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Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text., Background. Data on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) seroprevalence in kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) remain rare. We sought to shed further light on this issue by conducting a single-center study in a kidney transplant center located in one of the France’s highest risk zone (Grand Est) for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) during the initial disease outbreak. Methods. To this aim, we used a survey approach coupled with systematic investigation of SARS-CoV-2 serology in a cohort of 1390 KTRs. Results. SARS-CoV-2 serologies were available for 780 survey respondents, among whom 48 had anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (total seroprevalence: 6.2%). Thirty-five of the 48 seropositive KTRs had previously received a diagnosis of Covid-19, whereas the remaining 13 patients were not known to be infected (8 asymptomatic cases). Specifically, 18.7% of seropositive KTRs and 1.1% of the entire cohort were asymptomatic. Household exposure was found to markedly increase the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Conclusions. Our findings demonstrate that the overall SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in KTRs living in one of the France’s highest risk zone for Covid-19 during the first French lockdown was as low as 6.3%. Rapid and strict implementation of protective measures could have significantly mitigated virus spread even in an area of high virus circulation.

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Synapse-associated protein 1 (Syap1) is the mammalian homologue of synapse-associated protein of 47 kDa (Sap47) in Drosophila. Genetic deletion of Sap47 leads to deficiencies in short-term plasticity and associative memory processing in flies. In mice, Syap1 is prominently expressed in the nervous system, but its function is still unclear. We have generated Syap1 knockout mice and tested motor behaviour and memory. These mice are viable and fertile but display distinct deficiencies in motor behaviour. Locomotor activity specifically appears to be reduced in early phases when voluntary movement is initiated. On the rotarod, a more demanding motor test involving control by sensory feedback, Syap1-deficient mice dramatically fail to adapt to accelerated speed or to a change in rotation direction. Syap1 is highly expressed in cerebellar Purkinje cells and cerebellar nuclei. Thus, this distinct motor phenotype could be due to a so far unknown function of Syap1 in cerebellar sensorimotor control. The observed motor defects are highly specific since other tests in the modified SHIRPA test, as well as cognitive tasks like novel object recognition, Pavlovian fear conditioning, and anxiety-like behaviour in open field, dark-light transition, and elevated plus maze, do not appear to be strongly affected in Syap1 knockout mice.

The Sap47 gene of Drosophila melanogaster encodes a highly abundant 47 kDa synaptic vesicle-associated protein. Sap47 null mutants show defects in synaptic plasticity and larval olfactory associative learning but the molecular function of Sap47 at the synapse is unknown. We demonstrate that Sap47 modulates the phosphorylation of another highly abundant conserved presynaptic protein, synapsin. Site-specific phosphorylation of Drosophila synapsin has repeatedly been shown to be important for behavioural plasticity but it was not known where these phospho-synapsin isoforms are localized in the brain. Here, we report the distribution of serine-6-phosphorylated synapsin in the adult brain and show that it is highly enriched in rings of synapses in the ellipsoid body and in large synapses near the lateral triangle. The effects of knockout of Sap47 or synapsin on olfactory associative learning/memory support the hypothesis that both proteins operate in the same molecular pathway. We therefore asked if this might also be true for other aspects of their function. We show that knockout of Sap47 but not synapsin reduces lifespan, whereas knockout of Sap47 and synapsin, either individually or together, affects climbing proficiency, as well as plasticity in circadian rhythms and sleep. Furthermore, electrophysiological assessment of synaptic properties at the larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ) reveals increased spontaneous synaptic vesicle fusion and reduced paired pulse facilitation in Sap47 and synapsin single and double mutants. Our results imply that Sap47 and synapsin cooperate non-uniformly in the control of synaptic properties in different behaviourally relevant neuronal networks of the fruitfly.

Improvements of a methodology [1] able to compute the parasitic electromagnetic emissions of a solar panel are presented in this paper in order to handle real solar panels. Thus, the method is able to take into account solar panels with triple-junction solar cells, series or shunt power regulation system, and honeycomb composite panels. This numerical method is validated experimentally by comparing the near magnetic field emitted by a real solar panel and calculated by the method.

Given a set V of n points in the plane, no three of them being collinear, a convex inclusion chain of V is an ordering of the points of V such that no point belongs to the convex hull of the points preceding it in the ordering. We call k-set of the convex inclusion chain, every k-set of an initial subsequence of at least k points of the ordering. We show that the number of such k-sets (without multiplicity) is an invariant of V, that is, it does not depend on the choice of the convex inclusion chain. Moreover, this number is equal to the number of regions of the order-k Voronoi diagram of V (when no four points are cocircular). The dual of the order-k Voronoi diagram belongs to the set of so-called centroid triangulations that have been originally introduced to generate bivariate simplex spline spaces. We show that the centroids of the k-sets of a convex inclusion chain are the vertices of such a centroid triangulation. This leads to the currently most efficient algorithm to construct particular centroid triangulations of any given point set; it runs in O(n log n + k(n - k) log k) worst case time.

Hintergrund: Das Ziel dieser Untersuchung war die Erfassung kognitiver und emotionaler Empathie bei Kindern und Jugendlichen mit psychiatrischen Störungen und einer gesunden Vergleichsgruppe unter Anwendung subjektiver und objektiver diagnostischer Verfahren. Methodik: Insgesamt wurden in der vorliegenden quasiexperimentellen Studie 96 Jungen untersucht. Davon wiesen 20 eine Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-/Hyperaktivitätsstörung (ADHS) vom unaufmerksamen (ADHS-U), 20 vom kombinierten (ADHS-K) Subtypus und 20 eine Störung des Sozialverhaltens (SSV) auf. Für die nichtklinische Kontrollgruppe (KG) wurden 36 gesunde Jungen untersucht. Das durchschnittliche Alter betrug 12.0 Jahre (SD = 2.36). Als Teilaspekte der emotionalen und kognitiven Empathie wurden die emotionale Reaktivität, die Emotionserkennung und die Perspektivübernahme mit subjektiven Fragebogen- und objektiven Testverfahren erfasst. Dabei kamen als subjektive Fragebogenverfahren der Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1983 ) und der Index of Empathy for Children and Adolescents (IECA; Bryant, 1982 ) sowie als objektive Testverfahren der Empathy Response Task (ERT; Ricard & Kamberk-Kilicci, 1995 ) und eine an Buitelaar et al. (1999) angelehnte Zuordnungsaufgabe zur Emotionserkennung zum Einsatz. Ergebnisse: In dem objektiven Testverfahren des ERT zeigte sich die KG den Gruppen ADHS-K und SSV in der Fähigkeit zur Perspektivübernahme überlegen, insbesondere bei komplexen Aufgabenstellungen. Kinder mit ADHS-U zeigten in diesem Verfahren ein signifikant größeres Ausmaß an emotionaler Empathie als Probanden der Gruppe ADHS-K bei einfachen Aufgabenstellungen. Keine Gruppenunterschiede ergaben sich für die Aufgabe zur Emotionserkennung sowie für die subjektiven Fragebogenmaße IECA und IRI. Diskussion: Die gefundenen Defizite für Kinder mit ADHS-K und SSV unterstützen weitgehend die vorliegenden Ergebnisse der Literatur. Für die emotionale Informationsverarbeitung scheint – wie im Bereich der kognitiven – der Subtypus der ADHS eine bedeutsame Rolle zu spielen. Insbesondere objektive und ökologisch valide Testverfahren scheinen sich zur Erfassung der Empathie zu eignen.

This study assesses the cognitive and emotional empathic competence in groups of children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders compared to a nonclinical control group. Subjective and objective diagnostic measures were employed.A total of 96 boys were tested: 20 with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) predominantly inattentive subtype (ADHD-I); 20 with ADHD combined subtype (ADHD-C); 20 with conduct disorder (CD); 36 healthy boys (control group; CG). Mean age was 12.0 years (SD = 2.36). As aspects of cognitive and emotional empathy emotional reactivity, we tested emotion recognition and perspective taking with subjective questionnaires and objective tasks, using as subjective questionnaires the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1983) and the Index of Empathy for Children and Adolescents (IECA; Bryant, 1982). As objective tasks, we adopted the Empathy Response Task (ERT; RicardKamberk-Kilicci, 1995) and a task measuring emotion recognition according to Buitelaar et al. (1999).The CG outperformed participants with ADHD-C and CD in objective tasks assessing perspective taking, particularly when complex tasks were applied as stimuli. Children with ADHD-I showed significantly more emotional empathy than boys with ADHD-C when presented with simple tasks. No group differences were found for emotion recognition and subjective questionnaires.Deficits in perspective taking and emotional empathy were found for children with ADHD-C and CD, largely in accordance with the literature. Similar to the processing of cognitive information, the processing of emotional information seems to differ in ADHD subtypes. Objective tasks and tasks with a high ecological validity seem suitable for the measurement of empathy.

Given a set S of n points (called sites) in a d-dimensional Euclidean space E and an integer k, 1 \lt k \lt n - 1, we consider three known structures that are defined through subsets of k elements of S: The k-set polytope of S, the order-k Voronoi diagram of S, and its dual, the order-k Delaunay diagram of S. We give a new compact characterization of all-dimensional faces of these three structures through the notions of k-couple and of k-set polytope of a k-couple. We also show that the incidence relations between these faces correspond to inclusion relations between k-couples. These characterizations allow us to give simple proofs of well known relations between the three structures, especially that the d-dimensional order-k Delaunay diagram is the projection of the lower hull of a (d + 1)- dimensional k-set polytope and is the orthogonal dual of the order-k Voronoi diagram.

Bouinot Jean, Fixari Daniel, Garnier Patrick, Izebe Guy, Le Lamer Christian, Muzio Jacqueline, Schmitt Dominique. Chapitre X. Innovation et gestion. In: Annuaire des collectivités locales. Tome 2, 1982. pp. 601-644.

L'objet de cette communication est de montrer, en s'inspirant des enseignements issus des modes et procédures mis en œuvre à la ville de Metz et dans les services de la Région de Lorraine, que l'élaboration et l'exécution du budget peuvent être des éléments majeurs d'une gestion performante des collectivités locales. Le contrôle budgétaire interne, fondé sur une redéfinition des finalités de l'administration locale, une déconcentration des responsabilités, une participation des personnels et un dialogue avec la hiérarchie, peut ainsi être l'un des vecteurs d'une nouvelle gestion publique. Dans cette perspective, l'article souligne qu'une gestion performante des services repose sur un système d'organisation centré sur les objectifs de la collectivité, sur la responsabilisation des unités opérationnel/es, la mise en place d'outils de contrôle budgétaire de ces unités d'une part, de contrôle d'exécution des objectifs de la direction générale d'autre part., Schmitt Dominique. Le contrôle budgétaire interne. In: Politiques et management public, vol. 6, n° 3, 1988. pp. 61-79.