Methodological framework for assessing malaria risk associated with climate change in Côte d'Ivoire.

Malaria is the leading cause of morbidity among children under five years of age and pregnant women in Côte d'Ivoire. We assessed the geographical distribution of its risk in all climatic zones of the country based on the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) approach to climate risk analysis. This methodology considers three main driving components affecting the risk: Hazard, exposure and vulnerability.

Microdissection and cloning of DNA from landmark loops of amphibian lampbrush chromosomes.

Microdissection of the "globular" and "granular" landmark loops of Pleurodeles lampbrush chromosomes and subsequent cloning of their DNA yielded several recombinant clones. The 6.6-kb insert of one of them was subcloned and the 600 bp of one subclone was characterized by Southern and slot hybridizations as well as by sequencing.

Effects of cold shock treatment on lampbrush chromosomes of amphibian oocytes.

When females of the newt Pleurodeles waltl, normally raised in our laboratory at 20 degrees C, were placed in 8 degrees C water for several days, striking modifications occurred in the structure of oocyte lampbrush chromosomes: numerous normal-type lateral loops were partially reduced in size and number, while hyperdeveloped loops of a new morphological type occurred at constant, reproducible loci. However, induction of these cold loops apparently was not accompanied by preferential RNA synthesis at their levels. Cold loops resulted from the decompaction of specific landmarks, the granular loops.

Chromosomes of amphibian oocytes as a model for gene expression: significance of lampbrush loops.

Amphibian lampbrush chromosome loops exhibit morphological variability in their RNP matrix. The biological significance of such variability remains unknown. In order to approach this problem, the structural organization of each RNP matrix type was analyzed in relation to transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes.

Effects of cold shock treatment on amphibian oocytes: alteration of heterogenous nuclear RNP morphology.

In cold-stressed oocytes of Pleurodeles waltl, lampbrush chromosome lateral loops exhibited important structural modifications which were visualized under light microscopy. Electron microscopy study revealed that the RNP particles associated with growing transcripts in the matrix of these loops were 15 nm at 8 degrees C compared to 30 nm at normal temperature (20 degrees C); hnRNP isolated from cold-stressed oocytes sedimented at 15 S in sucrose, while those from control oocytes sedimented at 30 S, as expected. However, under both normal and cold stress conditions, hnRNP possessed a buoyant density of 1.