Neutralising properties of peptides derived from CXCR4 extracellular loops towards CXCL12 binding towards both CXCR4 and CXCR7

Poster (2012, September 12)

L'Étap'. Une innovation locale face au décrochage scolaire

Scientific conference (2012, September 12)

Cette contribution présente les résultats d’une étude de cas exploratoire réalisée dans une école secondaire ayant créé trois dispositifs différents pour lutter contre des problèmes concrets tels que le ... [more ▼]

Cette contribution présente les résultats d’une étude de cas exploratoire réalisée dans une école secondaire ayant créé trois dispositifs différents pour lutter contre des problèmes concrets tels que le décrochage scolaire, l’absentéisme ou encore l'indiscipline, en tentant de trouver une alternative à la sanction et à l’exclusion. Il s’agira de décrire ces trois solutions concrètes, dont le dispositif d'accrochage scolaire interne "’Étap" est la partie la plus visible. À partir d’une sociologie de l’action organisée, nous rendrons compte des acteurs impliqués dans ces projets, des pratiques et des interactions à travers lesquelles ils les font fonctionner, et de l’organisation d’une action collective produite par des membres de l’établissement, car nous verrons que ces trois dispositifs sont intimement liés. [less ▲]

Mechanistic investigation and selectivity of the grafting onto C60 of macroradicals prepared by cobalt-mediated radical polymerization

in Polymer (2012), 53(20), 4353-4358

The grafting mechanism of poly(vinyl acetate) macroradicals prepared by cobalt-mediated radical polymerization onto C60 is investigated. The experimental conditions directly impact the nature and ... [more ▼]

The grafting mechanism of poly(vinyl acetate) macroradicals prepared by cobalt-mediated radical polymerization onto C60 is investigated. The experimental conditions directly impact the nature and stability of the PVAc/C60 adducts. In the presence of residual initiating radicals that can compete with PVAc! macroradicals for addition onto C60, mixtures of PVAc/C60 adducts having between one and eight polymer chains per C60 are formed. PVAc/C60 adducts prepared with low [PVAc]:[C60] ratios may contain weak C60-C60 bonds that further dissociate and account for the instability of the products. The formation of such dimers can be lessened by increasing the temperature from 30 !C to 100 !C. The temperature increase also allows a complete dissociation of the PVAc-Co dormant species into PVAc! macroradicals and an almost quantitative grafting of eight PVAc chains onto C60, leading to well-de!ned C60(PVAc)8 octa-adducts. These results might shed new light on the grafting onto C60 of macroradicals prepared by other CRP techniques. [less ▲]

Myelin-Derived Lipids Modulate Macrophage Activity by Liver X Receptor Activation

in PLoS ONE (2012), 7(9), 44998

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, inflammatory, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system in which macrophages and microglia play a central role. Foamy macrophages and microglia, containing ... [more ▼]

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, inflammatory, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system in which macrophages and microglia play a central role. Foamy macrophages and microglia, containing degenerated myelin, are abundantly found in active multiple sclerosis lesions. Recent studies have described an altered macrophage phenotype after myelin internalization. However, it is unclear by which mechanisms myelin affects the phenotype of macrophages and how this phenotype can influence lesion progression. Here we demonstrate, by using genome wide gene expression analysis, that myelin-phagocytosing macrophages have an enhanced expression of genes involved in migration, phagocytosis and inflammation. Interestingly, myelin internalization also induced the expression of genes involved in liver-X-receptor signaling and cholesterol efflux. In vitro validation shows that myelin-phagocytosing macrophages indeed have an increased capacity to dispose intracellular cholesterol. In addition, myelin suppresses the secretion of the pro-inflammatory mediator IL-6 by macrophages, which was mediated by activation of liver-X-receptor b. Our data show that myelin modulates the phenotype of macrophages by nuclear receptor activation, which may subsequently affect lesion progression in demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis. [less ▲]

Local climatological modeling of ionospheric irregularities detected by GPS in mid-latitude region

in Journal of Atmospheric & Solar-Terrestrial Physics (2012), 89

Some properties of abelian return words (long abstract)

Conference (2012, September 11)

We investigate some properties of abelian return words as recently introduced by Puzynina and Zamboni. In particular, we obtain a characterization of Sturmian words with non-null intercept in terms of the ... [more ▼]

We investigate some properties of abelian return words as recently introduced by Puzynina and Zamboni. In particular, we obtain a characterization of Sturmian words with non-null intercept in terms of the finiteness of the set of abelian return words to all prefixes. We describe this set of abelian returns for the Fibonacci word but also for the 2-automatic Thue–Morse word. We also investigate the relationship existing between abelian complexity and finiteness of the set of abelian returns to all prefixes. We end this paper by considering the notion of abelian derived sequence. It turns out that, for the Thue–Morse word, the set of abelian derived sequences is infinite. [less ▲]

On the concrete complexity of the successor function

Conference (2012, September 11)

We consider two kinds of questions about the successor function. The first one is concerned with the estimation of the length of the carry propagation when applying the successor map on the first n ... [more ▼]

We consider two kinds of questions about the successor function. The first one is concerned with the estimation of the length of the carry propagation when applying the successor map on the first n integers (or more generally on the first n elements in a given language). This leads to the notion of amortized (or average) carry propagation when applying the successor function. The second question is a computational issue: estimating the number of operations (in classical terms of Turing machines complexity) required to compute the representations of the first n integers from the first one by applying n times the successor function. This leads to the notion of (amortized) complexity, i.e., the average amount of computations required to obtain the successor of an element. [less ▲]

Thermally induced coupling of poly(thiophene)-based block copolymers prepared by Grignard metathesis polymerization: a straightforward route toward highly regioregular multiblock conjugated copolymers

in Macromolecules (2012), 45(17), 6796-6806

We report on a convenient and simple process to prepare highly regioregular poly(thiophene)-based multiblock copolymers by a novel thermally induced coupling reaction. Diblock copolymers of 3 ... [more ▼]

We report on a convenient and simple process to prepare highly regioregular poly(thiophene)-based multiblock copolymers by a novel thermally induced coupling reaction. Diblock copolymers of 3-hexylthiophene (3HT) and 2,5-dibromo-3-(2-(2-tetrahydropyranyl-2-oxy)ethyl)thiophene (THPET) end-capped by a nickel complex (Br-P3HT-b-PTHPET-Ni(dppp)Br) are first prepared using Ni(dppp)Cl2 as catalyst at 30 °C by Grignard metathesis polymerization (GRIM process). The coupling of these α-bromo, ω-Ni(dppp)Br telechelic diblock copolymers then occurs by heating the solution of the copolymer at 80 °C for a few hours without adding any additional reagent. Reactions are complete in only 10 min when heating the copolymer at 120 °C using microwaves. The deprotection of the alcohol groups of PTHPET blocks allows further modifications such as the incorporation of acrylates by esterification. AFM analysis on thin films shows the influence of the nature of side chains (protected alcohol or acrylate), the molecular weight, and the architecture (diblock or multiblock) of the copolymer on the supramolecular organization of the polythiophene chains. [less ▲]

Mesozoic marine reptile palaeobiogeography in response to drifting plates

Conference (2012, September 11)

Mesosaurus Broom, 1913, from the Early Permian, is the first aquatic reptile known in the fossil record. Its co-occurrence in both South Africa (South Africa) and South America (Brazil, Uruguay) made it ... [more ▼]

Mesosaurus Broom, 1913, from the Early Permian, is the first aquatic reptile known in the fossil record. Its co-occurrence in both South Africa (South Africa) and South America (Brazil, Uruguay) made it one of the key-fossils - with the pteridospermatophyta plant Glossopteris - used by the German meteorologist / geophysician Alfred Wegener to support his theory of the Continental Drift (Kontinentalverschiebung), first published in 1912. But Mesosaurus was only the “tip of the iceberg” as, during the Mesozoic, various clades of reptiles massively invaded the aquatic, and more especially, the marine realm. They were highly diversified both systematically and ecologically, and some of them were large top-predators of the marine ecosystems. The main groups were, in order of appearance in the fossil record, Ichthyosauria (earliest Triassic – early Late Cretaceous), Sauropterygia (nothosaurs, pachypleurosaurs, placodonts, plesiosaurs; Early Triassic – latest Cretaceous), Thalattosauria (Middle-Late Triassic), Pleurosauria (Early Jurassic–Early Cretaceous), as well as, among others, several lineages of Chelonians (e.g. chelonioids, bothremydids, “thalassemyds”), Crocodyliformes (thalattosuchians, dyrosaurids, pholidosaurids, gavialoids) and Squamates (mosasauroids, “dolichosaurs”, marine snakes). During the Mesozoic, the palaeobiogeographical distributions and the dispersion events of these marine reptiles closely followed the break-off of the Pangea induced by plate tectonic movements. Although marine reptiles can help in determining the possible date of opening of marine corridors, the information they provide are less precise than that delivered by terrestrial faunas, as the marine realm is a more open system and various migration ways are always possible. Generally, the Triassic taxa were animals with a restricted palaeobiogeographical distribution living near the coastlines of the Pangea. From the end of the Triassic and during the Jurassic, the break-off of the Pangea resulted in the formation of large marine corridors, allowing open-sea marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and crocodyliformes to spread out over large distances. As an example, similar marine reptile faunas are known from the Jurassic of Europe and southern South America, as a result of dispersion events via the Hispanic Corridor that connected the Tethys / North Atlantic and Pacific realms at this time. During the Cretaceous, and notably with the expansion of the Atlantic Ocean, most of these reptiles were cosmopolite and open-sea forms (plesiosaurs, mosasaurid squamates, chelonioid turtles). However, even if large faunal interchanges were possible, some provinces such as the Northern and Southern margins of the Tethys were characterized by a peculiar faunal identity, notably concerning mosasaurids, despite the apparent absence of barriers. So, if Continental Drift enabled circulation and faunal interchanges, other parameters such as ecological constraints probably also played a role in the distribution of these marine reptile faunas. [less ▲]

Some calcareous grasslands plant species harbor higher reproductive performances in restored habitats compared to reference habitats

Conference (2012, September 11)