The issue of successful implementation of strategic organizational change is not sufficiently addressed in the literature of organizational change even though there is unanimity in reporting a high rate of failure. Moreover, attempts to provide supportive guidelines that enhance implementation success are meager and their validity in nonwestern contexts is disputed. Thus, the present study tried to address the question of how a strategic organizational change can be successfully implemented by developing an implementation model within the context of Ethiopian commercial banks. In Ethiopia, commercial banking is exclusively reserved for nationals. This makes the setting a typical national context from where two commercial banks were included in the present study through maintaining maximum variation in ownership structure. Embedded in each bank, cases of teams which were established to redesign a specific type of business process were identified to theoretically sample participants for the indepth interviews. Applying an inductive multiple case study strategy, a combination of within-case and cross-case analyses were employed with the support of the ATLAS.ti software. As a result, theoretical propositions were made and an implementation model for strategic organizational change was developed by taking the context of commercial banks in Ethiopia into consideration. The findings indicate that national and organizational contexts demand contextualized approaches to implement strategic organizational change. Although several concepts which are documented in the extant literature were confirmed, original propositions are also made by the present study. A triple helix of initiating, designing, and implementing were emerged as inseparable components of the proposed implementation model for strategic organizational change in a context where cognitive and technical readiness is ensured. / Business Management / DBL

La présence de métastases est un facteur de mauvais pronostic dans les cancers solides et une meilleure compréhension de la dissémination tumorale est nécessaire afin d'améliorer la prise en charge de ces formes avancées. Les cellules tumorales circulantes (CTC) représentent un intérêt majeur dans la pathologie tumorale, d'une part sur le plan clinique en tant que marqueur prédictif et pronostique et d'autre part sur le plan de la compréhension des mécanismes impliqués dans la formation des métastases. Les CTC sont rares et hétérogènes et restent mal caractérisées, et ce, particulièrement dans le cancer colorectal. Une partie de ces cellules aurait un phénotype de cellules initiatrices de tumeur (CIT) leur permettant de former des métastases, de résister aux traitements et par conséquent d'être responsables des rechutes. Une meilleure connaissance des CTC possédant un phénotype de CIT représente donc un enjeu majeur. L'objectif de ce travail a été d'identifier et de caractériser les CTC avec un potentiel de cellules initiatrices de tumeur dans le cancer colorectal en se basant sur les propriétés fonctionnelles des CIT. Nous avons ainsi, pour la première fois, pu établir deux modèles permettant de répondre à cet objectif. D'une part des lignées de CTC avec un fort potentiel de CIT obtenues à partir d'échantillons sanguins de patients atteints de cancer colorectal, et d'autre part, nous avons mis en place un modèle murin de dissémination tumorale par xénogreffe orthotopique permettant d'isoler les CTC. / Liver or lung metastases represent a poor prognosis in colorectal cancer patients and better understanding tumor spreading became essential to improve patient care. Circulating tumor cells (CTC) is considered as a promising tool, both as prognostic marker and as tool to study mechanisms involved in metastasis development. CTCs are rare and heterogeneous and remain poorly characterized especially in colorectal cancer. It is accepted that at least some of the CTC have a tumor initiating cell (TIC) phenotype that could be responsible for metastasis, chemoresistance and consequently lead to relapse. A deep characterization of CTC became thus an urgent unmet need. The aim of this work was to identify and characterize CTC with TIC properties in colorectal cancer, on the basis of their functional properties. To reach this aim, we established for the first time and characterized CTC lines from blood sample of colorectal cancer patient, and we also developed an orthotopic xenograft mouse model in which tumoral cells are circulating in the blood.

Le sujet de la thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre de la rénovation des outils et des méthodes de calculs appliqués aux accidents graves des Réacteurs à Neutrons Rapides refroidis au Sodium (RNR-Na). En particulier, on s'intéresse aux biais et conservatismes liés à la méthodologie de calculs de la phase primaire d'un accident grave. Pour évaluer les conséquences d'un accident de fusion du coeur d'un RNR-Na, une approche déterministe est généralement réalisée en considérant des hypothèses dites "best-estimate". Cette approche repose sur l'utilisation de codes informatiques pour simuler numériquement le comportement du coeur en conditions accidentelles.La phase primaire de dégradation concerne les évènements se produisant tant que les boîtiers inter-assemblages sont intègres. Les assemblages combustibles conservent alors une indépendance les uns par rapport aux autres. Pour cette raison, la simulation de la phase primaire repose sur une approche multi-canaux. Cette approche consiste à regrouper les assemblages semblables en classes d'assemblages appelés canaux. Le modèle thermo-hydraulique en canaux est couplé à un calcul neutronique pour évaluer le niveau de puissance et de réactivité au cours du transitoire accidentel. La méthodologie de calcul de la phase primaire d'un accident grave repose sur des hypothèses fortes en termes de modélisation neutronique et thermo-hydraulique. Après avoir identifié les principales sources d'erreur, la thèse a consisté à développer un nouvel outil de calcul pour la phase primaire en vue d'évaluer les biais et conservatismes méthodologiques. / This project is dedicated to the analysis and the quantification of bias corresponding to the computational methodology for simulating the initiating phase of severe accidents on Sodium Fast Reactors. A deterministic approach is carried out to assess the consequences of a severe accident by adopting best estimate design evaluations. An objective of this deterministic approach is to provide guidance to mitigate severe accident developments and recriticalities through the implementation of adequate design measures. These studies are generally based on modern simulation techniques to test and verify a given design. The new approach developed in this project aims to improve the safety assessment of Sodium Fast Reactors by decreasing the bias related to the deterministic analysis of severe accident scenarios.During the initiating phase, the subassembly wrapper tubes keep their mechanical integrity. Material disruption and dispersal is primarily one-dimensional. For this reason, evaluation methodology for the initiating phase relies on a multiple-channel approach. Typically a channel represents an average pin in a subassembly or a group of similar subassemblies. Inthe multiple-channel approach, the core thermal-hydraulics model is composed of 1 or 2 D channels. The thermal-hydraulics model is coupled to a neutronics module to provide an estimate of the reactor power level.In this project, a new computational model has been developed to extend the initiating phase modeling. This new model is based on a multi-physics coupling. This model has been applied to obtain information unavailable up to now in regards to neutronics and thermal-hydraulics models and their coupling.

Les cellules souches cancéreuses (CSC) représentent une sous-population de cellules tumorales à l’origine de l’hétérogénéité et de la croissance tumorale. Les CSC sont plus résistantes aux traitements, et à l’origine de la rechute et des métastases. L’identification des CSC constitue actuellement un enjeu majeur dans le développement de nouvelles thérapies ciblées pour inhiber la croissance tumorale et éradiquer le cancer. Dans ce travail, nous avons cherché à identifier, caractériser, et cibler les CSC dans l’adénocarcinome gastrique. Des modèles murins de xénogreffe de tumeurs primaires de patients atteints d'adénocarcinome gastrique hors cardia de types intestinal et diffus ont été développés, ainsi qu’un modèle de tumorsphere in vitro afin d’évaluer les capacités tumorigéniques de sous-populations tumorales. Nous avons identifié CD44 et l'aldéhyde déshydrogénase (ALDH) comme marqueurs d’enrichissement des CSC dans les 2 types d’adénocarcinomes gastriques, l’ALDH représentant un marqueur plus spécifique que CD44. Nous avons ensuite étudié l'effet de l’acide rétinoïque tout trans (ATRA), et nous avons montré que l'ATRA inhibe la formation et la croissance des tumorspheres in vitro ainsi que la croissance tumorale in vivo. Cet effet de l’ATRA passe par l’inhibition de l’expression des marqueurs souches et des capacités d'auto-renouvèlement des CSC. En conclusion, CD44 et ALDH sont des marqueurs de CSC dans les adénocarcinomes gastriques hors cardia de types intestinal et diffus, et le traitement par l’ATRA constituerait une stratégie commune de traitement pour cibler spécifiquement les CSC et inhiber la croissance tumorale dans ces deux types de cancer gastrique. / Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subpopulation of tumor cells at the origin of the heterogeneity and growth of tumors. CSCs are more resistant to treatment, and are responsible for relapse and metastasis. The identification of CSCs is a major challenge for the development of new targeted therapies to inhibit tumor growth and eradicate cancer. In this work, we aimed to identify, characterize, and target CSCs in gastric adenocarcinoma. Mouse models of primary tumor xenografts from intestinal and diffuse type non-cardia gastric adenocarcinomas from patients were developed, as well as an in vitro tumorsphere assay, to assess the tumorigenic capacity of subpopulations of tumor cells. We identified CD44 and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) as CSC enrichment markers in the two types of gastric adenocarcinoma, ALDH representing a more specific marker than CD44. We then studied the effect of All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), and showed that it inhibited the formation and growth of tumorspheres in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. This effect of ATRA is due to the inhibition of stem marker expression and the self-renewal capacity of CSCs. In conclusion, CD44 and ALDH are effective CSC markers in intestinal and diffuse type non-cardia gastric adenocarcinomas, and treatment with ATRA provides a common treatment strategy to specifically target CSCs and inhibit tumor growth in both subtypes of this gastric cancer.

As neoplasias mamárias apresentam um grande desafio tanto para a medicina humana, quanto para a medicina veterinária. Esses tumores apresentam ampla heterogeneidade intertumoral e intratumoral, dificultando assim a busca por tratamentos eficazes. Recentemente, pesquisadores tem voltado sua atenção para uma população de células que apresentam características muito semelhantes as células-tronco. São as chamadas células iniciadoras de tumores (CITs). Estas são descritas como as principais responsáveis por falhas nas quimioterapias e no surgimento de recidivas tumorais, devido ao seu potencial tumorigênico, de auto-renovação e de resistência a drogas antineoplásicas. Entretanto, o estudo dessas células é limitado pelas dificuldades no isolamento e na caracterização pós-enriquecimento dessas células, devido à perda do fenótipo em modelos in vitro. Sendo assim, vários estudos estão buscando maneiras alternativas de enriquecer essa população. Uma das maneiras mais utilizadas, baseia-se na indução do processo de transição epitélio-mesenquimal, através da superexpressão de fatores de transcrição como SNAI1, SLUG, ZEB1 e ZEB2. Sendo assim, nós objetivamos expressar de maneira exógena os fatores de transcrição SLUG e ZEB1 em células oriundas de carcinomas mamários caninos, caracterizar seus efeitos nessas células e observar se esses fatores de transcrição seriam capazes de induzir o fenótipo de CIT. Primeiramente, quatro amostras de carcinomas mamários caninos foram analisados quanto sua morfologia e os níveis de expressão gênica de quatro fatores de transcrição associados a transição epitélio-mesenquimal: SLUG, STAT3, ZEB1 e ZEB2. Após, nós selecionamos duas dessas amostras (CC-20E e CL-28E), que apresentavam morfologia típica de células epiteliais e baixa expressão dos fatores de transcrição citados acima e expressamos de maneira exógena e de forma estável os fatores de transcrição SLUG e ZEB1, através do processo de transdução lentiviral. Entretanto, apenas a transdução com os plasmídeos contendo a região codificante de SLUG foi eficiente. Sendo assim, nós avaliamos os efeitos da expressão exógena de SLUG nas células CC-20E e CL-28E, quanto a alteração de morfologia e expressão de filamentos intermediários como citoqueratina, vimentina e actina. Além disso, nós avaliamos se a expressão exógena de SLUG poderia regular a expressão de outros genes associados a EMT, além de genes supressores de tumores, alvos de SLUG. Por fim, nós avaliamos se a expressão exógena de SLUG poderia induzir ao fenótipo de CITs, verificando se havia alteração na sensibilidade das células aos quimioterápicos doxorrubicina e paclitaxel, além de avaliar o potencial tumorigênico e de auto-renovação dessas células em cultivos de baixa aderência. A expressão exógena de SLUG nas células CC-20E e CL-28E, não induziu a alterações na morfologia epitelial das células. Entretanto, as células alteraram sua disposição em monocamada no cultivo, formando tipos de túbulos semidiferenciados, característicos do processo de EMT híbrido ou parcial. Além, disso, houve um equilíbrio entre a expressão dos filamentos intermediários de citoqueratina e vimentina nas células, além do aumento na expressão dos genes CDH1 (E-caderina) e CDH2 (N-caderina), resultado que sustentou a indução de EMT parcial. O processo de EMT parcial induziu maior resistência ao quimioterápico paclitaxel, além de potencializar a tumorigenecidade e a capacidade de auto-renovação das células em cultivos de baixa aderência. Sendo assim, no presente estudo, nós obtivemos um cultivo com características que mimetizam as CITs, demonstrando que os processos que induzem esse fenótipo são semelhantes tanto na espécie canina, quanto em humanos, sustentando a hipótese de que neoplasias mamárias caninas podem servir como modelo para o estudo das CITs e, consequentemente, do desenvolvimento neoplásico de tumores sólidos. / Mammary neoplasms present a major challenge for both human and veterinary medicine, due to intertumoral and intratumoral heterogeneity, hindering the search for effective treatments. Recently, researchers has highlighted a population of cells with features very similar to stem cells. Known as Tumor-Initiating Cells (TICs), they are described as the main responsible for chemotherapy failures and tumor recurrence, due to their tumorigenic potential, self-renewal ability and drug resistance. The study of TICs is limited mainly by their difficult isolation owing to specific markers absence, and furthermore, cells lose their phenotype when placed in vitro. Therefore, several studies are seeking for alternatives to enrich this population in regular cultures. One way is based on the epithelial-mesenchymal transition induction through of transcription factors overexpression, such as SNAI1, SLUG, ZEB1 e ZEB2. So, the aim of this study was to overexpresse the SLUG and ZEB1 transcription factors in a cell culture derived from canine mammary carcinomas, evaluate its effects and observe whether these transcription factors would be capable of inducing the TIC phenotype. First, four canine mammary carcinomas cell cultures were analyzed for their morphology and gene expression levels of four transcription factors associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition: SLUG, STAT3, and ZEB1 ZEB2. After, we selected two samples (CC-20E and CL-28E) with typical morphology of epithelial cells and low expression of the transcription factors mentioned above. We then overexpress, stably, the transcription factors SLUG and ZEB1 by lentiviral transduction, However, only SLUG transduction was efficient. Then, we evaluated the effects of SLUG overexpression in CC-20E and CL-28E cells as the change of morphology, expression of intermediate filaments as cytokeratin, vimentin and actin. In addition, we evaluated whether SLUG overexpression could regulate the expression of other EMT-associated genes as well as tumor suppressor genes, and assessed evaluated the tumorigenic potential and self-renewal of these cells in low adherence cultures. Finally, we assessed whether SLUG overexpression could induce drug resistance through doxorubicin and paclitaxel sensivity assay. The SLUG overexpression did not induce modification in epithelial cell morphology, however, cells changed their arrangement in monolayer culture, inducing the semidifferentiated tubules, typical of hybrid or partial EMT process. In, addition, there was a balanced expression between cytokeratin and vimentin, possibly explained by an increase in CDH1 expression (E-cadherin) and CDH2 (N-cadherin) typical of partial EMT. Furthermore, the partial EMT generated cells presenting paclitaxel resistance, and enhanced the tumorigenic potential and self-renewal capacity of the cells on low adherent plates. Thus, in this study, we obtained a cell culture exhibiting features that mimics the TICs, demonstrating the mechanisms which regulate this phenotype are similar in dogs and humans, supporting the hypothesis that canine mammary carcinomas are a great model for the study of TICs and solid tumors development.

No description available.

Une des causes d’échec les plus importantes dans la prise en charge des cancers est la rechute, reflet de la persistance de cellules souches cancéreuses. Les leucémies aiguës myéloïdes représentent la forme principale de leucémie aiguë chez l’adulte et sont caractérisées par une prolifération excessive de cellules immatures et un défaut d’apoptose. En haut de la hiérarchie clonale, les cellules souches leucémiques (CSL) au travers de leurs capacités fonctionnelles participent à l’initiation et la maintenance de la maladie. Ces cellules sont régulées à la fois de façon extrinsèque au travers du microenvironnement et de façon intrinsèque notamment les facteurs de transcription.Notre équipe travaille sur le récepteur à la vitamine D (VDR) et son ligand la vitamine D (VD) et a mis en évidence une synergie d’action entre chélation martiale et VD afin de lever le blocage de différenciation des LAM avec une toxicité réduite (Callens et al, JEM 2010). Une étude clinique rétrospective a été conduite mettant en évidence qu’un taux de vitamine D élevé chez les patients atteints de LAM avant tout traitement leur confère un meilleur pronostic (Paubelle, Zylbersztejn et al, Plos One 2013) . Nous poursuivons donc ce projet sur l’étude la voie VD/VDR dans la maintenance des cellules souches hématopoïétiques et sa dérégulation dans la LAM. Mon projet doctoral a pour objectif de déterminer l’implication du microenvironnement tumoral (voie des BMP et du VDR) dans le maintien des cellules souches leucémiques de LAM. Notre hypothèse de travail est que le récepteur à la vitamine D en plus de son rôle différenciant connu, aurait un impact sur le maintien des cellules souches hématopoïétiques normales et de LAM et que son mécanisme d’action passerait par la voie des Bone Morphogenetic Protein. Nous avons dans un premier temps démontré l’importance du VDR dans la régulation des CSH et pu tester l’intérêt de l’emploi de son ligand afin de cibler spécifiquement les cellules souches leucémiques dans des modèles pré-cliniques. Enfin nous avons pu confirmer la dérégulation de cette voie dans des cellules primaires de LAM et la régulation de ce récepteur par la voie des Bone Morphogenetic Protein. Ces travaux ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives dans la compréhension dans la biologie des CSH et de leur dérégulation dans la LAM / One of the most important causes of failure in the management of cancer is relapse, due to cancer stem cells persistence. Acute Myeloid Leukemias (AML) are the major form of acute leukemia in adults and are characterized by excessive proliferation of immature cells and apoptosis defect. At the top of the clonal hierarchy, leukemic stem cells (LSC) through their functional abilities participate in the initiation and maintenance of the disease. These cells are regulated both extrinsically mechanisms through the microenvironment and intrinsically by transcription factors.Our team is working on the Vitamin D Receptor (VDR) and its ligand Vitamin D (VD) and has demonstrated a synergistic action between iron chelation and VD in order to lift the differentiation blocking of AML with reduced toxicity (Callens et al, JEM 2010). A retrospective clinical study was conducted showing that a high vitamin D level in patients with AML before any treatment gives them a better prognosis (Paubelle, Zylbersztejn et al, Plos One 2013). We are continuing this project on the study of the VD/VDR pathway in the maintenance of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and its deregulation in AML. My project aims to determine the involvement of the tumor microenvironment (BMP and VDR pathway) in the maintenance of AML-LSC. Our working hypothesis is that the vitamin D receptor, in addition to its known differentiating role, would have an impact on the maintenance of normal HSC and AML and that its mechanism of action would be through the Bone Morphogenetic Protein pathway. We first demonstrated the importance of VDR in the regulation of HSCs and tested the interest of the use of its ligand to specifically target LSC in pre-clinical models. Finally we were able to confirm the deregulation of this pathway in primary AML cells and the regulation of this receptor by the Bone Morphogenetic Protein pathway. These works open up new perspectives in the understanding in CSH biology and their deregulation in AML.

Delta subunit of bacterial RNA pol and its role in regulation of gene expression in B. subtilis. In this work I focus on regulation of eubacterial gene expression. First, I describe recent knowledge about a key stage of gene expression - transcription, focusing on regulation of trancription iniciation via small effector molecules (guanosine tetraphosphate, initiating nucleoside triphosphate) that are important for the regulation of ribosomal RNA. Second, in the experimental part of my work, I focus on the role of the _ protein, a subunit of RNA polymarase in gram positive bacteria, in transcription iniciation and its effects on regulation of RNA polymerase by the concentration of initiating nucleoside triphosphates.

No description available.

Cancer progression is accompanied with alterations in the cell biomechanical phenotype, including changes in cell structure, morphology, and responses to microenvironmental stress. These alterations result in an increased deformability of transformed cells and reduced resistance to mechanical stimuli, enabling motility and invasion. Therefore, single cell biomechanical properties could be served as a powerful label-free biomarker for effective characterization and early detection of single cancer cells. Advances and innovations in microsystems and nanotechnology have facilitated interrogation of the biomechanical properties of single cells to predict their tumorigenicity, metastatic potential, and health state. This dissertation utilized Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) for the cell biomechanical phenotyping for cancer diagnosis and early detection, efficacy screening of potential chemotherapeutic agents, and also cancer stem-like/tumor initiating cells (CSC/TICs) characterization as the critical topics received intensive attention in the search for effective cancer treatment. Our findings demonstrated the capability of exogenous sphingosine to revert the aberrant biomechanics of aggressive cells and showed a unique, mechanically homogeneous, and extremely soft characteristic of CSC/TICs, suitable for their targeted isolation. To make full use of cell biomechanical cues, this dissertation also considered the application of nonlinear viscoelastic models such as Fractional Zener and Generalized Maxwell models for the naturally complex, heterogeneous, and nonlinear structure of living cells. The emerging need for a high-throughput clinically relevant alternative for evaluating biomechanics of individual cells led us to the development of a microfluidic system. Therefore, a high-throughput, label-free, automated microfluidic chip was developed to investigate the biophysical (biomechanical-bioelectrical) markers of normal and malignant cells. Most importantly, this dissertation also explored the biomechanical response of cells upon a dynamic loading instead of a typical transient stress. Notably, metastatic and non-metastatic cells subjected to a pulsed stress regimen exerted by AFM exhibited distinct biomechanical responses. While non-metastatic cells showed an increase in their resistance against deformation and resulted in strain-stiffening behavior, metastatic cells responded by losing their resistance and yielded slight strain-softening. Ultimately, a second generation microfluidic chip called an iterative mechanical characteristics (iMECH) analyzer consisting of a series of constriction channels for simulating the dynamic stress paradigm was developed which could reproduce the same stiffening/softening trends of non-metastatic and metastatic cells, respectively. Therefore, for the first time, the use of dynamic loading paradigm to evaluate cell biomechanical responses was used as a new signature to predict malignancy or normalcy at a single-cell level with a high (~95%) confidence level. / Ph. D.