“French Phage Network” Annual Conference 2018—Fourth Meeting Report

The present meeting report aims to cover the scientific activities of the 4th French Bacteriophage Network (Phages.fr) symposium which took place during 24th–25th September 2018, at the Agora du Haut-Carré in Talence (France). The hosting institute was University Bordeaux and 72 participants attended the meeting from both public and private sectors, coming from France, Belgium, Ireland, Germany, Portugal and Canada. The scientific program was structured in three themed oral sessions entitled “ecology and evolution”, “bacteriophage-host molecular interaction”, and “therapy and biotechnology applications” consisting of 21 oral presentations, including three keynote lectures, and a presentation of the activities of the Spanish bacteriophage network. A poster session included 22 presentations.

Family Resemblances? Ligand Binding and Activation of Family A and B G-Protein-Coupled Receptors

In April 2007, the Biochemical Society held a meeting to compare and contrast ligand binding and activation of Family A and B GPCRs (G-protein-coupled receptors). Being the largest class, Family A GPCRs usually receive the most attention, although a previous Biochemical Society meeting has focused on Family B GPCRs. The aim of the present meeting was to bring researchers of both families together in order to identify commonalities between the two. The present article introduces the proceedings of the meeting, briefly commenting on the focus of each of the following articles.

The Radio Jet of 3C273

Most radio sources are two-sided, like Cygnus A. A minority, however, are one-sided, and the first-known and brightest example is 3C273 (see Fig. 1), a high-luminosity QSO, showing ‘super-luminal’ proper motions in the core. The explanation of such one-sided sources may follow one of two lines (and it seems that both schools of thought are represented at the present meeting): on the one hand, the ejection of material from the central object may truly be one-sided, while on the other hand the ejection may be two-sided but at a relativistic speed, so that the receding half is hidden by Doppler beaming.

On the Quenching of Single Excitation Channels in the Inner Shell Spectra of Certain Elements

The collaboration between the University of Bonn and Imperial College on the use of synchrotron radiation for the observation of atomic absorption spectra has yielded much new data since IAU Colloquium No.27 (see also E. Radtke's paper in the present meeting). Among recently observed spectra are those of Tl I, In I, Ga I, Pb I, Sn I and Ge I, while earlier data on Zn I and Cd I have been extended to include double excitations. The first evidence of strong mixing between the d-np channel and double excitations at the same energy has come for Tl I where some of the expected d-np series are absent and, instead, other additional series appear.

Introductory remarks

When Hugh Huxley and I, as organizers of this meeting, came to choose a title for it, we found it difficult to avoid repeating word for word the title of the Discussion Meeting (Hill 1949) that was arranged by the Royal Society in July 1949 under the leadership of A. V. Hill. In the end, we altered the wording a little, but the scope of the present meeting is very much the same as that of its predecessor. The continuity of work in this field is also emphasized by several of the names of people taking part. A. V. Hill is again present, and his son D. K. Hill will be reading a paper. H. H. Weber, who followed A. V. Hill at the 1949 meeting, has unfortunately been prevented from coming, but he is represented by his daughter Annemarie Weber and his pupil Hasselbach. Dorothy Needham read a paper in 1949, and will be doing so again at this meeting. Two others who we might have hoped would take part again were Astbury, who died two and a half years ago, and Kenneth Bailey, who died earlier this year. The main problems discussed at the 1949 meeting were: first, the contractile proteins and their arrangement in the fibril; second, the identity of the primary energy-yielding reaction; and third, the nature of the link from excitation in the membrane to activation of the contractile material. It so happens that major advances in each of these three topics have been made in the last few months and we are fortunate to have as speakers several who have taken leading parts in these advances. The meeting has been confined to these topics because of limitation of time; for example, important fields such as membrane phenomena, and the enzymology of the contractile proteins, have been completely omitted.

Security Council

The Security Council met once again on March 17, 1964, to consider the India-Pakistan question which had initially been brought to the attention of the Council in letters addressed to the President of the Security Council from Pakistan's Minister of External Affairs and India's permanent representative. The Council considered the question during its 1104th and 1105th meetings, held on March 17 and 20, 1964, and again during its 1112th–1117th meetings, May 5–18, 1964. At the invitation of the President, the representative of India, Mr. Chakravarty, and Pakistan's Minister of External Affairs, Mr. Bhutto, took places at the Security Council table. The President indicated that the present meeting had been convened upon the request of the Pakistani representative, although the Indian representative had expressed his objection to the request for an early meeting.

The cold temperate zone in Chilean seas

The results of the Lund University Chile Expedition in 1948-49 throw some light upon the delimitation and ecology of the cold temperate areas in the Chilean seas, and therefore it seems justified to present a very brief summary to the present meeting. The expedition was organized by Professor Hans Brattström and myself and worked in Chile for almost one year from September 1948 to August 1949. We mainly concentrated upon marine work and collected samples in various localities along the whole Chilean coast from Arica to Tierra del Fuego. Our main base, however, was in Puerto Montt in about 41½° S and most of our work was carried out in the waters around the Island of Chiloé, between Puerto Montt in the north and the Chonos Islands in the south, i. e. just in the area where the border between the northern warm temperate and the southern cold temperate or antiboreal zoogeographical regions is supposed to lie. The working-up of our collections is still far from complete. The published records now comprise about 2000 pages, another 300 to 400 are in print and many reports are in preparation.

Civil Jet Operations

The 882nd Lecture to be given before the Royal Aeronautical Society was held under the auspices of the Glasgow Branch on 23rd April 1953. Professor W. J. Duncan, F.R.S., F.R.Ae.S., President of the Glasgow Branch, welcomed the visitors. He expressed regret that the President of the Society, Mr. G. H. Dowty, F.R.Ae.S., was unable to be present and welcomed Mr. N. E. Rowe, C.B.E., F.R.Ae.S., Chairman of the Branches Committee, and the Secretary of the Society, Dr. A. M. Ballantyne, T.D., A.F.R.Ae.S.Mr. Rowe, taking the Chair for the rest of the meeting, said how much the President regretted not being present; as they knew, he had shown the liveliest interest in the Branches and had made many visits to them during his year of office. This was the twelfth Main Society Lecture to be given at a Branch meeting; the holding of Main Lectures at the Branches had proved a great success and he was sure that the present meeting would be a success also, because their lecturer had been doing pioneering work for the past three years on the development of the Comet. After graduating from Cambridge in 1940 Captain Majendie joined the R.A.F. and served as an instructor for several years; he served with Coastal Command in 1943 and was mentioned in despatches, then served on ferry duties, and in 1946 joined British Overseas Airways. He held a Pilot's “B” Licence, a Navigator's Licence and a Wireless Operator's Licence. Before being appointed to work on the Comet he had been engaged in helping Mr. E. S. Calvert at the Royal Aircraft Establishment to develop the high intensity lighting system. Captain Majendie was one of those rare people who combined a scientific and a really practical ability.

Diseases

First International Pullorum Congress at Hannover, October 1931. Erste Europäische Konferenz von Fachleuten für Geflügelkrankheiten in Hannover am 23. und 24. Okt. 1931. Prof. Dr. Mieszner, Dr. te Hennepe, Dr. Berge and Dr. Schütt. Deutsche Tierärztliche Wochenschrift, 1932, p. 33.At these Pullorum-days 26 specialists in poultry diseases from Germany, England, Turkey and Holland were present. The meetings were held in Prof. Mieszner's Institute in Hannover. During the opening speech, Dr. te Hennepe, Secretary for Europe of the World's Poultry Science Association, drew the attention to similar meetings in America already taken place, and that he, in conjunction with Prof. Mieszner, had taken the initiative for the present meeting.

Giant cell sarcoma of the hip, developed from the vagina musc. sartorii

At the present meeting of the Society of Physicians, I have the honor to report a case of giant cell sarcoma of the soft parts of the thigh. Tumors developing in the soft parts of the thigh are mostly localized in the upper 73 of it, especially in the groin region, in contrast to tumors originating from the skeletal system, which preferably develop at the lower end of the thigh.