Potential Preventive Strategies for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

It may seem useless to propose preventive measures for a disease without established pathogenesis and successful therapy, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). However, we will show that ALS shares essential molecular mechanisms with aging and that established anti-aging strategies, such as healthy diet or individually adjusted exercise, may be successfully applied to ameliorate the condition of ALS patients. These strategies might be applied for prevention if persons at ALS risk could be identified early enough. Recent research advances indicate that this may happen soon

Sources of community : mythical groundwork of Early Modern identities

Jakub Koryl’s lengthy chapter, “Sources of Community: Mythical Groundwork of Early Modern Identities”, stands out in terms of its theoretical nature and comprehensive scope. At the same time it goes to the heart of the question of confessional identity and otherness, and thus provides an illuminating perspective on many of the themes covered in both this section and the volume as a whole. Drawing on case-studies from both the Lutheran and Catholic Reformation, Korylseeksto offer a newaccount of confessional-identity building from the late Middle Ages through to the Enlightenment. In particular, he argues that in the early modern period the theme of myth - and especially the rival German and Roman “myths” of Reformation - became the driving force for the creation of new confessional identities, harnessing and uniting into one powerful synthesis, social, intellectual, political and religious forces. Then, following in the footsteps of Hans Blumenberg, Charles Taylor and others, Koryl traces the roots of the modern conception of identity to late medieval Nominalism and its overturning of the medieval analogical and hierarchical understanding of reality. According to Koryl, it was this philosophical move which helped release the creative - and destructive - interplay of forces that shaped the early modern confessional landscape for the next two centuries. Importantly, this situation gave minority views a new voice in European affairs, allowing them eventually to construct their own (secular) myths and take on the dominant, majority role they exercise in the world today