467 research outputs found
Groupe A4. - Production alimentaire et marketing, en relation avec les problèmes régionaux
No full textCsaki C., Dimou Elefthéria. Groupe A4. - Production alimentaire et marketing, en relation avec les problèmes régionaux. In: Économie rurale. N°150-151, 1982. Agriculture et développement régional en Europe, sous la direction de Louis P. Mahé. pp. 91-95
Comment on Dimou et al. Profile of Membrane Cargo Trafficking Proteins and Transporters Expressed under N Source Derepressing Conditions in <i>Aspergillus nidulans</i>. <i>J. Fungi</i> 2021, <i>7</i>, 560
No full textContrary to the opinion recently offered by Dimou et al., our previously published biochemical, subcellular and genetic data supported our contention that AN11127 corresponds to the A. nidulans gene encoding Sec12, which is the guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) specific for SAR1. We add here additional bioinformatics evidence that fully disprove the otherwise negative evidence reported by Dimou et al., highlighting the dangers associated with the lax interpretation of genomic data. On the positive side, we establish guidelines for the identification of this key secretory gene in other species of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, including species of medical and applied interest
Industrial development in small islands economies. A comparative study of Mauritius and La Reunion growth performances
No full textSmall islands economic development may follow different pathways, according to the particular combination of growth mechanisms. A comparative study of the long term growth in Mauritius and in La Reunion, two islands with strong historical, sociological and cultural links, shows that they are engaged in two different process of industrialization. La Reunion has
Social movements' impact on policy making process for cycling
No full textNowadays cycling rates in most European cities are increasing, while many governments are looking for ways to integrate cycling into the daily lives of citizens not only as a leisure activity but also as an official means of transport. At the same time, a large part of the population itself aims to influence decision-makers and urban planners to make cities more sustainable and to actually adopt pro-cycling policies. This section of the population that desires a policy change often forms social movements that aim to make their demands heard and make substantial improvements. Such social movements are known from the past for their influential contribution to various burning issues such as gender equality, ecology, environmental protection, sustainability and many others. Various researchers have shown that social movements and advocacy groups present different compositions and work to promote change by targeting public opinion, the political arena, or both. However, the existing literature and previous research on their contribution to the promotion of cycling in the policy making process are quite limited. Therefore, this research sought an answer to the question: How do social movements influence the successful adoption or implementation of a favorable/positive cycling policy? Through a literature study on the theory of social movements together with the principles of the Multiple Streams Model by Kingdon, a theoretical framework is developed to better hypothesize how policy adoption and implementation works and how movements can influence it. Indeed, the report revisits Kingdon’s concept with a particular focus on social movements and their various activities in the policy making process. The key components of the MSF are the problem stream, the politics stream, the policy stream, the window of opportunity and the policy entrepreneur. Using this model in conjunction with social movement theory, three hypotheses have been developed and tested for the three cases. The comparative case study approach is used to allow a deeper understanding of the impact of social movements on the development of positive cycling policies and the events behind the adoption of the cycling policies in three European capitals where there is evidence of social activism are extensively analyzed. These were the cities of Amsterdam, Stockholm and Dublin. The main data sources were articles, scientific papers, local newspapers, magazines and blogs along with transcripts of interviews. Besides, through semi-structured online interviews, the perspectives of relevant stakeholders in the three cities, such as members of social movements and experts in the field of policy-making and policy analysis were investigated. The next step after collecting all the necessary data was the content and narrative analysis, in order to connect the cases in a meaningful way but also to identify common patterns. Conclusively, the findings from the three cases were compared and contrasted based on their differences and similarities in the strategy followed by the social movements, the emergence and constitution of their groups and generally their effectiveness in achieving favorable changes for cyclists. Overall, the report argues that by determining the role of movements within the streams there is an added value to the explanatory power of the context. Influencing the problem stream and seeking public support is a prerequisite for strengthening social movements, while they tend to use methods such as indicators and focusing events to determine the perception of the problem in the society. Identifying the problems and highlighting them to the public may be secondary if the movements themselves, due to their composition, know how to negotiate with decision makers directly. This is because social movements and advocacy organizations also aim to influence government agencies, especially when there is no political will for change or when they have the right means to approach them in terms of power and knowledge. The need for active negotiation with the political stream increases when there are strong policy opponents influencing the board in the background. These rivals often come from the automotive industry as they have conflicting interests with cycling policies that tend to undermine car dominance. Lastly, regarding the policy stream and proposals for change that usually come from the community of policy experts, it is not impossible for movements to contribute even to this stream, if they have the necessary knowledge and expertise to do so. Otherwise, seeking for interaction with experts in the field can help activists to get realistic policy proposals that can be used in their discussions with the decision makers. Furthermore, when there is a clearly defined problem, politicians are willing to adopt a realistic political solution, and a policy entrepreneur couples these streams at a window of opportunity, the result may be in favor of activists. A noticeable finding was that social movements themselves can also play the role of the policy entrepreneur and articulate the three streams. As Kingdon suggested, social movements can invest their efforts to closely collaborate with the decision makers and push for their interests. At the same time, they can also work towards influencing the three streams in different ways and emphasizing on different aspects depending on the composition of their teams, the timing of their appearance and the legal framework of the country. There may also be some other important parameters such as scale of the city, the funding availability, the shape of old inner cities or the existence of historic centers that can facilitate the movements' success in influencing a pro-cycling policy adoption. Despite the importance of these contextual parameters, this study shows that success lies in the hierarchy of cycling, arguing that whenever there is a will, a realistic way can be found. After all, social movements, in order to achieve the best result and be mostly effective, they should be aware of their strengths that are directly related to their knowledge of the cycling policy-making process, their size and passion. In this way, they can choose the right strategy to follow and influence the political scene. Besides, for people who wish to promote cycling and sustainable way of travelling it is crucial to find others with a common view, because although every voice matters, when these voices become collective, they are more likely to be heard and taken seriously by the decision-makers. Finally, policymakers need to be more open to dialogue with such groups, as they represent a legitimate part of society and can bring issues that ordinary people cannot include on the political agenda. Ultimately, actively listening and constructively discussing activists’ demands in a friendly environment -always under a realistic point of view- can also be beneficial to their political future In conclusion, the knowledge gathered through this report on the ways in which movements can bring about policy change has to do with the political status and legal framework of each country. It is therefore worth noting that, as this study focused on democratic capitals, this may have an impact on the generalizability of results for countries with very different policy frameworks.Management of Technology (MoT
LA CROISSANCE URBAINE CHINOISE RECONSIDÉRÉE
No full textOver the last decade, many researchers have focused on the study of different urban hierarchies and their evolution over time. These studies may or may not confirm Zipf’s law and emphasize the characteristics of urban growth. The question is then whether urban growth depends upon city-size or not, which is a main issue in modern regional economics. Using data on Chinese cities for the period 1960-2000, this paper aims to provide some answers to this question which has led to a recent passionate debate between the random growth theories and the endogenous growth theories.CROISSANCE URBAINE, HIÉRARCHIES URBAINES, LOI DE ZIPF, URBANISATION CHINOISE, AGGLOMÉRATION, LOI DE GIBRAT
Insights into Facilitated Subcutaneous Immunoglobulin Use in Patients with Secondary Immunodeficiency Diseases: A FIGARO Subgroup Analysis
No full textThe Facilitated Immunoglobulin Administration Registry And Outcomes (FIGARO) Study was a European, multicenter, prospective, observational study conducted across Europe designed to provide insights on the clinical use and tolerability of facilitated subcutaneous immunoglobulin (fSCIG). Data herein are reported for the cohort of patients with secondary immunodeficiency (SID), with a subgroup analysis by age. The SID cohort included 31 patients: 1 pediatric, 15 adult, and 15 older adult patients. Over the 36-month observation period, the median monthly dose of fSCIG (30 g) and median monthly infusion volume per patient (300 mL) remained constant in both adult-age cohorts. Serum trough levels tended to increase over time. Most patients required only one infusion site and could receive the full dose every 3-4 weeks. There was a trend toward self-administration at home. In the adult group, infusion site inflammation and headache were reported at the inclusion visit (n = 1 each), with no adverse drug reactions reported at any of the follow-up visits. No acute severe bacterial infections were reported during the study follow-up. These results demonstrate the feasibility and tolerability of fSCIG use in patients with SID and the flexibility of administration settings including self-administration at home in patients aged ≥65 years
Turbulent Mixed Convection Heat Transfer in the Presence of Rough Walls
No full textNowadays, climate change and global warming phenomena are becoming more and more serious issues. In order to sustain the enormous worldwide energy demand, society consumes a high amount of fuel, resulting into the steep increase of the level of CO\textsubscript{2} in the environment. Therefore, the massive greenhouse gases emissions in the atmosphere, generated by burning fossil at a great pace, are the main reason behind the previously mentioned phenomena. Heat transfer augmentation methods can considerably contribute to the decrease of fuel consumption, resulting into a reduction of the greenhouse gases emissions. Therefore, this can be an effective approach to tackle the climate change and global warming phenomena. Particularly, rough surfaces are a well known heat transfer augmentation technique. Such surfaces induce turbulence and thereby the flow is well mixed. This mechanism assists convective heat transfer and as a result, heat transfer is augmented. In addition, buoyancy-influenced turbulent flows frequently occur in many engineering applications. These flows combine natural and forced convection which are due to buoyancy and the bulk flow respectively and contribute both to heat transfer. Particularly, buoyancy-aided flows can promote laminarization and therefore heat transfer deterioration. The main focus of this study is to examine the impact of surface roughness and buoyancy effects on turbulent heat transfer. Initially, a 3D rectangular channel is considered with the streamwise, wall normal and spanwise dimensions being 5.63 2 2.815. Subsequently, two different wall roughness geometries are constructed. Both of them have a sinusoidal shape, however the direction of travel is in the streamwise direction for the one and in the spanwise for the other. Moreover, the surface roughness is placed on the top and bottom isothermal walls of the geometry. Regarding the space and time discretization, central differences are used for the former one and second order Adams-Bashforth for the latter one. Finally, the immersed boundary method is utilized in order to incorporate the surface roughness. A series of direct numerical simulations is performed to gain an insight on how surface roughness and buoyancy forces affect the heat transfer. The results display that both roughness schemes enhance heat transfer. Particularly, the Reynolds stresses show an increase in both rough wall cases, signifying that mixing is improved. In addition, the turbulent heat flux as well as the Nusselt numbers also exhibit a growth for both streamwise and spanwise orientation, implying that heat transfer is augmented. Comparing the streamwise and spanwise orientations with each other, both Reynolds stresses and turbulent heat flux graphs are significantly higher in the streamwise roughness case. Moreover, the streamwise roughness is enhancing the Nusselt number approximately 1.8 times more than the spanwise roughness for the zero-buoyancy case and approximately 1.4 times more for the buoyancy-aided scenario. Noteworthy is the fact that, the results show that the buoyancy-aided case predicts larger Reynolds stresses, turbulent heat flux and Nusselt numbers for all of the surfaces.Mechanical Engineering | Energy, Flow and Process Technolog
GPR17-expressing oligodendrocyte precursor cells differentially react to damage in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and cuprizone-induced demyelination
No full textIntroduction
In the central nervous system, oligodendrocytes provide support to axons thanks to the production of a myelin sheath. During their maturation oligodendroglial precursors (OPCs) follow a very precise differentiation program, finely orchestrated by transcription factors, epigenetic factors and microRNAs, a class of small non-coding RNAs involved in post-transcriptional regulation. Any alterations in this program can potentially contribute to dysregulated myelination, impaired remyelination and neurodegenerative conditions, as it happens in multiple sclerosis.
Methods
Eight-week-old age male C57BL/6 mice were fed with 0.2% cuprizone supplemented diet ad libitum for 5 weeks to induce de-myelination and were then switched to normal diet for further 3 weeks to allow spontaneous re- myelination.
Stereotaxic injection of the detergent lysolecithin was performed in the subcortical white matter of C57BL/6 adult mice to produces a focal demyelinating injury. Lentiviral infection was performed in the same site 9 days later, then animals were sacrificed at 21 days post-lesion.
Results
Recently, we identified miR-125a-3p as a new actor of oligodendroglial maturation, that could also be involved in the pathological consequences of multiple sclerosis, showing that its over-expression impairs, whereas its silencing promotes, oligodendrocyte maturation (Lecca et al., Sci Rep, 2016).
To shed light on the mechanism underlying this effect, we performed a microarray analysis on OPCs after miR- 125a-3p over-expression. This analysis suggested that miR-125a-3p is indeed involved in the regulation of biological processes important for OPC maturation, such as cell-cell interaction and morphological differentiation. Interestingly, we also found that miR-125a-3p levels were up-regulated in vivo in presence of de-myelinating conditions. To evaluate whether miR-125a-3p modulation may influence the progression of remyelination in vivo, we overexpressed the miR-125a-3p by lentiviral approach in a focal lysolecithin-mediated demyelinating lesion in the subcortical white matter of adult mice. Interestingly, also in this case, we found that miRNA-overexpressing OPCs persisted in an immature (i.e. PDGRα+/NG2+) state. Relevant to the human disease, we found that miR- 125a-3p levels are altered in the cerebrospinal fluid of multiple sclerosis patients in the active phase (relapsing), suggesting that it could be a potential biomarker of pathology.
Conclusion
The identification of new pathogenetic mechanisms regulated by miRNAs provides new means for treatments of diseases. Based on these results, we hypothesize that antago-miRNA for miR-125a-3p may help to promote oligodendrocyte maturation in demyelinating conditions. Sponsored by Fondazione Cariplo, grant n° 2014-1207 to DL
Outcomes of patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia treated with non-curative therapies: a retrospective cohort study
No full textAustrian Group for Medical Tumor TherapyPleyer, L., Leisch, M., Kourakli, A., Padron, E., Maciejewski, J.P., Xicoy Cirici, B., Kaivers, J., Ungerstedt, J., Heibl, S., Patiou, P., Hunter, A.M., Mora, E., Geissler, K., Dimou, M., Jimenez Lorenzo, M.-J., Melchardt, T., Egle, A., Viniou, A.-N., Patel, B.J., Arnan, M., Valent, P., Roubakis, C., Bernal del Castillo, T., Galanopoulos, A., Calabuig Muñoz, M., Bonadies, N., Medina de Almeida, A., Cermak, J., Jerez, A., Montoro, M.J., Cortés, A., Avendaño Pita, A., Lopez Andrade, B., Hellstroem-Lindberg, E., Germing, U., Sekeres, M.A., List, A.F., Symeonidis, A., Sanz, G.F., Larcher-Senn, J., Greil, R
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