"Poetry Is a High-Energy Sport": an interview with Suzanne Edgar

Suzanne Edgar’s books include The Painted Lady (Ginninderra Press, 2006), Still Life (Picaro Press, 2012), and The Love Procession (Ginninderra Press, 2012). This interview took place in her home in Canberra on February 22, 2014

Lipoarabinomannan, and its related glycolipids, induce divergent and opposing immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis depending on structural diversity and experimental variations

Exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) may lead to active or latent tuberculosis, or clearance of Mtb, depending essentially on the quality of the host's immune response. This response is initiated through the interaction of Mtb cell wall surface components, mostly glycolipids, with cells of the innate immune system, particularly macrophages (Mfs) and dendritic cells (DCs). The way Mfs and DC alter their cytokine secretome, activate or inhibit different microbicidal mechanisms and present antigens and consequently trigger the T cell-mediated immune response impacts the host immune response against Mtb. Lipoarabinomannan (LAM) is one of the major cell wall components of Mtb. Mannosyl-capped LAM (ManLAM), and its related cell wall-associated types of glycolipids/lipoglycans, namely phosphatidylinositol mannosides (PIMs) and lipomannan (LM), exhibit important and distinct immunomodulatory properties. The structure, internal heterogeneity and abundance of these molecules vary between Mtb strains exhibiting distinct degrees of virulence. Thus ManLAM, LM and PIMs may be considered crucial Mtb-associated virulence factors in the pathogenesis of tuberculosis. Of particular relevance for this review, there is controversy about the specific immunomodulatory properties of these distinct glycolipids, particularly when tested as purified molecules in vitro. In addition to the variability in the glycolipid composition conflicting reports may also result from differences in the protocols used for glycolipid isolation and for in vitro experiments including immune cell types and procedures to generate them. Understanding the immunomodulatory properties of these cell wall glycolipids, how they differ between distinct Mtb strains, and how they influence the degree of Mtb virulence, is of utmost relevance to understand how the host mounts a protective or otherwise pathologic immune response. This is essential for the design of preventive strategies against tuberculosis. Thus, since clarifying the controversy on this matter is crucial we here review, summarize and discuss reported data from in vitro stimulation with the three major Mtb complex cell wall glycolipids (ManLAM, PIMs and LM) in an attempt to conciliate the conflicting findings.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ascaris phylogeny based on multiple whole mtDNA genomes

Ascaris lumbricoides and A. suum are two parasitic nematodes infecting humans and pigs, respectively. There has been considerable debate as to whether Ascaris in the two hosts should be considered a single or two separate species. Previous studies identified at least three major clusters (A, B and C) of human and pig Ascaris based on partial cox1 sequences. In the present study, we selected major haplotypes from these different clusters to characterize their whole mitochondrial genomes for phylogenetic analysis. We also undertook coalescent simulations to investigate the evolutionary history of the different Ascaris haplotypes. The topology of the phylogenetic tree based on complete mitochondrial genomic sequences was found to be similar to partial cox1 sequencing, but the support at internal nodes was higher in the former. Coalescent simulations suggested the presence of at least two divergence events: the first one occurring early in the Neolithic period which resulted in a differentiated population of Ascaris in pigs (cluster C), the second occurring more recently (~ 900 generations ago), resulting in clusters A and B which might have been spread worldwide by human activities

Letter from Henry Beston, 1943

Correspondence from Heny Beston to Fannie Hardy Eckstorm conerning canoes and paddles, which were digitized from Box 1 folder 10, of the Fannie Hardy Eckstorm Papers. Documents from this folder that did not pertain to Native Americans in Maine were not scanned and are not included in this filehttps://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/eckstorm_papers/1003/thumbnail.jp

Introduction: The Raison D’etre of this Book

My overall approach in this collection is twofold in its emphasis. On the one hand I am concerned with White’s evocation of dimensions other than material reality (in my essays on Voss, White and Cather, and his preoccupation with epiphanies and mythmaking). And on the other hand I offer a series of analytical studies of his themes and characters in his major novels (in my essays on The Aunt’s Story, The Tree of Man and Voss), and even of the man himself (in my discussion of the importance of White’s oedipal relationship to his mother in my essay on White and Rimbaud)