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International audience; Industry 4.0 leads to a strong digitalization of industrial processes, but also a significant increase in communication and cooperation between the machines that make it up. This is the case with autonomous industrial vehicles (AIVs) and other cooperative mobile robots which are multiplying in factories, often in the form of fleets of vehicles, and whose intelligence and autonomy are increasing. While the autonomy of autonomous vehicles has been well characterized in the field of road and road transport, this is not the case for the autonomous vehicles used in industry. The establishment and deployment of AIV fleets raises several challenges, all of which depend on the actual level of autonomy of the AIVs: acceptance by employees, vehicle location, traffic fluidity, collision detection, or vehicle perception of changing environments. Thus, simulation serves to account for the constraints and requirements formulated by the manufacturers and future users of AIVs. In this paper, after having proposed a broad state of the art on the problems to be solved in order to simulate AIVs before proceeding to experiments in real conditions, we present a method to estimate positions of AIVs moving in a closed industrial environment, the extension of a collision detection algorithm to deal with the obstacle avoidance issue, and the development of an agent-based simulation platform for simulating these two methods and algorithms. The resulting/final/subsequent simulation will allow us to experiment in real conditions.

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Scientific knowledge is constantly expanding, and needs are changing; therefore, efforts must be made to adapt the treatment of leprosy and the manner in which it is implemented to the newly identified needs. Because an effective vaccine against leprosy remains to be identified, multidrug therapy (MDT) is the only tool available for leprosy control. At present, therefore, the priority is to make MDT available in all endemic countries for all patients, even those living in difficult-to-access areas. The remaining important issues in chemotherapy research are to improve the quality of leprosy case-finding, improve the quality of MDT, identify the areas in which leprosy patients are not receiving proper MDT, and find the means necessary to ensure delivery to all of appropriate MDT. The MDT regimens recommended by the World Health Organization are of too long duration, require correct classification of the patients as PB or MB, and rely upon the daily self-administration of dapsone and clofazimine to prevent selection of rifampicin resistant mutants among MB patients. Thus, research leading to the development of new drug regimens should be directed toward overcoming the shortcomings of the presently recommended regimens. The drugs required to permit use of regimens of shorter duration, that may be employed among both PB and MB patients, and that enable fully supervised drug administration may be already in hand, and the necessary clinical trials to confirm efficacy and acceptability should be carried out.

The molecular prediction of isoniazid (INH) resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis is hampered by the need for specialized equipment, expertise, high costs, a limited range of detectable mutations, or several of these factors. The rationale for the study was to find a practical alternative and to demonstrate generally valid problems.DNA extracted from decontaminated sputum pellets was used to amplify a 0.26 kb target sequence within the katG gene. Mutations of codon 315, frequently found in isoniazid-resistant isolates, could be discriminated in a simple agarose minigel format following an AciI digest of the nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) product. Within a panel of 22 sputum samples, INH resistance could be predicted in 5 of 10 samples containing isoniazid-resistant M. tuberculosis. The protocol is robust, requires little expertise and no specialized equipment, and provides the test results within 2 days.The results show the feasibility to rapidly and easily detect mutations highly predictive of isoniazid resistance. Nevertheless, this, like any other molecular resistance prediction test, is affected by often neglected factors, including mutation prevalences, the phenomenon of heteroresistance, and a possible bias toward one's own method.

To evaluate the role of Mycobacterium bovis in the epidemiology of human tuberculosis in France.A national survey in France in 1995 using a questionnaire mailed to all French microbiological laboratories performing mycobacteria cultures.M. bovis was isolated in 38 out of 7075 cases of bacteriologically confirmed tuberculosis (0.5%) notified to the National Reference Centre (CNR) in 1995, resulting in an incidence of 0.07 per 100,000 population. Incidence rates increased with age, and were the highest among patients of 75 years or more (range 0.02-0.33/100,000). Two cases of tuberculosis due to M. bovis were reported in foreign-born children who had come to France for treatment of their disease. No cases were reported among French-born children. The site of tuberculosis was pulmonary in 17 cases, extra-pulmonary in 14, both pulmonary and extra-pulmonary in one, and unknown in six. Extra-pulmonary sites were more frequent in older patients, and pulmonary sites more frequent in younger patients. Two patients were coinfected with the human immunodeficiency virus. Occupational exposure was identified in 13 cases and ingestion of non pasteurised milk in three. In addition, 11 patients had a possible risk of exposure related to their country of birth, family contact or occupation.In France, the 0.5% proportion of human tuberculosis due to M. bovis is similar to that of other developed countries. The higher incidence of the disease among older people is likely to reflect the efficacy of the control measures for tuberculosis in cattle.

Udgivelsesdato: 1999-May We have isolated and characterized the genomic clone of maize casein kinase 2 (CK2) alpha subunit using the previously described alphaCK2-1 cDNA clone as a probe. The genomic clone is 7.5 kb long and contains 10 exons, separated by 9 introns of different size, two larger than 1.5 kb and the others around 100-150 bp. The sequence of the exons is 100% homologous to the sequence of the alphaCK2-1 cDNA. Southern hybridization of total genomic DNA from maize embryos with aCK2 cDNA indicated that the alphaCK2-1 gene is part of a multigenic family. We also isolated a new embryo cDNA clone coding for an alphaCK2-2 subunit. We studied the regulation of the enzyme in embryos at the mRNA level, at the protein level and by activity testing. By using immunocytochemistry the CK2 protein was localized in several types of cells of mature embryos. Particularly strong signals were visible in the cytoplasm of epidermis and meristematic cells. Decoration of nuclei of root cortex and scutellum cells was also observed suggesting that CK2 can shift from the cytoplasm into nuclei in specific cell types. We examined whether CK2 contained specific protein domains which actively target the protein to the nucleus by using in-frame fusions of the maize CK2alpha subunit to the reporter gene encoding beta-glucuronidase (GUS) which were assayed in transiently transformed onion epidermal cells. Analysis of chimeric constructs identified one region containing a nuclear localization signal (NLS) that is highly conserved in other alphaCK2 proteins.

Changing incidence and nature of mycobacterial infections subsequent to the historical regression of tuberculosis and the acquired human immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic, as well as the development of new technical tools for molecular biology, have profoundly modified the methods used for the bacteriological diagnosis of mycobacteria infections. Although microscopic search for acid-fast bacilli, culture and antibiotic resistance tests on Löwenstein-Jensen medium remain the reference methods, more rapid and sophisticated methods are now available. Culture on radiolabeled media using the Bactec system has shortened the delay for positive culture and interpretable antibiotic sensitivity tests. Molecular techniques allow: 1) rapid identification of the most frequently isolated mycobacteria strains, including the most frequent laboratory contaminant M. gordonae, with genome probes; 2) genome typing of M. tuberculosis strains to trace interhuman transmission, detect recurrence or exogenous reinfection or demonstrate laboratory contamination; 3) rapid detection of rifampicin resistance; and 4) direct detection of M. tuberculosis and M. avium in pathological specimens. The role of mycobacteria in the environment causing opportunistic infections, atypical mycobacteria or non-tuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM), particularly the aviaire complex, has grown considerably. Isolation and identification relies on methods used to detect bacilli as well as blood cultures and analysis of fecal matter. NTM are naturally resistant to most of the antituberculosis antibiotics but are sometimes sensitive to aminoglycosides, fluoroquinolones or new macrolides.

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