Paul Sabatier Research Articles

Direct-to-consumer genetic testing: regulating offer or use?

Personalized MedicineVol. 9, No. 3 General content - EditorialDirect-to-consumer genetic testing: regulating offer or use?Emmanuelle Rial-Sebbag & Pascal BorryEmmanuelle Rial-SebbagUMR U 1027, Inserm, Université de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse III, Epidémiologie et analyses en santé publique: risques, maladies chroniques et handicap, Département d’épidémiologie et de santé publique, FranceSearch for more papers by this author & Pascal Borry* Author for correspondenceCentre for Biomedical Ethics & Law, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 35 Box 7001, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Search for more papers by this authorEmail the corresponding author at Pascal.Borry@med.kuleuven.bePublished Online:4 May 2012https://doi.org/10.2217/pme.12.29AboutSectionsView ArticleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInReddit View articleKeywords: bioethicsdirect-to-consumerethicalFrancegenetic testinglegalReferences1 Howard HC, Borry P. Is there a doctor in the house?: The presence of physicians in the direct-to-consumer genetic testing context. J. Community Genet.3(2),105–112 (2012).Crossref, Medline, Google Scholar2 Ledley F. A consumer charter for genomic services. Nat. Biotechnol.20(8),767 (2002).Crossref, Medline, CAS, Google Scholar3 Foster MW, Royal CDM, Sharp RR. The routinisation of genomics and genetics: implications for ethical practices. J. Med. Eth.32(11),635–638 (2006).Crossref, Medline, CAS, Google Scholar4 Howard HC, Borry P. Personal genome testing: do you know what you are buying? Am. J. Bioeth.9(6–7),11–13 (2009).Crossref, Medline, Google Scholar5 Janssens AC, Gwinn M, Bradley LA, Oostra BA, van Duijn CM, Khoury MJ. A critical appraisal of the scientific basis of commercial genomic profiles used to assess health risks and personalize health interventions. Am. J. Hum. Genet.82(3),593–599 (2008).Crossref, Medline, CAS, Google Scholar6 Mihaescu R, van HM, Sijbrands EJ et al. Evaluation of risk prediction updates from commercial genome-wide scans. Genet. Med.11(8),588–594 (2009).Crossref, Medline, Google Scholar7 Foster MW, Mulvihill JJ, Sharp RR. Evaluating the utility of personal genomic information. Genet. Med.11(8),570–574 (2009).Crossref, Medline, Google Scholar8 Wade CH, Wilfond BS. Ethical and clinical practice considerations for genetic counselors related to direct-to-consumer marketing of genetic tests. Am. J. Med. Genet. C. Semin. Med. Genet.142(4),284–292 (2006).Crossref, Google Scholar9 Borry P, Howard HC, Senecal K, Avard D. Health-related direct-to-consumer genetic testing: a review of companies’ policies with regard to genetic testing in minors. Fam. Cancer9(1),51–59 (2010).Crossref, Medline, Google Scholar10 McGuire A, Diaz CM, Wang T, Hilsenbeck S. Social networkers’ attitudes toward direct-to-consumer personal genome testing. Am. J. Bioeth.9(6–7),3–10 (2009).Crossref, Medline, Google Scholar11 Borry P, van Hellemondt RE, Sprumont D et al. Legislation on direct-to-consumer genetic testing in seven European countries. Eur. J. Hum. Genet. doi:10.1038/ejhg.2011.278 (2012) (Epub ahead of print).Google Scholar12 Law 94-653 of 29 July 1994 on respect for the human body (1994) (French Law).Google Scholar13 Law 94-654 of 29 July 1994 on the gift and use of parts and products of the human body, for medical assistance to procreation and prenatal diagnosis (1994) (French Law).Google Scholar14 Law 2011-814 of 7 July 2011 on Bioethics (2011) (French Law).Google ScholarFiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited ByPersonalizing health care: feasibility and future implications13 August 2013 | BMC Medicine, Vol. 11, No. 1“It’s our DNA, we deserve the right to test!” A content analysis of a petition for the right to access direct-to-consumer genetic testingYeyang Su, Pascal Borry, Ina C Otte & Heidi C Howard10 September 2013 | Personalized Medicine, Vol. 10, No. 7Survey of European clinical geneticists on awareness, experiences and attitudes towards direct-to-consumer genetic testingGenome Medicine, Vol. 5, No. 5To ban or not to ban?14 August 2012 | EMBO reports, Vol. 13, No. 9 Vol. 9, No. 3 Follow us on social media for the latest updates Metrics Downloaded 210 times History Published online 4 May 2012 Published in print May 2012 Information© Future Medicine LtdKeywordsbioethicsdirect-to-consumerethicalFrancegenetic testinglegalAcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thanks HC Howard for comments on a draft of the manuscript.Financial & competing interests disclosureE Rial-Sebbag is supported by the TEGALSI contract Institut de recherche en santé publique (Services de santé – politiques publiques et santé 2009). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.PDF download

Thesis abstract: Potential impacts of climate change on the distribution of freshwater fishes in French streams and uncertainty of projections

news and update ISSN 1948-6596 thesis abstract Potential impacts of climate change on the distribution of fresh- water fishes in French streams and uncertainty of projections Laetitia Buisson PhD, Laboratoire Evolution et Diversite Biologique, Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, and La- boratoire d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle, ENSAT, Castanet-Tolosan, France Current address: Laboratoire Evolution et Diversite Biologique, Universite Paul Sabatier, Tou- louse, France; E-mail: buisson@cict.fr; http://www.edb.ups-tlse.fr/ Climate change and its impact on biodiversity are receiving increasing attention from scientists and people managing natural ecosystems. Recent modifications of climate have induced diverse functional (e.g. phenology, physiology) and struc- tural (e.g. species distribution shifts, range con- traction, local extinctions) responses among or- ganisms (Walther et al. 2002). Given the projec- tions of future climate change, these responses are expected to continue throughout the 21st century and climate change could thus have major consequences on species and assemblages. A common approach to project the potential im- pacts of environmental changes on the distribu- tion of biodiversity is the use of species distribu- tion models (SDM) (e.g. Thuiller 2003). These cor- relative models first relate the present-day spe- cies distribution to a set of climate and other envi- ronmental descriptors. Then, the application of scenarios of future climate changes provides pre- dictions of the habitats potentially suitable in the future for the species. In spite of their widespread use, a growing concern has emerged for the vari- ability in the predicted impacts by such models due to the methodological decisions taken during the modeling process (Thuiller 2004). Improve- ments in the accuracy of predictions combined with an estimation of the uncertainty inherent to those predictions are thus urgently needed. Among freshwater ecosystems, stream fish have no physiological ability to regulate their body temperature and could therefore be very sensitive to climate warming, especially cold-stenotherm fish such as salmonid species. Stream fish also have to cope with hydrological variability of streams and strong anthropogenic pressures (e.g. habitat loss, stream fragmentation). In addition, they have limited dispersal ability within hydro- graphic networks in which they currently live. Yet their response to current and future climate change has been poorly documented and few studies have used SDM to assess the potential consequences of the on-going climate change on freshwater fish species distribution, especially in European streams. In that context, the aim of my PhD thesis was to assess the potential impacts of climate change on fish in French streams, mainly on spe- cies distribution and assemblages’ structure. I used fish data provided by the Office National de l’Eau et des Milieux Aquatiques (ONEMA), the in- stitution in charge of the protection and conserva- tion of freshwater ecosystems in France. These data were combined with climate and environ- mental descriptors through the use of correlative statistical modeling. As my goal was to provide reliable estimates of the future impacts of climate change on stream fish, I have considered recent criticisms (e.g. choice of statistical method, pure bioclimatic models) of species distribution models by justifying each step and optimizing the use of such models. In all, five papers are derived from my PhD work. The first three papers set the bases for the building of the models by considering the uncertainty in predictions, while the latest two assess the impacts of climate change on stream fish species and assemblages. In stream fish ecology, many studies have been conducted to identify the environmental drivers structuring fish assemblages (reviewed in Matthews 1998). It appears that fish species distri- bution and structure of fish assemblages are de- termined by a complex interplay of biotic, abiotic and spatial factors (Jackson et al. 2001). Disentan- © 2009 the authors; journal compilation © 2009 The International Biogeography Society — frontiers of biogeography 1.2, 2009

Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism : An Appreciation

Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism: An Appreciation Lawrence Cunningham (bio) Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941) published her best-known work Mysticism in 1911. It has never gone out of print.1 In fact, Bernard McGinn has judged that it is one of the best-known books on Christian mysticism ever to be published in the English language.2 The year 2011 marked the one hundredth anniversary of its publication; so it seems like an opportune moment for making a critical reassessment of her work. Such a reassessment will also serve, I believe, to help us judge the actual state of scholarship on the tangled topic of Christian mysticism. That the title of this essay uses the word “appreciation” should not be taken to mean that the book is without deficiencies. Still, I think Underhill’s book deserves appreciation both because it accomplished as much as it did, given the limitations of scholarship at the time, and because it has found an appreciative audience for a century. The very word “mysticism” only entered the English lexicon in the mid-eighteenth century. Nor has it been used uniformly in a positive sense. Indeed, Underhill herself, as if she were summarizing the popular use of the term, tells her readers in her preface that she does not intend the word to mean: “an excuse for every kind of occultism, for dilute transcendentalism, vapid symbolism, religious or aesthetic sentimentality, and bad metaphysics. On the other hand, it has been freely employed as a term of contempt by those who have criticized those things.”3 What Underhill describes in this passage is how the term was vulgarly used in her day. Underhill’s work was not a single flower blooming in an indifferent desert. There was already an increasing interest in Christian mysticism during the Edwardian period. Dean William Ralph Inge delivered the Bampton Lectures on Christian mysticism in 1899. Three years before Underhill’s work was published, Baron Von Hugel published, in two-volumes, The Mystical Element in Religion, which, despite its somewhat idiosyncratic nature, was a highly influential work. Von Hugel, in fact, would later become Underhill’s spiritual director, a few years after the publication of Mysticism, orienting her more firmly into relationship with the person of Christ and encouraging her active participation into the life of the church.4 Underhill admired Rufus Jones, the American Quaker, whose book, Studies in Mystical Religion, was published a [End Page 106] few years before her own, and she was also familiar with the classic work of William James (Varieties of Religious Experience), though she found his analysis of mysticism wanting.5 Click for larger view View full resolution Evelyn Underhill, Courtesy of Retreat House, Pleshey Mysticism is divided into two large sections. The first, entitled, “The Mystic Fact” argues that there is a form of consciousness that we can rightly call “mystical.” Underhill roughly categorizes mystics as falling under three broad categories: those who are seekers or pilgrims; those who cultivate an interiority of the heart; and, finally, those who follow the ascetic path.6 The second half of the book develops under the rubric “The Mystic Way.” The former section takes as its point of departure an exposition of vitalism. Influenced by her reading of Henri Bergson, she traces this mystical consciousness in psychology and investigates its relationship to theology and symbolics while, at the same time, carefully distinguishing it from “magic” (the term that was then used in anthropology). The latter part of the book is a kind of synthesis of her capacious reading in the literature of the mystics themselves. This literature was mostly Christian, but some was also from non-Christian traditions (e.g. The Upanishads, Sufi poetry). [End Page 107] When one consults letters from the period she was doing research for Mysticism, it is astounding to find how much she read when such literature was not easily obtainable in critical translations.7 She read the work of Saint Teresa of Avila in French and engaged a friend to translate some of the German texts on mysticism, including the work of Meister Eckhart. She relied on anthologies for some sources and used Paul Sabatier for analysis of Franciscan sources. She knew...

Herve Paris (1953 – 2010) Tribute by Chris S. Flordellis

It is with great sadness that we record here the premature death of Herve Paris, who died at his home in Toulouse, in January 23, 2010. With his death, molecular pharmacology research of GPCRs has lost one of its creative, productive and most consistent supporters. He studied in the University of Paul Sabatier, Toulouse III, France and at the University of Miami, USA. With this basic background he served at INSERM (Institut National de la Recherche Medicale, France, Toulouse) as researcher, Charge de Recherche and as Director of research, a position he held until his death. His main field of research was alpha2-adrenergic receptor pharmacology, mechanisms of signal transduction and regulation of expression. Among others, he showed in 1985, that the human colon adenocarcinoma cell-line HT 29 expresses functional alpha 2-adrenergic receptors and used it as a model cell system to characterize pharmacological properties of a2A-adrenergic receptors. He also conclusively proved that binding of the radioligand [3H]RX821002 is a valuable tool for labeling α2A-adrenoceptors. These tools were instrumental in later advances in the molecular pharmacology of alpha2-adrenergic receptor subtypes by his research group. As a colleague, I have deeply appreciated his intelligence and his exceptional scientific qualifications and as a friend I was touched by his kindness, enduring solidarity and his consistency, all these years I had the chance to know him. We dedicate this issue on biased agonism at 7TMRs to his memory. He will be deeply missed.

A diffusion approximation theorem for a nonlinear PDE with application to random birefringent optical fibers

In this article we propose a generalization of the theory of diffusion approximation for random ODE to a nonlinear system of random Schr\"{o}dinger equations. This system arises in the study of pulse propagation in randomly birefringent optical fibers. We first show existence and uniqueness of solutions for the random PDE and the limiting equation. We follow the work of Garnier and Marty [Wave Motion 43 (2006) 544-560], Marty [Probl\`{e}mes d'\'{e}volution en milieux al\'{e}atoires: Th\'{e}or\`{e}mes limites, sch\'{e}mas num\'{e}riques et applications en optique (2005) Univ. Paul Sabatier], where a linear electric field is considered, and we get an asymptotic dynamic for the nonlinear electric field.

Protecting Personal Information

  This paper looks at Nova Scotia's Personal Information International Disclosure Protection Act (PIIDPA), a piece of legislation that was specifically designed to protect Nova Scotia's citizens from having their personal information accessed by foreign governments. This is a direct reaction to new powers the United States government has given itself, through the USA Patriot Act , in collecting information to protect Americans from terrorism. The main thesis of my paper will be to determine whether this piece of legislation is an effective piece of public policy, asking the question: Does Nova Scotia, through PIIDPA, have the ability to protect Nova Scotians from having their personal information accessed by foreign governments? Using a policy framework designed by political scientists Paul Sabatier and Daniel Mazmanian (1980) to analyse policy effectiveness I will determine whether PIIDPA is an act that will effectively do what it was created to do, or whether it will face problems in achieving those goals.

Bullous and mucous membrane pemphigoid show a mixed response to rituximab: experience in seven patients

Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and VenereologyVolume 25, Issue 10 p. 1238-1240 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Bullous and mucous membrane pemphigoid show a mixed response to rituximab: experience in seven patients S. Lourari, S. Lourari Department of Dermatology, Paul Sabatier University and Larrey Hospital, 24 Chemin de Pouvourville, 31059 ToulouseSearch for more papers by this authorC. Herve, C. Herve Department of Dermatology, Paul Sabatier University and Larrey Hospital, 24 Chemin de Pouvourville, 31059 ToulouseSearch for more papers by this authorV. Doffoel-Hantz, V. Doffoel-Hantz Department of Dermatology, Dupuytren Hospital, 2 Avenue Martin Luther King, 87042 LimogesSearch for more papers by this authorN. Meyer, N. Meyer Department of Dermatology, Paul Sabatier University and Larrey Hospital, 24 Chemin de Pouvourville, 31059 ToulouseSearch for more papers by this authorC. Bulai-Livideanu, C. Bulai-Livideanu Department of Dermatology, Paul Sabatier University and Larrey Hospital, 24 Chemin de Pouvourville, 31059 ToulouseSearch for more papers by this authorR. Viraben, R. Viraben Department of Dermatology, Paul Sabatier University and Larrey Hospital, 24 Chemin de Pouvourville, 31059 ToulouseSearch for more papers by this authorA. Maza, A. Maza Department of Dermatology, Paul Sabatier University and Larrey Hospital, 24 Chemin de Pouvourville, 31059 ToulouseSearch for more papers by this authorD. Adoue, D. Adoue Department of Internal Medicine, Purpan Hospital, Place du Dr Baylac, 31059 Toulouse, FranceSearch for more papers by this authorC. Bedane, C. Bedane Department of Dermatology, Dupuytren Hospital, 2 Avenue Martin Luther King, 87042 LimogesSearch for more papers by this authorC. Paul, Corresponding Author C. Paul Department of Dermatology, Paul Sabatier University and Larrey Hospital, 24 Chemin de Pouvourville, 31059 Toulouse C. Paul. E-mail:paul.c@chu-toulouse.frSearch for more papers by this author S. Lourari, S. Lourari Department of Dermatology, Paul Sabatier University and Larrey Hospital, 24 Chemin de Pouvourville, 31059 ToulouseSearch for more papers by this authorC. Herve, C. Herve Department of Dermatology, Paul Sabatier University and Larrey Hospital, 24 Chemin de Pouvourville, 31059 ToulouseSearch for more papers by this authorV. Doffoel-Hantz, V. Doffoel-Hantz Department of Dermatology, Dupuytren Hospital, 2 Avenue Martin Luther King, 87042 LimogesSearch for more papers by this authorN. Meyer, N. Meyer Department of Dermatology, Paul Sabatier University and Larrey Hospital, 24 Chemin de Pouvourville, 31059 ToulouseSearch for more papers by this authorC. Bulai-Livideanu, C. Bulai-Livideanu Department of Dermatology, Paul Sabatier University and Larrey Hospital, 24 Chemin de Pouvourville, 31059 ToulouseSearch for more papers by this authorR. Viraben, R. Viraben Department of Dermatology, Paul Sabatier University and Larrey Hospital, 24 Chemin de Pouvourville, 31059 ToulouseSearch for more papers by this authorA. Maza, A. Maza Department of Dermatology, Paul Sabatier University and Larrey Hospital, 24 Chemin de Pouvourville, 31059 ToulouseSearch for more papers by this authorD. Adoue, D. Adoue Department of Internal Medicine, Purpan Hospital, Place du Dr Baylac, 31059 Toulouse, FranceSearch for more papers by this authorC. Bedane, C. Bedane Department of Dermatology, Dupuytren Hospital, 2 Avenue Martin Luther King, 87042 LimogesSearch for more papers by this authorC. Paul, Corresponding Author C. Paul Department of Dermatology, Paul Sabatier University and Larrey Hospital, 24 Chemin de Pouvourville, 31059 Toulouse C. Paul. E-mail:paul.c@chu-toulouse.frSearch for more papers by this author First published: 04 November 2010 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-3083.2010.03889.xCitations: 50Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume25, Issue10October 2011Pages 1238-1240 RelatedInformation

Correction: The Dopamine Metabolite 3-Methoxytyramine Is a Neuromodulator

There was an error in affiliation 4. The correct address is: 4 INSERM U 858 and Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France. Also, the following information was omitted from the funding information: Bernard Masri is recipient of a European Marie Curie Outgoing International Fellowship (FP6-2005-Mobility 6).

Agonist-selective Dynamic Compartmentalization of Human Mu Opioid Receptor as Revealed by Resolutive FRAP Analysis

Techniques for analyzing the membrane diffusion of molecules are the most promising methods for investigating the compartmentalization of G-protein-coupled receptors, particularly as relevant to receptor signaling processes. Here, we report fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) measurements performed at variable spot radius for human mu opioid (hMOP) receptors on SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells in the presence of ligands. Although an antagonist did not affect the behavior of the receptors compared with the basal state, two different agonists, DAMGO and morphine, caused markedly different changes to receptor diffusion. Like receptors in the absence of ligand, receptors bound to morphine exhibited diffusion confined to joined semipermeable domains, but with smaller domain size and diffusion coefficient. This effect was inhibited by pertussis toxin, strongly suggesting that this dynamic behavior is associated with early steps of signaling. In the presence of DAMGO, half of the receptors displayed free long-range diffusion and the other half were confined to smaller isolated domains. Hypertonic sucrose buffer suppressed this effect, which we attribute to receptor entry into clathrin-coated pits. It is likely that the observation of distinct receptor dynamics in the presence of DAMGO and morphine involves the agonist-selective phosphorylation of the receptor.

Phosphatidylinositol-(4,5)-bisphosphate enables efficient secretion of HIV-1 Tat by infected T-cells

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) transcription relies on its transactivating Tat protein. Although devoid of a signal sequence, Tat is released by infected cells and secreted Tat can affect uninfected cells, thereby contributing to HIV-1 pathogenesis. The mechanism and the efficiency of Tat export remained to be documented. Here, we show that, in HIV-1-infected primary CD4(+) T-cells that are the main targets of the virus, Tat accumulates at the plasma membrane because of its specific binding to phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P(2)). This interaction is driven by a specific motif of the Tat basic domain that recognizes a single PI(4,5)P(2) molecule and is stabilized by membrane insertion of Tat tryptophan side chain. This original recognition mechanism enables binding to membrane-embedded PI(4,5)P(2) only, but with an unusually high affinity that allows Tat to perturb the PI(4,5)P(2)-mediated recruitment of cellular proteins. Tat-PI(4,5)P(2) interaction is strictly required for Tat secretion, a process that is very efficient, as approximately 2/3 of Tat are exported by HIV-1-infected cells during their lifespan. The function of extracellular Tat in HIV-1 infection might thus be more significant than earlier thought.

A Christian Remedy in a Climate of Fear: Francesco Bernadone, the War with Perugia, and Conversion

IN A 1957 LECTURE, medieval historian Christopher Brooke said, No medieval saint has been as popular in the last two generations as St. Francis; and popular, not only with Roman Catholics, but with men and women of every denomination and of none. (1) He goes on to attribute this popularity to the publication of Paul Sabatier's Vie de S. Francois d'Assise in 1893. While there is no comparable publication today, the figure of Francis of Assisi remains popular. During a recent visit to a big box retail outlet this author noticed plastic outdoor-display versions of the saint available in three different sizes. While the modern fascination with Francis is closely tied to his perceived association with animals and the environment, there is something to be gained a reexamination of this iconic character. By considering not only his teachings but also the setting of Francesco Bernadone's life one uncovers a uniquely Christian remedy for a society locked in a climate of fear and change. I. The Setting Located on a rocky hilltop in the Spoleto valley in central Italy, late twelfth-century Assisi afforded a young man all the temptations of medieval urban life. While the modern attraction of both Perugia and Assisi is their picturesque beauty, as hilltop citadels their strategic command of the valley speaks to their once competitive and violent posturing. Although neighboring Perugia had eclipsed it for two centuries, the year 1200 proud Assisi was preparing for a showdown to establish dominance. The climate was particularly hostile since Perugia had interfered in an internal struggle between Assisi's popular and noble classes. Assisi wanted revenge. The civic atmosphere was, therefore, one of retribution. Born into this climate of civic pride bolstered a growing economy in 1181, Francis was the child of a wealthy textile tradesman, Pietro di Bernardone (whose family came from Lucca), and his Provencal wife, Pica. (2) From a young age his father instilled in Francis the concept that material possessions were the measure of existence. It is no surprise then that he was a greedy youth and that this greed manifested itself even on a civic level. In 1202 Assisi formally launched a war against Perugia. Francis, the sources tell us, as a personification of Assisi's vices of pride, revenge, greed, and vanity, happily stepped forward to fight. Given Francis's later advocacy of peace, his contemporary biographers are not only telling a story, but also teaching a lesson. The conflict went beyond mere rivalry. Larger Perugia's loyalties lay with the papacy while smaller Assisi was allied with the Holy Roman Emperor. It was the classic smaller emperor-allied Ghibelline city versus a larger papal-allied Guelf city--a situation that encouraged violence throughout Italy in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as the unity of the Holy Roman Empire was beginning to crack. Warfare between Italian towns such as Assisi and Perugia was almost incessant. When small towns were at war it was not uncommon for all men over the age of fourteen to render military service. (3) Friedrich Heer provides an appropriate description of medieval society. He writes that its daily life was warfare, unrest, tumult, hatred, envy and the lust for power. (4) It is often easy for the modern student of history to forget the inherent violence of medieval Europe. This instability was partially due to weak centralized authority. Caught in the crosshairs between vacillating loyalty either to Church or emperor, the communities of the Spoleto valley were particularly prone to violence. Because of the constant conflict, the fighting classes became increasing brutal the tenth century. In fact, John McNeill suggests that after the tenth century terrorism was widespread. He states that the soldiers fought by plundering and ravaging the unarmed peasantry and devastating the lands they tilled, rather than in honest battle with foemen worthy of his steel. …

Bis σ-Bond Dihydrogen and Borane Ruthenium Complexes: Bonding Nature, Catalytic Applications, and Reversible Hydrogen Release

Hydrogen, the simplest element in the periodic table, plays a tremendous role in organic and inorganic chemistry. For years, it was inconceivable that dihydrogen could be bound to a metal center without breaking the H-H bond. Thus, oxidative addition of H(2) was universally recognized as a key elementary step in hydrogenation processes. In 1984, Kubas and co-workers reported the first example of a complex in which dihydrogen was coordinated to a metal center without breaking of the H-H bond. This opened a new area in coordination chemistry: sigma-complexes were born, complementing the well-known Werner-type family of complexes. Since then, hundreds of stable dihydrogen complexes have been isolated, and their properties have been investigated in detail. By comparison, very little information is available for the analogous class of sigma-borane complexes, in which sigma-H-B bonds are complexed to a metal (in the manner of H-H bonds in sigma-dihydrogen complexes). Since the first example published in 1996 by Hartwig and co-workers, very few sigma-borane complexes have been isolated. Scientists have maintained a continuous interest in catalytic hydrogenation reactions. Almost a century ago, in 1912, Paul Sabatier, the father of the hydrogenation process, received the Nobel prize, and the selection of Noyori and Knowles in 2001 for their studies on enantioselective catalyzed hydrogenations amply demonstrates the ongoing importance of the field. Moreover, during the past decade, dihydrogen has attracted considerable attention as a possible "fuel of the future". This endeavor has furthered interest in sigma-borane complexes, as more and more evidence links their chemistry to that of amine-borane derivatives. Indeed, ammonia-borane (NH(3)BH(3)) is attracting significant interest for hydrogen storage applications. One of the main limitations is the lack of reversibility associated with the production of dehydrogenated (BNH)(x) materials. Of major importance will be a better understanding of the coordination of H(2) to a metal center, and more generally of the coordination of H-E bonds (E = B, C), which are likely to play a critical role in the reversible dehydrogenation process. In this Account, we review our recent results in the field of dihydrogen and borane activation, with a specific focus on the problem of reversible dehydrogenation pathways. We concentrate on the chemistry of ruthenium complexes incorporating two sigma-ligands: either two dihydrogen or two sigma-B-H bonds. We describe our synthetic strategies to prepare such unusual structures. Their characterization is discussed in detail, highlighting the importance of an experimental and theoretical approach (NMR, structural, and theoretical studies). Some catalytic applications are discussed and put into context, and their reactivity toward reversible hydrogen release is detailed.

'How are you?': what do you mean?

For Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a French writer and distinguished amateur of food, ‘What is health? It is chocolate!’ (‘Qu’est-ce que la sante? C’est du chocolat!’).1 Interviewing Henry David Thoreau, the problem of how to measure health would be solved as follows: ‘Measure your health by your sympathy with morning and spring’.2 For Balzac, at the end of the XIXth Century, a woman over 30 years of age could expect little from life and should consider herself as elderly, or at least, she had to persuade herself that this was so.3 What answer would these persons have given to the question, ‘How is your health in general?’, which is included in the OECD Health Data? Obviously, in the first examples cited health would have been governed by very specific conditions and the expectations of Balzac's … Correspondence: Thierry Lang, INSERM UMR 558, Universite Paul Sabatier, CHU de Toulouse, F-31000 Toulouse, France, tel: +33 561 145 935, fax: +33 562 264 240, e-mail: lang{at}cict.fr

Editors' Notes

This marks our final issue of the Policy Studies Journal, as we hand the (virtual) editorial office over to Professors Peter deLeon and Chris Weible, both at the University of Colorado at Denver. After six years of receiving, reviewing and publishing for the PSJ, we remain impressed with the array of ideas and quality of thought in public policy research. This issue makes our point, including papers by Peter May, Joshua Sapotichne and Samuel Workman (University of Washington) on the ways in which broad policy “disruptions” like the 9/11 terror strikes ripple through public policies; by (our esteemed future editor) Christopher Weible (University of Colorado at Denver) and Paul Sabatier (University of California at Davis) on patterns of adversarial versus collaborative policy on complex scientific issues; and an excellent paper by Susan Webb Yackee (University of Wisconsin-Madison) concerning interest group conflict in policy making concerning medical malpractice reform. These and the subsequent papers in this issue will make enduring contributions to public policy theory, and are sure to be of broad value to policy scholars and students. As the PSJ has changed over the past six years, with increased visibility and affiliation with the APSA Public Policy Section, we have gained a clear view of what it takes to promote and sustain a strong academic journal. While editors play a role, the primary drivers are the scholars who submit top-quality papers and the reviewers who take the time to provide constructive criticism. The conscientious support of blind reviewers, in particular, is essential to the success of a scholarly journal. With the help of our reviewers, the PSJ was able to resist the now nearly pervasive trend toward longer review times at journals; it is not uncommon to hear of papers languishing for over a year as editors await reviews. Discussions with our reviewers suggest that this is, in part, because policy scholars (and APSA Policy Section members in particular) feel a degree of ownership in the PSJ. We deeply appreciate the support that has been provided, and we hope that reviewers will continue to provide high quality and prompt reviews of articles sent by the new editors of this journal. We wish the new editorial team the best in continuing to increase the quality and visibility of the PSJ. For that reason, as always, we urge you to submit your best scholarship to the Policy Studies Journal.

Brain imaging and recovery of speech comprehension in cochlear implanted deaf subjects

Event Abstract Back to Event Brain imaging and recovery of speech comprehension in cochlear implanted deaf subjects Pascal Barone1* 1 CNRS and Universite Paul Sabatier, CerCo, France A cochlear implant allows post-lingual adult deaf patients to understand speech through longterm adaptive processes to build coherent percept from the coarse information delivered by the implant. Because the success of rehabilitations relies on the functional plasticity in the auditory system, it is of crucial importance to understand the reorganization of the cortical network involved in speech comprehension that occurs during deafness and following the progressive recovery. Because of a long period of deafness and the crude information provided by the implant, CI users have developed compensatory strategies for speech comprehension favouring speech-reading and visuo-auditory interactions. Because of the neuro-prosthesis, only PET scan (Positron emission tomography) neuro-imaging studies can be performed to visualize brain activity based on regional changes in cerebral blood flow. Neuro-imaging studies have reported that CI patients present different levels of activation in cortical areas involved in semantic and/or honological speech processing. Further, we will present recent evidences that the cross-modal compensation observed at the behavioural level is accompanied by plastic changes in the visual and auditory network involved in visual and visuo-auditory speech integration. Conference: 3rd Mediterranean Conference of Neuroscience , Alexandria, Egypt, 13 Dec - 16 Dec, 2009. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Symposium 01 – Neural dynamics, learning and functional recovery Citation: Barone P (2009). Brain imaging and recovery of speech comprehension in cochlear implanted deaf subjects. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: 3rd Mediterranean Conference of Neuroscience . doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.01.2009.16.010 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 18 Nov 2009; Published Online: 18 Nov 2009. * Correspondence: Pascal Barone, CNRS and Universite Paul Sabatier, CerCo, Toulouse, France, pascal.barone@cerco.ups-tlse.fr Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Pascal Barone Google Pascal Barone Google Scholar Pascal Barone PubMed Pascal Barone Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Adipose Tissue Lymphocytes and Macrophages in Obesity and Insulin Resistance

Obesity, and more specifically accumulation of adipose tissue in the visceral and subcutaneous abdominal locations, is a major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular pathologies including hypertension and atherosclerosis, as well as metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes. During recent years, “metaflammation” or metabolically-triggered inflammation1 has emerged as a key process involved in the clustering of those conditions. Although several metabolically active organs such as the liver, muscle, and, recently, the intestine2 certainly play major roles, the white adipose tissue appears as a central and primary player as both a source and site of inflammation. Accumulation of adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) has been well-described in obese conditions in mice and humans.3–5 Moreover, the ATM proinflammatory phenotype has been linked to the development of insulin resistance in mice,4 although the exact nature of the proinflammatory myeloid cells, ie, macrophages or dentritic cells, remains to be determined.6 Nevertheless, the causal link between inflammation and insulin resistance was further strengthened by the specific knock-out of the inflammation coordinator IkappaB kinase beta of myeloid cells, which gave protection against insulin resistance.7 The study of Kintscher and al in this issue8 extends those original observations to cells of adaptative immunity. The authors suggest that the accumulation of T-lymphocytes, assessed mainly through gene expression analyses and immunohistochemistry, occurs in the perigonadal adipose tissue of mice on …

Algal bioactive compounds reduce net oxygen fluxes of artificial diatom biofilms

AME Aquatic Microbial Ecology Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials AME 51:275-284 (2008) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/ame01195 Algal bioactive compounds reduce net oxygen fluxes of artificial diatom biofilms J. Leflaive1, E. Buffan-Dubau2, L. Ten-Hage1,* 1Laboratoire d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle (EcoLab), UMR 5245 CNRS/UPS/INPT, Université Paul Sabatier, bât 4R3, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 09, France 2Laboratoire d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle (EcoLab), UMR 5245 CNRS/UPS/INPT, Université Paul Sabatier, 29 rue Jeanne Marvig, 31055 Toulouse Cedex 04, France *Corresponding author. Email: tenhage@cict.fr ABSTRACT: A wide range of chemicals are exuded by microalgae or released by grazed cells. In biofilms, these bioactive compounds may potentially exert a large effect on growing cells, since the cellular density is high and intercellular distances are short. We studied whether such compounds affect the functioning of the biofilm and, therefore, we tested several compounds. These included eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and 2E,4E-decadienal (DD), which are produced during grazing on diatoms. In addition, we obtained a mixture of compounds by methanolic extraction of the allelopathic green alga Uronema confervicolum. We studied how the net oxygen production rates of an artificial diatom biofilm were affected by the different compounds. The extracts of U. confervicolum significantly reduced these rates. Unexpectedly, EPA had a strong effect on the oxygen production rates in the biofilm. A toxic effect was also observed in ecotoxicological assays with the diatom Nitzschia palea. However, the inhibitory effect of DD on the biofilm was weaker than that of EPA, while DD was shown to be more toxic in liquid culture. This differential effect on liquid culture and biofilms indicates that the organization of benthic algae in biofilm should be considered when studying chemical interactions between these organisms. KEY WORDS: Diatom biofilms · Eicosapentaenoic acid · Decadienal · Allelopathy · Oxygen microprofile · Microelectrode · Nitzschia palea Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Leflaive J, Buffan-Dubau E, Ten-Hage L (2008) Algal bioactive compounds reduce net oxygen fluxes of artificial diatom biofilms. Aquat Microb Ecol 51:275-284. https://doi.org/10.3354/ame01195 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in AME Vol. 51, No. 3. Online publication date: June 16, 2008 Print ISSN: 0948-3055; Online ISSN: 1616-1564 Copyright © 2008 Inter-Research.

Organo-Catalyzed ROP of ϵ-Caprolactone: Methanesulfonic Acid Competes with Trifluoromethanesulfonic Acid

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVCommunication to the...Communication to the EditorNEXTOrgano-Catalyzed ROP of ϵ-Caprolactone: Methanesulfonic Acid Competes with Trifluoromethanesulfonic AcidStéphanie Gazeau-Bureau†, Damien Delcroix†, Blanca Martín-Vaca*†, Didier Bourissou*†, Christophe Navarro‡, and Stéphanie Magnet‡View Author Information Laboratoire Hétérochimie Fondamentale et Appliquée du CNRS (UMR 5069), Université Paul Sabatier, 118, route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse Cedex 09, France, and Arkema, Lacq Research Center, PO Box 34, 64170 Lacq, France* To whom correspondence should be addressed: Fax (+33)(0)561558204; e-mail: [email protected] (B.M.-V.), [email protected] (D.B.)†Université Paul Sabatier.‡Arkema, Lacq Research Center.Cite this: Macromolecules 2008, 41, 11, 3782–3784Publication Date (Web):May 10, 2008Publication History Received20 March 2008Revised18 April 2008Published online10 May 2008Published inissue 1 June 2008https://doi.org/10.1021/ma800626qCopyright © 2008 American Chemical SocietyRIGHTS & PERMISSIONSArticle Views2992Altmetric-Citations134LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InReddit Read OnlinePDF (80 KB) Get e-AlertsSupporting Info (1)»Supporting Information Supporting Information SUBJECTS:Aromatic compounds,Catalysts,Hydrocarbons,Monomers,Ring-opening polymerization Get e-Alerts

Comparative effect of alfuzosin and tamsulosin on the contractile response of isolated rabbit prostatic and iris dilator smooth muscles: Possible model for intraoperative floppy-iris syndrome

To compare the pharmacologic properties of tamsulosin and alfuzosin in isolated prostatic and iris dilator smooth muscle from pigmented rabbits. UROsphere Laboratories, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France. Prostatic and iris dilator smooth muscle strips were placed in organ baths. A concentration-response curve to phenylephrine was compared before and after incubation with tamsulosin or alfuzosin. Both drugs were approximately 30 times less potent in iris dilator than prostatic smooth muscle. In the iris, tamsulosin acted as a competitive antagonist starting at the 0.03 microM concentration (pA(2)=7.96). This is in the same range as the maximum plasma concentration after a 0.4 mg dose of tamsulosin in humans (0.025 microM). The antagonistic effect of alfuzosin in the iris was weaker (calculated mean pA(2) value of 5.63+/-0.19). Concentrations with an equipotent antagonistic effect on rabbit iris dilator muscle (3.0 and 10.0 microM) were approximately 100 to 300 times higher than the maximum plasma concentrations after a 10.0 mg dose of alfuzosin in humans (0.032 microM). Tamsulosin was more effective than alfuzosin at blocking adrenergic contraction of the iris dilator muscle in pigmented rabbits. Both drugs were less potent in the iris than in the prostate, which suggests that an additional iris receptor could be involved. If valid in humans, our results suggest that attainable plasma concentrations of tamsulosin are able to antagonize iris dilator smooth muscle contraction, whereas those of alfuzosin are not. This could explain the higher frequency of intraoperative floppy-iris syndrome in patients treated with tamsulosin than with alfuzosin.

Phases of ongoing EEG oscillations are coupled with visual detection performance

Event Abstract Back to Event Phases of ongoing EEG oscillations are coupled with visual detection performance Niko Busch1* and R. VanRullen1 1 Centre de Recherche Cerveau & Cognition, CNRS-Université Paul Sabatier, France The current state of the cortex at the moment when information about a particular stimulus reaches it can affect how this information will be processed. In particular, neuronal oscillations which induce large variations in local electrical fields could influence certain aspects of the neuronal response. In the extreme case, a stimulus appearing at a particular phase of the ongoing oscillation would be optimally processed and detected, while at another phase it might be entirely missed. To test this possibility, we presented brief flashes of light at the individual contrast threshold while EEG was recorded. Even though the stimuli in each trial were identical, subjects detected approximately half of the flashes (hits) while they entirely missed the other half (misses). Phase distributions across trials were compared between hits and misses. We found that around stimulus onset, the two distributions each exhibited significant phase concentration, but at different phase angles. This effect was strongest in the theta and alpha frequency bands. This finding indicates that the detection threshold fluctuates over time along with the phase of ongoing EEG activity. In sum, the results support the notion that ongoing oscillations shape our perceptions, possibly by providing a temporal reference frame for neural codes that rely on precise spike timing. Conference: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Türkiye, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Brain Electrical Oscillations in Cognition Citation: Busch N and VanRullen R (2008). Phases of ongoing EEG oscillations are coupled with visual detection performance. Conference Abstract: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.111 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 03 Dec 2008; Published Online: 03 Dec 2008. * Correspondence: Niko Busch, Centre de Recherche Cerveau & Cognition, CNRS-Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France, busch@cerco.ups-tlse.fr Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Niko Busch R. VanRullen Google Niko Busch R. VanRullen Google Scholar Niko Busch R. VanRullen PubMed Niko Busch R. VanRullen Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.