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Parkia biglobosa est une espèce agroforestière d'importance socio-économique majeure, non seulement au Togo, mais dans toute l'Afrique de l'Ouest. Cependant, sa conservation et sa domestication, dans le cadre de la diversification de la production agricole, dépendent de sa capacité à s’adapter aux changements climatiques. Pour évaluer cet impact,5268 points d’occurrence ont été analysés en combinaison avec des variables bioclimatiques pour modéliser l'influence des conditions environnementales actuelles et futures sur l'aire de distribution potentielle de P. biglobosa, en utilisant le modèle d'entropie maximum (MaxEnt). Les zones favorables à la culture et à la conservation de l'espèce en pays Kabyè ont varié au cours du temps selon deux scénarios climatiques (SSP 245 et SSP 58.5), en tenant compte des conditions pédologiques actuelles. À l'horizon 2070, tous les scénarios climatiques montrent une augmentation significative des zones très favorables, en particulier dans le scénario SSP 245 (+271,67%). À l'inverse, une diminution notable des zones modérément favorables est prévue, surtout dans ce même scénario (-38,81%). Les zones peu favorables subissent une légère réduction dans les deux scénarios futurs. Ces résultats soulignent l'importance d'intégrer ces projections dans les politiques de développement pour garantir une conservation efficace et une utilisation durable du néré en pays Kabyè.

Abstract Serine proteases are involved in many biological processes and are associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) pathology. An increase in serine protease activity has been widely reported in IBS patients. While most of the studies focused on host proteases, the contribution of microbial proteases are poorly studied. In the present study, we report the analysis of proteolytic activities in fecal samples from the first Tunisian cohort of IBS-M patients and healthy individuals. We demonstrated, for the first time, that metalloproteases activities were fourfold higher in fecal samples of IBS patients compared to controls. Of interest, the functional characterization of serine protease activities revealed a 50-fold increase in trypsin-like activities and a threefold in both elastase- and cathepsin G-like activities. Remarkably, we also showed a fourfold increase in proteinase 3-like activity in the case of IBS. This study also provides insight into the alteration of gut microbiota and its potential role in proteolytic modulation in IBS. Our results stressed the impact of the disequilibrium of serine proteases, metalloproteases and gut microbiota in IBS and the need of the further characterization of these targets to set out new therapeutic approaches.

Écrire, c’est se souvenir. Ce sont les souvenirs, les souvenirs d’enfance, de voyages qui donnent naissance à l’écriture. C’est de ses souvenirs d’enfance ou de voyage que Gustave Flaubert a créé son personnel romanesque particulièrement féminin. Son premier écrit de jeunesse, Mémoires d’un fou, se nourrit de son souvenir de Maria, une jeune fille qu’il a aimée. Les spécialistes de l’écrivain rapprochent ce récit autobiographique à ses deux romans majeurs de sa période de maturité : Madame Bovary et L’Education sentimentale. Abstract To write is to remember. It is memories, memories of childhood, of travels that give birth to writing. It is from his childhood or travel memories that Gustave Flaubert created his particularly feminine romantic staff. His first youthful writing, Memoirs of a Madman, is nourished by his memory of Maria, a young girl he loved. The writer's specialists compare this autobiographical account to his two major novels of his period of maturity: Madame Bovary and L'Education sentimentale.

The start of the rainy season in Senegal is characterized by critical variability, resulting in many crop failures after seed planting when a long dry spell occurs. The objective of this study is to characterize the starting conditions of the rainy season in different areas of Senegal in relation to crop success at the early stage. An analysis of four seasonal components determined from a daily rainfall database of 95 stations from 1950 to 2015. These seasonal components are the sowing date (Sowing), the Onset of the rainy season date (Onset), the length of the longest dry spell (DryMax), and the total rainfall (TotRain) during the 30 days after sowing. Statistical methods of time series homogeneity determination such as the Pettitt test, the Buishand test, the Von Newmann test, and the segmentation method have been applied to determine actual breakpoints and to obtain the most recent and homogeneous period to define the component in each site. The results indicate that these components have not exhibited statistically significant changes since 1950. Indeed, 3% of the stations show breakpoints for the Sowing, 4% for the TotRain, and 2% for the Onset. The start of the season follows a South East-North West gradient. It begins in the extreme South-East part of the country in the second decade of June while the first waves of sowing take place in the South-East center part from the second half of June. The north zone remains exposed to false start events with important seasonality. In the Northern and Central zones, the early or late character of the sowing passes more on the DryMax than the TotRain. It would be interesting to elucidate the effects of the rainfall regime at the early stage on the rainy season profile to gain better control of the pluvial crop yields.

La gestion unilatérale des aires protégées reste l’un des problèmes majeurs des pays subsahariens. Au Togo, les autorités se sont engagées à mettre les populations au centre de tout projet de restauration et de gestion des paysages forestiers. Les populations de la commune 3 dans la préfecture de la Kéran, ne sont pas épargnées. Cette étude a pour objectif d’analyser l’approche participative des populations dans la restauration et la gestion durable de la forêt classée de Wartema. La méthodologique est basée sur la collecte des données à partir d’un questionnaire administré à 85 ménages. Des entretiens ont été menés auprès de 15 individus comprenant des agents des différents services techniques, des agents de la mairie et des personnes ressources. Les données collectées ont été traitées au moyen du logiciel sphinx et Word 2010. Les tableaux, les figures ont été faits au moyen du logiciel Excel 2010 et les cartes réalisées au logiciel Arc GIS pro 3. 10. Il résulte de cette étude que de 1990 à 2020, le taux de couverture évalué à 80% a baissé de 18% ; soit une perte de 275, 6 hectares. Plus de 80% de la forêt a été complètement dévastée. Les associations villageoises de gestion des Aires Protégées (AP) ont été mises en place dans la zone d’étude afin de garder une communication effective entre l'administration des AP et les communautés locales.

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Abstract Providing useful inflow forecasts of the Manantali dam is critical for zonal consumption and agricultural water supply, power production, flood and drought control and management (Shin et al., Meteorol Appl 27:e1827, 2019). Probabilistic approaches through ensemble forecasting systems are often used to provide more rational and useful hydrological information. This paper aims at implementing an ensemble forecasting system at the Senegal River upper the Manantali dam. Rainfall ensemble is obtained through harmonic analysis and an ARIMA stochastic process. Cyclical errors that are within rainfall cyclical behavior from the stochastic modeling are settled and processed using multivariate statistic tools to dress a rainfall ensemble forecast. The rainfall ensemble is used as input to run the HBV-light to product streamflow ensemble forecasts. A number of 61 forecasted rainfall time series are then used to run already calibrated hydrological model to produce hydrological ensemble forecasts called raw ensemble. In addition, the affine kernel dressing method is applied to the raw ensemble to obtain another ensemble. Both ensembles are evaluated using on the one hand deterministic verifications such the linear correlation, the mean error, the mean absolute error and the root-mean-squared error, and on the other hand, probabilistic scores (Brier score, rank probability score and continuous rank probability score) and diagrams (attribute diagram and relative operating characteristics curve). Results are satisfactory as at deterministic than probabilistic scale, particularly considering reliability, resolution and skill of the systems. For both ensembles, correlation between the averages of the members and corresponding observations is about 0.871. In addition, the dressing method globally improved the performances of ensemble forecasting system. Thus, both schemes system can help decision maker of the Manantali dam in water resources management.

Cet article étudie comment Flaubert substitue à un texte religieux très connu un autre texte dans lequel non seulement il réécrit les savoirs livresques mais crée également une confluence entre les arts. Nous proposons de suivre l’évolution de cette réécriture dans les brouillons d’Hérodias. Nous nous interrogeons sur les motivations esthétiques de l’auteur et sur la manière avec laquelle il représente la dimension picturale, sculpturale, chorégraphiques et musicale dans son conte. Comment le style de Flaubert parvient-il à taire tous ses langages en développant une écriture synesthésique et une poétique du silence? C’est en employant l’approche génétique munie d’une poétique de l’intertextualité que nous essayons de mener une archéologie des arts dans le troisième conte de Flaubert l’un des textes les plus illisibles et les plus étranges de toute la littérature française.

Increased protease activity has been linked to the pathogenesis of IBD. While most studies have been focusing on host proteases in gut inflammation, it remains unclear how to address the potential contribution of their bacterial counterparts. In the present study, we report a functional characterization of a newly identified serine protease, SP-1, from the human gut microbiota. The serine protease repertoire of gut Clostridium was first explored, and the specificity of SP-1 was analyzed using a combinatorial chemistry method. Combining in vitro analyses and a mouse model of colitis, we show that oral administration of recombinant bacteria secreting SP-1 (i) compromises the epithelial barrier, (ii) alters the microbial community, and (ii) exacerbates colitis. These findings suggest that gut microbial protease activity may constitute a valuable contributor to IBD and could, therefore, represent a promising target for the treatment of the disease.

Serine proteases are extensively known to play key roles in many physiological processes. However, their dysregulation is often associated to several diseases including inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Here, we used specific substrates to monitor fecal protease activities in a large cohort of healthy and IBD patients. Of interest, serine protease activity was 10-fold higher in IBD fecal samples compared to healthy controls. Moreover, functional analysis of these fecal proteolytic activities revealed that the most increased activities are trypsin-like, elastase-like and cathepsin G-like. We also show for the first time, an increase of proteinase 3-like activity in these samples compared to controls. Results presented here will guide further investigations to better understand the relevance of these peptidases in IBD.

Serine Protease Inhibitors (Serpins) control tightly regulated physiological processes and their dysfunction is associated to various diseases. Thus, increasing interest is given to these proteins as new therapeutic targets. Several studies provided functional and structural data about human serpins. By comparison, only little knowledge regarding bacterial serpins exists. Through the emergence of metagenomic studies, many bacterial serpins were identified from numerous ecological niches including the human gut microbiota. The origin, distribution and function of these proteins remain to be established. In this report, we shed light on the key role of human and bacterial serpins in health and disease. Moreover, we analyze their function, phylogeny and ecological distribution. This review highlights the potential use of bacterial serpins to set out new therapeutic approaches.

Extreme precipitation is a great concern for West Africa country, as it has serious consequence on key socio-economic activities. We use high resolution data from the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation Stations (CHIRPS) to determine the spatial variability, trend of 8 extreme precipitation indices in West Africa and their relationship to remote indices. Spatial variability of extreme is characterized by maximum precipitation over the orographic regions, and in southern Sahel. The trend analysis shows a decrease of dry condition in Sahel and Sahara, and an increase tendency of wet indices over western Sahel and southern Sahel. The correlation analysis reveals that extreme precipitation in Sahel is strongly teleconnected to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMS), whereas western and western-north Sahel is associated with both Atlantic Meridional Mode (AMM), Maiden Julian Oscillation phase 8 (MJO8), El Niño 3.4 index (NINO.3.4), and Trans-Atlantic-Pacific Ocean Dipole Index (TAPODI) but with different characteristics or directions. Guinean coast extreme precipitation is highly associated with Atlantic zone 3 SST anomaly (ATL3), Northern Cold Tongue Index (NCTI), TAPODI but also with an opposite sign with NINO.3.4 and in somewhat with the MJO8.

Accurate monitoring of surface water bodies is essential in numerous hydrological and agricultural applications. Combining imagery from multiple sensors can improve long-term monitoring; however, the benefits derived from each sensor and the methods to automate long-term water mapping must be better understood across varying periods and in heterogeneous water environments. All available observations from Landsat 7, Landsat 8, Sentinel-2 and MODIS over 1999–2019 are processed in Google Earth Engines to evaluate and compare the benefits of single and multi-sensor approaches in long-term water monitoring of temporary water bodies, against extensive ground truth data from the Senegal River floodplain. Otsu automatic thresholding is compared with default thresholds and site-specific calibrated thresholds to improve Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI) classification accuracy. Otsu thresholding leads to the lowest Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and high overall accuracies on selected Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 images, but performance declines when applied to long-term monitoring compared to default or site-specific thresholds. On MODIS imagery, calibrated thresholds are crucial to improve classification in heterogeneous water environments, and results highlight excellent accuracies even in small (19 km2) water bodies despite the 500 m spatial resolution. Over 1999–2019, MODIS observations reduce average daily RMSE by 48% compared to the full Landsat 7 and 8 archive and by 51% compared to the published Global Surface Water datasets. Results reveal the need to integrate coarser MODIS observations in regional and global long-term surface water datasets, to accurately capture flood dynamics, overlooked by the full Landsat time series before 2013. From 2013, the Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 constellation becomes sufficient, and integrating MODIS observations degrades performance marginally. Combining Landsat and Sentinel-2 yields modest improvements after 2015. These results have important implications to guide the development of multi-sensor products and for applications across large wetlands and floodplains.

Alzheimer's disease is linked to metabolic syndrome and Type-2 diabetes, but the mechanism behind this association is unclear. Here, the authors show that elevated glucose and amyloid ß work together to increase nitrosative stress, leading to aberrant mitochondrial activity and synaptic dysfunction.

Serine proteases are involved in many biological processes and are associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) pathology. An increase in serine protease activity has been widely reported in IBS patients. While most of the studies focused on host proteases, the contribution of microbial proteases are poorly studied. In the present study, we report the analysis of proteolytic activities in fecal samples from the first Tunisian cohort of IBS-M patients and healthy individuals. We demonstrated, for the first time, that metalloproteases activities were fourfold higher in fecal samples of IBS patients compared to controls. Of interest, the functional characterization of serine protease activities revealed a 50-fold increase in trypsin-like activities and a threefold in both elastase- and cathepsin G-like activities. Remarkably, we also showed a fourfold increase in proteinase 3-like activity in the case of IBS. This study also provides insight into the alteration of gut microbiota and its potential role in proteolytic modulation in IBS. Our results stressed the impact of the disequilibrium of serine proteases, metalloproteases and gut microbiota in IBS and the need of the further characterization of these targets to set out new therapeutic approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of our study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukraine (RU) war on the return volatility and value of the Tunisian Stock Exchange proxied by TUNINDEX. We applied GARCH (1,1) to assess the impact on the index return volatility, using daily observations from January 2019 to December 2022, and a multiple linear regression to determine the effect on the index value, based on monthly observations for January 2018 to December 2022. GARCH output revealed that both exogenous shocks led to higher stock market return volatility. The regression results disclosed statistically significant though opposite impacts on the index price. The pandemic exerted a positive, though extremely mild impact on the Index value, while the war had a negative effect on its performance. As for the control variables, both inflation rate and industrial production index exhibited positive effects on the TUNINDEX values, while trade balance had a negative impact. GDP growth rate and interest rate however, showed no significant influence on the index performance during the study period. We faced some difficulty accessing data, in addition to the scarcity of data on other potentially relevant factors, along with a short study period. Incorporating new variables i.e. mortality rates, unemployment due to the lockdown, travel bans effect, trade dependence with Ukraine and Russia, and using Time-Varying Vector Auto Regressive model may add additional value to our work. The paper contributes to the literature on external shocks impacts on stock markets, specifically on the Tunisian stock exchange. In addition, it offers insights on the potential expected economic effects of unpredicted events, and may help identify appropriate strategies to mitigate their dramatic effects. Finally, this research presents the first investigation on the impact of the Russian invasion on Ukraine on the Tunisian stock exchange by probing into the impact on both volatility and performance of the market's index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND:To mitigate the burden of pneumococcal infections in Niger, a 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine, PCV13, was introduced for routine child vaccination in July 2014. In order to provide pre-vaccine baseline data and allow appreciation of changes on carriage due to vaccination, we analyzed retrospectively pneumococcal isolates obtained from healthy, 0 to 2 year old children prior to the vaccine introduction. METHODS:From June 5, 2007, to May 26, 2008, 1200 nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from healthy 0 to 2 year old children and analyzed by standard microbiological methods. Serotyping was done by SM-PCR and the data were analyzed with R version 2.15.0 (2012-03-30). RESULTS:Streptococcus pneumoniae was detected in 654/1200 children (54.5%) among whom 339 (51.8%) were males. The ages of the study subjects varied from few days to 26 months (mean = 7.1, median = 6, 95% CI [6.8-7.4]). Out of 654 frozen isolates, 377 (54.8%) were able to be re-grown and analyzed. In total, 32 different serogroups/serotypes were detected of which, the most prevalent were 6/(6A/6B/6C/6D) (15.6%), 23F (10.6%), 19F (9.3%), 14 (9%), 19A (5.6%), 23B (4.0%), 25F/38 (3.7%), 18/(18A/18B/18C/18F) (2.9%) and PCR non-typeable (16.4%). Eleven serogroups/serotypes accounting for 57.3% (216/377) were of PCV13 types. Of the 211/377 (56%) isolates tested for drug sensitivity, 23/211 (10.9%), 24/211 (11.4%), 9/211(4.3%) and 148/210 (70.5%) were respectively resistance to oxacillin, chloramphenicol, erythromycin and tetracycline. Thirteen of the oxacillin resistant isolates were additionally multidrug-resistant. No resistance was however detected to gentamycin500μg and to fluoroquinolones (ø Norfloxacin5μg 3 months and presence in family of more than one sibling aged < 6 years were significant risk factors for carriage. CONCLUSION:A global rate of 54.5% pneumococcal carriage was detected in this study. The introduced PCV13 vaccine should cover 57.3% (216/377) of circulating serogroups/serotypes, among which were those resistant to antibiotics. Age > 3 months and presence in family of children aged < 6 years were significant factors for pneumococcal carriage. The present data should help understanding post vaccine introduction changes in pneumococcal carriage and infections for better action.

This retrospective cross‐sectional study sought to determine if there was a change in geographical trends in the orthopedic surgery residency match with the use of virtual interviews. Due to the COVID‐19 pandemic, visiting rotations at outside institutions were restricted and all residency interviews were conducted virtually for the 2021 match. Given these restrictions, it was hypothesized that applicants would match at a higher rate to their medical school‐affiliated residency programs, or geographically nearby their medical school. Data was collected from residency program website and social media accounts to determine if the use of virtual interviews correlated with a decreased rate of matching at outside institutions. During the 2021 match, applicants who applied to orthopedic surgery in 2021 were more likely to match at their medical school‐affiliated institution (OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.18–1.80; p < 0.01) compared to applicants during previous years. However, match rates were not different in terms of geographical regions. Virtual interviews are more cost‐effective for both applicants and programs, however, this study demonstrates there are associated changes with this new interview structure. The utility of virtual interviews as a standard method in the future should take this change in trend into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the Science Fair Mentoring Program, one of the Science Connection programs of the Massachusetts General Hospital/James P. Timilty Middle School Partnership. This program is designed to enhance middle school science education, inform urban early adolescents about professions in the health field, and encourage them to pursue postsecondary study in the health sciences. Discusses planning, implementation, and evaluation of the program. (Author/AIM)