Picturing AIDS: Using Images to Raise Community Awareness

In Botswana, explicit color photos of people with AIDS have been used to spread knowledge, with the aim of saving live

The Impact of Lexicographical Work on Language Use: The Case of Shona Monolingual Dictionaries in Zimbabwe*

This article examines the impact of current lexicographical work in Zimbabwe on some sectors of Shona language use, namely education, media, medicine and local government. It looks specifically at Shona monolingual lexicographical projects completed by the African Lan-guages Research Institute (ALRI), successor to the African Languages Lexical Project (ALLEX). It analyses how users of Shona in these particular sectors are responding to the different lexico-graphical products published by ALRI. The article maintains that Shona monolingual lexicography has resulted in language raising and awareness. It has also led to term creation and has contributed towards standardisation of the language. Shona has furthermore gained the abstractive power it needs to explain its own and other concepts. All these have caused diglossia leakage from Low (L) Shona to High (H) Shona in some areas of Shona language usage. The overall effect is that Shona is now used in some formal sectors such as the above-mentioned ones which previously were the preserve of English in Zimbabwe. Keywords: MONOLINGUAL LEXICOGRAPHY, GENERAL DICTIONARIES, SPECIALISED DICTIONARIES, STANDARDISATION, LANGUAGE RAISING, LANGUAGE AWARENESS, LANGUAGE USE, SLCA, ALLEX, ALR

Indigenous knowledge systems in zimbabwe: Juxtaposing postcolonial theory.

Abstrac

An analysis of the reliability and validity of the Shona novel as a historical document

A lot of research on the Shona novel has focussed on the influence of orature and the Bible. It has also focused on the influence that the Southern Rhodesia Literature Bureau had on its development. This research has endeavoured to highlight the reliability and validity of the Shona novel as a historical document. The dependability of the novel as an alternative site from which history can be deciphered is corroborated by historical documents. The history that comes out in the Shona novels that have been studied covers the pre-colonial period right up to the post-independence period. Among the issues that come up in the research that relate to history are the Rozvi state under Chirisamhuru, the economic activities in pre-colonial Shona society that include raids for cattle and women as well as hunting and external trade. The Shona novel has also proved historically reliable in as far as it relates to the navigability of the Save River. It has highlighted the living conditions and the wages that Blacks got in colonial Rhodesia and exposed the land imbalances that came into existence because of the Land Apportionment Act of 1930, which left Blacks living on the periphery and in overcrowded, hot and dry reserves that were hardly fertile. The Rhodesian authorities, as the novels have exposed, denied most Blacks access to education. When schools were provided, they were poorly staffed and those on farms functioned more as labour pools than schools. The novel has also proved its dependability when it highlights the early days of the nationalist movement and the unilateral declaration of independence of 1965. It has also brought to the fore the birth of the armed struggle and the Rhodesian responses to it. The Rhodesians responded politically and militarily. Politically, it was through the Internal Settlement Agreement of March 1978. Militarily they moved people into 'protected villages' in an effort to deny guerrillas access to food and clothing. The novel also highlights the post-independence period especially political intolerance.African LanguagesD.Litt. et Phil. (African Languages

Where There Is No Internet: Delivering Health Information via the Blue Trunk Libraries

There are many areas in the developing world that have neither computers nor a reliable electricity supply. In response to the need for printed health information, WHO librarians created the Blue Trunk Library Project

X-ray Investigations of the Crystals of Copper Formate Dihydrate

It deals with the X-ray Investigations of the Crystals of Copper Formate Dihydrate@IAC

Characterization of a novel Hodgkin cell-line, HD-MyZ, HD-Myr, with myelomonocytic features mimicking Hodgkin's disease in severe combined immunodeficient mice

A novel Hodgkin cell line, designated HD-MyZ, was established from the pleural effusion of a 29-yr-old patient with Hodgkin's disease (HD) of nodular sclerosing type. The majority of cells grow adherently and display typical morphological characteristics of Reed-Sternberg (RS) and Hodgkin (H) cells, i.e., large multi- and mononucleated cells with prominent nucleoli. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed a myelomonocytoid immunophenotype (expression of CD13 and CD68, and lack of lymphoid markers). HD-MyZ cells strongly expressed restin, a recently described intermediate filament-associated protein, the expression of which is restricted to H cells, RS cells, and in vitro cultivated peripheral blood monocytes. In addition mRNA expression of c-fms (colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor) could be induced in HD-MyZ cells by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) stimulation. Southern blot analysis did not detect rearrangement of T cell receptor beta and immunoglobulin H loci, thus demonstrating the lack of lymphoid commitment. HD-MyZ cells were also devoid of Epstein-Barr virus genomes. HD-MyZ cells constitutively express mRNAs for interleukin 1 alpha (IL-1 alpha), IL-1 beta, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-10, IL-1 receptor (type I), and IL-6 receptor. Stimulation of cells with PMA increased mRNA expression as well as the secretion of IL-1 beta, IL-6, and IL-8, and induced the de novo expression of IL-8 receptors. Xenotransplantation into severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice by intravenous or subcutaneous inoculation led to development of disseminated tumors with infiltrative and destructive growth. In addition lymphadenopathy, pleural effusion, and infiltration of spleen were observed. Morphological and immunological analysis of tumor cells revealed the same features as HD-MyZ cells. This cell line might be an important tool for understanding the pathogenesis and biology of HD. In addition the SCID mice model might prove helpful in developing new therapeutic strategies

PDLIM2 restricts Th1 and Th17 differentiation and prevents autoimmune disease

Background: PDLIM2 is essential for the termination of the inflammatory transcription factors NF-κB and STAT but is dispensable for the development of immune cells and immune tissues/organs. Currently, it remains unknown whether and how PDLIM2 is involved in physiologic and pathogenic processes. Results: Here we report that naive PDLIM2 deficient CD4+ T cells were prone to differentiate into Th1 and Th17 cells. PDLIM2 deficiency, however, had no obvious effect on lineage commitment towards Th2 or Treg cells. Notably, PDLIM2 deficient mice exhibited increased susceptibility to experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE), a Th1 and/or Th17 cell-mediated inflammatory disease model of multiple sclerosis (MS). Mechanistic studies further indicate that PDLIM2 was required for restricting expression of Th1 and Th17 cytokines, which was in accordance with the role of PDLIM2 in the termination of NF-κB and STAT activation. Conclusion: These findings suggest that PDLIM2 is a key modulator of T-cell-mediated immune responses that may be targeted for the therapy of human autoimmune diseases

Blocking of transcription factor E2F/DP by dominant-negative mutants in a normal breast epithelial cell line efficiently inhibits apoptosis and induces tumor growth in scid mice

The transcription factor E2F is regulated during the cell cycle through interactions with the product of the retinoblastoma susceptibility gene and related proteins. It is thought that E2F-mediated gene regulation at the G1/S boundary and during S phase may be one of the rate-limiting steps in cell proliferation. It was reported that in vivo overexpression of E2F-1 in fibroblasts induces S phase entry and leads to apoptosis. This observation suggests that E2F plays a role in both cell cycle regulation and apoptosis. To further understand the role of E2F in cell cycle progression, cell death, and tumor development, we have blocked endogenous E2F activity in HBL-100 cells, derived from nonmalignant human breast epithelium, using dominant-negative mutants under the control of a tetracycline-dependent expression system. We have shown here that induction of dominant-negative mutants led to strong downregulation of transiently transfected E2F-dependent chloramphenicol acetyl transferase reporter constructs and of endogenous c-myc, which has been described as a target gene of the transcription factor E2F/DP. In addition, we have shown that blocking of E2F could efficiently protect from apoptosis induced by serum starvation within a period of 10 d, whereas control cells started to die after 24 h. Surprisingly, blocking of E2F did not alter the rate of proliferation or of DNA synthesis of these cells; this finding indicates that cell-cycle progression could be driven in an E2F-independent manner. In addition, we have been able to show that blocking of endogenous E2F in HBL-100 cells led to rapid induction of tumor growth in severe combined immunodeficiency mice. No tumor growth could be observed in mice that received mock-transfected clones or tetracycline to block expression of the E2F mutant constructs in vivo. Thus, it appears that E2F has a potential tumor-suppressive function under certain circumstances. Furthermore, we provide evidence that dysregulation of apoptosis may be an important step in tumorigenesis