Corporeality, equality and education. A biopedagogical perspective

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Development and Characterization of Synthetic Glucopyranosyl Lipid Adjuvant System as a Vaccine Adjuvant

Innate immune responses to vaccine adjuvants based on lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a component of Gram-negative bacterial cell walls, are driven by Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 and adaptor proteins including MyD88 and TRIF, leading to the production of inflammatory cytokines, type I interferons, and chemokines. We report here on the characterization of a synthetic hexaacylated lipid A derivative, denoted as glucopyranosyl lipid adjuvant (GLA). We assessed the effects of GLA on murine and human dendritic cells (DC) by combining microarray, mRNA and protein multiplex assays and flow cytometry analyses. We demonstrate that GLA has multifunctional immunomodulatory activity similar to naturally-derived monophosphory lipid A (MPL) on murine DC, including the production of inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, DC maturation and antigen-presenting functions. In contrast, hexaacylated GLA was overall more potent on a molar basis than heterogeneous MPL when tested on human DC and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). When administered in vivo, GLA enhanced the immunogenicity of co-administered recombinant antigens, producing strong cell-mediated immunity and a qualitative TH1 response. We conclude that the GLA adjuvant stimulates and directs innate and adaptive immune responses by inducing DC maturation and the concomitant release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines associated with immune cell trafficking, activities which have important implications for the development of future vaccine adjuvants

Anatomy of life and well-being: A framework for the contributions of phenomenology and complexity theory

This paper proposes an anatomy of the phenomena of life and of correlate qualitative modes of empirical research, theory, and professional practice concerned with health and well-being. I explicate the qualitative dynamic operative at every level of order, from the biological realm of cells and organisms, through distinctively human lifeworld experiences and practices, to communities of organisms in ecosystems and bio-cultural regions. This paper clarifies the unity of the dimensions of life and aligns these with demonstrated and emerging contributions of hermeneutical phenomenology and current complexity–autopoietic theory (including disciplinary and professional interpretations of empirical findings). The intent is begin to delineate a common framework upon which we could build—facilitating better understanding of the distinctive contributions of each specialization as well as the integration of diverse qualitative approaches with each other (and with quantitative complements)

Eccentricity and vulnerability. Helmuth Plessner’s philosophical and political anthropology

This text is a written and extended version of the lecture I gave on 7 November 2017 at the First Spanish-Serbian Workshop on Philosophy and Social Theory, ‘Engaging Vulnerability and Exclusion. Rethinking the Subject in the 21st Century’. On that occasion, I focused on Helmuth Plessner’s conception of the individual and underlined the connection between the notions of ‘eccentricity’ and ‘vulnerability’ from that point of view. The present version also explores at the very end that same connection from the perspective of relations between nations and peoples as it is thematized by Plessner himself in the last chapter of his 1931 book Macht und menschliche Natur. In this way, I try to contribute to the revitalization of the reception of Plessner’s philosophical and political anthropology, which I have been working on during recent years, as well as to reclaim the importance of the so-called ‘continental philosophy’ with regard to the discourse on the vulnerability issue.This chapter will focus on "Macht und menschliche Natur", Plessner’s last book of the Weimar period, published just two years before the collapse of the Republic and the content of which is related to another two major figures of German intellectuality during this epoch of upheaval: the author of "Sein und Zeit", Martin Heidegger, and Carl Schmitt. I will examine the affinities and discrepancies which may be found between Schmitt and Plessner regarding the meaning which the conceptual pair friend-enemy acquires according to both authors. Schmitt understood it as the difference which determines human groupings, whereas Plessner comprehended it as a relation which does not institute identity and has not only to do with groups, but also with individuals.Depto. de Filosofía y SociedadFac. de FilosofíaFALSEpu