Pânico de Palco: Modernismo, Antiteatralidade e Drama

Stage Fright[i] (1950) de Alfred Hitchcock é o mistério de um assassinato ambientado no submundo[ii] do teatro. Marlene Dietrich interpreta uma diva cujo luto pelo marido assassinado é tão obviamente teatral que ela se torna imediatamente a suspeita número um do filme. Ela é seguida por uma jovem estudante de artes dramáticas, que prepara uma armadilha para revelar sua culpa. Esperando avidamente pela exposição da diva, a audiência caminha em direção a outro tipo de armadilha, atraídos pelo inteligente contraste entre a atriz imoral, em quem não podemos confiar, pois a atuação se tornou sua segunda natureza, e a novata, em quem podemos confiar por sua inexperiência de palco. O assassino, porém, não é a diva, mas um psicopata que já havia matado antes. Observa-se que o pânico de palco[iii] a que o filme de Hitchcock se refere não é o medo do ator diante da plateia, mas o medo do ator por parte da plateia.[iv][i] Lançado no Brasil como “Pavor nos Bastidores”. [ii] Nota do Tradutor: o termo original demimonde refere-se a um submundo específico, precisamente a determinado grupo de mulheres marginalizadas pela sociedade por conta de comportamento promíscuo e muitas vezes envolvendo homens ricos. Uma posição intermediária entre a indiscrição e a prostituição. Também pode-se considerá-lo como sendo um grupo de pessoas cuja respeitabilidade seja dúbia. [iii] “Pânico de palco” seria a tradução ao pé da letra do título do filme. [iv] Uma mídia mais nova, o filme, reflete aqui uma ansiedade que é própria de uma mídia mais antiga, o teatro.

Clone stories: ‘shallow are the souls that have forgotten how to shudder’

This article explores literary interrogations of the bioethical implications of cloning. It does so by outlining the basic science of cloning before going on to question the dominance of the Freudian notion of the ‘uncanny’ in the critical theoretical responses to cloning by figures such as Jean Baudrillard and Slavoj Žižek. The second half of the article turns to two recent novels exploring the theme of cloning: Eva Hoffman's The Secret, and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. It is argued that the former rehearses familiar themes of revulsion connected to the figure of the clone, yet resolves the struggle for identity in a ‘human’ conclusion; whereas the latter maintains the uncanny in-human difference of the clone even as it highlights the dangers of the biopolitical instrumentalization of life itself. The article therefore argues that fictional treatments of cloning can provide an important alternative to simplified debates on the subject in the mass media

Fourth-wave HCI meets the 21st century manifesto:Creative subversion in the 'CHI-verse'

We take up Bødker’s challenge to ‘identify’ a fourth wave HCI, building on the work of Blevis et al. and others to shore up a new vision that places ‘politics and values and ethics’ at the forefront without abandoning the strengths of previous waves. We insist that a fourth wave must push harder, beyond measured criticism for actual (e.g. institutional) change. We present two studies performed at CHI’19, where we used our MANIFESTO! game to: 1) take the temperature of colleagues on adopting an activist stance, 2) test manifesto writing as a key activity in pushing HCI forward into the fourth wave, and 3) test our game for subsequent iterations, and as a probe for inspiring new digital tools. With the enthusiastic response received to gameplay, facilitated in part through a novel method using tableau vivant, we argue for taking political activism from the margins into mainstream HCI

Increased zinc accumulation in mineralized osteosarcoma tissue measured by confocal synchrotron radiation micro X-ray fluorescence analysis

Abnormal tissue levels of certain trace elements such as zinc (Zn) were reported in various types of cancer. Little is known about the role of Zn in osteosarcoma. Using confocal synchrotron radiation micro X-ray fluorescence analysis, we characterized the spatial distribution of Zn in high-grade sclerosing osteosarcoma of nine patients (four women/five men; seven knee/one humerus/one femur) following chemotherapy and wide surgical resection. Levels were compared with adjacent normal tissue. Quantitative backscattered electron imaging as well as histological examinations was also performed. On average, the ratio of medians of Zn count rates (normalized to calcium) in mineralized tumor tissue was about six times higher than in normal tissue. There was no difference in Zn levels between tumor fraction areas with a low fraction and a high fraction of mineralized tissue, which were clearly depicted using quantitative backscattered electron imaging. Moreover, we found no correlation between the Zn values and the type of tumor regression according to the Salzer-Kuntschik grading. The underlying mechanism of Zn accumulation remains unclear. Given the emerging data on the role of trace elements in other types of cancer, our novel results warrant further studies on the role of trace elements in bone cancer

Molecular Biomechanics: The Molecular Basis of How Forces Regulate Cellular Function

Recent advances have led to the emergence of molecular biomechanics as an essential element of modern biology. These efforts focus on theoretical and experimental studies of the mechanics of proteins and nucleic acids, and the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of stress transmission, mechanosensing and mechanotransduction in living cells. In particular, single-molecule biomechanics studies of proteins and DNA, and mechanochemical coupling in biomolecular motors have demonstrated the critical importance of molecular mechanics as a new frontier in bioengineering and life sciences. To stimulate a more systematic study of the basic issues in molecular biomechanics, and attract a broader range of researchers to enter this emerging field, here we discuss its significance and relevance, describe the important issues to be addressed and the most critical questions to be answered, summarize both experimental and theoretical/computational challenges, and identify some short-term and long-term goals for the field. The needs to train young researchers in molecular biomechanics with a broader knowledge base, and to bridge and integrate molecular, subcellular and cellular level studies of biomechanics are articulated.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant UO1HL80711-05 to GB)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant R01GM076689-01)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant R01AR033236-26)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant R01GM087677-01A1)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant R01AI44902)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant R01AI38282)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant CMMI-0645054)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant CBET-0829205)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant CAREER-0955291

Stretching Actin Filaments within Cells Enhances their Affinity for the Myosin II Motor Domain

To test the hypothesis that the myosin II motor domain (S1) preferentially binds to specific subsets of actin filaments in vivo, we expressed GFP-fused S1 with mutations that enhanced its affinity for actin in Dictyostelium cells. Consistent with the hypothesis, the GFP-S1 mutants were localized along specific portions of the cell cortex. Comparison with rhodamine-phalloidin staining in fixed cells demonstrated that the GFP-S1 probes preferentially bound to actin filaments in the rear cortex and cleavage furrows, where actin filaments are stretched by interaction with endogenous myosin II filaments. The GFP-S1 probes were similarly enriched in the cortex stretched passively by traction forces in the absence of myosin II or by external forces using a microcapillary. The preferential binding of GFP-S1 mutants to stretched actin filaments did not depend on cortexillin I or PTEN, two proteins previously implicated in the recruitment of myosin II filaments to stretched cortex. These results suggested that it is the stretching of the actin filaments itself that increases their affinity for the myosin II motor domain. In contrast, the GFP-fused myosin I motor domain did not localize to stretched actin filaments, which suggests different preferences of the motor domains for different structures of actin filaments play a role in distinct intracellular localizations of myosin I and II. We propose a scheme in which the stretching of actin filaments, the preferential binding of myosin II filaments to stretched actin filaments, and myosin II-dependent contraction form a positive feedback loop that contributes to the stabilization of cell polarity and to the responsiveness of the cells to external mechanical stimuli