Epidemiological and clinical complexity of amoxicillin-clavulanate-resistant Escherichia coli.

Two hundred twelve patients with colonization/infection due to amoxicillin-clavulanate (AMC)-resistant Escherichia coli were studied. OXA-1- and inhibitor-resistant TEM (IRT)-producing strains were associated with urinary tract infections, while OXA-1 producers and chromosomal AmpC hyperproducers were associated with bacteremic infections. AMC resistance in E. coli is a complex phenomenon with heterogeneous clinical implications.

Relative clauses in Iraqi Arabic and the status of resumptive pronouns

Not much has been said about the grammar of Iraqi Arabic. This research is an attempt to shed light on the nature of IA relative clauses. The research focuses on the behavior of the resumptive strategy as opposed to the gap strategy. We consider islandhood, Weak and Strong CrossOver, reconstruction and scope binding, in order to further understand the behavior of resumption. The final conclusion reached is that in Iraqi Arabic the resumptive strategy is actually related to the gap strategy in several respects; and in those where it differs we propose that gaps (traces) are replaced by trace+pronoun complex

Inferring ultraviolet anatomical exposure patterns while distinguishing the relative contribution of radiation components

Exposure to solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation is the main causative factor for skin cancer. UV exposure depends on environmental and individual factors, but individual exposure data remain scarce. While ground UV irradiance is monitored via different techniques, it is difficult to translate such observations into human UV exposure or dose because of confounding factors. A multi-disciplinary collaboration developed a model predicting the dose and distribution of UV exposure on the basis of ground irradiation and morphological data. Standard 3D computer graphics techniques were adapted to develop a simulation tool that estimates solar exposure of a virtual manikin depicted as a triangle mesh surface. The amount of solar energy received by various body locations is computed for direct, diffuse and reflected radiation separately. Dosimetric measurements obtained in field conditions were used to assess the model performance. The model predicted exposure to solar UV adequately with a symmetric mean absolute percentage error of 13% and half of the predictions within 17% range of the measurements. Using this tool, solar UV exposure patterns were investigated with respect to the relative contribution of the direct, diffuse and reflected radiation. Exposure doses for various body parts and exposure scenarios of a standing individual were assessed using erythemally-weighted UV ground irradiance data measured in 2009 at Payerne, Switzerland as input. For most anatomical sites, mean daily doses were high (typically 6.2-14.6 Standard Erythemal Dose, SED) and exceeded recommended exposure values. Direct exposure was important during specific periods (e. g. midday during summer), but contributed moderately to the annual dose, ranging from 15 to 24% for vertical and horizontal body parts, respectively. Diffuse irradiation explained about 80% of the cumulative annual exposure dose.

Genetic interplay between HLA-C and MIR148A in HIV control and Crohn disease.

Variation in the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of the HLA-C locus determines binding of the microRNA Hsa-miR-148a, resulting in lower cell surface expression of alleles that bind miR-148a relative to those alleles that escape its binding. The HLA-C 3'UTR variant was shown to associate with HIV control, but like the vast majority of disease associations in a region dense with causal candidates, a direct effect of HLA-C expression level on HIV control was not proven. We demonstrate that a MIR148A insertion/deletion polymorphism associates with its own expression levels, affecting the extent to which HLA-C is down-regulated, the level of HIV control, and the risk of Crohn disease only among those carrying an intact miR-148a binding site in the HLA-C 3'UTR. These data illustrate a direct effect of HLA-C expression level on HIV control that cannot be attributed to other HLA loci in linkage disequilibrium with HLA-C and highlight the rich complexity of genetic interactions in human disease.

Between-year variation in population sex ratio increases with complexity of the breeding system in Hymenoptera.

While adaptive adjustment of sex ratio in the function of colony kin structure and food availability commonly occurs in social Hymenoptera, long-term studies have revealed substantial unexplained between-year variation in sex ratio at the population level. In order to identify factors that contribute to increased between-year variation in population sex ratio, we conducted a comparative analysis across 47 Hymenoptera species differing in their breeding system. We found that between-year variation in population sex ratio steadily increased as one moved from solitary species, to primitively eusocial species, to single-queen eusocial species, to multiple-queen eusocial species. Specifically, between-year variation in population sex ratio was low (6.6% of total possible variation) in solitary species, which is consistent with the view that in solitary species, sex ratio can vary only in response to fluctuations in ecological factors such as food availability. In contrast, we found significantly higher (19.5%) between-year variation in population sex ratio in multiple-queen eusocial species, which supports the view that in these species, sex ratio can also fluctuate in response to temporal changes in social factors such as queen number and queen-worker control over sex ratio, as well as factors influencing caste determination. The simultaneous adjustment of sex ratio in response to temporal fluctuations in ecological and social factors seems to preclude the existence of a single sex ratio optimum. The absence of such an optimum may reflect an additional cost associated with the evolution of complex breeding systems in Hymenoptera societies.

Complexité, médecine générale et réformes des systèmes de santé [Complexity, general practice and reforms of health systems].

The family doctor facing complexity must decide in situations of low certainty and low agreement. Complexity is in part subjective but can also be measured. Changes in the health systems aim to reduce health costs. They tend to give priority to simple situations and to neglect complexity. One role of an academic institute of family medicine is to present and promote the results of scientific research supporting the principles of family medicine, taking into account both the local context and health systems reforms. In Switzerland the new challenge is the introduction of managed care.

Runaway Greenhouse Effect in a Semigray Radiative-Convective Model

The effects of the nongray absorption (i.e., atmospheric opacity varying with wavelength) on the possible upper bound of the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) emitted by a planetary atmosphere have been examined. This analysis is based on the semigray approach, which appears to be a reasonable compromise between the complexity of nongray models and the simplicity of the gray assumption (i.e., atmospheric absorption independent of wavelength). Atmospheric gases in semigray atmospheres make use of constant absorption coefficients in finite-width spectral bands. Here, such a semigray absorption is introduced in a one-dimensional (1D) radiative– convective model with a stratosphere in radiative equilibrium and a troposphere fully saturated with water vapor, which is the semigray gas. A single atmospheric window in the infrared spectrum has been assumed. In contrast to the single absolute limit of OLR found in gray atmospheres, semigray ones may also show a relative limit. This means that both finite and infinite runaway effects may arise in some semigray cases. Of particular importance is the finding of an entirely new branch of stable steady states that does not appear in gray atmospheres. This new multiple equilibrium is a consequence of the nongray absorption only. It is suspected that this new set of stable solutions has not been previously revealed in analyses of radiative–convective models since it does not appear for an atmosphere with nongray parameters similar to those for the earth’s current state

Untangling the evolution of Rab G proteins: implications of a comprehensive genomic analysis.

BACKGROUND: Membrane-bound organelles are a defining feature of eukaryotic cells, and play a central role in most of their fundamental processes. The Rab G proteins are the single largest family of proteins that participate in the traffic between organelles, with 66 Rabs encoded in the human genome. Rabs direct the organelle-specific recruitment of vesicle tethering factors, motor proteins, and regulators of membrane traffic. Each organelle or vesicle class is typically associated with one or more Rab, with the Rabs present in a particular cell reflecting that cell's complement of organelles and trafficking routes. RESULTS: Through iterative use of hidden Markov models and tree building, we classified Rabs across the eukaryotic kingdom to provide the most comprehensive view of Rab evolution obtained to date. A strikingly large repertoire of at least 20 Rabs appears to have been present in the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA), consistent with the 'complexity early' view of eukaryotic evolution. We were able to place these Rabs into six supergroups, giving a deep view into eukaryotic prehistory. CONCLUSIONS: Tracing the fate of the LECA Rabs revealed extensive losses with many extant eukaryotes having fewer Rabs, and none having the full complement. We found that other Rabs have expanded and diversified, including a large expansion at the dawn of metazoans, which could be followed to provide an account of the evolutionary history of all human Rabs. Some Rab changes could be correlated with differences in cellular organization, and the relative lack of variation in other families of membrane-traffic proteins suggests that it is the changes in Rabs that primarily underlies the variation in organelles between species and cell types.

Variability of the relative afferent pupillary defect.

PURPOSE: Afferent asymmetry of visual function is detectable in both normal and pathologic conditions. With a computerized test, we assessed the variability in measuring afferent asymmetry of the pupillary light reflex, that is, the relative afferent pupillary defect. METHODS: In ten normal subjects, pupillary responses to an alternating light stimulus were recorded with computerized infrared pupillography. The relative afferent pupillary defect for each test was determined by using a new computer analysis. The 95% confidence interval of each determination of relative afferent pupillary defect was used to represent the short-term fluctuation in its measurement. To optimize the test for clinical use, we studied the influence of stimulus intensity, duration, and number on the variability of the relative afferent pupillary defect. RESULTS: When the relative afferent pupillary defect was based on only a few light alternations (stimulus pairs), there was excessive variability in its measurement (95% confidence interval > 0.5 log units). With approximately 200 stimulus pairs, the 95% confidence interval was reduced to less than 0.1 log unit (relative afferent pupillary defect +/- 0.05 log unit). Also, there was less variability when the dark interval between alternating light stimulation was less than one second. CONCLUSIONS: Computerized infrared pupillography can standardize the alternating light test and minimize the error in quantifying a relative afferent pupillary defect. A reproducible relative afferent pupillary defect measurement is desirable for defining afferent injury and following the course of disease.

Opinion de Marbot, membre du Conseil des Anciens, sur la résolution relative au complément de deux cent mille conscrits : séance du 28 germinal an 7 ([Reprod.]) / [Conseil des Anciens]

Collection : Les archives de la Révolution française ; 11.1a.128