Opérationnaliser la théorie de la justice sociale d'Amartya Sen au champ de l'orientation scolaire : les apports d'une étude multicas qualitative et comparative

Nos travaux traitent des dispositifs d'orientation scolaire et professionnelle (DOSP) voués au soutien et à l'accompagnement de jeunes inégalement dotés dans leur parcours d'orientation au moment de la transition aux études supérieures. Des innovations méthodologiques étaient requises afin d'étudier cette question dans la perspective théorique de justice sociale d'Amartya Sen. Nous avons procédé à l'élaboration et à la vérification des qualités scientifiques d'outils de récolte de données dans une étude comparative internationale. Notre étude multicas se fonde sur cinq pays (Burkina Faso, Canada, France, Turquie, Suisse). Dans chacun des cas, des données qualitatives ont été récoltées sur le système éducatif, l'organisation des services et les prestations de service d'orientation. Vingt-six entretiens semi-structurés ont été menés auprès de responsables de service, de conseillères et conseillers d'orientation psychologues ainsi que de jeunes en transition vers le supérieur. La validité interne ou crédibilité des outils a été assurée tout au long de l'élaboration et des révisions du protocole de recherche, empruntant les procédés propres à l'étude de cas. La vérification de la validité de construit et de la validité externe ou transférabilité, effectuée à partir des données de la préenquête, a mis en lumière la valeur heuristique de nos outils. Au final, le cadre comparatif des DOSP, présenté en annexe, compte parmi les toutes premières formes d'opérationnalisation du cadre théorique de Sen au champ de l'orientation.

Solution equilibria of cytosine- and guanine-rich sequences near the promoter region of the n-myc gene that contain stable hairpins within lateral loops

Cytosine-and guanine-rich regions of DNA are capable of forming complex structures named i-motifs and G-quadruplexes, respectively. In the present study the solution equilibria at nearly physiological conditions of a 34 -bases long cytosine-rich sequence and its complementary guanin e-rich strand corresponding to the first intron of the n-mycgene were studied. Both sequences , not yet studied, contain a 12 - base tract capable of forming stable hairpins inside the i-motif and G-quadruplex structures, respectively ...

Théorie économique et philosophie politique : quelques réflexions préliminaires sur la réédition de l'oeuvre scientifique de Sismondi

Cette contribution développe différents arguments en faveur d'une édition critique des oeuvres économiques complètes de Sismondi. Au-delà de la difficulté d'accès de nombre d'oeuvres publiées mais jamais rééditées et du nombre élevé de manuscrits inédits répertoriés dans divers fonds d'archives en Suisse, en Italie et en France, une telle entreprise devrait permettre une réévaluation rigoureuse de l'ensemble de l'oeuvre de Sismondi et, bien sûr, de son rôle dans la transition de l'économie politique entre Smith et l'école ricardienne. En premier lieu, cette contribution réexamine la place de Sismondi dans le débat macroéconomique des années 1800-1820 avant de discuter sa méthodologie dans la droite ligne de l'héritage smithien, notamment le rapport entre richesse et bonheur. Finalement, elle défend et démontre la continuité des rapports établis par Sismondi entre théorie économique et philosophie politique au travers de l'ensemble de son oeuvre.

Mercury analysis in hair: comparability and quality assessment within the transnational COPHES/DEMOCOPHES project

Human biomonitoring (HBM) is an effective tool for assessing actual exposure to chemicals that takes into account all routes of intake. Although hair analysis is considered to be an optimal biomarker for assessing mercury exposure, the lack of harmonization as regards sampling and analytical procedures has often limited the comparison of data at national and international level. The European-funded projects COPHES and DEMOCOPHES developed and tested a harmonized European approach to Human Biomonitoring in response to the European Environment and Health Action Plan. Herein we describe the quality assurance program (QAP) for assessing mercury levels in hair samples from more than 1800 mother-child pairs recruited in 17 European countries. To ensure the comparability of the results, standard operating procedures (SOPs) for sampling and for mercury analysis were drafted and distributed to participating laboratories. Training sessions were organized for field workers and four external quality-assessment exercises (ICI/EQUAS), followed by the corresponding web conferences, were organized between March 2011 and February 2012. ICI/EQUAS used native hair samples at two mercury concentration ranges (0.20-0.71 and 0.80-1.63) per exercise. The results revealed relative standard deviations of 7.87-13.55% and 4.04-11.31% for the low and high mercury concentration ranges, respectively. A total of 16 out of 18 participating laboratories the QAP requirements and were allowed to analyze samples from the DEMOCOPHES pilot study. Web conferences after each ICI/EQUAS revealed this to be a new and effective tool for improving analytical performance and increasing capacity building. The procedure developed and tested in COPHES/DEMOCOPHES would be optimal for application on a global scale as regards implementation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

Influence of M. tuberculosis lineage variability within a clinical trial for pulmonary tuberculosis.

Recent studies suggest that M. tuberculosis lineage and host genetics interact to impact how active tuberculosis presents clinically. We determined the phylogenetic lineages of M. tuberculosis isolates from participants enrolled in the Tuberculosis Trials Consortium Study 28, conducted in Brazil, Canada, South Africa, Spain, Uganda and the United States, and secondarily explored the relationship between lineage, clinical presentation and response to treatment. Large sequence polymorphisms and single nucleotide polymorphisms were analyzed to determine lineage and sublineage of isolates. Of 306 isolates genotyped, 246 (80.4%) belonged to the Euro-American lineage, with sublineage 724 predominating at African sites (99/192, 51.5%), and the Euro-American strains other than 724 predominating at non-African sites (89/114, 78.1%). Uneven distribution of lineages across regions limited our ability to discern significant associations, nonetheless, in univariate analyses, Euro-American sublineage 724 was associated with more severe disease at baseline, and along with the East Asian lineage was associated with lower bacteriologic conversion after 8 weeks of treatment. Disease presentation and response to drug treatment varied by lineage, but these associations were no longer statistically significant after adjustment for other variables associated with week-8 culture status.

Functional studies of a germ-line polymorphism at codon 47 within the p53 gene.

A rare germ-line polymorphism in codon 47 of the p53 gene replaces the wild-type proline (CCG) with a serine (TCG). Restriction analysis of 101 human samples revealed the frequency of the rare allele to be 0% (n = 69) in Caucasians and 4.7% (3/64, n = 32) among African-Americans. To investigate the consequence of this amino acid substitution, a cDNA construct (p53 mut47ser) containing the mutation was introduced into a lung adenocarcinoma cell line (Calu-6) that does not express p53. A growth suppression similar to that obtained after introduction of a wild-type p53 cDNA construct was observed, in contrast to the result obtained by introduction of p53 mut143ala. Furthermore, expression of neither p53 mut47ser nor wild-type p53 was tolerated by growing cells. In transient expression assays, both mut47ser and wild-type p53 activated the expression of a reporter gene linked to a p53 binding sequence (PG13-CAT) and inhibited the expression of the luciferase gene under the control of the Rous sarcoma virus promoter (RSVluc). In the same assay, mut143ala did not activate the expression of PG13-CAT and produced only a slight inhibitory effect on RSVluc. These findings indicate that the p53 variant with a serine at codon 47 should be considered as a rare germ-line polymorphism that does not alter the growth-suppression activity of p53.

The High Prevalence and Diversity of Chlamydiales DNA within Ixodes ricinus Ticks Suggest a Role for Ticks as Reservoirs and Vectors of Chlamydia-Related Bacteria.

The Chlamydiales order is composed of nine families of strictly intracellular bacteria. Among them, Chlamydia trachomatis, C. pneumoniae, and C. psittaci are established human pathogens, whereas Waddlia chondrophila and Parachlamydia acanthamoebae have emerged as new pathogens in humans. However, despite their medical importance, their biodiversity and ecology remain to be studied. Even if arthropods and, particularly, ticks are well known to be vectors of numerous infectious agents such as viruses and bacteria, virtually nothing is known about ticks and chlamydia. This study investigated the prevalence of Chlamydiae in ticks. Specifically, 62,889 Ixodes ricinus ticks, consolidated into 8,534 pools, were sampled in 172 collection sites throughout Switzerland and were investigated using pan-Chlamydiales quantitative PCR (qPCR) for the presence of Chlamydiales DNA. Among the pools, 543 (6.4%) gave positive results and the estimated prevalence in individual ticks was 0.89%. Among those pools with positive results, we obtained 16S rRNA sequences for 359 samples, allowing classification of Chlamydiales DNA at the family level. A high level of biodiversity was observed, since six of the nine families belonging to the Chlamydiales order were detected. Those most common were Parachlamydiaceae (33.1%) and Rhabdochlamydiaceae (29.2%). "Unclassified Chlamydiales" (31.8%) were also often detected. Thanks to the huge amount of Chlamydiales DNA recovered from ticks, this report opens up new perspectives on further work focusing on whole-genome sequencing to increase our knowledge about Chlamydiales biodiversity. This report of an epidemiological study also demonstrates the presence of Chlamydia-related bacteria within Ixodes ricinus ticks and suggests a role for ticks in the transmission of and as a reservoir for these emerging pathogenic Chlamydia-related bacteria.

Further molecular profiling of tumors harboring therapeutic targets within non-small cell lung cancer

Background: Treatment of NSCLC has been revolutionized in recent years with the introduction of several targeted therapies for selected genetically altered subtypes of NSCLC. A better understanding of molecular characteristics of NSCLC, which features common drug targets, may identify new therapeutic options. Methods: Over 6,700 non-small cell lung cancer cases referred to Caris Life Sciences between 2009 and 2014. Diagnoses and history were collected from referring physicians. Specific testing was performed per physician request and included a combination of sequencing (Sanger, NGS or pyrosequencing), protein expression (IHC), gene amplification/rearrangement (CISH or FISH), and/or RNA fragment analysis. Results: Tumors profiles from patients with hormone receptor positive disease (HER2, ER, PR, or AR positive by IHC) (n=629), HER2 mutations (n=8) ALK rearrangements (n=55), ROS1 rearrangement (n=17), cMET amplification or mutation (n=126), and cKIT mutation (n=11) were included in this analysis and compared to the whole cohort. Tumors with ALK rearrangement overexpressed AR in 18% of cases, and 7% presented with concomitant KRAS mutation. Lower rates of PTEN loss, as assessed by IHC, were observed in ALK positive (20%), ROS1 positive (9%) and cKIT mutated tumors (25%) compared to the overall NSCLC population (58%). cMET was overexpressed in 66% of ROS1 translocated and 57% of HER2 mutated tumors. cKIT mutations were found co-existing with APC (20%) and EGFR (20%) mutations. Pathway analysis revealed that hormone receptor positive disease carried more mutations in the ERK pathway (32%) compared to 9% in the mTOR pathway. 25% of patients with HER2 mutations harbored a co-existing mutation in the mTOR pathway. Conclusions: Pathway profiling reveals that NSCLC tumors present more often than reported with several concomitant alterations affecting the ERK or AKT pathway. Additionally, they are also characterized by the expression of potential biological modifiers of the cell cycle like hormonal receptors, representing a rationale for dual inhibition strategies in selected patients. Further refining of the understanding of NSCLC biomarker profile will optimize research for new treatment strategies.