The cultural currency of a 'good' sense of humour: British comedy and new forms of distinction

Traditionally considered lowbrow art par excellence, British comedy has grown steadily in legitimacy since the ‘Alternative Comedy Movement’ of the early 1980s. Yet while there might be evidence of a transformation in British comic production, there is little understanding of how this has been reflected in patterns of consumption. Indeed, there is a remarkable absence of studies probing comedy taste in British cultural sociology, most notably in Bennett et al’s (2009) recent and otherwise exhaustive mapping of cultural taste and participation. This paper aims to plug this gap in the literature by examining contemporary comedy taste cultures in Britain. Drawing on a large-scale survey and in-depth interviews carried out at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, it argues that comedy now represents an emerging field for the culturally privileged to activate their cultural capital resources. However, unlike previous studies on cultural capital and taste, this research finds that field-specific ‘comic cultural capital’ is mobilised less through taste for certain legitimate ‘objects’ of comedy and more through the expression of rarefied and somewhat ‘disinterested’ styles of comic appreciation. In short, it is ‘embodied’ rather than ‘objectified’ forms of cultural capital that largely distinguish the privileged in the field of comedy

Trophic factors differentiate dopamine neurons vulnerable to Parkinson's disease

Recent studies suggest a variety of factors characterize substantia nigra neurons vulnerable to Parkinson's disease, including the transcription factors pituitary homeobox 3 (Pitx3) and orthodenticle homeobox 2 (Otx2) and the trophic factor receptor deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC), but there is limited information on their expression and localization in adult humans. Pitx3, Otx2, and DCC were immunohistochemically localized in the upper brainstem of adult humans and mice and protein expression assessed using relative intensity measures and online microarray data. Pitx3 was present and highly expressed in most dopamine neurons. Surprisingly, in our elderly subjects no Otx2 immunoreactivity was detected in dopamine neurons, although Otx2 gene expression was found in younger cases. Enhanced DCC gene expression occurred in the substantia nigra, and higher amounts of DCC protein characterized vulnerable ventral nigral dopamine neurons. Our data show that, at the age when Parkinson's disease typically occurs, there are no significant differences in the expression of transcription factors in brainstem dopamine neurons, but those most vulnerable to Parkinson's disease rely more on the trophic factor receptor DCC than other brainstem dopamine neurons

Variety of transversus thoracis muscle in relation to the internal thoracic artery: an autopsy study of 120 subjects

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The transversus thoracis muscle is a thin muscular layer on the inner surface of the anterior thoracic wall that is always in concern during harvesting of the internal thoracic artery. Because the muscle is poorly described in the surgical literature, the aim of the present study is to examine in details its variations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The data was obtained at standard autopsies of 120 Caucasian subjects (Bulgarians) of both sexes (97 males and 23 females), ranging in age from 18 to 91 years (mean age 52.8 ± 17.8 years). The transversus thoracis morphology was thoroughly examined on the inner surface of the chest plates collected after routine incisions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>An overall examination revealed that in majority of cases the transversus thoracis slips formed a complete muscular layer (left - 75.8%, right - 83.3%) or some of the slips (left - 22.5%, right - 15%) or all of them (left - 1.7%, right - 1.7%) were quite separated. Rarely (left - 3.3%, right - 5.8%), some fibrous slips of the transversus thoracis were noted. In 55.8% of the cases there was left/right muscle symmetry; 44.2% of the muscles were asymmetrical. Most commonly, the highest muscle attachment was to the second (left - 53.3%, right - 37.5%) or third rib (left - 29.2%, right - 46.7%). The sixth rib was the most common lowest attachment (left - 94.2%, right - 89.2%). Most frequently, the muscle was composed of four (left - 31.7%, right - 44.2%) or fifth slips (left - 53.3%, right - 40.8%).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study provides detailed basic information on the variety of the transversus thoracic muscle. It also defines the range of the clearly visible, uncovered by the muscle part of the internal thoracic artery and the completeness of the muscular layer over it. The knowledge of these peculiar muscle-arterial relations would definitely be beneficial to cardiac surgeon in performing fast and safe arterial harvesting.</p

Diversity and abundance of pteropods and heteropods along a latitudinal gradient across the Atlantic Ocean

AbstractShelled pteropods and heteropods are two independent groups of holoplanktonic gastropods that are potentially good indicators of the effects of ocean acidification. Although insight into their ecology and biogeography is important for predicting species-specific sensitivities to ocean change, the species abundances and biogeographical distributions of pteropods and heteropods are still poorly known. Here, we examined abundance and distribution patterns of pteropods (euthecosomes, pseudothecosomes, gymnosomes) and heteropods at 31 stations along a transect from 46°N to 46°S across the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean (Atlantic Meridional Transect cruise AMT24). We collected a total of 7312 pteropod specimens belonging to at least 31 species. Pteropod abundances were low north of 40°N with <15 individuals per 1000m3, varied between 100 and 2000ind./1000m3 between 30°N and 40°S, and reached >4000ind./1000m3 just south of 40°S. This accounted for an estimated biomass of 3.2mgm−3 south of 40°S and an average of 0.49mgm−3 along the entire transect. Species richness of pteropods was highest in the stratified (sub)tropical waters between 30°N and 30°S, with a maximum of 15 species per station. The biogeographical distribution of pteropod assemblages inferred by cluster analysis was largely congruent with the distribution of Longhurst’s biogeochemical provinces. Some pteropod species distributions were limited to particular oceanographic provinces, for example, subtropical gyres (e.g. Styliola subula) or warm equatorial waters (e.g. Creseis virgula). Other species showed much broader distributions between ∼35°N and ∼35°S (e.g. Limacina bulimoides and Heliconoides inflatus). We collected 1812 heteropod specimens belonging to 18 species. Highest heteropod abundances and species richness were found between 30°N and 20°S, with up to ∼700ind./1000m3 and a maximum of 14 species per station. Heteropods were not restricted to tropical and subtropical waters, however, as some taxa were also relatively abundant in subantarctic waters. Given the variation in distribution patterns among pteropod and heteropod species, it is likely that species will differ in their response to ocean changes

White matter damage in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease measured by diffusion MRI

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's disease are sometimes difficult to differentiate clinically because of overlapping symptoms. Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measurements of fractional anisotropy (FA) can be useful in distinguishing the different patterns of white matter degradation between the two dementias. In this study, we performed MRI scans in a 4 Tesla MRI machine including T1-weighted structural images and diffusion tensor images in 18 patients with FTD, 18 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 19 cognitively normal (CN) controls. FA was measured selectively in specific fibre tracts (including corpus callosum, cingulum, uncinate and corticospinal tracts) as well as globally in a voxel-by-voxel analysis. Patients with FTD were associated with reductions of FA in frontal and temporal regions including the anterior corpus callosum (P < 0.001), bilateral anterior (left P < 0.001; right P = 0.005), descending (left P < 0.001; right P = 0.003) cingulum tracts, and uncinate tracts (left P < 0.001; right P = 0.005), compared to controls. Patients with Alzheimer's disease were associated with reductions of FA in parietal, temporal and frontal regions including the left anterior (P = 0.003) and posterior (P = 0.002) cingulum tracts, bilateral descending cingulum tracts (P < 0.001) and left uncinate tracts (P < 0.001) compared to controls. When compared with Alzheimer's disease, FTD was associated with greater reductions of FA in frontal brain regions, whereas no region in Alzheimer's disease showed greater reductions of FA when compared to FTD. In conclusion, the regional patterns of anisotropy reduction in FTD and Alzheimer's disease compared to controls suggest a characteristic distribution of white matter degradation in each disease. Moreover, the white matter degradation seems to be more prominent in FTD than in Alzheimer's disease. Taken together, the results suggest that white matter degradation measured with DTI may improve the diagnostic differentiation between FTD and Alzheimer's disease

Sillo temporo-pariétal externe

Le Double A.-F. Sillo temporo-pariétal externe. In: Bulletins de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, V° Série. Tome 3, 1902. pp. 684-685

Sur quelques variations des trous optiques

Le Double A.-F. Sur quelques variations des trous optiques. In: Bulletins de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, V° Série. Tome 3, 1902. pp. 551-554

A propos d'un cas de communication de la fente sphénoïdale et du trou grand rond de l'alisphénoïde humain

Le Double A.-F. A propos d'un cas de communication de la fente sphénoïdale et du trou grand rond de l'alisphénoïde humain. In: Bulletins de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, V° Série. Tome 3, 1902. pp. 550-551

Du redressement de la courbure à concavité inférieure et de l'état rectiligne de l'articulation squamo-pariétale

Le Double A.-F. Du redressement de la courbure à concavité inférieure et de l'état rectiligne de l'articulation squamo-pariétale. In: Bulletins de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris, V° Série. Tome 3, 1902. pp. 682-684