Imitation, Repetition, Tradition: Some Reflections on the Poetry of Ian Hamilton Finlay

This paper examines a selection of Finlay’s concrete poetry which uses imitation and repetition as both method and raw material. I suggest that the poems’ evident pastiche of particular works and iteration of word units create a context whereby a pattern of human behaviour unfolds in whimsical and startling ways

Imitation, Repetition, Tradition: Some Reflections on the Poetry of Ian Hamilton Finlay

This paper examines a selection of Finlay’s concrete poetry which uses imitation and repetition as both method and raw material. I suggest that the poems’ evident pastiche of particular works and iteration of word units create a context whereby a pattern of human behaviour unfolds in whimsical and startling ways

Poetic experiments and trans-national exchange : the Little Magazines Migrant (1959-1960) and Poor.Old.Tired.Horse. (1962-1967)

Migrant (1959-1960) and Poor.Old.Tired.Horse.(1962-1967) were two little magazines edited respectively by British poets Gael Turnbull and Ian Hamilton Finlay. This thesis aims to explore the magazines’ contributions to the diversification of British poetry in the 1960s, via their commitment to transnational exchange and publication of innovative poetries. My investigation is grounded on the premise that little magazines, as important but neglected socio-literary forms, provide a nuanced picture of literary history by revealing the shifting activities and associations between groups of writers and publishers. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu and Pascale Casanova, I argue that Migrant and Poor.Old.Tired.Horse were exceptionally outward-looking publications bringing various kinds of poetic forms, both historical and contemporary, local and international, to new audiences, and creating literary networks in the process. A brief overview of the post-war British poetry scene up until 1967, and the role of little magazines within this period, will contextualize Turnbull’s and Finlay’s activities as editors and publishers. Migrant is examined as a documentation of Turnbull’s early years as a poet-publisher in Britain, Canada, and the US. I argue that Turnbull’s magazine is at once a manifestation of the literary friendships he forged, a negotiation of American poetic theories, and a formulation of a new British-American literary network. Identifying Charles Olson’s ‘Projective Verse’ manifesto as a particular influence on Turnbull, I examine aspects of Olson’s conceptualization of poetry as a dynamic process of unfolding in the content and ethos of Migrant. Finlay’s attitudes to internationalism and use of vernacular speech in poetry are compared to those of Hugh MacDiarmid to demonstrate that Poor.Old.Tired.Horse. emerged out of both a rejection and engagement with an older generation of Scottish writers. The content and organisation of the magazine, I argue, bear Finlay’s consideration of art as play. Drawing on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s positing of language as games, I examine the magazine as a series of playful procedures where a variety of formal experimentations were enacted

S-1 mediated tumor priming enhances intratumor liposomal fate

The efficient delivery of nanocarrier-based cancer therapeutics into tumor tissue is problematic. Structural abnormalities, tumor vasculature heterogeneity, and elevated intratumor pressure impose barriers against the preferential accumulation of nanocarrier-based cancer therapeutics within tumor tissues and, consequently, compromise their therapeutic efficacy. Recently, we have reported that metronomic S-1, orally available tegafur formulation, dosing synergistically augmented the therapeutic efficacy of oxaliplatin (l-OHP)-containing PEGylated liposome without increasing the toxicity in animal model. However, the exact mechanism behind such synergistic effect was not fully elucidated. In this study, therefore, we tried to shed the light on the contributions of metronomic S-1 dosing to the enhanced accumulation and/or spatial distribution of PEGylated liposome within tumor tissue. Tumor priming with metronomic S-1 treatment induced a potent apoptotic response against both angiogenic endothelial cells and tumor cells adjacent to tumor blood vessels, resulting in enhanced tumor blood flow via transient normalization of tumor vasculature, along with alleviation of intratumor pressure. Such a change in the tumor microenvironment imparted by S-1 treatment allows efficient delivery of PEGylated liposome to tumor tissue and permits their deep penetration/distribution into the tumor mass. Such a priming effect of S-1 dosing can be exploited as a promising strategy to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of nanocarrier-based cancer therapeutics suffering from inadequate/heterogeneous delivery to tumor tissues

Activation of NK Cells by an Endocytosed Receptor for Soluble HLA-G

Signaling from endosomes is emerging as a mechanism by which selected receptors provide sustained signals distinct from those generated at the plasma membrane. The activity of natural killer (NK) cells, which are important effectors of innate immunity and regulators of adaptive immunity, is controlled primarily by receptors that are at the cell surface. Here we show that cytokine secretion by resting human NK cells is induced by soluble, but not solid-phase, antibodies to the killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) 2DL4, a receptor for human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-G. KIR2DL4 was constitutively internalized into Rab5-positive compartments via a dynamin-dependent process. Soluble HLA-G was endocytosed into KIR2DL4–containing compartments in NK cells and in 293T cells transfected with KIR2DL4. Chemokine secretion induced by KIR2DL4 transfection into 293T cells occurred only with recombinant forms of KIR2DL4 that trafficked to endosomes. The profile of genes up-regulated by KIR2DL4 engagement on resting NK cells revealed a proinflammatory/proangiogenic response. Soluble HLA-G induced secretion of a similar set of cytokines and chemokines. This unique stimulation of resting NK cells by soluble HLA-G, which is endocytosed by KIR2DL4, implies that NK cells may provide useful functions at sites of HLA-G expression, such as promotion of vascularization in maternal decidua during early pregnancy

Two Twin Pipes Sprout Water

Two Twin Pipes Sprout Water brings together five discrete sequences of poems and poem- stories. Moving through different voices and times, landscapes and interiors, Lila Matsumoto’s new collection offers a sense of the world as an observed tableau, inviting the reader to participate in a creation of a strange yet familiar world full of ordinary-extraordinary moments.Two Twin Pipes Sprout Water was commended for the Forward Poetry Prize and was Poetry Book Society Recommendatio

Conference Report

‘Work, Performance & Poetry’ Symposium, Northumbria University, 16–17 April 201

Improvement of intratumor microdistribution of PEGylated liposome via tumor priming by metronomic S-1 dosing

Yusuke Doi,1 Amr S Abu Lila,1–3 Haruna Matsumoto,1 Tomoko Okada,1 Taro Shimizu,1 Tatsuhiro Ishida1 1Department of Pharmacokinetics and Biopharmaceutics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima, Japan; 2Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt; 3Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Hail University, Hail, Saudi Arabia Abstract: The efficient delivery of nanocarrier-based cancer therapeutics into tumor tissue is problematic. Structural abnormalities, tumor vasculature heterogeneity, and elevated intratumor pressure impose barriers against the preferential accumulation of nanocarrier-based cancer therapeutics within tumor tissues and, consequently, compromise their therapeutic efficacy. Recently, we have reported that metronomic S-1, orally available tegafur formulation, dosing synergistically augmented the therapeutic efficacy of oxaliplatin (l-OHP)-containing PEGylated liposome without increasing the toxicity in animal model. However, the exact mechanism behind such synergistic effect was not fully elucidated. In this study, therefore, we tried to shed the light on the contributions of metronomic S-1 dosing to the enhanced accumulation and/or spatial distribution of PEGylated liposome within tumor tissue. Tumor priming with metronomic S-1 treatment induced a potent apoptotic response against both angiogenic endothelial cells and tumor cells adjacent to tumor blood vessels, resulting in enhanced tumor blood flow via transient normalization of tumor vasculature, along with alleviation of intratumor pressure. Such a change in the tumor microenvironment imparted by S-1 treatment allows efficient delivery of PEGylated liposome to tumor tissue and permits their deep penetration/distribution into the tumor mass. Such a priming effect of S-1 dosing can be exploited as a promising strategy to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of nanocarrier-based cancer therapeutics suffering from inadequate/heterogeneous delivery to tumor tissues. Keywords: tumor microenvironment, metronomic chemotherapy, S-1, liposome, nanocarrier, EPR effec