Endogenously expressed nef uncouples cytokine and chemokine production from membrane phenotypic maturation in dendritic cells

Immature dendritic cells (DCs), unlike mature DCs, require the viral determinant nef to drive immunodeficiency virus (SIV and HIV) replication in coculture with CD4+ T cells. Since immature DCs may capture and get infected by virus during mucosal transmission, we hypothesized that Nef associated with the virus or produced during early replication might modulate DCs to augment virus dissemination. Adenovirus vectors expressing nef were used to introduce nef into DCs in the absence of other immunodeficiency virus determinants to examine Nef-induced changes that might activate immature DCs to acquire properties of mature DCs and drive virus replication. Nef expression by immature human and macaque DCs triggered IL-6, IL-12, TNF-α, CXCL8, CCL3, and CCL4 release, but without up-regulating costimulatory and other molecules characteristic of mature DCs. Coincident with this, nef-expressing immature DCs stimulated stronger autologous CD4+ T cell responses. Both SIV and HIV nef-expressing DCs complemented defective SIVmac239 delta nef, driving replication in autologous immature DC-T cell cultures. In contrast, if DCs were activated after capturing delta nef, virus growth was not exacerbated. This highlights one way in which nef-defective virus-bearing immature DCs that mature while migrating to draining lymph nodes could induce stronger immune responses in the absence of overwhelming productive infection (unlike nef-containing wild-type virus). Therefore, Nef expressed in immature DCs signals a distinct activation program that promotes virus replication and T cell recruitment but without complete DC maturation, thereby lessening the likelihood that wild-type virus-infected immature DCs would activate virus-specific immunity, but facilitating virus dissemination

1864 : Société d’histoire et de géographie de Mulhouse

La Société d’histoire et de géographie de Mulhouse (SHGM) est une vieille dame plus que centenaire aux prestigieux parents. Elle est le fruit de fusions successives qui sont ici rapidement retracées. Comité d’Histoire et de Statistique de la Société industrielle de Mulhouse Le Second Empire (1851-1870) est, en Alsace, une période charnière dans l’histoire des sociétés savantes archéologiques et historiques. Si la Société française d’archéologie est créée dès 1834 par Arcisse de Caumont, il fa..

Christine Velut, Décors de papier : Production, commerce et usages des papiers peints à Paris, 1750-1820

Un ouvrage sur le papier peint qui n’est pas une histoire générale, ressassant des poncifs, est toujours un événement, tant restent rares les études sur ce type de décor. On ne peut donc accueillir qu’avec curiosité et enthousiasme l’ouvrage de Christine Velut. On sait que l’histoire du papier peint fut d’abord, au XIXe puis au début du XXe siècle, l’affaire des fabricants eux-mêmes, soucieux de retrouver leurs racines, et donc de valoriser leur statut économique et social, à un moment où le ..

La durabilité de l´eau agricole en Mèditerranée à l´épreuve des enjeux sociétaux contemporains

Sommaire du Congrès International portant sur les usages écologiques, économiques et sociaux des eaux d‟irrigation en M éditerranée, qui s‟est tenu „a l‟Université de Provence (Marseille) les 20 et 21 Janvier 2010. Il y eu 4 axes de débat ; de l‟irrigation à la gestion durable de l‟eau, les droits de l‟eau (propriété et appropriation symbolique), biodiversité et pays a- ge de l‟eau et perspective de gestion, participation et gouvernance. La reconnaissance d‟expérience des 2 cotés de la Méditerranée, avec des processus divers et contrastés, a offert aux 200 congressistes un cadre riche en références hi storiques et actuelles et u n registre int é ressant de propositions pour le futur.Crónica del Congreso Internacional que sobre Los Usos ecológicos, económicos y sociales del agua de riego en el Mediterráneo, se celebró en la Universidad de Provenza (Marsella) durante los días 20 y 21 de enero de 2010. Cuatro fu e- ron sus ejes de debate: Del regadío a la gestión sostenible del agua, los derechos de agua (propiedad y apropiación simbólica), biodiversidad y paisajes del agua y perspectivas de gestión, participación y gobernanza. El reconocimiento de experiencias de las dos orillas del Mediterráneo, con procesos diversos y contrastados, ofreció a los 200 congresistas un marco muy rico de referencias históricas y actuales y un elenco de interesantes propuestas de futuro.The paper is a review of the international conference entitled “Ecological, economic and social uses of agricultural water in the Mediterranean area: What is at stake?” held on January 20 - 21 at the University of Provence (Marseilles). The seminar was structured around the following four key points: from irrigation to sustainable water management, water rights: ownership and symbolic appropriation, biodiversity and water landscapes, an d prospects for management, participation and governance. The analysis and comparison between experiences on both sides of the Mediterranean with different processes gave the 200 participants a rich framework of historic and current references and a range of interesting proposals for the future

Judicial review in the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy

The EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) was conceived of as an area ill-suited for full judicial review by the Court of Justice of the European Union. The Lisbon Treaty confers on the Court limited jurisdiction which the recent case law has interpreted in broad terms. This article will place this case law in the broader constitutional setting of the EU legal order and will provide a critical analysis of its implications for both the EU's and domestic courts. The analysis is structured on the basis of three main themes. The first is about the position of CFSP in the EU's constitutional architecture: the article will analyse the constitutional ambivalence that characterizes this position and how it is conveyed by the provisions of the Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union governing the Court's jurisdiction. The second theme is about the recent case law, and the integrationist approach that the Court of Justice has adopted to the scope of its jurisdiction. The third theme is about national courts: the article will argue that recent case law has been too quick to dismiss them, and that primary law renders them an essential part of the judicial review system governing CFSP

Institutional balance and sincere cooperation in treaty-making under EU law

A stream of recent judgments by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice has shed light on the procedures that govern treaty-making by the European Union. This article explores how this case-law aproaches the principle of institutional balance and the duty of cooperation between the institutions. It argues that the former is construed in a balanced manner on the basis of a literal interpretation of primary law that promotes strict compliance with procedural rules and does not favour a particular institution. As for the duty of cooperation, whilste its procedural dimension is strengthened, its scope remains somewhat elusive. The analysis identifies a pragmatic streak in the Court’s balanced approach, and argues that there is an inherent limit to the impact of constitutional law on inter-institutional disputes. Ultimately, the less time and energy the institutions waste on turf wars about their procedural powers, the greater their contribution to inceasing the efficiency of the Union’s treaty-making practice

Establishment of a Functional Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) Reverse Transcription Complex Involves the Cytoskeleton

After interaction of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) virions with cell surface receptors, a series of poorly characterized events results in establishment of a viral reverse transcription complex in the host cell cytoplasm. This process is coordinated in such a way that reverse transcription is initiated shortly after formation of the viral reverse transcription complex. However, the mechanism through which virus entry and initiation of reverse transcription are coordinated and how these events are compartmentalized in the infected cell are not known. In this study, we demonstrate that viral reverse transcription complexes associate rapidly with the host cell cytoskeleton during HIV-1 infection and that reverse transcription occurs almost entirely in the cytoskeletal compartment. Interruption of actin polymerization before virus infection reduced association of viral reverse transcription complexes with the cytoskeleton. In addition, efficient reverse transcription was dependent on intact actin microfilaments. The localization of reverse transcription to actin microfilaments was mediated by the interaction of a reverse transcription complex component (gag MA) with actin but not vimentin (intermediate filaments) or tubulin (microtubules). In addition, fusion, but not endocytosis-mediated HIV-1 infectivity, was impaired when actin depolymerizing agents were added to target cells before infection but not when added after infection. These results point to a previously unsuspected role for the host cell cytoskeleton in HIV-1 entry and suggest that components of the cytoskeleton promote establishment of the reverse transcription complex in the host cell and also the process of reverse transcription within this complex

A União Europeia como potência global? As alterações do Tratado de Lisboa na política externa e de defesa

Este artigo aborda as alterações que o Tratado de Lisboa introduziu na política externa e de defesa, tendo em conta a gradual alteração do conceito estratégico da União Europeia que pretende transformá-la numa potência global. Começa por enquadrar a intervenção da União Europeia na política internacional, com a adoção de uma política externa e de segurança pelo Tratado de Maastricht. Em seguida, refere as inovações do Tratado de Lisboa nessa política, analisando os aspectos de maior relevo

HIV infection of non-dividing cells: a divisive problem

Understanding how lentiviruses can infect terminally differentiated, non-dividing cells has proven a very complex and controversial problem. It is, however, a problem worth investigating, for it is central to HIV-1 transmission and AIDS pathogenesis. Here I shall attempt to summarise what is our current understanding for HIV-1 infection of non-dividing cells. In some cases I shall also attempt to make sense of controversies in the field and advance one or two modest proposals