A new device for free skin grafting in rats

We have employed this device in more than 200 grafting operations with complete success. Its advantage is to avoid the variation of fixing pressure on the grafts that greatly interferes with the experimental results. In addition, this method allows us to inspect the graft during the first week without having to remove the protector each time, which helped us greatly. We have presented a new device for skin grafting in rats that allows us to obtain temporary stabilization and protection of a skin graft. In addition, it allows us to inspect the graft without having to remove the protector.     

Material Poetics of a Malay House

Material objects call to us and structure our being. They are not passive, while we are active—rather, they embroil us in their lives as much as we engage them. Hence, sociality is not solely a human function but necessarily involves environments and artefacts. The notion of material poetics is, in this sense, a mutually shaping matrix that affects social life and thought. This philosophy is explored through an encounter with a Malay house. The house is in many ways liminal—a place in which thought and image dwells. It is traditional, yet unique; it holds and expresses history, yet that history is elsewhere and legendary; is Malay but with Chinese decorations, which articulate hybridity; is specifically local, yet involved in national and international flows. It embraces both oscillation and direction. The house is made of wood. This paper takes up this element, showing how the wood not only shelters, but also leads us to venture out to a garden of trees and a dream of jungles where encounters with things, stories and myths subvert our normal categories and expectations. The house leads us places and clears things for us, leading us into a new social field.     

Une dent d'aspect mammalienen provenance du Rhétien Français

This paper analyses a tooth with mammal-likecharacters found in the lower Rhaetian of Lorraine. The comparison of this specimen with teeth of therapsid cynodonts and contemporary mammals has not led us to assimilate it to any previously known form, but suggests a relationship with late and advanced cynodonts, and allows us to place the animal at the reptilian-mammalian transition. This is the first indication of a therapsid in France.     

Early left ventricular remodelling following acute coronary accident

Ventricular remodelling following acute coronary syndromes is both complex and multiform. It is due to the response of the myocardium to the different agressions associated with these syndromes, in particular the ischemia and necrosis downstream of the occluded artery. We must not however neglect the role of the remodelling of the lesions resulting from spontaneous reperfusion or provoked by the cells and tissues associated with coronary microcirculation embolisms and the no-reflow phenomenon. Acute post-infarct remodelling is dominated by early ventricular dilatation which largely affects late prognosis, necrosis elimination and its replacement by a fibrotic scar in parallel with a compensatory hypertrophy of the non-infarcted myocardium. The diverse cellular and molecular components of this remodelling are increasingly well-known, allowing us to better explain the beneficial effects of the currently available medications and providing us with new potential therapeutic targets. A grading of this knowledge associated with the identification of new risk factors and early therapeutic interventions should help us to further limit the deleterious aspects of this remodelling in the goal of preventing, or at least delaying, the devolution towards heart failure.     

The critical discussion group: fostering personal and scientific growth

As scientists, we greatly benefit from discussing our work with our peers. Informal, unstructured interactions often yield highly creative feedback. With this in mind, we created a group that fosters discussion of its members' work. The group engages us in new research fields and ways of thinking, and provides us with an opportunity for co-mentoring. Three key components were essential for making this group work: the emphasis on non-hierarchical debate; the diversity of the group members; and the mutual respect existing among the participants.     

Unella roquellensis nov. gen., nov. sp., dayscladacée Éodévonienne du Massif Armoricain (France) observations sur son ecologie

Fragments from a Dasycladacean Alga were discovered in a biostrome belonging to the Eodevonian of the NE of Massif armoricain. A study of these fragments has enabled us to separate this Dasycladacean Alga from others as a new and distinct genus. An exceptional fact is to be noticed: the lower parts of the thalli are still fixed by means of their rhizoids on the various substrates. These fragments in life position provide us with useful indications on the ecology of this Alga which grew on framebuilders.     

Efficient Establishment of Pig Embryonic Fibroblast Cell Lines with Conditional Expression of the Simian Vacuolating Virus 40 Large T Fragment

The pig is an important animal for both agricultural and medical purposes. However, the number of pig-derived cell lines is relatively limited when compared with mouse- and human-derived lines. We established in this study a retroviral conditional expression system for the Simian vacuolating virus 40 large T fragment (SV40T) which allowed us to efficiently establish pig embryonic fibroblast cell lines. The established cell lines showed high levels of cell proliferation and resistance to cellular senescence. A chromosome analysis showed that 84% of the cells had the normal karyotype. Transient expression of the Cre recombinase allowed us to excise the SV40T fragment from the genome. The development of this research tool will enable us to quickly establish new cell lines derived from various animals.     

Efficient establishment of pig embryonic fibroblast cell lines with conditional expression of the simian vacuolating virus 40 large T fragment

The pig is an important animal for both agricultural and medical purposes. However, the number of pig-derived cell lines is relatively limited when compared with mouse- and human-derived lines. We established in this study a retroviral conditional expression system for the Simian vacuolating virus 40 large T fragment (SV40T) which allowed us to efficiently establish pig embryonic fibroblast cell lines. The established cell lines showed high levels of cell proliferation and resistance to cellular senescence. A chromosome analysis showed that 84% of the cells had the normal karyotype. Transient expression of the Cre recombinase allowed us to excise the SV40T fragment from the genome. The development of this research tool will enable us to quickly establish new cell lines derived from various animals.     

A sensitive method for determination of lipase activity from cellulose acetate strips

The agar plate method enables us to locate the enzymatic activity of lipase on the electrophoretic strips and to test it on various substrates. Moreover, it is possible to separate and detect a few lipases which are mixed in a solution and to test their specificity toward various substrates. Finally, this method allows us to locate and rapidly follow lipases with low enzymatic activity.     

Topological Approach of Jungian Psychology

In this work, we compare two global approaches which are usually considered as completely unconnected one with the other. The former is Thom’s topology and the latter is Jung’s psychology. More precisely, it seemed to us interesting to adapt some morphologies of Thom’s catastrophe theory to some Jung’s notions. Thus, we showed that the swallowtail, which is one of these morphologies, was able to describe geometrically the structural organisation of the psyche according to Jung, with its collective unconscious, personal unconscious and conscious. Moreover, we have correlated this morphology with Jung’s evolutive processes like individualisation and individuation. These comparisons incited us to think that some morphologies of Thom’s catastrophe theory are the geometrical dealing of Jung’s archetypes.     

New substituted aminopyrimidine derivatives as BACE1 inhibitors: in silico design,synthesis and biological assays

We report in this work new substituted aminopyrimidine derivatives acting as inhibitors of the catalytic site of BACE1. These compounds were obtained from a molecular modeling study. The theoretical and experimental study reported here was carried out in several steps: docking analysis, Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations, Quantum Theory Atom in Molecules (QTAIM) calculations, synthesis and bioassays and has allowed us to propose some compounds of this series as new inhibitors of the catalytic site of BACE1. The QTAIM study has allowed us to obtain an excellent correlation between the electronic densities and the experimental data of IC₅₀. Also, using combined techniques (MD simulations and QTAIM calculations) enabled us to describe in detail the molecular interactions that stabilize the different L-R complexes. In addition, our results allowed us to determine what portion of these compounds should be changed in order to increase their affinity with the BACE1. Another interesting result is that a sort of synergism was observed when the effects of these new catalytic site inhibitors were combined with Ac-Tyr5-Pro6-Tyr7-Asp8-Ile9-Pro10-Leu11-NH₂, which we have recently reported as a modulator of BACE1 acting on its exosite.     

To Imagine an Australian Museum

ABSTRACT

Museums are our memory banks. They tell us where we have come from. They also allow us to imagine where we are heading. Which is why it should trouble us that there has never been a truly Australian museum. Each of our state and federal museums has been built on Aboriginal collections, and each has been built on distinctly Western or European concepts, values, categories and practices. Some of these are unavoidable, but are they all? Are we too far down the path to restump the foundations of our institutions and the narratives they perpetuate in public life? The South Australian Museum holds one of the most important collections of Aboriginal material culture in the world. It is, therefore, given the story it can tell about ancient and enduring cultures, one of the most important collections of human heritage on our planet. What we do with such collections, and what we don’t, defines us. This is the great challenge of contemporary custodianship. These collections are calling us out. In this lecture I examine the South Australian Museum’s response to this challenge. Over the past two years our Museum has undertaken a comprehensive rethink of our policies and practices and the politics of both. We are also transforming the way we work with Aboriginal communities and custodians. This is not simply a question of how collections are displayed or exhibitions are developed. We are rethinking the terms of our custodianship, and the kind of truly Australian Museum that could evolve around those new foundations.     

Analyzing planned maintenance (PM) inspection data by failure mode and effect analysis methodology

There is no question that medical devices are becoming more reliable. However, we have had some difficulty finding a satisfactory method for providing persuasive documentary evidence that this improved reliability will allow us to relax our traditional planned maintenance (PM) practices without compromising patient safety. The acceptance and increasing use of Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) by several of the oversight agencies, including the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, provides us with an important opportunity to take another shot at this vexing problem. Using this proven FMEA methodology and some relatively simple rules to quantify the results of the routine PM inspections that all healthcare providers are still performing in considerable abundance, we have developed a method that allows us to reduce the test results to a simple, single measure (the Risk Score) that can be used to characterize the effectiveness and levels of safety of our current PM regimens. When tested on theoretical data and a sample of real PM inspection results, the method provides answers that seem reasonable. Although it will probably require some modification as we begin the standardized data gathering and gain working experience, it is our hope that this new approach will become generally accepted within the industry. This kind of positive response should enable us to persuade the various accrediting and licensing agencies to similarly accept the concept.     

The retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase: problems in the interpretation of its ultrastructural aspects.

In this study we consider critically the use of HRP in research on the ultrastructure of the Central Nervous System. In fact, although controls make by optical microscope on semi-thin sections made us certain that some of the neurons were definitely marked with the enzyme, when the same specimen was observed by electron microscope, in no case was it possible for us to distinguish any particular aspect of the ultrastructural morphology of labelling within neurons.     

Optimisation des paramètres fréquentiels du signal d’émission appliquée à l’imagerie de contraste ultrasonore du second harmonique

Many ultrasound contrast-imaging techniques use the nonlinear behavior of contrast agents to enhance the contrast of medical images. They are based on the generation of harmonic frequencies when microbubbles are insonified by ultrasound waves. The frequential parameters of the transmitted ultrasound signal maximize the harmonic power of microbubbles. We propose an adaptive method, which seeks automatically the optimal pulse parameters. These parameters allow us to maximise an energetic cost-function. The transmitted signal is composed of two different half-sines truncated, instead of a sinus wave composed of two identical half-sines truncated. With the used simulation model, the method can gives us a gain of 1,3 dB compared with the non-optimized system. Such results are interesting and encourage us to continue in this way.     

The transformative power of story for healing

One of our goals in this session was, not just to talk about the healing power of narrative, but to experience it as well. Louise Profeit-LeBlanc is one of the presenters we invited specifically because of her skills as a storyteller. She has been heavily involved for several years as both an organizer and a participant in the Yukon Storytelling Festival, held every year in late May in Whitehorse. Woven into her presentation is a useful framework for differentiating various kinds of stories. As she tells us a series of stories, she takes us through a wide range of emotions from grief and loss to laughter and awe. For each of her stories, she gives us some personal contextual information that adds to the story’s meaning and helps us appreciate its significance. Her final story, in particular, is the kind of traditional story that has probably existed for a very long time. Such stories may be told with slightly different emphases, depending on the occasion, but they carry wisdom and value for every generation that hears them.     

Virus trafficking - learning from single-virus tracking

What could be a better way to study virus trafficking than 'miniaturizing oneself' and 'taking a ride with the virus particle' on its journey into the cell? Single-virus tracking in living cells potentially provides us with the means to visualize the virus journey. This approach allows us to follow the fate of individual virus particles and monitor dynamic interactions between viruses and cellular structures, revealing previously unobservable infection steps. The entry, trafficking and egress mechanisms of various animal viruses have been elucidated using this method. The combination of single-virus trafficking with systems approaches and state-of-the-art imaging technologies should prove exciting in the future.     

Construction of replication-competent Herpesvirus saimiri deletion mutants

DNA fragments derived from the left end of Herpesvirus saimiri 11 L-DNA were cloned in Escherichia coli by using vector pBR322. Deletions were introduced within a cloned 7.4-kilobase-pair sequence by using restriction endonucleases that cut once or twice within this sequence. Permissive owl monkey kidney-cultured cells were transfected with parental strain 11 viral DNA plus cloned DNA with specific sequences deleted. By screening the progeny of these transfections with a limiting-dilution spot hybridization assay, we isolated recombinant viruses containing deletions in this region. A contiguous 4.5-kilobase-pair sequence representing 4.1% of the coding capacity of the virus was found to be unnecessary for virus replication in cultured cells. These deletion mutants will allow us to test whether sequences in this region are required for the lymphoma-inducing capacity of H. saimiri. These same procedures should also allow us to introduce foreign DNA sequences into this region for studying their expression.     

Cryoablation used in fertility-sparing treatment for early endometrial cancer: A pig model experiment using a new designed balloon cryoprobe

Young patients with early endometrial cancer have a strong desire to retain reproductive function, which require us to develop a therapeutic method that can not only assure the complete resection of tumor but also retain the uterine integrity. In the present study, we proposed a fertility-sparing surgery option that combined hysteroscopic resection with cryoablation to achieve this goal. To verify the safety and effectiveness of cryoablation for local uterine wall, we designed the experiment in pig model using a novel cryoablation balloon probe. In the process of freezing and thawing, the temperature of different parts of the uterus was measured in real time. The uterus was harvested immediately, three weeks after cryotherapy for histological evaluation. The results demonstrated cryoablation using the new cryoprobe is safe and effective. The effective freezing range can cover a range of 2 cm in diameter at least. This study provided us evidence before cryoablation could be applied in clinical practice of fertility-sparing treatment for young women with early endometrial cancer.