Translatability, combined unevenness and world literature in Antonio Gramsci

Our research is thus into the history of culture and not literary history; or rather it is into literary history as a part or an aspect of a broader history of culture.

American postmodernist fiction and the past by Theophilus Savvas

A review of American Postmodernist Fiction and the Past by Theophilus Savva

Organizational Stressors and Basic Psychological Needs: The Mediating Role of Athletes’ Appraisal Mechanisms

This paper reports the first study to quantitatively examine the relationships between the demands encountered by athletes that are associated with the organization within which they are operating, cognitive appraisals, and basic psychological need experiences. Three hundred and fifteen high-level British athletes completed a multi-section questionnaire which assessed each of the aforementioned constructs. A series of path analyses provided valuable insight into the way in which the three dimensions (i.e., frequency, intensity and duration) of five organizational stressor categories were evaluated by athletes and, in turn, how such threat or challenge appraisals predicted feelings of need satisfaction and need frustration. Moreover, cognitive stress appraisals were found to mediate the relationship between organizational stressors and psychological need experiences. The role of secondary control appraisals was also explored and found to mediate the relationship between primary cognitive appraisals and basic psychological need experiences. Study limitations, proposed future research directions, and the implications of the findings for applied practitioners are discussed

A natural hybrid of a Bacillus thuringiensis Cry2A toxin implicates Domain I in specificity determination

A PCR-RFLP method was used to identify cry2A toxin genes in a collection of 300 strains of Bacillus thuringiensis. From 81 genes identified, the vast majority appeared to be cry2Aa or cry2Ab, however three showed a different pattern and were subsequently cloned and sequenced. The gene cloned from strain HD395 was named cry2Ba2. Since the proteins encoded by the genes cloned from LS5115-3 and DS415 shared >95% sequence identity with existing toxins their genes were named cry2Aa17 and cry2Ab29 respectively by the toxin nomenclature committee. Despite this overall similarity these two toxins resembled natural hybrids, with Cry2Ab29 resembling Cry2Ab for the majority of the protein but then showing identity to Cry2Aa for the last 66 amino acids. For Cry2Aa17, Domains II and III most closely resembled Cry2Aa (99% identity) whilst Domain I was identical to that of Cry2Ab. The toxicity of the recombinant toxins was tested against Aedes aegypti and Spodoptera exigua, and it was found that the toxicity profile of Cry2Aa17 more closely matched the profile of Cry2Ab than that of Cry2Aa, thus implicating Domain I in specificity determination. This association of Domain I with toxicity was confirmed when hybrids were made between Cry2Aa and Cry2Ab

Anxiety and burnout in young athletes: The mediating role of cognitive appraisal

This study tested the relationship between trait anxiety, cognitive appraisal, and athletes’ burnout proposing two hypotheses: (a) there is a direct relationship between athletes’ trait anxiety and cognitive appraisal and burnout; and (b) cognitive appraisal mediates the relationship between trait anxiety and burnout and this mediation occurs despite the competitive level and sport records of athletes. The study included 673 young athletes and provided measures of trait anxiety, cognitive appraisal, and burnout. Structural equation modelling indicated that cognitive appraisal mediates the relationship between trait anxiety and burnout, confirming hypothesis 2, and this model provided better fit than the direct model of hypothesis 1. However, the mediation also indicated that the direct relationship between trait anxiety and burnout should be considered. The mediating model was invariant according to competitive levels and sport records. In conclusion, cognitive appraisal is an important variable in explaining athletes’ burnout.This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653), and "Guimaraes, European City of Sport 2013".info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Smoking in asthma is associated with elevated levels of corticosteroid resistant sputum cytokines—an exploratory study

<p>Background: Current cigarette smoking is associated with reduced acute responses to corticosteroids and worse clinical outcomes in stable chronic asthma. The mechanism by which current smoking promotes this altered behavior is currently unclear. Whilst cytokines can induce corticosteroid insensitivity in-vitro, how current and former smoking affects airway cytokine concentrations and their responses to oral corticosteroids in stable chronic asthma is unclear.</p> <p>Objectives: To examine blood and sputum cytokine concentrations in never, ex and current smokers with asthma before and after oral corticosteroids.</p> <p>Methods: Exploratory study utilizing two weeks of oral dexamethasone (equivalent to 40 mg/day prednisolone) in 22 current, 21 never and 10 ex-smokers with asthma. Induced sputum supernatant and plasma was obtained before and after oral dexamethasone. 25 cytokines were measured by multiplex microbead system (Invitrogen, UK) on a Luminex platform.</p> <p>Results: Smokers with asthma had elevated sputum cytokine interleukin (IL) -6, -7, and -12 concentrations compared to never smokers with asthma. Few sputum cytokine concentrations changed in response to dexamethasone IL-17 and IFNα increased in smokers, CCL4 increased in never smokers and CCL5 and CXCL10 reduced in ex-smokers with asthma. Ex-smokers with asthma appeared to have evidence of an ongoing corticosteroid resistant elevation of cytokines despite smoking cessation. Several plasma cytokines were lower in smokers wi</p> <p>Conclusion: Cigarette smoking in asthma is associated with a corticosteroid insensitive increase in multiple airway cytokines. Distinct airway cytokine profiles are present in current smokers and never smokers with asthma and could provide an explanatory mechanism for the altered clinical behavior observed in smokers with asthma.</p&gt

Diseño y validación mediante la Teoría de Respuesta al Ítem del Instrumento para Evaluar Capital Psicológico en las Organizaciones IPSICAP

16 p.El constructo “capital psicológico”, creado por Fred Luthans, se define como un estado de desarrollo psicológico positivo del ser humano, que lo caracteriza por (a) tener confianza (autoeficacia) para realizar los esfuerzos que sean necesarios con el fin de alcanzar el éxito en tareas retadoras; (b) hacer atribuciones de causalidad positivas (optimismo) acerca de los sucesos presentes y futuros; (c) perseverar en el logro de los objetivos y, cuando sea necesario, redireccionar los caminos para alcanzarlos (esperanza) de manera exitosa; y (d) al ser blanco de los problemas y la adversidad, mantenerse en pie, volver a comenzar e ir más allá (resiliencia) para lograr el éxito (Luthans, Youssef & Avolio, 2007a, 2007b). Este constructo ha surgido a partir de investigación empírica dentro del comportamiento organizacional positivo, y se ha identificado como un factor nuclear (core factor) de segundo orden (Avey, Patera & West, 2006). Específicamente, las bases teóricas de sus cuatro componentes tienen origen en la psicología clínica, y la aplicación al contexto laboral ha sido realizada principalmente por Fred Luthans, Carolyn Youssef y Bruce Avolio (Luthans & Avolio, 2003; Luthans, Avolio, Walumbwa & Li, 2005); aunque también ha sido trabajado por el grupo de investigación WoNT-Work and Organizational Network, dirigido por Marisa Salanova, en España.Introducción Método Resultados Discusión Referencia

How to Set Up, Manage, and Study a UBI+ Experiment The Case of the ‘WorkFREE’ Project in Hyderabad, India

WorkFREE is a collaborative research project led by the University of Bath,UK in partnership with the Montfort Social Institute (MSI) and the IndiaNetwork for Basic Income (INBI). It is funded by the European ResearchCouncil (ERC). The project brings together civil society institutions, academics,and activists from India and the UK to pilot and study a unique interventionthat we call ‘UBI+’ in four slum communities (‘bastis’) in Hyderabad, India. Thepilot combines universal basic income (UBI) and needs-focused, participatorycommunity organising to support people to increase their power to meet theirneeds. All residents in the said bastis, (approximately 1250 people across 350households) receive monthly unconditional cash transfers for 18 months. Inaddition, the community organising support wraps around the cash over aperiod of 24 months. The project studies the impact on peoples’ lives –including their relationships, their work, and their wellbeing – and seeks toassess the prospects of UBI+ as a future social policy. WorkFREE is the firstmajor UBI experiment to take place in urban India, and one of the first in theworld to work with entire communities as opposed to selected individualswithin those communities. Full project information can be found on theproject’s website here. The rest of this ‘Process Document’ will outline thecomplex, challenging, nitty-gritty practicalities involved in project design,implementation, and management, with a view to supporting future would-bepiloters embarking on similar journeys. We structure the report around threebroad temporal phases

Double Blind Study Investigating the Effect of Different Voice Prostheses on Ease of Swallowing and Residue Post Laryngectomy.

Voice prostheses have been examined for their effect on voice production but there is little datum on their effect on swallow function. This study investigated the difference between six commonly available voice prostheses in terms of swallowing. Laryngectomy patients had up to six voice prostheses placed in a random order over two visits. Swallowing was evaluated for each prosthesis using FEES (Fibreoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing). After each prosthesis trial, patients self-evaluated their experience of swallowing. Three independent experts indicated which prosthesis they considered best for swallowing for each patient and judged residue on the voice prosthesis and in the upper esophagus. Raters were blinded to participant details, voice prosthesis type and scores of other raters. On patient self-evaluation, scores were equally distributed across all prostheses for swallowing. Experts most frequently chose the Blom Singer Low pressure and Blom Singer Classic Indwelling voice prostheses as best for swallowing but consensus was poor for most patients. Experts found that the Blom Singer Classic Indwelling and the Provox Vega had least residue on the voice prosthesis on thin liquid (p ≤ 0.001) and soft (p = 0.001), respectively. Experts also found that the Blom Singer Low Pressure had least residue in the upper esophagus on soft consistency (p ≤ 0.001). While self-evaluation by patients did not identify a consistently preferred prosthesis for swallow, many patients expressed personal preferences, suggesting benefits to involving patients in the choice of prosthesis. Some voice prostheses may be associated with lower levels of residue on the prosthesis and upper esophagus with certain consistencies