The use of new technologies in teaching ESP

La conception des logiciels a été influencée par l’évolution récente des techniques informatiques. C’est le cas dans le domaine de l’anglais de spécialité avec les besoins croissants de la formation continue, et la multiplication des logiciels disponibles dans le commerce, alors que l’on se rend compte que la combinaison du texte, du son et de l’image peut répondre aux besoins spécifiques des étudiants. Cet article présente quelques logiciels pour la langue de spécialité. Il évalue l’impact que peut avoir l’utilisation de ressources informatisées en ligne dans le domaine de spécialité. Les notions d’hypertexte, de structure et d’architecture des hypermédias sont examinées afin de définir des conditions qui permettraient d’envisager des stratégies orientées vers l’apprenant plus satisfaisantes. Établir des standards et une réelle portabilité donnerait des perspectives nouvelles.The latest technological developments have affected the design of software packages and the use that could be made of IT by learners. This has proven to be especially true for ESP because of the growing needs in the business world for vocational training, the increasing number of commercially available products, and the growing awareness that the specific needs of ESP students could best be met by the combination of text, image and sound resources. This paper starts with a brief critical review of available software. It then focuses on On-Line Retrieval of Information to assess how this can be of use to ESP. In outlining further developments, it stresses the need for standards and portability. It finally discusses hypertext and hypermedia structure and architecture to define conditions that would ensure greater facility of use and better learner-oriented strategies

Internet, l’autoroute et les chemins de traverse

Cette étude est une introduction à l’utilisation de l’Internet. Elle décrit les différents outils de navigation ainsi que leur fonctionnement et dresse une typologie des sites Web dont le contenu peut se révéler utile pour l’enseignement de la langue et pour la recherche.This paper is a guided tour of the Internet. It describes the different browsers that are now available and lists a number of Web sites whose resources can be used for language learning and research purposes

Leishmania major isolates in experimental murine pathogenicity and specific immune response

Virulence variability was investigated by analyzing the experimental pathogenicity of 18 Leishmania major strains in susceptible BALB/c mice. Ten strains were isolated from Sudan patients with zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis; eight strains were isolated in Syria (n = 1), Saudi Arabia (n = 2), Jordan (n = 3), or Iran (n = 2). BALB/c mice were injected in the hind footpad with 2 � 106 amastigotes of the various isolates, and lesion progression was recorded weekly for 9 weeks. Interleukin-4 (IL-4) and gamma interferon (IFN- ã) production of lymph node mononuclear cells activated in vitro with parasite antigens were evaluated 5 weeks after infection. We show that disease progression induced by different L. major isolates was largely heterogeneous although reproducible results were obtained when using the same isolate. Interestingly, isolates from the Middle East induced a more severe disease than did the majority of Tunisian isolates. Strains with the highest virulence tend to generate more IL-4 and less IFN-ã in vitro at week 5 postinfection as well as higher levels of early IL4 mRNA in the lymph node draining the inoculation site at 16h postinfection. These results suggest that L. major isolates from the field may differ in virulence, which influences the course of the disease induced in mice and the type of immune response elicited by the infected host. © Global Science Publications

Electrocoagulation/Electroflotation of real textile effluent: Improvement of the process in non-conventional pilot external loop airlift reactor

A pilot external-loop airlift reactor (ELAR) of 150 liters was designed and used as a non – conventional reactor to carry out Electrocoagulation/Electroflotation to treat real textile effluents containing disperse and reactive dyes. The designed reactor ensure the recovery of sludge by electroflotation (EF) in which complete flotation of the pollutants is achieved without additional mechanical power in the pilot external-loop airlift reactor (ELAR), using only the overall liquid recirculation induced by H2 microbubbles generated by water electrolysis without filtration process. Aluminum, iron electrodes and combined aluminum – iron electrodes were tested.The obtained results were interesting as they would help managing the Electrocoagulation/Electroflotation process in pilot external – loop airlift reactor to remove real textile effluent. The treatment of the mixtures of the real textile dyeing industry is better when using a combination of the electrodes of iron and aluminum providing a better treatment efficiency of 80% and a lower specific energy consumption (50 kWh/kg dye).In order to analyze the by-product of the electrocoagulation (EC) and the treated effluent, different techniques were used to elucidate the role of different kind of anodes especially when the combined iron – aluminum were used simultaneously as sacrificial anodes

Recombinant forms of Leishmania amazonensis excreted/secreted promastigote surface antigen (PSA) induce protective immune responses in dogs

International audiencePreventive vaccination is a highly promising strategy for interrupting leishmaniasis transmission that can, additionally, contribute to elimination. A vaccine formulation based on naturally excreted secreted (ES) antigens was prepared from L. infantum promastigote culture supernatant. This vaccine achieved successful results in Phase III trials and was licensed and marketed as CaniLeish. We recently showed that newly identified ES promastigote surface antigen (PSA), from both viable promastigotes and axenically-grown amastigotes, represented the major constituent and the highly immunogenic antigen of L. infantum and L. amazonensis ES products. We report here that three immunizations with either the recombi-nant ES LaPSA-38S (rPSA) or its carboxy terminal part LaPSA-12S (Cter-rPSA), combined with QA-21 as adjuvant, confer high levels of protection in naive L. infantum-infected Beagle dogs, as checked by bone marrow parasite absence in respectively 78.8% and 80% of vaccinated dogs at 6 months post-challenge. The parasite burden in infected vaccinated dogs was significantly reduced compared to placebo group, as measured by q-PCR. Moreover, our results reveal humoral and cellular immune response clear-cut differences between vaccinated and control dogs. An early increase in specific IgG2 antibodies was observed in rPSA/QA-21-and Cter-rPSA/QA-21-immunized dogs only. They were found functionally active in vitro and were highly correlated with vaccine protection. In vaccinated protected dogs, IFN-γ and NO productions, as well as anti-leishmanial macrophage activity, were increased. These data strongly suggest that ES PSA or its carboxy-terminal part, in recom-binant forms, induce protection in a canine model of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis by inducing a Th1-dominant immune response and an appropriate specific antibody response. These data suggest that they could be considered as important active components in vaccine candidates

In Vitro Evaluation of a Soluble Leishmania Promastigote Surface Antigen as a Potential Vaccine Candidate against Human Leishmaniasis

International audiencePSA (Promastigote Surface Antigen) belongs to a family of membrane-bound and secreted proteins present in severalLeishmania (L.) species. PSA is recognized by human Th1 cells and provides a high degree of protection in vaccinated mice.We evaluated humoral and cellular immune responses induced by a L. amazonensis PSA protein (LaPSA-38S) produced in aL. tarentolae expression system. This was done in individuals cured of cutaneous leishmaniasis due to L. major (CCLm) or L.braziliensis (CCLb) or visceral leishmaniasis due to L. donovani (CVLd) and in healthy individuals. Healthy individuals weresubdivided into immune (HHR-Lm and HHR-Li: Healthy High Responders living in an endemic area for L. major or L. infantuminfection) or non immune/naive individuals (HLR: Healthy Low Responders), depending on whether they produce high orlow levels of IFN-c in response to Leishmania soluble antigen. Low levels of total IgG antibodies to LaPSA-38S were detectedin sera from the studied groups. Interestingly, LaPSA-38S induced specific and significant levels of IFN-c, granzyme B and IL-10 in CCLm, HHR-Lm and HHR-Li groups, with HHR-Li group producing TNF-a in more. No significant cytokine response wasobserved in individuals immune to L. braziliensis or L. donovani infection. Phenotypic analysis showed a significant increasein CD4+ T cells producing IFN-c after LaPSA-38S stimulation, in CCLm. A high positive correlation was observed between thepercentage of IFN-c-producing CD4+ T cells and the released IFN-c. We showed that the LaPSA-38S protein was able toinduce a mixed Th1 and Th2/Treg cytokine response in individuals with immunity to L. major or L. infantum infectionindicating that it may be exploited as a vaccine candidate. We also showed, to our knowledge for the first time, the capacityof Leishmania PSA protein to induce granzyme B production in humans with immunity to L. major and L. infantum infectio

Coadministration of the Three Antigenic Leishmania infantum Poly (A) Binding Proteins as a DNA Vaccine Induces Protection against Leishmania major Infection in BALB/c Mice

Highly conserved intracellular proteins from Leishmania have been described as antigens in natural and experimental infected mammals. The present study aimed to evaluate the antigenicity and prophylactic properties of the Leishmania infantum Poly (A) binding proteins (LiPABPs). Three different members of the LiPABP family have been described. Recombinant tools based on these proteins were constructed: recombinant proteins and DNA vaccines. The three recombinant proteins were employed for coating ELISA plates. Sera from human and canine patients of visceral leishmaniasis and human patients of mucosal leishmaniasis recognized the three LiPABPs. In addition, the protective efficacy of a DNA vaccine based on the combination of the three Leishmania PABPs has been tested in a model of progressive murine leishmaniasis: BALB/c mice infected with Leishmania major. The induction of a Th1-like response against the LiPABP family by genetic vaccination was able to down-regulate the IL-10 predominant responses elicited by parasite LiPABPs after infection in this murine model. This modulation resulted in a partial protection against L. major infection. LiPABP vaccinated mice showed a reduction on the pathology that was accompanied by a decrease in parasite burdens, in antibody titers against Leishmania antigens and in the IL-4 and IL-10 parasite-specific mediated responses in comparison to control mice groups immunized with saline or with the non-recombinant plasmid. The results presented here demonstrate for the first time the prophylactic properties of a new family of Leishmania antigenic intracellular proteins, the LiPABPs. The redirection of the immune response elicited against the LiPABP family (from IL-10 towards IFN-γ mediated responses) by genetic vaccination was able to induce a partial protection against the development of the disease in a highly susceptible murine model of leishmaniasisThe study was supported in Spain by grants from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación FIS PI11/00095 and FISPI14/00366 from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III within the Network of TropicalDiseases Research (VI P I+D+I 2008-2011, ISCIII -Subdirección General de Redes y Centros de Investigación Cooperativa (RD12/0018/0009)). This work was also supported in Brazil by a grant from CNPq (Ciencia sem Fronteiras-PVE 300174/2014-4). A CBMSO institutional grant from Fundación Ramón Areces is also acknowledged. EAFC is a grant recipient of CNPq. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscrip

Recent updates and perspectives on approaches for the development of vaccines against visceral leishmaniasis

All rights reserved. Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is one of the most important tropical diseases worldwide. Although chemotherapy has been widely used to treat this disease, problems related to the development of parasite resistance and side effects associated with the compounds used have been noted. Hence, alternative approaches for VL control are desirable. Some methods, such as vector control and culling of infected dogs, are insufficiently effective, with the latter not ethically recommended. The development of vaccines to prevent VL is a feasible and desirable measure for disease control, for example, some vaccines designed to protect dogs against VL have recently been brought to market. These vaccines are based on the combination of parasite fractions or recombinant proteins with adjuvants that are able to induce cellular immune responses, however, their partial efficacy and the absence of a vaccine to protect against human leishmaniasis underline the need for characterization of new vaccine candidates. This review presents recent advances in control measures for VL based on vaccine development, describing extensively studied antigens, as well as new antigenic proteins recently identified using immuno-proteomic techniquesThis work was supported by grants from Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Nano-Biofarmacêutica, Rede Nanobiotec/Brasil-Universidade Federal de Uberlândia/CAPES, PRONEX-FAPEMIG (APQ-01019-09), FAPEMIG (CBB-APQ-00819-12 and CBB-APQ-01778-2014), and CNPq (APQ-482976/2012-8, APQ-488237/2013-0, and APQ-467640/2014-9). EAFC and LRG are recipients of the grant from CNPq. MACF is the recipient of grants from FAPEMIG/CAPE