'Nature's fragile vessel': rethinking approaches to material culture in literature

The notion of fragility is a pervasive one in Western culture. Considering its appearance in early modern texts can help us to understand the history of fragility, as an idea, metaphor, and feeling. The relationship between humans and breakable things is used as a metaphor that recognises human limitations, in body or mind. This essay begins with one peculiar instance of fragility from Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens before analysing other examples in early modern culture. It ends by making a few tentative propositions regarding the relationships between literature, material culture and the representations of human fragility

Extended pelvic lymph node dissection at the time of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy: Impact of surgical volume on efficacy and complications in a single-surgeon series

INTRODUCTION: We assessed the impact of surgical volume on perioperative outcomes and complications of robotic extended pelvic lymph node dissection (ePLND). METHODS: From November 2008 to October 2012, a total of 233 consecutive patients with intermediate- or high-risk clinically localized prostate cancer underwent robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) and ePLND by a single, experienced open and laparoscopic surgeon. Data were prospectively collected. Complications were classified according to the Modified Clavien System. Complications potentially related to ePLND were documented. The minimum follow-up was 3 months. To evaluate the impact of surgical volume on the results, 4 patient subgroups (subgroup 1: cases 1-59; 2: 60-117; 3: 118-175; 4: 176-233) were compared using the Chi-squared and Kruskal-Wallis tests. RESULTS: The mean (range) operative time for ePLND was 79 minutes (range: 48-144), with a steady performance over time (p = 0.784). The count of resected lymph nodes plateaued after 60 procedures (mean [range]: 13 [range: 6-32], 15 [range: 7-34], 17 [range: 8-41], 16 [range: 8-42] in Groups 1 to 4, respectively, p = 0.001). Tumour lymph node involvement was 12% in Groups 1 and 2, 7% in Group 3 and 9% in Group 4 (p = 0.075). Overall, 115 complications were reported in 98/233 patients (42%), with a significant decrease after 175 cases (p = 0.028). In Group 4, 3 patients reported an ePLND-related bleeding requiring open revision. Lymphoceles were detected in 10/233 patients (4.2%) and 1 patient (1.7%) in each of the Groups 2 to 4 required a percutaneous drainage. CONCLUSIONS: A surgeon with extensive experience is expected to achieve a safe learning curve for ePLND during RARP. A learning curve of 60 cases is suggested for optimal lymph node yield

Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida: audience expectation and matters of taste in relation to authorship and the book

Questions concerning whether Shakespeare wrote for the stage or the page are a perennial issue in Shakespeare studies. Part of the problem rests on expectations of literature and theatre. These expectations are in fact voiced in Shakespearean drama itself, a drama that often articulates ideas concerning audience expectations. In Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, before Troilus visits Cressida he exclaims “expectation whirls me round”. Of all the plays in the Shakespearean canon, variants of “expect” feature most in this play. Troilus and Cressida itself scrutinises expectation of a story with famous classical, medieval and contemporary precedents, for a play to be performed by the leading theatre company of the day, and of a play by a playwright who was also conscious of his role as a published author. In the play, characters are frequently staged as spectators or audience members, raising issues relating to expectations, taste, value judgements, and viewpoints. Shakespeare responds to the plays of his contemporaries and, arguably, the political scene as well. The thesis reworks Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of the literary field to gauge the way that Shakespeare’s play engages with its theatrical and literary environment, and resituates Bourdieu’s work on taste and social distinction to consider how Shakespeare’s Trojan play responds to the contingencies of audience expectation. The first chapter considers critical expectations of the play from 1609 to the present; the second chapter focuses on the way Shakespeare stages patrons, performers and especially audience members; the third chapter reads the language of food and taste in the play in relation to developing early modern distinctions about literature and theatre; the final chapter provides a correction to readings of the play that have relied on the unique 1609 quarto preface to the play for understanding the work; this chapter argues that even the play, as staged, presents literary issues, and characters that show an awareness of print culture. Within its own early modern literary-theatrical field, Shakespeare’s play is far more about elitist tastes than it is elitist itself. Ultimately, the thesis argues that Troilus and Cressida marks Shakespeare’s growing confidence as a literary dramatist, not simply as an author whose plays were published as literature, but as a playwright who was capable of using theatre and audience expectation to re-evaluate literary tastes. Broadly positioned, the thesis provides a case study which revises critical expectations of this play in order to situate better Shakespeare’s contribution to early modern drama and literature

An efficient all-optical gate based on photonic crystals cavities and applications

International audienceWe use two coupled photonic crystal cavities to build an all-optical gate. The control and the modulated signal are separated spectrally by about 10 nm. This device was uperated at a rate ranging from 1 to 10 GHz with maximum coupled average power of less than 1 mW in the control signal, which translates to about 100 fJ per control pulse

OMIA (Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals): an enhanced platform and integration into the Entrez search interface at NCBI

Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA) is a comprehensive, annotated catalogue of inherited disorders and other familial traits in animals other than humans and mice. Structured as a comparative biology resource, OMIA is a comprehensive resource of phenotypic information on heritable animal traits and genes in a strongly comparative context, relating traits to genes where possible. OMIA is modelled on and is complementary to Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM). OMIA has been moved to a MySQL database at the Australian National Genomic Information Service (ANGIS) and can be accessed at . It has also been integrated into the Entrez search interface at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI; ). Curation of OMIA data by researchers working on particular species and disorders has also been enabled

Eukaryotic genome size databases

Three independent databases of eukaryotic genome size information have been launched or re-released in updated form since 2005: the Plant DNA C-values Database (), the Animal Genome Size Database () and the Fungal Genome Size Database (). In total, these databases provide freely accessible genome size data for >10 000 species of eukaryotes assembled from more than 50 years' worth of literature. Such data are of significant importance to the genomics and broader scientific community as fundamental features of genome structure, for genomics-based comparative biodiversity studies, and as direct estimators of the cost of complete sequencing programs

Educação e diversidade cultural: culturas indígenas e africanas na sala de aula

Este artigo apresenta algumas ações e reflexões desenvolvidas no âmbito do Programa Institucional de Bolsas de Iniciação à Docência referentes ao estudo da diversidade cultural no contexto escolar. Inserido em um projeto de ocupação do território e desenvolvimento da agricultura no Brasil, o Vale do Taquari, na região central do Rio Grande do Sul, foi ocupado por imigrantes que cruzaram o Atlântico no século XIX. Esse movimento caracterizou um processo que fez surgir na região uma concepção histórica que não reconhece a presença de outros grupos sociais como igualmente formadores da sociedade local. No currículo das escolas da região, isso também é percebido. Nesse sentido, entende-se que o estudo do patrimônio cultural pode contribuir para a percepção da diversidade dos grupos sociais que participam da realidade local. Entendendo-se a cultura como patrimônio, e os processos de patrimonialização como escolhas políticas, foi elaborado um projeto para possibilitar o contato e o diálogo intercultural na escola, estudando a história e culturas indígenas e africanas. Assim, ao conhecer saberes e práticas culturalmente distintas, há o reconhecimento da diferença. A prática pedagógica foi orientada com o objetivo de permitir o diálogo intercultural, rompendo com posições preconceituosas