Fin de l’avant-garde ?

Le terme " avant-garde " recouvre habituellement deux orientations tout à fait différentes : l'avant-garde proprement dite, qui désigne les mouvements conjoignant assaut contre l'autonomie de l'art et projet de changement social révolutionnaire, et la modernité, qui, selon Adorno, a pour centre l'œuvre d'art autonome et insiste sur la pureté esthétique. Or, il semble aujourd'hui que la définition exigeante d'Adorno ne puisse plus s'appliquer à une modernité qui puise désormais dans le répertoire des gestes esthétiques au lieu de chercher à développer le matériau ; quant aux avant-gardes, en l'absence de projet visant à changer la praxis de la vie, elles ne survivent, en définitive, qu'en tant que passé. Le présent article pose la question de la possibilité de poursuivre le projet de la modernité ou de fonder une nouvelle avant-garde à l'ère postmoderne de la déshistorisation des arts et de la littérature.The word "avant-garde" usually refers to two completely different orientations, one being the avant-garde as such, which describes the movements which deny any artistic autonomy and feed on projects of revolutionary social change ; and the other, modernity, which, according to Adorno, is focused on autonomous works of art and insists on esthetic purity. Today, nevertheless, it seems that Adorno's demanding definition cannot be applied anymore to modernity itself, as it now seems to feed on known esthetic acts, rather than develop new material. Lacking a larger project aimed at influencing the praxis of life, the avant-gardes, for their part, survive just as well, as being part of the past. The present article questions as such the possibility of pursuing a modern project or remodeling a postmodern avant-garde, which would be based on the de-historization of arts and literature

The importance of hole concentration in establishing carrier-mediated ferromagnetism in Mn doped Ge

In the present work, we have prepared Mn-doped Ge using different annealing approaches after Mn ion implantation, and obtained samples with hole concentrations ranging from 10^18 to 2.1x10^20 cm^-3, the latter being the highest reported so far. Based on the magnetotransport properties of Mn doped Ge, we argue that the hole concentration is a decisive parameter in establishing carrier-mediated ferromagnetism in magnetic Ge.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Calmodulin regulates protease versus co-chaperone activity of a metacaspase

Metacaspases are ancestral homologs of caspases that can either promote cell death or confer cytoprotec-tion. Furthermore, yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) metacaspase Mca1 possesses dual biochemical activ-ity: proteolytic activity causing cell death and cytoprotective, co-chaperone-like activity retarding replicative aging. The molecular mechanism favoring one activity of Mca1 over another remains elusive. Here, we show that this mechanism involves calmodulin binding to the N-terminal pro-domain of Mca1, which prevents its proteolytic activation and promotes co-chaperone-like activity, thus switching from pro-cell death to anti -ag-ing function. The longevity-promoting effect of Mca1 requires the Hsp40 co-chaperone Sis1, which is neces-sary for Mca1 recruitment to protein aggregates and their clearance. In contrast, proteolytically active Mca1 cleaves Sis1 both in vitro and in vivo, further clarifying molecular mechanism behind a dual role of Mca1 as a cell-death protease versus gerontogene

Receptionsforskning

Receptionsforsknin

Policy Recommendations for Renewable Heating and Cooling in the United Kingdom

A Working Document prepared as part of the IEE project "Policy development for improving RES-H/C penetration in European Member States (RES-H Policy)"The RES-H Policy project: The project "Policy development for improving RES-H/C penetration in European Member States (RES-H Policy)" aims at assisting Member State governments in preparing for the implementation of the forthcoming Directive on Renewables as far as aspects related to renewable heating and cooling (RES-H/C) are concerned. Member States are supported in setting up national sector specific 2020/2030 RES-H/C targets. Moreover the project initiates participatory National Policy Processes in which selected policy options to support RES-H/C are qualitatively and quantitatively assessed. Based on this assessment the project develops tailor made policy options and recommendations as to how to best design a support framework for increased RES-H/C penetration in national heating and cooling markets. The target countries/regions of the project comprise Austria, Greece, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Poland and UK – countries that represent a variety in regard of the framework conditions for RES-H/C. On the European level the projects assesses options for coordinating and harmonising national policy approaches. This results in common design criteria for a general EU framework for RES-H/C policies and an overview of costs and benefits of different harmonised strategies.This Working Document summarises policy recommendations to improve the policy framework for RES-H/C in the United Kingdom. A policy set has been proposed based on the different elements of the policy analysis that has been conducted throughout this project. The document describes the proposed policy instruments and a strategy how to best implement it in the light of the specific national context. It analysis the interaction of the proposed policy set with the existing policy framework (e.g. for the building sector) and provides a proposal for monitoring and evaluating the policy impact on the development of RES-H/C. The report represents a key output of the RES-H Policy project, an EU FP7 funded research project aiming to assist EU Member States in selecting support options for increased renewable heat. It draws on modelling carried out by the Vienna University of Technology and The Dutch Energy Research Centre (ECN) as well as qualitative assessment by the authors. The body of literature in this field is very narrow, particularly given the much less advanced state of renewable heat policy and the significance of heat in developed countries, where it accounts for 40-50% of national energy use.European Commission through the IEE programm

Exposure to Melan-A/MART-126-35 tumor epitope specific CD8+T cells reveals immune escape by affecting the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS)

Efficient processing of target antigens by the ubiquitin-proteasome-system (UPS) is essential for treatment of cancers by T cell therapies. However, immune escape due to altered expression of IFN-γ-inducible components of the antigen presentation machinery and consequent inefficient processing of HLA- dependent tumor epitopes can be one important reason for failure of such therapies. Here, we show that short-term co-culture of Melan-A/MART-1 tumor antigen-expressing melanoma cells with Melan-A/MART-126-35-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) led to resistance against CTL-induced lysis because of impaired Melan-A/MART-126-35 epitope processing. Interestingly, deregulation of p97/VCP expression, which is an IFN-γ-independent component of the UPS and part of the ER-dependent protein degradation pathway (ERAD), was found to be essentially involved in the observed immune escape. In support, our data demonstrate that re-expression of p97/VCP in Melan-A/MART-126-35 CTL-resistant melanoma cells completely restored immune recognition by Melan-A/MART-126-35 CTL. In conclusion, our experiments show that impaired expression of IFN-γ-independent components of the UPS can exert rapid immune evasion of tumor cells and suggest that tumor antigens processed by distinct UPS degradation pathways should be simultaneously targeted in T cell therapies to restrict the likelihood of immune evasion due to impaired antigen processing

Evaluation of early-phase [F-18]-florbetaben PET acquisition in clinical routine cases

Objectives: In recent years several [F-18]-labelled amyloid PET tracers have been developed and have obtained clinical approval. There is accumulating evidence that early (post injection) acquisitionswith these tracers are equally informative as conventional blood flow andmetabolismstudies for diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, but there have been few side-by-side studies. Therefore, we investigated the performance of early acquisitions of [F-18]florbetaben (FBB) PET compared to [F-18]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET in a clinical setting. Methods: All subjects were recruited with clinical suspicion of dementia due to neurodegenerative disease. FDG PET was undertaken by conventional methods, and amyloid PET was performed with FBB, with early recordings for the initial 10 min (early-phase FBB), and late recordings at 90-110 min p.i. (late-phase FBB). Regional SUVR with cerebellar and globalmean normalization were calculated for early-phase FBB and FDG PET. Pearson correlation coefficients between FDG and early-phase FBB were calculated for predefined cortical brain regions. Furthermore, a visual interpretation of disease pattern using 3-dimensional stereotactic surface projections (3DSSP) was performed, with assessment of intra-reader agreement. Results: Among a total of 33 patients (mean age 67.5 +/- 11.0 years) included in the study, 18 were visually rated amyloid-positive, and 15 amyloid-negative based on late-phase FBB scans. Correlation coefficients for earlyphase FBB vs. FDG scans displayed excellent agreement in all target brain regions for global mean normalization. Cerebellar normalization gave strong, but significantly lower correlations. 3D representations of early-phase FBB visually resembled the corresponding FDG PET images, irrespective of the amyloid-status of the late FBB scans. Conclusions: Early-phase FBB acquisitions correlate on a relative quantitative and visual level with FDG PET scans, irrespective of the amyloid plaque density assessed in late FBB imaging. Thus, early-phase FBB uptake depicts a metabolism-like image, suggesting it as a valid surrogatemarker for synaptic dysfunction, which could ultimately circumvent the need for additional FDG PET investigation in diagnosis of dementia. (C) 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc

Aggregation-resistant alpha-synuclein tetramers are reduced in the blood of Parkinson's patients

Synucleinopathies such as Parkinson's disease (PD) are defined by the accumulation and aggregation of the α-synuclein protein in neurons, glia and other tissues. We have previously shown that destabilization of α-synuclein tetramers is associated with familial PD due to SNCA mutations and demonstrated brain-region specific alterations of α-synuclein multimers in sporadic PD patients following the classical Braak spreading theory. In this study, we assessed relative levels of disordered and higher-ordered multimeric forms of cytosolic α-synuclein in blood from familial PD with G51D mutations and sporadic PD patients. We used an adapted in vitro-cross-linking protocol for human EDTA-whole blood. The relative levels of higher-ordered α-synuclein tetramers were diminished in blood from familial PD and sporadic PD patients compared to controls. Interestingly, the relative amount of α-synuclein tetramers was already decreased in asymptomatic G51D carriers, supporting the hypothesis that α-synuclein multimer destabilization precedes the development of clinical PD. Our data, therefore suggest that measuring α-synuclein tetramers in blood may have potential as a facile biomarker assay for early detection and quantitative tracking of PD progression.</p