VEG, Sebastian (éd.). 2019. Popular Memories of the Mao Era: From Critical Debate to Reassessing History. Hong Kong : Hong Kong University Press.

Dans le sillage des tournants culturels et anthropologiques, les récentes études historiques sur l’ère maoïste (1949-1976) ont manifesté un intérêt particulier à l’égard de la « vie quotidienne », des rituels et performances, ainsi que des expériences vécues par les couches populaires de la société (voir entre autres exemples Leese 2011 ; Brown et Johnson 2015 ; Yang 2016). Cet éloignement de la politique des élites et du factionnalisme a été rendu possible par l’accès à une plus large variét..

Research Ethics Review in Humanitarian Contexts: The Experience of the Independent Ethics Review Board of Médecins Sans Frontières

Doris Schopper and colleagues describe the functioning of the Médecins Sans Frontières independent ethics review board and the framework used for ethics review, and discuss challenging ethical issues encountered by the board since its inception

Comparing the cumulative live birth rate of cleavage-stage versus blastocyst-stage embryo transfers between IVF cycles:a study protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled superiority trial (the ToF trial)

Introduction In vitro fertilisation (IVF) has evolved as an intervention of choice to help couples with infertility to conceive. In the last decade, a strategy change in the day of embryo transfer has been developed. Many IVF centres choose nowadays to transfer at later stages of embryo development, for example, transferring embryos at blastocyst stage instead of cleavage stage. However, it still is not known which embryo transfer policy in IVF is more efficient in terms of cumulative live birth rate (cLBR), following a fresh and the subsequent frozen-thawed transfers after one oocyte retrieval. Furthermore, studies reporting on obstetric and neonatal outcomes from both transfer policies are limited. Methods and analysis We have set up a multicentre randomised superiority trial in the Netherlands, named the Three or Fivetrial. We plan to include 1200 women with an indication for IVF with at least four embryos available on day 2 after the oocyte retrieval. Women are randomly allocated to either (1) control group: embryo transfer on day 3 and cryopreservation of supernumerary good-quality embryos on day 3 or 4, or (2) intervention group: embryo transfer on day 5 and cryopreservation of supernumerary good-quality embryos on day 5 or 6. The primary outcome is the cLBR per oocyte retrieval. Secondary outcomes include LBR following fresh transfer, multiple pregnancy rate and time until pregnancy leading a live birth. We will also assess the obstetric and neonatal outcomes, costs and patients' treatment burden. Ethics and dissemination The study protocol has been approved by the Central Committee on Research involving Human Subjects in the Netherlands in June 2018 (CCMO NL 64060.000.18). The results of this trial will be submitted for publication in international peer-reviewed and in open access journals. Trial registration number Netherlands Trial Register (NL 6857)

European multicenter study on antimicrobial resistance in bacteria isolated from companion animal urinary tract infections

BACKGROUND: There is a growing concern regarding the increase of antimicrobial resistant bacteria in companion animals. Yet, there are no studies comparing the resistance levels of these organisms in European countries. The aim of this study was to investigate geographical and temporal trends of antimicrobial resistant bacteria causing urinary tract infection (UTI) in companion animals in Europe. The antimicrobial susceptibility of 22 256 bacteria isolated from dogs and cats with UTI was determined. Samples were collected between 2008 and 2013 from 16 laboratories of 14 European countries. The prevalence of antimicrobial resistance of the most common bacteria was determined for each country individually in the years 2012-2013 and temporal trends of bacteria resistance were established by logistic regression. RESULTS: The aetiology of uropathogenic bacteria differed between dogs and cats. For all bacterial species, Southern countries generally presented higher levels of antimicrobial resistance compared to Northern countries. Multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli were found to be more prevalent in Southern countries. During the study period, the level of fluoroquinolone-resistant E. coli isolated in Belgium, Denmark, France and the Netherlands decreased significantly. A temporal increase in resistance to amoxicillin-clavulanate and gentamicin was observed among E. coli isolates from the Netherlands and Switzerland, respectively. Other country-specific temporal increases were observed for fluoroquinolone-resistant Proteus spp. isolated from companion animals from Belgium. CONCLUSIONS: This work brings new insights into the current status of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria isolated from companion animals with UTI in Europe and reinforces the need for strategies aiming to reduce resistance

Age Distribution of Multiple Functionally Relevant Subsets of CD4+T Cells in Human Blood Using a Standardized and Validated 14-Color EuroFlow Immune Monitoring Tube

CD4+ T cells comprise multiple functionally distinct cell populations that play a key role in immunity. Despite blood monitoring of CD4+ T-cell subsets is of potential clinical utility, no standardized and validated approaches have been proposed so far. The aim of this study was to design and validate a single 14-color antibody combination for sensitive and reproducible flow cytometry monitoring of CD4+ T-cell populations in human blood to establish normal age-related reference values and evaluate the presence of potentially altered profiles in three distinct disease models-monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis (MBL), systemic mastocytosis (SM), and common variable immunodeficiency (CVID). Overall, 145 blood samples from healthy donors were used to design and validate a 14-color antibody combination based on extensive reagent testing in multiple cycles of design-testing-evaluation-redesign, combined with in vitro functional studies, gene expression profiling, and multicentric evaluation of manual vs. automated gating. Fifteen cord blood and 98 blood samples from healthy donors (aged 0-89 years) were used to establish reference values, and another 25 blood samples were evaluated for detecting potentially altered CD4 T-cell subset profiles in MBL (n = 8), SM (n = 7), and CVID (n = 10). The 14-color tube can identify >= 89 different CD4+ T-cell populations in blood, as validated with high multicenter reproducibility, particularly when software-guided automated (vs. manual expert-based) gating was used. Furthermore, age-related reference values were established, which reflect different kinetics for distinct subsets: progressive increase of naive T cells, T-helper (Th)1, Th17, follicular helper T (TFH) cells, and regulatory T cells (Tregs) from birth until 2 years, followed by a decrease of naive T cells, Th2, and Tregs in older children and a subsequent increase in multiple Th-cell subsets toward late adulthood. Altered and unique CD4+ T-cell subset profiles were detected in two of the three disease models evaluated (SM and CVID). In summary, the EuroFlow immune monitoring TCD4 tube allows fast, automated, and reproducible identification of >= 89 subsets of CD4+ blood T cells, with different kinetics throughout life. These results set the basis for in-depth T-cell monitoring in different disease and therapeutic conditions

Diaspora’s homeland : modern China in the age of global migration

In a 2004 lecture entitled “Why China Historians Should Study the Chinese Diaspora, and Vice-versa,” the renowned historian Philip A. Kuhn made the case for the intermingled processes of modern Chinese history and the history of Chinese emigration. Continuing these efforts of cross-fertilization by Philip A. Kuhn and, among others, Madeline Y. Hsu, Adam M. McKeown, and Glen Peterson, in Diaspora’s Homeland, Shelly Chan puts in dialogue the fields of overseas Chinese, Chinese American, and modern Chinese history. Unlike in other accounts, however, the book’s starting point is the overlooked question: “How did it change China?” (1). This question goes beyond earlier approaches that Chan characterizes as “the sum of parts,” namely mapping distributions of Chinese in “fixed” countries and regions, or “interactions between parts,” namely outlining transnational connections at various levels (7-8). Instead, the book is preoccupied with the emigrants’ influence on China and how diaspora-homeland dynamics transformed China into an invented permanent “homeland.”Accepted versio

The specter of failed transition : Tocqueville and the reception of liberalism in reform China

What connects the political thinker and historian Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) to China? Hitherto, scholars have answered this question by looking into references to China in his Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution or by applying insights from his works to issues of democratization. This article seeks to move beyond these “Tocquevillian perspectives on China” and instead foregrounds “Chinese perspectives on Tocqueville”: How did Chinese thinkers understand Tocqueville in reform China (post-1978)? Building on existing research that has analyzed Tocqueville as a thinker concerned with transition rather than with democratization per se, this article posits that Chinese intellectuals interpreted Tocqueville to warn against the dangers of “failed transition” after the suppression of the Tiananmen demonstrations and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Swayed by the Tocquevillian paradox of reform, they identified the French and Anglo-American “models” as “cases” from which general lessons could be drawn. The article further posits that the renewed interest in Tocqueville in the 2010s was also marked by the specter of failed transition. Later, readers and officials pinpointed the rise of social inequality as a potentially destabilizing factor. Finally, the article sheds light on these contemporary readings of Tocqueville against the broader background of the history of liberalism in China.Accepted versio

Contested centenary: remembering the May Fourth movement in the PRC and across Chinese communities

History is no small matter in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Many readers are probably familiar with the historical narrative of the so-called ‘century of humiliation’ that commenced with the First Opium War from 1839 to 1842. This relevance of history in China goes beyond a mere case of ‘using the past to serve the present’, however: long before the ascent of Mao Zedong, it was believed that one could ‘know the future in the mirror of the past’ (jianwang zhilai). The writing of history was about disclosing the ideal moral order that had been realised during a past Golden Age

Qiaowu : extra-territorial policies for the overseas Chinese

Whereas scholarship on diasporas has expanded in tandem with research on globalization and migration in recent decades, the role of diasporas in international relations remains an understudied subject. In the field of IR, questions of transnationalism and national identity have mostly been approached through the lens of constructivism. In response to this, some scholars have urged for the return of the state in analyses of the role of diasporas in IR. James Jiann Hua To’s study of qiaowu or “Overseas Chinese (OC) affairs work” (huaqiao shiwu gongzuo) falls within the scope of the latter. As such, this is an attempt to offer a more updated and systematic approach to existing accounts of “qiaowu methodology” (p. 12), of which Stephen Fitzgerald’s China and the Overseas Chinese: A Study of Peking’s Changing Policy 1949-1970 (Cambridge University Press, 1972) is perhaps the most classic exampleAccepted versio