Convincing and Captivating the Reader: Hypotyposis in Medieval Castilian Travel Narratives

If travel narratives satisfy the reader’s curiosity by providing visions of an elsewhere, offering them the illusion of a travel they cannot do, and showing them wonders, characterized by their ability to surprise, we will find those texts use hypotyposis, a “speaking painting” that develops “the art of making present the absent” and “mak[ing] the unimaginable imaginable and the improbable, probable”. The development of travel narratives during the late Middle Age marked affimation of the individual and the rise of empiricism. Based on the personal experience of travellers (either real or fictional), these texts have to convince of their authenticity and transmit this direct vision (autopsiam) to make visible and palpable to the reader that unknown horizon unveiled by travelling. Hypotypose would be one of the tools erecting the travelogue as a relevant source of knowledge by sharing the traveller’s sensory experience. The valuation of empirical knowledge is based on the epiphany induced by hypotyposis.Si le récit de voyage donne à voir l’ailleurs pour satisfaire la curiosité des lecteurs, leur offrant l’illusion du voyage qu’ils ne peuvent faire, leur montrant les merveilles, ces objets caractérisés par leur capacité à surprendre, nous y retrouverons bien la présence de l’hypotypose, « peinture parlante » qui développe « l’art de rendre présentes les choses absentes » et de « rendre imaginable l’inimaginable et vraisemblable l’invraisemblable ». Les récits de voyages, par leur développement au cours des derniers siècles du Moyen Âge, marquèrent l’affirmation de l’individu et l’avènement de l’empirisme. Basés sur l’expérience personnelle du voyageur (qu’elle soit réelle ou fictive), il faut à ces textes transmettre et convaincre de cette vision directe (autopsiam), afin de rendre visible et palpable pour le lecteur cet horizon inconnu dévoilé par le voyage. L’hypotypose serait ainsi un des outils érigeant le récit de voyage en source pertinente de savoir par le partage de l’expérience sensible du voyageur. La valorisation du savoir empirique s’appuie sur cette caractéristique d’épiphanie de l’hypotypose

Human cancers over express genes that are specific to a variety of normal human tissues

We have analyzed gene expression data from 3 different kinds of samples: normal human tissues, human cancer cell lines and leukemic cells from lymphoid and myeloid leukemia pediatric patients. We have searched for genes that are over expressed in human cancer and also show specific patterns of tissue-dependent expression in normal tissues. Using the expression data of the normal tissues we identified 4346 genes with a high variability of expression, and clustered these genes according to their relative expression level. Of 91 stable clusters obtained, 24 clusters included genes preferentially expressed either only in hematopoietic tissues or in hematopoietic and 1-2 other tissues; 28 clusters included genes preferentially expressed in various non-hematopoietic tissues such as neuronal, testis, liver, kidney, muscle, lung, pancreas and placenta. Analysis of the expression levels of these 2 groups of genes in the human cancer cell lines and leukemias, identified genes that were highly expressed in cancer cells but not in their normal counterparts, and were thus over expressed in the cancers. The different cancer cell lines and leukemias varied in the number and identity of these over expressed genes. The results indicate that many genes that are over expressed in human cancer cells are specific to a variety of normal tissues, including normal tissues other than those from which the cancer originated. It is suggested that this general property of cancer cells plays a major role in determining the behavior of the cancers, including their metastatic potential.Comment: To appear in PNA

Fast multiclonal clusterization of V(D)J recombinations from high-throughput sequencing

International audienceBACKGROUND: V(D)J recombinations in lymphocytes are essential for immunological diversity. They are also usefulmarkers of pathologies. In leukemia, they are used to quantify the minimal residual disease duringpatient follow-up. However, the full breadth of lymphocyte diversity is not fully understood. RESULTS: We propose new algorithms that process high-throughput sequencing (HTS) data to extract unnamedV(D)J junctions and gather them into clones for quantification. This analysis is based on a seedheuristic and is fast and scalable because in the first phase, no alignment is performed with germlinedatabase sequences. The algorithms were applied to TR HTS data from a patient with acutelymphoblastic leukemia, and also on data simulating hypermutations. Our methods identified themain clone, as well as additional clones that were not identified with standard protocols. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed algorithms provide new insight into the analysis of high-troughput sequencing data forleukemia, and also to the quantitative assessment of any immunological profile. The methodsdescribed here are implemented in a C++ open-source program called Vidjil

Vezatin is essential for dendritic spine morphogenesis and functional synaptic maturation.

International audienceVezatin is an integral membrane protein associated with cell-cell adhesion complex and actin cytoskeleton. It is expressed in the developing and mature mammalian brain, but its neuronal function is unknown. Here, we show that Vezatin localizes in spines in mature mouse hippocampal neurons and codistributes with PSD95, a major scaffolding protein of the excitatory postsynaptic density. Forebrain-specific conditional ablation of Vezatin induced anxiety-like behavior and impaired cued fear-conditioning memory response. Vezatin knock-down in cultured hippocampal neurons and Vezatin conditional knock-out in mice led to a significantly increased proportion of stubby spines and a reduced proportion of mature dendritic spines. PSD95 remained tethered to presynaptic terminals in Vezatin-deficient hippocampal neurons, suggesting that the reduced expression of Vezatin does not compromise the maintenance of synaptic connections. Accordingly, neither the amplitude nor the frequency of miniature EPSCs was affected in Vezatin-deficient hippocampal neurons. However, the AMPA/NMDA ratio of evoked EPSCs was reduced, suggesting impaired functional maturation of excitatory synapses. These results suggest a role of Vezatin in dendritic spine morphogenesis and functional synaptic maturation

Constructions of the foreigner as a figure of evil. Travel narratives in the late Middle Ages

Lejos del ideal adamita del buen salvaje, los relatos de viajes (siglos XIV-XV) transmiten un florilegio de la propensión xenófoba a construir una imagen demoníaca del extranjero. De su estudio, destacaremos las constantes de una imaginación abundante a través de la cual el etnocentrismo forja la imagen de un enemigo que proporciona el contrapunto necesario a la identidad occidental. Finalmente, esta figura del extranjero maléfico proporciona un espacio para la reflexión sobre las normas sociales a partir de la narrativa de la inversión de valores y de comportamientos transgresores.Far from the adamite ideal of the good savage, travel narratives (14th-15th centuries) provide a summary of the xenophobic propensity to construct a demonized image of the foreigner. From their study, we will highlight the constants of an abundant imagination, through wich ethnocentrism shapes the image of an enemy providing the necessary counterpoint to Western identity. Finally, this figure of the maleficient foreigner provides a space for reflection on social norms from the narrative of the reversal of values and transgressive behaviors.Loin de l’idéal adamite du bon sauvage, les récits de voyages (14e-15e siècles) livrent un condensé de la propension xénophobe à construire une image diabolisée de l’étranger. A partir de leur étude, on soulignera les constantes d’un imaginaire foisonnant, où l’ethnocentrisme façonne l’image d’un ennemi fournissant le contrepoint nécessaire à l’identité occidentale. Au final, cette figure de l’étranger agent du mal fournit un espace de réflexion sur les normes sociales à partir de la mise en récit de l’inversion des valeurs et de comportements transgressifs

Ezrin interacts with the SARS coronavirus spike protein and restrains infection at the entry stage

© 2012 Millet et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background: Entry of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and its envelope fusion with host cell membrane are controlled by a series of complex molecular mechanisms, largely dependent on the viral envelope glycoprotein Spike (S). There are still many unknowns on the implication of cellular factors that regulate the entry process. Methodology/Principal Findings: We performed a yeast two-hybrid screen using as bait the carboxy-terminal endodomain of S, which faces the cytosol during and after opening of the fusion pore at early stages of the virus life cycle. Here we show that the ezrin membrane-actin linker interacts with S endodomain through the F1 lobe of its FERM domain and that both the eight carboxy-terminal amino-acids and a membrane-proximal cysteine cluster of S endodomain are important for this interaction in vitro. Interestingly, we found that ezrin is present at the site of entry of S-pseudotyped lentiviral particles in Vero E6 cells. Targeting ezrin function by small interfering RNA increased S-mediated entry of pseudotyped particles in epithelial cells. Furthermore, deletion of the eight carboxy-terminal amino acids of S enhanced S-pseudotyped particles infection. Expression of the ezrin dominant negative FERM domain enhanced cell susceptibility to infection by SARS-CoV and S pseudotyped particles and potentiated S-dependent membrane fusion. Conclusions/Significance: Ezrin interacts with SARS-CoV S endodomain and limits virus entry and fusion. Our data present a novel mechanism involving a cellular factor in the regulation of S-dependent early events of infection.This work was supported by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong (RGC#760208)and the RESPARI project of the International Network of Pasteur Institutes

Un mundo de colores: fuerza y significado del cromatismo en los relatos de viajes hispánicos a finales de la Edad Media

Se suele subrayar la parquedad de las menciones de colores presentes en los textos medievales. Incluso una especialista de los relatos de viajes medievales franceses llegó a calificarlos de «mundos en blanco y negro». Sin embargo los relatos de viajes hispánicos medievales suelen aludir al cromatismo de numerosos objetos. ¿En qué medida el arte descriptivo de los relatos de viajes descansa en las menciones cromáticas y qué funciones cumplen éstas? ¿Cómo proceden los autores para comunicar al lector las impresiones visuales? ¿qué sensaciones intentan compartir? Más allá del simbolismo, la materialidad de los colores parece un elemento clave que corresponde al interés propio de los Occidentales medievales por las riquezas de los territorios lejanos y los elementos lujosos que las más veces se caracterizaban por unos colores intensos y expresivos.Il est couramment admis que la littérature médiévale n’abonde pas en adjectifs de couleurs. Au sujet des récits de voyages, Christiane Deluz a, par conséquent, parlé d’un monde en noir et blanc, affirmant que les couleurs en sont pratiquement absentes. La nature des descriptions que l’on trouve dans les récits de voyages médiévaux occidentaux tiendrait, selon elle, davantage du croquis ou du plan schématique que du tableau polychrome et détaillé. Il nous semble toutefois que cette affirmation doive être considérablement nuancée en ce qui concerne les récits de voyages médiévaux hispaniques dans lesquels ces précisions jouent un rôle particulièrement important. Au-delà du symbolisme, la matérialité des couleurs est un élément clé qui correspond à l›intérêt des occidentaux du Moyen Âge pour les richesses des territoires lointains

Performance evaluation and relevance of the CellaVision™ DM96 system in routine analysis and in patients with malignant hematological diseases

The CellaVision™ DM96 is an automated image analysis system dedicated to locating and preclassifying the various types of white blood cells in peripheral blood smears. The system also partially characterizes of the red blood cell morphology and is able to perform platelet counts. We routinely analyzed the blood samples from 440 patients with quantitative and/or qualitative abnormalities detected by the XE-2100 Sysmex™. Only 2.6% of cells are not identified by DM96™. After classification of the unidentified cells very good correlation coefficients are observed between DM96™ and manual microscopy for most hematological parameters and accuracy is judged excellent up to 98%. For most common parameters, false positive and false negative ratios are also very good. Whatever the pathology and the number of blasts on smear, all patients were positive for blast detection on DM96™. The system is a useful tool for assisting in the diagnosis and classification of most acute or chronic leukemia. Automatic cell location and preclassification, along with unique cell views on the computer screen, could reduce the time spent performing differentials and make real-time collaboration between colleagues a natural part of the classification process. The workstation also provides an ergonomically correct and relaxed working environment. We suggest its use in routine analysis; the system could be very helpful for the accurate morphological diagnosis of samples from patients with malignant hematological disease

Introducción

Nos proponemos en este trabajo reflexionar en torno a todos los ámbitos de la sociedad tratados en los textos utópicos (educación, justicia, religión, ejército, familia, etc.) que el recurso a la utopía cuestiona, devolviendo a la sociedad receptora un espejo deformante en el que los lectores y, en particular, los poderosos, están llamados a reconstruir la imagen reflejada mediante la realización de una serie de reformas sociales. En la primera sección del monográfico, proponemos un regreso a las fuentes de la inspiración utópica basadas en la literatura de viajes y el mundo oriental. La segunda sección del monográfico, siguiendo el orden cronológico, se concentra en las manifestaciones del género utópico en el llamado Siglo de Oro, un marbete que, como bien sabemos, cubre en realidad casi dos siglos