Hermite and Laguerre Symmetric Functions Associated with Operators of Calogero-Moser-Sutherland Type

We introduce and study natural generalisations of the Hermite and Laguerre polynomials in the ring of symmetric functions as eigenfunctions of infinite-dimensional analogues of partial differential operators of Calogero-Moser-Sutherland (CMS) type. In particular, we obtain generating functions, duality relations, limit transitions from Jacobi symmetric functions, and Pieri formulae, as well as the integrability of the corresponding operators. We also determine all ideals in the ring of symmetric functions that are spanned by either Hermite or Laguerre symmetric functions, and by restriction of the corresponding infinite-dimensional CMS operators onto quotient rings given by such ideals we obtain so-called deformed CMS operators. As a consequence of this restriction procedure, we deduce, in particular, infinite sets of polynomial eigenfunctions, which we shall refer to as super Hermite and super Laguerre polynomials, as well as the integrability, of these deformed CMS operators. We also introduce and study series of a generalised hypergeometric type, in the context of both symmetric functions and 'super' polynomials

Proximité à distance : les fonctions critiques de la mimêsis dans la pensée de Theodor W. Adorno

La présente thèse entend donner sens à un concept qui occupe une place centrale au sein de la pensée de Theodor W. Adorno mais qui, parce que notoirement difficile à définir, n’a pas reçu l’attention qu’il mérite : la mimêsis (Mimesis). Il s’agira, plus exactement, de comprendre la mimêsis comme un point nodal de la critique adornienne, qui nous permet de comprendre au nom et en vue de quoi elle se déploie. Car sous toutes ses acceptions – et nous verrons qu’elles sont fort variées – la mimêsis adornienne est toujours invoquée dans le but de contrecarrer les tendances hétéronomes (c’est-à-dire : déshumanisantes) propres aux sociétés capitalistes avancées. Surtout, elle est constamment présentée comme un correctif matérialiste au type de rationalité abstraite qui sous-tend ces sociétés. Cette tâche s’avère d’autant plus lourde que, malgré son important poids normatif, la mimêsis ne fait pas l’objet, chez Adorno, d’une théorisation explicite. Il nous faudra pallier cette indétermination, en identifiant d’abord les assises normatives les plus premières de la critique adornienne (0.0. Introduction : les fondements normatifs de la critique adornienne), pour ensuite rendre compte des fonctions particulières qu’occupe la mimêsis au sein de cette critique (1.0. Les fonctions critiques de la mimêsis adornienne). Ce travail de débroussaillage exégétique et interprétatif nous permettra de constater que la mimêsis adornienne recèle trois types de potentiels critiques distincts. D’abord, en ce qu’elle est présentée – dans les travaux des années 1930 et 1940 surtout – comme une impulsion psychosomatique à même de trahir, l’instant d’une brève résistance, la violence infligée à la nature intérieure et extérieure de l’homme par les forces réificatrices de la rationalité instrumentale (Instrumentelle Vernunft), la mimêsis adornienne peut être comprise comme un mimétisme (Mimikry) bioanthropologique dont la valeur est principalement expressive (2.O. Mimikry : le potentiel bioanthropologique de la mimêsis). Ensuite, lorsqu’elle sera pensée – à partir de la fin des années 50 surtout – comme une compétence proprement épistémique qui permet au sujet connaissant de rencontrer à nouveau puis de redéterminer les objets de son expérience, la mimêsis adornienne peut être comprise comme un correctif critique à la logique appropriative de la pensée identifiante (identifizierendes Denken) (3.O. Affinität et Entäusserung : le potentiel épistémique de la mimêsis). Enfin, dans la mesure où elle informe le modus operandi de l’oeuvre d’art d’avant-garde telle que défendue par Adorno dans la Théorie esthétique, et qui consiste à détourner, en les retournant contre elles-mêmes, les contraintes imposées par le monde totalement administré (total verwaltete Welt), la mimêsis peut être comprise comme une Methexis subversive, c’est-à-dire comme une stratégie séditieuse à même de conjurer l’hétéronomie sociale en l’anticipant et en l’incorporant (4.0. Methexis subversive : le potentiel stratégique de la mimêsis). Ainsi, tout en voulant rendre justice à la très grande polysémie du concept, nous aimerions démontrer que la mimêsis adornienne pointe constamment vers une forme ou une autre de résistance : comme expression, comme extériorisation ou comme subversion.The main goal of this thesis is to give meaning to a concept which, despite being central to the thought of Theodor W. Adorno, is notoriously difficult to grasp, and for that reason, has not received the critical attention it deserves: mimesis (Mimesis). More precisely, this thesis will present mimesis as a central principle which grounds the particular type of philosophical critique developed and defended by Adorno. Despite its different meanings – and they are numerous, as we shall see –, adornian mimesis is always invoked as a means of countering the heteronomous (that is to say, dehumanizing) tendencies at the heart of advanced capitalist societies. Above all, we will try to show that mimesis is presented by Adorno as a materialist corrective to the type of abstract rationality that underlies these societies. This task is a difficult one, since for all its normative importance, the concept of mimesis is never conceptualized as such by Adorno, but simply alluded to. We will try to compensate for this indeterminacy, firstly, by identifying the most fundamental normative underpinnings of Adorno’s thought (0.0. Introduction : les fondements normatifs de la critique adornienne), and secondly, by giving a full account of the different critical contributions that mimesis brings to it (1.0. Les fonctions critiques de la mimêsis adornienne). This exegetical and interpretative effort will enable us to see that Adorno’s concept of mimesis contains three distinct critical potentials. First, insofar as it is presented – especially in the works of the late 1930s and 1940s – as a psychosomatic impulse which gives lie, momentarily, to the violence inflicted on man’s interior and exterior nature by the reifying forces of instrumental rationality (Instrumentelle Vernunft), Adorno’s mimesis can be understood as a bioanthropological mimicry (Mimikry) (2.O. Mimikry : le potentiel bioanthropologique de la mimêsis). Secondly, insofar as it presented – more often in the works of the late 1950s and onward – as an epistemological competence by which the thinking subject is able to re-encounter and re-determine the objects of his experience, adornian mimesis can be seen to counteract the appropriative logic of identity thinking (identifizierendes Denken) (3.O. Affinität et Entäusserung : le potentiel épistémique de la mimêsis). Finally, insofar as it informs the radical artwork’s modus operandi – as it is defended by Adorno in his unfinished Aesthetic Theory –, that is, its capacity to subvert the constraints of the totally administered world (total verwaltete Welt) by incorporating them, adornian mimesis can be understood as a strategic Methexis, as a seditious tactic by which heteronomous forces can be at once anticipated and countered (4.0. Methexis subversive : le potentiel stratégique de la mimêsis). Thus, while looking to do justice to the rich polysemy of the concept of mimesis in Adorno, we would also like to show what, in all its forms, it points towards one form or another of resistance: as expression, exteriorization or subversion

Burden of disease in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps

Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is a predominantly type 2 inflammation-mediated disease of the nasal mucosa and paranasal sinuses with an under-recognized clinical, humanistic, and economic burden. Patients with CRSwNP experience a high symptom burden, including nasal congestion, loss of smell, and rhinorrhea, which has a negative impact on physical and mental health-related quality of life, including sleep quality. Existing medical and surgical interventions, including local and systemic corticosteroids and endoscopic sinus surgery, may be associated with recurrence of nasal polyps and associated symptoms and with an increased risk of short- and long-term adverse effects, especially with repeated or long-term use. Because type 2 inflammation is implicated in the pathogenesis of several coexisting diseases, patients with CRSwNP often have comorbid asthma and/or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-exacerbated respiratory disease. These patients, as well as those with high corticosteroid use and/or sinonasal surgical history, have more severe disease and associated symptom burden and represent a difficult-to-treat population under the existing management paradigm. This article reviews the clinical, humanistic, and economic burden of CRSwNP; it highlights the unmet need for effective and safe CRSwNP therapies that effectively control symptoms and minimize recurrence by targeting the underlying type 2 inflammatory disease pathophysiology

P17-26. Effective design of T-cell driven vaccines applied to the GAIA HIV vaccine: advances in vaccine design based on current preclinical success

Poster Presentatio

Eustachian tube symptoms are frequent in chronic rhinosinusitis and respond well to endoscopic sinus surgery

BACKGROUND: Symptoms of Eustachian tube (ET) dysfunction are seldom assessed in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). The Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22) quality-of-life tool includes two questions that specifically screen for symptoms of ET dysfunction (Ear Fullness; Ear Pain). OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which these ET symptoms were present in patients with CRS, and whether these symptoms respond to endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). METHODOLOGY: SNOT-22 data collected prospectively at time of recruitment into IRB-approved clinical trials or case-control studies in CRS was pooled to provide a cross section of the frequency and severity of ET dysfunction. When applicable to the trials, the SNOT-22 was repeated at least 3 months following ESS. RESULTS: Five trials rendering 131 patients were available for assessment. The control group comprised of 251 participants from two case-control studies. Ear Fullness of equal/greather than 1 was reported in 80/131 CRS patients compared to 45/251 control patients. Ear Pain of equal/greather than 1 was reported in 39/131 CRS patients compared to 33/251 control patients. Following ESS, mean Ear Fullness and Ear Pain scores decreased to 1.17 and 0.73, respectively. CONCLUSION: Symptoms suggestive of ET dysfunction are frequent in CRS, and for most patients the symptoms will decrease post-ESS to a level comparable with a non-CRS population. Patients whose ET symptoms do not respond to ESS may represent a target population for emerging therapeutic options for ET dysfunction

Epitope Recognition in HLA-DR3 Transgenic Mice Immunized to TSH-R Protein or Peptides

Development of Graves\u27 disease is related to HLA-DR3. The extracellular domain (ECD) of human TSH receptor (hTSH-R) is a crucial antigen in Graves\u27 disease. hTSH-R peptide 37 (amino acids 78–94) is an important immunogenic peptide in DR3 transgenic mice immunized to hTSH-R. This study examined the epitope recognition in DR3 transgenic mice immunized to hTSH-R protein and evaluated the ability of a mutant hTSH-R peptide to attenuate the immunogenicity of hTSH-R peptide 37. DR3 transgenic mice were immunized to recombinant hTSH-R-ECD protein or peptides. A mutant hTSH-R 37 peptide (ISRIYVSIDATLSQLES: 37m), in which DR3 binding motif position 5 was mutated V\u3eA, and position 8 Q\u3eS, was synthesized. 37m should bind to HLA-DR3 but not bind T cell receptors. DR3 transgenic mice were immunized to hTSH-R 37 and 37m. Mice immunized to hTSH-R-ECD protein developed strong anti-hTSH-R antibody, and antisera reacted strongly with hTSH-R peptides 1–5 (20–94), 21 (258–277), 41 (283–297), 36 (376–389), and 31 (399–418). Strikingly, antisera raised to hTSH-R peptide 37 bound to hTSH-R peptides 1–7 (20–112), 10 (132–50), 33 (137–150), 41, 23 (286–305), 24 (301–320), 36, and 31 as well as to hTSH-R-ECD protein. Both antibody titers to hTSH-R 37 and reaction of splenocytes to hTSH-R 37 were significantly reduced in mice immunized to hTSH-R 37 plus 37m, compared with mice immunized to hTSH-R 37 alone. The ability of immunization to a single peptide to induce antibodies that bind hTSH-R-ECD protein, and multiple unrelated peptides, is a unique observation. Immunogenic reaction to hTSH-R peptide 37 was partially suppressed by 37m, and this may contribute to immunotherapy of autoimmune thyroid disease