Pornokratie : Film und Philosophie im Werk von Catherine Breillat

Catherine Breillat wurde am 13. Juli 1948 in Bressuire (Südwest- Frankreich) geboren. Sie wuchs in einem kleinbürgerlichen Elternhaus auf, wo sie eine strenge Erziehung zu tugendhaftem, moralischem Verhalten erfährt. Während der Pubertät begegnen die Eltern ihr mit Misstrauen und versuchen sie von allen Versuchungen fernzuhalten. Die Unterdrückung ihrer eigenen Sexualität, die aus dieser Erziehung resultierte, beeinflusste maßgeblich Breillats spätere Haltung zum Umgang mit Sexualität sowie ihr filmisches Schaffen

Benefits and costs to pollinating, seed-eating insects: the effect of flower size and fruit abortion on larval performance

Plant-pollinator interactions are well-known examples of mutualism, but are not free of antagonism. Antagonistic interactions and defenses or counter-defenses are expected particularly in nursery pollination. In these systems, adult insects, while pollinating, lay their eggs in flowers, and juveniles consume the seeds from one or several fruits, thereby substantially reducing plant fitness. The outcome of such interactions will depend, for the plant, on the balance between pollination versus seed predation and for the larvae on the balance between the food and shelter provided versus the costs imposed by plant defenses, e.g., through abortion of infested fruits. Here, we examine the costs and benefits to the larvae in the nursery-pollination system Silene latifolia/Hadena bicruris. Using selection lines that varied in flower size (large- vs. small-flowered plants), we investigated the effects of variation in flower and fruit size and of a potential defense, fruit abortion, on larval performance. In this system, infested fruits are significantly more likely to be aborted than non-infested fruits; however, it is unclear whether fruit abortion is effective as a defense. Larger flowers gave rise to larger fruits with more seeds, and larvae that were heavier at emergence. Fruit abortion was frequently observed (ca. 40% of the infested fruits). From aborted fruits, larvae emerged earlier and were substantially lighter than larvae emerging from non-aborted fruits. The lower mass at emergence of larvae from aborted fruits indicates that abortion is a resistance mechanism. Assuming that lower larval mass implies fewer resources invested in the frugivore, these results also suggest that abortion is likely to benefit the plant as a defense mechanism, by limiting both resources invested in attacked fruits, as well as the risk of secondary attack. This suggests that selective fruit abortion may contribute to the stability of mutualism also in this non-obligate syste

Hernando Martínez Pardo : “el cine no es solamente una forma de filmar unas historias, sino que tiene una forma propia de construir personajes y contextos espacio-temporales”

Esta entrevista es un homenaje póstumo a Hernando Martínez Pardo (1935 – 2015), uno de los más importantes historiadores, críticos, analistas y profesores de cine de Colombia. Autor de la Historia del cine colombiano (Bogotá: Editorial América Latina, 1978), pionera en la historia del cine en el país. Su vida giró alrededor del cine y en su ánimo de enseñar a entender y apreciar el Séptimo Arte

Quality of collaboration in a distant collaborative architectural educational setting

peer reviewedThis paper analyses the quality of collaboration of two student teams in a longitudinal study of a collaborative distant architectural studio. Based on a simple method to assess several dimensions of this quality of collaboration, we compared the two groups at three stages of the design process. We also analysed how the quality of collaboration evolved over time and as a function of the design stage. We finally discuss the interests of the method and some insights to support a better understanding of mechanisms of collaboration

Abcb4 acts as multixenobiotic transporter and active barrier against chemical uptake in zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos

BACKGROUND: In mammals, ABCB1 constitutes a cellular “first line of defense” against a wide array of chemicals and drugs conferring cellular multidrug or multixenobiotic resistance (MDR/MXR). We tested the hypothesis that an ABCB1 ortholog serves as protection for the sensitive developmental processes in zebrafish embryos against adverse compounds dissolved in the water. RESULTS: Indication for ABCB1-type efflux counteracting the accumulation of chemicals in zebrafish embryos comes from experiments with fluorescent and toxic transporter substrates and inhibitors. With inhibitors present, levels of fluorescent dyes in embryo tissue and sensitivity of embryos to toxic substrates were generally elevated. We verified two predicted sequences from zebrafish, previously annotated as abcb1, by cloning; our synteny analyses, however, identified them as abcb4 and abcb5, respectively. The abcb1 gene is absent in the zebrafish genome and we explored whether instead Abcb4 and/or Abcb5 show toxicant defense properties. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analyses showed the presence of transcripts of both genes throughout the first 48 hours of zebrafish development. Similar to transporter inhibitors, morpholino knock-down of Abcb4 increased accumulation of fluorescent substrates in embryo tissue and sensitivity of embryos toward toxic compounds. In contrast, morpholino knock-down of Abcb5 did not exert this effect. ATPase assays with recombinant protein obtained with the baculovirus expression system confirmed that dye and toxic compounds act as substrates of zebrafish Abcb4 and inhibitors block its function. The compounds tested comprised model substrates of human ABCB1, namely the fluorescent dyes rhodamine B and calcein-am and the toxic compounds vinblastine, vincristine and doxorubicin; cyclosporin A, PSC833, MK571 and verapamil were applied as inhibitors. Additionally, tests were performed with ecotoxicologically relevant compounds: phenanthrene (a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) and galaxolide and tonalide (two polycyclic musks). CONCLUSIONS: We show that zebrafish Abcb4 is a cellular toxicant transporter and provides protection of embryos against toxic chemicals dissolved in the water. Zebrafish Abcb4 thus is functionally similar to mammalian ABCB1, but differs from mammalian ABCB4, which is not involved in cellular resistance to chemicals but specifically transports phospholipids in the liver. Our data have important implications: Abcb4 could affect bioavailability - and thus toxicologic and pharmacologic potency - of chemicals to zebrafish embryos and inhibition of Abcb4 therefore causes chemosensitization, that is, enhanced sensitivity of embryos to toxicants. These aspects should be considered in (eco)toxicologic and pharmacologic chemical screens with the zebrafish embryo, a major vertebrate model