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In 1998 an outbreak of fatal encephalitis among pig farm workers in Malaysia and Singapore led to the discovery of Nipah henipavirus (NiV), a novel paramyxovirus closely related to Hendra henipavirus with case fatality rates of nearly 40%. Following its initial emergence nearly annual outbreaks of NiV have occurred in Bangladesh with a different, NiV Bangladesh, genotype, where the role of pigs in its transmission remains unknown. The present study provides the first report on susceptibility of domestic pigs to NiV Bangladesh following experimental infection, characterizing acute and long-term phases of disease and pathogenesis. All pigs were successfully infected with NiV Bangladesh following oronasal inoculation, with viral shedding confirmed by a novel genotype-specific qRT-PCR in oral, nasal and rectal excretions and dissemination from the upper respiratory tract to the brain, lungs, and associated lymphatic tissues. Unlike previous NiV Malaysia findings in pigs, clinical signs were absent, viremia was undetectable throughout the study, and only low level neutralizing antibody titers were measured by 28/29 days post-NiV-B infection. Results obtained highlight the need for continued and enhanced NiV surveillance in pigs in endemic and at-risk regions, and raise questions regarding applicability of current serological assays to detect animals with previous NiV-B exposure.

In the ant species Tetramorium caespitum, communication and foraging patterns rely on group-mass recruitment. Scouts having discovered food recruit nestmates and behave as leaders by guiding groups of recruits to the food location. After a while, a mass recruitment takes place in which foragers follow a chemical trail. Since group recruitment is crucial to the whole foraging process, we investigated whether food characteristics induce a tuning of recruiting stimuli by leaders that act upon the dynamics and size of recruited groups. High sucrose concentration triggers the exit of a higher number of groups that contain twice as many ants and reach the food source twice as fast than towards a weakly concentrated one. Similar trends were found depending on food accessibility: for a cut mealworm, accessibility to haemolymph results in a faster formation of larger groups than for an entire mealworm. These data provide the background for developing a stochastic model accounting for exploitation patterns by group-mass recruiting species. This model demonstrates how the modulations performed by leaders drive the colony to select the most profitable food source among several ones. Our results highlight how a minority of individuals can influence collective decisions in societies based on a distributed leadership.

For the first time, a multiplex bead immunoassay was used to test simultaneously, with a single sample, the immune response to foot-and-mouth disease non-structural proteins 3ABC, 3A, 3B and 3D from experimentally infected and vaccinated cattle. We cloned and expressed these non-structural proteins (NSPs) as recombinant antigens. The purified proteins were coupled to microspheres labeled with anti-His monoclonal antibody with different proportions of red and orange fluorescent dyes and reacted against serum specimens. Antibody reacting against different NSPs, and thus, the different colored beads, was detected by use of the Luminex system. This multiplex bead immunoassay can detect the immune response to NSPs in cattle as early as 7 days post-infection. In general antibodies to the protein 3D appeared early after infection and anti-3ABC antibodies were detected at higher levels than the other NSPs. A clear differentiation was established between infected and vaccinated or uninfected cattle. The multiplex bead immunoassay was compared to individual indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (iELISAs) for the same NSP's responses. Results indicated that this new assay had a high positive correlation with those generated by iELISA. The Luminex-based technology promises to be a sensitive and efficient method that permits multiplexed NSP antibody detection from a single sample and would therefore provide both a time and cost saving to the laboratory.

Les Inuit du Cuivre ont prouvé à plusieurs reprises au cours du XXe siècle leur capacité à adapter leur pratique du territoire à de nouvelles conditions spatio-économiques qui modifiaient les modalités de l'alternance saisonnière, principe de base de leur organisation spatiale. Si le modèle d'exploitation change au moins quatre fois au cours de la période, le principe de base, quant à lui, perdure jusqu'à la fin des années soixante-dix. Les Inuit du Cuivre — les jeunes générations surtout — cessent alors de construire leur identité sur le maintien d'une relation forte au territoire parcouru, qui se rétrécit d'ailleurs dangereusement. Par le biais d'une analyse géographique, l'auteure cherche à appréhender la nature de la société inuit comtemporaine. Cette société n'est-elle qu'un moment dans l'évolution d'une vieille culture, ou est-elle plutôt une transition vers l'affirmation d'une nouvelle culture arctique? Cette formulation vise à dépasser la problématique de l'acculturation qui donne peu de prise sur les nombreux problèmes auxquels la société inuit est aujourd'hui confrontée. The Copper Inuit have demonstrated their ability to adapt to new conditions a number of times during the 20th century. They have developed an elaborate practice of using their territory on the basis of seasonal alternance. Their land use pattern has changed at least four times during this century, but the underlying principle has remained the same up to the late 1970' s. Since then, the Copper Inuit, particularly younger generations, have ceased to build up their identity on the relation to the land, a land they live on less and less year after year. This geographical approach is an attempt to question the nature of modern Inuit society. Is this society only one more stage in the evolution of an old culture, or is it a transitional step towards a new Arctic culture? This concept appears more promising than the concept of acculturation to grasp the nature of contemporary Inuit society and to look for solutions to the many problems this society is today struggling with.