Chaucer’s reading list: Sir Thopas, Auchinleck, and Middle English romances in translation

Middle English romance has never attained critical respectability, dismissed as ― vayn carpynge in its own age and treated as a junk-food form of medieval literature or kidnapped for political or psychoanalytical readings. Chaucer‘s Tale of Sir Thopas has been explained as an acidly sarcastic satire of the romances‘ supposedly clichéd formulas and poetically unskilled authors. Yet such assumptions require investigation of how Chaucer and his ostensible audience might have viewed romance as a genre. Chaucer‘s likely use of the Auchinleck manuscript forms a convenient basis for examination of the romances listed in Thopas. With the aid of a modern translation, the poems turn out to form a rich interplay of symbolical, theological, and historical meanings. Viewed in a more sensitive light, the Middle English romances in turn give Thopas new meaning as a poem written affectionately to parody romance but chiefly to effect a humorous contrast. Rather than condemning romances, Chaucer uses their best examples to heighten Thopas‘ comic impotence as a knight and to provide self-deprecating carnival laughter at Chaucer the narrator‘s failed stor

Polymeric Frameworks as Organic Semiconductors with Controlled Electronic Properties

The rational assembly of monomers, in principle, enables the design of a specific periodicity of polymeric frameworks, leading to a tailored set of electronic structure properties in these solid-state materials. The further development of these emerging systems requires a combination of both experimental and theoretical studies. Here, we investigated the electronic structures of two-dimensional polymeric frameworks based on triazine and benzene rings, by means of electrochemical techniques. The experimental density of states was obtained from quasi-open-circuit voltage measurements through galvanostatic intermittent titration technique, which we show to be in excellent agreement with first principles calculations performed for two and three-dimensional structures of these polymeric frameworks. These findings suggest that the electronic properties do not only depend on the number of stacked layers but also on the ratio of the different aromatic rings

Human IGF-I propeptide A promotes articular chondrocyte biosynthesis and employs glycosylation-dependent heparin binding

Background Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) is a key regulator of chondrogenesis, but its therapeutic application to articular cartilage damage is limited by rapid elimination from the repair site. The human IGF-I gene gives rise to three IGF-I propeptides (proIGF-IA, proIGF-IB and proIGF-IC) that are cleaved to create mature IGF-I. In this study, we elucidate the processing of IGF-I precursors by articular chondrocytes, and test the hypotheses that proIGF-I isoforms bind to heparin and regulate articular chondrocyte biosynthesis. Methods Human IGF-I propeptides and mutants were overexpressed in bovine articular chondrocytes. IGF-I products were characterized by ELISA, western blot and FPLC using a heparin column. The biosynthetic activity of IGF-I products on articular chondrocytes was assayed for DNA and glycosaminoglycan that the cells produced. Results Secreted IGF-I propeptides stimulated articular chondrocyte biosynthetic activity to the same degree as mature IGF-I. Of the three IGF-I propeptides, only one, proIGF-IA, strongly bound to heparin. Interestingly, heparin binding of proIGF-IA depended on N-glycosylation at Asn92 in the EA peptide. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that N-glycosylation determines the binding of a heparin-binding protein to heparin. Conclusion The biosynthetic and heparin binding abilities of proIGF-IA, coupled with its generation of IGF-I, suggest that proIGF-IA may have therapeutic value for articular cartilage repair. General significance These data identify human pro-insulin-like growth factor IA as a bifunctional protein. Its combined ability to bind heparin and augment chondrocyte biosynthesis makes it a promising therapeutic agent for cartilage damage due to trauma and osteoarthritis

Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

Genomic analysis of male puberty timing highlights shared genetic basis with hair colour and lifespan

Abstract: The timing of puberty is highly variable and is associated with long-term health outcomes. To date, understanding of the genetic control of puberty timing is based largely on studies in women. Here, we report a multi-trait genome-wide association study for male puberty timing with an effective sample size of 205,354 men. We find moderately strong genomic correlation in puberty timing between sexes (rg = 0.68) and identify 76 independent signals for male puberty timing. Implicated mechanisms include an unexpected link between puberty timing and natural hair colour, possibly reflecting common effects of pituitary hormones on puberty and pigmentation. Earlier male puberty timing is genetically correlated with several adverse health outcomes and Mendelian randomization analyses show a genetic association between male puberty timing and shorter lifespan. These findings highlight the relationships between puberty timing and health outcomes, and demonstrate the value of genetic studies of puberty timing in both sexes

It's about time : kingship and the character in a contemporary Beowulf

This thesis has no abstrac

Aqueous Solution Process for the Synthesis and Assembly of Nanostructured One-Dimensional α‑MoO₃ Electrode Materials

A low-temperature aqueous solution synthesis of nanostructured one-dimensional (1D) molybdenum trioxide (MoO₃) was developed. The subsequent self-assembly of the fibers to form large-scale freestanding films was achieved without any assistance of organic compounds. Indeed, the whole process, from synthesis to assembly, does not require toxic organic solvents. As an example of the application of our synthesized materials, we built two types of half-cell lithium-ion batteries: (i) the cathode made out of 1D MoO₃, having the width in 50–100 nm, with the length in micro scale, and with thickness in ∼10 nm, and (ii) the anode made out of the macroscopic oxide papers consisting of 1D MoO₃ and carbon materials. As a cathode material, 1D MoO₃ showed a high rate capability with a stable cycle performance up to 20 A g^–1 as a result of a short Li⁺ diffusion path along the [101] direction and less grain boundaries. As an anode material, the composite paper compound showed a first specific discharge capacity of 800 mAh g^–1. These findings indicate not only an affordable, eco-efficient synthesis and assembly of nanomaterials but also show a new attractive strategy toward a possible full aqueous process for a large-scale fabrication of freestanding oxide paper compounds without any toxic organic solvent

Carbohydrate-Derived Nanoarchitectures: On a Synergistic Effect Toward an Improved Performance in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

We combined the good cycle ability and rate performance of carbon-nanostructured hollow spheres with the high specific capacity at first discharge of nitrogen-doped carbon aerogels. Beneficial contributions of each constituent material, i.e., N-doped carbogel and carbon hollow spheres, led to a promising synergistic effect. A high specific capacity of more than 700 mA h g^–1 was reached with a limited fading over 25 cycles