Modern Heritage, the Other, and the Anthropocene

The 20th century was modernism’s century; a comparatively fleeting moment in which the human race’s transition to an urbanised species created an entirely new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. The existential challenge for our species in the 21st century will be to transform the modern city into a site of truly sustainable human habitation. This challenge requires us to engage critically with the past in a way that serves the needs of the future, globally and permanently. The Historic Urban Landscapes (HUL) approach, together with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and UN Habitat’s New Urban Agenda, offers a framework for meeting this challenge and, critically, to change our relationship with both the past and the future

More stories on Th17 cells

For more than two decades, immunologists have been using the so-called Th1/Th2 paradigm to explain most of the phenomena related to adaptive immunity. the Th1/Th2 paradigm implied the existence of two different, mutually regulated, CD4(+) T helper subsets: Th1 cells, driving cell-mediated immune responses involved in tissue damage and fighting infection against intracellular parasites; and Th2 cells that mediate IgE production and are particularly involved in eosinophilic inflammation, allergy and clearance of helminthic infections. A third member of the T helper set, IL-17-producing CD4(+) T cells, now called Th17 cells, was recently described as a distinct lineage that does not share developmental pathways with either Th1 or Th2 cells. the Th17 subset has been linked to autoimmune disorders, being able to produce IL-17, IL-17F and IL-21 among other inflammatory cytokines. Interestingly, it has been reported that there is not only a cross-regulation among Th1, Th2 and Th17 effector cells but there is also a dichotomy in the generation of Th17 and T regulatory cells. Therefore, Treg and Th17 effector cells arise in a mutually exclusive fashion, depending on whether they are activated in the presence of TGF-beta or TGF-beta plus inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6. This review will address the discovery of the Th17 cells, and recent progress on their development and regulation.Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of AmericaNIHLa Jolla Inst Allergy & Immunol, La Jolla, CA 92037 USAUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Microbiol Immunol & Parasitol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Microbiol Immunol & Parasitol, São Paulo, BrazilNIH: RO1 AI050265-06Web of Scienc

New morphological information on, and species of placoderm fish Africanaspis (Arthrodira, Placodermi) from the Late Devonian of South Africa

Here we present a new species of placoderm fish, Africanaspis edmountaini sp. nov., and redescribe Africanaspis doryssa on the basis of new material collected from the type locality of Africanaspis. The new material includes the first head shields of Africanaspis doryssa in addition to soft anatomy for both taxa. Hitherto Africanaspis was entirely described from trunk armour and no record of body and fin outlines had been recorded. In addition the first record of embryonic and juvenile specimens of Africanaspis doryssa is presented and provides a growth series from presumed hatchlings to presumed adults. The presence of a greater number of juveniles compared to adults indicates that the Waterloo Farm fossil site in South Africa represents the first nursery site of arthrodire placoderms known from a cold water environment. The preservation of an ontogenetic series demonstrates that variation within the earlier known sample, initially considered to have resulted from ontogenetic change, instead indicates the presence of a second, less common species Africanaspis edmountaini sp. nov. There is some faunal overlap between the Waterloo Farm fossil site and faunas described from Strud in Belgium and Red Hill, Pennsylvania, in north America, supporting the concept of a more cosmopolitan vertebrate fauna in the Famennian than earlier in the Devonian

Architecture and the Landscape of Modernity in China up to 1949

This study examines China’s encounter with architecture and modernity from c.1900 to 1949. In the context of architecture, it expands current knowledge of the practice in pre-communist China. In terms of the study of modernity, it addresses the uniqueness of China’s encounter with modernity through the concept of multiple modernities; a recent theoretical development in social sciences that has yet to be applied to architectural studies. In the context of China studies, it contributes to redressing the current underrepresentation of architecture within studies of the arts. The methodological approach is inclusive, geographically, temporally and architecturally. It is geographically broad within the bounds of China; temporally, while focusing on the period to 1949, it acknowledges China’s incomparably long building traditions and recent urban development; architecturally, it treats contributions of Chinese and Western architects as integral rather than separate. The central theme of this study is that China’s encounter with modernity was mediated multifariously and dominated by contact with Western powers and through contact with an Eastern power, Japan. The heterogeneous origin of modernity in China is what makes its experience unique and its architectural encounters distinctive. These are investigated through a reevaluation of established knowledge of the subject and the inclusion of original archival and photographic material concentrating on Western influence through the Treaty Ports, the emergence of architecture as a profession in China, and Japan’s colonial activities in Manchuria. This study acknowledges the paradox presented by examining China using non-Chinese criteria and considers alternatives to the Westerncentricty that underlies existing approaches to non-Western topics. A multiple modernities approach not only questions the application of conventional theories of modernity or post-colonialism to the Chinese situation, but also offers a more effective way of comprehending the unique complexity of China’s encounter with architectural modernity