Search

My research aims at contextualizing Bergson's ethics within the early 20th century history. Through the example of Bergson's philosophy, this multidisciplinary work investigates the complex relation between historical events and philosophical thought, and underlines the often-underestimated impact of the Great War on philosophical thought. I take this influence to be both positive and negative: on the one hand, reflections on this first industrial and total war resulted in a number of relevant philosophical inventions; but on the other hand, it revealed the failure of many thinkers to understand their present situation adequately, and brought about a dissatisfaction with, and critique of the philosopher as a public figure. Bergson is an excellent case study in this regard, as he can be considered the very first mediatic philosopher. He was already extremely well known in his life time, and disappointed many with his problematic engagement in the war propaganda. The Two Sources of Morality and Religion, was written by Bergson fifteen years after the end of the war, is the main focus of my research. I read it as a philosophical response to this catastrophe, and as a critical re-examination of his positions in 1914-1918. I identify the concepts of "closed society" and "fonction fabulatrice" as the main inventions of this work, and consider them to be illuminating tools to understand the causes of the conflict, as well as the mental climate during the 1914-1918 years. While closedness can be applied to the nationalistic logics that divided Europe, "fonction fabulatrice" can help us understand how individuals psychologically coped with the sudden breakout of extreme violence within the Western, "civilized" world, through superstitious reactions and magical beliefs. The relation between history and philosophy, as I describe it in my work, is in this sense not merely a "reductionist" one, but one that could be called a "cross-fertilization": I claim that philosophical concepts have to be understood as originating from history and from a historical figure, and not from a pure and abstract mind thinking outside of the world; and that, in turn, those philosophical can be retrospectively projected upon our history, and used as tools to understand the latter. Methodologically, I am indebted to Deleuze's reading of Bergson, and to his definition of philosophy as a "creation of concepts". I also take a stance against Bergson's idealism and the mythologized vision of the philosopher's task, induced by his notion of "intuition". I consider my attempt to historicize philosophy as being somewhat anti-bergsonian. Nevertheless, I remain deeply influenced by his views on time, and in a constant dialogue with them throughout my research, be it explicit or not. status: published

Once-daily deferasirox dispersible tablets (DT) have a well-defined safety and efficacy profile and, compared with parenteral deferoxamine, provide greater patient adherence, satisfaction, and quality of life. However, barriers still exist to optimal adherence, including gastrointestinal tolerability and palatability, leading to development of a new film-coated tablet (FCT) formulation that can be swallowed with a light meal, without the need to disperse into a suspension prior to consumption. The randomized, open-label, phase II ECLIPSE study evaluated the safety of deferasirox DT and FCT formulations over 24 weeks in chelation-naïve or pre-treated patients aged ≥10 years, with transfusion-dependent thalassemia or IPSS-R very-low-, low-, or intermediate-risk myelodysplastic syndromes. One hundred seventy-three patients were randomized 1:1 to DT (n = 86) or FCT (n = 87). Adverse events (overall), consistent with the known deferasirox safety profile, were reported in similar proportions of patients for each formulation (DT 89.5%; FCT 89.7%), with a lower frequency of severe events observed in patients receiving FCT (19.5% vs. 25.6% DT). Laboratory parameters (serum creatinine, creatinine clearance, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and urine protein/creatinine ratio) generally remained stable throughout the study. Patient-reported outcomes showed greater adherence and satisfaction, better palatability and fewer concerns with FCT than DT. Treatment compliance by pill count was higher with FCT (92.9%) than with DT (85.3%). This analysis suggests deferasirox FCT offers an improved formulation with enhanced patient satisfaction, which may improve adherence, thereby reducing frequency and severity of iron overload-related complications. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

International audience; The Culex pipiens mosquito complex is a group of evolutionarily closely related species including C. pipiens and Culex quinquefasciatus, both infected by the cytoplasmically inherited Wolbachia symbiont. A Wolbachia-uninfected population of C. pipiens was however described in South Africa and was recently proposed to represent a cryptic species. In this study, we reconsidered the existence of this species by undertaking an extensive screening for the presence of Wolbachia-uninfected C. pipiens specimens and by characterizing their genetic relatedness with known members of the complex. We first report on the presence of Wolbachia-uninfected specimens in several breeding sites. We next confirm that these uninfected specimens unambiguously belong to the C. pipiens complex. Remarkably, all uninfected specimens harbour mitochondrial haplotypes that are either novel or identical to those previously found in South Africa. In all cases, these mitochondrial haplotypes are closely related, but different, to those found in other C. pipiens complex members known to be infected by Wolbachia. Altogether, these results corroborate the presence of a widespread cryptic species within the C. pipiens species complex. The potential role of this cryptic C. pipiens species in the transmission of pathogens remains however to be determined. The designation 'Culex juppi nov. sp.' is proposed for this mosquito species.

Background: Insecticide resistance is a rapid and recent evolutionary phenomenon with serious economic and public health implications. In the mosquito Anopheles gambiae s.s., main vector of malaria, resistance to organophosphates and carbamates is mainly due to a single amino-acid substitution in acetylcholinesterase 1 (AChE1). This mutation entails a large fitness cost. However, a resistant duplicated allele of the gene encoding AChEI (ace-1), potentially associated to a lower fitness cost, recently appeared in An. gambiae. Methods: Using molecular phenotype data collected from natural populations from West Africa, the frequency of this duplicated allele was investigated by statistical inference. This method is based on the departure from Hardy-Weinberg phenotypic frequency equilibrium caused by the presence of this new allele. Results: The duplicated allele, Ag-ace-1(D), reaches a frequency up to 0.65 in Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, and is potentially present in Benin. A previous study showed that Ag-ace-1(D), present in both M and S molecular forms in different West Africa countries, was generated by a single genetic event. This single origin and its present distribution suggest that this new allele is currently spreading. Conclusion: The spread of this less costly resistance allele could represent a major threat to public health, as it may impede An. gambiae control strategies, and thus increases the risk of malaria outbreaks.

Selection of insensitive acetycholinesterase 1 (AChE1) has occurred in several mosquito species controlled with carbarnate (CX) and organophosphate (OP) insecticides. In case of pyrethroid resistance, these insecticides represent an alternative for disease vector control program. Their heavy use in agriculture has selected resistant populations of Anopheles gambiae in West Africa. The evolution of resistance has to be studied to prevent, or at least slow down, the spread of resistant mosquito in wild populations. An. gambiae shares the same resistance mechanism to CX and OP insecticides as Culex pipiens, which was attributed to the G119S substitution in the AChE1 enzyme. By comparing resistant AChE-1 from both species, we show here that similar resistance levels are obtained toward 10 insecticides of both classes. Moreover, similar AChE1 activity levels are recorded between either susceptible or resistant mosquitoes of both species. Enzymes belonging to both species seem thus to share identical properties. Consequently, we hypothesize that fitness cost associated with AChE1 insensitivity in C. pipiens mosquitoes should be similar in An. gambiae and thus be used in strategies to control resistant populations where malaria is prevalent.

International audience; Yes

International audience; Yes

National audience; Yes

International audience; Yes

International audience; Yes

Anopheles gambiae$ s.s. is a complex of sibling taxa characterized by various paracentric inversions. In west and central Africa, where several taxa are sympatric, a kdr mutation responsible for pyrethroid resistance has been described in only one (the S taxon), suggesting an absence of gene flow between them. Following a thorough sampling, we have found a kdr mutation in another taxon (M). To establish whether this mutation is the same event or not, the large intron upstream of the kdr mutation was sequenced to find polymorphic sites in suceptible/resistant and M/S mosquitoes. The low genetic diversity found in this DNA region indicates that a local genetic sweep has recently occured. However, some polymorphic sites were found, and it is therefore concluded that the kdr mutation in the M taxon is not an independent mutation event, and is best explained by an introgression from the S taxon. These results are discussed whithin the context of possible gene flow between members of #An. gambiae$ s.s. taxa, and with the possible spread of the kdr mutation in other closely related malaria vectors of the #An. gambiae$ complex. (Résumé d'auteur)

International audience; The stability constants and the electronic spectra of the chlorocuprates CuCl,b-*)-(with j I 4) in aqueous solutions of constant 5 M ionic strength have been calculated from spectrophotometric data at 12 wavelengths ranging from 240 to 780 nm. The calculated spectra are compared to those of solid chlorocuprates and solutions in molten salts or organic solvents, in order to get eventual structural information.

cited By 0; International audience; no abstract

cited By 0; International audience; no abstract