Argumentation, représentation, intervention : les rôles de l'imagerie dans les discours scientifiques

L’article présente un certain nombre de thèmes développés dans le cadre de recherches sociologiques récentes sur la visualisation dans le domaine scientifique. L’imagerie, loin de remplir de simples fonctions didactiques ou pédagogiques, contribue de façon décisive à structurer la recherche. On constate notamment l’existence de mécanismes particuliers d’argumentation visuelle, le recours à l’imagerie intervenant également dans la constitution des objets scientifiques ainsi que du domaine invisible qui sert de cadre aux interventions sur ces objets et à leurs actions. L’article examine quelques-uns des nouveaux défis posés par l’imagerie de synthèse, notamment le télescopage entre représentation et intervention.The article presents a selective survey of several themes discussed by recent sociological work on visualization in scientific practice. Scientific imagery is not a mere pedagogical tool. Rather, it contributes decisively to the structuring of research. Visual arguments take on specific forms and they play an important role in the constitution of scientific objects and of the invisible domain in which these objects perform and are acted upon. The concluding section examines the new challenges created by computerized imagery, including the conflation of representing and intervening

Detection and characterization of translational research in cancer and cardiovascular medicine

Background Scientists and experts in science policy have become increasingly interested in strengthening translational research. Efforts to understand the nature of translational research and monitor policy interventions face an obstacle: how can translational research be defined in order to facilitate analysis of it? We describe methods of scientometric analysis that can do this. Methods We downloaded bibliographic and citation data from all articles published in 2009 in the 75 leading journals in cancer and in cardiovascular medicine (roughly 15,000 articles for each field). We calculated citation relationships between journals and between articles and we extracted the most prevalent natural language concepts. Results Network analysis and mapping revealed polarization between basic and clinical research, but with translational links between these poles. The structure of the translational research in cancer and cardiac medicine is, however, quite different. In the cancer literature the translational interface is composed of different techniques (e.g., gene expression analysis) that are used across the various subspecialties (e.g., specific tumor types) within cancer research and medicine. In the cardiac literature, the clinical problems are more disparate (i.e., from congenital anomalies to coronary artery disease); although no distinctive translational interface links these fields, translational research does occur in certain subdomains, especially in research on atherosclerosis and hypertension. Conclusions These techniques can be used to monitor the continuing evolution of translational research in medicine and the impact of interventions designed to enhance it.Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF Investigator Award in Health Policy Research)Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC SE-124896)Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP-93553)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (SBE-0965259

Signs, Markers, Profiles, and Signatures: Clinical Haematology Meets the New Genetics (1980-2000)

We propose that a fruitful way to understand the extension of molecular biology into clinical practice is through the notion of biomedical platform. In this article, we analyze the development of the new genetics in clinical haematology since the mid-1980s focusing on two recent instantiations of the molecular biology platform: RT-PCR and DNA microarrays. We show how clinical research is more closely entwined with 'fundamental' biology than is often imagined and simultaneously caution that the use of techniques in clinical research does not automatically entail their use in routine clinical practice. The article calls attention to the work of articulation and regulation as constitutive aspects of a platform that enters standard clinical use

Intertextualité et archi-iconicité : le cas des représentations scientifiques de la réaction antigène-anticorps.

Cet article propose d’appliquer à l’imagerie scientifique une approche communicationnelle et sémiotique (inspirée de la théorie du texte de Genette). Une représentation iconique de la réaction antigène anticorps très connue (celle d’Ehrlich proposée en 1900) est étudiée du point de vue de son archi-iconicité. Nous analysons comment tour à tour la référence au monde sous-marin, l’analogie clef-serrure et la représentation conventionnelle du temps contribuent à faire de cette image scientifique un modèle qui aujourd’hui encore inspire les représentations iconiques de cette réaction immunologique essentielle.The article investigates scientific imagery by resorting to a semiotic and communication studies approach inspired by Genette’s theory of texts. In particular, it examines the archi-iconic components of the iconic representation of antigen-antibody reactions first introduced by the German immunologist Paul Ehrlich in 1900. It does so, by showing how the visual reference to the submarine world and organisms, the lock-and-key analogy and graphical conventions for representing time, have made this scientific image into a model that continues to inspire iconic representations of this quintessential immunological reaction

Da aplicação à implicação na antropologia médica: leituras políticas, históricas e narrativas do mundo do adoecimento e da saúde

Revisa parte da literatura da antropologia médica contemporânea, guiando-se pela orientação/implicação política na escolha de seus objetos de estudo, na análise e na construção de soluções para os problemas investigados. A partir de narrativas de antropólogos, evidenciam-se as bases históricas e sociopolíticas que caracterizaram o campo em seus países de origem ou de migração. No panorama traçado das três principais vertentes contemporâneas – as antropologias médica crítica, do sofrimento e do biopoder –, são caracterizadas escolhas teóricas e temáticas para atender à demanda de “politização” do debate antropológico na saúde, defendendo-se uma antropologia médica “implicada”

Rationalisation et médecine des preuves en oncologie : quelques remarques à propos de la régulation des pratiques biomédicales (Commentaire)

Cambrosio Alberto. Rationalisation et médecine des preuves en oncologie : quelques remarques à propos de la régulation des pratiques biomédicales (Commentaire). In: Sciences sociales et santé. Volume 23, n°4, 2005. pp. 41-48