DOMINIQUE VALÉRIAN (ed.) (Cyrille Aillet, Sophie Gilotte, AnnelieseNef, Christophe Picard, Jean-Pierre Van Staëvel, Élise Voguet):Islamisation et arabisation de l’Occident musulman médiéval (VIIe–XIIesiècle)

This book is the result of a one-year seminar series"Islam médiéval d"Occident (VIIe-XVe)", held at the Colegio de España in Paris in 2006-07 by the Association des doctorants en histoire des mondes musulmans médievaux (Diwan http://diwan.hypotheses.org), and a second volume focusing on Arabization is expected (p. 33). The contributors" experience, alongside their university and research backgrounds, have led to the publication of articles of an outstandingly high level throughout this book. This scholarly achievement is combined with a thought-provoking theoretical framework, where Arabization and Islamization give a common theme to the proceedings, which are developed in four parts.

Amor i literatura: dos conceptes per a la creació d'una novel·la

Treball de recerca realitzat per una alumna d'ensenyament secundari i guardonat amb un Premi CIRIT per fomentar l'esperit cientí­fic del Jovent l'any 2009. L'amor, l'etern tema en el món literari és el protagonista de la temàtica en què se centra el projecte però, des de les primeres mostres literàries fins l'actualitat són infinites les creacions aparegudes. El treball s'ha centrat en algunes que són una digna representació de l'amor literari en cada època i en diverses parts de la literatura universal. Fins aquí un plantejament que no s'alunya de cap model realitzat dins de la temàtica de la literatura comparada. Però per solucionar la manca d'un fil conductor es va crear una novel·la que és la que guia aquest treball. Així es mostra el que una persona pot extreure llegint diverses obres d'amor literari, i no només sobre teories generals, sinó també d'opinions i pròpies emocions que provoca l'experiència de lectura. De la mà d en Marco, un jove veronès, i la seva vella amiga, la bibliotecària Sophie, es guia al lector a través d'un viatge que sorgeix de les primeres mostres d'amor escrit i arriba fins als nostres dies.

Projecte educatiu: les habilitats comunicatives, una eina bàsica per a la vida en societat

El treball pretén ser un recull d’informacions teòriques necessàries per al desenvolupament adequat de l’estada al centre de pràctiques, i d’un projecte educatiu anomenat Les habilitats comunicatives una eina bàsica per a la vida en societat. Aquests 2 apartats formen els 2 blocs de contingut separats per la seva temàtica. El primer bloc està format per aquella informació, que podríem classificar com a objectiva, necessària per a que el lector es pugui fer una idea general de l’objectiu d’aquestes pràctiques, la tipologia de centre i els seus usuaris, marc legislatiu. El segon bloc està format per aquella informació, que podríem etiquetar com a subjectiva, personal. Ens aquest, hi podreu llegir una petita part de la vivencialitat d’aquest procés de pràctiques. Aquest bloc consta d’una part inicial de Marc teòric per proporcionar informació al lector dels conceptes teòrics del qual se’n deriva el projecte educatiu. A continuació s’hi troba la informació referent al disseny i execució del projecte. Finalment hi ha una part de conclusions les quals són el tancament del treball

Islands of euchromatin-like sequence and expressed polymorphic sequences within the short arm of human chromosome 21

The goals of the human genome project did not include sequencing of the heterochromatic regions. We describe here an initial sequence of 1.1 Mb of the short arm of human chromosome 21 (HSA21p), estimated to be 10% of 21p. This region contains extensive euchromatic-like sequence and includes on average one transcript every 100 kb. These transcripts show multiple inter- and intrachromosomal copies, and extensive copy number and sequence variability. The sequencing of the "heterochromatic" regions of the human genome is likely to reveal many additional functional elements and provide important evolutionary information.

La Formación técnica y profesional en Haití: problemas y perspectivas

El presente trabajo ofrece un análisis sobre la problemática de la formación profesional en Haití, considerada primordial para contribuir de forma gradual al desarrollo económico y humano del país. Se identifican los desfases que existen entre la formación profesional ofrecida y la demanda de la sociedad y del mercado laboral, que afectan negativamente la consecución del objetivo de este sector y se proponen soluciones para la reestructuración del sector para asegurarse de que las infraestructuras técnicas y tecnológicas de los centros de formación profesional estén realmente adecuadas, y que los planes de estudio interdisciplinario tengan en cuenta el contexto socio-cultural.

Color differences among feral pigeons (Columba livia) are not attributable to sequence variation in the coding region of the melanocortin-1 receptor gene (MC1R)

Genetic variation at the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene is correlated with melanin color variation in many birds. Feral pigeons (Columba livia) show two major melanin-based colorations: a red coloration due to pheomelanic pigment and a black coloration due to eumelanic pigment. Furthermore, within each color type, feral pigeons display continuous variation in the amount of melanin pigment present in the feathers, with individuals varying from pure white to a full dark melanic color. Coloration is highly heritable and it has been suggested that it is under natural or sexual selection, or both. Our objective was to investigate whether MC1R allelic variants are associated with plumage color in feral pigeons.We sequenced 888 bp of the coding sequence of MC1R among pigeons varying both in the type, eumelanin or pheomelanin, and the amount of melanin in their feathers. We detected 10 non-synonymous substitutions and 2 synonymous substitution but none of them were associated with a plumage type. It remains possible that non-synonymous substitutions that influence coloration are present in the short MC1R fragment that we did not sequence but this seems unlikely because we analyzed the entire functionally important region of the gene.Our results show that color differences among feral pigeons are probably not attributable to amino acid variation at the MC1R locus. Therefore, variation in regulatory regions of MC1R or variation in other genes may be responsible for the color polymorphism of feral pigeons.

Comparative genomics of emerging pathogens in the Candida glabrata clade

BACKGROUND: Candida glabrata follows C. albicans as the second or third most prevalent cause of candidemia worldwide. These two pathogenic yeasts are distantly related, C. glabrata being part of the Nakaseomyces, a group more closely related to Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Although C. glabrata was thought to be the only pathogenic Nakaseomyces, two new pathogens have recently been described within this group: C. nivariensis and C. bracarensis. To gain insight into the genomic changes underlying the emergence of virulence, we sequenced the genomes of these two, and three other non-pathogenic Nakaseomyces, and compared them to other sequenced yeasts. RESULTS: Our results indicate that the two new pathogens are more closely related to the non-pathogenic N. delphensis than to C. glabrata. We uncover duplications and accelerated evolution that specifically affected genes in the lineage preceding the group containing N. delphensis and the three pathogens, which may provide clues to the higher propensity of this group to infect humans. Finally, the number of Epa-like adhesins is specifically enriched in the pathogens, particularly in C. glabrata. CONCLUSIONS: Remarkably, some features thought to be the result of adaptation of C. glabrata to a pathogenic lifestyle, are present throughout the Nakaseomyces, indicating these are rather ancient adaptations to other environments. Phylogeny suggests that human pathogenesis evolved several times, independently within the clade. The expansion of the EPA gene family in pathogens establishes an evolutionary link between adhesion and virulence phenotypes. Our analyses thus shed light onto the relationships between virulence and the recent genomic changes that occurred within the Nakaseomyces.

Shifted loops and coercivity from field imprinted high energy barriers in ferritin and ferrihydrite nanoparticles

We show that the coercive field in ferritin and ferrihydrite depends on the maximum magnetic field in a hysteresis loop and that coercivity and loop shifts depend both on the maximum and cooling fields. In the case of ferritin, we show that the time dependence of the magnetization also depends on the maximum and previous cooling fields. This behavior is associated to changes in the intraparticle energy barriers imprinted by these fields. Accordingly, the dependence of the coercive and loop-shift fields with the maximum field in ferritin and ferrihydrite can be described within the frame of a uniform-rotation model considering a dependence of the energy barrier with the maximum and the cooling fields.

Localized prostate cancer in Norway, the United States, and Spain: between-country differences of variables before treatment among patients eligible for curative treatment

Between-country differences in medical and sociodemographic variables, and patient-related outcomes (PROs) before treatment might explain published variations of side effects after radical prostatecomy (RP) or radiotherapy (RAD) for prostate cancer (PCa). This hypothesis was tested among 1908 patients from the United States, Spain, and Norway. Significant between-country differences were observed for most factors investigated before treatment. The observations should be considered in comparison of the frequency and severity of internationally published studies. Background: In men with PCa, large variations of PROs after RP or high-dose RAD might be related to betweencountry differences of medical and sociodemographic variables, and differences in PROs before treatment in the sexual and urinary domains. Patients and Methods: In 1908 patients with localized PCa from Norway, the United States, or Spain, the relation between medical (prostate-specific antigen, Gleason score, cT-category) and sociodemographic variables (age, education, marital status) before treatment was investigated. Using the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite questionnaire, PROs before treatment within the sexual and urinary domains were also considered. Results: Compared with the European patients, American patients were younger, fewer had comorbid conditions, and more had a high education level. Fifty-three percent of the US men eligible for RP had low-risk tumors compared with 42% and 31% among the Norwegian and the Spanish patients, respectively. Among the Spanish RAD patients, 54% had had low-risk tumors compared with 34% of the American and 21% of the Norwegian men planned for RAD, respectively. Compared with the European patients, significantly fewer US patients reported moderate or severe sexual dysfunction and related problems. In most subgroups, the number of patients with sexual or urinary dysfunction exceeded that of patients with bother related to the reported dysfunction. Conclusion: Statistically significant between-country differences were observed in medical and sociodemographic variables, and in PROs before treatment within the sexual and urinary domains. Large differences between reported dysfunction and related problems within the sexual and urinary domains indicate that dysfunction and bother should be reported separately in addition to calculation of summary scores. The documented differences, not at least regarding PROs, might in part explain the large variation of side effects after treatment evident in the medical literature