On the Battlefield of Hygiene: The Lithuanian Medical Intelligentsia, 1914–1920

The article shows the First World War as a ground-breaking time for the consolidation of thenational identity of Lithuanian physicians, and their coordination as a professional group witha precise commitment to the nation and the nation-building process. While physicians’ commitmentto hygiene dates from the period prior to the outbreak of the First World War, the warcreated material conditions which enabled the widespread comprehension of the importanceof hygiene in the life of the nation, and the growth of physicians’ sense of professional-intellectualagency within the ethnic community. The need to provide medical aid in a context characterisedby epidemics and deteriorating hygiene was a precondition for much stronger coordinationamong physicians, with the aim of optimising relief efforts. Furthermore, the spreadof epidemics was used as a reason for strengthening trust between medical personnel andthe population. The difficulties which characterised health care in the early phase of the Lithuaniannation-state (lack of money, shortages, irrational features of the health-care system, etc)made the implementation of the ‘national hygiene’ programme impossible in the short term.Key words: First World War, hygiene, intelligentsia, national consolidation, national hygiene

Displacement and Education: Some Observations on the Situation in Ober Ost, between 1914 and 1918

The German occupation of Ober Ost during the First World War represented an undeniableincentive for further nation and state-building in the occupied lands. Although in the early 20thcentury education societies had already spread their networks, it was during the years of theGerman occupation that the centralisation and consolidation of the education network couldtake place. Regardless of the fact that some ideological divisions between education societiesendured, both the limitations imposed by the occupying regime and the existence of a reliefcommittee, the Lithuanian War Relief Committee, with the task to coordinate virtually all Lithuanianactivities, functioned as means of rationalising the whole education system. Not onlydid the Lithuanian War Relief Committee try to overcome ideological divisions in the field ofeducation, but its quasi-state structure also helped to create, finance and effectively direct thewhole official network of Lithuanian educational institutions.Keywords: First World War, education, Lithuania, Ober Ost, war relief. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/ahuk.v31i0.120

Introduzione

La Rivoluzione d’Ottobre: letture di una cesura Il ruolo di cesura giocato dalla Rivoluzione d’Ottobre nella storia del Novecento è un dato difficilmente confutabile. Gli eventi rivoluzionari che caratterizzarono l’Impero zarista al terzo anno di guerra non rappresentarono solo un punto di svolta per le sorti di questo Stato e del conflitto nel complesso, ma divennero un vero e proprio paradigma politico che avrebbe goduto di un’eco globale di lunghissima durata ed enorme portata. Come modell..

Between empire and nation state. Urban space and conflicting memories in Trieste (19th–early 20th century)

Cities are particular spaces in which such a fight for territory occurs. By their own nature, cities imply a work of transformation and appropriation of territory into a narrative construct or text. In the 19th and early 20thcentury, Trieste underwent a transformation of its own urban space that expressed the existence and concurrence of different national narratives. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Trieste's coastline performed the cosmopolitan elite's identity by highlighting the relation between social status, ethnic origins of elite's member, and the individuals’ conscience of participating in the exceptionality of a city ‘without history.’ As the elite's economic ground changed, the representation of identity in space changed consequently. The consolidation of fascist regime supported the construction of a new myth of Trieste characterized by an old Roman origin and the heroic efforts of its inhabitants to join the ‘Motherland’ that led to the creation of a new main urban axis constellated with sites highly representative of Trieste's ‘Latinity’ and permeated by a sense of collective participation in historical continuity

Human cytomegalovirus-induced host protein citrullination is crucial for viral replication

Citrullination is the conversion of arginine-to-citrulline by protein arginine deiminases (PADs), whose dysregulation is implicated in the pathogenesis of various types of cancers and autoimmune diseases. Consistent with the ability of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) to induce post-translational modifications of cellular proteins to gain a survival advantage, we show that HCMV infection of primary human fibroblasts triggers PAD-mediated citrullination of several host proteins, and that this activity promotes viral fitness. Citrullinome analysis reveals significant changes in deimination levels of both cellular and viral proteins, with interferon (IFN)-inducible protein IFIT1 being among the most heavily deiminated one. As genetic depletion of IFIT1 strongly enhances HCMV growth, and in vitro IFIT1 citrullination impairs its ability to bind to 5\u27-ppp-RNA, we propose that viral-induced IFIT1 citrullination is a mechanism of HCMV evasion from host antiviral resistance. Overall, our findings point to a crucial role of citrullination in subverting cellular responses to viral infection