China-EU relations and the future of European soft power: a strategy for a European cultural diplomacy

What are the key areas in which the EU can engage with China in the diplomatic sphere? Karine Lisbonne de Vergeron writes that China’s overall economic and strategic interests now seem to go hand in hand with a willingness to engage with Europe culturally. She argues that with Europe’s culture forming its most fundamental comparative advantage in soft power, cultural industries should form the basis for strengthening relations between the EU and China

The significance of perceptions and cultural engagement in the evolution of a European commercial and soft power diplomacy with the emerging Asian giants

The focus of my submission is on external perceptions of Europe from the perspectives of the two new great powers in Asia: China and India. It spans over nine years of research. When the work started in 2006, the EU was in deep crisis just a year after the uncertainty that was unleashed by the rejection in France and the Netherlands of the then Constitutional Treaty. The Union's goals were questioned and the process of integration stalled. Given this apparent impasse, and the failure of debates within the EU to offer a way forward, it seemed worth investigating whether research into the perception from non-Europeans, specifically significant outsiders of Europe (namely China and India), could offer a new insight into the debate about Europe’s future. This fundamental question later unfolded in various ways, especially in the wake of the financial crisis, which revealed underlying economic weaknesses and inadequate mechanisms of coordination within the European Single Market and specifically in the Eurozone. It was further underlined by the continuing shift of economic power globally, which gave a renewed relevance to understanding how China and India saw the EU and. more generally, the world, relative to their own expectations, as mutual interdependence between the East and the West continued to grow. My work was also informed by on-going and new academic debates about the idea of the EU as a ‘special’ global actor in world affairs with a focus on the visions, values and principles of Europe’s place in international relations (see Section 5). They were complemented by the view that as globalisation proceeds and mutates, the way in which different cultures view each other, both change and become of increasing importance to their interaction. Comprehending how 'others’ view the complex combination of. above all. national and international politics, economy and culture, which is today’s EU (the first such entity of its kind in modern political history) is indeed also a means to assess its actual, and even more its potential influence and place in world affairs. This obviously has a range of further implications for the nature and the scale of Europe's possible bilateral relationships with China and India and. therefore, also on its commercial and soft power policies (see Section 5 for a definition of the concept) towards both countries as well as towards Asia more widely. A considerable number of studies on Europe’s relation with China and India have, of course, also been undertaken in recent years (see Section 5). They have, however, overwhelmingly consisted of European (and other) views of the emerging Asian giants. Very little comparative work has been done on Chinese and/or Indian views of the rest of the world, and. specifically, of their evolution over time and relevance for Europe itself (see Section 5). When the first two publications of 2006 and 2007 were released, no systematic study had been made of how China and India perceive the EU and the idea of Europe more generally

Invariant NKT Cells Drive Hepatic Cytokinic Microenvironment Favoring Efficient Granuloma Formation and Early Control of Leishmania donovani Infection

The development of inflammatory granulomas around infected Kupffer cells is necessary for hepatic parasite clearance during visceral leishmaniasis. Invariant NKT (iNKT) cells are predominant T cells in the mouse liver and can synthesize large quantities of IL-4 and IFN-γ, two cytokines involved in granuloma formation. This study analyzed the role of iNKT cells in the hepatic immune response during Leishmania donovani infection, using a murine model of wild-type (WT) and iNKT cell-deficient (Jα18-/-) C57BL/6 mice sacrificed 15, 30 or 60 days post-infection. We recorded hepatic parasite loads, cytokine expression, and analyzed granulomatous response by immunohistochemistry and hepatic immune cell infiltration by flow cytometry. Whereas WT animals rapidly controlled the infection and developed an inflammatory response associated with a massive influx of iNKT cells observed by flow cytometry, Jα18-/- mice had significantly higher parasitic loads on all time points. This lack of control of parasite burden was associated with a delay in granuloma maturation (28.1% of large granulomas at day 60 versus 50.7% in WT). Cytokine transcriptome analysis showed that mRNA of 90/101 genes encoding chemokines, cytokines and their receptors, was underexpressed in Jα18-/- mice. Detection of IL-4 and TNF-α by ELISA in liver extracts was also significantly lower in Jα18-/- mice. Consistent with flow cytometry analysis, cytokinome profile in WT mice showed a bias of expression towards T cell-chemoattractant chemokines on D15, and displayed a switch towards expression of granulocytes and/or monocytes -chemoattractant chemokines on D60. In Jα18-/- mice, the significantly lower expression of CXCL5, MIP-2 and CCL2 mRNA was correlated with a defect in myeloperoxidase positive-cell attraction observed by immunohistochemistry and with a lower granulocyte and monocyte infiltration in the liver, as shown by flow cytometry. These data indicate that iNKT cells play a role in early and sustained pro-inflammatory cytokine response warranting efficient organization of hepatic granulomas and parasite clearance

Airborne lipid antigens mobilize resident intravascular NKT cells to induce allergic airway inflammation

Resident intravascular NKT cells exacerbate airway hyperreactivity in mice dependent on dendritic cell co-presentation of glycolipid and peptide antigens

Pathogenic Mouse Hepatitis Virus or Poly(I:C) Induce IL-33 in Hepatocytes in Murine Models of Hepatitis.

International audienceThe IL-33/ST2 axis is known to be involved in liver pathologies. Although, the IL-33 levels increased in sera of viral hepatitis patients in human, the cellular sources of IL-33 in viral hepatitis remained obscure. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the expression of IL-33 in murine fulminant hepatitis induced by a Toll like receptor (TLR3) viral mimetic, poly(I:C) or by pathogenic mouse hepatitis virus (L2-MHV3). The administration of poly(I:C) plus D-galactosamine (D-GalN) in mice led to acute liver injury associated with the induction of IL-33 expression in liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSEC) and vascular endothelial cells (VEC), while the administration of poly(I:C) alone led to hepatocyte specific IL-33 expression in addition to vascular IL-33 expression. The hepatocyte-specific IL-33 expression was down-regulated in NK-depleted poly(I:C) treated mice suggesting a partial regulation of IL-33 by NK cells. The CD1d KO (NKT deficient) mice showed hepatoprotection against poly(I:C)-induced hepatitis in association with increased number of IL-33 expressing hepatocytes in CD1d KO mice than WT controls. These results suggest that hepatocyte-specific IL-33 expression in poly(I:C) induced liver injury was partially dependent of NK cells and with limited role of NKT cells. In parallel, the L2-MHV3 infection in mice induced fulminant hepatitis associated with up-regulated IL-33 expression as well as pro-inflammatory cytokine microenvironment in liver. The LSEC and VEC expressed inducible expression of IL-33 following L2-MHV3 infection but the hepatocyte-specific IL-33 expression was only evident between 24 to 32h of post infection. In conclusion, the alarmin cytokine IL-33 was over-expressed during fulminant hepatitis in mice with LSEC, VEC and hepatocytes as potential sources of IL-33

Invariant NKT cells are required for airway inflammation induced by environmental antigens

House dust contains antigens capable of activating mouse and human iNKT cells, contributing to allergen-induced airway inflammation

État actuel du problème. L'immunité diplomatique, les traités, la jurisprudence et la pratique

Lisbonne Jean. État actuel du problème. L'immunité diplomatique, les traités, la jurisprudence et la pratique. In: Travaux du Comité français de droit international privé, 30-32e année, 1969-1971. 1972. pp. 27-52

La voix, le chanteur, ses pathologies et ses traitements

MONTPELLIER-BU Pharmacie (341722105) / SudocSudocFranceF

Criticality Control During the Dismantling of a Uranium Conversion Plant

Within the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, in the Cadarache Research Center in southern France, the production at the Enriched Uranium Treatment Workshops started in 1965 and ended in 1995. The dismantling is in progress and will last until 2006. The decommissioning is planned in 2007. Since the authorized enrichment in 235U was 10% in some parts of the plant, and unlimited in others, the equipment and procedures were designed for criticality control during the operating period. Despite the best previous removing of the uranium in the inner parts of the equipment, evaluation of the mass of remaining fissile material by in site gamma spectrometry measurement shows that the safety of the ''clean up'' operations requires specific criticality control procedures, this mass being higher than the safe mass. The chosen method is therefore based on the mapping of fissile material in the contaminated parts of the equipment and on the respect of particular rules set for meeting the criticality control standards through mass control. The process equipment is partitioned in separated campaign, and for each campaign the equipment dismantling is conducted with a precise traceability of the pieces, from the equipment to the drum of waste, and the best final evaluation of the mass of fissile material in the drum. The first results show that the mass of uranium found in the dismantled equipment is less than the previous evaluation, and they enable us to confirm that the criticality was safely controlled during the operations. The mass of fissile material remaining in the equipment can be then carefully calculated, when it is lower than the minimal critical mass, and on the basis of a safety analysis, we will be free of any constraints regarding criticality control, this allowing to make procedures easier, and to speed up the operations