Ceci n’est pas une ville

Treballs Finals de Grau de Belles Arts. Facultat de Belles Arts. Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2015-16, Tutor: Bibiana Crespo[cat] El títol de l’obra d’aquest Treball Final de Grau, Ceci n’est pas une ville, fa al·lusió a la paradoxa proposada per René Magritte al quadre La Trahison des images (La traïció de les imatges), atès que la incapacitat de distingir realitat i ficció ha sobrepassat el territori de la mera representació, convertint-se en un dels dilemes més presents a la nostra contemporaneïtat, fent-se evident tant en les imatges i la informació que ens envolta com en els paisatges que habitem.La peça és un dibuix en el que es representa un paisatge de gran format, introduint l’espectador dins la vivència d’un lloc fictici, simulat. En el dibuix es presenta el carrer principal de La Roca Village, un centre comercial construït imitant l’arquitectura catalana del segle XIX i dedicat a la venda de grans marques de roba i altres complements. Amb més de 4 milions de visitants a l’any aquest “no-poble” ja és el més visitat de Catalunya. Mitjançant el suport d’un material transparent, pintura blanca i una il·luminació dirigida, es crea una projecció d’ombra del grafisme del dibuix a la paret que domina la visió, fet que suscita una confusió a l’espectador, ja que no sap si està veient el dibuix mateix o l’ombra que genera aquest. L’ obra constitueix una crítica al capitalisme cultural i convida a l’espectador a reflexionar sobre el paisatge que habita, tot considerant que els carrers de La Roca Village, habitats per marques i transitats per consumidors, podrien ser un model per una societat en potència, que amaga les seves diferències sota un espectacle dedicat exclusivament a vendre productes lluents i experiències fictícies.[eng] The work’s title of this Final Degree Dissertation project, Ceci n’est pas une ville, refers to René Magritte’s paradox proposed in his painting La Trahison des images (The image betrayal), since the inability to distinguish reality and fiction has exceeded the territory of the mere representation, becoming one of our most noticeable contemporary dilemmas, making itself evident both in images and information that surround us, as in the landscapes that we inhabit. This piece is a drawing representing a large landscape, aiming to introduce the viewer into the experience of a fictitious and simulated place. The drawing shows the main street of La Roca Village, a shopping center built imitating the Catalan architecture of the 19th Century, devoted to selling big clothing brands. With more than 4 million of visitors per year, this “no-village” is already the most visited one in Catalonia. Through a transparent material support, white painting and a directed light, the shadow of the graphism is projected onto the wall and dominates the vision, this fact causes a confusion to the viewer as he/she doesn’t know if is watching the drawing itself or the shadow that it generates. The work constitutes a critic to cultural capitalism and invites the viewers to think about the landscapes they inhabit. Considering that La Roca Village streets, inhabited by brands and crowded by consumers, could be a potential model for a society that hides its differences under a performance exclusively dedicated to sell shiny products and fictitious experiences

Trophectoderm samples evaluated by microarray based aneuploidy screening and relative telomere DNA quantitation (aneuploid versus euploid).

<p> <b>Mean±SEM 0.93±0.11.</b></p

Telomere DNA in aneuploid blastocysts.

<p>(A) Diagram illustrating two potential mechanisms by which aneuploid blastocysts could obtain normalized quantities of telomere DNA. (B) Results of testing the potential for “correction” to explain normalized quantities of telomere DNA in aneuploid blastocysts. A significant increase (<i>P</i><0.05) was found in telomere DNA quantity in trophectoderm from blastocysts relative to the 1^st polar body from the same oocyte. A significant increase was not found in blastomeres from cleavage stage embryos. This suggests that telomere DNA is reset between the cleavage and blastocyst stage of embryogenesis in humans. (C) Results of testing the potential for “selection” to explain normalized quantities of telomere DNA in aneuploid blastocysts. Significance was not reached when comparing sibling arrested and developmentally competent embryos (<i>P</i> = 0.29). This suggests that embryos with short telomeres aren't more prone to developmental arrest between the cleavage and blastocyst stage of embryogenesis in humans.</p

Polar body samples evaluated by microarray based aneuploidy screening and relative telomere DNA quantitation.

<p>Mean±SEM 0.43±0.12.</p

Blastomere samples evaluated by microarray based aneuploidy screening and relative telomere DNA quantitation (aneuploid versus euploid).

<p>Blastomere samples evaluated by microarray based aneuploidy screening and relative telomere DNA quantitation (aneuploid versus euploid).</p

Example results of SNP microarray based 24 chromosome aneuploidy screening in human oocytes and preimplantation embryos that were also characterized for telomere DNA content.

<p>(A) SNP microarray based chromosome specific copy number graphs of euploid and aneuploid sibling polar bodies from polar body specific patients 2, 5, 8, and 9 (<a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1002161#pgen-1002161-t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>). (B) SNP microarray based copy number graphs of euploid and aneuploid sibling blastomeres from blastomere specific patients 5, 6, 7, and 9 (<a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1002161#pgen-1002161-t002" target="_blank">Table 2</a>). (C) Photographs of cleavage stage sibling embryos from the 9 blastomere specific patients analyzed in the present study (<a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1002161#pgen-1002161-t002" target="_blank">Table 2</a>). (D) SNP microarray based copy number graphs of euploid and aneuploid sibling blastocyst stage embryos from trophectoderm specific patients 1, 7, 8, and 9 (<a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1002161#pgen-1002161-t003" target="_blank">Table 3</a>).</p

Mean quantities (±SEM) of telomere DNA found in aneuploid relative to euploid polar bodies, blastomeres, and trophectoderm biopsies.

<p><i>P</i>-values from paired analysis of sibling samples within each patient are shown and illustrate the significant decrease in relative quantity in aneuploid polar bodies and blastomeres but not trophectoderm.</p

Additional file 1: of Expanding harm reduction to include fentanyl urine testing: results from a pilot in rural British Columbia

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Variability of Gene Expression Identifies Transcriptional Regulators of Early Human Embryonic Development

<div><p>An analysis of gene expression variability can provide an insightful window into how regulatory control is distributed across the transcriptome. In a single cell analysis, the inter-cellular variability of gene expression measures the consistency of transcript copy numbers observed between cells in the same population. Application of these ideas to the study of early human embryonic development may reveal important insights into the transcriptional programs controlling this process, based on which components are most tightly regulated. Using a published single cell RNA-seq data set of human embryos collected at four-cell, eight-cell, morula and blastocyst stages, we identified genes with the most stable, invariant expression across all four developmental stages. Stably-expressed genes were found to be enriched for those sharing indispensable features, including essentiality, haploinsufficiency, and ubiquitous expression. The stable genes were less likely to be associated with loss-of-function variant genes or human recessive disease genes affected by a DNA copy number variant deletion, suggesting that stable genes have a functional impact on the regulation of some of the basic cellular processes. Genes with low expression variability at early stages of development are involved in regulation of DNA methylation, responses to hypoxia and telomerase activity, whereas by the blastocyst stage, low-variability genes are enriched for metabolic processes as well as telomerase signaling. Based on changes in expression variability, we identified a putative set of gene expression markers of morulae and blastocyst stages. Experimental validation of a blastocyst-expressed variability marker demonstrated that <i>HDDC2</i> plays a role in the maintenance of pluripotency in human ES and iPS cells. Collectively our analyses identified new regulators involved in human embryonic development that would have otherwise been missed using methods that focus on assessment of the average expression levels; in doing so, we highlight the value of studying expression variability for single cell RNA-seq data.</p></div

Stage-specific variability markers are based on changes in inter-cellular variability.

<p><b>(A)</b> A schematic illustrating how a narrower distribution corresponds to greater homogeneity in the expression of a variability marker in a cell population (the shading indicates level of expression of a gene). <b>(B-D)</b> The distribution of expression for the variability markers identified for each developmental stage.</p