The diffusion of Chukchi “magic words” in Chukotkan and St. Lawrence Island Yupik folklore texts

The languages of the Siberian Yupik region, including Chukotka in the Russian Far East and St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, have been heavily influenced by Chukchi, a genetically unrelated language. In this paper, I focus on Chukchi influences on Yupik folklore. Apparently meaningless “magic words” or formulae used in Yupik tales often appear to be of Chukchi origin. In Chukotka, their Chukchi origin is sometimes recognized by speakers of Yupik, but on St. Lawrence Island, the origin and meaning of the “magic words” is not recognized. The existence of “magic words” provides us with information about the sociolinguistic relationship between Siberian Yupik speakers and Chukchi. The Chukchi were in a position of power with respect to the Siberian Yupiget since they were more numerous, and since the Yupiget depended on them for trade. As a result, the Yupiget saw their Chukchi neighbours and their language as threatening and mysterious, and expressed this feeling by having the foreign protagonists of their tales talk in this strange language.Les langues de la région sibérienne yupik, incluant la Tchoukotka de l’Extrême-Orient russe et l’île Saint-Laurent en Alaska, ont subi l’influence du tchouktche, une langue qui ne leur est pas génétiquement apparentée. Dans cet article, on traite des influences tchouktches sur le folklore yupik. Certaines formules magiques utilisées dans des contes yupik semblent à première vue être sans signification, mais en réalité sont souvent d’origine tchouktche. Dans la Tchoukotka, leur origine tchouktche est parfois reconnue par les locuteurs du yupik, mais sur l’île Saint-Laurent, l’origine et la signification des formules magiques sont considerées obscures. L’existence de ces formules magiques est révélatrice des rapports sociolinguistiques entre les Yupiget sibériens et les Tchouktches. Les Tchouktches détenaient une position de suprématie vis-à-vis des Yupiget parce qu’ils étaient plus nombreux qu'eux et parce que les Yupiget étaient économiquement dépendants des Tchouktches. Il s’ensuivit une situation dans laquelle les Yupiget regardaient les Tchouktches comme des voisins quelque peu menaçants et mystérieux. Les Yupiget exprimaient ce sentiment dans leurs contes en faisant parler les protagonistes étrangers dans la langue étrange des Tchouktches

Accompagner et soutenir les parents lors du placement de l'enfant

Cette recherche s’articule autour du travail de l’éducateur avec la famille lorsqu’un jeune est placé en institution. Depuis quelques années, la famille a évolué et a fait face à de nombreux changements, ce qui a redéfini la fonction de parent. De ce fait, la pluri- parentalité a fait son apparition puisque plusieurs personnes peuvent assumer les rôles parentaux comme les éducateurs. En effet, lorsqu’un enfant se retrouve en danger dans sa famille, il est dans la plupart des cas placé en institution. Les professionnels essayent alors d’intégrer au maximum les parents dans le placement pour maintenir le lien avec leur enfant et de les soutenir en travaillant les trois axes de la parentalité pour favoriser un retour au domicile familial

Evolution of electronic and ionic structure of Mg-clusters with the growth cluster size

The optimized structure and electronic properties of neutral and singly charged magnesium clusters have been investigated using ab initio theoretical methods based on density-functional theory and systematic post-Hartree-Fock many-body perturbation theory accounting for all electrons in the system. We have systematically calculated the optimized geometries of neutral and singly charged magnesium clusters consisting of up to 21 atoms, electronic shell closures, binding energies per atom, ionization potentials and the gap between the highest occupied and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals. We have investigated the transition to the hcp structure and metallic evolution of the magnesium clusters, as well as the stability of linear chains and rings of magnesium atoms. The results obtained are compared with the available experimental data and the results of other theoretical works.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, 3 table

A partial example of a Data Management Plan, with post-project comments

Presentation for the 2017 Symposium on Developing Infrastructure for Computational Resources on South Asian Languages. This presentation provides an example of a data management plan for a linguistics archiving project

Study of the functionality of the Helicobacter pylori trans-translation components SmpB and SsrA in an heterologous system

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Trans</it>-translation is a ubiquitous bacterial quality control-mechanism for both transcription and translation. With its two major partners, SsrA a small stable RNA and the SmpB protein, it promotes the release of ribosomes stalled on defective mRNAs and directs the corresponding truncated proteins to degradation pathways. We have recently shown that <it>trans</it>-translation is an essential function in the gastric pathogen <it>Helicobacter pylori</it>. Our results suggested that some properties of the <it>H. pylori trans</it>-translation machinery distinguishes it from the well known system in <it>E. coli</it>. Therefore, we decided to test the functionality of the SmpB and SsrA molecules of <it>H. pylori </it>in the <it>E. coli </it>heterologous system using two established phenotypic tests.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>H. pylori </it>SmpB protein was found to successfully restore the <it>E. coli </it>Δ<it>smpB </it>mutant growth defect and its capacity to propagate λ<it>imm</it>^P22phage. We showed that in <it>E. coli</it>, <it>H. pylori </it>SsrA (Hp-SsrA) was stably expressed and maturated and that this molecule could restore wild type growth to the <it>E. coli </it>Δ<it>ssrA </it>mutant. Hp-SsrA mutants affected in the ribosome rescue function were not able to restore normal growth to <it>E. coli </it>Δ<it>ssrA </it>supporting a major role of ribosome rescue in this phenotype. Surprisingly, Hp-SsrA did not restore the phage λ<it>imm</it>^P22propagation capacity to the <it>E. coli </it>Δ<it>ssrA </it>mutant.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These data suggest an additional role of the tag sequence that presents specific features in Hp-SsrA. Our interpretation is that a secondary role of protein tagging in phage propagation is revealed by heterologous complementation because ribosome rescue is less efficient. In conclusion, <it>tm</it>RNAs present in all eubacteria, have coevolved with the translational machinery of their host and possess specific determinants that can be revealed by heterologous complementation studies.</p

Differential Effects of Antibiotic Therapy on the Structure and Function of Human Gut Microbiota

The human intestinal microbiota performs many essential functions for the host. Antimicrobial agents, such as antibiotics (AB), are also known to disturb microbial community equilibrium, thereby having an impact on human physiology. While an increasing number of studies investigate the effects of AB usage on changes in human gut microbiota biodiversity, its functional effects are still poorly understood. We performed a follow-up study to explore the effect of ABs with different modes of action on human gut microbiota composition and function. Four individuals were treated with different antibiotics and samples were taken before, during and after the AB course for all of them. Changes in the total and in the active (growing) microbiota as well as the functional changes were addressed by 16S rRNA gene and metagenomic 454-based pyrosequencing approaches. We have found that the class of antibiotic, particularly its antimicrobial effect and mode of action, played an important role in modulating the gut microbiota composition and function. Furthermore, analysis of the resistome suggested that oscillatory dynamics are not only due to antibiotic-target resistance, but also to fluctuations in the surviving bacterial community. Our results indicated that the effect of AB on the human gut microbiota relates to the interaction of several factors, principally the properties of the antimicrobial agent, and the structure, functions and resistance genes of the microbial community

Evaluation of the antitumor and antioxidant effects of jatobá (Hymenaea courbaril) extracts / Avaliação do efeito antitumoral e antioxidante de extratos do jatobá (Hymenaea courbaril)

Ethnobotanical surveys have revealed the use of jatobá for the treatment of several diseases. This study determined the effect of plant extracts on the development of Ehrlich carcinoma. Male Swiss mice (n=6) were subcutaneously inoculated with 106 tumor cells and intragastrically administered ethanol (2 mg·mL-1, 5 mg·mL-1, or 10 mg·mL-1) or aqueous extracts of jatobá seed or bark for 90 days. Tumor development did not significantly differ between the groups studied; however, animals treated with the aqueous extract of the seed (2.205 mg·mL-1) had a reduction in tumor size compared to those treated with the aqueous extract of the bark (1.7 mg·mL-1). The treatment was not found to influence the survival of the animals studied. A new group of animals (n=7), with or without the tumor, received the aqueous extract of jatobá seed for 7, 14, and 30 days to evaluate oxidative stress. The extract reduced the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances levels at 7 days in the liver and kidneys, and 14 days in brain and renal tissue. Protein carbonylation levels were also reduced at 7 days in the liver and brain tissue and 14 days in the liver. The reduced glutathione levels diminished in animals treated for 7 and 14 days. We conclude that treatment with the aqueous extract of the jatobá seed presents promising activity in the reduction of oxidative stress

Structural and mechanistic insights into Helicobacter pylori NikR activation

NikR is a transcriptional metalloregulator central in the mandatory response to acidity of Helicobacter pylori that controls the expression of numerous genes by binding to specific promoter regions. NikR/DNA interactions were proposed to rely on protein activation by Ni(II) binding to high-affinity (HA) and possibly secondary external (X) sites. We describe a biochemical characterization of HpNikR mutants that shows that the HA sites are essential but not sufficient for DNA binding, while the secondary external (X) sites and residues from the HpNikR dimer–dimer interface are important for DNA binding. We show that a second metal is necessary for HpNikR/DNA binding, but only to some promoters. Small-angle X-ray scattering shows that HpNikR adopts a defined conformation in solution, resembling the cis-conformation and suggests that nickel does not trigger large conformational changes in HpNikR. The crystal structures of selected mutants identify the effects of each mutation on HpNikR structure. This study unravels key structural features from which we derive a model for HpNikR activation where: (i) HA sites and an hydrogen bond network are required for DNA binding and (ii) metallation of a unique secondary external site (X) modulates HpNikR DNA binding to low-affinity promoters by disruption of a salt bridge

Hierarchical regulation of the NikR-mediated nickel response in Helicobacter pylori

Nickel is an essential metal for Helicobacter pylori, as it is the co-factor of two enzymes crucial for colonization, urease and hydrogenase. Nickel is taken up by specific transporters and its intracellular homeostasis depends on nickel-binding proteins to avoid toxicity. Nickel trafficking is controlled by the Ni(II)-dependent transcriptional regulator NikR. In contrast to other NikR proteins, NikR from H. pylori is a pleiotropic regulator that depending on the target gene acts as an activator or a repressor. We systematically quantified the in vivo Ni2+-NikR response of 11 direct NikR targets that encode functions related to nickel metabolism, four activated and seven repressed genes. Among these, four targets were characterized for the first time (hpn, hpn-like, hydA and hspA) and NikR binding to their promoter regions was demonstrated by electrophoretic mobility shift assays. We found that NikR-dependent repression was generally set up at higher nickel concentrations than activation. Kinetics of the regulation revealed a gradual and temporal NikR-mediated response to nickel where activation of nickel-protection mechanisms takes place before repression of nickel uptake. Our in vivo study demonstrates, for the first time, a chronological hierarchy in the NikR-dependent transcriptional response to nickel that is coherent with the control of nickel homeostasis in H. pylori