Cultura visual: dos apropiaciones diferentes de la obra "For the love of god", de Damien Hirst

Hasta hace unas décadas atrás, el campo artístico se percibía como el único espacio de gestación, tratamiento, circulación y recepción de las imágenes estéticas, siendo la historia del arte la disciplina teórica dedicada a su estudio. Sin embargo, desde que comenzó el proceso de conformación de la sociedad de masas, múltiples medios y canales de producción y difusión de imágenes se han incorporado a la vida cotidiana, registrándose en los últimos años una participación activa del público y los consumidores en el desarrollo de nuevas imágenes artísticas-estéticas, gratuitas y masivas. Estas innovadoras operaciones de la cultura colaborativa (Scolari, 2013) han sido, no obstante, captadas y reelaboradas por instituciones y entidades empresariales en pos de hacerlas funcionales a la lógica comercial del mercado. En este sentido, se analiza través de dos diferentes casos de apropiación de la obra For the Love of God (2007) de Damien Hirst, cómo las imágenes artísticas se asimilan, manipulan y adaptan en la cultura popular contemporánea, haciéndose uso de los aportes realizados por los Estudios Visuales y la Cultura Visual.Facultad de Bellas Arte

Cultura visual: dos apropiaciones diferentes de la obra "For the love of god", de Damien Hirst

Hasta hace unas décadas atrás, el campo artístico se percibía como el único espacio de gestación, tratamiento, circulación y recepción de las imágenes estéticas, siendo la historia del arte la disciplina teórica dedicada a su estudio. Sin embargo, desde que comenzó el proceso de conformación de la sociedad de masas, múltiples medios y canales de producción y difusión de imágenes se han incorporado a la vida cotidiana, registrándose en los últimos años una participación activa del público y los consumidores en el desarrollo de nuevas imágenes artísticas-estéticas, gratuitas y masivas. Estas innovadoras operaciones de la cultura colaborativa (Scolari, 2013) han sido, no obstante, captadas y reelaboradas por instituciones y entidades empresariales en pos de hacerlas funcionales a la lógica comercial del mercado. En este sentido, se analiza través de dos diferentes casos de apropiación de la obra For the Love of God (2007) de Damien Hirst, cómo las imágenes artísticas se asimilan, manipulan y adaptan en la cultura popular contemporánea, haciéndose uso de los aportes realizados por los Estudios Visuales y la Cultura Visual.Facultad de Bellas Arte

Cultura visual: dos apropiaciones diferentes de la obra "For the love of god", de Damien Hirst

Hasta hace unas décadas atrás, el campo artístico se percibía como el único espacio de gestación, tratamiento, circulación y recepción de las imágenes estéticas, siendo la historia del arte la disciplina teórica dedicada a su estudio. Sin embargo, desde que comenzó el proceso de conformación de la sociedad de masas, múltiples medios y canales de producción y difusión de imágenes se han incorporado a la vida cotidiana, registrándose en los últimos años una participación activa del público y los consumidores en el desarrollo de nuevas imágenes artísticas-estéticas, gratuitas y masivas. Estas innovadoras operaciones de la cultura colaborativa (Scolari, 2013) han sido, no obstante, captadas y reelaboradas por instituciones y entidades empresariales en pos de hacerlas funcionales a la lógica comercial del mercado. En este sentido, se analiza través de dos diferentes casos de apropiación de la obra For the Love of God (2007) de Damien Hirst, cómo las imágenes artísticas se asimilan, manipulan y adaptan en la cultura popular contemporánea, haciéndose uso de los aportes realizados por los Estudios Visuales y la Cultura Visual.Facultad de Bellas Arte

Deletion of the mental retardation gene Gdi1 impairs associative memory and alters social behavior in mice

Non-specific mental retardation (NSMR) is a common human disorder characterized by mental handicap as the only clinical symptom. Among the recently identified MR genes is GDI1, which encodes αGdi, one of the proteins controlling the activity of the small GTPases of the Rab family in vesicle fusion and intracellular trafficking. We report the cognitive and behavioral characterization of mice carrying a deletion of Gdi1. The Gdi1-deficient mice are fertile and anatomically normal. They appear normal also in many tasks to assess spatial and episodic memory and emotional behavior. Gdi1-deficient mice are impaired in tasks requiring formation of short-term temporal associations, suggesting a defect in short-term memory. In addition, they show lowered aggression and altered social behavior. In mice, as in humans, lack of Gdi1 spares most central nervous system functions and preferentially impairs only a few forebrain functions required to form temporal associations. The general similarity to human mental retardation is striking, and suggests that the Gdi1 mutants may provide insights into the human defect and into the molecular mechanisms important for development of cognitive function

Mutant IDH1 Differently Affects Redox State and Metabolism in Glial Cells of Normal and Tumor Origin

IDH1R132H (isocitrate dehydrogenase 1) mutations play a key role in the development of low-grade gliomas. IDH1wt converts isocitrate to α-ketoglutarate while reducing nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP+), whereas IDH1R132H uses α-ketoglutarate and NADPH to generate the oncometabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG). While the effects of 2-HG have been the subject of intense research, the 2-HG independent effects of IDH1R132H are still ambiguous. The present study demonstrates that IDH1R132H expression but not 2-HG alone leads to significantly decreased tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle metabolites, reduced proliferation, and enhanced sensitivity to irradiation in both glioblastoma cells and astrocytes in vitro. Glioblastoma cells, but not astrocytes, showed decreased NADPH and NAD+ levels upon IDH1R132H transduction. However, in astrocytes IDH1R132H led to elevated expression of the NAD-synthesizing enzyme nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT). These effects were not 2-HG mediated. This suggests that IDH1R132H cells utilize NAD+ to restore NADP pools, which only astrocytes could compensate via induction of NAMPT. We found that the expression of NAMPT is lower in patient-derived IDH1-mutant glioma cells and xenografts compared to IDH1-wildtype models. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data analysis confirmed lower NAMPT expression in IDH1-mutant versus IDH1-wildtype gliomas. We show that the IDH1 mutation directly affects the energy homeostasis and redox state in a cell-type dependent manner. Targeting the impairments in metabolism and redox state might open up new avenues for treating IDH1-mutant gliomas.publishedVersio

Endocytic reawakening of motility in jammed epithelia.

Dynamics of epithelial monolayers has recently been interpreted in terms of a jamming or rigidity transition. How cells control such phase transitions is, however, unknown. Here we show that RAB5A, a key endocytic protein, is sufficient to induce large-scale, coordinated motility over tens of cells, and ballistic motion in otherwise kinetically arrested monolayers. This is linked to increased traction forces and to the extension of cell protrusions, which align with local velocity. Molecularly, impairing endocytosis, macropinocytosis or increasing fluid efflux abrogates RAB5A-induced collective motility. A simple model based on mechanical junctional tension and an active cell reorientation mechanism for the velocity of self-propelled cells identifies regimes of monolayer dynamics that explain endocytic reawakening of locomotion in terms of a combination of large-scale directed migration and local unjamming. These changes in multicellular dynamics enable collectives to migrate under physical constraints and may be exploited by tumours for interstitial dissemination

Clinical and molecular characterization of patients affected by Beckwith-Wiedemann spectrum conceived through assisted reproduction techniques

The prevalence of Beckwith-Wiedemann spectrum (BWSp) is tenfold increased in children conceived through assisted reproductive techniques (ART). More than 90% of ART-BWSp patients reported so far display imprinting center 2 loss-of-methylations (IC2-LoM), versus 50% of naturally conceived BWSp patients. We describe a cohort of 74 ART-BWSp patients comparing their features with a cohort of naturally conceived BWSp patients, with the ART-BWSp patients previously described in literature, and with the general population of children born from ART. We found that the distribution of UPD(11)pat was not significantly different in ART and naturally conceived patients. We observed 68.9% of IC2-LoM and 16.2% of mosaic UPD(11)pat in our ART cohort, that strongly differ from the figure reported in other cohorts so far. Since UPD(11)pat likely results from post-fertilization recombination events, our findings allows to hypothesize that more complex molecular mechanisms, besides methylation disturbances, may underlie BWSp increased risk in ART pregnancies. Moreover, comparing the clinical features of ART and non-ART BWSp patients, we found that ART-BWSp patients might have a milder phenotype. Finally, our data show a progressive increase in the prevalence of BWSp over time, paralleling that of ART usage in the last decades

Cholesterol-loaded nanoparticles ameliorate synaptic and cognitive function in Huntington's disease mice

Brain cholesterol biosynthesis and cholesterol levels are reduced in mouse models of Huntington's disease (HD), suggesting that locally synthesized, newly formed cholesterol is less available to neurons. This may be detrimental for neuronal function, especially given that locally synthesized cholesterol is implicated in synapse integrity and remodeling. Here, we used biodegradable and biocompatible polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) modified with glycopeptides (g7) and loaded with cholesterol (g7-NPs-Chol), which per se is not blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeable, to obtain high-rate cholesterol delivery into the brain after intraperitoneal injection in HD mice. We report that g7-NPs, in contrast to unmodified NPs, efficiently crossed the BBB and localized in glial and neuronal cells in different brain regions. We also found that repeated systemic delivery of g7-NPs-Chol rescued synaptic and cognitive dysfunction and partially improved global activity in HD mice. These results demonstrate that cholesterol supplementation to the HD brain reverses functional alterations associated with HD and highlight the potential of this new drug-administration route to the diseased brain

A new method for the determination of very small Γγ partial widths

We present a new method for the measurement of very small Γγ partial width that is important for the synthesis of elements in astrophysics. The method is based on the simultaneous detection of scattered beam, residual nucleus and decay γ rays. This method is optimized for the use of the CHIMERA detector at LNS. Experimental details are described

A new method for the determination of very small Γ γ

We present a new method for the measurement of very small Γγ partial width that is important for the synthesis of elements in astrophysics. The method is based on the simultaneous detection of scattered beam, residual nucleus and decay γ rays. This method is optimized for the use of the CHIMERA detector at LNS. Experimental details are described