSudocFranceF

Archean inheritance in the juvenile Paleoproterozoic (Birimian) domain of Rise Man : Geochemical and geodynamical implications

International audienceThe juvenile character of Birimian rocks of the Baoulé-Mossi domain is well established and the Birimian occupies a specific place in the evolution of the continental lithosphere between 2.5 and 1.9 Ga with a paroxysm at 2.1 Ga. Thus, this juvenile character has led many authors to evoke a tectonic context as oceanic plateaus, very far from Archean continent for the genesis of the Baoulé-Mossi domain, without any contamination. For others, the genesis of the Baoulé-Mossi domain is made with a high interaction of the Archean continent, particularly in a rifting context. Recent works based on thermo-mechanical models stipulate that the exhumation of metasediment lying on TTG basement is triggered by folding/shortening and gravitational instabilities in volcanic island arcs environment. Our geochemical and geochronological data obtained in the Transition Zone (TZ) of the Baoulé-Mossi domain indicate the existence of Archean components inheritance in the basement gneisses, the granitoids and the volcanites. The εNd are often negative or fairly positive (εNd = ±1) and the TDM model ages are sometimes older than 2500 Ma. Mixing model calculations carried out on the samples would indicate an average contribution of Archean crust from 5 to 20% in the Birimian magmatism, leading to a decrease of εNd (2.1Ga) from +5.5 to +2.5 on average. This contribution could reach or pass 30% for the Dabakalian rocks and in this case, the εNd (2.1Ga) can be smaller than -2. In-situ zircon dating (SIMS and ICPMS-LA) and evaporated zircon age (TIMS) highlight effectively Archean inheritance (2.6 to 2.9 Ga) in Dabakalian tonalitic gneiss (2.25 Ga), partially remobilized during Birimian sensu stricto event (2.08 Ga). The present results in the TZ and those obtained in the Eglab (Reguibat Rise) lead us to support a rifting model of an Archean protocontinent for the genesis of the Baoulé-Mossi domain. This rifting was probably occurring during Archean at ca 3.0-2.7 Ga with oceanization. The recycling of the Archean crust during the rifting will contaminate later the juvenile Dabakalian and Birimian magmas at respective rates of 30 and 15%. More thought must be given on the Archean crustal contribution in the genesis of the Birimian mineralization. Up to now, no more study seems to reveal Archean relics in Birimian mineralization. Investigations should be initiated in the Birimian ore deposits located In the Kenema-Man domain to highlight such interaction

The oldest rock of Ivory Coast

International audienceThe tonalitic gneiss of Balmer (TGB), in the SASCA area of south-western Ivory Coast, previously dated at 3141 ± 2 Ma using the single zircon evaporation method, is regarded as a relic of Archean rock within the Paleoproterozoic (Birimian) formation of the West African Craton (WAC). We present new geochronological data for the TGB using the laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) method. We obtain a U–Pb age of 3207 ± 7 Ma for abundant zircons extracted from the tonalitic gneiss, and interpret this age as that of the magmatic protolith because of the igneous-type homogeneous zircon population. Certain magmatic zircon edges and some round zircons define an upper intercept age of 3155 ± 17 Ma which could represent overgrowths during gneissification. It appears that the TGB was not affected by the events posterior to its genesis, i.e. the Liberian (2.9–2.7 Ga) and Eburnean (2.4–2.0 Ga) events. Additionally, the TGB proves to be a juvenile Leonian rock, as indicated by the Nd model age of 3456 Ma, and could also constitute the protolith of the granulitic grey gneisses and charnockites of the Man area, which are 150–400 Ma younger

The Logoualé Band: A large Archean crustal block in the Kenema-Man domain (Man-Leo rise, West African Craton) remobilized during Eburnean orogeny (2.05 Ga)

International audienceThe Archean domain of the Man Rise was strongly remobilized during Eburnean coincidentally with the genesis of the Baoulé-Mossi domain (Birimian). This remobilization has allowed the recycling of Leonian and Liberian formations to generate a large gneissic crust, represented by the Logoualé Band. Zircons dates by laser ablation (LA-ICP-MS) of two samples of biotite-bearing pink gneisses of the Logoualé Band yielded ages of 2709 ± 15 and 2804 ± 11 Ma, confirming the Archean age of the Logoualé Band formations. The Eburnean tectono-metamorphic event in the Logoualé Band has totally reset both U-Th-Pb chronometer with an average age at 2050 ± 16 Ma in recrystallized zones of monazites, and Sm-Nd chronometer of garnets with an age at 2053 ± 15 Ma. Non-recrystallized zones of monazites give an average age at 2712 ± 16 Ma. We propose that the Logoualé Band rocks were originally sediments deposited in some protocratonic rift-type basins. During Eburnean, these sediments were buried, underwent high-grade metamorphism and exhumed in a tectonic context dominated by transcurrent motion. The structural setting of banded iron formations (iron deposits), which are abundant in the Logoualé Band, would date back to the Eburnean

A BBS1 SVA F retrotransposon insertion is a frequent cause of Bardet-Biedl syndrome

Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a ciliopathy characterized by retinitis pigmentosa, obesity, polydactyly, cognitive impairment and renal failure. Pathogenic variants in 24 genes account for the molecular basis of >80% of cases. Toward saturated discovery of the mutational basis of the disorder, we carefully explored our cohorts and identified a hominid-specific SINE-R/VNTR/Alu type F (SVA-F) insertion in exon 13 of BBS1 in eight families. In six families, the repeat insertion was found in trans with c.1169 T > G, p.Met390Arg and in two families the insertion was found in addition to other recessive BBS loci. Whole genome sequencing, de novo assembly and SNP array analysis were performed to characterize the genomic event. This insertion is extremely rare in the general population (found in 8 alleles of 8 BBS cases but not in >10 800 control individuals from gnomAD-SV) and due to a founder effect. Its 2435 bp sequence contains hallmarks of LINE1 mediated retrotransposition. Functional studies with patient-derived cell lines confirmed that the BBS1 SVA-F is deleterious as evidenced by a significant depletion of both mRNA and protein levels. Such findings highlight the importance of dedicated bioinformatics pipelines to identify all types of variation

L’expérimentation animale reste indispensable (OPINION)

Trop fréquemment, l’expérimentation animale est présentée comme une pratique archaïque. Elle a bien changé. Et 100 % des patients traités le sont grâce aux concepts et techniques développés grâce à elle