Aragon résistant : la construction d'un discours national

International audienceIt is well known that one of the most illustrious pages of the political and literary history of France is the one written by the Communist poet and novelist Aragon who united the idea of the nation with that of resistance, thus salvaging for the next generations the honor of the Republic.It is nonetheless true that his discourse advocating resistance and his calls, in various forms, for national unity are not only circumstantial. They participate in the progressive elaboration of a national myth that can be traced back to the 1930s and to Maurice Thorez, the leader of a party which added the adjective “French” to its name. It was Aragon's role to foster the literary aspect of this national myth.The present study aims at taking stock of the development of this national discourse in Aragon's writings and of its major issues in the context of the events of the 1930s and 1940s.On sait qu'au nombre des pages importantes de l'Histoire littéraire et politique de la France figurent celles sur lesquelles le communiste Aragon a associé l'idée de Nation à celle de Résistance, sauvant ainsi pour les générations suivantes l'honneur de ceux qui bradèrent la République. Reste que ce discours de résistance et ses appels, sous des formes diverses, à l'unité nationale, n'est pas seulement un appel de circonstance. Il s'inscrit dans la lente élaboration d'un mythe national mis au jour depuis les années 1930 sous Maurice Thorez dans un parti qui se désigne à présent comme « français » : c'est déjà à Aragon que revient la paternité du versant littéraire de ce mythe national. Cette étude se propose de faire un point sur la mise en place de ce discours national chez Aragon, et de ses enjeux dans l'actualité des années trente à quarante. It is well known that one of the most illustrious pages of the political and literary history of France is the one written by the Communist poet and novelist Aragon who united the idea of the nation with that of resistance, thus salvaging for the next generations the honor of the Republic. It is nonetheless true that his discourse advocating resistance and his calls, in various forms, for national unity are not only circumstantial. They participate in the progressive elaboration of a national myth that can be traced back to the 1930s and to Maurice Thorez, the leader of a party which added the adjective " French " to its name. It was Aragon's role to foster the literary aspect of this national myth. The present study aims at taking stock of the development of this national discourse in Aragon's writings and of its major issues in the context of the events of the 1930s and 1940s

La PI3-kinase : De la synapse immunologique au contrôle de la prolifération T

Le contrôle de la quiescence lymphocytaire est un élément essentiel à l’homéostasie du système immunitaire. Cet état quiescent est activement maintenu par des facteurs transcriptionnels nucléaires, de la famille FoxO (Forkhead subgroup O) notamment. Cet équilibre est cependant rompu à la suite de la reconnaissance de l’antigène, ce qui déclenche la division cellulaire. Cet article fait le point des données récemment acquises sur les mécanismes moléculaires impliqués dans ce phénomène. Il décrit ainsi comment la synapse immunologique formée entre un lymphocyte T et une cellule présentant l’antigène constitue une plate-forme d’intégration au sein de laquelle il existe une production continue de 3’-phospho-inositides sous l’impulsion des phosphoinositides-3-kinases. En provoquant l’activation de la sérine-thréonine kinase Akt, ce processus stimule l’exclusion nucléaire des FoxO pour lever le frein permanent qu’ils exercent et permettre l’expansion clonale des cellules T en réponse à l’antigène.T cell clonal expansion contributing to host defense against pathogens is a tightly controlled process to maintain the homeostasis of the immune system. Our understanding of how T cell growth and proliferation are controlled following antigenic stimulation is therefore a major challenge. Antigen recognition occurs when a naive T lymphocyte contacts an antigen-presenting cell. A specialized junction enriched in T-cell receptors, costimulation molecules and signaling adaptors, called the immunological synapse, is then created for several hours between the two cell types. Recent discoveries now clarify the molecular mechanisms used by this organization to control T cell growth and proliferation. It has been established that the immunological synapse functions in fact as an integrative platform where class Ia phosphoinositide-3-kinases (PI3Ks) are recruited and activated to continuously produce high levels of 3’-phosphoinositides. These lipids regulate the localization and the activation of a wide range of PH-domain containing proteins, among which the serine-threonine kinase Akt, a downstream effector of PI3Ks, appears to be a key player. FoxO (Forkhead subgroup O) family members control in various cell systems genes implicated in apoptosis, stress resistance and cell cycle arrest, thereby contributing to maintain quiescence in unstimulated cells. In naïve T cells contacting antigen-presenting cells a rapid but also very prolonged nuclear exclusion of these transcription factors is observed downstream of Akt. Mainly, this compartmentalization process is mandatory to induce T cell growth triggered by the T cell/antigen-presenting cell interaction. These findings demonstrate that to initiate cell cycle progression the formation of the immunological synapse is an undemanding tactic used by primary T cells to securely maintain the 3’-phosphoinositide-dependent mitotic switch governed by the spatial control of FoxO transcription factors

REVERSAL OF HEPATIC ALPHA-1-ANTITRYPSIN DEPOSITION AFTER PORTACAVAL SHUNT

End-to-side portacaval shunts were carried out in three children with the liver disease of alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency and complications of portal hypertension. Their clinical courses have been stable for 31/2 to almost 7 years. Postoperative liver biopsy material from two of the patients showed the typical histopathological changes caused by portal diversion, as well as an apparent reduction in the quantity of alpha-1-antitrypsin particles in the hepatocytes. The metabolic changes caused by portal diversion have apparently created a more favourable equilibrium between the synthesis and excretion of the abnormal alpha-1-antitrypsin. © 1983

Pediatric liver transplantation from neonatal donors

Sixteen recipients of neonatal liver grafts were compared with 114 contemporaneous pediatric recipients of grafts from older donors. Graft and patient survival were worse in the neonatal group although the differences were not statistically significant. Patients with neonatal livers who had no technical complications required a longer time postoperatively to correct jaundice and a prolonged prothrombin time. These functional differences were limited to the 1st postoperative month and the end result was the same as with liver transplantation from older donors. © 1992 Springer-Verlag

Tyrosine 140 of the γ-Aminobutyric Acid Transporter GAT-1 Plays a Critical Role in Neurotransmitter Recognition

The γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transporter GAT-1 is located in nerve terminals and catalyzes the electrogenic reuptake of the neurotransmitter with two sodium ions and one chloride. We now identify a single tyrosine residue that is critical for GABA recognition and transport. It is completely conserved throughout the superfamily, and even substitution to the other aromatic amino acids, phenylalanine (Y140F) and tryptophan (Y140W), results in completely inactive transporters. Electrophysiological characterization reveals that both mutant transporters exhibit the sodium-dependent transient currents associated with sodium binding as well as the chloride-dependent lithium leak currents characteristic of GAT-1. On the other hand, in both mutants GABA is neither able to induce a steady-state transport current nor to block their transient currents. The nontransportable analog SKF 100330A potently inhibits the sodium-dependent transient in the wild type GAT-1 but not in the Y140W transporter. It partly blocks the transient of Y140F. Thus, although sodium and chloride binding are unimpaired in the tyrosine mutants, they have a specific defect in the binding of GABA. The total conservation of the residue throughout the family suggests that tyrosine 140 may be involved in the liganding of the amino group, the moiety common to all of the neurotransmitters