Playing the part: the role of the client in Horace's Sermones and Epistles

This dissertation proposes a new interpretative approach to the theatrical material in Horace’s Sermones and Epistles. In particular, it focuses on a selection of poems in which Horace employs a wide array of dramatic devices to depict and discuss the patron-client relationship (Sermones 1.9, 2.5, 2.7 and Epistles 1.17 and 1.18). These devices include dialogue, stage directions, stock characters, expressly theatrical metaphors, and diction echoing playwrights such as Plautus and Terence. I argue that Horace intentionally activates the language of the stage in order to spotlight the theatricality involved in performing the role of a client. In so doing, the poet characterizes the client as an actor and underlines the scripted nature of the words and gestures that he directs toward his patron. In each of these poems, Horace employs a variety of negative stereotypes in order to associate the client with different kinds of performers (e.g., the parasitus, captator, servus, scurra, and planus). In the process, he confronts criticism that he himself likely received in the extrapoetic world impugning his amicitia with his own patron, Maecenas. Horace defends himself against charges of acting and sycophancy by demonstrating that an element of performance is endemic to the patron-client relationship itself. The dissertation is organized as a series of close readings of the five poems that best illustrate Horace’s correlation between dramatic and social performance. For each poem, I identify and interpret the dramatic elements and illustrate how they complement and enhance the dramatic subtext. Chapter 1 concentrates on Sermones 1.9, in which Horace encounters a pest seeking an introduction to Maecenas. Chapter 2 deals with Sermones 2.5, the dialogue between Tiresias and Ulysses on the subject of inheritance-hunting (captatio). Chapter 3 explores Sermones 2.7, in which Horace’s slave Davus accuses him of proteanism when it comes to Maecenas. Chapter 4 presents comparanda from Horace’s Epistles 1.17 and 1.18, in which Horace utilizes the same dramatic devices to shape his advice to two prospective clients. Taken together, these analyses uncover new layers in Horace’s multifaceted depiction of the patron-client relationship, and provide additional insight into his poetic personae and poetic program

Speckle-tracking echocardiography combined with imaging mass spectrometry assesses region-dependent alterations

Left ventricular (LV) contraction is characterized by shortening and thickening of longitudinal and circumferential fibres. To date, it is poorly understood how LV deformation is altered in the pathogenesis of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetes mellitus-associated diabetic cardiomyopathy and how this is associated with changes in cardiac structural composition. To gain further insights in these LV alterations, eight-week-old C57BL6/j mice were intraperitoneally injected with 50 mg/kg body weight STZ during 5 consecutive days. Six, 9, and 12 weeks (w) post injections, echocardiographic analysis was performed using a Vevo 3100 device coupled to a 30-MHz linear-frequency transducer. Speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) demonstrated impaired global longitudinal peak strain (GLS) in STZ versus control mice at all time points. 9w STZ animals displayed an impaired global circumferential peak strain (GCS) versus 6w and 12w STZ mice. They further exhibited decreased myocardial deformation behaviour of the anterior and posterior base versus controls, which was paralleled with an elevated collagen I/III protein ratio. Additionally, hypothesis-free proteome analysis by imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) identified regional- and time-dependent changes of proteins affecting sarcomere mechanics between STZ and control mice. In conclusion, STZ-induced diabetic cardiomyopathy changes global cardiac deformation associated with alterations in cardiac sarcomere proteins

Extracellular vesicles from regenerative human cardiac cells act as potent immune modulators by priming monocytes

Background: Nano-sized vesicles, so called extracellular vesicles (EVs), from regenerative cardiac cells represent a promising new therapeutic approach to treat cardiovascular diseases. However, it is not yet sufficiently understood how cardiac-derived EVs facilitate their protective effects. Therefore, we investigated the immune modulating capabilities of EVs from human cardiac-derived adherent proliferating (CardAP) cells, which are a unique cell type with proven cardioprotective features. Results: Differential centrifugation was used to isolate EVs from conditioned medium of unstimulated or cytokinestimulated (IFNγ, TNFα, IL-1β) CardAP cells. The derived EVs exhibited typical EV-enriched proteins, such as tetraspanins, and diameters mostly of exosomes (< 100 nm). The cytokine stimulation caused CardAP cells to release smaller EVs with a lower integrin ß1 surface expression, while the concentration between both CardAP-EV variants was unaffected. An exposure of either CardAP-EV variant to unstimulated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) did not induce any T cell proliferation, which indicates a general low immunogenicity. In order to evaluate immune modulating properties, PBMC cultures were stimulated with either Phytohemagglutin or anti-CD3. The treatment of those PBMC cultures with either CardAP-EV variant led to a significant reduction of T cell proliferation, pro-inflammatory cytokine release (IFNγ, TNFα) and increased levels of active TGFβ. Further investigations identified CD14+ cells as major recipient cell subset of CardAP–EVs. This interaction caused a significant lower surface expression of HLA-DR, CD86, and increased expression levels of CD206 and PD-L1. Additionally, EV-primed CD14+ cells released significantly more IL-1RA. Notably, CardAP-EVs failed to modulate anti-CD3 triggered T cell proliferation and pro-inflammatory cytokine release in monocultures of purified CD3+ T cells. Subsequently, the immunosuppressive feature of CardAPEVs was restored when anti-CD3 stimulated purified CD3+ T cells were co-cultured with EV-primed CD14+ cells. Beside attenuated T cell proliferation, those cultures also exhibited a significant increased proportion of regulatory T cells. Conclusions: CardAP-EVs have useful characteristics that could contribute to enhanced regeneration in damaged cardiac tissue by limiting unwanted inflammatory processes. It was shown that the priming of CD14+ immune cells by CardAP-EVs towards a regulatory type is an essential step to attenuate significantly T cell proliferation and proinflammatory cytokine release in vitro

Borders and Catastrophe: lessons from COVID-19 for the European Green Deal

This article considers how the European Union and Member States’ responses to the COVID-19 crisis in the first half of 2020 could inform climate action in Europe, and particularly the resumption of actions on the EGD. It first outlines the EU’s public health and economic responses to COVID-19 and Europe’s role in the global response to the pandemic. We find that, based on the challenges and successes of all these responses, a strong argument can be made for ‘more Europe’ – greater integration, and stronger EU-level institutions – to lead and govern the COVID-19 response. This has direct lessons for the governance and scope of future climate action

L’économie collaborative : entre jeu, participation et confiance.

L’économie collaborative d’aujourd’hui repose sur une logique contributive où l’homo oeconomicus n’est plus un simple consommateur mais devient aussi producteur, commentateur ou facilitateur. Cette contribution est sollicitée par des dispositifs sociotechniques reposant sur des mécaniques ludiques et véhiculant des valeurs de partage, de rencontre et de bonheur collectif. La confiance, nécessaire à toute forme d’économie, se construit ici à travers la participation et les liens sociaux qui se créent. Partant de l’étude de plusieurs cas, l’analyse sémiotique des discours de ces plateformes permet de comprendre comment s’articulent ces mécanismes de gamification, de participation et de confiance.  L’économie collaborative d’aujourd’hui repose sur une logique contributive où l’homo oeconomicus n’est plus un simple consommateur mais devient aussi producteur, commentateur ou facilitateur. Cette contribution est sollicitée par des dispositifs sociotechniques reposant sur des mécaniques ludiques et véhiculant des valeurs de partage, de rencontre et de bonheur collectif. La confiance, nécessaire à toute forme d’économie, se construit ici à travers la participation et les liens sociaux qui se créent. Partant de l’étude de plusieurs cas, l’analyse sémiotique des discours de ces plateformes permet de comprendre comment s’articulent ces mécanismes de gamification, de participation et de confiance.

A consensus genetic map of sorghum that integrates multiple component maps and high-throughput Diversity Array Technology (DArT) markers

Background: Sorghum genome mapping based on DNA markers began in the early 1990s and numerous genetic linkage maps of sorghum have been published in the last decade, based initially on RFLP markers with more recent maps including AFLPs and SSRs and very recently, Diversity Array Technology (DArT) markers. It is essential to integrate the rapidly growing body of genetic linkage data produced through DArT with the multiple genetic linkage maps for sorghum generated through other marker technologies. Here, we report on the colinearity of six independent sorghum component maps and on the integration of these component maps into a single reference resource that contains commonly utilized SSRs, AFLPs, and high-throughput DArT markers