Reinventing 'The Invention of Tradition'? Indigenous Pasts and the Roman Present

Thirty years ago Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger introduced The invention of tradition as a concept to explain the creation and rise of certain traditions in times of profound cultural change. Taking stock of current theoretical understandings and focusing on the Roman world, this volume explores the concept of 'inventing traditions' as a means to understand processes of continuity, change and cultural innovation. The notion has been highly influential among studies concerned with the Greek and Roman eastern Mediterranean. Elsewhere in the Roman world and traditions other than Greek, however, have been neglected. This volume aims to evaluate critically the usefulness of the idea of 'inventing traditions' for the successor culture that was Rome. It focuses on the western part of the Roman Empire, which has been virtually ignored by such studies, and on non-Greek traditions. Why, in the Roman present, were some (indigenous) traditions forgotten while others invented or maintained? Using the past for reasons of legitimation in a highly volatile present is a cultural strategy that (also) characterises our present-day, globalized world. Can 'inventing traditions' be regarded as a common human characteristic occurring throughout world history

Increasing the potential of cell-penetrating peptides for cancer therapy using a new pentagonal scaffold

Cancer treatment is one of the major fields of interest for the scientific community. Investment in cancer research is costly but essential to provide patients with more effective and safe treatments. In this project, we describe the synthesis and characterization of new thiazole derivatives coupled to CPP2, a cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) reported for colon cancer cells. Using a human adenocarcinoma-derived cell line (Caco-2), these new CPPs were evaluated for antiproliferative (3H-thymidine incorporation) and cytotoxic effect (extracellular lactate dehydrogenase activity). One of these derivatives, the BTZCA thiazole compound and its peptide-conjugated (BTZCA-CPP2) also showed the ability to decrease tumour cell viability and proliferation, with potential cytotoxic effect against human breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Then, cytotoxicity studies were developed against J774, L929 and THP1 cell lines and this new family showed no significant cytotoxicity, when compared to their counterparts alone (BTZCA and CPP2). The use of smaller CPP conjugated with this family of derivatives can be also considered in future for the development of new drugs to cancer therapy.This work was financed by FEDER - Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020 - Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Portugal 2020, and by Portuguese funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, in the framework of the project “Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences” (POCI-01- 0145-FEDER-007274)." This work was also financed by FCT and FEDER (European Union), through project IF/00092/2014/CP1255/CT0004. NV thanks FCT by IF position, DQB-Faculty of Sciences from University of Porto, for support in peptide synthesis, and Fundação Manuel António da Mota by support Nuno Vale Lab. DD thanks FCT for PhD grant with ref. SFRH/BD/140734/2018. AGF and JP were involved in the cytotoxicity assays, which were developed within the scope of the projects NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013 and NORTE-01-0145-FEDER000023, supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement through FEDER. This work was also financed through the Competitiveness Factors Operational Programme (COMPETE) and by national funds, through FCT, under the scope of the project POCI-01- 0145-FEDER-007038. AGF would also like to acknowledge FCT for the post-doc fellow SFRH/BPD/112903/2015. The contents of this report are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the FCT or FMAM

Timing of Intubation in Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Study of Ventilator Mechanics, Imaging, Findings, and Outcomes

Objectives:. Determine the variation in outcomes and respiratory mechanics between the subjects who are intubated earlier versus later in their coronavirus disease 2019 course. Design:. Retrospective cohort study. Setting:. Northwestern Memorial Hospital ICUs. Patients:. All patients intubated for coronavirus disease 2019 between March 2020 and June 2020. Interventions:. Patients were stratified by time to intubation: 30 subjects were intubated 4–24 hours after presentation and 24 subjects were intubated 5–10 days after presentation. Baseline characteristics, hospitalization, ventilator mechanics, and outcomes were extracted and analyzed. Ten clinically available CT scans were manually reviewed to identify evidence of pulmonary vascular thrombosis and intussusceptive angiogenesis. Measurements and Main Results:. Median time from symptom onset to intubation was significantly different between the early and late intubation cohorts, with the latter being intubated later in the course of their illness (7.9 vs 11.8 d; p = 0.04). The early intubation cohort had a lower mortality rate than the late intubation cohort (6% vs 30%, p < 0.001) without significantly different respiratory mechanics at the time of intubation. The late intubation cohort was noted to have higher dead space ratio (0.40 vs 0.52; p = 0.03). On review of CT scans, the late intubation cohort also had more dilated peripheral segments on imaging (two segments vs five segments). Conclusions:. The question as to whether delaying intubation is beneficial or harmful for patients with coronavirus disease 2019-induced hypoxemic respiratory failure has yet to be answered. As our approaches to coronavirus disease 2019 continue to evolve, the decision of timing of intubation remains paramount. Although noninvasive ventilation may allow for delaying intubation, it is possible that there are downstream effects of delayed intubation that should be considered, including the potential for pulmonary vascular thrombosis and intussusceptive angiogenesis with delayed intubation

Designing a broad-spectrum integrative approach for cancer prevention and treatment.

Targeted therapies and the consequent adoption of "personalized" oncology have achieved notable successes in some cancers; however, significant problems remain with this approach. Many targeted therapies are highly toxic, costs are extremely high, and most patients experience relapse after a few disease-free months. Relapses arise from genetic heterogeneity in tumors, which harbor therapy-resistant immortalized cells that have adopted alternate and compensatory pathways (i.e., pathways that are not reliant upon the same mechanisms as those which have been targeted). To address these limitations, an international task force of 180 scientists was assembled to explore the concept of a low-toxicity "broad-spectrum" therapeutic approach that could simultaneously target many key pathways and mechanisms. Using cancer hallmark phenotypes and the tumor microenvironment to account for the various aspects of relevant cancer biology, interdisciplinary teams reviewed each hallmark area and nominated a wide range of high-priority targets (74 in total) that could be modified to improve patient outcomes. For these targets, corresponding low-toxicity therapeutic approaches were then suggested, many of which were phytochemicals. Proposed actions on each target and all of the approaches were further reviewed for known effects on other hallmark areas and the tumor microenvironment. Potential contrary or procarcinogenic effects were found for 3.9% of the relationships between targets and hallmarks, and mixed evidence of complementary and contrary relationships was found for 7.1%. Approximately 67% of the relationships revealed potentially complementary effects, and the remainder had no known relationship. Among the approaches, 1.1% had contrary, 2.8% had mixed and 62.1% had complementary relationships. These results suggest that a broad-spectrum approach should be feasible from a safety standpoint. This novel approach has potential to be relatively inexpensive, it should help us address stages and types of cancer that lack conventional treatment, and it may reduce relapse risks. A proposed agenda for future research is offered.Multiple funders. See acknowledgments within article for details.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.semcancer.2015.09.00