Introduction: Shakespeare's public spheres

Habermas’ sense of a “cultural Public Sphere” is a notoriously complex term and, when applied to Early Modern cultures, needs careful definition. This essay both introduces the variety of methods by which we might approach playtexts with a view to their public – auditory – impact and contributes to a debate about an audience's understanding of Shakespeare's plays. By selecting two words and their spread of use in one play, Twelfth Night, we might appreciate the potential for meaningful ambiguity latent in how we hear the language of live performance. If we search for how certain terms (in this case, the cluster of semes derived from repetitions of “fancy” and “play”), we might find at times incompatible senses, yet we get near to appreciating the range of Early Modern dramatic language

International genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new primary biliary cirrhosis risk loci and targetable pathogenic pathways.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a classical autoimmune liver disease for which effective immunomodulatory therapy is lacking. Here we perform meta-analyses of discovery data sets from genome-wide association studies of European subjects (n=2,764 cases and 10,475 controls) followed by validation genotyping in an independent cohort (n=3,716 cases and 4,261 controls). We discover and validate six previously unknown risk loci for PBC (Pcombined<5 × 10(-8)) and used pathway analysis to identify JAK-STAT/IL12/IL27 signalling and cytokine-cytokine pathways, for which relevant therapies exist

Effect of remote ischaemic conditioning on clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI): a single-blind randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Remote ischaemic conditioning with transient ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm has been shown to reduce myocardial infarct size in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). We investigated whether remote ischaemic conditioning could reduce the incidence of cardiac death and hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months. METHODS: We did an international investigator-initiated, prospective, single-blind, randomised controlled trial (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI) at 33 centres across the UK, Denmark, Spain, and Serbia. Patients (age >18 years) with suspected STEMI and who were eligible for PPCI were randomly allocated (1:1, stratified by centre with a permuted block method) to receive standard treatment (including a sham simulated remote ischaemic conditioning intervention at UK sites only) or remote ischaemic conditioning treatment (intermittent ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm through four cycles of 5-min inflation and 5-min deflation of an automated cuff device) before PPCI. Investigators responsible for data collection and outcome assessment were masked to treatment allocation. The primary combined endpoint was cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02342522) and is completed. FINDINGS: Between Nov 6, 2013, and March 31, 2018, 5401 patients were randomly allocated to either the control group (n=2701) or the remote ischaemic conditioning group (n=2700). After exclusion of patients upon hospital arrival or loss to follow-up, 2569 patients in the control group and 2546 in the intervention group were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. At 12 months post-PPCI, the Kaplan-Meier-estimated frequencies of cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure (the primary endpoint) were 220 (8·6%) patients in the control group and 239 (9·4%) in the remote ischaemic conditioning group (hazard ratio 1·10 [95% CI 0·91-1·32], p=0·32 for intervention versus control). No important unexpected adverse events or side effects of remote ischaemic conditioning were observed. INTERPRETATION: Remote ischaemic conditioning does not improve clinical outcomes (cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure) at 12 months in patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI. FUNDING: British Heart Foundation, University College London Hospitals/University College London Biomedical Research Centre, Danish Innovation Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, TrygFonden

Shakespeare and a cult of solitude

The argument of the thesis is that there was a gradual change in attitudes towards solitude during the sixteenth century, which reached its most extreme towards the end of the century, giving rise to a cult of solitude. These attitudes, and the cult itself, became a crucial formative element in the work of Shakespeare.Part One describes the evidence for and motivations behind the search for solitude, and considers the history of ideas on solitude, placing the climactic period, between about 1570 and 1630, within the context of earlier and later ideology. Writers of the period are shown to have used the solitude debate as a vehicle for more abstract ideas about the duty to self and to society, individual preference and communal morality, and the inward and the presented self. Whereas the social ideal valued the individual as part of a greater whole, the solitary ideal saw him as an absolute in himself, defined from within. The persistence of medieval habits of thought alongside new sixteenth-century perspectives resulted in an omnipresent dualism, a balancing of opposites based on an unwillingness for unequivocal commitment to either extreme.Part Two demonstrates the centrality pf this preoccupation with solitude and the definition of the self in Shakespeare's work, comparing and contrasting the development of his ideas with that of his contemporaries. The thesis considers Shakespeare's sympathies, moral judgements r and ideals through the changing perspectives on the solitary from play to play, Despite his sensitivity to the deepest levels of the contemporary cult of solitude, Shakespeare finally keeps faith with the essentially medieval ideal of the social bond. Solitude, for him, fails as an ideal, and is acceptable only where the social ideal is irreparably corrupted.</p

The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare´s Tragedies

Este libro es una introducción a las tragedias de Shakespeare que son: Titus Andronicus, Romeo y Julieta, Julio Cesar, Hamlet, Otelo, el timón de Atenas, King Lear, Macbeth, Antonio y Cleopatra y Coriolanus. Plantea los problemas que presenta la lectura de Shakespeare, en la actualidad, a los jóvenes lectores y ayuda a los profesores de secundaria a hacer frente a las dificultades lingüísticas de estas obras como el uso de palabras antiguas, la gramática, la retórica y la metáfora. La enseñanza de los textos de Shakespeare se realiza en el marco contextual, interpretativo y lingüístico exigido para el título del General Certificate Secondary Education (GCSE) y del A-level.scBiblioteca de Educación del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte; Calle San Agustín, 5 - 3 planta; 28014 Madrid; Tel. +34917748000; [email protected]

Shakespeare and the Staging of English History

This review considers Shakespeare and the Staging of English History