Control of lipolysis in intra-abdominal fat cells of nonhuman primates: comparison with humans

The mechanisms that control lipolysis in intra-abdominal fat cells from various primate species, the marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), the baboon (Papio papio), and the macaque (Macaca fascicularis), were compared to those of human intraabdominal fat cells. Selective beta 1- or beta 2-adrenoceptor agonists induced lipolysis in all species. Selective beta 3-agonists (BRL 37344, CL 316243, and SR 58611) acted as partial agonists in marmoset but were inefficient in other primates, including humans. alpha 2-Adrenoceptor number ([3H]RX 8210002 binding) equalized (baboon) or exceeded (other primates) beta 1/beta 2-adrenoceptors ([3H]CGP 12177 binding). Baboon fat cell membranes expressed similar amounts of coupled beta- and alpha 2-adrenoceptors. In all species, norepinephrine- or epinephrine-induced lipolysis did not reach the lipolytic effect of isoproterenol but their effects were enhanced after alpha 2-adrenoceptor blockade. N6-phenylisopropyladenosine (PIA) induced a full antilipolytic effect in baboon, macaque, and human adipocytes through adenosine receptors ([3H]DPCPX binding). Peptide YY (PYY) weakly inhibited lipolysis in baboon. Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) was inactive whereas parathyroid hormone (PTH) partially stimulated lipolysis in primates. Histamine was partially lipolytic in marmoset only. This study emphasizes the similarities of the mechanisms controlling the lipolysis in nonhuman primate and in human adipocytes and suggests that the baboon and the macaque should provide unique models for the study of the regulation of lipolysis.     

Recovering spectral data from natural scenes with an RGB digital camera and colored filters

Many spectral‐recovery methods using RGB digital cameras assume the underlying smoothness of illuminant and reflectance spectra, and apply low‐dimensional linear models. The aim of the present work was to test whether a direct‐mapping method could be used instead of a linear‐models approach to recover spectral radiances and reflectances from natural scenes with an RGB digital camera and colored filters. In computer simulations, a conventional RGB digital camera with up to three colored filters was used to image scenes drawn from a hyperspectral image database. Three measures were used to evaluate recovery with the direct‐mapping method: goodness‐of‐fit, root‐mean‐square error, and a color‐difference metric. It was found that with two and three filters both spectral radiances and reflectances could be recovered sufficiently accurately for many practical applications. With little increase in computational complexity, an RGB camera and a few colored filters can provide significantly better recovery of natural scenes than an RGB camera alone. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 32, 352–360, 2007     

Associative properties of perfluorooctyl end‐functionalized polystyrene–poly(ethylene oxide) diblock copolymers

The synthesis of 2,2,3,3‐tetrahydro‐perfluoroundecanoyl end‐functionalized polystyrene–poly(ethylene oxide) block (PS‐block‐PEO‐R_F) copolymers and their matching PS‐block‐PEO diblock copolymers was carried out by sequential anionic polymerization. Viscometry and ¹⁹F NMR studies show that the PS‐block‐PEO copolymers, in contrast to their matching PS‐block‐PEO‐R_F copolymers, exhibit a micellar rather than the associative behavior seen for the latter. However, the presence of an excess of fluorinated acid, used for end‐functionalization, produces a reduction of the associative behavior above the overlap concentration, with the fluorinated acid acting like a surfactant. A competition may also occur between PS—and R_F—mediated micellization. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Determining the core of journals of a research centre: The example of researchers from the Department of Rural Economy and Sociology of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique,France

This paper analyses the determination of visibility of journals in which researchers of INRA (National Institute for Agricultural Research) publish. The corpus is comprised of 671 articles published over a period of four years in 258 journals. The advantage of the method applied for determining the visibility of journals is that it combines two approaches: a) bibliometric indicators (coverage by the ISI-publications and by two specific French databases) and b) experts' opinions (10 economists and sociologists). The main results are: a) There is a convergence between the opinion of the experts and «visibility» in the databases, b) The impact factor confirms the main opinions of the experts. The first journals ranked by the experts and JCR Social Sciences are the same but represent only 40 per cent of the total journals analysed. The other journals were revealed by the experts and French databases.«Whoever seeks to pass a balanced but lucid judgement on the general trends of the activity carried out by the profession to which he belongs, is liable to say either banalities or to hurt his colleagues»The notion which we retain of core is that which is successively and conjointly validated by the experts and by the major databases representative of the field.This study was financed by the Department of Rural Economy and Sociology of INRA.     

MRI of intramedullary sarcoidosis: follow-up of a case

Significative enhancement of free radical formation (FRO) in vivo is an important feature of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), namely preeclampsia (PIH). The latest investigations about the pathology of HDP, showed the contribution of placental circulation to the development and evolution of such disease. The placental bed can be a potential source of FRO or activation of cells that can produce FRO. Glutathione, is an important molecule for cellular protection against damage, is a cofactor of many enzymes, in particular, for the glutathione peroxidase of the placental tissue; this enzyme in the placenta bed prevent the production of thromboxan and lipoperoxides; the latter are potentially damaging to the endothelium cells and can cause vasoconstriction, the most important feature of PIH. The activity of that enzyme is deficient in PIH. We studied, by fluorometric assay, the concentrations of the two states of glutathione in placental homogenates (PLH) from pregnant women without pathology (PWN) and from pregnant women with PIH (PWPIH). The data showed significant low concentrations in the PLH of the two states of glutathione in the PWN against high concentrations of this molecule in the PLH from PWPIH. This feature can result from a deficient user of the glutathione by the cellular mechanism for prevention against oxidative factors. In addition, our study shows a biochemical marker that is suggestive that the placental bed is a potential source of FRO production in PIH.     

The covariation of common psychosomatic symptoms among children from socio-economically differing residential areas. An epidemiological study

Psychosomatic symptoms among children are believed to be commonplace. In this investigation by questionnaire, 47% of 1333 schoolchildren reported one or several symptoms, such as recurrent abdominal pain, headache, chest pains, loss of appetite and disturbances in bowel function. Coexistence of such symptoms was considerable and if a child had one of these, the probability that it would have one or more other symptoms was significantly increased. This correlation may strengthen both the suspicion that these symptoms are often psychosomatic and the idea that they have common CNS origin. There were appreciable differences in the frequency of the symptoms, between children at the more socially stable schools and schools with social problems. In the latter, the frequencies of symptoms differed between Swedish and immigrant children, which was not the case in the more socially stable schools.