NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Effets des nanoparticules manufacturées sur les cellules pulmonaires humaines

Detection and characterization of manufactured nanoparticles (NPs) is one of the first steps to control and reduce potential risks to human health and the environment. Various sampling schemes in air exist for the evaluation of exposure to NPs. However, they do not measure the potential risk of this exposure to the human health and the cellular mechanisms that are responsible. Our research objectives are 1) To evaluate the effects of different types of nanoparticles on human lung cells and 2) Identify new intracellular mechanisms activated during exposure to various types of NPs. Methodology: The cell line A549 was used. Three types of NPs were studied (different concentrations and exposure time): titanium dioxide nanoparticles of anatase (TiO2), the simple wall carbon nanotubes (SWCN) and black carbon nanoparticles (BC). Cell viability was measured by the MTS assay, the PrestoBlue assay and the Trypan blue due exclusion test (only for the SWCN). To investigate whether the NPs stimulated ROS generation in A549 cels, the intracellular ROS level was measured using the DCFH-DA assay. The potential induction of oxidative stress responses in cells when exposed to TiO2 and SWCN was determined by the quantification of the extracellular levels of reduced (GSH) and oxidized glutathione (GSSG) forms. Results: The three nanoparticles do not appear to be toxic to A549 cells because there is a significant but small decrease in cell viability. However, they induce ROS production which is both time and concentration dependent. No change in the concentrations of GSH and GSSG were observed. In conclusion, our data indicate that measuring the cell viability is not a sufficient criterion for concluding if the NPs are toxic. ROS production is an interesting criterion, however, we have to demonstrate the activation of anti-oxidative systems to explain the absence of cell death following exposure to the NPs.

Keyphrases: manufactured nanoparticles, alveolar epithelial cells, simple wall carbon nanotubes, titanium dioxide nanoparticles, carbon black, cell viability, oxidative stress, intracellular mechanisms, potential risk
Étude du potentiel cytotoxique des nanotubes de carbone simple-paroi chez les cellules épithéliales alvéolaires humaines A549

There is great interest in the development and application of carbon nanotubes (CNT) as they have a huge potential for various industrial applications. However, their nanometric size and chemical composition can be a risk to human health. The mechanisms responsible for the toxicity of CNT are still being defined. The objective of this project was to determine the potential toxicity of two types of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT): RN 000 and RN 003 on a cell line of type II pneumocytes, A549 cells. Methodology: MTS and PrestoBlue® tests, trypan blue exclusion test, HT-PI staining and Apoptotic blebs were used to determine the potential toxicity of these SWCNT. Results: Following a short exposure (24h), MTS test showed a significant decrease, by 20%, in cell viability [SWCNT] among 50 and 100 µg/mL, and 74% decrease for 1000 µg/mL of [SWCNT]. Moreover, the PrestoBlue® test indicated cell mortality of 45% and 85% for SWCNT concentrations of 500 and 1000 µg/mL respectively. However, data of the trypan blue exclusion test showed that SWCNT does not adversely affect cell viability. The absence of an alteration of the cell viability was confirmed with the HT-PI staining and Apoptotic blebs. Hence, there appeared to be evidence that interaction of SWCNT with A549 cells induces a change in cellular morphology, particularly a size reduction and an increase of the internal structure of A549 cells. In a long-term exposure (72h), the data was consistent with the results of a 24h exposure. Indeed, SWCNT do not cause cell mortality, but do significantly decrease cell proliferation. In conclusion, our study indicated that the RN 000 and RN 003 interact with A549 cells without affecting their viability but by inducing mitochondrial dysfunction that may have several consequences on cell function.

Keyphrases: A549, Nanotube de carbone simple-paroi, Cell proliferation, Cell viability, Single-walled carbon nanotubes, Toxicity, Mitochondrial dysfunction
L’agent d’intervention au Centre jeunesse de Montréal – Institut universitaire : 
étude sur le travail d’un acteur fondamental en centre de réadaptation, mais largement méconnu

This document is a qualitative research that focuses on the impact of emergency responders working in youth centres in the rehabilitation process of young people. This question stems from the fact that the practices of those responders are not always the same and the perceptions about these actors can be very different. Often, emergency responders are more important than we think for the youth they work with. The following pages will focus on their role and how that role plays out in a rehabilitation centre environment such as that of the Centre jeunesse de Montréal – Institut universitaire (CJM-IU). The emergency responder’s role and practices will be explained here through the perception of the responders themselves, as well as the perceptions of the youth and managers that we encountered. Thus, at the end of this master's thesis, it will be possible to draw up a more detailed picture of the emergency responder working with the Cité-Des-Prairies and Mont St-Antoine teenagers. The evolving role and the practices in this field are also presented in order to meet our research objectives.

Keyphrases: Centre jeunesse, Youth centre, emergency responders, counselling, authority, rehabilitation
The predictive role of parenting practices and family functioning on the core symptoms of ADHD

This study aims to examine the relationship between parenting practices used in childhood on one hand and the core symptoms of Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adolescence on the other hand. Specific parenting practices ( involvement, positive parenting, monitoring/supervision, corporal punishment, appropriate discipline, harsh and inconsistent discipline, positive verbal discipline, praise and incentives and clear expectations) and aspects of family functioning were examined ( communication, problem solving, roles, affective responsiveness, affective involvement, behavioural control and general functioning) in relation to inattention and hyperactivity. The sample consisted of 36 participants involved in a 5 year study from childhood (6 to 9 years old) to adolescence (11 to 14 years old). The results do not show significant results in the relationship between parenting practices used in childhood and the core symptoms of hyperactivity and inattention in adolescence. There is a lack of longitudinal studies in this area and this study attempts to fill in this gap. However despite a lack of significant results, past research suggests an important relationship between parental psychopathology, which has been linked with ineffective parenting practices and the persistence of ADHD from childhood to adolescence. Future studies should focus on the relationship between parental psychopathology and the core symptoms of ADHD from childhood to adolescence, as well as the impact of parenting practices on these core symptoms.

Keyphrases: inattention, Adhd, parenting practices, child behaviour, adolescent behaviour, hyperactivity, inattention, family functioning
Définition du mécanisme de localisation des ARNm cen et ik2 aux centrosomes chez la Drosophile

Messenger RNA (mRNA) localization plays a key role in establishing cellular architecture and function. The centrocortin (cen) and IkB Kinase-like 2 (ik2) mRNAs are co-localized to centrosomes in embryonic epithelial cells. Interestingly, both of these genes are organized in a head-to-head configuration in the genome, with their 3’ untranslated regions (3’UTRs) overlapping on opposite DNA strands.  Here we show that gene positioning of cen and ik2 is important for the co-localization of these transcripts during Drosophila embryogenesis.  The localization of cen is conserved within the Drosophila phylogeny and ik2 cannot localize when it is separated from the cen locus. Also, loss of function mutants of cen show a complete loss of ik2 localization, proposing that cen is the main driver of the co-localization.  Structure-function analysis revealed that the coding region of cen is necessary for its centrosomal targeting, suggesting that a cis-regulatory motif that drives its localization is located in the coding region.  This study reveals for the first time the importance of gene positioning for RNA localization. We suggest a model where cen mRNA is the main driver of centrosomal localization, which may occur through post-transcriptional interaction/annealing of these mRNAs via their 3’UTRs.

Keyphrases: Centrosomes, Hybridation in situ de fluorescence, mRNA localization, Centrosomes, Fluorescent in situ hybridization, Embryogenesis
Harmonium : un projet artistique progressif et spirituel occulté par un récit
d’affirmation nationale

This study proposes a transdisciplinary point of view: historic, sociologic and musical to Harmonium, a Quebec preeminent progressive folk-rock group of the 1970s. This work is interested in the musical revolution that came with the birth of folk and progressive rock musical scenes in Quebec and in the narrative and symbols associated with the musical work and history of Harmonium. The group’s albums, the written sources of the time (articles in journals and magazines), the documentaries and the public history and memory are all examined and confronted in this research to study the historical narrative. To begin with, the rise of the group is contextualized in the transformations of Quebec’s musical scene in the 1960s-1970s. The history of Harmonium, situated between 1972 and 1978, is then reconstructed using historical sources, scientific articles and biographies. Thereafter, the musical characteristics, themes, values, ideals and messages of the group are examined. Harmonium’s emergence and success is then reinterpreted through the development of the progressive rock international musical scene and the popularization of the counter-culture. Finally, in light of the political ambiguity of Harmonium that the historical sources reveal, the neonationalist reinterpretations of its work and history is analyzed as a narrative process. This narration, which predominates in public history and memory, seems to assimilate the destiny of Quebec’s artists with the destiny of its people and its nation, therefore contributing to the occultation of Harmonium’s progressive, counter-cultural and “authentic” musical quest.

Keyphrases: Harmonium, Musical scenes, Folk, Progressive rock, Counter-culture, Identity, Public history, Public memory, Historical narrative
Une maison à soi : la favela et l'écriture de Carolina Maria de Jesus

This thesis focuses on the relationship between notions of home and literature in the work of Carolina Maria de Jesus, especially in her book Quarto de despejo. Being a writer in great poverty from a favela of São Paulo, her work overflows with reflections, first-person accounts and lived experiences which reveal to us the intrinsic relationship between the act of writing and building, between literature and the place of habitation, between dwelling and writing. The goal of this thesis is to closely follow in the steps of Carolina as she builds this totally unexpected work, given the material and intellectual conditions in which she works (she lived miserably in a barracão, and she had only received two years of instruction); in the same vein, it is a question of tracing out the construction of her dwellings, beginning with the barracão in which she lived and which she built with her own hands, then the brick house that she was able to purchase as a result of her book’s success and, most importantly, her real home that turns out to be her writing, her words, the intertwined movement of building and writing that shaped her life and her work. In order to find the right vocabulary for this difficult approach, the words of the poet Edmond Jabès will accompany us in our journey along with the perceptive thoughts of the philosopher Gaston Bachelard.

Keyphrases: Carolina Maria de Jesus, favela, violence, home, build, write, metaphor, measure, violence, hospitality, hostility
Identification des résidus essentiels à l’interaction du récepteur CXCR7 avec ses ligands SDF-1 et ITAC

Chemokines are small secreted proteins whose major function is to stimulate the migration of immune cells to different organs and tissues. They are often involved in inflammatory and auto-immune diseases as well as cancers. Thus, chemokines and their G proteins Coupled Receptors (GPCR) are the pharmacological target of multiples molecules, currently tested in clinical trials.  The model of our study is the atypical receptor CXCR7. This receptor is called atypical because it doesn’t signalize through the classical G protein pathway but rather signalizes through the β-arrestin pathway. CXCR7 is involved in many cancers, promotes metastatic progression and is a co-receptor for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, there are, to date, no data concerning its binding mode to its ligands CXCL11/ITAC and CXCL12/SDF-1. We think that this information is crucial for the efficient development of agonists and antagonists and thus decided to identify the residus that are important for the binding of the two ligands of CXCR7 to the receptor and its subsequent activation. For that, we created a set of mutants by substitution or deletion of amino acids of the N-terminus, extracellular loops and transmembrane domains of the receptor. We then tested their surface expression by antibody staining and flow cytometry, their binding of the two ligands by binding assays and their capability to recruit β-arrestin in response to the ligands by BRET assays.  The results obtained allowed us to identify important residues for the interaction of the systems CXCR7/SDF-1 and CXCR7/ITAC. They also suggest different binding modes of the chemokines ITAC and SDF-1 to CXCR7. Just like the binding of ITAC to its other receptor CXCR3, the binding mode of ITAC to CXCR7 follows the conventional two steps binding model of chemokine receptors. However, the binding of SDF-1 to CXCR7 follows another binding mode than the classical two step model, unlike its binding to its other receptor CXCR4.

Keyphrases: CXCR7, ITAC, SDF-1, Cancer, CXCR3, CXCR4, Charged residues, Interaction ligand/receptor
Déplacement, délocalisation et «dévoyage» dans quelques récits québécois contemporains

This thesis focuses on travel and displacement writing by exploring this theme into contemporary narrative in Quebec litterature. We study Voyage en Irlande avec un parapluie and Voyage au Portugal avec un Allemand (Louis Gauthier), Vers l’Ouest (Mahigan Lepage), Dix jours en cargo (Isabelle Miron) and Le sermon aux poissons (Patrice Lessard). By stating that travels don’t relay the experience of exotism and of discovery anymore, we make the assumption that the practice of narrating this new type of travels also changes. We analyse how this dysphoric experience of the travel reflects itself into the descriptions of the places, into the construction of a narrative, and into the construction of the identity. With the works of Michel de Certeau (The Practice of Everyday Life) and of Marc Augé (Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity), our analysis questions, in a first chapter, the perception of spaces and their descriptions. Then, we examine more directly how these road narratives produce continuity. The third part focus on the identity of the narrator, that tends to be constructed and deconstructed by the landscape seen on the road. By referring to the analysis of images by Georges Didi- Huberman, we examine in our conclusion how those different aspects of the texts construct a « relocation » aesthetics in which landscapes and places become screens on which it is henceforth possible for the characters to project themselves.

Keyphrases: Displacement, Road, Non-places, Quebec contemporary literature
Multiplicité et sensation dans l'oeuvre d'Aida Makoto : une approche schizo-analytique

The question posed in the research concerns the contemporary Japanese artist Aida Makoto, as a provocative and ironic figure, challenging the machinery of repression and alienation of the Japanese capitalist society. The purpose of my reflection is to show the contribution of schizoanalysis in the analysis of visual artworks. Through the artworks of the artist Aida Makoto, where a multiplicity of bodies fill the space of the canvas, and from the concepts of multiplicity and sensation, theorized by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, this research will bring a second reading to Aida’s works highlighting the revolutionary aspects of his artistic creation. Constituted of two chapters, the thesis focuses mainly on the pictoriality of the work from technical, aesthetic and ethics points of view, emphasizing the compounds of sensation present on the canvas, in order to, secondly,  understand the figuration of faciality to multiplicity as a central aspect of the work. Thus the Figure, in the deleuzian sense, would allow the artist Makoto Aida to start a schizophrenic escape during which he can create freely from repression and normalization of desiring machines in the Japanese capitalist society.

Keyphrases: Sensation, Art contemporain, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Aida Makoto, Otaku, Japan, Philosophy, Multiplicity, Schizoanalysis, Contemporary art
Caractérisation du rôle transcriptionnel et épigénétique de l’O-GlcNAcylation des histones et du facteur de transcription FOXK1

O-GlcNAcylation is a post-translational modification which consists in the covalent addition of an N-acetylglucosamine sugar to the hydroxyl group of serine and threonine residues of nuclear and cytoplasmic substrates. This atypical glycosylation is regulated in a very dynamic manner through the action of the O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and the O-GlcNAcase (OGA) that catalyze and hydrolyze this modification respectively. OGT has emerged as a critical transcriptional regulator and sensor of metabolism whereby proteins targeted by O-GlcNAcylation cover several cell signaling pathways. Recently, studies have also suggested that OGT may be involved in epigenetic regulation through the O-GlcNAcylation of histones. For the purpose of characterizing the functional role of OGT in epigenetic regulation, our group revisited the concept of histone O-GlcNAcylation and surprisingly, our work could not confirm this observation. In fact, our data indicate that the available tools for histone O-GlcNAcylation detection generate artifacts. Consequently, our work rather supports a model whereby OGT-mediated epigenetic regulation is indirectly achieved through O-GlcNAcylation of chromatin-associated transcriptional regulators. Among these, OGT strongly associates with the BAP1 tumor suppressor complex. Thus, by focusing on the role of OGT in this complex, we identified the transcription factor FOXK1 as a novel substrate of OGT and demonstrate that it is regulated throught O-GlcNAcylation during cell proliferation. Finally, we demonstrate that FOXK1 is also required for adipogenesis. Taken together, these data suggest an important role of OGT in regulating the BAP1 complex.

Keyphrases: OGT, O-GlcNAcylation, Histones, H2BS112, BAP1, FOXK1, Transcription, Epigenetic, Chromatin, Adipogenesis
Les substrats neuronaux sous-tendant le binding automatique et contrôlé en mémoire de travail dans la schizophrénie : une étude en IRMf

Working memory deficits are a core feature of schizophrenia and are associated with patient’s social functioning issues. Among the different processes underpinned by the working memory, we are interested by the binding process. The binding is a process that allows to associate several features in a coherent whole (eg associate the name of a person with his address). Patients with schizophrenia don’t have deficits when they have to associate several features unintentionally. This binding is automatic. However, features can also be bound intentionally under the control of attention; this process called controlled binding hasn't been studied yet in schizophrenia. Our goal is to determine if there is a specific deficit of controlled binding in schizophrenia and specify the neural substrates that underlie this process. Nineteen patients with schizophrenia and 18 matched healthy controls performed a working memory binding task in an fMRI scanner. Participants had to memorize words and locations associated according two conditions. In the controlled binding condition, words and locations were dissociated and the participants had to associate items together. In the automatic binding condition, words were already associated with locations. Our results suggest that patients with schizophrenia would not have a deficit in automatic binding whereas they would have a deficit in controlled binding relative to control subjects. Controlled binding deficit would be underpinned by lower levels of activation of the dorsolatéral prefrontal cortex. Controlled processes would be altered whereas automatic process would be preserved in schizophrenia.

Keyphrases: IRMf, Schizophrenia, fMRI, Working memory, Automatic binding, Controlled binding
Étude des discours experts sur la régulation et la criminalisation du trafic d'organes

This study describes and examines the regulation of trafficking on human organs, tissues and cells by comparing several international protocols, legislations and their recommendations. We selected, analyzed and compared the most significant discourses of four types of organizations: international medical associations, the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the Council of Europe. We aimed to understand their point of view on the commercialisation of human organs and more specifically the trafficking of human organs through 17 texts produced between 1987 and 2014. The analysis of the discourses produced by experts reveals that the ethical perspective dominates. Furthermore, our analysis highlights the convergence of these discourses on the necessity to adopt a double strategy based on both prevention and criminalization of organs trafficking as well as on the link between the increasing shortage of human organs and trafficking. The discourses advocating for regulation and criminalization have evolved, resulting in a more complex and precise conceptualisation of organ trafficking, a concept which remains non-consensual. As for strategies, we observe that the evolution of discourses is significant but uneven. It is mainly in the discourses produced by experts after 2000 that we find more concrete strategies proposed. The two types of strategies most often put forward by the experts of all organizations are the regulation of financial transactions, particularly through the regulation of practices by medical personnel and intermediaries, and the prescriptions surrounding the consent form. Finally, our analysis demonstrates how nuances and breaches to the principle prohibiting the commercialism of human organs are made possible through a discussion of specific types of organs, tissues and cells.

Keyphrases: trafficking in organs, penal politics, transplantation commercialism, discourse analysis