NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Role of histone methylation in the regulation of COX-2, iNOS, and mPGES-1 gene expression in human chondrocytes: Implication for Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disabling disease classified as the most common form of arthritis worldwide. It is characterized by cartilage degeneration, synovium inflammation, and subchondral bone remodeling resulting in a loss of joint function. These structural and functional changes are due to numerous factors.  Cytokines, prostaglandins (PG), and reactive oxygen species are the major mediators implicated in the pathophysiology of OA. Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is a major pro-inflammatory cytokine that plays a crucial role in OA. IL-1 induces the expression of Cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2), microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), as well as their products prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and nitric oxide (NO). These are critical mediators of the inflammatory response during OA causing pain, swelling, and joint tissue destruction.  The activation of these pro-inflammatory genes results from different changes at the level of chromatin known as epigenetic modifications. Epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation and histone modifications play a crucial role in gene expression. Among these modifications, histone methylation/demethylation is the most critical one. Histone methylation/demethylation is mediated by two types of enzymes: histone methyltransferases (HMT) and histone demethylases (HDM) which can either activate or repress transcription. It is therefore necessary to understand the molecular mechanisms which underlie the regulation of COX-2, mPGES-1, and iNOS expression.   The objective of this study is to investigate whether histone methylation/demethylation can modulate COX-2, mPGES-1, and iNOS expression in IL-1 induced OA human chondrocytes.   We demonstrated that histone H3 lysine K4 (H3K4) methylation by SET-1A contributes to IL-1-induced COX-2 and iNOS expression in human OA Chondrocytes. We showed also that LSD1-mediated demethylation of histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9) contributes to IL-1β-induced mPGES-1 expression in human OA chondrocytes.  We found that levels of SET-1A and LSD1 expression are elevated in OA cartilage as compared with normal cartilage. Our data demonstrates, for the first time, the implication of histone methylation/demethylation in COX-2, mPGES-1, and iNOS regulation suggesting that these mechanisms could be a potential target for pharmacological intervention in the treatment of the pathophysiology of OA.

Keyphrases: Chondrocyte, Interleukin-1ß, COX-2, mPGES-1, PGE2, iNOS, NO, Histone, Osteoarthritis, Inflammation, Histone methylation/demethylation
Jürgen Habermas et la théorie de l'agir communicationnel : la question de l'éducation

The Theory of Communicative Action (1981), by the German theorist Jürgen Habermas, is among the most important works of sociology and social philosophy of the 20th century: its universal character, which aims to develop a comprehensive theory of the Western modern society, benefits from a well-established reputation in a variety of academic fields from social sciences (philosophy, sociology, anthropology, political science, law, history, ethics, etc.). However, to date, Habermas's theory has only inspired a limited number of studies in education in terms of the nature and aims of the educational activity or the theoretical characterization of institutionalized education in Modernity : thus, how does the theory of communicative action allow us to better understand the foundations of education’s historical, social and political development in Europe and North America? As a theory of society based on a communicative reinterpretation of the concept of rationality, how does Habermas's theory, as a prolongation of the educational and philosophical traditions at the sources of the Western modern school, can inform us about the mechanisms of the pedagogical relationship between teachers and students? In proposing a series of considerations to answer these questions, this thesis is both a study of the relationship between the philosophical and sociological thought of Habermas and a strong critic of his perspective : the central issue that remains unanswered from the philosopher is the child's status in such a rationalistic system that, despite its emancipatory and liberating ideals for the social actor, perpetuates a form of denial of childhood present in the rationalist tradition from Plato to Kant. How can we then reflect on contemporary education regarding Habermas's theory? How, finally, can we conceptualize education with and against Habermas?

Keyphrases: Habermas, theory of communicative action, Habermas, education, philosophy of education, sociology of education, rationality
L’usage par les travailleurs étrangers temporaires des ressources proposées par le droit du travail : une contribution aux études portant sur l’effectivité du droit

In Canada, the number of temporary foreign workers has been steadily increasing since 2003. Temporary foreign workers have neither political citizenship nor permanent residency; their professional mobility is restricted and their length of stay limited and predetermined.  Formally, these workers can benefit from the protection of labour law despite their migratory status. Many studies have however shown that “low-skilled” temporary foreign workers are generally less likely to report the violation of their labour rights. Does labour law constitute a useful buttress for these workers?  Using a mixed methodology involving a field study with key actors, this study pursues two objectives. On the empirical level, it allows to shed light on the impact of the singular employment system of these workers on their mobilization of labour law’s protections. Such mobilization is neither contingent nor predetermined; it depends on the constraints and on the opportunities arising from the employment system. Our research also reveals that strategies elaborated by actors who are not, from a legal perspective, parties to the employment relationship, also have a significant impact on the way these workers take advantage of labour law's ressources ; such impact largely depends on the power these actors have in the employment system.  On the theoretical level, this study is situated in the broader field of studies concerning the effectiveness of law. It purports to distinguish between the study of the effects of the law and the analysis of its use. It elaborates an analytical framework addressing the relationship between the law and its recipients.

Keyphrases: Labour Law, Minimum employment standards, Temporary foreign workers, Temporary migration programs, Employment system, System of actors, Effectiveness, Implementation, Sociology of law
Ablation laser femtoseconde de verres métalliques de Cu_x Zr_(1−x) : une étude par
dynamique moléculaire

Laser ablation of CuxZr1−x (x = 0.33, 0.50 and 0.67) metallic glasses along with crystalline CuZr2 in the C11b structure was investigated using a molecular-dynamics scheme combined with a two-temperature model (MD-TTM). The ablation threshold (Fth) was determined for each of the 4 samples leading to the facts that Fth is lower for samples containing a larger amount of Cu atoms since their cohesion is weaker than Zr atoms’ in all the targets. For x=0.33, Fth is lower in the crystal than in the glass because the electron-phonon coupling is weaker in the latter, which implies that the energy is transferred more slowly from the electronic system towards the ionic system for a-CuZr2 than for c-CuZr2 . The velocity of the pressure wave generated by the laser pulse grows with increasing fluence for the crystalline sample as opposed to amorphous samples in which the pressure wave velocity is essentially constant with increasing fluence. This is explained by the fact that the shear modulus grows with increasing pressure in the c-CuZr2 and is constant in the glassy samples. Finally, the heat-affected zone (HAZ) was caracterized by the melting depth and the plastic deformations after the laser pulse. The lower melting temperature for amorphous samples causes the melting depth to be more important in them than in the crystal. In the metallic glasses, plastic deformations were identified as shear transformation zones (STZ) which merge and coalesce at higher fluence. No plastic deformation has been observed in c-CuZr2 other than some light deformations near the melting front, essentially caused by residual strains. In summary, this study allows a better understanding of the laser ablation of metallic glasses and the collateral damages associated with it.

Keyphrases: Two-temperature model
La réclamation en dommages punitifs et son effet sur l’assurance responsabilité : analyse de la faute intentionnelle et de l’atteinte illicite et intentionnelle

Claims for punitive damages have proliferated over the years before the courts. For such claim to be granted, it is required to demonstrate an unlawful and intentional interference with any right or freedom protected by the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. Liability claims can be covered by insurance. However, the Civil Code of Québec specifically provides that the insurer is never bound to indemnify the insured’s intentional fault. Does this mean that the insurer has no obligation towards its insured when punitive damages are sought? The question is thus whether the concept of intentional fault and of unlawful and intentional interference are concepts that are equivalent or that need to be distinguished. For this analysis, the two concepts will be adressed in depth. The origin of these two concepts, their founding principles and their interpretation will be discussed to ultimately define these terms as precisely as possible. These definitions will then help to compare these two concepts and determine in the end that there are several elements that differentiate these concepts, particularly in regard to the required intent, with the result that they can not be assimilated. This conclusion will have a definite impact on the insurer’s obligations to defend the insured and to indemnify the victim for compensatory damages if punitive damages are also sought. Therefore, the insurer cannot justify its refusal to defend or indemnify solely on the basis of the evidence of an unlawful and intentional interference.

Keyphrases: Intention, Risque, Aléa, Préjudice, Intentional fault, Unlawful and intentional interference, Intention, Risk, Hazard, Punitive damages, Preventive purpose, Injury, Insurance law, Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms
Du Linéaire au Stellaire, du film au webdocumentaire : un dispositif de réflexion et de communication sur le réel

This research-creation dissertation studies the filmmaker’s role in the production of interactive web documentaries. First, the author recalls conventional documentaries he directed in order to indentify their primary discursive objectives. Then, he examines the new spectatorship being defined by current media delivery devices to better understand the shape to be given to the interactive work he’s producing and assess its ability in carrying his usual communication objectives. Subsequently, the author refers to interactive documentaries in which he participated in the 1990s and points out specific interactive devices showing to be efficient in taking into account the active presence of the viewer. Finally, the author describes the making of his web documentary and highlights aspects of his research that guided its production. The author concludes with some remarks regarding his creative process and the relationship existing between the filmmaker creator of an interactive documentary and today’s new multitask spect-actor.

Keyphrases: Internet, documentary, interactivity, web documentary, spectatorship, non linear, author, spect-actor, editing, reflection
Résilience des populations rurales javanaises face à la transition agraire : désagrarianisation, migrations et entrepreneuriat

Java island is part of the most densely populated regions of the world. During the second half of the twentieth century, the Indonesian government established transmigration policies aiming to lower the demographic pressure on the main island. But the intentions behind those policies were various, including the aim to provide cheap labor for the agribusiness to encourage their settlement on the islands surrounding Java. The agrarian transition valued the establishment of large scale intensive agriculture. This contributed to the progressive exclusion of javanese peasants in agricultural production systems, generating a change of values and aspirations inside rural communities. The agrarian transition thus contributed to emphasize the deagrarianization of javanese rural communities, engendering a great surplus of labor on the countryside following the green revolution which took place in the 1970’s. The emergence of entrepreneurship and the migration of workers are amongst the economic resilience strategies developed by javanese peasants to cope with the impacts of the agrarian transition. Remittances resulting from those migrations contribute to the survival of multiple rural communities, in which many members spend most of their time outside the village.

Keyphrases: java, transmigration, migration, entrepreneuriat, agrarian transition, green revolution, indonesia, resilience, deagrarianization, remittances, entrepreneurship
Étude d'un nouveau facteur impliqué dans la biosynthèse de la paroi bactérienne : le facteur  ElyC

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a major concern for public health. The identification of new bacterial targets for the development of new antibiotics is required. The bacterial cell wall is a good target because the inhibition of its biosynthesis causes the death of bacterial cells. Recent studies from our laboratory have identified many new important factors for cell wall biosynthesis in Escherichia coli. One of these factors renamed ElyC has a DUF218 domain highly conserved across bacterial species. The absence of elyC leads to bacterial lysis at room temperature. Bioinformatic studies indicate that ElyC is a membrane protein with two transmembrane domains and a conserved domain of unknown function DUF218. Given that proteins often act in complexes, we formulated the hypothesis that ElyC interacts with other proteins to play its biological role. The goal of my project is to determine the topology of ElyC and identify its protein partners. The study of the topology has been done by the cysteine modification assay with strains individually expressing ElyC with a cysteine residue at the N-terminal position, in the loop or at the C-terminal position. ElyC protein partners have been isolated by immuno-precipitation and identified by mass spectrometry. The results obtained revealed that ElyC is a membrane protein in E. coli and that it is involved in the bacterial envelope assembling, in the electron transport chain and in the oxidative phosphorylation. They also confirmed the existence of a link between ElyC and oxidative stress. However, the results for the determination of the topology remain to be clarified.

Keyphrases: Peptidoglycane, ElyC, Petidoglycan, Biosynthesis, Factor, Bacterial, Genetics, Topology, Protein, Partners
Theory and numerical integration of subsurface light transport

In image synthesis, reproducing the complex appearance of objects with subsurface light scattering, such as wax, marble and skin, greatly contributes to the realism of an image. Unfortunately, this added realism comes at a high computational cost. Models based on diffusion theory aim to reduce this computational cost by simulating the physical behaviour of subsurface light scattering while imposing smoothness constraints on the incident and outgoing light fields. An important component of these models is how they are employed to hierarchically evaluate the numerical integral of lighting over the surface of an object. This thesis will first review the existing literature on realistic subsurface lighting simulation, before investigating in more depth the application and extension of modern diffusion models in image synthesis. In doing so, we propose and evaluate a new hierarchical numerical integration technique that uses a novel frequency analysis of the incident and outgoing light fields to reliably adapt the sampling rate during integration. We realize our resulting theory in the context of several state-of-the-art diffusion models, providing a marked improvement in their efficiency and accuracy.

Keyphrases: Fourier, BSSRDF, Fourier analysis, Signal processing, Subsurface scattering, BSSRDF, Acceleration data structure, Global illumination, Image synthesis
L’expérience du torse ; suivi de L’expérience du texte

In my master in research-creation, the stereotype issue is addressed by emphasis on the creative potential of doxic figures and by exposing their relationship with the litterariness and the power (in a Foucauldian manner) with a creation and an essay: The Torso Experiment is a short novel (from wich the end has been excluded) describing the first days of the "Magnotta Case" while playing with the traditional romantic novelistic conventions; on the other hand, The Text Experiment essay shows how the use of the stereotype heartens and creates a stable world in Jean Echenoz's novel, I'm Gone, although its distortion beguiles the reader's expectations by admonishing long-established concepts and suggesting a poetic transcendence. Both my creation and essay imply that language is power, thus act on power itself.

Keyphrases: Doxa, Luka Rocco Magnotta, Litterature, Stereotype, Renewal, Destabilize, Power, I'm Gone
Peter Pan contre le héros victorien : la poétique du recyclage dans le Cycle de Kraven de Xavier Mauméjean

Cycle de Kraven, from French author Xavier Mauméjean, establishes a referential network based on a systematic recycling of historical and literary elements. In order to fully understand how this narrative cycle works, one needs to look into these exacerbated referential dynamics which depends on a poetics of recycling. This manifests itself through the borrowing of multiple historical and literary referents, modified at various levels throughout the story. Through the notion of recycling, works on the recovery of history through uchrony and studies on the steampunk genre – being Kraven's primary aesthetic – this dissertation looks into the effects this recycling has on the story's working, as well as on the reader himself. Indeed, through its impressive blending of genuine and fictional references, Cycle de Kraven bemuses the reader who finds himself or herself exploring a intertextual universe where history and fiction may hardly be differed from one another. A study on the paratext concludes this analysis of Cycle de Kraven since elements such as the preface, the footnotes and the purchase order form contribute to the befuddlement of readers.

Keyphrases: Steampunk, Fantasy, Xavier Mauméjean, Uchrony, Fantasy, Science fiction, Recycling, Paratext
La texture et la granulométrie de la moulée influencent les concentrations d’acide propionique et butyrique de même que la prévalence d’Escherichia coli dans le tractus gastro-intestinal du porc d’engraissement

Natural approaches, such as dietary modifications, are now being considered to replace antimicrobials for the control of bacterial infections in pigs. The objectives of this study were to assess the effect of feed size and texture on intestinal Volatile fatty acids profiles and concentrations, E. coli populations, and on growth performance. Fattening pigs (n=840) received one of six different diets: mash feed 500, 750 and 1250 µm and pellet feed 500, 750 and 1250 µm. Weight gain of pigs was monitored for each diet formulation over the fattening period. At the slaughterhouse, caecal and colon contents from 165 pigs were sampled for enumeration of E. coli by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and for acetic, propionic and butyric acid quantification. The yccT gene was used to enumerate total E. coli. A decrease in feed conversion associated with pellet texture and/or 500 µm particle size was observed for each diet formulation. In addition, caecal and colon propionic acid concentrations and caecal and colon butyric acid concentrations were lower for pigs receiving pellet rather than mash feed. Moreover, caecal (p=0,0208) and colon (p=0,0006) butyric acid concentrations were higher for pigs receiving a feed with a 1250 µm rather than 500 µm particle size. For total E. coli enumeration, caecal (p=0,01) and colon (p=0,04) yccT gene copies were higher for pigs receiving pellet rather than for those receiving mash feed. Taken together, results showed that mash feed is associated with favourable intestinal changes (VFA levels) and with a reduction of E. coli in the pig.

Keyphrases: Texture, Escherichia coli, Feed size, Feed texture, Volatile fatty acids, Pigs, Escherichia coli
Variabilité des souches de Escherichia coli provenant de divers poulaillers au Québec

Rep-PCR genomic fingerprinting, which uses repetitive intergenic DNA sequences, was investigated as a mean to identify signature pattern of chicken fecal Escherichia coli populations and evaluate their changes over time. The (GTG)5 primer was used to generate DNA fingerprints from 522 isolates originating from 7 chicken houses just prior to, and five days after, thinning. The DNA fingerprints were analysed by using the Jaccard band-matching algorithm. Jackknife analysis of the resulting similarity coefficients revealed that between 73% and 93% of the isolates could correctly be grouped in their house of origin. A dendrogram constructed by using Jaccard similarity coefficients grouped the isolates in 42 clusters with approximately half of them in the same cluster. Out of the 6 largest clusters, containing 80% of all isolates, 4 consisted mostly of isolates coming from only 1 house. These clusters could represent signature clusters identifying specific houses. A comparison of the number of clusters present before and after thinning for each house revealed a substantial difference in the behaviour of the fecal E. coli. For some houses, there were few clusters represented both before and after thinning, with a high number of new clusters appearing after thinning whereas in other houses, the contrary was observed. Our results suggest the presence of a signature subpopulation in some chicken houses and a variable response of the E. coli population to the effect of thinning.

Keyphrases: Escherichia coli, Rep-pcr, Partial depopulation, Thinning
Fragilisation de la santé mentale et suicidalité chez les infirmières novices : mesures de prévention organisationnelles

The first months of novice nurses’ job is very stressful and can be experienced by them with difficulty. Following the deaths of some Quebec nurses, including a novice nurse, in the last five years, it is appropriate to ask whether the work related stress does not contribute to the risk of suicidality (suicidal thoughts, suicidal ideation, suicide attemps, completed suicides) of novice nurses. Therefore, the aim of the work is to propose, on the basis of established knowledge about the organizational factors that can contribute to the suicide of novice nurses, suicide prevention measures to the attention of managers. With its central concepts : work organization, the sources of suffering and defensive strategies, the framework of the psychodynamics of work of Dejours (1993) was selected to guide and structure the integrative literature review; the latter being composed of 26 empirical studies, seventeen theoretical writings and one book. From this review, it appears that the organization of work can be a source of suffering for novice nurses. The latter also face several organizational sources of suffering (high workload, stress at work, lack of support, etc.) and, although novices can deploy some adaptation strategies, these suffering undermine their mental health and help to increase their risk of suicide. In this spirit, an organizational prevention program of suicidality among novice nurses is proposed to the attention of managers, which includes several organizational measures that can be implemented in Quebec’s health care organizations.

Keyphrases: suicidality, novice nurse, mental health