POURQUOI FACTS ?

S’employer à créer une science de l’action de terrain (FACTS = Field ACTion Science) : une lubie académique ? Pas le moins du monde ! 2 milliards d’êtres humains sur 7 vivent dans la misère. Cet immense scandale en cache un autre. Une fraction importante des moyens dévolus à la lutte contre la pauvreté (jusqu’à 70% selon certains) part en fumée. Triple crime : contre les pauvres ; contre les contributeurs (publics et privés) dont la générosité est abusée ; et contre l’esprit. L’intelligence ..

Redistribution of critical major histocompatibility complex and T cell receptor-binding functions of residues in an antigenic sequence after biterminal substitution

Residues critical for establishing a trimolecular interaction with a major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-encoded receptor and a T cell antigen receptor (TcR) were determined for an antigenic nonapeptide. The N-terminal residue proved to be involved in binding of the peptide to both receptors and the C-terminal residue was essential for MHC binding. While substitution of either of these critical terminal residues by alanine resulted in an almost complete loss of peptide antigenicity, simultaneous substitution of both created a new functional ligand for the same MHC molecule and the same TcR. Notably, in the biterminally substituted peptide, the core residues took on new roles in the trimolecular interaction in that a residue critical in the authentic nonapeptide for TcR binding became critical for MHC binding and former spacer residues became essential to various degrees for the interaction with either receptor or both. Thus, apparently, the loss of the terminal residues' contribution was at least partially compensated by a redistribution of the roles among the remaining residues. These results reflect a cooperative contribution of all residues of an antigenic peptide to its binding to both receptors and thus challenge a static definition of agretope and epitope as MHC and TcR binding sites

FACTS Reports: Second birthday

The FACTS Initiative is now two years old. Since its inception, it has been making steady progress. Some 50 peer-reviewed articles have been published in FACTS Reports and are freely accessible online. Visits to the web site are increasing, showing that the articles and their authors are receiving attention from a growing number of people in many countries. Thus, the proof of concept has been reached: it has been established that a peer-reviewed international journal devoted to best practices..

L’altruité : clé de la lutte contre la pauvreté

Cet article présente le concept d’altruité et en montre l’importance philosophique et pratique dans la lutte contre la pauvreté. Forme très spécifique d’altruisme rationnel, l’altruité est le devoir de la liberté. Le devoir individuel d’altruité est la contrepartie nécessaire du droit aux libertés individuelles. Il est, par nature, distinct (mais complémentaire) de la générosité, et étranger à l’attente de don réciproque (même s’il ne l’exclut pas). L’idée d’altruité est fondatrice d’une théorie de la responsabilité individuelle et d’une théorie de la justice qui fournissent un cadre conceptuel à la lutte contre la pauvreté. Parce qu’elle ne prend sens que si elle est mise en œuvre avec une méthode définie, elle offre également un cadre à l’action, comme le montre l’Initiative FACTS. L’altruité apparaît ainsi comme une clé de la lutte contre la pauvreté

Field Actions Science Reports

This is the new site of the FACTS Initiative and of the new international journal FACTS Reports. Let us recall in brief that similarly to what has been shown to be successful in scientific communities, the aim of FACTS Reports is to propose mechanisms for communication, evaluation and recognition between practitioners acting in the field, especially in developing countries. As in science, these mechanisms should be managed by the practitioners themselves. Thus, papers submitted to FACTS Repor..

Foreword

Back in 1975, I was a young academic who, thanks to a fortunate mix-up, ended up accompanying a group of eminent figures as a member of the first delegation of French scientists to be officially welcomed to China. Mao Zedong still ruled over a country that was just beginning to open up. It was a fascinating trip during which, to illustrate the merits of traditional Chinese medicine, we were given a demonstration of surgery under acupuncture anesthesia. It was very impressive – a single needle..

FACTS Reports: Second birthday

The FACTS Initiative is now two years old. Since its inception, it has been making steady progress. Some 50 peer-reviewed articles have been published in FACTS Reports and are freely accessible online. Visits to the web site are increasing, showing that the articles and their authors are receiving attention from a growing number of people in many countries. Thus, the proof of concept has been reached: it has been established that a peer-reviewed international journal devoted to best practices..

Field Actions Science Reports

This is the new site of the FACTS Initiative and of the new international journal FACTS Reports. Let us recall in brief that similarly to what has been shown to be successful in scientific communities, the aim of FACTS Reports is to propose mechanisms for communication, evaluation and recognition between practitioners acting in the field, especially in developing countries. As in science, these mechanisms should be managed by the practitioners themselves. Thus, papers submitted to FACTS Repor..

Altruity: Key to the Fight Against Poverty

This paper presents the concept of altruity and illustrates its philosophical and practical importance in the fight against poverty. Altruity –a highly specific form of rational altruism– is the duty that comes with freedom. The individual duty of altruity is the necessary counterpart of the right to individual freedoms. It is, by its very nature, distinct from (though complementary to) generosity, and devoid of any expectation of reciprocity (while not excluding it). The idea of altruity is the cornerstone of a theory of individual responsibility, and of a theory of justice, which provide a conceptual framework for the struggle against poverty. And because it is only meaningful if implemented with a pre-defined method, it also provides a framework for action, as the FACTS Initiative has shown. Altruity thus emerges as one of the keys to the fight against poverty

Lineage relationships, homeostasis, and recall capacities of central– and effector–memory CD8 T cells in vivo

The lineage relationships of central–memory T cells (TCM) cells and effector–memory T cells (TEM), as well as their homeostasis and recall capacities, are still controversial. We investigated these issues in a murine model using two complementary approaches: T cell receptor repertoire analysis and adoptive transfer experiments of purified H-Y–specific TCM and TEM populations. Repertoire studies showed that approximately two thirds of TCM and TEM clones derived from a common naive precursor, whereas the other third was distinct. Both approaches highlighted that TCM and TEM had drastically distinct behaviors in vivo, both in the absence of antigen or upon restimulation. TCM clones were stable in the absence of restimulation and mounted a potent and sustained recall response upon secondary challenge, giving rise to both TCM and TEM, although only a fraction of TCM generated TEM. In contrast, TEM persisted for only a short time in the absence of antigen and, although a fraction of them were able to express CD62L, they were unable to mount a proliferative response upon secondary challenge in this model