In this trial involving patients with septic shock, 90-day all-cause mortality was lower among those who received hydrocortisone plus fludrocortisone than among those who received placebo. (Funded by Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique 2007 of the French Ministry of Social Affairs and Health; APROCCHSS ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00625209 .).

Programme Hospitalier Recherche Clinique, Institut Pasteur, Inserm, French Public Health Agency.

More than two thirds of patients with invasive candidiasis in ICU present with candidemia. Non-albicans Candida species reach almost half of the Candida isolates. Reduced susceptibility to fluconazole is observed in 17.1% of Candida isolates. Mortality of invasive candidiasis in ICU remains high.

Gingival and dental plaque antiseptic decontamination significantly decreased the oropharyngeal colonization by aerobic pathogens in ventilated patients. However, its efficacy was insufficient to reduce the incidence of respiratory infections due to multiresistant bacteria.

Polycomb group (PcG) proteins convey epigenetic inheritance of repressed transcriptional states. Although the mechanism of the action of PcG is not completely understood, methylation of histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27) is important in establishing PcG-mediated transcriptional repression. We show that the plant PcG target gene PHERES1 is regulated by histone trimethylation on H3K27 residues mediated by at least two different PcG complexes in plants, containing the SET domain proteins MEDEA or CURLY LEAF/SWINGER. Furthermore, we identify FUSCA3 as a potential PcG target gene and show that FUSCA3 is regulated by MEDEA and CURLY LEAF/SWINGER. We propose that different PcG complexes regulate a common set of target genes during the different stages of plant development.

The effectiveness of the initial therapy appears to be the most significant prognosis factor and, as the one and only related to the initial medical intervention, suggests a need for permanent optimization of our antimicrobial strategies.

Polycomb-group (PcG) proteins form a cellular memory by maintaining developmental regulators in a transcriptionally repressed state. We identified a novel flowering gene that is under PcG control in Arabidopsis-the MADS-box gene AGL19. AGL19 expression is maintained at very low levels by the PcG proteins MSI1, CLF, and EMF2, and AGL19 is partly responsible for the early flowering phenotype of clf mutants. AGL19 chromatin is strongly enriched in trimethylation of Lys 27 on histone H3 (H3K27me3) but not in H3K9me2. Repressive H3K27me3 marks were reduced by decreased CLF or MSI1 levels and by prolonged cold, suggesting that the PcG proteins MSI1 and CLF repress AGL19 in the absence of cold. Ectopic expression of AGL19 strongly accelerates flowering, and agl19 mutants have a decreased response to vernalization, the promotion of flowering by prolonged cold. Epistasis analyses revealed that AGL19 works in the poorly characterized FLC-independent vernalization pathway and does not require SOC1 to function. In this pathway, prolonged cold relieves AGL19 from PcG repression by a mechanism that requires VIN3 but not VRN2. Elevated AGL19 levels activate LFY and AP1 and eventually cause flowering.[Keywords: Polycomb proteins; histone methylation; MSI1; vernalization; FLC; SOC1] Supplemental material is available at http://www.genesdev.org.

Steady-state turnover is a hallmark of epithelial tissues throughout adult life. Intestinal epithelial turnover is marked by continuous cell migration, which is assumed to be driven by mitotic pressure from the crypts. However, the balance of forces in renewal remains ill-defined. Combining biophysical modeling and quantitative three-dimensional tissue imaging with genetic and physical manipulations, we revealed the existence of an actin-related protein 2/3 complex–dependent active migratory force, which explains quantitatively the profiles of cell speed, density, and tissue tension along the villi. Cells migrate collectively with minimal rearrangements while displaying dual—apicobasal and front-back—polarity characterized by actin-rich basal protrusions oriented in the direction of migration. We propose that active migration is a critical component of gut epithelial turnover.