Nathalie Grande, Le Rire galant. Usages du comique dans les fictions narratives de la seconde moitié du xviie siècle

Attraverso l’esplorazione degli usi del comico, Nathalie Grande contribuisce a definire l’estetica della galanteria nelle finzioni narrative in prosa della seconda metà del xvii secolo. Evidenziando la continuità che si delinea tra il xvii e il xviii secolo, sia sul piano letterario che su quello delle idee, l’A. tenta di correggere l’immagine del Grand Siècle troppo spesso appiattita sull’estetica del classicismo. Da un lato l’A. riesamina la funzione liberatoria del riso e del sorriso, dall..

Chauvigny de la Bretonnière, La Religieuse en chemise et Le Cochon mitré

Edito da Jean Sgard, professore emerito dell’università di Grenoble III, questo volume accoglie, insieme ad un’importante introduzione, l’edizione moderna di due opere attribuite a François Chauvigny de la Bretonnière, Vénus dans le cloître ou la Religieuse en chemise e Le Cochon mitré. Giornalista, romanziere e libertino, Chauvigny ebbe una breve carriera letteraria della durata di soli cinque anni. Prima di ciò, il silenzio del chiostro benedettino, dopo, quello della prigione. Vénus dans l..

Nathalie Grande, Le Rire galant. Usages du comique dans les fictions narratives de la seconde moitié du xviie siècle

Attraverso l’esplorazione degli usi del comico, Nathalie Grande contribuisce a definire l’estetica della galanteria nelle finzioni narrative in prosa della seconda metà del xvii secolo. Evidenziando la continuità che si delinea tra il xvii e il xviii secolo, sia sul piano letterario che su quello delle idee, l’A. tenta di correggere l’immagine del Grand Siècle troppo spesso appiattita sull’estetica del classicismo. Da un lato l’A. riesamina la funzione liberatoria del riso e del sorriso, dall..

French Seventeenth-Century Literature. Influences and transformations. Essays in honour of Christopher J. Gossip, Jane Southwood, Bernard Bourque eds.

Omaggio al celebre studioso Christopher J. Gossip, professore emerito all’Università di New England, Australia, questo volume racchiude tredici saggi sul Seicento francese. Essi affondano le radici in una delle aree di ricerca predilette dallo studioso e si diramano in tre linee principali: la ripresa di temi antichi nella letteratura francese del Seicento, il riadattamento di soggetti identici da parte di autori diversi e l’influenza che alcuni scrittori del diciassettesimo secolo ebbero nel..

http://obvil.paris-sorbonne.fr/projets/la-haine-du-theatre, Projet «La Haine du Théâtre»

Conçu en 2012 par François Lecercle et Clotilde Thouret, le projet «La Haine du Théâtre» est l’un des nombreux projets du Labex Obvil (Observatoire de la vie littéraire, http://obvil.paris-sorbonne.fr). Il se propose d’examiner les manifestations récurrentes d’hostilité au théâtre tout en explorant l’étonnante propension du théâtre occidental à susciter le scandale, au cours des siècles, dans divers pays d’Europe, de l’antiquité à nos jours. Les réflexions de l’équipe scientifique de la HdT (..

Combination antifungal therapy and surgery for the treatment of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

An 8-year old boy, affected by severe aplastic anemia, developed a probable pulmonary invasive aspergillosis (IA) early after a second unrelated allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). He was treated promptly with the combination of liposomal amphotericin B and caspofungin. Despite the initial stabilization, the patient deteriorated and the antifungal therapy was switched to voriconazole and caspofungin. The patient gradually improved and was discharged home on day +29 post-HSCT on oral voriconazole. On day +119, a sudden episode of hemoptysis occurred and a right superior lobectomy was decided to remove the residual aspergilloma. The patient is now alive and well more than 24 months from HSCT. This case demonstrated that antifungal combination therapy and surgery are valid options to cure pulmonary IA even in patients at high-risk and severely immunosuppressed

Tau Modulates VGluT1 Expression

Abstract Tau displacement from microtubules is the first step in the onset of tauopathies and is followed by toxic protein aggregation. However, other non-canonical functions of Tau might have a role in these pathologies. Here, we demonstrate that a small amount of Tau localizes in the nuclear compartment and accumulates in both the soluble and chromatin-bound fractions. We show that favoring Tau nuclear translocation and accumulation, by Tau overexpression or detachment from MTs, increases the expression of VGluT1, a disease-relevant gene directly involved in glutamatergic synaptic transmission. Remarkably, the P301L mutation, related to frontotemporal dementia FTDP-17, impairs this mechanism leading to a loss of function. Altogether, our results provide the demonstration of a direct physiological role of Tau on gene expression. Alterations of this mechanism may be at the basis of the onset of neurodegeneration

Risk Factors and Outcomes Related to Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Admission after Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Single-Center Experience

Abstract To describe incidence, causes, and outcomes related to pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission for patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), we investigated the risk factors predisposing to PICU admission and prognostic factors in terms of patient survival. From October 1998 to April 2015, 496 children and young adults (0 to 23 years) underwent transplantation in the HSCT unit. Among them, 70 (14.1%) were admitted to PICU. The 3-year cumulative incidence of PICU admission was 14.3%. The main causes of PICU admission were respiratory failure (36%), multiple organ failure (16%), and septic shock (13%). The overall 90-day cumulative probability of survival after PICU admission was 34.3% (95% confidence interval, 24.8% to 47.4%). In multivariate analysis, risk factors predisposing to PICU admission were allogeneic HSCT (versus autologous HSCT, P  = .030) and second or third HSCT ( P  = .018). Characteristics significantly associated with mortality were mismatched HSCT ( P  = .011), relapse of underlying disease before PICU admission ( P P  = .012), hepatic failure at admission ( P  = .021), and need for invasive ventilation during PICU course (

Migration of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) from plastic and rubber articles

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) constitute a large group of chemically related substances many of which are known carcinogens. To minimise human exposure there are already several pieces of EU legislation which limit their presence in certain food products, as well as in water and ambient air. Under the REACH regulation (EC 1907/2006 Annex XVII, Entry 50), eight priority PAHs have for some time been restricted in extender oils used in tyres. Although not added deliberately to consumer products, PAHs can still be present as impurities. An amendment of the above mentioned legislation (Regulation EU 1272/2013) establishes content limits for the eight PAHs of 0.5 mg kg-1 for plastic and rubber components of toys/childcare articles, and 1 mg kg-1 for all other consumer articles, in direct and prolonged, or short-term repetitive, contact with the skin or oral cavity. In May 2016 DG JRC and DG GROW signed an Administrative Arrangement (AA 34003) known as the STANPAHs project. The main objective of this contract was for the JRC to provide scientific support in the implementation and potential amendment of the restriction on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, in particular concerning paragraphs 5 and 6 of entry 50 of Annex XVII to the REACH legislation. The main objectives of the project were: a) to gain a better understanding of the migration behaviour of certain PAHs in plastic and rubber components of articles, and b) to develop a reliable methodology to determine PAH migration from these matrices, under conditions simulating, to the best possible extent, dermal contact (including the oral cavity). This report presents the outcomes of the experimental studies carried out at JRC and the achievements towards fulfilling these objectives. A set of manufactured polymeric plastic and rubber matrices, to be used as test materials in the project, has been chosen based on criteria such as their frequency of use in articles within the scope of the restriction and the likelihood of the presence of high PAH contents (e.g. due to their content in carbon black or extender oils). Various grades and types of ingredients known to be PAH sources were used in the formulation of the manufactured ad-hoc materials. The test materials included low density polyethylene (LDPE), polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as plastic matrices, and ethylene-propylene diene monomer (EPDM), natural rubber-butadiene rubber (NR-BR) and silicone as rubber matrices. Moreover, recycled granules (coated and uncoated) originating from end-of-life tyres produced before and after 2010 as well as rubber tiles made of the recycled coated granules were also made available for this study. The content of each of the eight restricted PAHs was measured by using a method developed in-house based on Randall hot extraction, purification by Solid Phase Extraction based on Molecular Imprinted Polymers, and Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry determination. A number of experimental studies were undertaken to generate data and information to improve the knowledge on migration of the target PAHs. Migration parameters operated in the STANPAHs project to estimate migration rates were as follows: dynamic mode at 40°C for 24 hours using a variety of migration media including artificial aqueous simulants, modified biosimulants formulations with lipidic content such as skin surface film liquid (SSFL), and 20% ethanol in water. According to scientific literature the use of 20% ethanol as the migration medium proved to correlate well with human skin absorption. Using these conditions, migration of the target PAHs into artificial sweat (EN1811) and artificial saliva (DIN53160-1) was not detected in any of the materials studied. Moreover none of the plastic polymeric materials led to detectable release of the target PAHs in any of the migration media used in this study (i.e. artificial sweat and saliva, skin surface film liquid (SSFL), and 20% ethanol solution). Similarly the tests with silicone materials did not result in detectable migration. Only the rubber matrices containing Distillate Aromatic Extract (DAE) as extender oil showed detectable migration when using 20% ethanol as the migration solution. In addition, the release of PAHs from coated recycled rubber granules was lower than from the uncoated granules suggesting that the coating acts as a barrier to chemical migration. According to industrial partners DAE is not used by European industries for manufacturing of parts of articles intended for skin contact. The materials containing DAE, although not representative for marketed products, have been made available to facilitate migration testing method development. The migration test method using 20% ethanol has been validated in-house and shows good method performance allowing the determination of PAH at trace level. Furthermore it has been considered for an initial inter-laboratory comparison study (ILC) aiming to investigate method applicability and transferability in a variety of laboratories. The within-laboratory precision, expressed as the relative standard deviation for repeatability (RSDr), and the between-laboratory precision, expressed as the relative standard deviation for reproducibility (RSDR) were assessed. In general the RSDR ranged from 28 to 113% and the RSDr from 7 to 23%. It is worth remembering that the level of PAH migration was very close to the quantification limit of the method and therefore this variability can be expected. Similar values have been reported in a recent German study with the participation of 9 laboratories on the migration of PAHs from rubber materials in contact with aqueous ethanol. The fact that better values of RSDr and RSDR were obtained for chrysene and benzo(e)pyrene that had the highest concentrations in the final migration solutions and that the analysis of the control solution used in this exercise showed a good reproducibility (RSDR% <10%), shows the possibility to reduce the variability between laboratories with a revised operating procedure in terms of injection volume and/or elution volume. In conclusion this report makes available new data and scientific information on the migration behaviour of certain PAHs from selected plastic and rubber polymeric matrices, in support of the European Commission's legal obligation to review the PAHs restriction under REACH. Standard operating procedures for quantification of the content of each of the eight restricted PAHs as well as their migration into 20% ethanol have been developed. Moreover the information gathered in STANPAHs (e.g. literature search), the ad-hoc manufactured materials still available, as well as the JRC in-house analysis method for PAH content could be of great benefit to accelerate the work towards standardisation of PAH content analysis in consumer products that has been recently undertaken by the European Standardisation Committee following a request by DG GROW.JRC.F.2-Consumer Products Safet

Fast diffusing p75NTR monomers support apoptosis and growth cone collapse by neurotrophin ligands

The p75 neurotrophin (NT) receptor (p75NTR) plays a crucial role in balancing survival-versus-death decisions in the nervous system. Yet, despite 2 decades of structural and biochemical studies, a comprehensive, accepted model for p75NTR activation by NT ligands is still missing. Here, we present a single-molecule study of membrane p75NTR in living cells, demonstrating that the vast majority of receptors are monomers before and after NT activation. Interestingly, the stoichiometry and diffusion properties of the wild-type (wt) p75NTR are almost identical to those of a receptor mutant lacking residues previously believed to induce oligomerization. The wt p75NTR and mutated (mut) p75NTR differ in their partitioning in cholesterol-rich membrane regions upon nerve growth factor (NGF) stimulation: We argue that this is the origin of the ability of wt p75NTR , but not of mut p75NTR, to mediate immature NT (proNT)-induced apoptosis. Both p75NTR forms support proNT-induced growth cone retraction: We show that receptor surface accumulation is the driving force for cone collapse. Overall, our data unveil the multifaceted activity of the p75NTR monomer and let us provide a coherent interpretative frame of existing conflicting data in the literature