Introduction to \u3cem\u3eAugustan Poetry and the Roman Republic\u3c/em\u3e

A considerable body of recent scholarship has been devoted to inves­tigating the ways in which societies remember, studying not only what they construct as memorable but also why and how they do so. Adopt­ing a narrower focus, this volume examines the ways in which different aspects and images of the Roman Republic are created and exploited by the Augustan poets. Our subject immediately suggests two obvious strategies:- on the one hand, emphasis on a strictly historical project; on the other, concentration on versions of literary history. The latter has been more popular and influential in recent Latin scholarship, but the former has not been without its adherents, as the lively debate in recent historical research has fought over the value of ancient literary sources for reconstructing the early history of Rome and, crucially, for the origins of the Republic and the struggle of the orders. Simultaneously, recent work on Livy has provided strong support for a pre-Actian dating for the beginning of the composition of his history, and so has vastly improved our appreciation of the complexity and subtlety of this extraordinarily ambitious and influential historiographical project. In addition, more sophisticated readings of Roman historians in general that are them­selves influenced by the application of New Critical techniques of dose reading developed by critics of poetic texts, have begun in turn to impinge on the ways in which the Latin poetry of the Augustan age is interpreted. Just as historical writers employ the materials of poetry and what we now call fiction-myth and metaphor, artful structuration, and the careful activation of intertextual possibilities involving models in both prose and verse-Augustan poets reveal their keen awareness of and interest in different historiographical modes, such as those of uni­versal history, regal chronicles, and the tropes of annalistic writing. They are also interested in some of the characteristic themes and devices of historical writing, such as battle narrative, civil conflict, ethnography, speeches, and debates, even as they too engage intertextually with precise historiographical models in pointed and influential ways. The challenge for this volume, then, is not so much to ask whether the Augustan poets are concerned with Roman history, but to gain greater clarity with regard to the questions of how and to what end they may be seen as presenting their past as a specifically Republican history. In setting out to think about this vast topic, one which can only be treated in a highly selective manner in a book such as this, a series of obvious questions comes immediately to mind. Are there any particular aspects of the Republic that Augustan poets seem to remember with particular frequency and immediacy? Equally, are there any aspects they seem to prefer to forget? How do they shape the past in relation to the present: do they favour narratives of continuity, rupture, or repetition? What other forms of periodization do they adopt? And finally, how are we to define any given poet as \u27Augustan\u27? Amidst such a bewildering array of questions, it seems advisable to attempt to seek some solid ground as a starting point

Highly Perturbed pKa Values in the Unfolded State of Hen Egg White Lysozyme

AbstractThe majority of pKa values in protein unfolded states are close to the amino acid model pKa values, thus reflecting the weak intramolecular interactions present in the unfolded ensemble of most proteins. We have carried out thermal denaturation measurements on the WT and eight mutants of HEWL from pH 1.5 to pH 11.0 to examine the unfolded state pKa values and the pH dependence of protein stability for this enzyme. The availability of accurate pKa values for the folded state of HEWL and separate measurements of mutant-induced effects on the folded state pKa values, allows us to estimate the pKa values of seven acidic residues in the unfolded state of HEWL. Asp-48 and Asp-66 display pKa values of 2.9 and 3.1 in our analysis, thus representing the most depressed unfolded state pKa values observed to date. We observe a strong correlation between the folded state pKa values and the unfolded state pKa values of HEWL, thus suggesting that the unfolded state of HEWL possesses a large degree of native state characteristics

Utilising Mobile Phone Billing Records for Travel Mode Discovery

A novel methodology to infer transportation mode taken by mobile device users between regions of interest is introduced. It relies on analysing anonymised billing data, namely call detail records, supplied by mobile network operators as the primary source of user-created data. Coupled with the spatial coverage and distribution of mobile network cells and geographical route map information of major transportation modes, assumed to be partially non-overlapping, user travel paths can be predicted. Journey specific trajectories are constructed and analysed using the concept of virtual cell path for each qualified pre-processed list of activities from each unique user. After classification, kernel density paths for each route were generated both for illustration and validation purposes. Dierentiation between rail and road users travelling between Dublin and Cork in the Republic of Ireland is shown as an example application case stud

Integrated computational prediction and experimental validation identifies promiscuous T cell epitopes in the proteome of Mycobacterium bovis

The discovery of novel antigens is an essential requirement in devising new diagnostics or vaccines for use in control programmes against human tuberculosis (TB) and bovine tuberculosis (bTB). Identification of potential epitopes recognised by CD4+ T cells requires prediction of peptide binding to MHC class-II, an obligatory prerequisite for T cell recognition. To comprehensively prioritise potential MHC-II-binding epitopes from Mycobacterium bovis, the agent of bTB and zoonotic TB in humans, we integrated three binding prediction methods with the M. bovisproteome using a subset of human HLA alleles to approximate the binding of epitope-containing peptides to the bovine MHC class II molecule BoLA-DRB3. Two parallel strategies were then applied to filter the resulting set of binders: identification of the top-scoring binders or clusters of binders. Our approach was tested experimentally by assessing the capacity of predicted promiscuous peptides to drive interferon-γ secretion from T cells of M. bovis infected cattle. Thus, 376 20-mer peptides, were synthesised (270 predicted epitopes, 94 random peptides with low predictive scores and 12 positive controls of known epitopes). The results of this validation demonstrated significant enrichment (>24 %) of promiscuously recognised peptides predicted in our selection strategies, compared with randomly selected peptides with low prediction scores. Our strategy offers a general approach to the identification of promiscuous epitopes tailored to target populations where there is limited knowledge of MHC allelic diversity

Progress in the Prediction of pKa Values in Proteins

The pKa-cooperative aims to provide a forum for experimental and theoretical researchers interested in protein pKa values and protein electrostatics in general. The first round of the pKa-cooperative, which challenged computational labs to carry out blind predictions against pKas experimentally determined in the laboratory of Bertrand Garcia-Moreno, was completed and results discussed at the Telluride meeting (July 6–10, 2009). This article serves as an introduction to the reports submitted by the blind prediction participants that will be published in a special issue of PROTEINS: Structure, Function and Bioinformatics. Here, we briefly outline existing approaches for pKa calculations, emphasizing methods that were used by the participants in calculating the blind pKa values in the first round of the cooperative. We then point out some of the difficulties encountered by the participating groups in making their blind predictions, and finally try to provide some insights for future developments aimed at improving the accuracy of pKa calculations

Evidence for local and international spread of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis through whole genome sequencing of isolates from the island of Ireland

Publication history: Accepted - 1 April 2022; Published online - 5 April 2022We describe application of whole genome sequencing (WGS) to a collection of 197 Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis (MAP) isolates gathered from 122 cattle herds across 27 counties of the island of Ireland. We compare WGS to MAP diversity quantified using mycobacterial interspersed random unit – variable number tandem repeats (MIRU-VNTR). While MIRU-VNTR showed only two major types, WGS could split the 197 isolates into eight major groups. We also found six isolates corresponding to INMV 13, a novel MIRU-VNTR type for Ireland. Evidence for dispersal of MAP across Ireland via cattle movement could be discerned from the data, with mixed infections present in several herds. Furthermore, comparisons of MAP WGS data from Ireland to data from Great Britain and continental Europe revealed many instances of close genetic similarity and hence evidence for international transmission of infection. BEAST MASCOT structured coalescent analyses, with relaxed and strict molecular clocks, estimated the substitution rate to be 0.10–0.13 SNPs/site/year and disclosed greater transitions per lineage per year from Europe to Ireland, indicating transmission into Ireland. Our work therefore reveals new insight into the seeding of MAP infection across Ireland, highlighting how WGS can inform policy formulation to ultimately control MAP transmission at local, national and international scales.We acknowledge funding from the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine awards 15/S/651 (‘NexusMAP’) and 2019R404 (’BTBGe- nIE’)