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An appropriate presentation of maxillofacial defects and their prosthetic rehabilitation concepts using traditional two-dimensional educational materials is challenging for dental students and prosthodontics residents. This technique article introduces a simple approach to visualize and communicate three-dimensional (3D) virtual models embedded into a portable document format (PDF) file for presenting maxillofacial prosthetics concepts and enhancing students' spatial ability when learning maxillofacial prosthetics. MeVisLab software was used to combine various maxillofacial models and save them as a single 3D model. Adobe Acrobat Pro DC software was used to import the 3D model and create interactive visualization PDF documents. Adobe reader software was then used to visualize the content of the PDF documents. This approach allows educators to develop PDF files with multiple 3D models for teaching maxillofacial prosthetics concepts and communicate them with their students. Students can simply open the PDF file, activate the 3D mode, and interactively manipulate the 3D models to enhance their spatial ability for learning maxillofacial prosthetics.

Low‐flow events can cause significant impacts to river ecosystems and water‐use sectors; as such, it is important to understand their variability and drivers. In this study, we characterise the variability and timing of annual total frequency of low‐streamflow days across a range of headwater streams within the continental United States. To quantify this, we use a metric that counts the annual number of low‐flow days below a given threshold, defined as the cumulative dry days occurrence (CDO). First, we identify three large clusters of stream gauge locations using a Partitioning Around Medoids (PAM) clustering algorithm. In terms of timing, results reveal that for most clusters, the majority of low‐streamflow days occur from the middle of summer until early fall, although several locations in Central and Western United States also experience low‐flow days in cold seasons. Further, we aim to identify the regional climate and larger scale drivers for these low‐streamflow days. Regionally, we find that precipitation deficits largely associate with low‐streamflow days in the Western United States, whereas within the Central and Eastern U.S. clusters, high temperature indicators are also linked to low‐streamflow days. In terms of larger scale, we examine sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies, finding that extreme dry years exhibit a high degree of co‐occurrence with different patterns of warmer SST anomalies across the Pacific and Northern Atlantic Oceans. The linkages identified with regional climate and SSTs offer promise towards regional prediction of changing conditions of low‐streamflow events.

Only a minority of heavy drinkers progress to alcohol?related cirrhosis (ALC). The aim of this study was to identify common genetic variants that underlie risk for ALC. We analyzed data from 1,128 subjects of European ancestry with ALC and 614 heavy drinking subjects without known liver disease from Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and three countries in Europe. Genome?wide association study (GWAS) was performed, adjusting for principal components and clinical covariates (alcohol use, age, sex, BMI, diabetes). We validated our GWAS findings using UK Biobank. We then performed a meta?analysis combining data from our study, the UK Biobank, and a previously published GWAS. Our GWAS found genome?wide significant risk association of rs738409 in PNPLA3 (Odds Ratio (OR)=2.19 (G allele), p?value=4.93x10?17) and rs4607179 near HSD17B13 (OR=0.57 (C allele), p?value=1.09x10?10) with ALC. Conditional analysis accounting for the PNPLA3 and HSD17B13 loci identified a new protective association at rs374702773 in Fas Associated Factor family member 2 (FAF2) (OR=0.61 (del(T) allele), p?value=2.56x10?8) for ALC. This association was replicated in the UK Biobank using conditional analysis (OR=0.79, p?value=0.001). Meta?analysis (without conditioning) confirmed genome?wide significance for the newly identified FAF2 locus as well as PNPLA3 and HSD17B13. Two other previously known loci (SERPINA1, SUGP1/TM6SF2) were also genome?wide significant in the meta?analysis. GeneOntology pathway analysis identified lipid droplets as the target for several identified genes. In conclusion, our GWAS identified a new locus at FAF2 associated with reduced risk of ALC among heavy drinkers. Like the PNPLA3 and HSD17B13 gene products, the FAF2 product has been localized to fat droplets in hepatocytes. Our genetic findings implicate lipid droplets in the biological pathway(s) underlying ALC.

The time scale of usual hydrological applications can vary from a few minutes to a few days. An accurate description of the precipitation probability distributions at the appropriate time scale is ...

Background & Aims The reliability of transient elastography (TE) to assess liver fibrosis is insufficiently validated in alcoholic liver disease (ALD). We aimed to validate the diagnostic utility of TE for liver fibrosis in patients with excessive alcohol consumption and evaluate whether Fibrotest® adds diagnostic value relative to or in combination with TE. Methods We conducted a multicentre prospective study on a total of 217 heavy drinkers with high serum aminotransferase levels. Patients underwent liver biopsy, TE, Fibrotest®, PGAA, APRI, FIB-4 and FORNS. The overall diagnostic performance was evaluated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curves and Obuchowski measures. Results TE values correlated with fibrosis stage (r=.73; P

Myelination is a late developmental process regulated by a set of inhibitory and stimulatory factors, including extracellular matrix components. Accordingly, chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs) act as negative regulators of myelination processes. A disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs type 4 (ADAMTS-4) is an extracellular protease capable of degrading CSPGs. Although exogenous ADAMTS-4 has been proven to be beneficial in several models of central nervous system (CNS) injuries, the physiological functions of endogenous ADAMTS-4 remain poorly understood. We first used Adamts4/LacZ reporter mice to reveal that ADAMTS-4 is strongly expressed in the CNS, especially in the white matter, with a cellular profile restricted to mature oligodendrocytes. Interestingly, we evidenced an abnormal myelination in Adamts4-/- mice, characterized by a higher diameter of myelinated axons with a shifting g-ratio. Accordingly, lack of ADAMTS-4 is accompanied by motor deficits and disturbed nervous electrical activity. In conclusion, we demonstrate that ADAMTS-4 is a new marker of mature oligodendrocytes contributing to the myelination processes and thus to the control of motor capacities.

Rodents are characterized by continuously renewing incisors whose growth is fueled by epithelial and mesenchymal stem cells housed in the proximal compartments of the tooth. The epithelial stem cells reside in structures known as the labial (toward the lip) and lingual (toward the tongue) cervical loops (laCL and liCL, respectively). An important feature of the rodent incisor is that enamel, the outer, highly mineralized layer, is asymmetrically distributed, because it is normally generated by the laCL but not the liCL. Here, we show that epithelial-specific deletion of the transcription factor Islet1 (Isl1) is sufficient to drive formation of ectopic enamel by the liCL stem cells, and also that it leads to production of altered enamel on the labial surface. Molecular analyses of developing and adult incisors revealed that epithelial deletion of Isl1 affected multiple, major pathways: Bmp (bone morphogenetic protein), Hh (hedgehog), Fgf (fibroblast growth factor), and Notch signaling were upregulated and associated with liCL-generated ectopic enamel; on the labial side, upregulation of Bmp and Fgf signaling, and downregulation of Shh were associated with premature enamel formation. Transcriptome profiling studies identified a suite of differentially regulated genes in developing Isl1 mutant incisors. Our studies demonstrate that ISL1 plays a central role in proper patterning of stem cell-derived enamel in the incisor and indicate that this factor is an important upstream regulator of signaling pathways during tooth development and renewal. © 2017 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

International audience; Precipitation amounts at daily or hourly scales are skewed to the right and heavy rainfall is poorly modeled by a simple gamma distribution. An important, yet challenging topic in hydrometeorology is to find a probability distribution that is able to model well low, moderate and heavy rainfall. To address this issue, we present a semiparametric distribution suitable for modeling the entire-range of rainfall amount. This model is based on a recent parametric statistical model called the class of Extended Generalized Pareto Distributions (EGPD). The EGPD family is in compliance with Extreme Value Theory for both small and large values, while it keeps a smooth transition between these tails and bypasses the hurdle of selecting thresholds to define extremes. In particular, return levels beyond the largest observation can be inferred. To add flexibility to this EGPD class, we propose to model the transition function in a non-parametric fashion. A fast and efficient nonparametric scheme based on Bernstein polynomial approximations is investigated. We perform simulation studies to assess the performance of our approach. It is compared to two parametric models: a parametric EGPD and the classical Generalized Pareto Distribution (GPD), the later being only fitted to excesses above high threshold. We also apply our semiparametric version of EGPD to daily rainfall data recorded at Mont-Aigoual weather station in France.

The analysis of multiple extreme values aims to describe the stochastic behaviour of observations in the joint upper tail of a distribution function. For instance, being able to simulate multivariate extreme events is convenient for end users who need a large number of random replications of extremes as input of a given complex system to test its sensitivity. The simulation of multivariate extremes is often based on the assumption that the dependence structure, the so-called extremal dependence function, is described by a specific parametric model. We propose a simulation method for sampling bivariate extremes, under the assumption that the extremal dependence function is semi-parametric. This yields a flexible tool that can be broadly applied in real-data analyses. With the aim of estimating the probability of belonging to some extreme sets, our methodology is examined via simulation and illustrated by an analysis of strong wind gusts in France. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The continuously growing rodent incisor is an emerging model for the study of renewal of mineralized tissues by adult stem cells. Although the Bmp, Fgf, Shh, and Wnt pathways have been studied in this organ previously, relatively little is known about the role of Notch signaling during incisor renewal. Notch signaling components are expressed in enamel-forming ameloblasts and the underlying stratum intermedium (SI), which suggested distinct roles in incisor renewal and enamel mineralization. Here, we injected adult mice with inhibitory antibodies against several components of the Notch pathway. This blockade led to defects in the interaction between ameloblasts and the SI cells, which ultimately affected enamel formation. Furthermore, Notch signaling inhibition led to the downregulation of desmosome-specific proteins such as PERP and desmoplakin, consistent with the importance of desmosomes in the integrity of ameloblast-SI attachment and enamel formation. Together, our data demonstrate that Notch signaling is critical for proper enamel formation during incisor renewal, in part by regulating desmosome-specific components, and that the mouse incisor provides a model system to dissect Jag-Notch signaling mechanisms in the context of mineralized tissue renewal.

The timing of puberty has been mainly studied in females for several reasons, including the possible evaluation of a precise timer (i.e. menarcheal age) and concerns with respect to the high prevalence of precocity in females as opposed to males. Human evidence of altered female pubertal timing after exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) is equivocal. Among the limiting factors, most studies evaluate exposure to single EDCs at the time of puberty and hardly assess the impact of lifelong exposure to mixtures of EDCs. Some rodent and ovine studies indicate a possible role of foetal and neonatal exposure to EDCs, in accordance with the concept of an early origin of health and disease. Such effects possibly involve neuroendocrine mechanisms because the hypothalamus is a site where homeostasis of reproduction, as well as control of energy balance, is programmed and regulated. In our previous studies, pulsatile gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) secretion control via oestrogen, glutamate and aryl hydrocarbon receptors was shown to be involved in the mechanism of sexual precocity after early postnatal exposure to the insecticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane. Very recently, we have shown that neonatal exposure to the potent synthetic oestrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) is followed by early or delayed puberty depending on the dose, with consistent changes in developmental increase of GnRH pulse frequency. Moreover, DES results in reduced leptin stimulation of GnRH secretion in vitro, an effect that is additive with prenatal food restriction. Thus, using puberty as an endpoint of the effects of EDC, it appears necessary to consider pre- and perinatal exposure to low doses and to pay attention to the other conditions of prenatal life, such as energy availability, keeping in mind the possibility that puberty could not only be advanced, but also delayed through neuroendocrine mechanisms.

In atmospheric chemistry, daily maxima concentrations capture information about the variability among peak values. Statistically, they can often be modeled by a Gumbel distribution. This is the case for two very important greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide maxima when they are measured at our site of interest, Gif-sur-Yvette, a city south west of Paris. In practice, those two daily concentrations are not always recorded during the same period, and it would be of interest to reconstruct one from the other one. Such a type of inference can be handled within a state space modeling framework, but state space models are not tailored to represent the dynamics among Gumbel-distributed maxima. By building on our previous work, which made a link between linear autoregressive time series and Gumbel-distributed maxima, we propose and study such a state space model. It has the advantages of being linear and of preserving the Gumbel characteristic in both the state and observational equations. Concerning the inference of the hidden maxima at the state equation level, we derive the optimal weights of the auxiliary particle filtering approach of Pitt and Shephard. A simulation study indicates that our approach offers a gain over the Kalman filter, the bootstrap filter, and the nonmodified version of the Pitt and Shephard auxiliary filter. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PA nanocomposites were prepared from clays organophilized with a phosphonium and an ammonium salt, respectively. Sodium montmorillonite was used as reference. The composites were homogenized by twin-screw extrusion followed by the injection molding of specimens. The clay content of the composites changed from 0 to 7 vol% in 7 steps. Micromechanical deformations were characterized by volume strain and acoustic emission measurements and the mechanism of local deformation was studied by SEM. The analysis of mechanical and micromechanical properties revealed that several micromechanical deformation processes occur in the PA/MMT composites investigated. The matrix cavitates at relatively small stress. Processes related to non-exfoliated clay structural units, particles or tactoids, are initiated at larger stresses. Sound is emitted mainly by the fracture of particles, but debonding may also occur with the emission of sound. The plastic deformation of the matrix dominates at larger stresses and deformations. The various local deformations are independent of each other and composite properties are not determined by silicate related processes, but by the deformation of the matrix. The modification of clay influences all processes in smaller or larger extent, the key factors are exfoliation and interfacial adhesion, a proper combination of which leads to considerable reinforcement.

Background: Quantification of gene expression using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) requires normalization to an endogenous reference gene termed housekeeping gene (HKG). Many of the commonly used HKGs are regulated and vary under experimental conditions and disease stages. Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is associated with several different liver histological lesions that may modulate HKG expression. We investigated the variability of commonly used HGKs (18S, β-actin, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate [GAPDH], and arginine/serine-rich splicing factor [SFRS4]) in the liver of patients with ALD. Methods: Fifty consecutive patients at different stages of ALD underwent liver biopsy. The stability of HKG was assessed according to liver histological lesions. Results: β-actin had the highest coefficient of dispersion (COD) (23.9). β-actin tended to decrease with steatosis and to increase with alcoholic hepatitis; β-actin also increased in patients with both alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis. GAPDH and SFRS4 COD were 2.8 and 2.1, respectively. GAPDH was decreased with steatosis and increased with alcoholic hepatitis and fibrosis. 18S had the lowest COD (1.4). Both 18S and SFRS4 levels were not significantly modified with respect to all alcohol-induced liver histological lesions. Conclusions: In patients with ALD, the most constantly expressed HKGs are 18S and SFRS4. These genes are appropriate reference genes for normalization of RT-qPCR in the liver of patients with ALD. The use of other HKGs such as β-actin or GAPDH would lead to misinterpretation of the results.

Le present travail fournit les courbes de congelation de vingt systemes binaires, non etudies jusqu'ici, ainsi que quelques commentaires a leur sujet.

Le present travail fait partie d'un ensemble de recherches effectuees sous la direction de Mr. le Professeur Timmermans a l'Universite libre de Bruxelles. Nous avons considere les formes polymorphes comme des stereoisomeres dynamiques (1) et essaye de montrer, en repertoriant les cas de polymorphisme en chimie organique (2), jusqu'a quel point les donnees experimentales con-cordent avec cette hypothese et les corrolaires qui en decoulent. En suivant les transformations polymorphiques a l'aide d'un microscope polarisant a platines, chauffante et refroidissante, (de −165 a +200°C) nous sommes parvenus a resoudre un certain nombre de cas litigieux. Nous avons ete amenes a mettre au point un dispositif experimental permettant d'observer le comportement en lumiere polarisee de cristaux organiques jusqu'a une temperature de −165°C.

Background: In contrast to trunk fat mass (TFM), which is associated with cardiovascular risk markers, leg fat mass (LFM) displays independent protective effects against atherosclerosis. Little is known about the respective influence of central and peripheral adiposity on liver enzyme levels. Aims: To assess the respective influence of TFM and LFM on alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT) levels, and to test whether LFM might protect against an increase of liver enzyme levels. Methods: Cross-sectional study on 1442 patients (women: 1155; men: 287) referred for overweight/obesity over 3 years. Body composition was analysed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. The relationships among liver enzymes, age, weight, height, body mass index (BMI), biological indices and body composition were studied. Results: The mean BMI was 39.7 ± 7.9 kg/m2 in women and 38.2 ± 6.6 kg/m2 in men. In women, after adjustement for confounding factors, ALT, AST and GGT were negatively and independently correlated with LFM and positively with TFM. Similar independent associations were observed for ALT and AST in men. The strongest associations were found for ALT in both women and men. Conclusions: As observed for cardiovascular risk factors, LFM and TFM are inversely and independently correlated with liver enzyme levels in obese patients. LFM may confer independent protective effects against obesity-associated liver damage.

Bioconversion of organic matter into methane by anaerobic bacteria is a process better understood each day. The technology of biomethanation takes advantage of this in a number of ways, three of them being examined in this paper. First, when biomethanation is conducted under continuous, completely mixed conditions without active biomass recycle, a bottleneck may arise from the limited number of methanogenic bacteria present in the digestion mixed liquor. As the specific methane production rate was shown to be also limited, the resulting overall methane production must remain low. ‘Second generation’ methane digesters are being designed so as to trap the methanogenic bacteria within the digester, a fact which was demonstrated by the accumulation in the methane digestion mixed liquor of coenzyme F420. Second, when the feedstock for biomethanation consists of insoluble organic matter, the preliminary solubilisation of this insoluble matter is often rate-limiting. It was shown that the inverse of conversion varies linearily with the inverse of mean residence time, which allowed the calculation of ‘ultimate’ conversion. Application of this technique to the individual components of a complex feedstock, determined independently, allowed us to identify problems of rate limitation and of bacterial competency. Two-step methane digestion systems should help to overcome this second bottleneck. Third, monitoring of the biomethanation process needs major improvements. Even simple analytical methods such as dry organic matter or chemical oxygen demand determinations suffer major drawbacks and may lead to erroneous estimated efficiencies. A graph is proposed which attempts to correlate heats of combustion, mean oxidation stages and specific chemical oxygen demands with efficiencies with the aim of detecting anomalous values.

The evolution of a solid-liquid model biological fluidised bed under a step change in fluid superficial velocity is described. During a transient step change, the fluidised bed divides into a top zone which remains at the initial porosity and a bottom zone which settles at the final porosity. The interface of discontinuity in porosity moves progressively upwards through the fluidised bed. The velocity at which the top of the fluidised bed expands or contracts and the upward velocity of the porosity transition interface depend only upon the initial and final states of the bed porosity and the fluid superficial velocity. This results in a linear evolution with time of the total bed height and the height of porosity transition interface. The proposed model is well suited to describe the transient response of low-density particles in a fluidised bed, such as encountered in biological systems, to a sudden change of liquid superficial velocity. The model was validated experimentally.

To assess the efficacy of smooth muscle relaxants in the treatment of patients with irritable bowel syndrome, a meta-analysis of 26 selected double-blind randomized trials vs. placebo was performed.Five end-points were assessed: global assessment, abdominal pain, constipation, abdominal distension and the absence of adverse reactions. Analyses were performed according to the intention-to-treat method. For each end-point, the drug efficacy was assessed by the Der Simonian and Peto methods. When a significant difference was observed, sensitivity analyses were performed by successive stratifications according to the type of drug, the treatment duration, the prevalence of constipated patients, the trial design and the methodological quality.All myorelaxants analysed were significantly better than placebo for the improvement of global assessment (62% improvement rate vs. 35% on placebo, that is 27% improvement rate, P0.01) and for pain improvement (64% improvement rate vs. 45% on placebo, that is 19% improvement rate, P0.01). No significant differences were observed for constipation and abdominal distension. The percentage of patients with adverse reactions was significantly higher in patients receiving myorelaxants than placebo (6% mean difference, P0.01).According to this overview five drugs have proved their clinical efficacy in patients with irritable bowel syndrome, without significant adverse reactions: cimetropium bromide, pinaverium bromide, trimebutine, octilium bromide and mebeverine.

Summary Background Studies using consecutive liver biopsies constitute an attractive approach to gaining insight into the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease. Aim To analyse histological factors at baseline, which are predictive of fibrosis progression and recurrence of alcoholic hepatitis. Results A total of 193 drinkers underwent consecutive biopsies at an interval of 4 years. At baseline, 20 had normal livers, 135 steatosis, five fibrosis and 33 alcoholic hepatitis. The fibrosis score increased from 1.07 ± 0.07 to 1.7 ± 0.94 (P

SUMMARY Currently, there is a tremendous scientific research effort in the area of climate change. In this paper, our motivation is to improve the understanding of historical climatic events such as the Little Ice Age (LIA), a period of relatively cold weather around 1450–1850 AD. Although the LIA is well documented in Europe, its extent and timing are not known in areas of the globe where climatological records were not kept during this period. To study the climate, which predates historical records, proxy climate records must be used. A proxy record for the timing of climatic cooling events are the ages of the moraines left behind by glacial advances. Unfortunately, to determine the ages of these moraines in alpine environments there is little material available but lichens. Hence, lichenometry was developed to determine the ages of glacial landforms by using lichen measurements. To our knowledge, this article provides the first attempt at deriving a comprehensive statistical model for lichenometry. Our model foundation is based on extreme value theory because only the largest lichens are measured in lichenometry studies. This application is novel to extreme value theory because the quantities of interest (the ages of climatic events) are not the measured quantities (lichen diameters), i.e., it is a inverse problem. We model the lichen measurements with the generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution, upon which a Bayesian hierarchical model is built. The hierarchical model enables estimation of the hidden covariate ages of the moraines. The model also allows for pooling of data from different locations and evaluation of spatial differences in lichen growth. Parameter inference is obtained using a straightforward Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. Our procedure is applied to data gathered from the Cordillera Real region in Bolivia. Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The vertical flux of mass by atmospheric convection, and convective cloud systems in particular, is a key quantity used in parametrization schemes for numerical weather-prediction models and climate models. The concept of formulating mass fluxes in terms of statistical quantities is discussed and a probabilistic description of the upward mass fluxes, based on extreme-value theory, is presented. This approach is illustrated by a statistical analysis of two-dimensional, numerical realizations of two regimes of tropical convection, namely squall lines and non-squall clusters. Our statistical model allows these distinct cloud systems, which play a key role in determining the shape of the mass-flux profile, to be efficiently integrated. Also taken into account is the distinction between mesoscale and convective components of the mass flux. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society.

We describe a fully automatized homogenization procedure and illustrate it on Argentinean weather station temperature series. The procedure relies on multiple pairwise comparisons between a candidate station and its surrounding stations. The main advantage of this approach is to get around the difficulty of defining a reliable reference series; its main drawback is to often require visual attribution and grouping of shifts resulting in too high a cost in human time for implementation on large datasets. Here, we fully automatize these two steps by using a probabilistic metric of similarity between shifts which is leveraged within two optimized clustering schemes. Simulation results show performance improvements versus both visual inspection and the automatized procedure of Menne MJ, Williams CN, Jr. 2009. Homogenization of temperature series via pairwise comparisons. J. Clim. 22: 1700–1717. Implementation on Argentinean temperature series results in the identification and removal of numerous inhomogeneities; corrected series reveal stronger and spatially smoother warming trends.

Summary Genetic parameters and genetic trends for average backfat thickness (ABF) and days from 20 to 100 kg (D20-100) were estimated in the Sino-European Tiameslan composite line. The Tiameslan line was created between 1983 and 1985 by mating Meishan × Jiaxing crossbred Chinese boars with sows from the Laconie composite male line. Since it has been selected on an index combining ABF and D20–100. Sows were kept to produce only one litter, so that generations did not overlap. Generation interval was about one year. Data from the first five generations (i. e. 1728 performance records) were used in this study. Genetic parameters were estimated using univariate and multivariate restricted maximum likelihood (REML) procedures with an individual animal model. Genetic trends were estimated from breeding values predicted with a multiple trait individual animal model. The heritabilities of ABF and D20-100 were 0.59 ± 0.10 and 0.50 ± 0.08, respectively. The corresponding phenotypic standard deviations were 3.2 mm and 10.9 days, respectively. The genetic and phenotypic correlations between ABF and D20-100 were 0.01 and 0.07, respectively. The genetic trend was −0.45 mm per generation for ABF and −1.95 day per generation for D20-100. Resume Estimation des parametres genetiques et du progres genetique realise pour les caracteres de production dans la lignee composite sino-europeenne Tiameslan Les parametres genetiques et l'evolution genetique de l'epaisseur moyenne de lard dorsal (ABF) et de la duree d'engraissement de 20 a 100 kg (D20-100) ont ete estimes dans la lignee composite sinoeuropeenne Tiameslan. La lignee Tiameslan a ete creee entre 1983 et 1985 en accouplant des verrats chinois croises Meishan × Jiaxing avec des truies de la lignee composite male Laconie. Elle a ete selectionnee depuis lors sur un indice combinant ABF et D20–100. Les femelles n'ont produit qu'une seule portee. Les generations ne sont donc pas chevauchantes et l'intervalle de generation est d'environ un an. Les donnees des cinq premieres generations, soit un total de 1728 animaux controles, ont ete utilisees pour cette etude. Les parametres genetiques ont ete estimes par la methode du maximum de vraisemblance restreinte avec un modele animal individuel mono- et multicaractere. Les evolutions genetiques ont ete estimees a partir des valeurs genetiques predites avec un modele animal individuel multicaractere. Les heritabilites d'ABF et de D20-100 etaient respectivement de 0,59 ± 0,10 et 0,50 ± 0,08. Les ecarts types phenotypiques correspondants s'elevaient a 3,2 mm et 10,9 jours, respectivement. les correlations genetiques et phenotypiques entre ABF et D20–100 etaient de 0,01 et 0,07 respectivement. L'evolution genetique etait de −0,45 mm/generation pour ABF et −1,95 jour/generation pour D20-100. Zusammenfassung Schatzung genetischer Parameter und des genetischen Trends fur Produktionsmerkmale in der sinoeuropaischen synthetischen Tiameslan-Linie Genetische Parameter und der genetische Trend fur mittlere Ruckenspeckdicke (ABF) und Tage von 20 bis 100 kg (D20–100) wurden fur die sinoeuropaische synthetische Tiameslan-Linie geschatzt. Die Tiameslan-Linie wurde in den Jahren 1983 bis 1985 durch Anpaarung von Meishan × Jiaxing Kreuzungsebern an Sauen der synthetischen Laconie-Linie, einer fleischreichen Vaterlinie, erstellt. Seitdem wurde die Linie nach einem Index aus ABF und D20-100 selektiert. Sauen wurden nur einen Wurf lang genutzt, so das keine uberlappenden Generationen auftraten. Das Generationsintervall betrug etwa ein Jahr. Die Daten der ersten 5 Generationen (insgesamt 1728 Leistungen) wurden ausgewertet. Die Schatzung der genetischen Parameter erfolgte nach der univariaten bzw. multivariaten Restricted Maximum Likelihood Methode (REML) unter Zugrundelegung eines Tiermodells. Die geschatzten Heritabilitaten betrugen fur ABF .59 ± .10 und fur D20-100 .50 ± .08, die phanotypischen Standardabweichungen 3.2 mm bzw. 10.9d. Die genetische Korrelation der beiden Merkmale wurde mit .01 und die phanotypische mit .07 geschatzt. Der genetische Trend im Merkmal ABF lag bei −0.45 mm/Generation und der fur D20-100 bei −1.95 d/Generation. Resumen Estimacion de los parametros geneticos y de la tendencia genetica de los caracteres de produccion para la linea compuesta sino-europea Tiameslan Parametros geneticos y tendencias geneticas del espesor medio de grasa dorsal (ABF) y de los dias necesarios para pasar de 20 a 100 kg (D20–100) fueron estimados para la linea compuesta sino-europea Tiameslan. La linea Tiameslan fue creada entre 1983 y 1985 mediante apareamientos entre verracos chinos cruza Meishan × Jiaxing y membras de la linea compuesta Laconie. Desde entonces, la linea Tiameslan ha sido seleccionada segun un indice que combina el ABF y los D20-100. Las cerdas fueron descartadas luego de producir una camada de modo tal que las generaciones no se superponen. El intervalo entre generagiones fue de alrededor de un ano. Los datos utilizados en este trabajo corresponden a las cinco primeras generaciones (1728 registros). Los parametros geneticos fueron estimados utilizando el metodo de maxima verisimilitud restringida aplicado a mudelos “animal” uni y multicaracter. Las tendencias geneticas fueron estimadas a partir des valors geneticos predichos mediante un modelo animal multicaracter. Las heredabilidades de ABF y D20-100 fueron 0.59 ± 0.10 y 0.50 ± 0.08, respectivamente. Los desvios estandard fenotipicos correspondientos fueron 3,2 mm y 10,9 dias. Las correlaciones geneticas y fenotipicas entre ABF y D20-100 fueron 0.01 y 0,07 respectivamente. La tendencia genetica fue −0,45 mm/generacion para ABF y −1,95 dias/generacion para D20–100.

The distribution of m longissimus dorsi glycolytic potential (an estimator of resting glycogen content) was studied in two pig populations containing Hampshire blood, one in France and one in Sweden. The glycolytic potential was determined on biopsy samples taken using a shot biopsy technique. Napole yield measurements (NY, an indicator of the technological yield of cured cooked ham processing) were available for a part of the French population. The mean values of glycolytic potential were high in both populations (268 ± 61 and 226 ± 60 μmol g−1 for the Swedish population and the French population, respectively). In both populations, glycolytic potential distribution was markedly bimodal, suggesting that this trait is affected by a major gene. Pigs considered as RN carriers on the basis of the NY value (NY < 91%) had higher glycolytic potential values than those considered as rn+ homozygotes (NY ≥ 91%). The results suggest that the gene affecting the muscle glycolytic potential and the major gene rn+/RN− known to influence meat quality are identical, the dominant allele RN− increasing muscle glycogen content.