NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Reassembly and biochemical characterization of the human Smc5/6 complex

Members of the structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) family of proteins are essential regulators of genomic stability. The Smc5-6 complex is indispensable for DNA repair, telomere maintenance and restart of stalled replication forks. How the Smc5-6 complex performs its functions to promote genome stability is still unclear. Here, we developed a novel purification strategy to isolate a reassembled complex. This approach allowed us to perform extensive biochemical and structural analyses of the human Smc5-6 complex. We show that the human complex binds with lower affinity to dsDNA substrates relative to ssDNA. This complex was also characterized by rate-zonal centrifugation to determine the molecular mass of the heteropentameric complex after gel filtration. We took advantage of the “Gradient Fixation” (GraFix) method to stabilize macromolecular complexes for single particle electron microscopy (EM). In conclusion, we have successfully identified native conditions for the purification of a fully assembled and functional human Smc5-6 complex. In addition, we showed that this complex is biochemically active and binds ssDNA and dsDNA with different affinities. Completion of our structural analysis will shed light on the mechanism of action of the Smc5-6 complex during DNA repair.

Keyphrases: Human Smc5-6 complex, DNA-binding, Structural maintenance of chromosome
Étude des voies de signalisation qui régulent l’homéostasie du PI(4,5)P2

Mutations in the inositol 5-phosphatase OCRL (OcculoCerebroRenal Lowe), that prevent phosphatidylinositol 4,5-biphosphate [PI(4,5)P2] dephosphorylation cause a genetic disease named Lowe syndrome. This rare X-linked genetic disease has an estimated prevalence of 1 in 500 000 people and is characterized by congenital eye defects, mental retardation and renal disorders. Our laboratory has shown that OCRL is important in cell division and that its depletion leads to loss in PI(4,5)P2 homeostasis2,3. The goal of my studies is to identify proteins that regulate PI(4,5)P2 homeostasis by functionally interacting with OCRL. A high-throughput screen using dsRNA in Drosophila S2 cells is currently experimentally and analytically optimized. This screen would give us a better understanding on signalling pathways regulating PI(4,5)P2 homeostasis and would be a giant step towards elucidating the cellular mechanisms underlying  Lowe syndrome.

Keyphrases: PI(4,5)P2, OCRL, dsRNA, Lowe Syndrome, Multinucleation, Screen, S2 Cells, Cytokinesis, Homeostasis, Drosophila
Examining how PSMB11 orchestrates T cell development

CD8 T cells are central to the body’s immunosurveillance against pathogens and pre- cancerous cells. To achieve a cytotoxic response to abnormal events, CD8 T cells must bear a competent T cell receptor (TCR). The thymus is unique for “educating” developing CD4 and CD8 T cells to recognize foreign material. In the thymic cortex, thymocytes displaying functional TCRs are positively-selected by cortical thymic epithelial cells (cTECs). Upon arrival to the medulla, T cells which recognize self-antigens presented by medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) receive the “death sentence” to prevent autoimmunity. PSMB11 is a catalytic subunit of the thymoproteasome expressed exclusively in cTECs, which mediates the generation of major histocompatibility complex class I-associated peptides (MIPs). In consequence, PSMB11-deficiency severely impairs the development of CD8 thymocytes. Since thymoproteasomes display a low chymotrypsin activity, it was inferred that they produce peptides with low MHC class I affinity, and by similarity, that they produce low TCR affinity. However, indirect studies failed to elucidate the fundamental role of PSMB11 in positive selection. Proteasomes regulate essentially all cellular processes, therefore we investigated 1) if PSMB11 orchestrates peptide-independent processes in cTECs, and 2) the impact on thymocyte development. We found that cTECs in Psmb11-/- mice show differential expression of genes involved in cell-cell adhesion and cytokine signaling, which are at the core of positive selection. Elevated levels of CXCR4 at the cell surface of 8SM thymocytes in Psmb11–/– mice suggest that CD8 thymocytes have a longer retention time in the cortex compared to the WT. Pro- inflammatory genes were upregulated in cTECs lacking PSMB11, which might underlie the increased stress detected in medullary thymocytes. Finally, we found that PSMB11 alters the expression of Cd83 and Prss16, genes which have an essential role in CD4 T cell development. In conclusion, our study describes novel peptide-independent means of PSMB11 to regulate CD4 and CD8 thymocyte development, by orchestrating the transcriptome in cTECs.

Keyphrases: PSMB11, Thymocytes, Thymoproteasome, Thymic epithelial cells, Positive selection
L'obligation de résidence chez l'employeur imposée aux travailleurs agricoles et domestiques migrants au Canada : une atteinte à leur droit constitutionnel à la liberté

Through the implementation of an array of programs designed to facilitate the recruitment of foreign workers, Canada is considered to be at the core of the global age of migration. With a strong reputation of being a world leader in migration management, particularly with respect to temporary migration, Canada is nevertheless one of many countries to limit the labour mobility of temporary foreign workers, especially of those who are considered to be low-skilled, through different conditions, often restrictive of liberty. Among these conditions is the de jure or de facto requirement that migrant agricultural and domestic workers reside with their employers. Although the unlawfulness of such obligation has been internationally established, the fact remains that in Canadian domestic law, its constitutionality continues to be subject of intense judicial and doctrinal debate. Through the presentation of the various programs of admission of foreign temporary workers requiring of them to reside at their place of employment, this research explores the consequences of such restriction on migrant agricultural and domestic workers’ labour and fundamental rights, which ultimately contribute to exacerbate the basic vulnerability already experienced by these workers. This study then offers a deeper analysis on how the obligation to reside at one’s place of employment imposed upon migrant agricultural and domestic workers specifically violates their right to liberty under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Keyphrases: Live-in requirement, Migrant agricultural workers, Migrant domestic workers, Right to liberty, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), Agricultural Stream, Caregiver Program (CP), Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP)
Analyse comparative des conflits de lois et de juridictions relatifs au contrat d'assurance

This thesis is concerned with the study of the conflicts of laws and jurisdictions relating to the insurance contract. Since insurance contracts are a type of contract that is commonly used, it is worth understanding, notably in the context of economic globalization, what specifically happens to the contract of insurance within the framework of international private relations. In this sense, the rules of conflict of laws and jurisdictions relating to the insurance contract will be considered with regards to the framework of the Rome I Regulation, the Brussels I Bis Regulation and the Lugano Convention, as well as with respect to the private international law of Quebec. Therefore, a comparative law approach will be adopted through this study. It will be noticed among other things that the insurance contract has given rise to various methodological treatments with regards to the resolution of conflicts of laws and jurisdictions. It will therefore be interesting to compare these approaches in order to determine which approach could best achieve the specific objectives of the insurance contract, in particularly, the protection of the weaker party.

Keyphrases: Conflicts of laws, Conflicts of jurisdictions, Insurance contract, International private law of the European Union, International private law of Québec
Analyse des récentes décisions relatives à l'action collective à la lumière des objectifs des recours de la Loi sur les valeurs mobilières : analyse et critique

Since the 2007 amendments to the Securities Act, the area of class actions has grown tremendously and has faced many challenges to adapt to the securities industry. Class action in Quebec has been built over the years by jurisprudence and, above all, by the interpretations of the Canadian courts and now enjoys a solid framework and an international reputation. This reputation is due to the monumental work of interpretation and analysis of Québec practitioners and judges. It took a little less than ten years to achieve a clear and well-established consensus on the only step of authorization. The Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia jurisprudence, having experienced many upsets notably about the authorization, but also in many other aspects of the class actions, has come, gradually and at its own pace, to respond to these questions to bring us the recourse we have today.

Keyphrases: Representative action, Class action, Securities, Shareholders, Authorization criteria, Screening mechanism, Right of appeal, Misleading information, Disclosure
Les mailles de la fiducie en contexte de dissolution de l'union matrimoniale : de l'application des mécanismes du C.C.Q. au soulèvement du voile fiduciaire en droit québécois

Although companies and partnerships have traditionally been used to hold assets, the trust is a new legal tool that has gained tremendous popularity since its introduction in the Civil Code of Québec. Given this context, the question that must be asked is whether assets holding by a trust could have an impact on the partition between spouses at the time of the dissolution of their matrimonial union. When the family residence is held by a trust, the first resort of the spouse seeking partition is often based on section 415 CCQ, which establishes the family patrimony, that is composed of the family residence ans also by the rights which confer use of them. The nature of these rights, the identity of the holder of the rights, and the modalities of their calculation remain a source of debate amongst the legal community. When the assets held in trust are not the family residence, attributing a value to the interest in the trust may provide some relief to the spouse seeking partition, primarily when the matrimonial regime of the parties is that of the partnership of acquests. In this regard, it will be necessary to examine the legal nature of that interest in the trust and to identify the rights deriving with respect to the matrimonial regime of the parties, as well as to consider the modalities of calculating the value of that interest. When these legal mechanisms are not adequate to the circumstances, some spouses may seek to obtain the sharing of certain assets by applying the theory of the lift of the fiduciary veil, an analogy to the lift of the corporate veil. Although its use is infrequent at the time being, there are positive developments towards the recognition of this theory in Quebec civil law.

Keyphrases: Gel successoral, Fraude, Alter ego, Trust, Divorce, Residence of the family, Rights which confer use of them, 415 CCQ, Partnership of acquests, Beneficiary, Potential beneficiary, Author of the trust, Discretionary trust, Freeze Estate, Fraud, Abuse of right, Contravention of a rule of public order, Value of the right of beneficiary, Participation in the trust, Corporate veil, Trust veil
La libéralisation des marchés publics entre le Canada et l'Union européenne à l'aune de l'A.E.C.G.

The government procurement sector has long been excluded from the multilateral trade system which was established at the end of the Second World War. Initially explored by G.A.T.T. in 1947, it wasn’t until the 1970s that a draft of the first regulation of government procurement was crafted. The creation of the plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement (G.P.A.) in 1994 corresponded with the establishment of the W.T.O. The successive failures of multilateral initiatives indicate the likelihood of a future plurilateral framework. The revisions of the G.P.A. and the proliferation of stakeholders suggests an increasing openness to the government procurement sector on the international stage. However, the liberalization of the sector is not yet complete. The G.P.A. currently suffers from a number of limitations. For example, the states retain numerous restrictive and discriminatory practices which represent obstacles to increasing openness between stakeholders within the sector. At the same time, the states egotiate and close myriad regional trade agreements (R.T.A.) which incorporate provisions pertaining to government procurement. Some of these, modelled on the Canadian-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (C.E.T.A.) include an entire chapter dedicated to government procurement, as well as detailed commitment schedules which specify their market access offer. Considering the commitments made by Canada and the E.U. contained in the G.P.A., there has been an observable liberalization of the government procurement sector in light of C.E.T.A. This openness translates into a growing number of reporting entities, the inclusion of new sectors, and the reduction of threshold values for certain markets covered under the Agreement. More specifically, C.E.T.A. is liberalizing the materials sector for urban trail transport between Canada and the E.U. The case is granting the contract for the acquisition of Montreal metro cars in the consortium comprised of Bombardier and Alstom Canada serves to illustrate this point.

Keyphrases: Canada, CETA, GPA, Public procurement, European union, liberalization, Urban rail transport
Les droits moraux des artistes interprètes de l’audiovisuel, perspectives internationales

Moral rights, nowadays, are not equally protected in the different countries. Performers in the audiovisual industry do not benefit from an equal protection either. Indeed, two systems prevail concerning the recognition of rights for performers. On one side, the USA does not recognize any legal protection for them and leave wide open the doors to negotiations between performers and producers. On the other side, the “civil law” system of neighbouring rights gives legal protection to performers, but it must not be confused with the copyright protection for authors. Because the issue continued to grow, international law was called upon to decide what should be the preferable protection for performers in the audiovisual industry in a century that knows technological progress and had to deal with the many disparities among the existing systems in force. The easiest answer was to choose private international law and not to go into the material provisions. But there is no doubt that this answer, if it offers the advantage of dealing with the difficulties very quickly, was not the ideal one and that a real material law embracing the issue of the protection of performers’ rights in the audiovisual industry was needed. This material answer was procided recently in the Beijing Treaty. Some concerns still remain about the emergence of as effective protection for performers’ rights and their qualification as authors is not the providential answer we thought it could be.

Keyphrases: Étude comparée, Audiovisual work, Beijing Treaty, Comparative law, International Conventions, Private international Law, Moral right, Neighbouring right, Performers
La problématique du genre dans les mécanismes de la justice transitionnelle en Côte d'Ivoire

Taking the violence from the Ivorian conflict as a case study, this thesis analyzes the contribution of transitional justice mechanism for the protection and promotion of gender in societies affected by armed conflict. Indeed, internal conflicts that take place in sub-saharan Africa raise women's vulnerability by multiplying acts of violence inside their own communities and private sphere. Despite international public law and humanitarian law, women are disproportionally the subject of violence caused by civil war, their bodies being the aim of terror and scorched earth strategies as well as taken as spoils of war. Thus, an analysis and intervention must be rooted in a gender perspective. Due to its holistic approach, transitional justice enables the use of appropriate judicial mechanism to women's specific needs and gather three different sphere of intervention: the international, national and local spheres. Therefore, transitional justice justice positions itself as a privileged mode of conflict resolution that harmonizes the different spheres of law (international, national and religious/customary). By doing so, it transforms the narrative about gender in the affected communities.

Keyphrases: Transitional justice, Gender, Feminist approaches to international law, Third world approaches to international law, Humanitarian law, Gender based violence, Armed conflicts
Comparison between two different antibiotic regimens for the placement of dental implants : a phase-I randomized clinical trial

Introduction: In order to minimize postoperative morbidity and failure of dental implant therapy, several antibiotic regimens have been proposed in the literature. However, the extensive use of antibiotics in health care has been debated due to adverse effects and bacterial resistance. Furthermore, the impact of postoperative antibiotics on peri-implant bone level is still not clear. Objectives: The primary objective of this pilot study was to produce preliminary data and to assess whether giving postoperative antibiotics after implant placement over seven days would influence peri-implant crestal bone levels after four months in healthy patients undergoing platform-switched implant placement. The secondary objectives were to evaluate postoperative pain severity, surgery-associated morbidities, and one-year implant survival rate. Methods: Thirty-eight individuals were enrolled in a double-masked two-arm randomized clinical trial. Participants in the intervention group received 2 g of amoxicillin one hour before implant placement followed by a seven-day post-operative course of 500 mg of amoxicillin. Participants in the control group took only 2 g of amoxicillin before surgery and an identical placebo postoperatively. The changes in mesial and distal crestal bone level (primary outcome) were measured at baseline and four-month follow-up using standardized periapical radiographs. Pain severity and surgery-associated morbidities (secondary outcomes) were evaluated by clinical examinations and self-administered questionnaires. Implant survival rate was assessed at the one-year follow-up. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were used to analyze the data. A P value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Thirty-seven participants completed the study (mean age: 57.4 ± 11.3 years). The mean combined peri-implant crestal bone level change for the intervention and control group was -0.29±0.36mm and -0.11±0.35mm, respectively (n=37 participants). The differences between groups for mean combined crestal bone level change and pain severity were not statistically significant (P> 0.05). Interferences with daily activities were sometimes significantly more important for the control group compared to the intervention group (P< 0.05), depending on the criteria and on the number of days elapsed since the surgery. The implant survival rate was 100% in both groups after one year. Conclusions: Results from this study suggest that an additional postoperative intake of antibiotics in healthy patients undergoing straightforward platform-switched implant placement might not be necessary. Further investigations are needed to confirm these pilot study findings.

Keyphrases: implant, os crestal, antibiotic, placebo, crestal bone, pain, phase-I trial
Manifestations orales du syndrome de Beckwith-Wiedemann

OBJECTIVES : The objectives of this cross-sectionnal study were to (1) describe dental anomalies, gingival health, and caries risk in patients with Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome (BWS), (2) evaluate the occlusion of these patients and (3) assess if there is an association between BWS and dental abnormalities, caries risk and malocclusions. METHODS : Sixteen patients between 2 and 14 years old diagnosed with SBW were examined and compared to a control group matched for age and sex. Data collection focused on hygiene, gingival health, caries, dental and oral abnormalities, salivary pH and eating habits. Furthermore, an orthodontic examination was performed. RESULTS : Macroglossia is the most common finding of SBW and affects 88% of patients. These patients also have an increased occurrence of ankyloglossia (p=0,018) and facial (p=0,018) or tongue (p=0,018) asymmetry. The majority (63%) of patients with SBW have an anterior openbite and generally showed an infantile swallowing pattern. They also have a straighter profile (p = 0.006) and a decreased overjet (p = 0.007). They have a caries risk, a dental hygiene and a gingival health similar to the control group and do not have more dental anomalies. CONCLUSIONS : This study shows that these patients have good oral hygiene, a good gingival health and a normal caries risk. However, an increased rate of malocclusion is observed in patients with BWS.

Keyphrases: Beckwith-Wiedemann, Occlusion, Bucco-dentaire, Carie, Macroglossia, Ankyloglossia, Caries
Évaluation des modalités d'intégration d'un dentiste dans une équipe multidisciplinaire

At the CHU Sainte-Justine, multidisciplinary collaborative teams are beginning to take root and some of them could benefit from the contribution of the Department of Dentistry’s dentists, given the impact of oral health on general health and vice versa. Traditionally, collaboration between dentistry and the various departments is limited to one-off needs on both sides. The following research question was asked: What are the determinants of effective collaboration between a dentist and a multidisciplinary team in a hospital setting. The thematic content analysis by deductive-inductive process of this organizational case study based on a sampling of nine teams was conducted using field notes, non-directed interview transcripts, situational observations and focus groups. This analysis of the implementation of the collaboration enabled us to highlight its stages, its dimensions and some of its determinants. Our findings highlight similarities between the implementation of collaboration and the collaboration itself, while revealing the staged process of implementation. They allow us to suggest modalities to promote the implementation of collaboration between a dentist and multidisciplinary teams in a hospital setting, including the importance of training in collaboration. Keywords: Interprofessional collaboration, multidisciplinary team, dentist, collaboration’s determinants, hospital environment.

Keyphrases: interprofessional collaboration, multidisciplinary team, dentist, collaboration's determinants, hospital environment