Cultural Analysis in/of the Anthropocene

Recalling George Marcus's influential writing "Ethnography In/Of the World System", this essay asks how cultural analysis needs to be conceptualized, practiced and infrastructured differently when it moves from a global to a planetary, late industrial frame. This contribution argues that "the Anthropocene" is usefully understood as a particular way of making environmental sense within late industrialism - what industrialism has become as it has cohered, aged, ossified, degraded and retrenched over time, in different ways in different settings. The essay calls for cultural analysis of the Anthropocene as a scientific concept, environmental dynamic, representational challenge and prompt to action in different settings. It also pleads for interdisciplinary collaboration (with cultural analysts in formative roles) and for investment in technical infrastructure to underpin the cultural analysis needed to go forward

Evolution of the peripheral blood lymphocyte populations in multiparous rabbit does with two reproductive management rhythms

The emergence of epizootic rabbit enteropathy is leading to changes in weaning protocols in commercial rabbitries. Traditional weaning protocols are being replaced with late weaning, beyond 35 days postpartum (dpp). The main objectives of this study were to compare the peripheral blood lymphocyte populations of multiparous rabbit does under two reproductive rhythms (insemination at 11 dpp and weaning at 28 dpp, insemination at 25 dpp and weaning at 42 dpp), and to assess the influence on those of kits. Samples of peripheral blood were taken in 22 adult females and 44 of their kits at different critical times, and several lymphocytic populations were evaluated by flow cytometry. Additionally, the perirenal fat thickness of does was also measured at partum and weaning to observe if body condition correlates with lymphocyte populations. During whole lactation, counts of total, CD5 +, CD4 + and CD8 + lymphocytes of females were generally lower with weaning at 42 dpp compared to 28 dpp. Moreover, counts of total, B and CD5 + lymphocytes in rabbit does weaned at 42 dpp correlated to their body condition (+0.60 to 0.82; P<0.05), contrary to that observed in rabbit does weaned at 28 dpp. Some correlations between lymphocyte counts in both groups of does and weaning rabbits were observed. At weaning, those young rabbits weaned at 42 dpp had a significantly lower number of CD4 + lymphocytes than those weaned at 28 dpp (P<0.01). In conclusion, the 42 ddp rabbit does presented a lower number of total lymphocytes and lymphocytic subpopulations during lactation and at weaning, as well as lesser capacity of adjustment during the gestation-lactation cycle. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.This study has been supported by grants from the CEU-Cardenal Herrera University (Banco Santander/CEU-UCH: Copernicus Program (PRCEU-UCH/COOP 01/08), Generalitat Valenciana (ACOMP/2009/207 and ACOMP/2010/062) and the Comision Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnologia (AGL2008-00273/GAN). Grants for Selena Ferrian and Irene Guerrero from Generalitat Valenciana (the Santiago Grisolia programme) and from the CEU-Cardenal Herrera University, respectively, are gratefully acknowledged.Guerrero, I.; Ferrian, S.; Blas Ferrer, E.; Pascual Amorós, JJ.; Cano, JL.; Corpa, JM. (2011). Evolution of the peripheral blood lymphocyte populations in multiparous rabbit does with two reproductive management rhythms. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology. 140(1-2):75-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetimm.2010.11.017S75811401-

New drugs and vaccines for drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections

Tuberculosis remains the most common cause of death due to a single infective organism. Despite the availability of a vaccine and chemotherapeutic options, the global disease burden remains relatively unaffected. The ability of the mycobacterial etiological agents to adopt a semidormant, phenotypically drug-resistant state requires that chemotherapy is both complex and lengthy. The emergence of drug resistance has raised the possibility of virtually untreatable tuberculosis. Furthermore, the currently used bacillus Calmette–Guerin vaccine has had mixed success in protecting susceptible populations. Given this backdrop, the need for novel anti-infectives and more effective vaccines is clearly evident. Recent progress, described herein, has seen the development and entry into clinical trials of several new drugs and vaccine candidate

The ubiquitin proteasome system in neuropathology

The ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) orchestrates the turnover of innumerable cellular proteins. In the process of ubiquitination the small protein ubiquitin is attached to a target protein by a peptide bond. The ubiquitinated target protein is subsequently shuttled to a protease complex known as the 26S proteasome and subjected to degradative proteolysis. The UPS facilitates the turnover of proteins in several settings. It targets oxidized, mutant or misfolded proteins for general proteolytic destruction, and allows for the tightly controlled and specific destruction of proteins involved in development and differentiation, cell cycle progression, circadian rhythms, apoptosis, and other biological processes. In neuropathology, alteration of the UPS, or mutations in UPS target proteins may result in signaling abnormalities leading to the initiation or progression of tumors such as astrocytomas, hemangioblastomas, craniopharyngiomas, pituitary adenomas, and medulloblastomas. Dysregulation of the UPS may also contribute to tumor progression by perturbation of DNA replication and mitotic control mechanisms, leading to genomic instability. In neurodegenerative diseases caused by the expression of mutant proteins, the cellular accumulation of these proteins may overload the UPS, indirectly contributing to the disease process, e.g., sporadic Parkinsonism and prion diseases. In other cases, mutation of UPS components may directly cause pathological accumulation of proteins, e.g., autosomal recessive Parkinsonism and spinocerebellar ataxias. Defects or dysfunction of the UPS may also underlie cognitive disorders such as Angelman syndrome, Rett syndrome and autism, and muscle and nerve diseases, e.g., inclusion body myopathy and giant axon neuropathy. This paper describes the basic biochemical mechanisms comprising the UPS and reviews both its theoretical and proven involvement in neuropathological diseases. The potential for the UPS as a target of pharmacological therapy is also discussed

Real-time ultrasound (RTU) imaging methods for quality control of meats

In this chapter the use of real-time ultrasonography to predict in vivo carcass composition and meat traits will be reviewed. The chapter begins by discussing background and principles of ultrasound. Then aspects affecting the suitability of realtime ultrasonography and image analysis for predicting carcass composition and meat traits of meat producing species and fish will be presented. This chapter also provides an overview of the present and future trends in the application of real-time ultrasonography in the meat industry. © 2012 Woodhead Publishing Limited All rights reserved.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mucormycosis: an emerging disease?

ABSTRACTMucormycosis is the third invasive mycosis in order of importance after candidiasis and aspergillosis and is caused by fungi of the class Zygomycetes. The most important species in order of frequency is Rhizopus arrhizus (oryzae). Identification of the agents responsible for mucormycosis is based on macroscopic and microscopic morphological criteria, carbohydrate assimilation and the maximum temperature compatible with its growth. The incidence of mucormycosis is approximately 1.7 cases per 1000 000 inhabitants per year, and the main risk-factors for the development of mucormycosis are ketoacidosis (diabetic or other), iatrogenic immunosuppression, use of corticosteroids or deferoxamine, disruption of mucocutaneous barriers by catheters and other devices, and exposure to bandages contaminated by these fungi. Mucorales invade deep tissues via inhalation of airborne spores, percutaneous inoculation or ingestion. They colonise a high number of patients but do not cause invasion. Mucormycosis most commonly manifests in the sinuses (39%), lungs (24%), skin (19%), brain (9%), and gastrointestinal tract (7%), in the form of disseminated disease (6%), and in other sites (6%). Clinical diagnosis of mucormycosis is difficult, and is often made at a late stage of the disease or post-mortem. Confirmation of the clinical form requires the combination of symptoms compatible with histological invasion of tissues. The probable diagnosis of mucormycosis requires the combination of various clinical data and the isolation in culture of the fungus from clinical samples. Treatment of mucormycosis requires a rapid diagnosis, correction of predisposing factors, surgical resection, debridement and appropriate antifungal therapy. Liposomal amphotericin B is the therapy of choice for this condition. Itraconazole is considered to be inappropriate and there is evidence of its failure in patients suffering from mucormycosis. Voriconazole is not active in vitro against Mucorales, and failed when used in vivo. Posaconazole and ravuconazole have good activity in vitro. The overall rate of mortality of mucormycosis is approximately 40%

Ethnography in Late Industrialism

Uncorrected proof. Supplemental material: http://www.culanth.org/?q=node/636This essay situates contemporary ethnography within late industrialism, a historical period characterized by degraded infrastructure, exhausted paradigms, and the incessant chatter of new media. In the spirit of Writing Culture, it calls for ethnography attuned to its times. It also calls for ethnography that “loops,” using ethnographic techniques to discern the discursive risks and gaps of a particular problem domain so that further ethnographic engagement in that domain is responsive and creative, provoking new articulations, attending to emergent realities. Ethnographic findings are thus fed back into ethnographic engagement. This mode of ethnography stages collaboration with interlocutors to activate new idioms and ways of engaging the world. It is activist, in a manner open to futures that cannot yet be imagined

Cultural Analysis in/of the Anthropocene

Recalling George Marcus’s influential writing ›Ethnography In/Of the World System‹, this essay asks how cultural analysis needs to be conceptualized, practiced and infrastructured differently when it moves from a global to a planetary, late industrial frame. This contribution argues that ›the Anthropocene‹ is usefully understood as a particular way of making environmental sense within late industrialism – what industrialism has become as it has cohered, aged, ossified, degraded and retrenched over time, in different ways in different settings. The essay calls for cultural analysis of the Anthropocene as a scientific concept, environmental dynamic, representational challenge and prompt to action in different settings. It also pleads for interdisciplinary collaboration (with cultural analysts in formative roles) and for investment in technical infrastructure to underpin the cultural analysis needed to go forward.Recalling George Marcus’s influential writing ›Ethnography In/Of the World System‹, this essay asks how cultural analysis needs to be conceptualized, practiced and infrastructured differently when it moves from a global to a planetary, late industrial frame. This contribution argues that ›the Anthropocene‹ is usefully understood as a particular way of making environmental sense within late industrialism – what industrialism has become as it has cohered, aged, ossified, degraded and retrenched over time, in different ways in different settings. The essay calls for cultural analysis of the Anthropocene as a scientific concept, environmental dynamic, representational challenge and prompt to action in different settings. It also pleads for interdisciplinary collaboration (with cultural analysts in formative roles) and for investment in technical infrastructure to underpin the cultural analysis needed to go forward

From Latour to late industrialism

I situate Latour’s latest project—An Inquiry into Modes of Existence (AIME)—in the context of late industrialism and query both its conceptual underpinnings and the design of its digital platform. I argue that Latour’s semiotics (and associated conceptions of both networks and ontologies) are functionalist in a way that mimics industrial logic, discounting both the production of hierarchical differentiation within a given system, and the system’s externalizations. The approach thus underestimates the toxicity of its vitalism