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Plant litter breakdown is a key ecological process in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. Streams and rivers, in particular, contribute substantially to global carbon fluxes. However, there is little information available on the relative roles of different drivers of plant litter breakdown in fresh waters, particularly at large scales. We present a global-scale study of litter breakdown in streams to compare the roles of biotic, climatic and other environmental factors on breakdown rates. We conducted an experiment in 24 streams encompassing latitudes from 47.8° N to 42.8° S, using litter mixtures of local species differing in quality and phylogenetic diversity (PD), and alder ( Alnus glutinosa ) to control for variation in litter traits. Our models revealed that breakdown of alder was driven by climate, with some influence of pH, whereas variation in breakdown of litter mixtures was explained mainly by litter quality and PD. Effects of litter quality and PD and stream pH were more positive at higher temperatures, indicating that different mechanisms may operate at different latitudes. These results reflect global variability caused by multiple factors, but unexplained variance points to the need for expanded global-scale comparisons.

International audience; The enzymes involved in synthesizing the bacterial cell wall are attractive targets for the design of antibacterial compounds, since this pathway is essential for bacteria and is absent in animals, particularly humans. A survey of the genome of a bacterium that belongs to the phylum Verrucomicrobia, the closest free-living relative to bacteria from the Chlamydiales phylum, shows genetic evidence that Verrucomicrobium spinosum possesses a novel fusion open reading frame (ORF) annotated by the locus tag (VspiD_010100018130). The ORF, which is predicted to encode the enzymes UDP-N-acetylenolpyruvoylglucosamine reductase (MurB) and UDP-N-acetylmuramate:l-alanine ligase (MurC) that are involved in the cytoplasmic steps of peptidoglycan biosynthesis, was cloned. In vivo analyses using functional complementation showed that the fusion gene was able to complement Escherichia coli murB and murC temperature sensitive mutants. The purified recombinant fusion enzyme (MurB/C Vs ) was shown to be endowed with UDP-N-acetylmuramate:l-alanine ligase activity. In vitro analyses demonstrated that the latter enzyme had a pH optimum of 9.0, a magnesium optimum of 10 mM and a temperature optimum of 44-46°C. Its apparent K m values for ATP, UDP-MurNAc, and l-alanine were 470, 90, and 25 μM, respectively. However, all attempts to demonstrate an in vitro UDP-N-acetylenolpyruvoylglucosamine reductase (MurB) activity were unsuccessful. Lastly, Hidden Markov Model-based similarity search and phylogenetic analysis revealed that this fusion enzyme could only be identified in specific lineages within the Verrucomicrobia phylum.

Understanding what mechanisms shape the diversity and composition of biological assemblages across broad-scale gradients is central to ecology. Litter-consuming detritivorous invertebrates in streams show an unusual diversity gradient, with a-diversity increasing towards high latitudes but no trend in g-diversity. We hypothesized this pattern to be related to shifts in nestedness and several ecological processes shaping their assemblages (dispersal, environmental filtering and competition). We tested this hypothesis, using a global dataset, by examining latitudinal trends in nestedness and several indicators of the above processes along the latitudinal gradient. Our results suggest that strong environmental filtering and low dispersal in the tropics lead to often species-poor local detritivore assemblages, nested in richer regional assemblages. At higher latitudes, dispersal becomes stronger, disrupting the nested assemblage structure and resulting in local assemblages that are generally more species-rich and non-nested subsets of the regional species pools. Our results provide evidence that mechanisms underlying assemblage composition and diversity of stream litter-consuming detritivores shift across latitudes, and provide an explanation for their unusual pattern of increasing a-diversity with latitude. When we repeated these analyses for whole invertebrate assemblages of leaf litter and for abundant taxa showing reverse or no diversity gradients we found no latitudinal patterns, suggesting that function-based rather than taxon-based analyses of assemblages may help elucidate the mechanisms behind diversity gradients. Fil: Boyero, Luz. Universidad del Pais Vasco; España. Basque Foundation for Science; España. Doñana Biological Station; España Fil: Pearson, Richard G.. James Cook University; Australia Fil: Swan, Christopher M.. University of Maryland; Estados Unidos Fil: Hui, Cang. University of Stellenbosch; Sudáfrica. African Inst.itute for Mathematical Sciences; Sudáfrica Fil: Albariño, Ricardo Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue; Argentina Fil: Arunachalam, Muthukumarasamy. Manonmainam Sundaranar University; India Fil: Callisto, Marcos. Universidade Federal do Minas Gerais; Brasil Fil: Chará, Julián. Centro para la Investigación en Sistemas Sostenibles de Producción Agropecuaria; Colombia Fil: Chará Serna, Ana M.. Centro para la Investigación en Sistemas Sostenibles de Producción Agropecuaria; Colombia Fil: Chauvet, Eric. Universite de Toulose - Le Mirail; Francia Fil: Cornejo, Aydeé. Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud; Panamá Fil: Dudgeon, David. University of Hong Kong; China Fil: Encalada, Andrea C.. Universidad San Francisco de Quito; Ecuador Fil: Ferreira, Verónica. Universidad de Coimbra; Portugal Fil: Gessner, Mark O.. Leibniz - Institute Of Freshwater Ecology And Inland Fisheries; Alemania. Berlin Institute of Technology; Alemania Fil: Gonçalves Jr. , José F.. Universidade Do Brasilia; Brasil Fil: Graça, Manuel A. S.. Universidad de Coimbra; Portugal Fil: Helson, Julie E.. University Of Toronto; Canadá Fil: Mathooko, Jude M.. Egerton University; Canadá Fil: McKie, Brendan G.. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Suecia Fil: Moretti, Marcelo S.. University of Vila Velha; Brasil Fil: Yule, Catherine M.. Monash University; Australia

International audience; This paper presents an analysis of the aeroelastic galloping of an elastically mounted square cross section in a free stream. The classic quasi-steady model [1] is used as a starting point. From this, the relevant time scales and dimensionless groups of the problem are derived. The time scale analysis shows that the mechanism of frequency selection by the oscillating system changes for heavy and light bodies. Results from direct numerical simulations are presented and compared against results from the simplified quasi-steady model, showing that the quasi-steady is quantitatively valid for heavy bodies, and at least generally qualitatively valid for light bodies. Results of experiments on light bodies also show this general qualitative agreement. However, there are also regimes of nonlinear interaction between the galloping and vortex shedding that the simplified model cannot capture.

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. A robust preclinical disease model is a primary requirement to understand the underlying mechanisms, signaling pathways, and drug screening for human diseases. Although various preclinical models are available for several diseases, clinical models for Alzheimer's disease (AD) remain underdeveloped and inaccurate. The pathophysiology of AD mainly includes the presence of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT). Furthermore, neuroinflammation and free radical generation also contribute to AD. Currently, there is a wide gap in scientific approaches to preventing AD progression. Most of the available drugs are limited to symptomatic relief and improve deteriorating cognitive functions. To mimic the pathogenesis of human AD, animal models like 3XTg-AD and 5XFAD are the primarily used mice models in AD therapeutics. Animal models for AD include intracerebroventricular-streptozotocin (ICV-STZ), amyloid beta-induced, colchicine-induced, etc., focusing on parameters such as cognitive decline and dementia. Unfortunately, the translational rate of the potential drug candidates in clinical trials is poor due to limitations in imitating human AD pathology in animal models. Therefore, the available preclinical models possess a gap in AD modeling. This paper presents an outline that critically assesses the applicability and limitations of the current approaches in disease modeling for AD. Also, we attempted to provide key suggestions for the best-fit model to evaluate potential therapies, which might improve therapy translation from preclinical studies to patients with AD.

International audience; Aim. We tested the hypothesis that shredder detritivores, a key trophic guild in stream ecosystems, are more diverse at higher latitudes, which has important ecological implications in the face of potential biodiversity losses that are expected as a result of climate change. We also explored the dependence of local shredder diversity on the regional species pool across latitudes, and examined the influence of environ- mental factors on shredder diversity. Location: World-wide (156 sites from 17 regions located in all inhabited continents at latitudes ranging from 67° N to 41° S). Methods: We used linear regression to examine the latitudinal variation in shredder diversity at different spatial scales: alpha (a), gamma (g) and beta (b) diversity. We also explored the effect of g-diversity on a-diversity across latitudes with regression analysis, and the possible influence of local environmental factors on shredder diversity with simple correlations. Results: Alpha diversity increased with latitude, while g- and b-diversity showed no clear latitudinal pattern. Temperate sites showed a linear relationship between g- and a-diversity; in contrast, tropical sites showed evidence of local species saturation, which may explain why the latitudinal gradient in a-diversity is not accompanied by a gradient in g-diversity. Alpha diversity was related to several local habitat characteristics, but g- and b-diversity were not related to any of the environmental factors measured. Main conclusions: Our results indicate that global patterns of shredder diversity are complex and depend on spatial scale. However, we can draw several conclusions that have important ecological implications. Alpha diversity is limited at tropical sites by local factors, implying a higher risk of loss of key species or the whole shredder guild (the latter implying the loss of trophic diversity). Even if regional species pools are not particularly species poor in the tropics, colonization from adjacent sites may be limited. Moreover, many shredder species belong to cool-adapted taxa that may be close to their thermal maxima in the tropics, which makes them more vulnerable to climate warming. Our results suggest that tropical streams require specific scientific attention and conservation efforts to prevent loss of shredder biodiversity and serious alteration of ecosystem processes.

International audience; The decomposition of plant litter is one of the most important ecosystem processes in the biosphere and is particularly sensitive to climate warming. Aquatic ecosystems are well suited to studying warming effects on decomposition because the otherwise confounding influence of moisture is constant. By using a latitudinal temperature gradient in an unprecedented global experiment in streams, we found that climate warming will likely hasten microbial litter decomposition and produce an equivalent decline in detritivore-mediated decomposition rates. As a result, overall decomposition rates should remain unchanged. Nevertheless, the process would be profoundly altered, because the shift in importance from detritivores to microbes in warm climates would likely increase CO2 production and decrease the generation and sequestration of recalcitrant organic particles. In view of recent estimates showing that inland waters are a significant component of the global carbon cycle, this implies consequences for global biogeochemistry and a possible positive climate feedback.

International audience; Swertiamarin, a seco-iridoid glycoside, is mainly found in Enicostemma littorale Blume (E. littorale) and exhibits therapeutic activities for various diseases. The present study aimed to provide a review of swertiamarin in terms of its phytochemistry, physicochemical properties, biosynthesis, pharmacology and therapeutic potential. Relevant literature was collected from several scientific databases, including PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus and Google Scholar, between 1990 and the present. This review included the distribution of swertiamarin in medicinal plants and its isolation, characterization, physicochemical properties and possible biosynthetic pathways. A comprehensive summary of the pharmacological activities, therapeutic potential and metabolic pathways of swertiamarin was also included after careful screening and tabulation. Based on the reported evidence, swertiamarin meets all five of Lipinski's rules for drug-like properties. Thereafter, the physicochemical properties of swertiamarin were detailed and analyzed. A simple and rapid method for isolating swertiamarin from E. littorale has been described. The present review proposed that swertiamarin may be biosynthesized by the mevalonate or nonmevalonate pathways, followed by the seco-iridoid pathway. It has also been found that swertiamarin is a potent compound with diverse pharmacological activities, including hepatoprotective, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antiarthritis, antidiabetic, antioxidant, neuroprotective and gastroprotective activities. The anticancer activity of swertiamarin against different cancer cell lines has been recently reported. The underlying mechanisms of all these pharmacological effects are diverse and seem to involve the regulation of different molecular targets, including growth factors, inflammatory cytokines, protein kinases, apoptosis-related proteins, receptors and enzymes. Swertiamarin also modulates the activity of several transcription factors, and their signaling pathways in various pathological conditions are also discussed. Moreover, we have highlighted the toxicity profile, pharmacokinetics and possible structural modifications of swertiamarin. The pharmacological activities and therapeutic potential of swertiamarin have been extensively investigated. However, more advanced studies are required including clinical trials and studies on the bioavailability, permeability and administration of safe doses to offer swertiamarin as a novel candidate for future drug development.

High-quality and complete reference genome assemblies are fundamental for the application of genomics to biology, disease, and biodiversity conservation. However, such assemblies are available for only a few non-microbial species1,2,3,4. To address this issue, the international Genome 10K (G10K) consortium5,6 has worked over a five-year period to evaluate and develop cost-effective methods for assembling highly accurate and nearly complete reference genomes. Here we present lessons learned from generating assemblies for 16 species that represent six major vertebrate lineages. We confirm that long-read sequencing technologies are essential for maximizing genome quality, and that unresolved complex repeats and haplotype heterozygosity are major sources of assembly error when not handled correctly. Our assemblies correct substantial errors, add missing sequence in some of the best historical reference genomes, and reveal biological discoveries. These include the identification of many false gene duplications, increases in gene sizes, chromosome rearrangements that are specific to lineages, a repeated independent chromosome breakpoint in bat genomes, and a canonical GC-rich pattern in protein-coding genes and their regulatory regions. Adopting these lessons, we have embarked on the Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP), an international effort to generate high-quality, complete reference genomes for all of the roughly 70,000 extant vertebrate species and to help to enable a new era of discovery across the life sciences., We thank them for their permission to publish. A.R., S.K., B.P.W. and A.M.P. were supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NHGRI, NIH (1ZIAHG200398). A.R. was also supported by the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through KHIDI, funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (HI17C2098). S.A.M., I.B. and R.D. were supported by Wellcome Trust grant WT207492; W.C., M. Smith, Z.N., Y.S., J.C., S. Pelan, J.T., A.T., J.W. and Kerstin Howe by WT206194; L.H., F.M., Kevin Howe and P. Flicek by WT108749/Z/15/Z, WT218328/B/19/Z and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. O.F. and E.D.J. were supported by Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Rockefeller University start-up funds for this project. J.D. and H.A.L. were supported by the Robert and Rosabel Osborne Endowment. M.U.-S. received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement (750747). F.T.-N., J. Hoffman, P. Masterson and K.C. were supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NLM, NIH. C.L., B.J.K., J. Kim and H.K. were supported by the Marine Biotechnology Program of KIMST, funded by the Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries, Republic of Korea (20180430). M.C. was supported by Sloan Research Fellowship (FG-2020-12932). S.C.V. was funded by a Max Planck Research Group award from the Max Planck Society, and a Human Frontiers Science Program (HFSP) Research grant (RGP0058/2016). T.M.L., W.E.J. and the Canada lynx genome were funded by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (F11AF01099), including when W.E.J. held a National Research Council Research Associateship Award at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR). C.B. was supported by the NSF (1457541 and 1456612). D.B. was funded by The University of Queensland (HFSP - RGP0030/2015). D.I. was supported by Science Exchange Inc. (Palo Alto, CA). H.W.D. was supported by NSF grants (OPP-0132032 ICEFISH 2004 Cruise, PLR-1444167 and OPP-1955368) and the Marine Science Center at Northeastern University (416). G.J.P.N. and the thorny skate genome were funded by Lenfest Ocean Program (30884). M.P. was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (01IS18026C). M. Malinsky was supported by an EMBO fellowship (ALTF 456-2016). The following authors’ contributions were supported by the NIH: S. Selvaraj (R44HG008118); C.V.M., S.R.F., P.V.L. (R21 DC014432/DC/NIDCD); K.D.M. (R01GM130691); H.C. (5U41HG002371-19); M.D. (U41HG007234); and B.P. (R01HG010485). D.G. was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFC1201201, 2018YFC0910504 and 2017YFC0907503). F.O.A. was supported by Al-Gannas Qatari Society and The Cultural Village Foundation-Katara, Doha, State of Qatar and Monash University Malaysia. C.T. was supported by The Rockefeller University. M. Hiller was supported by the LOEWE-Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (TBG) funded by the Hessen State Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts (HMWK). H.C. was supported by the NHGRI (5U41HG002371-19). R.H.S.K. was funded by the Max Planck Society with computational resources at the bwUniCluster and BinAC funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg and the Universities of the State of Baden-Württemberg, Germany (bwHPC-C5). B.V. was supported by the Biomedical Research Council of A*STAR, Singapore. T.M.-B. was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (864203), MINECO/FEDER, UE (BFU2017-86471-P), Unidad de Excelencia María de Maeztu, AEI (CEX2018-000792-M), a Howard Hughes International Early Career award, Obra Social “La Caixa” and Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca and CERCA Programme del Departament d’Economia i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya (GRC 2017 SGR 880). E.C.T. was supported by the European Research Council (ERC-2012-StG311000) and an Irish Research Council Laureate Award. M.T.P.G. was supported by an ERC Consolidator Award 681396-Extinction Genomics, and a Danish National Research Foundation Center Grant (DNRF143). T.W. was supported by the NSF (1458652). J. M. Graves was supported by the Australian Research Council (CEO561477). E.W.M. was partially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (01IS18026C). Complementary sequencing support for the Anna’s hummingbird and several genomes was provided by Pacific Biosciences, Bionano Genomics, Dovetail Genomics, Arima Genomics, Phase Genomics, 10X Genomics, NRGene, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Illumina, and DNAnexus. All other sequencing and assembly were conducted at the Rockefeller University, Sanger Institute, and Max Planck Institute Dresden genome labs. Part of this work used the computational resources of the NIH HPC Biowulf cluster (https://hpc.nih.gov). We acknowledge funding from the Wellcome Trust (108749/Z/15/Z) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory., With funding from the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence" accreditation (CEX2018-000792-M).

The skin is the largest organ in the human body, composed of the epidermis and the dermis. It provides protection and acts as a barrier against external menaces like allergens, chemicals, systemic toxicity, and infectious organisms. Skin disorders like cancer, dermatitis, psoriasis, wounds, skin aging, acne, and skin infection occur frequently and can impact human life. According to a growing body of evidence, several studies have reported that natural products have the potential for treating skin disorders. Building on this information, this review provides brief information about the action of the most important in vitro and in vivo research on the use of ten selected natural products in inflammatory, neoplastic, and infectious skin disorders and their mechanisms that have been reported to date. The related studies and articles were searched from several databases, including PubMed, Google, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect. Ten natural products that have been reported widely on skin disorders were reviewed in this study, with most showing anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-microbial, and anti-cancer effects as the main therapeutic actions. Overall, most of the natural products reported in this review can reduce and suppress inflammatory markers, like tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS), induce cancer cell death through apoptosis, and prevent bacteria, fungal, and virus infections indicating their potentials. This review also highlighted the challenges and opportunities of natural products in transdermal/topical delivery systems and their safety considerations for skin disorders. Our findings indicated that natural products might be a low-cost, well-tolerated, and safe treatment for skin diseases. However, a larger number of clinical trials are required to validate these findings. Natural products in combination with modern drugs, as well as the development of novel delivery mechanisms, represent a very promising area for future drug discovery of these natural leads against skin disorders., Graphical Abstract

International audience; This paper presents a sliding mode observer (SMO) design method to estimate the states and unknown inputs (UIs) in a class of non-infinitely observable (NIO) descriptor systems that contain UIs in both the state and output equations. Existing works on SMO design for NIO systems did not consider UIs in the output equation. In order to overcome the difficulty caused by UIs in output channels and the NIO condition, we reformulated the original system and introduced new UIs to replace the original UIs to obtain an equivalent infinitely observable descriptor system whose output does not contain any UI. Based on the developed equivalent system, a new SMO method is proposed to estimate both the states and the UIs. Subsequently, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of the SMO are derived in terms of the original system matrices, which thus makes the conditions easy to be examined. Finally, an example is used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

PurposeAlthough both institutional export assistance and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) contribute separately and positively to export performance, the interplay between them has received little attention. This study examines the role of international EO in deriving performance benefits from governmental and nongovernmental export assistance.Design/methodology/approachIn this longitudinal study, two surveys were administered at two different times: In 2011, 705 Bangladeshi apparel exporters were surveyed, and in 2019, a subsequent survey of 198 firms in multiple industries was conducted. The aim of the surveys was to assess the relationships between governmental and nongovernmental assistance, EO and export performance.FindingsThe results of the first survey show that, while nongovernmental assistance influences performance directly and via EO, governmental assistance has only direct effects. Furthermore, the negative influence of government assistance on EO reduces the total effects and renders them nonsignificant. The results of the second survey demonstrate that government EPPs have both direct and indirect positive and significant effects on market performance, indicating a partial mediation, whereas quasi-governmental assistance has positive and significant direct effects as well as negative but nonsignificant indirect effects. Nongovernmental EPPs have both direct and indirect significant effects on international performance, indicating a partial mediation.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has important implications for researchers studying export assistance and its impact on firm performance. Instead of adopting a parochial view of government assistance, this study categorizes such assistance into three types – government, quasi-government and nongovernment. Furthermore, this study bridges the export assistance and international entrepreneurship literature by including EO.Practical implicationsEntrepreneurs must emphasize the use of government assistance in order to enhance export performance. However, to promote both entrepreneurship and performance, they must emphasize nongovernment assistance. Exporters should also capitalize on the assistance extended by various quasi-governmental agencies to bolster export performance.Originality/valueGiven the performance advantage of export assistance, this study highlights the contribution of the private sector in promoting export entrepreneurship while shedding light on the pernicious role of (quasi-)governmental assistance in export entrepreneurship.

Kah Min Yap,1 Mahendran Sekar,1 Lay Jing Seow,1 Siew Hua Gan,2 Srinivasa Reddy Bonam,3 Nur Najihah Izzati Mat Rani,4 Pei Teng Lum,1 Vetriselvan Subramaniyan,5 Yuan Seng Wu,5 Neeraj Kumar Fuloria,6 Shivkanya Fuloria6 1Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Universiti Kuala Lumpur Royal College of Medicine Perak, Ipoh, 30450, Perak, Malaysia; 2School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, Bandar Sunway, 47500, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia; 3Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale; Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers, Equipe-Immunopathologie et Immunointervention Thérapeutique, Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris, Paris, France; 4Faculty of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Universiti Kuala Lumpur Royal College of Medicine Perak, Ipoh, 30450, Perak, Malaysia; 5Faculty of Medicine, Bioscience and Nursing, MAHSA University, Selangor, 42610, Malaysia; 6Faculty of Pharmacy, AIMST University, Kedah, 08100, MalaysiaCorrespondence: Mahendran Sekar Tel +6016 – 3346653Fax +605 – 2536634Email mahendransekar@unikl.edu.myAbstract: Globally, breast cancer is the most common cancer type and is one of the most significant causes of deaths in women. To date, multiple clinical interventions have been applied, including surgical resection, radiotherapy, endocrine therapy, targeted therapy and chemotherapy. However, 1) the lack of therapeutic options for metastatic breast cancer, 2) resistance to drug therapy and 3) the lack of more selective therapy for triple-negative breast cancer are some of the major challenges in tackling breast cancer. Given the safe nature of natural products, numerous studies have focused on their anti-cancer potentials. Mangifera indica, commonly known as mango, represents one of the most extensively investigated natural sources. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of M. indica extracts (bark, kernel, leaves, peel and pulp) and phytochemicals (mangiferin, norathyriol, gallotannins, gallic acid, pyrogallol, methyl gallate and quercetin) reported for in vitro and in vivo anti-breast cancer activities and their underlying mechanisms based on relevant literature from several scientific databases, including PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar till date. Overall, the in vitro findings suggest that M. indica extracts and/or phytochemicals inhibit breast cancer cell growth, proliferation, migration and invasion as well as trigger apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. In vivo results demonstrated that there was a reduction in breast tumor xenograft growth. Several potential mechanisms underlying the anti-breast cancer activities have been reported, which include modulation of oxidative status, receptors, signalling pathways, miRNA expression, enzymes and cell cycle regulators. To further explore this medicinal plant against breast cancer, future research directions are addressed. The outcomes of the review revealed that M. indica extracts and their phytochemicals may have potential benefits in the management of breast cancer in women. However, to validate its utility in the creation of innovative and potent therapeutic agents to treat breast cancer, more dedicated research, especially clinical studies are needed to explore the anti-breast cancer potentials of M. indica extracts and their phytochemicals.Keywords: mango, Mangifera indica, mangiferin, breast cancer, molecular mechanism, natural products, women’s health

In the literature, a well-known processing advantage for angry schematic faces was largely observed in the “Face in the Crowd” (FIC) visual search task. A debate about automaticity and guidance of these effects by emotional/perceptual features is still raging. In order to modify the emotional context, the present study used a state of expectation of punishment (versus safety state). There was an angry superiority effect in the present study. However, we hypothesized and found that the presentation of a cue signalling an imminent threat (punishment) prior to the FIC task impairs the well-known processing advantage for angry schematic faces. On the reverse, the threat cue also facilitates the detection of happy (smiling) schematic faces. These results suggest that selective attention serves at least two basic affective purposes: (1) To efficiently detect threatening signals and (2) to detect potential coping resources in the environment, depending on motivational context. These findings are further discussed in terms of the threat detection system whose role is to respond to potentially dangerous situations [Öhman, A., & Mineka, S. (2001). Fears, phobias, and preparedness: Toward an evolved module of fear and fear learning. Psychological Review, 108(3), 483–522] and with regards to the counter-regulation principle which suggests that people may be biased towards searching for objects whose valence is opposite to their current affective state [Rothermund, K., Voss, A., & Wentura, D. (2008). Counter-regulation in affective attentional biases: A basic mechanism that warrants flexibility in emotion and motivation. Emotion, 8(1), 34–46].

A nonsense allele at rs1343879 in human MAGEE2 on chromosome X has previously been reported as a strong candidate for positive selection in East Asia. This premature stop codon causing ∼80% protein truncation is characterized by a striking geographical pattern of high population differentiation: common in Asia and the Americas (up to 84% in the 1000 Genomes Project East Asians) but rare elsewhere. Here, we generated a Magee2 mouse knockout mimicking the human loss-of-function mutation to study its functional consequences. The Magee2 null mice did not exhibit gross abnormalities apart from enlarged brain structures (13% increased total brain area, P = 0.0022) in hemizygous males. The area of the granular retrosplenial cortex responsible for memory, navigation, and spatial information processing was the most severely affected, exhibiting an enlargement of 34% (P = 3.4×10−6). The brain size in homozygous females showed the opposite trend of reduced brain size, although this did not reach statistical significance. With these insights, we performed human association analyses between brain size measurements and rs1343879 genotypes in 141 Chinese volunteers with brain MRI scans, replicating the sexual dimorphism seen in the knockout mouse model. The derived stop gain allele was significantly associated with a larger volume of gray matter in males (P = 0.00094), and smaller volumes of gray (P = 0.00021) and white (P = 0.0015) matter in females. It is unclear whether or not the observed neuroanatomical phenotypes affect behavior or cognition, but it might have been the driving force underlying the positive selection in humans.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in both developed and developing countries, affecting millions of individuals each year. Despite the fact that successful therapeutic drugs for the management and treatment of CVDs are available on the market, nutritional fruits appear to offer the greatest benefits to the heart and have been proved to alleviate CVDs. Experimental studies have also demonstrated that nutritional fruits have potential protective effects against CVDs. The aim of the review was to provide a comprehensive summary of scientific evidence on the effect of 10 of the most commonly available nutritional fruits reported against CVDs and describe the associated mechanisms of action. Relevant literatures were searched and collected from several scientific databases including PubMed, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar and Scopus. In the context of CVDs, 10 commonly consumed nutritious fruits including apple, avocado, grapes, mango, orange, kiwi, pomegranate, papaya, pineapple, and watermelon were analysed and addressed. The cardioprotective mechanisms of the 10 nutritional fruits were also compiled and highlighted. Overall, the present review found that the nutritious fruits and their constituents have significant benefits for the management and treatment of CVDs such as myocardial infarction, hypertension, peripheral artery disease, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathies, dyslipidemias, ischemic stroke, aortic aneurysm, atherosclerosis, cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure, diabetic cardiovascular complications, drug-induced cardiotoxicity and cardiomyopathy. Among the 10 nutritional fruits, pomegranate and grapes have been well explored, and the mechanisms of action are well documented against CVDs. All of the nutritional fruits mentioned are edible and readily accessible on the market. Consuming these fruits, which may contain varying amounts of active constituents depending on the food source and season, the development of nutritious fruits-based health supplements would be more realistic for consistent CVD protection., Graphical Abstract

Medical code assignment from clinical text is a fundamental task in clinical information system management. As medical notes are typically lengthy and the medical coding system's code space is large, this task is a long-standing challenge. Recent work applies deep neural network models to encode the medical notes and assign medical codes to clinical documents. However, these methods are still ineffective as they do not fully encode and capture the lengthy and rich semantic information of medical notes nor explicitly exploit the interactions between the notes and codes. We propose a novel method, gated convolutional neural networks, and a note-code interaction (GatedCNN-NCI), for automatic medical code assignment to overcome these challenges. Our methods capture the rich semantic information of the lengthy clinical text for better representation by utilizing embedding injection and gated information propagation in the medical note encoding module. With a novel note-code interaction design and a graph message passing mechanism, we explicitly capture the underlying dependency between notes and codes, enabling effective code prediction. A weight sharing scheme is further designed to decrease the number of trainable parameters. Empirical experiments on real-world clinical datasets show that our proposed model outperforms state-of-the-art models in most cases, and our model size is on par with light-weighted baselines., Findings of ACL-IJCNLP 2021

International audience; Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems that can provide clear explanations of their behaviors have been suggested in many studies as a critical feature for human users to develop reliance and trust when using such systems. Medical Experts (ME) in particular while using an AI assistant system must understand how the system generates disease diagnoses before making patient care decisions based on the AI’s output. In this paper, we report our work in progress and preliminary findings toward the development of a human-centered explainable AI (XAI) specifically for the diagnosis of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). We applied syllogistic inference rules based on CAD Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) to interpret the data mining results using a Support Vector Machine (i.e., SVM) classification technique—which forms an early model for a knowledge base (KB). The SVM’s inference rules are then explained through a voice system to the MEs. Based on our initial findings, we discovered that MEs trusted the system’s diagnoses when the XAI described the chain of reasoning behind the diagnosis process in a more interpretable form—suggesting an enhanced level of trust. Using syllogistic rules alone, however, to interpret the classification of the SVM algorithm lacked sufficient contextual information—which required augmentation with more descriptive explanations provided by a medical expert.

International audience; The power of Fourier-transformed large amplitude alternating current voltammetry (FTACV) has been applied to parameterize the reduction of the phosphotungstate [PW11O39{Sn(C6H4)C≡C(C6H4)(N3C4H10)}]4– polyoxometalate (POM) (KWSn[N3C4H10]4–/5–/6– processes) at glassy carbon (GC), gold (Au), and platinum (Pt) electrodes as well as its GC surface-confined KWSn[−]4–-grafted diazonium derivative in acetonitrile (0.10 M [n-Bu4N][PF6]). The thermodynamics (E0) and heterogeneous electron-transfer kinetics (k0 and α) were estimated using the Butler–Volmer relationship. FTACV provides access to significantly more detailed mechanistic information related to nonconformance to the theory than widely used DC voltammetric methods, especially with the more intricate surface-confined electrochemistry. Parameterization, the level of agreement, and systematic variations between experimental and simulated data were established by both an experimenter-controlled heuristic method and by a computationally efficient data optimization approach that employed parameter space searches restricted in scope by knowledge of the heuristically based estimations. The first electron transfer process for both acetonitrile-soluble KWSn[N3C4H10]4– and surface-confined KWSn[−]4– is always significantly faster than the second. The electrode dependence order is kGC0 > kAu0 > kPt0 for the KWSn[N3C4H10]4–/5– process. The relatively slower electrode kinetics found for reduction of KWSn[N3C4H10]4– as compared to some other monomeric Keggin POMs may be due to the long organic chain hindering the approach of the POM to the electrode surface, although differences in ion-pairing and other factors also may play a role. Subtle, but systematic, differences identified in comparisons of experimental and simulated voltammetry give rise to apparently data analysis method dependent parameterization and are discussed in terms of nuances not accommodated in the modeling. In the solution-phase voltammetry, data obtained by an electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance and other techniques are consistent with solid adhering to and modifying the electrode surface following reduction of KWSn[N3C4H10]4– to KWSn[N3C4H10]5–. Kinetic and thermodynamic dispersions present in the heterogeneous KWSn[−]4–-grafted electrode are probable causes of nonideality detected in the surface-confined voltammetry of this material. Thus, FTACV gives valuable insights into what is needed to provide a more realistic description of the polyoxometalate/electrode interface in polyoxometalate electrochemistry by revealing subtle nuances that are often overlooked.

Using the conservation of resources theory and the terror management theory, we proposed that the perceived threat of terrorism would hurt employees' well-being, performance and individually directed citizenship behaviors (OCBI) and increase employee stress and emotional exhaustion. We tested our hypotheses in two studies using time-lagged data with independent measures for behaviors. In study 1, two-wave data comprised of 160 peer-employee dyads supported the proposed relationships of fear of terrorism with well-being and performance and the moderating role of negative affectivity. In study 2, two-wave data from 350 employee-supervisor dyads supported the proposed relationships of perceived threat of terrorism with stress, emotional exhaustion, performance, and OCBI. Results supported a moderating role of psychological capital in these relationships. We believe that our research adds meaningfully to the limited research on the effects of terrorism on employees’ well-being and behaviors. We discuss the implications of our findings for managers and the future research.

Background The recently published complete mitogenome of the European lobster (Homarus gammarus) that was generated using long-range PCR exhibits unusual gene composition (missing nad2) and gene rearrangements among decapod crustaceans with strong implications in crustacean phylogenetics. Such atypical mitochondrial features will benefit greatly from validation with emerging long read sequencing technologies such as Oxford Nanopore that can more accurately identify structural variation. Results We re-sequenced the H. gammarus mitogenome on an Oxford Nanopore Minion flowcell and performed a long-read only assembly, generating a complete mitogenome assembly for H. gammarus. In contrast to previous reporting, we found an intact mitochondrial nad2 gene in the H. gammarus mitogenome and showed that its gene organization is broadly similar to that of the American lobster (H. americanus) except for the presence of a large tandemly duplicated region with evidence of pseudogenization in one of each duplicated protein-coding genes. Conclusions Using the European lobster as an example, we demonstrate the value of Oxford Nanopore long read technology in resolving problematic mitogenome assemblies. The increasing accessibility of Oxford Nanopore technology will make it an attractive and useful tool for evolutionary biologists to verify new and existing unusual mitochondrial gene rearrangements recovered using first and second generation sequencing technologies, particularly those used to make phylogenetic inferences of evolutionary scenarios. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-019-5704-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

International audience; This paper presents novel LED-based lighting solutions that can impact the mobility of individuals with low vision. By conducting three separate experiments involving mobility courses, the authors evaluate the effects of illuminance, correlated color temperature, object edge enhancement and contrast-enhancing lighting on the mobility of people with low vision. Using a total of 134 participants comprising of elderly, low vision subjects, and normal vision subjects wearing low-vision simulation glasses, the impact of these lighting solutions on the mobility of low vision subjects with blurry vision, central scotoma, tunnel vision and cataract are presented, making them a potential alternative to conventional mobility aids.

International audience; Mechanical remote centre of motion (RCM) mechanisms are often used to construct robotic minimally-invasive surgical manipulators, such that potential damage on the incision ports is eliminated. Current parallelogram-based RCM linkages (PB-linkage) typically have large footprints that compromise optimal surgical operations. A novel cable system with remote centre of motion is proposed to reduce the footprint. The RCM function of the cable system is proven mathematically. A new approach based on constraint analysis is conducted to determine the magnitudes of tension. The results are validated by finite element analysis, hence proves the use of constraint approach and the functioning of the cable system. Upon verification, the footprint of the cable linkage is compared to that of a PB-linkage in a simplified surgical scenario through three approaches. The quantitative analysis shows that the cable linkage has a smaller footprint in more than half of the design points in all approaches. A prototype is built for proofing the concept of the cable linkage.

Graphene is a layer of sp2 hybridized carbon of a single-atomic thickness, which exposes most of its atoms to the surrounding medium. The properties of graphene are highly dependent on its number of layers. Currently, the synthesis of uniform graphene with a specific number of layers in a controllable way is rather hard. In this review, we present the highlights of current advances regarding utilization of various plasmas for the control of graphene thickness. The mechanisms involved in the etching phenomenon of the graphene sheet to realize the layer control are particularly analyzed and compared. A precise layer-by-layer etching could be achieved using controlled operating parameters of different kinds of plasmas applied to graphene and combined with sub-layer substrate effects. With this review, we propose a concise overview of the application of plasma as the basis of development of new approaches to obtain uniform graphene with the desired number of layers in near future.

International audience; Neural evidence suggests that mechanisms associated with conscious access (i.e., the ability to report on a conscious state) are “all-or-none”. Upon crossing some threshold, neural signals are globally broadcast throughout the brain and allow conscious reports. However, whether subjective experience (phenomenal consciousness) is categorical (i.e., transitioning abruptly from unconscious to conscious states) or graded (i.e., characterized by multiple intermediate states) remains an open question. To address this issue, we built a series of artificial neural networks containing distinct feedback connectivity from “multisensory” to “unisensory” cortices. In line with consciousness theories, we operationalized perceptual consciousness by the presence of feedback from higher-order nodes back to unisensory nodes which allow ‘neural ignition’ – a rapid, non-linear boost in response putatively leading to phenomenal consciousness. When simulating how these networks responded to unisensory and multisensory inputs, we found the fastest responses for multisensory presentations associated with multisensory feedback, and the slowest responses for multisensory presentations without feedback. Most interestingly, despite being built in line with “all-or-none” models of consciousness, multisensory stimuli associated with unisensory feedback (i.e., auditory or visual), and hence consistent with unisensory phenomenology according to theories of consciousness, generated intermediate reaction times. To extend these models to human perception and performance, we conducted extensive psychophysical testing in 29 subjects who each completed 10 hours of a multisensory cue-congruency task. Consistent with the modeling results, we found that reaction times to multisensory cues reported as unisensory were intermediate between those of fully aware and fully unaware cues. These results support the existence of graded forms of phenomenological consciousness that can be instantiated by simple neural networks built in line with “all-or-none” models of consciousness.

1 table, 4 figures, 10 supplementary figures; The curvature of space-time and its consequences are often far removed from experimental accessibility. A particularly elusive effect is the generation of a heat current by the mixed axial-gravitational anomaly. However, recent theoretical investigations suggest that the magneto-thermal conductivity of condensed matter Weyl systems is linked to such an anomaly-related heat current even in flat space-time. In this paper, we report a positive magneto-thermal conductivity in the semimetal GdPtBi for collinear temperature gradients and magnetic fields ($\nabla T\parallel\mathbf{B}$). The positive magneto-thermal conductivity emerges concurrently with the established anomaly-related magneto-electrical conductivity of Weyl fermions, and is locked to the parallel alignment of $\nabla T$ and $\mathbf{B}$. This observation is consistent with the generation of an anomalous heat current, a fingerprint of the existence of the mixed axial-gravitational anomaly.

The infraorder Anomura consists of a morphologically and ecologically heterogeneous group of decapod crustaceans, and has attracted interest from taxonomists for decades attempting to find some order out of the seemingly chaotic diversity within the group. Species-level diversity within the Anomura runs the gamut from the “hairy” spindly-legged yeti crab found in deep-sea hydrothermal vent environments to the largest known terrestrial invertebrate, the robust coconut or robber crab. Owing to a well-developed capacity for parallel evolution, as evidenced by the occurrence of multiple independent carcinization events, Anomura has long tested the patience and skill of both taxonomists attempting to find order, and phylogeneticists trying to establish stable hypotheses of evolutionary inter-relationships. In this study, we performed genome skimming to recover the mitogenome sequences of 12 anomuran species including the world’s largest extant invertebrate, the robber crab (Birgus latro), thereby over doubling these resources for this group, together with 8 new brachyuran mitogenomes. Maximum-likelihood (ML) and Bayesian-inferred (BI) phylogenetic reconstructions based on amino acid sequences from mitogenome protein-coding genes provided strong support for the monophyly of the Anomura and Brachyura and their sister relationship, consistent with previous studies. The majority of relationships within families were supported and were largely consistent with current taxonomic classifications, whereas many relationships at higher taxonomic levels were unresolved. Nevertheless, we have strong support for a polyphyletic Paguroidea and recovered a well-supported clade of a subset of paguroids (Diogenidae + Coenobitidae) basal to all other anomurans, though this requires further testing with greater taxonomic sampling. We also introduce a new feature to the MitoPhAST bioinformatics pipeline ( https://github.com/mht85/MitoPhAST ) that enables the extraction of mitochondrial gene order (MGO) information directly from GenBank files and clusters groups based on common MGOs. Using this tool, we compared MGOs across the Anomura and Brachyura, identifying Anomura as a taxonomic “hot spot” with high variability in MGOs among congeneric species from multiple families while noting the broad association of highly-rearranged MGOs with several anomuran lineages inhabiting extreme niches. We also demonstrate the value of MGOs as a source of novel synapomorphies for independently reinforcing tree-based relationships and for shedding light on relationships among challenging groups such as the Aegloidea and Lomisoidea that were unresolved in phylogenetic reconstructions. Overall, this study contributes a substantial amount of new genetic material for Anomura and attempts to further resolve anomuran evolutionary relationships where possible based on a combination of sequence and MGO information. The new feature in MitoPhAST adds to the relatively limited number of bioinformatics tools available for MGO analyses, which can be utilized widely across animal groups.

International audience

International audience; Background: Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) is fatal unless treated with hematopoietic stem cell transplant. Delay in diagnosis is common without newborn screening. Family history of infant death due to infection or known SCID (FH) has been associated with earlier diagnosis. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the clinical features that affect age at diagnosis (AD) and time to the diagnosis of SCID.Methods: From 2005 to 2016, 147 SCID patients were referred to the Asian Primary Immunodeficiency Network. Patients with genetic diagnosis, age at presentation (AP), and AD were selected for study.Results: A total of 88 different SCID gene mutations were identified in 94 patients, including 49 IL2RG mutations, 12 RAG1 mutations, 8 RAG2 mutations, 7 JAK3 mutations, 4 DCLRE1C mutations, 4 IL7R mutations, 2 RFXANK mutations, and 2 ADA mutations. A total of 29 mutations were previously unreported. Eighty-three of the 94 patients fulfilled the selection criteria. Their median AD was 4 months, and the time to diagnosis was 2 months. The commonest SCID was X-linked (n = 57). A total of 29 patients had a positive FH. Candidiasis (n = 27) and bacillus CalmetteGuerin (BCG) vaccine infection (n = 19) were the commonest infections. The median age for candidiasis and BCG infection documented were 3 months and 4 months, respectively. The median absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) was 1.05 x 10(9)/L with over 88% patients below 3 x 10(9)/L. Positive FH was associated with earlier AP by 1 month (p = 0.002) and diagnosis by 2 months (p = 0.008), but not shorter time to diagnosis (p = 0.494). Candidiasis was associated with later AD by 2 months (p = 0.008) and longer time to diagnosis by 0.55 months (p = 0.003). BCG infections were not associated with age or time to diagnosis.Conclusion: FH was useful to aid earlier diagnosis but was overlooked by clinicians and not by parents. Similarly, typical clinical features of SCID were not recognized by clinicians to shorten the time to diagnosis. We suggest that lymphocyte subset should be performed for any infant with one or more of the following four clinical features: FH, candidiasis, BCG infections, and ALC below 3 x 10(9)/L.

There is an urgent need to identify and understand the ecosystem services of pollination and seed dispersal provided by threatened mammals such as flying foxes. The first step towards this is to obtain comprehensive data on their diet. However, the volant and nocturnal nature of bats presents a particularly challenging situation, and conventional microhistological approaches to studying their diet can be laborious and time-consuming, and provide incomplete information. We used Illumina Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) as a novel, non-invasive method for analysing the diet of the island flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus) on Tioman Island, Peninsular Malaysia. Through DNA metabarcoding of plants in flying fox droppings, using primers targeting the rbcL gene, we identified at least 29 Operationally Taxonomic Units (OTUs) comprising the diet of this giant pteropodid. OTU sequences matched at least four genera and 14 plant families from online reference databases based on a conservative Least Common Ancestor approach, and eight species from our site-specific plant reference collection. NGS was just as successful as conventional microhistological analysis in detecting plant taxa from droppings, but also uncovered six additional plant taxa. The island flying fox’s diet appeared to be dominated by figs (Ficus sp.), which was the most abundant plant taxon detected in the droppings every single month. Our study has shown that NGS can add value to the conventional microhistological approach in identifying food plant species from flying fox droppings. At this point in time, more accurate genus- and species-level identification of OTUs not only requires support from databases with more representative sequences of relevant plant DNA, but probably necessitates in situ collection of plant specimens to create a reference collection. Although this method cannot be used to quantify true abundance or proportion of plant species, nor plant parts consumed, it ultimately provides a very important first step towards identifying plant taxa and spatio-temporal patterns in flying fox diets.

Using a novel, dynamic finite mixture model applied to 12 years of nationally representative panel data, we explore individual heterogeneity in the total psychological response (our measure of resilience) to ten major adverse life events, including serious illness, redundancy and crime victimisation. Importantly, this model takes into account that individuals are not randomly selected into adverse events, that some events are anticipated in advance of their occurrence, and that the immediate psychological response and the speed of adaptation may differ across individuals.Additionally, we generate a ‘standardised event’ in order to document the distribution of general resilience in the population. We find considerable heterogeneity in the response to adverse events, with the total psychological loss of people with low resilience being several times larger than the average loss. We also find that resilience is strongly correlated with clinical measures of mental health, but only weakly correlated with cognitive and non-cognitive traits. Finally, we find that resilience in adulthood to some extent is predictable by childhood socioeconomic circumstances; the strongest predictor we identify is good childhood health.

Plant litter represents a major basal resource in streams, where its decomposition is partly regulated by litter traits. Litter-trait variation may determine the latitudinal gradient in decomposition in streams, which is mainly microbial in the tropics and detritivore-mediated at high latitudes. However, this hypothesis remains untested, as we lack information on large-scale trait variation for riparian litter. Variation cannot easily be inferred from existing leaf-trait databases, since nutrient resorption can cause traits of litter and green leaves to diverge. Here we present the first global-scale assessment of riparian litter quality by determining latitudinal variation (spanning 107°) in litter traits (nutrient

Invited; International audience

Topological crystalline insulators represent a new state of matter, in which the electronic transport is governed by mirror-symmetry protected Dirac surface states. Due to the helical spin-polarization of these surface states, the proximity of topological crystalline matter to a nearby superconductor is predicted to induce unconventional superconductivity and, thus, to host Majorana physics. We report on the preparation and characterization of Nb-based superconducting quantum interference devices patterned on top of topological crystalline insulator SnTe thin films. The SnTe films show weak anti-localization, and the weak links of the superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUID) exhibit fully gapped proximity-induced superconductivity. Both properties give a coinciding coherence length of 120 nm. The SQUID oscillations induced by a magnetic field show 2 pi periodicity, possibly dominated by the bulk conductivity.

International audience; Self-assembly is a fundamental concept and a powerful approach in molecular science. However, creating functional materials with the desired properties through self-assembly remains challenging. In this work, through a combination of experimental and computational approaches, the self-assembly of small amphiphilic dendrons into nanosized supramolecular dendrimer micelles with a degree of structural definition similar to traditional covalent high-generation dendrimers is reported. It is demonstrated that, with the optimal balance of hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity, one of the self-assembled nanomicellar systems, totally devoid of toxic side effects, is able to deliver small interfering RNA and achieve effective gene silencing both in cells - including the highly refractory human hematopoietic CD34(+) stem cells - and in vivo, thus paving the way for future biomedical implementation. This work presents a case study of the concept of generating functional supramolecular dendrimers via self-assembly. The ability of carefully designed and gauged building blocks to assemble into supramolecular structures opens new perspectives on the design of self-assembling nanosystems for complex and functional applications.

International audience; The basic mechanism of reinforcement in tendons addresses the transfer of stress, generated by the deforming proteoglycan (PG)-rich matrix, to the collagen fibrils. Regulating this mechanism involves the interactions of PGs on the fibril with those in the surrounding matrix and between PGs on adjacent fibrils. This understanding is key to establishing new insights on the biomechanics of tendon in various research domains. However, the experimental designs in many studies often involved long sample preparation time. To minimise biological degradation the tendons are usually stored by freezing. Here, we have investigated the effects of commonly used frozen storage temperatures on the mechanical properties of tendons from the tail of a murine model (C57BL6 mouse). Fresh (unfrozen) and thawed samples, frozen at temperatures of −20°C and −80°C, respectively, were stretched to rupture. Freezing at −20°C revealed no effect on the maximum stress (σ), stiffness (E), the corresponding strain (ε) at σ and strain energy densities up to ε (u) and from ε until complete rupture (up). On the other hand, freezing at −80°C led to higher σ, E and u; ε and up were unaffected. The results implicate changes in the long-range order of radially packed collagen molecules in fibrils, resulting in fibril rupture at higher stresses, and changes to the composition of extrafibrillar matrix, resulting in an increase in the interaction energy between fibrils via collagen-bound PGs.

International audience; The recycle and reuse of catalyst is an active research area motivated by the reduction of graphene production cost. Our process is derived from the conventional CVD method widely utilized for graphene synthesis. It allows the formation of uniform bilayer graphene by limiting the segregation of carbon. The relatively thick foil of Ni used as catalyst plays a crucial role in solubilizing and trapping large amount of carbon adatoms. The trapping mechanism is enhanced by the high-speed cooling subsequent to the growth stage. Segregation of carbon is then efficiently quenched and uniform bilayer graphene could be prepared. The separation process is also optimized thanks to a protective effect from the nickel carbide (Ni3C) formed. We show that Ni3C minimizes the catalyst lost due to the separation of graphene and it also facilitates the graphene separation process. The Ni foil could be recycled up to 6 times without significant variation in number of layers and perfectness in crystallinity of the obtained bilayer graphene. Besides, we discus of the role playing by the roughness of the catalyst surface for bilayer graphene separation in our process.

CVD is the most efficient way to produce wafer scale monolayer graphene. Although Ni and Cu are widely reported catalysts for monolayer graphene formation, but both Ni and Cu are requiring different extreme conditions to grow graphene in single layer. Here, we show that monolayer graphene could be grown simultaneously on polycrystalline Ni and Cu under single atmospheric pressure CVD for the first time. Our catalyst system combines carbon solubility divergence between the two catalysts to limit the exposure to the carbon source. Structure and quality of the grown graphene were characterized by HRTEM and Raman spectroscopy mapping. The growth mechanism shows that the role of grain boundaries is crucial for carbon diffusion tuning. The results show that free-standing high-quality monolayer graphene can be produced in a controlled and simple way with an affordable catalyst system.

We use counterfactual analysis techniques to evaluate the impact of a $2 minimum unit price (MUP) on the distribution of Australian (Victorian) household off-trade alcohol purchases. Our estimates suggest that a $2 MUP significantly reduces the purchases of at-risk households by up to -0.92 [90% CI: -1.55, -0.28] standard drinks at the highest quantiles and has substantially less effect on households purchasing at light and moderate levels. A $2 MUP may reduce the proportions of male and female shoppers purchasing at the public health threshold of more than two standard drinks per household member per day by -3.03 [90% CI: -4.83, -1.22] percentage points (relative variation: -17%); and -1.85 [90% CI: -2.60, -1.10] percentage points (relative variation:-22%), respectively. Implementing an MUP on alcohol thus promises significant positive impacts on public health. Copyright (c) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

International audience; We propose a new method, called 3D Image Warping Based Depth Video Compression (IW-DVC), for fast and efficient compression of depth images captured by mobile RGB-D sensors. The emergence of low-cost RGB-D sensors has created opportunities to find new solutions for a number of computer vision and networked robotics problems, such as 3D map building, immersive telepresence or remote sensing. However, efficient transmission and storage of depth data still presents a challenging task to the research community in these applications. Image/video compression has been comprehensively studied, and several methods have already been developed. But, these methods result in unacceptably suboptimal outcomes when applied to the depthimages.We have designed the IW-DVC method to exploit the special properties of the depth data to achieve a high compression ratio while preserving the quality of the captured depth images. Our solution combines the egomotion estimation and 3D image warping techniques and includes a lossless coding scheme which is capable of adapting to depth data with a high dynamic range. IWDVC operates in high-speed, suitable for real-time applications, and is able to attain an enhanced motion compensation accuracy compared with the conventional approaches. Also, it removes the existing redundant information between the depth frames to further increase compression efficiency. Our experiments show that IW-DVC attains a very high performance yielding significant compression ratios without sacrificing image quality.

Direct numerical simulations of flows in cylinders subjected to both rapid rotation and axial precession are presented and analysed in the context of a stability theory based on the triadic resonance of Kelvin modes. For a case that was chosen to provide a finely tuned resonant instability with a small nutation angle, the simulations are in good agreement with the theory and previous experiments in terms of mode shapes and dynamics, including long-time-scale regularization of the flow and recurrent collapses. Cases not tuned to the most unstable triad, but with the nutation angle still small, are also in quite good agreement with theoretical predictions, showing that the presence of viscosity makes the physics of the triadic-resonance model robust to detuning. Finally, for a case with $45^{\circ }$ nutation angle for which it has been suggested that resonance does not occur, the simulations show that a slowly growing triadic resonance predicted by theory is in fact observed if sufficient evolution time is allowed.

International audience; This study compares the impact of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) tax between moderate and high consumers in Australia. The key methodological contribution is that price response heterogeneity is identified while controlling for censoring of consumption at zero and endogeneity of expenditure by using a finite mixture instrumental variable Tobit model. The SSB price elasticity estimates show a decreasing trend across increasing consumption quantiles, from −2.3 at the median to −0.2 at the 95th quantile. Although high consumers of SSBs have a less elastic demand for SSBs, their very high consumption levels imply that a tax would achieve higher reduction in consumption and higher health gains. Our results also suggest that an SSB tax would represent a small fiscal burden for consumers whatever their pre-policy level of consumption, and that an excise tax should be preferred to an ad valorem tax.

International audience