Tetrakis(ethyl-4(4-butyryl)oxyphenyl)porphyrinato zinc complexes with 4,4'-bpyridin: synthesis, characterization, and its catalytic degradation of Calmagite.

This work reports on the synthesis and characterization of a new porphyrins complex:[Zn(TEBOP)(4,4'-bpy)](4,4'-bipyridine)(5,10,15,20-(tetraethyl-4(4-butyryl)oxyphenyl)porphyrinato)zinc(ii) (3). Single crystal X-ray diffraction, photophysical and electrochemical characteristics were studied. The prepared complex, penta-coordinated zinc(ii) porphyrin derivatives shows moderate ruffling distortion and the zinc atom is nearly planar with the porphyrin core.

Hypolipidemic and cardioprotective effects of Ulva lactuca ethanolic extract in hypercholesterolemic mice.

Context: Hypercholesterolemia has significant cardiac consequences, since it is among the major risk factors of ischemic heart diseases.

Objective: The aim was searching the cardioprotective effect of chemical constituents from the sea lettuce Ulva lactuca upon hypercholesterolemic regime in mice.

Material And Methods: Mice were randomly divided into three groups: untreated group, hypercholesterolemic group, and mice receiving 1% cholesterol associated with U.

Discrete Mesh Approach in Morphogenesis Modelling: the Example of Gastrulation.

Morphogenesis is a general concept in biology including all the processes which generate tissue shapes and cellular organizations in a living organism. Many hybrid formalizations (i.e.

Wound Healing and Scale Modelling in Zebrafish.

We propose to study the wound healing in Zebrafish by using firstly a differential approach for modelling morphogens diffusion and cell chemotactic motion, and secondly a hybrid model of tissue regeneration, where cells are considered as individual objects and molecular concentrations are described by partial differential equations.

The Poitiers School of Mathematical and Theoretical Biology: Besson-Gavaudan-Schützenberger's Conjectures on Genetic Code and RNA Structures.

The French school of theoretical biology has been mainly initiated in Poitiers during the sixties by scientists like J. Besson, G. Bouligand, P.

Discrete dynamics of contagious social diseases: Example of obesity.

Modeling contagious diseases needs to incorporate information about social networks through which the disease spreads as well as data about demographic and genetic changes in the susceptible population. In this paper, we propose a theoretical framework (conceptualization and formalization) which seeks to model obesity as a process of transformation of one's own body determined by individual (physical and psychological), inter-individual (relational, i.e.

Evolution of social networks: the example of obesity.

The present paper deals with the effect of the social transmission of nutrition habits in a social and biological age-dependent context on obesity, and accordingly on type II diabetes and among its complications, the neurodegenerative diseases. The evolution of social networks and inside a network the healthy weight of a person are depending on the context in which this person has contacts and exchanges concerning his alimentation, physical activity and sedentary habits, inside the dominant social network in which the person lives (e.g.

Reproducibility of histopathological diagnosis in poorly differentiated NSCLC: an international multiobserver study.

Introduction: The 2004 World Health Organization classification of lung cancer contained three major forms of non-small-cell lung cancer: squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC), adenocarcinoma (AdC), and large cell carcinoma. The goal of this study was first, to assess the reproducibility of a set of histopathological features for SqCC in relation to other poorly differentiated non-small-cell lung cancers and second, to assess the value of immunohistochemistry in improving the diagnosis.

Methods: Resection specimens (n = 37) with SqCC, large cell carcinoma, basaloid carcinoma, sarcomatoid carcinoma, lymphoepithelial-like carcinoma, and solid AdC, were contributed by the participating pathologists.

Stability, complexity and robustness in population dynamics.

The problem of stability in population dynamics concerns many domains of application in demography, biology, mechanics and mathematics. The problem is highly generic and independent of the population considered (human, animals, molecules,…). We give in this paper some examples of population dynamics concerning nucleic acids interacting through direct nucleic binding with small or cyclic RNAs acting on mRNAs or tRNAs as translation factors or through protein complexes expressed by genes and linked to DNA as transcription factors.

Telemedicine and type 1 diabetes: is technology per se sufficient to improve glycaemic control?

Aim: In the TELEDIAB-1 study, the Diabeo system (a smartphone coupled to a website) improved HbA1c by 0.9% vs controls in patients with chronic, poorly controlled type 1 diabetes. The system provided two main functions: automated advice on the insulin doses required; and remote monitoring by teleconsultation.

MitomiRs, chloromiRs and modelling of the microRNA inhibition.

MicroRNAs are non-coding parts of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes, preventing the weakest part of the genetic regulatory networks from being expressed and preventing the appearance of a too many attractors in these networks. They have also a great influence on the chromatin clock, which ensures the updating of the genetic regulatory networks. The post-transcriptional inhibitory activity by the microRNAs, which is partly unspecific, is due firstly to their possibly direct negative action during translation by hybridizing tRNAs, especially those inside the mitochondrion, hence slowing mitochondrial respiration, and secondly to their action on a large number of putative m-RNA targets like those involved in immunetworks; We show that the circuits in the core of the interaction graphs are responsible for the small number of dedicated attractors that correspond to genetically controlled functions, partly due to a general filtering by the microRNAs.

Random modelling of contagious diseases.

Modelling contagious diseases needs to include a mechanistic knowledge about contacts between hosts and pathogens as specific as possible, e.g., by incorporating in the model information about social networks through which the disease spreads.

An empirically optimized classical force-field for molecular simulations of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT).

An empirical classical all-atom specific force-field for use in molecular dynamics simulations (MD) has been developed to reproduce the experimental densities and structures of trinitrotoluene (TNT) in its crystalline and liquid phases at six different temperatures, as well as its enthalpies of sublimation and fusion. The average structural parameters and partial charges were obtained from density functional theory optimizations of single molecules at the B3LYP/6-311+G** level. The other constants for the potential were adjusted in order to obtain a classical force-field, which is able to reproduce the aforementioned properties for TNT with a high degree of accuracy.

Predictive power of "a minima" models in biology.

Many apparently complex mechanisms in biology, especially in embryology and molecular biology, can be explained easily by reasoning at the level of the "efficient cause" of the observed phenomenology: the mechanism can then be explained by a simple geometrical argument or a variational principle, leading to the solution of an optimization problem, for example, via the co-existence of a minimization and a maximization problem (a min-max principle). Passing from a microscopic (or cellular) level (optimal min-max solution of the simple mechanistic system) to the macroscopic level often involves an averaging effect (linked to the repetition of a large number of such microscopic systems with possible random choice of the parameters of each of them) that gives birth to a global functional feature (e.g.

Subthalamic nucleus versus pedunculopontine nucleus stimulation in Parkinson disease: synergy or antagonism?

Stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) improves the cardinal features of Parkinson disease (PD). However, its efficacy on gait disorders is less satisfying in the long term. In recent years, the pedunculopontine (PPN) nucleus has emerged as a possible promising deep brain stimulation target for gait disorders in PD.

Maternal fine particulate matter exposure, polymorphism in xenobiotic-metabolizing genes and offspring birth weight.

We aimed to describe if polymorphisms in xenobiotics-metabolizing genes modify the effect of maternal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)) on offspring birth weight. Among newborns from LISA cohort, we tested if polymorphisms of GSTT1, GSTP1, GSTM1, and CYP2D6 genes modified the effect measure of PM(2.

Biological boundaries and biological age.

The chronologic age classically used in demography is often unable to give useful information about which exact stage in development or aging processes has reached an organism. Hence, we propose here to explain in some applications for what reason the chronologic age fails in explaining totally the observed state of an organism, which leads to propose a new notion, the biological age. This biological age is essentially determined by the number of divisions before the Hayflick's limit the tissue or mitochondrion in a critical organ (in the sense where its loss causes the death of the whole organism) has already used for its development and adult phases.

Effects of mirror feedback on upright stance control in elderly transfemoral amputees.

Objective: To investigate the effects of mirror feedback on upright stance control in elderly transfemoral amputees.

Design: Before and after intervention trials.

Setting: University medical bioengineering laboratory.

Application of interval iterations to the entrainment problem in respiratory physiology.

We present here some theoretical and numerical results about interval iterations. We consider first an application of the interval iterations theory to the problem of entrainment in respiratory physiology for which the classical point iterations theory fails. Then, after a brief review of some of the main aspects of point iterations, we explain what is meant by the term 'interval iterations'.

Zinc distribution and speciation in Arabidopsis halleri x Arabidopsis lyrata progenies presenting various zinc accumulation capacities.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the chemical form and localization of zinc (Zn) in plant leaves and their Zn accumulation capacity. An interspecific cross between Arabidopsis halleri sp. halleri and Arabidopsis lyrata sp.

Nucleation mechanism of GaN nanowires grown on (111) Si by molecular beam epitaxy.

We have performed a real-time in situ x-ray scattering study of the nucleation of GaN nanowires grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on AlN(0001)/Si(111). The intensity variation of the GaN diffraction peak as a function of time was found to exhibit three different regimes: (i) the deposition of a wetting layer, which is followed by (ii) a supralinear regime assigned to nucleation of almost fully relaxed GaN nanowires, eventually leading to (iii) a steady-state growth regime. Based on scanning electron microscopy and electron microscopy analysis, it is proposed that the granular character of the thin AlN buffer layer may account for the easy plastic relaxation of GaN, establishing that three-dimensional islanding and plastic strain relaxation of GaN are two necessary conditions for nanowire growth.

Maternal personal exposure to airborne benzene and intrauterine growth.

Background: Studies relying on outdoor pollutants measures have reported associations between air pollutants and birth weight.

Objective: Our aim was to assess the relation between maternal personal exposure to airborne benzene during pregnancy and fetal growth.

Methods: We recruited pregnant women in two French maternity hospitals in 2005-2006 as part of the EDEN mother-child cohort.

Understanding physiological and degenerative natural vision mechanisms to define contrast and contour operators.

Background: Dynamical systems like neural networks based on lateral inhibition have a large field of applications in image processing, robotics and morphogenesis modeling. In this paper, we will propose some examples of dynamical flows used in image contrasting and contouring.

Methodology: First we present the physiological basis of the retina function by showing the role of the lateral inhibition in the optical illusions and pathologic processes generation.

Upgrade of the CATS sample changer on FIP-BM30A at the ESRF: towards a commercialized standard.

An upgraded version of the sample changer ;CATS' (Cryogenic Automated Transfer System) that was developed on the FIP-BM30A beamline at the ESRF is presented. At present, CATS is installed at SLS (three systems), BESSY (one system), DLS (two systems) and APS (four systems for the LSCAT beamline). It consists mainly of an automated Dewar with an assortment of specific grippers designed to obtain a fast and reliable mounting/dismounting rate without jeopardizing the flexibility of the system.

Three C-terminal residues from the sulphonylurea receptor contribute to the functional coupling between the K(ATP) channel subunits SUR2A and Kir6.2.

Cardiac ATP-sensitive potassium (K(ATP)) channels are metabolic sensors formed by the association of the inward rectifier potassium channel Kir6.2 and the sulphonylurea receptor SUR2A. SUR2A adjusts channel gating as a function of intracellular ATP and ADP and is the target of pharmaceutical openers and blockers which, respectively, up- and down-regulate Kir6.