Pop stars and idolatry: an investigation of the worship of popular music icons, and the music and cult of Prince.

Prince is an artist who integrates elements from the sacred into his work. He uses popular iconography to present himself as an icon of consumer culture, as a deified ‘rock god’ worshipped by his fans, and as a preacher leading his audience like a congregation. His personality cult mixes spirituality and sexuality, and deals with issues of ecstasy and liberation, a transgressional approach that draws both controversy and public interest. This paper investigates Prince’s work and the role of the pop star as an icon within contemporary culture, an icon that contains a physicality and sexuality not present in contemporary western religious traditions. It discusses to what extent popular musical culture operates as a form of religious practice within contemporary western culture, and the implications that this has. The paper investigates the construction of Prince’s public character, his manipulation of the star system, and how he uses popular iconography to blur the distinctions between spirituality and sexuality, the idealised performer and the real world, the sacred and the profane, and the human and the divine. It explores how he possesses and is possessed by the audience, who enter into the hollow vessel he offers up to his fans

Bi-allelic Loss-of-Function CACNA1B Mutations in Progressive Epilepsy-Dyskinesia.

The occurrence of non-epileptic hyperkinetic movements in the context of developmental epileptic encephalopathies is an increasingly recognized phenomenon. Identification of causative mutations provides an important insight into common pathogenic mechanisms that cause both seizures and abnormal motor control. We report bi-allelic loss-of-function CACNA1B variants in six children from three unrelated families whose affected members present with a complex and progressive neurological syndrome. All affected individuals presented with epileptic encephalopathy, severe neurodevelopmental delay (often with regression), and a hyperkinetic movement disorder. Additional neurological features included postnatal microcephaly and hypotonia. Five children died in childhood or adolescence (mean age of death: 9 years), mainly as a result of secondary respiratory complications. CACNA1B encodes the pore-forming subunit of the pre-synaptic neuronal voltage-gated calcium channel Cav2.2/N-type, crucial for SNARE-mediated neurotransmission, particularly in the early postnatal period. Bi-allelic loss-of-function variants in CACNA1B are predicted to cause disruption of Ca2+ influx, leading to impaired synaptic neurotransmission. The resultant effect on neuronal function is likely to be important in the development of involuntary movements and epilepsy. Overall, our findings provide further evidence for the key role of Cav2.2 in normal human neurodevelopment.MAK is funded by an NIHR Research Professorship and receives funding from the Wellcome Trust, Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital Charity, and Rosetrees Trust. E.M. received funding from the Rosetrees Trust (CD-A53) and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. K.G. received funding from Temple Street Foundation. A.M. is funded by Great Ormond Street Hospital, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and Biomedical Research Centre. F.L.R. and D.G. are funded by Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. K.C. and A.S.J. are funded by NIHR Bioresource for Rare Diseases. The DDD Study presents independent research commissioned by the Health Innovation Challenge Fund (grant number HICF-1009-003), a parallel funding partnership between the Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (grant number WT098051). We acknowledge support from the UK Department of Health via the NIHR comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre award to Guy's and St. Thomas' National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust in partnership with King's College London. This research was also supported by the NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre. J.H.C. is in receipt of an NIHR Senior Investigator Award. The research team acknowledges the support of the NIHR through the Comprehensive Clinical Research Network. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, Department of Health, or Wellcome Trust. E.R.M. acknowledges support from NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, an NIHR Senior Investigator Award, and the University of Cambridge has received salary support in respect of E.R.M. from the NHS in the East of England through the Clinical Academic Reserve. I.E.S. is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (Program Grant and Practitioner Fellowship)

When Rankings Go Too Far

Global rankings in higher education play a useful role, but at the same time must be kept in proper perspective. This article focuses on the limitations of rankings in the broader context of higher education internationally

Pathogen data

This file contains the DWV variant sequences and data, as well as the broad pathogen screen data for Vespula pensylvanica and Apis mellifera from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Data from: Pathogen shifts in a honey bee predator following arrival of the Varroa mite

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) are a global threat to honey bees, and spillover from managed bees threaten wider insect populations. Deformed wing virus (DWV), a widespread virus that has become emergent in conjunction with the spread of the mite Varroa destructor, is thought to be partly responsible for global colony losses. The arrival of Varroa in honey bee populations causes a dramatic loss of viral genotypic diversity, favoring a few virulent strains. Here, we investigate DWV spillover in an invasive Hawaiian population of the wasp, Vespula pensylvanica, a honey bee predator and honey-raider. We show that Vespula underwent a parallel loss in DWV variant diversity upon the arrival of Varroa, despite the mite being a honey bee specialist. The observed shift in Vespula DWV, and the variant-sharing between Vespula and Apis, suggest that these wasps can acquire DWV directly or indirectly from honey bees. Apis prey items collected from Vespula foragers were positive for DWV, indicating predation is a possible route of transmission. We also sought cascading effects of DWV shifts in a broader Vespula pathogen community. We identified concurrent changes in a suite of additional pathogens, as well as shifts in the associations between these pathogens in Vespula and in Apis. These findings reveal how hidden effects of the Varroa mite can, via spillover, transform the composition of pathogens in interacting species, with potential knock-on effects for entire pathogen communities

RNAseq FASTQ Diseased data for Vespula vulgaris

RNAseq FASTQ data from 6 Vespula vulgaris samples symptomatic of an unknown disease

Trinity FASTA assemblies and RNAseq FASTQ raw data for Vespula vulgaris

RNAseq data from Vespula vulgaris nests sampled in the field in Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand in 2016. The FASTQ data include 12 Illumina Hiseq files*: 6 samples from nests symptomatic of an unknown disease (labelled as 'Diseased'), and 6 samples from nests not symptomatic (labelled as 'Healthy'). Two Trinity FASTA assemblies (labelled as 'assemblies'): one of the RNAseq data from symptomatic nest samples and one of the RNAseq data from asymptomatic nest samples. *FASTQ data uploaded as separate zip file

RNAseq FASTQ Healthy data for Vespula vulgaris

RNAseq FASTQ data from 6 Vespula vulgaris samples asymptomatic of an unknown disease

Vespula data overview

Vespula vulgaris nests used in the nest analysis and mitochondrial DNA analysis. Sample name: internal name used to identify samle; Queen cells and worker cells are estimated from queen and worker comb area.;Latitude and longitude give the sampling location in New Zealand or Belgium; "DNA from?" indicates which DNA extraction method was used