The Fusion of Narration and Character Voices in Noh Drama. A Narratological Approach to Zeami’s God Plays and Warrior Plays

In medieval Japanese noh theater, narration is chanted on stage and often fuses with characters’ speeches. This paper aims to examine how this fusion affects the stage–audience relationship, first by applying theater semiotics and narratology, and then by analyzing specific cases in Zeami’s warrior plays and god plays. In god plays, the ambiguity of the addresser tends to be sustained, and the praise of the god’s benevolence is directly delivered to the audience by a voice that bears the authority of narration, while human-centered warrior plays usually minimize the intervention of the narrator. The study thus reveals Zeami’s careful handling of the narrative style in accordance with the plays’ socio-religious purposes.In medieval Japanese noh theater, narration is chanted on stage and often fuses with characters’ speeches. This paper aims to examine how this fusion affects the stage–audience relationship, first by applying theater semiotics and narratology, and then by analyzing specific cases in Zeami’s warrior plays and god plays. In god plays, the ambiguity of the addresser tends to be sustained, and the praise of the god’s benevolence is directly delivered to the audience by a voice that bears the authority of narration, while human-centered warrior plays usually minimize the intervention of the narrator. The study thus reveals Zeami’s careful handling of the narrative style in accordance with the plays’ socio-religious purposes

Conservation and Rehabilitation of Historic Urban Landscapes as Cultural Heritage Area (KCB): Case in Padang, West Sumatra

Padang is the provincial capital of West Sumatra, Indonesia, and was affected by the earthquake that occurred in September 2009. UNESCO and the Indonesian government conducted an emergency survey of the damage. While the municipality of Padang is trying to promote and conserve the area as Kawasan Cagar Budaya, there are various difficulties, especially after the natural disaster. Architectural monitoring of damaged houses and landscapes and semi-structural interviews with residents of thirty-five buildings in the area have been conducted since 2010. The research shows how residents changed a way of living in their houses after an earthquake, and show, and religious ties and land ownership are more important than geographical ties at the street level.     Keywords: cultural heritage, urban landscape, ethnicity, Padan

A Case of Giant Bladder Carcinosarcoma without Submucosal Invasion

Carcinosarcoma is a rare biphasic neoplasia containing both malignant mesenchymal and epithelial elements. Bladder carcinosarcoma commonly presented as high-grade, advanced stage, and aggressive behavior with a poor prognosis. An 83-year-old male presented with painless gross hematuria to our hospital. Cystoscopy revealed massive nonpapillary bladder tumor on the right wall. The 91 g tumor could be completely removed with transurethral resection. Histology of the tumor was diagnosed as carcinosarcoma with no submucosal invasion composed of biphasic malignant epithelial and mesenchymal cells. Epithelial malignancy was urothelial cancer and mesenchymal one was chondrosarcoma and leiomyosarcoma. The specimens taken at the second-look TUR-Bt revealed that carcinoma in situ (urothelial cancer) but not sarcoma existed at the mucosa surrounding the previous tumor site. 80 mg of BCG instillation intravesically every week for six weeks was successfully administered to the patient. There is no tumor recurrence for 6 months after treatments

Surgical Castration in Hormone-Refractory Metastatic Prostate Cancer Patients Can Be an Alternative for Medical Castration

Background. Most patients with metastatic prostate cancer are endocrinologically treated with LHRH agonist, but finally castration-refractory and hormone-refractory cancers occur. Serum testosterone levels get low to “the castration level” by LHRH agonists but may not get low enough against castration-refractory prostate cancer. Methods. As case series, twelve patients suffering from hormone-refractory prostate cancer continuously on LHRH agonist underwent surgical castration. Additionally, one hundred and thirty-nine prostate cancer patients on LHRH agonist or surgical castration were tested for serum total testosterone levels. Results. Surgical castration caused decrease in serum PSA in one out of 12 hormone-refractory prostate cancer patients with PSA reduction rate 74%. Serum total testosterone levels were below the sensitivity threshold (0.05 ng/mL) in 40 of 89 (44.9%) medically castrated patients and 33 of 50 (66.0%) surgically castrated patients (P = .20). Conclusion. Even hormone-refractory prostate cancer patients are candidates for surgical castration because of endocrinological, oncological, and economical reasons

Coincidence of HPV11-Positive Urethral Condyloma Acuminatum and HPV-Negative Multiple Bladder Papillomas in a Female

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are associated with proliferative lesions in a variety of human epithelial types. A 38-year-old female presented with a diagnosis of urethral condyloma acuminatum. She underwent transurethral resection of the urethral condyloma. At that time, multiple (five) bladder tumors were simultaneously found and also removed by transurethral resection. Four of the bladder tumors were diagnosed as squamous papilloma, and the other was urothelial inverted papilloma. Postoperative course was uneventful. Genomic DNA was extracted from 10 μm thick sections of each bladder tumor as well as urethral condyloma. Then, 16 types of HPV DNA sequences were assessed with the PapiPlex method using genomic DNA samples extracted from each bladder tumor as well as urethral condyloma. HPV-11 was detected in DNA extracted from the urethral condyloma, while no HPV DNA sequences were positive in any of the genomic DNA samples extracted from the bladder tumors

A short motif in Drosophila SECIS Binding Protein 2 provides differential binding affinity to SECIS RNA hairpins

Selenoproteins contain the amino acid selenocysteine which is encoded by a UGA Sec codon. Recoding UGA Sec requires a complex mechanism, comprising the cis-acting SECIS RNA hairpin in the 3′UTR of selenoprotein mRNAs, and trans-acting factors. Among these, the SECIS Binding Protein 2 (SBP2) is central to the mechanism. SBP2 has been so far functionally characterized only in rats and humans. In this work, we report the characterization of the Drosophila melanogaster SBP2 (dSBP2). Despite its shorter length, it retained the same selenoprotein synthesis-promoting capabilities as the mammalian counterpart. However, a major difference resides in the SECIS recognition pattern: while human SBP2 (hSBP2) binds the distinct form 1 and 2 SECIS RNAs with similar affinities, dSBP2 exhibits high affinity toward form 2 only. In addition, we report the identification of a K (lysine)-rich domain in all SBP2s, essential for SECIS and 60S ribosomal subunit binding, differing from the well-characterized L7Ae RNA-binding domain. Swapping only five amino acids between dSBP2 and hSBP2 in the K-rich domain conferred reversed SECIS-binding properties to the proteins, thus unveiling an important sequence for form 1 binding

Thermal Control System to Easily Cool the GAPS Balloon-borne Instrument on the Ground

This study developed a novel thermal control system to cool detectors of the General AntiParticle Spectrometer (GAPS) before its flights. GAPS is a balloon-borne cosmic-ray observation experiment. In its payload, GAPS contains over 1000 silicon detectors that must be cooled below -40^{\circ}\mbox{C}. All detectors are thermally coupled to a unique heat-pipe system (HPS) that transfers heat from the detectors to a radiator. The radiator is designed to be cooled below -50^{\circ}\mbox{C} during the flight by exposure to space. The pre-flight state of the detectors is checked on the ground at 1 atm and ambient room temperature, but the radiator cannot be similarly cooled. The authors have developed a ground cooling system (GCS) to chill the detectors for ground testing. The GCS consists of a cold plate, a chiller, and insulating foam. The cold plate is designed to be attached to the radiator and cooled by a coolant pumped by the chiller. The payload configuration, including the HPS, can be the same as that of the flight. The GCS design was validated by thermal tests using a scale model. The GCS design is simple and provides a practical guideline, including a simple estimation of appropriate thermal insulation thickness, which can be easily adapted to other applications.Comment: 8 pages, 14 figures, 3 table

The Aggregation Inhibitor Peptide QBP1 as a Therapeutic Molecule for the Polyglutamine Neurodegenerative Diseases

Misfolding and abnormal aggregation of proteins in the brain are implicated in the pathogenesis of various neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and the polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases. In the polyQ diseases, an abnormally expanded polyQ stretch triggers misfolding and aggregation of the disease-causing proteins, eventually resulting in neurodegeneration. In this paper, we introduce our therapeutic strategy against the polyQ diseases using polyQ binding peptide 1 (QBP1), a peptide that we identified by phage display screening. We showed that QBP1 specifically binds to the expanded polyQ stretch and inhibits its misfolding and aggregation, resulting in suppression of neurodegeneration in cell culture and animal models of the polyQ diseases. We further demonstrated the potential of protein transduction domains (PTDs) for in vivo delivery of QBP1. We hope that in the near future, chemical analogues of aggregation inhibitor peptides including QBP1 will be developed against protein misfolding-associated neurodegenerative diseases

Aggravation by Paroxetine, a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor, of Antral Lesions Generated by Nonsteroidal Anti- Inflammatory Drugs in Rats

ABSTRACT Recent clinical studies have suggested a risk of adverse gastric reactions from the concomitant use of selective serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). We examined the adverse effects of SSRIs on antral lesions produced by indomethacin in rats. Rats fasted for 24 h were refed for 1 h, then administered indomethacin (30 mg/kg s.c.) 1 h after the refeeding and killed 6 h later. Paroxetine (1-10 mg/kg) was given orally 30 min before indomethacin. Indomethacin caused antral lesions in refed rats. Paroxetine dose-dependently aggravated these lesions, despite provoking no damage by itself. Similar results were obtained when other NSAIDs such as diclofenac, flurbiprofen, and loxoprofen were coadministered with paroxetine or when indomethacin was coadministered with other antidepressants such as fluvoxamine and milnacipran, but not imipramine or maprotiline. Exogenous 5-HT also worsened the indomethacin-induced antral damage, whereas the aggravating effect of paroxetine was attenuated by ondansetron, a selective 5-HT 3 antagonist, but not antagonists for other 5-HT receptor subtypes. Indomethacin plus paroxetine had no effect on gastric secretion but significantly decreased mucosal superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity as well as GSH content. The antral damage induced by indomethacin plus paroxetine was significantly prevented by antisecretory (acid or pepsin) agents and mucosal protective agents as well as SOD and allopurinol. These results suggest that SSRIs aggravate NSAID-induced antral lesions, probably via the activation of 5HT 3 receptors, and the mechanism of aggravation may involve the corrosive action of acid/ pepsin as well as an impaired antioxidative system