Anti-melanocortin-4 receptor autoantibodies in obesity

Background: The melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) is part of an important pathway regulating energy balance. Here we report the existence of autoantibodies (autoAbs) against the MC4R in sera of obese patients. Methods: The autoAbs were detected after screening of 216 patients' sera by using direct and inhibition ELISA with an N-terminal sequence of the MC4R. Binding to the native MC4R was evaluated by flow cytometry and pharmacological effects by measuring adenylyl cyclase activity. Results: Positive results in all tests were obtained in patients with overweight or obesity (prevalence: 3.6%) but not in normal weight patients. The selective binding properties of anti-MC4R autoAbs were confirmed by surface plasmon resonance and by immunoprecipitation with the native MC4R. Finally it was demonstrated that these autoAbs increased food intake in rats after passive transfer via intracerebroventricular injection. Conclusion: These observations suggest that inhibitory anti-MC4R autoAbs might contribute to the development of obesity in a small subpopulation of patients

Geographic map understanding : Algorithms for hydrographic and road networks reconstruction

The French Institut Géographique National (IGN) wants to develop an automated map understanding system, for the geographical maps at scale 1/25000. The aim is to automatically convert the 2000 cartographic paper-maps in a geographical objects database, directly usable by a GIS. This paper describes a high-level method for the automated reconstruction of the network graphs, represented on the French geographic maps . This method is applied to the hydrographic and road networks, symbolized with dashed lines, interrupted solid lines and fragmented textured areas . The graph theory paradigm is used, which allows to naturally model those networks by graphs, and to formalize the constraints for their reconstruction . A priori knowledges on natural and cartographic networks are directly used in the reconstruction process, and translated either as invariants the networks must verify during the reconstruction, either as quality criterion for the likely considered connexions .L'Institut Géographique National (IGN) a pour objectif de développer sur la carte IGN au 1/25000 un système d'interprétation totalement automatique et complet de la carte. Le but est de convertir automatiquement le fond de cartes existant sous forme papier, en une base de données d'objets géographiques directement manipulables par un SIG. Cet article décrit une méthode générale de haut niveau pour la reconstruction automatique des graphes des réseaux représentés sur les cartes géographiques. Elle a été appliquée aux réseaux hydrographiques et routiers qui sont essentiellement composés de lignes tiretées, de traits pleins interrompus et d'objets surfaciques interrompus. Le formalisme utilisé est celui de la théorie des graphes, qui permet de modéliser naturellement ces réseaux et d'expliciter les contraintes liées à leur reconstruction. Les connaissances a priori sur les réseaux réels et cartographiques sont directement intégrées dans le processus de reconstruction, et traduites soit comme des invariants que doivent vérifier les réseaux en cours de reconstruction, soit comme des mesures de qualité sur les connexions vraissemblables envisagées

J D Bernal: philosophy, politics and the science of science

This paper is an examination of the philosophical and political legacy of John Desmond Bernal. It addresses the evidence of an emerging consensus on Bernal based on the recent biography of Bernal by Andrew Brown and the reviews it has received. It takes issue with this view of Bernal, which tends to be admiring of his scientific contribution, bemused by his sexuality, condescending to his philosophy and hostile to his politics. This article is a critical defence of his philosophical and political position

J D Bernal: philosophy, politics and the science of science

This paper is an examination of the philosophical and political legacy of John Desmond Bernal. It addresses the evidence of an emerging consensus on Bernal based on the recent biography of Bernal by Andrew Brown and the reviews it has received. It takes issue with this view of Bernal, which tends to be admiring of his scientific contribution, bemused by his sexuality, condescending to his philosophy and hostile to his politics. This article is a critical defence of his philosophical and political position

Psychopolitics: Peter Sedgwick’s legacy for mental health movements

This paper re-considers the relevance of Peter Sedgwick's Psychopolitics (1982) for a politics of mental health. Psychopolitics offered an indictment of ‘anti-psychiatry’ the failure of which, Sedgwick argued, lay in its deconstruction of the category of ‘mental illness’, a gesture that resulted in a politics of nihilism. ‘The radical who is only a radical nihilist’, Sedgwick observed, ‘is for all practical purposes the most adamant of conservatives’. Sedgwick argued, rather, that the concept of ‘mental illness’ could be a truly critical concept if it was deployed ‘to make demands upon the health service facilities of the society in which we live’. The paper contextualizes Psychopolitics within the ‘crisis tendencies’ of its time, surveying the shifting welfare landscape of the subsequent 25 years alongside Sedgwick's continuing relevance. It considers the dilemma that the discourse of ‘mental illness’ – Sedgwick's critical concept – has fallen out of favour with radical mental health movements yet remains paradigmatic within psychiatry itself. Finally, the paper endorses a contemporary perspective that, while necessarily updating Psychopolitics, remains nonetheless ‘Sedgwickian’

The Function of Bachelardian Epistemology in the Post-colonial Project of Mohammed ‘Abed al-Jabri

This paper explores the function of historical epistemology in the thought of Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962) and Mohammed ‘Abed al-Jabri (1935–2010). Attributing thought with a particular function challenges our tendency to explain the development of thought in other socio-historical contexts in terms of mere conceptual influence. Available English-language literature on al-Jabri commonly references Bachelard’s concept of epistemological rupture as a source of inspiration. Though the reference is astute, this term remains poorly understood and has long been overshadowed by Thomas Kuhn’s notion of ‘paradigm shift’. The broader function of Bachelard’s thought as a renegotiation of time, place, subject, and reason in the natural sciences has been largely neglected in historiographies of the philosophy of science outside of France. This paper emphasizes the level of insight and ingenuity with which al-Jabri employs the function of Bachelard’s epistemology by re-interpreting it within the framework of his own socio-historical context. Far from reducing al-Jabri’s thought to a mere programmatic reproduction of French thought, I suggest that al-Jabri was among the most astute interpreters of this long-misunderstood theorist

Sociological and Communication-Theoretical Perspectives on the Commercialization of the Sciences

Both self-organization and organization are important for the further development of the sciences: the two dynamics condition and enable each other. Commercial and public considerations can interact and "interpenetrate" in historical organization; different codes of communication are then "recombined." However, self-organization in the symbolically generalized codes of communication can be expected to operate at the global level. The Triple Helix model allows for both a neo-institutional appreciation in terms of historical networks of university-industry-government relations and a neo-evolutionary interpretation in terms of three functions: (i) novelty production, (i) wealth generation, and (iii) political control. Using this model, one can appreciate both subdynamics. The mutual information in three dimensions enables us to measure the trade-off between organization and self-organization as a possible synergy. The question of optimization between commercial and public interests in the different sciences can thus be made empirical.Comment: Science & Education (forthcoming

The Social and Ethical Acceptability of NBICs for Purposes of Human Enhancement: Why Does the Debate Remain Mired in Impasse?

The emergence and development of convergent technologies for the purpose of improving human performance, including nanotechnology, biotechnology, information sciences, and cognitive science (NBICs), open up new horizons in the debates and moral arguments that must be engaged by philosophers who hope to take seriously the question of the ethical and social acceptability of these technologies. This article advances an analysis of the factors that contribute to confusion and discord on the topic, in order to help in understanding why arguments that form a part of the debate between transhumanism and humanism result in a philosophical and ethical impasse: 1. The lack of clarity that emerges from the fact that any given argument deployed (arguments based on nature and human nature, dignity, the good life) can serve as the basis for both the positive and the negative evaluation of NBICs. 2. The impossibility of providing these arguments with foundations that will enable others to deem them acceptable. 3. The difficulty of applying these same arguments to a specific situation. 4. The ineffectiveness of moral argument in a democratic society. The present effort at communication about the difficulties of the argumentation process is intended as a necessary first step towards developing an interdisciplinary response to those difficulties