Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue: Aspects of Interdisciplinary Knowledge Transfer from a Translation Studies Perspective

This article sets out to investigate points of contact and pathways of interdisciplinary knowledge diffusion from a translation studies point of view. For this purpose, notions of innovation, memes, aspects of idea transmission, sociological network theories, and diffusion of knowledge in networks are discussed against the backdrop of network studies theories from the discipline of sociology

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue: Aspects of Interdisciplinary Knowledge Transfer from a Translation Studies Perspective

This article sets out to investigate points of contact and pathways of interdisciplinary knowledge diffusion from a translation studies point of view. For this purpose, notions of innovation, memes, aspects of idea transmission, sociological network theories, and diffusion of knowledge in networks are discussed against the backdrop of network studies theories from the discipline of sociology

Emergence of sociology in translation studies

Disciplinary awareness and understanding of various patterns and factors of emergence for ideas, consolidation and the diffusion of ideas and knowledge are as crucial in modern academic fields as in the wider context of a highly globalised and digitalised world. They ensure academic rigour and sustainable and effective development of scholarship. As a field that has at its very core the communication and procurement of ideas across linguistic and cultural boundaries, the discipline of Translation Studies is situated at a nexus of decoding, encoding, and facilitating the spread of ideas, thereby introducing new ideas to other disciplinary, linguistic or cultural contexts. The sociology of translation and of the translator, as the figure at the heart of this transmission process for ideas, have become prominent focal points for recent research in Translation Studies with scholarly activities largely focusing on linguistic, cultural, textual, or professional challenges related to the work of translators, scribes and language mediators. The aspect and role of epistemic structures, patterns for the emergence of ideas, and the differentiated positions of scholarly communities in the manifold process of the emergence and diffusion of ideas in the discipline of Translation Studies have so far received less attention though. This thesis investigates how ideas emerge and are transmitted into and across the discipline of Translation Studies. It considers different pathways and points of entry for new ideas that are transported across not just linguistic or cultural but also disciplinary boundaries, explores epistemic structures and processes, characteristics such as citation chains, and the rise and development of ideas in the field. Particular emphasis has been given to the topic of sociology as an area of interest for a number of pathways of recent research in Translation Studies, including for instance the concepts of agency, habitus, or narratology. The thesis explores a kaleidoscope of linguistic, publication, theoretical, and ideational factors contributing and influencing the emergence of ideas in general, in translation and Translation Studies especially, and investigates the field of sociology as an emerging idea in Translation Studies over the course of the last approximately 50 years. By contextualising this study within a wider framework of the history of ideas and by drawing on perspectives from different approaches to the emergence of innovative or new ideas and the growth of knowledge theories, the inclusion of aspects such as publication language and platform, issues of language hegemony, geographical bearings and ideational correlations further contribute to the complex picture. In order to examine the emergence of sociologically inspired and influenced approaches in Translation Studies research output, this study draws on the collation and analysis of a corpus of annotated academic publication data, including monographs and edited volumes, from the TSB database. Furthermore, this study also considers bibliographic data on monographs, as well as a survey of a number of handbooks and encyclopaedia on the field of Translation Studies. It proposes a bibliometric approach for the analysis of keywords in the collated data in order to identify indicators of a conscious employment of or engagement with ideas, theories, or methods from the field of sociology as well as their respective emergence patterns and points of entry. The evaluation of the collated bibliographic data and complementary strands of analysis indicates that the emergence of sociology in Translation Studies over the course of the last approximately 50 years examined presents as overall strongly exponential, with a high tendency for diversification, and generally de-centralised, although the discourse appears to be shaped by limited geographical and linguistic areas of input for sociological theories in TS. Going forward, the investigation thus suggests an exigency to continue engagement with ideational entry points and features of the emergence of interdisciplinary ideas, and to continue investigations into epistemic structures on a discipline wide level in Translation Studies as a useful tool to reflect on disciplinary habits and to further consolidate cross- disciplinary approaches in theory and practice

Association between a polymorphic variant in the CDKN2B-AS1/ANRIL gene and pancreatic cancer risk

Genes carrying high-penetrance germline mutations may also be associated with cancer susceptibility through common low-penetrance genetic variants. To increase the knowledge on genetic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) aetiology, the common genetic variability of PDAC familial genes was analysed in our study. We conducted a multiphase study analysing 7745 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 29 genes reported to harbour a high-penetrance PDAC-associated mutation in at least one published study. To assess the effect of the SNPs on PDAC risk, a total of 14 666 PDAC cases and 221 897 controls across five different studies were analysed. The T allele of the rs1412832 polymorphism, that is situated in the CDKN2B-AS1/ANRIL, showed a genome-wide significant association with increased risk of developing PDAC (OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.07-1.15, P = 5.25 × 10−9). CDKN2B-AS1/ANRIL is a long noncoding RNA, situated in 9p21.3, and regulates many target genes, among which CDKN2A (p16) that frequently shows deleterious somatic and germline mutations and deregulation in PDAC. Our results strongly support the role of the genetic variability of the 9p21.3 region in PDAC aetiopathogenesis and highlight the importance of secondary analysis as a tool for discovering new risk loci in complex human diseases

A scan of all coding region variants of the human genome, identifies 13q12.2-rs9579139 and 15q24.1-rs2277598 as novel risk loci for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Coding sequence variants comprise a small fraction of the germline genetic variability of the human genome. However, they often cause deleterious change in protein function and are therefore associated with pathogenic phenotypes. To identify novel pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) risk loci, we carried out a complete scan of all common missense and synonymous SNPs and analysed them in a case-control study comprising four different populations, for a total of 14 538 PDAC cases and 190 657 controls. We observed a statistically significant association between 13q12.2-rs9581957-T and PDAC risk (P = 2.46 x 10(-9)), that is in linkage disequilibrium (LD) with a deleterious missense variant (rs9579139) of the URAD gene. Recent findings suggest that this gene is active in peroxisomes. Considering that peroxisomes have a key role as molecular scavengers, especially in eliminating reactive oxygen species, a malfunctioning URAD protein might expose the cell to a higher load of potentially DNA damaging molecules and therefore increase PDAC risk. The association was observed in individuals of European and Asian ethnicity. We also observed the association of the missense variant 15q24.1-rs2277598-T, that belongs to BBS4 gene, with increased PDAC risk (P = 1.53 x 10(-6)). rs2277598 is associated with body mass index and is in LD with diabetes susceptibility loci. In conclusion, we identified two missense variants associated with the risk of developing PDAC independently from the ethnicity highlighting the importance of conducting re-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) in light of functional data.[GRAPHICS]

Genetic and non-genetic risk factors for early-onset pancreatic cancer

Background: Early-onset pancreatic cancer (EOPC) represents 5-10% of all pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cases, and the etiology of this form is poorly understood. It is not clear if established PDAC risk factors have the same relevance for younger patients. This study aims to identify genetic and non-genetic risk factors specific to EOPC. Methods: A genome-wide association study was performed, analysing 912 EOPC cases and 10 222 controls, divided into discovery and replication phases. Furthermore, the associations between a polygenic risk score (PRS), smoking, alcohol consumption, type 2 diabetes and PDAC risk were also assessed. Results: Six novel SNPs were associated with EOPC risk in the discovery phase, but not in the replication phase. The PRS, smoking, and diabetes affected EOPC risk. The OR comparing current smokers to never-smokers was 2.92 (95% CI 1.69-5.04, P = 1.44 × 10-4). For diabetes, the corresponding OR was 14.95 (95% CI 3.41-65.50, P = 3.58 × 10-4). Conclusion: In conclusion, we did not identify novel genetic variants associated specifically with EOPC, and we found that established PDAC risk variants do not have a strong age-dependent effect. Furthermore, we add to the evidence pointing to the role of smoking and diabetes in EOPC