l.georges online

Aujourd’hui c’est la dernière séance avant le passage blanc du 6 mai (ou lorsqu’on aura repris les cours à la faculté)

Votre objectif est donc double :

1. Terminer le texte de votre poster, et m’envoyer l’ensemble pour fin mars.
2. Terminer la mise en page en y intégrant le texte définitif et les illustrations avant le 27 avril.  Si vous me l’envoyez en pdf, je vous renverrai une version annotée avant que vous ne le soumettiez à l’impression définitive.

Comme d’habitude n’hésitez pas à me contacter par messagerie si vous avez la moindre question

Ci-dessous le document à télécharger pour la séance d’aujourd’hui.

Celui-ci porte sur la partie résultats, et donc les illustrations. Après un rappel de la logique de la structure du poster, vous y trouverez une suite de 4 questions à vous poser qui vous permettront de choisir des données pertinentes, de sélectionner le type d’illustration le plus approprié, de le rendre le plus compréhensible possible, et de s’assurer de son articulation au sein de la logique du poster.

Results : Illustrations

Les deux tâches à accomplir cette semaine sont :

1. Chaque groupe devra se consulter pour bâtir cette section ensemble.  Une personne du groupe m’enverra un pdf où figure au moins une des illustrations que vous prévoyez d’intégrer au poster, avec les légendes et explications concises permettant au lecteur de comprendre.
2. Par ailleurs vous devrez avoir fini ou être sur le point de finir vos lectures, suite à laquelle vous ferez la synthèse en groupe, et vous rédigerez une conclusion principale sous forme d’une phrase clair et concise.  A la lumière de cette conclusion, vous rédigerez votre question de recherche définitive.  Une personne du groupe m’enverra un message où figurera (en anglais bien entendu)
   1. la question de recherche
   2. la conclusion principale
   3. une proposition de titre

Merci de bien vouloir me faire parvenir vos travaux avant la prochaine séance (le 25 mars)

Pour l’évaluation du 8 janvier on va vous demander une critique d’un épisode pilote.

Pour vous faire une idée du style, et des éléments qui peuvent y figurer, voici quelques liens utiles:

Carnival Row (The Independent)

The Good Karma Hospital (The New York Times)

Derry Girls (The Guardian)

The Handmaid’s Tale (Time magazine)

AIDS – Researchers from the Pasteur Institute destroy HIV reservoirs

A team from the Pasteur Institute in Paris has found a way to eliminate HIV reservoirs, paving the way for potential new treatments, but there is still a long way to go before the results, which were obtained using cell cultures, are used in humans.

Current HIV treatments need to be taken for life because antiretroviral drugs are not able to eliminate the viral reservoirs inside immune cells.   “Antiretroviral treatment will block the virus and act to prevent it from multiplying, but it cannot eliminate infected cells.  Here, our job involved characterizing infected cells and then eliminating them from an organism infected by HIV” explained leading researcher, Asier Saez-Cirion.

The Pasteur Institute team succeeded in identifying the characteristics of CD4 T lymphocytes, the immune cells targeted by HIV.  Their study shows that the virus will first infect cells with a high rate of metabolic activity.  This activity, and in particular a cell’s glucose consumption, plays a key role in infection: the virus diverts the energy and substances produced by the cell in order to replicate.  This requirement could be harnessed to attack reservoir cells.  The results are published in Cell Metabolism.

HIV infection blocked in cell cultures

The Pasteur researchers managed to block infection ex vivo (in cell cultures) thanks to metabolic inhibitors already used in oncology/cancerology.  “In our study we observed that those cells infected by HIV had (bio-)energetic characteristics similar to tumor cells, and we could therefore use the same tools” explained Dr Saez-Cirion.  The next step for the team at the Pasteur Institute will consist in “identifying the molecules which provide an optimal effect, after which pre-clinical trials on models will be undertaken, based on experience from current clinical trials on the treatment of certain types of cancer, in order to select molecules that are efficacious and well-tolerated by patients,” the researcher added.

This work is a step towards patient remission (no further detectable infected cells) thanks to the elimination of HIV reservoirs.  However, “it will be a few years until this approach can be properly tested in a phase 3 clinical trial which would give us an evaluation of its efficacy” Dr Saez-Cirion specified.

1. Voici le document autour du glossaire.
2. Traduction de l’article sur le vaccin :

HIV: Is an AIDS vaccine possible?

Everybody dreams/is dreaming about a vaccine for AIDS.  And now trials published by researchers from Harvard bring new hope. Their experimental vaccine was able to protect monkeys and cause an immune reaction in humans.

According to the World Health Organization about 37 million people worldwide are currently living with HIV or AIDS.  No less than 1.8 million new cases are reported each year.  Since the early eighties the disease is thought to have (/has reportedly) killed almost 35 million people.  And despite increasingly effective treatments a vaccine still doesn’t exist for this scourge.

Worse still, in 35 years of this epidemic only one experimental vaccine has shown any efficacy.   During the RV144 trial carried out in Thailand from 2003 on(wards) the immune response was prepared by the administration of a recombinant vector CanaryPox then boosted by (the) injection of the envelope protein gp120.  As a result, infection rate was seen to decline by 31%, which was interesting, but judged to be insufficient.

But today, researchers from Harvard have reported encouraging new developments.  The experimental vaccine they developed triggered an immune reaction in humans and protected monkeys from the infection.  “These results are crucial.  They must however be considered with the utmost prudence.  An immune response doesn’t necessarily mean that this vaccine is able to protect us from HIV (infection)” warned Professor Dan Barouch.

Large-scale trials already underway

What has caused great enthusiasm is the fact that the vaccine is a mosaic vaccine, which combines different HIV subtypes and is therefore likely to trigger responses against a large number of strains.  Indeed, the results show it is 67% effective in monkeys.  Here again, the reaction was primed by (an) intramuscular injection of Ad26.Mos.HIV.  The response was then stimulated later on by the administration of two additional vaccines including a combination of Ad26.Mos.HIV and gp140.

In humans: The study reports on the results of a test carried out on 393 healthy adults who were all seronegative, aged 18 to 50, and from East Africa, South Africa, Thailand and The United States.  Between February and October 2015, they received four injections of one of the combined vaccines or a placebo.  According to Professor Barouch, the immune response was “robust’.  Another good sign was that the vaccine was shown to be harmless.

A large-scale test still needs to be carried out to gauge the true efficacy of the vaccine.  The test is already in the starting blocks and will involve 2600 women judged to be at risk in Southern Africa.  The results are not expected before 2021 or 2022.

Voici une traduction pour le texte du contrôle du 13 décembre :

It’s bad news for tall people.  According to scientists from the University of Lund in Sweden, tall people have a higher risk of getting blood clots.  In a study carried out on more than two million brothers and sisters, they observed a lower risk for clotting in men and women smaller than 160cm and 155cm respectively.  The overall risk was reduced by 60 percent compared to subjects taller than 185cm.  The authors stated that “height is an independent indicator of venous thromboembolism.”

A blood clot can partially or totally block a major vein in the legs or thighs and cause phlebitis.  Superficial phlebitis (when the circulation is blocked in a small vein, leading to pain and discomfort) is not serious in itself, but is a risk factor for deep phlebitis, and the latter is an emergency because the clot which is blocking the blood flow in a deep or large calibre vein can break loose and migrate into the circulation and cause a pulmonary embolism (when the clot lodges itself in the pulmonary artery), and this is a serious and potentially fatal accident.  Among the warning signs in cases of phlebitis are: a red, warm, or hard vein, or one whose relief makes it clearly visible on the surface.  It is also painful or sensitive to touch.

1. How much weight should people lose to defeat type 2 diabetes?  15kg
2. At what time does dim-light melatonin onset generally begin?   8 pm
3. What is becoming more common in the over 50s?  HIV infection
4. How many countries in Europe have “eliminated” measles? 33
5. Researchers in Spain linked atherosclerosis with what?  Skipping breakfast
6. What has been linked to substance abuse in teenagers?  Vegetarian diet in pregnancy
7. What percentage of children in the UK are thought to be obese?  10%
8. According to one study how should pregnant women not sleep?  On their back
9. Psilocybin helped 19 patients with what?  Depression
10. Who should you call in the UK if you are thinking about self-harming?  The Samaritans
11. Mushrooms make you feel fuller than what according to a US study?  Minced beef
12. The Daily Mail said there are how many ‘breast cancer genes’?  180
13. Loughorough university researchers believe that what might lower the risk of dementia?  Marriage
14. How do US researchers aim to evaluate the risk of dementia?  Blood test in Middle age
15. Night-time eating might lead to what?  Heart disease
16. What type of wounds heal faster?  Daytime
17. The BBC reported that Scottish researchers have found that what is bad for children?    Grandparents
18. What might prevent rheumatoid arthritis?  Vit D
19. How many cups of coffee per day can bring health benefits?  3-4
20. What childhood disease has returned to the UK?    Scarlet Fever

Energy drinks could weaken the heart

Energy drinks have been around for a few decades, but have really taken off in recent years.  As their name suggests they give a boost of energy, usually due to several psychoactive substances they contain which improve attention and concentration and reduce the feeling of tiredness.  They are not the same thing as sports energy drinks which contain nutritional substances vital for sports performance.

For a while now, public health authorities have been concerned about the effects of excessive consumption of some of the substances in energy drinks, including caffeine and taurine which, in high doses, might lead to heart problems or anxiety.

One by one, institutions are condemning the dangers of excessive consumption of this sort of drink, in particular when they are consumed with alcohol.  Now a team from Friedrich Wilhelm University in Bonn have presented their work at the annual congress of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in which they demonstrate the effects of a single drink on the heart.

Lower contractile function after one energy drink

“Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated a link between the consumption of energy drinks and heart problems,” said Jonas Dörner, director of the study.  “But none has shown the effects they have on heart function.”  So he and his team undertook this job.  Thanks to MRI the scientists were able to observe cardiac function in 15 healthy participants aged 27 ½ on average.  They took images of the heart before and one hour after absorption of an energy drink containing 400mg/100ml of taurine, and 32mg/100ml of caffeine.

When they looked at the images of the heart, the study’s authors observed increased cardiac tension in the left ventricle after consumption of the energy drink.  This part of the heart receives oxygenated blood from the lungs and sends it into the aorta which then distributes it to the rest of the body.  However, the researchers did not note any difference in heart rate, blood pressure, nor in the rate of blood pumped by the left ventricle.  In contrast, the heart showed lower contractile function after consumption of the beverage.

“Additional studies are now needed to understand the mechanism and to determine how long it lasts,” the researcher said.  “We also want to evaluate the effect of regular consumption of these energy drinks on heart function.” For the present, the study’s authors recommend that children and the frail abstain from consuming such products.