RESUMO
The corona pandemic is a medical catastrophe that is intricately intertwined with an epochal economic-ecological double or "pincer-grip" crisis - thus goes the central thesis of this contribution. COVID-19 is defined as an "external shock" followed by a deep recession. Leaving aside the natural process of viral mutation, the pandemic, recession and pincer-grip crisis can be understood as distinct repulsions of an hyperglobalization that is gradually undermining its own conditions of existence. Meanwhile, the recent rupture cannot be adequately grasped without taking into account the financial crash of 2007 to 2009, the political interregnum of the post-crisis years and the tendency towards bonapartistic democracy. By itself, the corona crisis will not lead to a "build back better"; the emergency state is hardly capable of such a setting of the course. Instead, there is a rising danger that fierce conflicts over distribution, increasing inequality and desolidarization will make a turn to sustainability even harder.
La thèse centrale de cet article est que la pandémie de coronavirus est une catastrophe sanitaire qui se conjugue de manière singulière à une double crise économique et écologique d'une portée historique. Le COVID-19 est défini comme un « choc externe ¼ suivi d'une profonde récession. Abstraction faite des mutations naturelles à l'origine du virus, la pandémie, la récession et la double crise peuvent être conçues comme différents phénomènes de répulsion d'une hyper-mondialisation qui sape progressivement ses propres conditions d'existence. Cette nouvelle césure ne peut être comprise indépendamment du krach financier de 2007 à 2009, de l'interrègne politique des années qui ont suivi et de la tendance favorable aux démocraties bonapartistes. D'elle même, la crise du coronavirus ne conduit aucunement à une « reconstruction mais en mieux ¼ (build back better). L'état d'urgence n'est guère en mesure de poser les jalons d'une telle reconstruction. À la place, le risque grandit que des luttes pour le partage des richesses, des inégalités croissantes et une désolidarisation ne compliquent encore la transition vers la durabilité.
RESUMO
Recent developments of single molecule detection techniques and in particular the introduction of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) led to a number of important applications in biological research. We present a unique approach for the gene expression analysis using dual-color cross-correlation. The expression assay is based on gene-specific hybridization of two dye-labeled DNA probes to a selected target gene. The counting of the dual-labeled molecules within the solution allows the quantification of the expressed gene copies in absolute numbers. As detection and analysis by FCS can be performed at the level of single molecules, there is no need for any type of amplification. We describe the gene expression assay and present data demonstrating the capacity of this novel technology. In order to prove the gene specificity, we performed experiments with gene-depleted total cDNA. The biological application was demonstrated by quantifying selected high, medium and low abundant genes in cDNA prepared from HL-60 cells.