Review of \u3ci\u3ePioneer Performances: Staging the Frontier\u3c/i\u3e by Matthew Rebhorn

Important works on U.S. drama have emphasized the radically unstable nature of performance, finding it a shifting and contested ideological space. Despite this recent critical turn, Matthew Rebhorn argues that considerations of the frontier in drama and performance have remained singularly resistant to recognizing the various meanings that emerged in performances of the frontier. Arguing against the assumption that nineteenth-century frontier dramas were always a straightforward means of forwarding expansionist ideologies, Rebhorn explores how performances promulgated a “much more variegated and diffuse notion of the frontier” than has been heretofore acknowledged, one that sometimes “aimed to undercut the central tenets of Manifest Destiny.” Not merely a historical or geographical space, the frontier is for Rebhorn a “set of performative practices”; that is, he claims that the idea of the frontier was constructed on the stages of theaters along the Eastern Seaboard as powerfully as in the Great Plains. Aiming to rewrite the history of American frontier performance and American theatrical history more broadly, Rebhorn persuasively demonstrates that “frontier performance has always been a heterogeneous constellation of acts that work to settle and unsettle American ideologies.

Xenopus Development from Late Gastrulation to Feeding Tadpole in Simulated Microgravity

Microgravity (microG) is known to influence cytoskeletal structure, but its effects on cell migration are not well understood. To examine the effects of altered gravity on neural crest cell (NCC) migration, we inserted Xenopus laevis embryos into two separate microG-simulating slow turning lateral vessels (STLVs) just before neurulation (stage 11-12), and exposed them until feeding stage (stage 45), when the jaws and branchial apparatus are fully functional. To evaluate apparatus-related artifacts, we used two different STLVs and a vibration control as well as a stationary control vessel. Larval growth, pattern of NCC-derived cartilage formation, and incidence of malformations were analyzed using immunolocalization and wholemount staining of cartilage with Alcian blue. Interestingly, the two STLVs often yielded different or conflicting results. Many differences, such as increased cartilage size, attenuated Hoxa2 expression, and increased cell division, may be attributed mainly to vibration of the rotating vessels. However, tadpoles that developed in simulated microgravity (both STLVs, but not the vibration control) showed significantly more skeletal abnormalities, with stronger effects on cartilages derived from NCCs than those derived mainly from mesoderm. We conclude that migrating NCCs of Xenopus are sensitive to the altered gravitational environment of STLVs, and that studies relying on bioreactors to simulate microgravity also need to take variation in apparatus into account

The headache registry of the German Migraine and Headache Society (DMKG): baseline data of the first 1,351 patients

Background Although good treatment options exist for many headache disorders, not all patients benefit and disability continues to be large. To design strategies for improving headache care, real-world data observing standard care is necessary. Therefore, the German Migraine and Headache Society (DMKG) has established the DMKG Headache Registry. Here we present methods and baseline data. Methods Accredited German headache centers (clinic-based or private practice) can offer participation to their patients. Patients provide headache history, current headache load (including a mobile headache diary), medication and comorbidities and answer validated questionnaires, prior to their physician appointment. Physicians use these data as the base of their history taking, and add, change or confirm some central information. Before the next visit, patients are asked to update their data. Patients will continuously be included over the next years. Results The present analysis is based on the first 1,351 patients (1110 females, 39.6 ± 12.9 years) with a completed first visit. Most participants had a migraine diagnosis. Participants had 14.4 ± 8.5 headache days and 7.7 ± 6.1 acute medication days per month and 63.9% had a migraine disability assessment (MIDAS) grade 4 (severe disability). 93.6% used at least one acute headache medication, most frequently a triptan (60.0%) or non-opioid analgesic (58.3%). 45.0% used at least one headache preventive medication, most frequently an antidepressant (11.4%, mostly amitriptyline 8.4%) or a CGRP(receptor) antibody (9.8%). Most common causes for discontinuation of preventive medication were lack of effect (54.2%) and side effects (43.3%). Conclusion The DMKG Headache Registry allows to continuously monitor headache care at German headache centers in both a cross-sectional and a longitudinal approach