Uelen hunters and artists

Uelen is a settlement inhabited by coastal Chukchi and Yupik people who do not only hunt sea animals but also carve their ivory. Archaeological excavations in Uelen testify that ivory carving has existed there at least since the beginning of our era. When whale hunters and traders came in Uelen in the 19th century, traditional ivory carving turned into an ethnic handicraft. In 1931, Uelen residents were the first to open an ivory carving workshop in Chukotka. In the mid-1930s, they benefited from the valuable help of the Russian artist and art critic Alexander Gorbunkov, who encouraged them to develop their own artistic potential. By the end of the 1930s, Uelen carvers and engravers had acquired their particular artistic style based on their deep knowledge of the Arctic hunters’ customs, expressive images of polar animals, and the natural beauty of walrus tusk. The involvement of a large number of Uelen inhabitants in ivory carving was the main reason for its preservation during the Second World War and the difficult aftermath. New tendencies, including human and folklore themes, emerged in the 1950s-1970s alongside traditional hunting depictions. In the 1980s and 1990s, Uelen artists included in their art some patterns from prehistoric ornaments. While many Chukotka artists are using new creative ways in the 2000s, Uelen carvers in general keep closer to tradition. For them, ivory carving has become a symbol of the vanishing culture of their ancestors.Uelen est un village habité par des résidents tchouktches maritimes et yupik, qui non seulement chassent les mammifères marins mais aussi sculptent leur ivoire. Des fouilles archéologiques entreprises à Uelen ont démontré que l’ivoire y a été sculpté depuis au moins le début de notre ère. Quand les baleiniers et les marchands vinrent à Uelen au 19e siècle, la sculpture traditionnelle de l’ivoire se transforma en artisanat populaire. En 1931, les résidents d’ Uelen furent les premiers à ouvrir un atelier de sculpture de l’ivoire en Tchouktoka. Au milieu des années 1930, ils bénéficièrent de l’aide de l’artiste et critique d’art russe Alexander Gorbunkov qui les encouragea à développer leur propre potentiel artistique. À la fin des années 1930, les sculpteurs avaient acquis un style particulier basé sur leur connaissance des coutumes des chasseurs de l’Arctique, les images expressives des animaux polaires et la beauté naturelle de l’ivoire de morse. La participation de nombreux résidents d’Uelen à la sculpture sur ivoire fut la raison principale de sa préservation durant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale et la dure période de l’après-guerre. De nouvelles tendances, incluant des thèmes humains et folkloriques sont apparus dans les années 1950 à 1970 avec aussi des représentations de chasse traditionnelle. Durant les années 1980 et 1990, les artistes inclurent dans leur art certains motifs d’ornements préhistoriques. Si de nombreux artistes de la Tchoukotka recourent à de nouveaux modes d’expression dans les années 2000, les sculpteurs d’Uelen sont en général plus traditionnels. Pour eux, la sculpture est devenue un symbole de la culture ancestrale en voie de disparition

Novel Photosensitizers Trigger Rapid Death of Malignant Human Cells and Rodent Tumor Transplants via Lipid Photodamage and Membrane Permeabilization

BACKGROUND: Apoptotic cascades may frequently be impaired in tumor cells; therefore, the approaches to circumvent these obstacles emerge as important therapeutic modalities. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Our novel derivatives of chlorin e(6), that is, its amide (compound 2) and boronated amide (compound 5) evoked no dark toxicity and demonstrated a significantly higher photosensitizing efficacy than chlorin e(6) against transplanted aggressive tumors such as B16 melanoma and M-1 sarcoma. Compound 5 showed superior therapeutic potency. Illumination with red light of mammalian tumor cells loaded with 0.1 µM of 5 caused rapid (within the initial minutes) necrosis as determined by propidium iodide staining. The laser confocal microscopy-assisted analysis of cell death revealed the following order of events: prior to illumination, 5 accumulated in Golgi cysternae, endoplasmic reticulum and in some (but not all) lysosomes. In response to light, the reactive oxygen species burst was concomitant with the drop of mitochondrial transmembrane electric potential, the dramatic changes of mitochondrial shape and the loss of integrity of mitochondria and lysosomes. Within 3-4 min post illumination, the plasma membrane became permeable for propidium iodide. Compounds 2 and 5 were one order of magnitude more potent than chlorin e(6) in photodamage of artificial liposomes monitored in a dye release assay. The latter effect depended on the content of non-saturated lipids; in liposomes consisting of saturated lipids no photodamage was detectable. The increased therapeutic efficacy of 5 compared with 2 was attributed to a striking difference in the ability of these photosensitizers to permeate through hydrophobic membrane interior as evidenced by measurements of voltage jump-induced relaxation of transmembrane current on planar lipid bilayers. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The multimembrane photodestruction and cell necrosis induced by photoactivation of 2 and 5 are directly associated with membrane permeabilization caused by lipid photodamage