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Circulating naive T cells do not recognize tumor-associated antigens (TAA) directly but need to interact with dendritic cells that have had the chance to process TAA for presentation to T cells. According to recent evidence, TAA from tumor cells circulating in the blood reach the spleen and bone marrow, where resident dendritic cells can process and cross-present them to prime T cells. This in turn leads to the generation of effector and memory cells, which can either destroy tumor cells or control them in a state of tumor dormancy. For therapeutic purposes, memory T cells can be boosted by the application of tumor vaccines that express TAA, together with danger signals. Immunization of cancer patients with such a tumor vaccine has resulted in improved survival in several Phase II studies. It is proposed that such immunization leads to long-lasting protective anti-tumor memory.

In order to study mechanisms of induction of IFN-alpha by Newcastle disease virus (NDV), we used two replicon systems which are based respectively on DNA and RNA of the Semliki forest virus (SFV) and transfected these into baby hamster kidney cells (BHK) which do not produce interferon-alpha. Co-incubation of BHK cells which were transfected with the two vector systems, with human PBMCs, showed that production of IFN-alpha takes place by two different ways. When using the DNA-based SFV vector, only transfectants expressing cell surface HN molecules of NDV (and not the mock-transfected cells) elicited such a response via interaction of these HN molecules with viral receptors on PBMCs. In contrast, BHK cells transfected with RNA which had been in vitro transcribed from the RNA-based SFV vector without foreign gene as insert (mock-transfected) elicited a comparable IFN-alpha response. Transfer by transfection of poly(I:C), an analogue of double stranded RNA (dsRNA), into the BHK cells induced also by itself the production of IFN-alpha. Therefore induction of "danger signals" (as double-strand RNA replicative intermediates) might be responsible for this discrepancy observed in IFN-alpha induction in PBMCs between the two studied SFV vector systems based on transfection of DNA and on RNA. These observations highlight two ways of IFN-alpha induction which additively may explain the high interferonogenic capacity of NDV as virus: i) via cell-surface expressed HN after transfection of the DNA-based SFV replicon and ii) via transfection of self-amplifying RNA.

In order to study mechanisms of induction of IFN-alpha by Newcastle disease virus (NDV), we used two replicon systems which are based respectively on DNA and RNA of the Semliki forest virus (SFV) and transfected these into baby hamster kidney cells (BHK) which do not produce interferon-alpha. Co-incubation of BHK cells which were transfected with the two vector systems, with human PBMCs, showed that production of IFN-alpha takes place by two different ways. When using the DNA-based SFV vector, only transfectants expressing cell surface HN molecules of NDV (and not the mock-transfected cells) elicited such a response via interaction of these HN molecules with viral receptors on PBMCs. In contrast, BHK cells transfected with RNA which had been in vitro transcribed from the RNA-based SFV vector without foreign gene as insert (mock-transfected) elicited a comparable IFN-alpha response. Transfer by transfection of poly(I:C), an analogue of double stranded RNA (dsRNA), into the BHK cells induced also by itself the production of IFN-alpha. Therefore induction of "danger signals" (as double-strand RNA replicative intermediates) might be responsible for this discrepancy observed in IFN-alpha induction in PBMCs between the two studied SFV vector systems based on transfection of DNA and on RNA. These observations highlight two ways of IFN-alpha induction which additively may explain the high interferonogenic capacity of NDV as virus: i) via cell-surface expressed HN after transfection of the DNA-based SFV replicon and ii) via transfection of self-amplifying RNA.

International audience; The present work describes sequence and transcription of three Spodoptera frugiperda genes encoding 6-cysteine-rich peptides. Sequence alignments indicate that the predicted peptides belong to the insect defensin family, although phylogenetic analyses suggest they form a cluster distinct from that of other neopteran insect defensins. The three genes were identified in a non-immume-challenged Sf9 cells cDNA (DNA complementary to RNA) library (Landais et al., Bioinformatics, in press) and were named spodoptericin, Sf-gallerimycin and Sf-cobatoxin. Spodoptericin is a novel defensin-like gene that appears to be weakly up-regulated following injection of bacteria and fungi. Interestingly, no sequence motif clearly homologous to cis regulatory element involved in the regulation of antimicrobial genes was found. An homologue of the spodoptericin gene was identified in the SilkBase Bombyx mori cDNA library. Sf-gallerimycin is related to the Galleria mellonella gallerimycin gene and is induced after immune challenge by injection of bacteria in the larval fat body as well as in hemocytes. In silico analysis of the sequence upstream from the cDNA reveals the presence of at least one motif homologous to a nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) binding site. Finally, Sf-cobatoxin is related to the G. mellonella cobatoxin-like gene. Despite high levels of constitutive expression compared to the two previous genes, transcription of Sf-cobatoxin is increased after immune, in particular, bacterial challenge. We therefore confirm that these three genes encode potential candidate molecules involved in S. frugiperda innate Immoral response.

The invertebrate parvovirus Junonia coenia densovirus (JcDNV) shares similarities with terminal hairpins and nonstructural (NS) protein activities of adeno-associated virus (AAV) despite their evolutionary divergence (B. Dumas, M. Jourdan, A. M. Pascaud, and M. Bergoin, Virology, 191:202-222, 1992, and C. Ding, M. Urabe, M. Bergoin, and R. M. Kotin, J. Virol. 76:338-345, 2002). We demonstrate here that persistent transgene expression in insect cells results from stable integration of transfected JcDNV-derived vectors into the host genome. To assess the integrative properties of JcDNV vectors, the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gfp marker gene was fused in frame into the major open reading frame (ORF1) of the viral sequence under the control of the P9 capsid protein promoter. In addition, the influence of the nonstructural proteins on the posttransfection maintenance of the vectors was examined by interruption of one or all three NS ORFs. Following transfection of Sf9 cells with each of the JcDNV constructs, clones showing persistent GFP expression were isolated. Structural analyses revealed that the majority of the JcDNV plasmid sequence was integrated into the genome of the fluorescent clones. Integration was observed whether or not NS proteins were expressed. However, the presence of NS genes in the constructs greatly influenced the number of integrated copies and their distribution in the host genome. Disruption of NS genes expression resulted in integration of head-to-tail concatemers at multiple sites within the genome. Further analyses demonstrated that the cis JcDNV 5′ inverted terminal repeat region was the primary site of recombination. Sequence analyses of integration junctions showed rearrangements of both flanking and internal sequences for most integrations. These findings demonstrate that JcDNV vectors integrate into insect cells in a manner similar to AAV plasmids in mammalian cells.

We demonstrated before that primary operated breast cancer patients contain in their bone marrow (BM) cancer reactive memory T cells (MTC) which have to be re-activated to become tumor infiltrating effector cells. The aim of this study was to optimize an ex vivo stimulation protocol for MTC based on autologous dendritic cells (DC). As source of tumor antigens we used lysates from unmodified tumor cells or from tumor cells infected with Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) which contain IFN-alpha inducing viral dsRNA as one danger signal. DC from breast cancer patients were pulsed with lysates from the MCF-7 breast cancer line (Tu-L) or from NDV infected MCF-7 cells (TuN-L, viral oncolysates) and compared for stimulatory capacity in an ELISPOT response of autologous BM derived MTC. To analyze potential further danger signals derived from NDV infection, we employed MALDI mass spectrometry, Western blots, FACS cytometry and ELISA tests. DC pulsed with viral oncolysates showed increased expression of co-stimulatory molecules in comparison to Tu-L pulsed DC and induced significantly higher ELISPOT MTC responses. Supernatants from co-cultures of MTC and TuN-L pulsed DC contained increased titers of IFN-alpha and IL-15. NDV infection of tumor cells resulted in a number of differences in protein expression including a heat-shock protein (HSP27) which became phosphorylated. The results suggest that a DC preparation pulsed with viral oncolysate includes danger signals (e.g. dsRNA, cytokines, HSP molecules) and is superior for MTC stimulation to a DC preparation pulsed with lysate from non-infected tumor cells.

To determine molecular viral components which can induce innate immune responses in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), we investigated the anti-neoplastic agent Newcastle disease virus (NDV) and its two spike proteins hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) and fusion protein (F). NDV was an excellent inducer in PBMC of IFN-alpha production and capable of inducing upregulation of plasma membrane expression of tumor necrosis factor related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL). Viral replication was not required for these responses because NDV inactivated for 5 min by UV was as good as live NDV. NDV-modified and paraformaldehyde-fixed BHK cells could also trigger IFN-alpha and TRAIL induction, indicating that contacts of responder cells with NDV-modified cell surfaces are sufficient to induce these activities in PBMC. Antibodies against HN but not F were able to block these responses. Finally we could show that HN but not F induced IFN-alpha and TRAIL in PBMC. This was possible through the use of respective gene transfectants generated with the help of Semliki Forest virus (SFV) replicase-based DNA recombinant expression systems. Upon contact with BHK cells expressing HN but not F at their cell surface, human PBMC produced IFN-alpha and some cells, including monocytes and T lymphocytes, upregulated cell surface TRAIL expression.

A lectin-carbohydrate recognition event without enzymatic function is proposed as molecular basis for an important innate immune response to enveloped viruses. It involves the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) glycoprotein of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) and sialic acid expressing cellular receptors on human natural interferon (IFN) alpha producing cells. This conclusion is based on two types of experimental evidence: (a) strong UV irradiation of NDV, which destroyed the cell binding and hemadsorption (HAd) but not the neuraminidase (NA) activity of HN, also destroyed its IFN-alpha inducing activity; (b) DNA transfectants expressing HN mutant molecules with greatly reduced NA but not HAd activity induced IFN-alpha while transfectants expressing HN mutant molecules with greatly reduced NA and HAd activity were incapabable of inducing IFN-alpha in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The results clarify molecular mechanisms involved in pattern recognition during innate immune responses.

Autonomously replicating sequences (ARSs) in the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica require two components: an origin of replication (ORI) and centromere (CEN) DNA, both of which are necessary for extrachromosomal maintenance. To investigate this cooperation in more detail, we performed a screen for genomic sequences able to confer high frequency of transformation to a plasmid-borne ORI. Our results confirm a cooperation between ORI and CEN sequences to form an ARS, since all sequences identified in this screen displayed features of centromeric DNA and included the previously characterized CEN1-1, CEN3-1 and CEN5-1 fragments. Two new centromeric DNAs were identified as they are unique, map to different chromosomes (II and IV) and induce chromosome breakage after genomic integration. A third sequence, which is adjacent to, but distinct from the previously characterized CEN1-1 region was isolated from chromosome I. Although these CEN sequences do not share significant sequence similarities, they display a complex pattern of short repeats, including conserved blocks of 9 to 14 bp and regions of dyad symmetry. Consistent with their A+T-richness and strong negative roll angle, Y. lipolytica CEN-derived sequences, but not ORIs, were capable of binding isolated Drosophila nuclear scaffolds. However, a Drosophila scaffold attachment region that functions as an ARS in other yeasts was unable to confer autonomous replication to an ORI-containing plasmid. Deletion analysis of CEN1-1 showed that the sequences responsible for the induction of chromosome breakage could be eliminated without compromising extrachromosomal maintenance. We propose that, while Y. lipolytica CEN DNA is essential for plasmid maintenance, this function can be supplied by several sub-fragments which, together, form the active chromosomal centromere. This complex organization of Y. lipolytica centromeres is reminiscent of the regional structures described in the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe or in multicellular eukaryotes.

This report presents the first hsp90 complete cDNA sequences from two Lepidoptera. The Bombyx mori full sequence was reconstituted from 15 partial cDNA clones belonging to expressed sequence tag libraries obtained from different tissues or cultured cells, thus showing the ubiquitous expression of the hsp90 gene. The Spodoptera frugiperda cDNA was isolated as a full-length clone from a cDNA library established from the Sf9 cell line. Both cDNAs are highly homologous and display the classical amino acid (aa) stretches representing the HSP90 signature. They potentially encode a 716 aa (B. mori) and a 717 aa (S. frugiperda) protein, with a calculated molecular mass of 83 kDa similar to the Drosophila homologous protein. We show that, unlike the vertebrates, hsp90 is a unique gene in both S. frupiperda and B. mori genomes. Sequencing of the corresponding genomic region shows that, contrary to the dipteran homologous gene, the lepidopteran hsp90 gene does not display any intron. Phylogenetic analysis based on the two lepidopteran and 23 other HSP90 aa sequences displays a high consistency with known phylogeny at both high and low taxonomic levels. Transcriptional analysis performed in S. frugiperda shows that the induction of the hsp90 gene only occurs 14 degrees C above physiological growth conditions (42 degrees C).

Antigenicity and conformational propensities of synthetic peptides corresponding to the sequential epitope H236–255 of the measles virus hemagglutinin protein were investigated. This epitope corresponds to the neutralising and protective monoclonal antibody BH129 and includes Arg243, implicated in CD46-down-regulation and Arg253 that has been mapped to the putative enzymatic site. Fine mapping with truncation-, elongation-, Gly- and Ala-substitution analogues defined EL-QL as the critical residues of the minimal epitope S 244 ELSQL 249 . CD spectra of peptides, comparison with the 3D-structure of homologous sequences, and prediction algorithms suggested a helical structure with the contact residues E 245 L–QL 249 located on the protein surface. Mimotopes obtained with a 6-mer phage display library contained a consensus Pro (important for binding) instead of Ser 247 of the wild-type sequence (irrelevant for binding). The kink induced by Pro seemed to be essential to bring the 4 contact-residues in the mimotopes and in the corresponding short peptides together. CD analysis and prediction algorithms suggested that non-helical conformations of the phage insert and of the peptides may favourably mimic the antigenic helical turns of the wild-type sequence, resulting in an up to 135 times higher antigenicity of the mAb towards the mimotope peptides.

This communication deals with optical noise measurements of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier with input signal. We are able to determine the net gain and the noise factor from only these low frequency electrical noise measurements and new simple relations. It is presented as alternative to optical analyzer measurements and it has no limitation for high input signals.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Potassium ion exchange is used to make channel waveguides in an erbium-ytterbium co-doped phosphate glass. Gain characteristics of the fabricated waveguides are studied. The effect of pump and signal wavelengths, and the waveguide length on the gain in the waveguides are investigated. At the signal wavelength of 1.530 micrometers , 19.5 dB internal gain is achieved in a 6 mm long waveguide; the measured noise factor is 4 dB.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Two DNA fragments displaying ARS activity on plasmids in the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica have previously been cloned and shown to harbor centromeric sequences (P. Fournier, A. Abbas, M. Chasles, B. Kudla, D. M. Ogrydziak, D. Yaver, J.-W. Xuan, A. Peito, A.-M. Ribet, C. Feynerol, F. He, and C. Gaillardin, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:4912-4916, 1993; and P. Fournier, L. Guyaneux, M. Chasles, and C. Gaillardin, Yeast 7:25-36, 1991). We have used the integration properties of centromeric sequences to show that all Y. lipolytica ARS elements so far isolated are composed of both a replication origin and a centromere. The sequence and the distance between the origin and centromere do not seem to play a critical role, and many origins can function in association with one given centromere. A centromeric plasmid can therefore be used to clone putative chromosomal origins coming from several genomic locations, which confer the replicative property on the plasmid. The DNA sequences responsible for initiation in plasmids are short (several hundred base pairs) stretches which map close to or at replication initiation sites in the chromosome. Their chromosomal deletion abolishes initiation, but changing their chromosomal environment does not.

Electrophoretic karyotyping means the separation of intact chromosomal DNA according to its size on an agarose gel. Depending on the number and size of the chromosomes present in a strain, a specific banding pattern will be obtained. In order to reach this goal, two demands must be met. First, it is important to prepare the DNA without degradation by mechanical stress or by DNAses. Second, a method for the electrophoretic separation of the extremely large molecules must be developed. Conventional DNA electrophoresis is able to separate molecules of up to 50 kilobases. Yeast chromosomes range from several hundred to several thousand kilobases.

Repeat-associated small interfering RNAs (rasiRNAs) are derived from various genomic repetitive elements and ensure genomic stability by silencing endogenous transposable elements. Here we describe a novel subset of 46 rasiRNAs named LNCR rasiRNAs due to their homology with one long non-coding RNA (LNCR) of Spodoptera frugiperda. LNCR operates as the intermediate of an unclassified transposable element (TE-LNCR). TE-LNCR is a very invasive transposable element, present in high copy numbers in the S. frugiperda genome. LNCR rasiRNAs are single-stranded RNAs without a prominent nucleotide motif, which are organized in two distinct, strand-specific clusters. The expression of LNCR and LNCR rasiRNAs is developmentally regulated. Formation of heterochromatin in the genomic region where three copies of the TE-LNCR are embedded was followed by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and we observed this chromatin undergo dynamic changes during development. In summary, increased LNCR expression in certain developmental stages is followed by the appearance of a variety of LNCR rasiRNAs which appears to correlate with subsequent accumulation of a heterochromatic histone mark and silencing of the genomic region with TE-LNCR. These results support the notion that a repeat-associated small interfering RNA pathway is linked to heterochromatin formation and/or maintenance during development to establish repression of the TE-LNCR transposable element. This study provides insights into the rasiRNA silencing pathway and its role in the formation of fluctuating heterochromatin during the development of one holocentric organism.

The mating type gene MATA of the dimorphic yeast Yarrowia lipolytica was cloned. The strategy used was based on the presumed function of this gene in the induction of sporulation. A diploid strain homozygous for the mating type B was transformed with an integrative gene bank from an A wild-type strain. A sporulating transformant was isolated, which contained a plasmid with an 11.6 kb insert. This sequence was rescued from the chromosomal DNA of the transformant and deletion mapping was performed to localize the MAT insert. The MAT gene conferred both sporulating and non-mating phenotypes on a B/B diploid. A LEU2 sequence targeted to this locus segregated like a mating type-linked gene. The A strain did not contain silent copies of the MAT gene.

Mutants affected at the LYS5 locus of Yarrowia lipolytica lack detectable dehydrogenase (SDH) activity. The LYS5 gene has previously been cloned, and we present here the sequence of the 2.5-kilobase-pair (kb) DNA fragment complementing the lys5 mutation. Two large antiparallel open reading frames (ORF1 and ORF2) were observed, flanked by potential transcription signals. Both ORFs appear to be transcribed, but several lines of evidence suggest that only ORF2 is translated and encodes SDH. (i) The global amino acid compositions of Saccharomyces cerevisiae SDH and of the putative ORF2 product are similar and that of ORF1 is dissimilar. (ii) An in-frame translational fusion of ORF2 with the Escherichia coli lacZ gene was introduced into yeast cells and resulted in a beta-galactosidase activity regulated similarly to SDH; no beta-galactosidase activity was obtained with an in-frame fusion of ORF1 with lacZ. (iii) The introduction of a stop codon at the beginning of ORF2 prevented SDH expression in yeast cells, whereas no phenotypic effect was observed when ORF1 translation was blocked.

To control an arbitrary system by speech recognition, it is proposed that speech recognition be implemented in the form of a predefined sequence of states, such that, upon recognition of an appropriate voice command, the system changes from one state to another state, and this change takes place in dependence on at least one speech recognition parameter. The speech recognition parameters can influence, for example, the so-called “false acceptance rate” (FAR) and/or the “false rejection rate” (FRR), which thus are set to state-specific values for the individual states, in order to achieve improved recognition accuracy.

Southern blotting of DNA from the ascomycetous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica revealed two major size classes of DNA units coding for rRNAs, which differ in length by about 1000 bp. We have cloned an rDNA unit of each size class. R-looping experiments revealed that the rRNA genes of both units are uninterrupted; subsequent heteroduplex analysis showed that the size difference between both units is located within the nontranscribed spacer. Sequence analysis revealed that a major part of these spacers consists of a complex pattern of repetitions in periodicities of up to about 150 bp and that the difference between both rDNA units are located mainly in this repetitive region. Apart from different lengths of the repetitive regions, both rDNA units also reveal extended microheterogeneity within their homologous parts. Furthermore, no gene for 5S rRNA was observed in the spacer region. Therefore, the organization of the spacer of Yarrowia rDNA is clearly different from that of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

A Yarrowia lipolytica yeast gene bank has been constructed in E. coli in an integrative plasmid vector containing the homologous LEU2 gene, and used to transform a leu2 lys5 yeast strain. The LYS5 gene encoding saccharopine dehydrogenase (SDH) has been rescued in E. coli from the chromosome of prototrophic transformants, in which the hybrid plasmid had integrated at the leu2 locus. Evidence that the rescued clone contains the LYS5 gene comes from complementation tests, genetic crosses, and SDH assay. Further characterization of the gene has been achieved by deletion mapping and subcloning, and by demonstrating the presence of transcripts hybridizing to this sequence.

By using two chimeric plasmids containing yeast ura3 gene and 2-micron yeast DNA linked to the bacterial plasmid pCR1, yeast transformation of a high frequency has been achieved. The first plasmid is such that the 2-micron DNA part, in which the ura3 gene is incorporated, can be removed in one step and thus the 2-micron-ura3 sequence can be considered as a "transposable" block. In contrast, the second one bears the entire 2-micron plasmid and the ura3 gene is inserted in the bacterial plasmid part. As shown through hybridization experiments and genetic studies, the ura3 gene was maintained as a cytoplasmic element. Plasmids recovered from the yeast transformants were used to transform Escherichia coli. Their analysis by EcoRI showed that in many cases the vector had recombined with the endogenous 2-micron DNA of the recipient strain. The specific activity of orotidine 5'-monophosphate decarboxylase (coded by ura3) in yeast transformants was 10- to 30-fold higher than in the wild type.

The cloned r-DNA units of Yarrowia lipolytica [Van Heerikhuizen et al., 39 (1985) 213-222] and their restriction fragments have been used to probe blots of genomic DNA of this yeast. Wild-type and laboratory strains were shown to contain two-to-five types of repeated units, each strain displaying a specific pattern. By comparing their restriction patterns, we could localize the differences between units within their spacer region. Tetrad analysis strongly suggested a clustered organization of each type of repeat as well as the occurrence of meiotic exchanges within the r-DNA family. Chromosome loss was induced by benomyl and allowed to map several r-DNA clusters on the same chromosome. All those results indicate that the Y. lipolytica r-DNA gene family is quite different from other yeasts.

The paper deals with the modelling of the network effects on the quality of speech in the Voice over IP networks. The main purpose of the ideas presented here is to achieve highprecision estimation of the speech quality in the environment in which the classical approaches of speech quality determination fail. To achieve such a high precision a modular neural network model is used to map the effects of a packet loss on the speech quality based on the PESQ (Perceptual Evaluation of the Speech Quality) reference. To incorporate the temporal effects, the Emodel is partially utilized as well. This way a universal tool capable of harnessing the information about the speech quality for stress testing and monitoring of the local infrastructure has been developed enabling the telephony infrastructure administrators to evaluate the performance and stability of the systems in their hands. Moreover, a high-performance simulation environment has been developed.

In many sports, predicting the passing behavior of players is desirable at it provides insights that can help to understand and improve player performance. In this paper, we describe a novel model for football pass prediction, developed to participate in the Prediction Challenge of the 5th Workshop on Machine Learning and Data Mining for Sports Analytics, collocated with ECML PAKDD 2018. The model called Football Pass Predictor (FPP) considers various aspects to generate predictions such as the distance between players, the proximity of players from the opposite team, and the direction of each pass. Experimental results shows that the model can achieve a prediction accuracy of 33.8%, and more than 50% if two guesses are allowed. This is considerably more than the random predictor, which obtains 8.3%.

Learning styles refer to how a person acquires and processes information. Identifying the learning styles of students is important because it allows more personnalized teaching. The most popular method for learning style recognition is through the use of a questionnaire. Although such an approach can correctly identify the learning style of a student, it suffers from three important limitations: 1 filling a questionnaire is time-consuming since questionnaires usually contain numerous questions, 2 learners may lack time and motivation to fill long questionnaires and 3 a specialist needs to analyse the answers. In this paper, we address these limitations by presenting an adaptative electronic questionnaire that dynamically selects subsequent questions based on previous answers, thus reducing the number of questions. Experimental results with 1,931 questionnaires for the Myers Briggs Type Indicators show that our approach Q-SELECT considerably reduces the number of questions asked by a median of 30 % while predicting learning styles with a low error rate.

The last two decades substantial improvements in the production of agricultural statistics have occurred in a context where the demand for geographical information is constantly increasing and becoming more diversified at both the national and international levels. This paper presents some methodological aspects (conventional area-based methods) related to the production of geographical information via agricultural statistics using fine-scale topographical maps and high spatial resolution satellite images as sampling frames for the application of agricultural surveys in post-communist Romania. The paper describes the application of the MARS project to Romania based on examples from the Falticeni Plateau, North-East of the country, and focusing on the adaptation of the methodology and data collection to specific land and environment conditions in a Central and Eastern European country., Les deux dernières décennies ont été marquées par une amélioration sensible de la production de statistiques agricoles en tenant compte du fait que la demande en information géographique est toujours croissante et de plus en plus diversifiée tant à l'échelle nationale qu'internationale. Cet article présente quelques aspects méthodologiques (les méthodes aréolaires conventionnelles) de production d'information géographique à travers les statistiques spatiales agricoles en utilisant les cartes topographiques à échelle fine et les images satellites à haute résolution spatiale comme base de sondage pour l'application des enquêtes agricoles en Roumanie post-communiste. L'article présente l'application du projet MARS en Roumanie en s'appuyant sur des exemples du Plateau de Falticeni, au nord-est du pays, et en focalisant sur l'adaptation de la méthodologie et de la collecte des données à une situation foncière et environnementale spécifique à un pays de l'Europe Centrale et de l'Est.

Introduction : la fréquentation des services d’urgences est en constante augmentation, avec un temps d’attente lui aussi en augmentation. Ceci est en partie lié à la charge de travail par patient, avec de nombreux examens complémentaires demandés par les internes, parfois de manière nonadaptée et parfois non supervisée. Notre étude avait pour objectif d’évaluer l’estimation de la gravité et la pertinence des prescriptions initiales des internes au CHU de Nîmes, en les comparant aux prescriptions des séniors. Elle a également pour but d’évaluer l’évolution de ces prescriptions au cours du semestre.Méthodes : il s’agissait d’une étude prospective, monocentrique, descriptive réalisée aux urgences pédiatriques du CHU de Nîmes au cours du semestre d’été 2019. Elle comprenait trois évaluations étalées sur le semestre sous forme de cas cliniques et de questionnaires sur les prescriptions initiales (thérapeutiques et d’examens complémentaires) ainsi que sur la gravité et l’orientation proposées par les internes. Nous avons analysé séparément les cas pratiques et théoriques, puis l’évolution entre les périodes grâce au test des rangs appariés de Wilcoxon.Résultats : nous avons mis en évidence une surévaluation globale par les internes de la gravité lors des deux premières périodes. Il n’y avait dans l’ensemble pas de surprescription de la part des internes. On a retrouvé une amélioration, au cours du semestre, chez les internes urgentistesconcernant l’estimation de la gravité et la prescription d’examens complémentaires notamment biologiques, qu’on ne retrouve pas chez les internes en médecine générale. On retrouve également une amélioration de la prévision de l’orientation au cours du semestre, ainsi que sur les prescriptions d’examen radiologique entre les deux premières, et d’examen biologique entre les deux dernières périodes.Conclusion : dans notre étude nous avons retrouvé une surévaluation de la gravité mais pas de surprescription par les internes. En plus de la séniorisation en continue, d’autres moyens pour améliorer les prises en charge sont présents comme des cours initiaux et la présence deprotocole.

Introduction : les compétences non techniques (CNT) sont essentielles à la prise en charge des situations de réanimation aigüe. Elles peuvent être enseignées grâce à la simulation haute fidélité mais celle-ci présente un certain coût. L'objectif de notre étude est de comparer la formation par simulation haute-fidélité versus simulation basse fidélité pour l'acquisition des CNT dans la réanimation cardiopulmonaire de l'enfant et du nourrisson chez les sapeurs-pompiers du Gard. Matériel et méthode : étude interventionnelle, prospective et comparative entre septembre 2018 et janvier 2019. Tous les sapeurs-pompiers du Gard étaient éligibles. Notre critère de jugement principal était l'Ottawa Crisis Resource Management Global Rating Scale. Résultats : parmi les 28 sapeurs-pompiers inclus, 92,6% étaient des hommes, 71,4% avaient été confrontés à une détresse vitale de l'enfant et tous estimaient avoir une formation pédiatrique insuffisante. Le score de CNT a montré une différence significative entre la formation par simulation basse fidélité et haute-fidélité: le score total était 67,1 % et 76,5 % respectivement pour la simulation basse et haute-fidélité (p=0,0003) avec une différence significative pour chaque domaine sauf le leadership. Conclusion : la simulation haute-fidélité permet une meilleure formation que la basse fidélité pour l'acquisition des CNT, facteur clé dans la prise en charge des réanimations. Il semble important d'étendre cette méthode d'enseignement à l'ensemble des professionnels de santé régulièrement et à long terme. Une étude évaluant son impact dans la vie réelle et une évaluation médico-économique de cette forme d'enseignement seraient intéressantes.

Ce chapitre est organisé autour de la question d’une double responsabilité : d’une part, la responsabilité du personnel de santé d’être informé et compétent sur le sujet de violences masculines envers les femmes (VeF); de l’autre, la responsabilité de ceux/celles qui interviennent dans le social d’évaluer leur interventions, puisque une intervention, même bien construite, pourrait avoir des effets négatifs ou n’avoir pas d’effets du tout. La violence a des sérieuses conséquences sur la santé. Les médecins devraient être en mesure d’aider les victimes, mais ils manquent souvent des connaissances, ou ne se sentent pas concernés : sensibiliser les étudiant-e-s est donc une étape nécessaire. En 2009, un cours sur la VeF a été proposé aux étudiant-e-s en médicine à Trieste (Italie). Pour l’évaluation du cours nous avons utilisé une approche quasi-expérimentale, avec des questionnaires pré et posttest, et avec un groupe expérimental (N=75) et un groupe de contrôle (N=63). Les résultats montrent que, au départ, il n’y avait pas de différences entre les deux groupes concernant connaissances et attitudes relatives à la VeF. Après le cours, les étudiant-e-s du groupe expérimental avaient plus de connaissances, se sentaient plus concernées et présentaient moins de préjugés, alors que aucun changement n’a été observé pour le groupe de contrôle. Les commentaires des étudiant-e-s confirment que la participation au cours a modifié leur perception de la VeF. Tous/toutes ont qualifié ces changements de très positifs; toutefois une minorité dit avoir été mal à l’aise face à ce qu’ils considéraient une approche féministe. Cette étude indique que qu’il est possible de mettre en œuvre une évaluation rigoureuse et que ce cours sur la VeF a eu un impact positif.