Le rêve plastique des écrivains

La notion de plasticité, délicate à définir, peut être éclairée en fonction du domaine précis dans lequel elle est contextualisée et envisagée. Le point de vue qui la met au cœur d’une dynamique de pensée est ici celui de l’analyse littéraire. En important dans le champ littéraire une réflexion a priori liée aux arts plastiques, en nommant des modalités de la plasticité révélées dans l’écriture, ce recueil d’articles explore les œuvres littéraires avec un regard nouveau, une approche originale, car il relève ce qui, dans les écritures, suggère et réalise un rêve des écrivains, la possibilité d’une dimension sensible donnée à leur œuvre, celle-ci transgressant les limites du lisible pour s’accomplir comme forme également visuelle et visible, sonore et audible. Ces articles ne limitent pas leurs corpus à une époque ou à un genre littéraire (poésie, roman, théâtre). Ils prennent le parti de dégager, tant dans le contenu que dans la forme des textes, ce qui stimule chez le lecteur une perception complexe et un imaginaire doué de plasticité. Ces propositions de définitions de la plasticité centrées sur la littérature participent d’une réflexion rendue cruciale dans un contexte plus général où l’utilisation fréquente du mot « plasticité » est avérée dans de nombreux domaines

Persistence of dysfunctional natural killer cells in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders: stigma/consequence of unresolved early infectious events?

International audienceBackground: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by abnormal neurodevelopment, genetic, and environmental risk factors, as well as immune dysfunctions. Several lines of evidence suggest alterations in innate immune responses in children with ASD. To address this question in adults with high-functioning ASD (hf-ASD), we sought to investigate the role of natural killer (NK) cells in the persistence of ASD.Methods: NK cells from 35 adults with hf-ASD were compared to that of 35 healthy controls (HC), selected for theabsence of any immune dysfunctions, at different time-points, and over a 2-year follow-up period for four patients.The phenotype and polyfunctional capacities of NK cells were explored according to infectious stigma and clinicalparameters (IQ, social, and communication scores).Results: As compared to HC, NK cells from patients with hf-ASD showed a high level of cell activation (p < 0.0001),spontaneous degranulation (p < 0.0001), and interferon-gamma production (p = 0.0004), whereas they were exhausted after in vitro stimulations (p = 0.0006). These data yielded a specific HLA-DR+KIR2DL1+NKG2C+ NK-cell signature. Significant overexpression of NKG2C in hf-ASD patients (p = 0.0005), indicative of viral infections, was inversely correlated with the NKp46 receptor level (r = − 0.67; p < 0.0001), regardless of the IgG status of tested pathogens. Multivariate linear regression analysis also revealed that expression of the late-activating HLA-DR marker was both associated with structural language (r = 0.48; p = 0.007) and social awareness (r = 0.60; p = 0.0007) scores in adult patients with hf-ASD, while KIR2DL1 expression correlated with IQ scores (p = 0.0083).Conclusions: This study demonstrates that adults with hf-ASD have specific NK-cell profile. Presence of NKG2Coverexpression together with high-level activation of NK cells suggest an association with underlying pathogens, ahypothesis warranting further exploration in future studie

Patients with autism spectrum disorders display reproducible functional connectivity alterations

Despite the high clinical burden, little is known about pathophysiology underlying autism spectrum disorder(ASD). Recent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) studies have found atypical synchro-nization of brain activity in ASD. However, no consensus has been reached on the nature and clinical relevance ofthese alterations. Here, we addressed these questions in four large ASD cohorts. Using rs-fMRI, we identified func-tional connectivity alterations associated with ASD. We tested for associations of these imaging phenotypes withclinical and demographic factors such as age, sex, medication status, and clinical symptom severity. Our resultsshowed reproducible patterns of ASD-associated functional hyper- and hypoconnectivity. Hypoconnectivity wasprimarily restricted to sensory-motor regions, whereas hyperconnectivity hubs were predominately located inprefrontal and parietal cortices. Shifts in cortico-cortical between-network connectivity from outside to withinthe identified regions were shown to be a key driver of these abnormalities. This reproducible pathophysiologicalphenotype was partially associated with core ASD symptoms related to communication and daily living skills andwas not affected by age, sex, or medication status. Although the large effect sizes in standardized cohorts areencouraging with respect to potential application as a treatment and for patient stratification, the moderate linkto clinical symptoms and the large overlap with healthy controls currently limit the usability of identified altera-tions as diagnostic or efficacy readout