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This paper aims to describe the contribution of the Sociology of crisis to the understanding of contemporary society and to imagine a future society based on regenerated Humanism. Recalling Edgar Morin's crisologie and Ernesto De Martino's reflections on the end of the world, this article explores the urgency of building a community of destinies for humanity and the possibilities generated by the pandemic crisis to rebuild society on a new basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last months, the impact of coronavirus on society has been emerging as a key factor in understanding how social reality works. This paper considers the pandemic as a total social fact (Mauss,1923), involving a lot of social aspects and domains. Starting from Camus and Foucault's description of the plagued city and through close observation of life during the lockdown, this paper aims to describe the effects of the epidemic in the social field, and also in the cultural and symbolic sphere. The analysis of the social crisis originated from the spread of the virus, focusing on the construction of new strategies to face the isolation and to generate a new sense of community, can illustrate the potential effects of these transformations on our present and future lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUNDCytochrome P450 family 8 subfamily B member 1 (CYP8B1) generates 12α-hydroxylated bile acids (BAs) that are associated with insulin resistance in humans.METHODSTo determine whether reduced CYP8B1 activity improves insulin sensitivity, we sequenced CYP8B1 in individuals without diabetes and identified carriers of complete loss-of-function (CLOF) mutations utilizing functional assays.RESULTSMutation carriers had lower plasma 12α-hydroxylated/non-12α-hydroxylated BA and cholic acid (CA)/chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) ratios compared with age-, sex-, and BMI-matched controls. During insulin clamps, hepatic glucose production was suppressed to a similar magnitude by insulin, but glucose infusion rates to maintain euglycemia were higher in mutation carriers, indicating increased peripheral insulin sensitivity. Consistently, a polymorphic CLOF CYP8B1 mutation associated with lower fasting insulin in the AMP-T2D-GENES study. Exposure of primary human muscle cells to mutation-carrier CA/CDCA ratios demonstrated increased FOXO1 activity, and upregulation of both insulin signaling and glucose uptake, which were mediated by increased CDCA. Inhibition of FOXO1 attenuated the CDCA-mediated increase in muscle insulin signaling and glucose uptake. We found that reduced CYP8B1 activity associates with increased insulin sensitivity in humans.CONCLUSIONOur findings suggest that increased circulatory CDCA due to reduced CYP8B1 activity increases skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity, contributing to increased whole-body insulin sensitization.FUNDINGBiomedical Research Council/National Medical Research Council of Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]