Next stop, Nirvana. When Tibetan pilgrims turn into leisure seekers

This paper discusses the emergence of a modern pilgrimage industry in India as depicted in the autobiographical accounts of Khatag Dzamyag, a 20th-century Khampa trader. The propagandistic activities of modern pan-Buddhist societies, together with the re-opening of ancient sites of Indian Buddhism, contributed to revitalising the concept of India as a “holy land” among Tibetan pilgrims, for most of whom a journey to the Middle Ganges region represented the first encounter with modernity; trains, motorcars, and boats were wonders to be thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated. Leisure appears to be a crucial component in the development of forms of spiritual tourism; the 19th and 20th centuries marked, in their own way, a “leisure revolution” in global terms. Following Dzamyag’s narrative, I will elucidate how new forms of “spiritual tourism”, created and fostered by pan-Buddhist movements like the Maha Bodhi Society, contributed to transforming the experience of pilgrimage into a growing commercialisation of leisure, especially for the representatives of the highest strata of Tibetan society, who had the necessary resources to finance their leisure activities.Cet article traite de l’émergence d’une industrie du pèlerinage moderne en Inde, telle qu’elle est décrite dans les récits autobiographiques de Khatag Dzamyag, un marchand Khampa du xxe siècle. Les activités de propagande des sociétés pan-bouddhistes modernes, ainsi que la réouverture des sites anciens de l’Inde bouddhiste, ont contribué à revitaliser le concept de l’Inde en tant que « terre sainte » parmi les pèlerins tibétains. Pour la plupart, un voyage dans la région de la plaine indo-gangétique représentait une première rencontre avec la modernité ; trains, voitures automobiles et bateaux exerçaient sur eux une fascination particulière et étaient très appréciés. En outre, les loisirs semblent être une composante cruciale du développement d’une forme de tourisme spirituel; les xixe et xxe siècles ont marqué, à leur manière, une « révolution du loisir » à l’échelle mondiale. Faisant suite au récit de Dzamyag, je vais montrer comment les nouvelles formes du « tourisme spirituel », créées et encouragées par des mouvements pan-bouddhistes tels que la Maha Bodhi Society, ont contribué à transformer l’expérience du pèlerinage en une commercialisation croissante des loisirs, en particulier pour les représentants des strates les plus élevées de la société tibétaine qui disposaient des ressources nécessaires pour financer leurs activités récréatives

The long polar fimbriae (lpf) operon and its flanking regions in bovine Escherichia coli O157:H43 and STEC O136:H12 strains

Long polar fimbriae (Lpf) are intestinal adhesins and important virulence factors of pathogenic Escherichia coli strains. We cloned and sequenced the lpf2-1 operon (lpf2ABCD) and its flanking regions of an intimin- and Shiga toxin-negative E. coli O157:H43 strain from bovine origin, and also sequenced the lpf2-1 operon of 6 additional atypical O157 bovine Escherichia coli strains of various serotypes Nucleotide sequence comparison of these lpf operons showed sequence conservation as they contain only four polymorphic nucleotide positions. Investigation of these O157 strains as well as 13 Escherichia coli Reference Collection (ECOR) strains carrying the lpf2-1 allele revealed high degree of sequence conservation in the lpf2 flanking regions. The lpf2-1 allele is also present in a bovine Shiga toxin-producing E. coli STEC O136:H12 strain and in vitro adherence assays revealed that the absence of lpf2-1 in this strain did not affect its host cell-binding properties. Our data indicate that lpf2 loci is highly conserved in E. coli isolates, but its role in adherence might be masked by other uncharacterized adhesins

A Yeast Recombination Assay to Characterize Human BRCA1 Missense Variants of Unknown Pathological Significance

The BRCA1 tumor suppressor gene is found mutated in familial breast cancer. Although many of the mutations are clearly pathological because they give rise to truncated proteins, several missense variants of uncertain pathological consequences have been identified. A novel functional assay to screen for BRCA1 missense variants in a simple genetic system could be very useful for the identification of potentially deleterious mutations. By using two prediction computer programs, Sorting Intolerant from Tolerant (SIFT) and Polymorphism Phenotyping (PolyPhen), seven nonsynonymous missense BRCA1 variants likely disrupting the gene function were selected as potentially deleterious. The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) was used to test these cancer-related missense mutations for their ability to affect cell growth and homologous recombination (HR) at the HIS3 and ADE2 loci. The variants localized in the BRCA1 C-Terminus (BRCT) domain did not show any growth inhibition when overexpressed in agreement with previous results. Overexpression of either wild-type BRCA1 or two neutral missense variants did not increase yeast HR but when cancer-related variants were overexpressed a significant increase in recombination was observed. Results clearly showed that this genetic system can be useful to discriminate between neutral and deleterious BRCA1 missense variants

A recombination-based method to characterize human BRCA1 missense variants

Purpose. Many missense variants in BRCA1 are of unclear clinical significance. Functional and genetic approaches have been proposed for elucidating the clinical significance of such variants. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate BRCA1 missense variants for their effect on both Homologous Recombination (HR) and Non Homologous End Joining (NHEJ). Methods. HR frequency evaluation: HeLaG1 cells, containing a stably integrated plasmid that allows to measure HR events by gene conversion events were transfected with the pcDNA3β expression vector containing the BRCA1-wild type (BRCA1-WT) or the BRCA1-Unclassified Variants (BRCA1-UCVs). The NHEJ was measured by a random plasmid integration assay. Results. This assays suggested a BRCA1 involvement mainly in the NHEJ. As a matter of fact, the Y179C and the A1789T variant altered significantly the NHEJ activity as compared to the wild type, suggesting that they may be related to BRCA1 associated pathogenicity by affecting this function. The variants N550H and I1766S, and the mutation M1775R did not alter the NHEJ frequency. Conclusions. These data, beside proposing a method for the study of BRCA1 variants effect on HR and NHEJ, highlighted the need for a range of functional assays to be performed in order to identify variants with altered function

Integrated sources of photon quantum states based on nonlinear optics

The ability to generate complex optical photon states involving entanglement between multiple optical modes is not only critical to advancing our understanding of quantum mechanics but will play a key role in generating many applications in quantum technologies. These include quantum communications, computation, imaging, microscopy and many other novel technologies that are constantly being proposed. However, approaches to generating parallel multiple, customisable bi- and multi-entangled quantum bits (qubits) on a chip are still in the early stages of development. Here, we review recent developments in the realisation of integrated sources of photonic quantum states, focusing on approaches based on nonlinear optics that are compatible with contemporary optical fibre telecommunications and quantum memory infrastructures as well as with chip-scale semiconductor technology. These new and exciting platforms hold the promise of compact, low-cost, scalable and practical implementations of source s for the generation and manipulation of complex quantum optical states on a chip, which will play a major role in bringing quantum technologies out of the laboratory and into the real world

Body-scaled action in obesity during locomotion: Insights on the nature and extent of body representation disturbances

Objective Conscious perception of our own body, also known as body image, can influence body-scaled actions. Certain conditions such as obesity are frequently accompanied by a negative body image, leaving open the question if body-scaled actions are distorted in these individuals. Methods To shed light on this issue, we asked individuals affected by obesity to process dimensions of their own body in a real action: they walked in a straight-ahead direction, while avoiding collision with obstacles represented by door-like openings that varied in width. Results Participants affected by obesity showed a body rotation behavior similar to that of the healthy weighted, but differences emerged in parameters such as step length and velocity. Conclusion When participants with obesity walk through door-like openings, their body parts rotation is scaled according to their physical body dimensions; however, they might try to minimize risk of collision. Our study is in line with the hypothesis that unconscious body-scaled actions are related to emotional, cognitive and perceptual components of a negative body image