La naissance de Sparte : entre sources littéraires et sources archéologiques

Les évolutions institutionnelles et les modes d’occupation du territoire qui ont amené à la création de la polis de Sparte dans la vallée du fleuve Eurotas entre les xe et ixe siècles av. J.-C. sont encore aujourd’hui peu claires. La lecture assez superficielle des textes a donné lieu à la création du modèle que les dynamiques de peuplement définissent comme kata kômas. D’autre part, les sources archéologiques, peu nombreuses et sans cohérence apparente, sont difficilement exploitables et à première vue ne permettent pas de s’écarter des modèles d’interprétation qui expliquent la naissance de Sparte comme le résultat de ses institutions politiques. La référence majeure est toujours la figure légendaire de Lycurgue, ainsi que l’arrivée des Doriens dans le Péloponnèse. Avec la présente étude, nous proposons une nouvelle lecture des données disponibles, qui fait davantage dialoguer celles-ci et dévoilera le processus d’idéalisation — le mirage spartiate — qui se développa au fur et à mesure de la consolidation de la cité laconienne.The institutional development and the modes of occupation of the territory which led to the creation of the polis of Sparta in the valley of the Eurotas river between the 10th and 9th centuries BC are still unclear today. The rather superficial reading of the texts gave rise to the creation of a model that the dynamics of settlement define as kata kômas. On the other hand, the archaeological evidence, few in number and without apparent coherence, are difficult to exploit and, at first glance, do not allow us to shift from the models of interpretation which explain the birth of Sparta as the result of its own political institutions. The major reference is still the legendary figure of Lycurgus, as well as the arrival of the Dorians in the Peloponnese. In the present paper, I propose a new assessment of the available data, reinforcing their dialogue and revealing the idealization process—the Spartan mirage—which developed as the Laconian city was consolidated

Dietary protein restriction reduces circulating VLDL triglyceride levels via CREBH-APOA5-dependent and -independent mechanisms

Hypertriglyceridemia is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Dietary interventions based on protein restriction (PR) reduce circulating triglycerides (TGs), but underlying mechanisms and clinical relevance remain unclear. Here, we show that 1 week of a protein-free diet without enforced calorie restriction significantly lowered circulating TGs in both lean and diet-induced obese mice. Mechanistically, the TG-lowering effect of PR was due, in part, to changes in very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) metabolism both in liver and peripheral tissues. In the periphery, PR stimulated VLDL-TG consumption by increasing VLDL-bound APOA5 expression and promoting VLDL-TG hydrolysis and clearance from circulation. The PR-mediated increase in Apoa5 expression was controlled by the transcription factor CREBH, which coordinately regulated hepatic expression of fatty acid oxidation-related genes, including Fgf21 and Ppara. The CREBH-APOA5 axis activation upon PR was intact in mice lacking the GCN2-dependent amino acid-sensing arm of the integrated stress response. However, constitutive hepatic activation of the amino acid-responsive kinase mTORC1 compromised CREBH activation, leading to blunted APOA5 expression and PR-recalcitrant hypertriglyceridemia. PR also contributed to hypotriglyceridemia by reducing the rate of VLDL-TG secretion, independently of activation of the CREBH-APOA5 axis. Finally, a randomized controlled clinical trial revealed that 4-6 weeks of reduced protein intake (7%-9% of calories) decreased VLDL particle number, increased VLDL-bound APOA5 expression, and lowered plasma TGs, consistent with mechanistic conservation of PR-mediated hypotriglyceridemia in humans with translational potential as a nutraceutical intervention for dyslipidemia

The effects of graded caloric restriction : XII. Comparison of mouse to human impact on cellular senescence in the colon

Funding information: National Center for Research Resources, Grant/Award Number: UL1 RR024992; National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 91649108; Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Grant/Award Number: G009953/1; Bakewell Foundation; Longer Life Foundation ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The mouse work was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) of the UK (Standard Grant BB/ G009953/1 and a China partnering award (BB/JO20028/1) plus an award from the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC: Aging initiative: grant reference number 91649108). Human work was supported by grants from the Bakewell Foundation, the Longer Life Foundation (an RGA/Washington University Partnership), and the National Center for Research Resources (UL1 RR024992). The funding agencies had no role in the analysis or interpretation of the data or in the decision to submit the report for publication. The authors declare no competing financial interests.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Chronique archéologique de la religion grecque (ChronARG)

[01. Athènes, Attique, Mégaride] 02. Péloponnèse (Despina Chatzivasiliou, Alain Duplouyet Valeria Tosti) Généralités 02.01 – A. Bertelli porte un regard critique sur le travail de B. von Mangoldt consacré aux lieux de culte héroïque d’époque classique et hellénistique en Grèce. Parmi les lieux de culte discutés, le Péloponnèse figure en bonne place, notamment l’herôon du carrefour à Corinthe, l’herôon delta de Messène ou le Pélopion d’Olympie. L’A. s’accorde avec von Mangoldt sur la grande di..

Diagnostic Targeted Sequencing Panel for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Genomic Screening

Commercially available targeted panels miss genomic regions frequently altered in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We sought to design and benchmark a sequencing assay for genomic screening of HCC. We designed an AmpliSeq custom panel targeting all exons of 33 protein-coding and two long noncoding RNA genes frequently mutated in HCC, TERT promoter, and nine genes with frequent copy number alterations. By using this panel, the profiling of DNA from fresh-frozen (n = 10, 1495×) and/or formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumors with low-input DNA (n = 36, 530×) from 39 HCCs identified at least one somatic mutation in 90% of the cases. Median of 2.5 (range, 0 to 74) and 3 (range, 0 to 76) mutations were identified in fresh-frozen and FFPE tumors, respectively. Benchmarked against the mutations identified from Illumina whole-exome sequencing (WES) of the corresponding fresh-frozen tumors (105×), 98% (61 of 62) and 100% (104 of 104) of the mutations from WES were detected in the 10 fresh-frozen tumors and the 36 FFPE tumors, respectively, using the HCC panel. In addition, 18 and 70 somatic mutations in coding and noncoding genes, respectively, not found by WES were identified by using our HCC panel. Copy number alterations between WES and our HCC panel showed an overall concordance of 86%. In conclusion, we established a cost-effective assay for the detection of genomic alterations in HCC

[Epidemiology and surveillance of hepatitis E in Italy: data from the SEIEVA surveillance system 2007-2019]

hepatitis E is a disease spread all over the world, with endemic levels varying according to ecological and socioeconomic factors. In developing countries, large epidemics spread mainly through contaminated water; in developed countries, hepatitis E has always been considered a sporadic disease, closely associated to the travels to endemic areas, especially in Southeastern Asia. In the last years, this perception is significantly changing, because of an increasing number of autochthonous cases reported in many European countries

Sudden Unexpected Deaths and Vaccinations during the First Two Years of Life in Italy: A Case Series Study

Background The signal of an association between vaccination in the second year of life with a hexavalent vaccine and sudden unexpected deaths (SUD) in the two days following vaccination was reported in Germany in 2003. A study to establish whether the immunisation with hexavalent vaccines increased the short term risk of SUD in infants was conducted in Italy. Methodology/Principal Findings The reference population comprises around 3 million infants vaccinated in Italy in the study period 1999–2004 (1.5 million received hexavalent vaccines). Events of SUD in infants aged 1–23 months were identified through the death certificates. Vaccination history was retrieved from immunisation registries. Association between immunisation and death was assessed adopting a case series design focusing on the risk periods 0–1, 0–7, and 0–14 days after immunisation. Among the 604 infants who died of SUD, 244 (40%) had received at least one vaccination. Four deaths occurred within two days from vaccination with the hexavalent vaccines (RR = 1.5; 95% CI 0.6 to 4.2). The RRs for the risk periods 0–7 and 0–14 were 2.0 (95% CI 1.2 to 3.5) and 1.5 (95% CI 0.9 to 2.4). The increased risk was limited to the first dose (RR = 2.2; 95% CI 1.1 to 4.4), whereas no increase was observed for the second and third doses combined. Conclusions The RRs of SUD for any vaccines and any risk periods, even when greater than 1, were almost an order of magnitude lower than the estimates in Germany. The limited increase in RRs found in Italy appears confined to the first dose and may be partly explained by a residual uncontrolled confounding effect of age