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Selection at the GSDMC locus in horses and its implications for human mobility
No full textInternational audienceHorsepower revolutionized human history through enhanced mobility, transport, and warfare. However, the suite of biological traits that reshaped horses during domestication remains unclear. Here, we scanned an extensive horse genome time series for selection signatures at 266 markers associated with key traits. We detected a signature of positive selection at ZFPM1, known to be a modulator of behavior in mice, occurring ~5,000 ya, suggesting that taming was amongst the earliest step towards domestication of horse. Intensive selection at GSDMC began ~4,750 ya during the domestication bottleneck, with regulatory variants rising to high frequency by ~4,150 ya. GSDMC genotypes are linked to body conformation in horses and to spinal anatomy, motor coordination, and muscular strength in mice. Our results suggest that selection on standing variation at GSDMC was crucial for the emergence of horses that could facilitate fast mobility in human societies ~4,200 ya
Direct estimation of earthquake source properties from a single CCTV camera
No full textInternational audienceWe present a direct measurement of the slip-rate function from a natural coseismic rupture, recorded on 28 March 2025, during the moment magnitude ( M w ) 7.7 Mandalay earthquake (Myanmar). This measurement was made using video footage of the surface rupture captured by a closed-circuit television (CCTV) security camera located only meters away from the fault trace. Using direct image analysis, we measured the relative slip at each time step and deduced the slip rate. Our results show a local slip duration of 1.4 seconds and a cumulative slip of ~3 meters, during which surface slip velocity peaked at ~3.5 meters per second with passage of the rupture front. These findings demonstrate the pulse-like nature of the seismic rupture at the location of the recording. Using slip-pulse elastodynamic rupture models, we obtained the complete mechanical properties of this pulse, including the energy release rate
La primauté de l’agent en allemand et français à l’épreuve des 3 S : statut, syntaxe, saillance
No full textInternational audienceLe principe agent en premier est un principe universel de la cognition humaine qui conduit à accorder plus d’attention à l’entité X agissante dans un événement du type « X humain agit sur Y humain » et à exprimer cette scène au moyen d’une phrase dont le premier élément est un nom animé qui a le rôle d’agent (Griffin & Bock 2000). Plusieurs études linguistiques et/ou oculométriques ont montré ou suggéré que ce principe est une variable déterminante mais en interaction avec d’autres : le sens de lecture pratiqué (Essaulova et al. 2021), la flexibilité syntaxique de la langue utilisée (Cristante & Schimke 2020, Lee & Doherty 2019), la saillance visuelle de l’entité agissante (Hafri et al. 2023, Isasi-Isasmendi et al. 2018) et le statut de la langue utilisée dans le répertoire multilingue, première ou pas (Klein & Perdue 1997). Cependant ces résultats reposent sur quelques études dans un ensemble réduit de langues et de designs expérimentaux, d’autres études empiriques sont nécessaires pour mieux comprendre la cognition multilingue. Nous proposons une tâche de production avec suivi du regard. Partant des hypothèses selon lesquelles les phénomènes liés à ‘agent-first’ sont favorisés par l’usage d’une langue non première (Ln), d’une langue à sujet initial et par la localisation de l’entité agissante à gauche du participant, nous avons ainsi comparé le comportement verbal et oculaire de 44 adultes (18-26 ans) selon trois variables principales : le statut d’acquisition de la langue utilisée, opérationnalisé par un score de maîtrise (test ELAO), son statut syntaxique (français SVO vs allemand V2) et la saillance visuelle de l’entité agissante dans les 6 scènes cibles coiffer, laver, masser, frapper, pincer, pousser (à gauche et plus grand vs droite et plus petit). Les variables dépendantes utilisées sont la diathèse et la durée de fixation de l’agent. Les premiers résultats des descriptions orales des 22 adultes de L1 allemand montrent que lorsque l’entité agissante est à droite (condition défavorable), l’agent est en position initiale dans 80.5 % des énoncés descriptifs en L1 et dans 53.3 % des énoncés en français L2, ce qui va à l’encontre de l’hypothèse selon laquelle le principe agent en premier est plus fréquent en L2 qu’en L1. Ces résultats doivent être complétés par l’analyse, en cours, des descriptions du groupe français L1/allemand L2 et des mouvements oculaires mais ils montrent déjà que la mise en œuvre du principe « agent first » est tributaire du statut de la langue utilisée, dans un sens opposé à celui attendu. Cristante, V., & Schimke, S. (2020). The processing of passive sentences in German : Evidence from an eye-tracking study with seven- and ten-year-olds and adults. Language, Interaction and Acquisition, 11(2), 163‑195. https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.19013.criEsaulova, Y., Dolscheid, S., Reuters, S., & Penke, M. (2021). The Alignment of Agent-First Preferences with Visual Event Representations : Contrasting German and Arabic. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 50. https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/record/2952757Griffin, Z. M., & Bock, K. (2000). What the Eyes Say About Speaking. Psychological Science, 11(4), 274‑279. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00255Hafri, A., Trueswell, J. C., & Strickland, B. (2018). Encoding of event roles from visual scenes is rapid, spontaneous, and interacts with higher-level visual processing. Cognition, 175, 36‑52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.02.011Isasi-Isasmendi, A., Andrews, C., Flecken, M., Laka, I., Daum, M. M., Meyer, M., Bickel, B., & Sauppe, S. (2023). The Agent Preference in Visual Event Apprehension. Open Mind: Discoveries in Cognitive Science, 7, 240‑282. https://doi.org/10.1162/opmi_a_00083Klein, W., & Perdue, C. (1997). The Basic Variety (or: Couldn’t natural languages be much simpler?).Second Language Research13, 301-347. Lee, J., & Doherty, S. (2019). Native and nonnative processing of active and passive sentences: The effects of processing instruction on the allocation of visual attention. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 41(4), 853-879
Dissolution Trends of Platinum-Based Intermetallic Nanocatalysts toward the Acidic Oxygen Reduction Reaction
No full textInternational audienc
Influence of geographical accessibility to specialist and primary care givers on excess mortality of multiple sclerosis patients in France
No full textInternational audienceAccess to healthcare and socioeconomic deprivation are intricately linked. No studies have been led to measure the effect of healthcare accessibility on mortality in patients with MS so far. The objective was to examine the influence of travel time to the expert MS centre and of the accessibility to primary healthcare services on excess mortality in MS.A retrospective observational cohort study recruited patients from 18 French MS expert centres, with an onset of MS between 1960 and 2015 and a follow-up of up to 30 years. Primary health facility accessibility was measured by the Spatial aCcessibility multiscAlar index. Specialist care accessibility was measured by road travel time to the expert MS centre. Excess death rates (EDR) and excess hazard ratios were studied using additive excess hazard models with multidimensional penalised splines.The study included 33,697 patients. Patients with relapsing-onset MS (R-MS) with a travel time of 40 min had the lowest EDR (Men: 1.2 deaths per 100 person-years (95%CI [0.8;1.8]), women: 0.8 deaths per 100 person-years 95%CI[0.6;1.2]), lower than patients who lived further from the centre. No effect of primary care access was found for patients with R-MS, and no effect of accessibility to primary or specialised care was found for patients with primary progressive MS.Conclusion: This study reveals the impact of travel time to neurologists on excess mortality in patients with R-MS in France. This distance bias association highlights the importance of preventing a potential selection of patients followed in MS expert centres
Euclid preparation. Cosmology Likelihood for Observables in Euclid (CLOE). 6: Impact of systematic uncertainties on the cosmological analysis
No full textInternational audienceExtracting cosmological information from the Euclid galaxy survey will require modelling numerous systematic effects during the inference process. This implies varying a large number of nuisance parameters, which have to be marginalised over before reporting the constraints on the cosmological parameters. This is a delicate process, especially with such a large parameter space, which could result in biased cosmological results. In this work, we study the impact of different choices for modelling systematic effects and prior distribution of nuisance parameters for the final Euclid Data Release, focusing on the 32pt analysis for photometric probes and the galaxy power spectrum multipoles for the spectroscopic probes. We explore the effect of intrinsic alignments, linear galaxy bias, magnification bias, multiplicative cosmic shear bias and shifts in the redshift distribution for the photometric probes, as well as the purity of the spectroscopic sample. We find that intrinsic alignment modelling has the most severe impact with a bias up to on the Hubble constant if neglected, followed by mis-modelling of the redshift evolution of galaxy bias, yielding up to on the parameter . Choosing a too optimistic prior for multiplicative bias can also result in biases of the order of on . We also find that the precision on the estimate of the purity of the spectroscopic sample will be an important driver for the constraining power of the galaxy clustering full-shape analysis. These results will help prioritise efforts to improve the modelling and calibration of systematic effects in Euclid
Dual Opioid–Neuropeptide FF Small Molecule Ligands Demonstrate Analgesia with Reduced Tolerance Liabilities
No full textInternational audienceNeuropeptide FF (NPFF) receptor antagonists prevent morphine-mediated antinociceptive tolerance, and compounds with dual mu opioid receptor (MOR) agonist and NPFF antagonist activity produce antinociception without tolerance. Compounds synthesized showed affinities in radioligand competition binding assays in the nM and µM range at the opioid and NPFF receptors, respectively, and displayed substitution-dependent functional profiles in the [35S]GTPγS functional assay. From six compounds screened in vivo for antinociception and ability to prevent NPFF-induced hyperalgesia in mouse warm water tail withdrawal tests, compound 22b produced dose-dependent MOR-mediated antinociception with an ED50 value (and 95% confidence interval) of 6.88 (4.71–9.47) nmol, i.c.v., and also prevented NPFF-induced hyperalgesia. Meanwhile, 22b did not demonstrate the respiratory depression, hyperlocomotion, or impaired intestinal transit of morphine. Moreover, repeated treatment with 22b produced a 1.6-fold rightward shift in antinociceptive dose response, significantly less acute antinociceptive tolerance than morphine. Evaluated for microsomal stability in vitro and in vivo pharmacokinetic profile, 22b showed suitable microsomal stability paired in vivo with a large apparent volume of distribution and a clearance smaller than the hepatic flow in rats, suggesting no extra-hepatic metabolism. In conclusion, the present study confirms that dual-action opioid–NPFF ligands may offer therapeutic promise as analgesics with fewer liabilities of use
On the instability of local learning algorithms: Q-learning can fail in infinite state spaces
No full textWe investigate the challenges of applying model-free reinforcement learning algorithms, like online Q-learning, to infinite state space Markov Decision Processes (MDPs). We first introduce the notion of Local Learning Processes (LLPs), where agents make decisions based solely on local information, and we show that Q-learning can be seen as a specific instance of an LLP. Using renewal techniques, we analyze LLPs and demonstrate their instability under certain drift and initial conditions, revealing fundamental limitations in infinite state spaces. In particular, we show that while asymptotically optimal in finite settings, Q-learning can face instability and strict sub-optimality in infinite spaces. Our findings are illustrated through queueing system examples drawn from load balancing and server allocation. The study underscores the need for new theoretical frameworks and suggests future research into nonlocal Q-learning variants
Na2Fe3(SO4)4: a zero-strain sustainable positive electrode material for Na-Ion batteries
No full textInternational audienceOne of the challenges in the energy transition is minimization of the battery cost for energy grid storage. Na-ion batteries are a promising alternative to Li-based analogues thanks to low cost, abundance of constituents, and an already set-up industry. However, already commercialized positive electrode materials for Na-ion batteries (Na3V2(PO4)2F3 and NaxCu1-y-zFeyMnzO2) contain critical raw elements such as V, Cu, and Mn, boosting the research towards abundant Fe-based materials. In this work, we report a novel sodium iron sulfate phase, Na2Fe3(SO4)4 (NFS), synthesized by ball milling, as a positive electrode material. This new compound crystallizes in the orthorhombic Pbca space group with cell parameters a = 9.682(1) Å, b = 8.739(1) Å, c = 29.300(4) Å, and V = 2479.0(5) Å3. Tests of thick NFS positive electrodes (18 mg cm−2) in Na-half coin cells delivered 62 mAh g−1 at C/30 (corresponding to the exchange of 2 e-) or 69% of the theoretical capacity (90 mAh g−1), with a good capacity retention of 47 mAh g−1 at a high discharge rate 2C. Operando X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed minimal (<1%) changes in lattice parameters during cycling. Dominantly octahedra coordinated iron atoms are oxidized/reduced, as confirmed by operando synchrotron Mössbauer spectroscopy.</p
Broad application of the ALFA tagging technology for in planta nanobody-based imaging and biochemical characterization of plant proteins
No full textInternational audienceEpitope tags are widely used for detecting, modifying, or purifying proteins of interest, but their range of application is often limited. Recently, the rationally designed ALFA tag and its ALFA nanobody have expanded the repertoire of epitope tags and emerged as a highly versatile system characterized in various animal models, outperforming existing tags. Here, we evaluated the ALFA tag/ALFA nanobody technology in plants and demonstrated its application for in planta protein detection across multiple compartments and cellular structures, protein-protein interaction studies, protein immunoprecipitation, inducedproximity approaches, and super-resolution microscopy. Most importantly, we highlight the potential of the ALFA tagging technology for proteins that are difficult to tag due to topological or functional constraints. We provide proof of concept for the ALFA tag technology in the detection and functional analysis of the Arabidopsis IRT1 Fe transporter. Overall, this versatile and validated toolbox of ALFA tag and ALFA nanobody applications will serve as a valuable resource for functional studies in plants