Eating the Country' and 'Aluminium Foil': Questions in the Translation of Contemporary Literary Texts from and into Swahili

This paper considers some of the questions posed by literary translations both from and into Swahili. While the questions a translator might address as she proceeds with each translation may be the same, their differing answers often highlight the translator’s different position towards, and history with, each target language, as well as her aesthetic and political commitments in each. The projects discussed are Mlenge Fanuel Mgendi’s comic short story Starehe gharama (Comfort is Expensive) about a young schoolboy’s misadventure on a daladala bus in Dar es Salaam and Tope Folarin’s Caine Prize shortlisted story Genesis (Mwanzo), in which two Nigerian boys living in the American Midwest witness their mother’s struggle with her new surroundings

Ikiwa kuna shibe, maziwa hayauzwi: food, history, and community well-being in twentieth century Pemba, Zanzibar

Focused on Pemba Island in Zanzibar, this paper examines how talk about food – in abundance and plenty as well as drought, and hardship – can yield important insights into people’s experiences of the past and present. While food, in a very basic way, is central to human survival, people’s experiences of acquiring, preparing, sharing, and consuming food are central aspects of human social and cultural life. When talking about food, human beings deploy culturally specific knowledge that locates them in history and in society. Food discourse deploys culturally inflected visions of wellness and social harmony, as well as of hardship and fragmentation. This paper explores food discourse in Pemba as oral history that sheds light on how people experienced the 1920s and 1930s, World War II and rationing, the Zanzibar Revolution and the famine of 1972, as well as how changes in food preparation figure in people’s assessments of their own well-being, and experiences of contemporary times. The paper also argues that the Pemban concept of shibe, or ‘satiety’, may provide a culturally viable framework for thinking about as well as implementing social and environmental wellbeing on a larger scale

The MEK2-binding tumor suppressor hDlg is recruited by E-cadherin to the midbody ring

Background: The human homologue of the Drosophila Discs-large tumor suppressor protein, hDlg, is a multi-domain cytoplasmic protein that localizes to the membrane at intercellular junction sites. At both synaptic junctions and epithelia cell-cell junctions, hDlg is known to recruit several signaling proteins into macromolecular complexes. hDlg is also found at the midbody, a small microtubule-rich structure bridging the two daughter cells during cytokinesis, but its function at this site is not clear. Results: Here we describe the interaction of hDlg with the activated form of MEK2 of the canonical RAF/MEK/ERK pathway, a protein that is found at the midbody during cytokinesis. We show that both proteins localize to a sub-structure of the midbody, the midbody ring, and that the interaction between the PDZ domains of hDlg and the C-terminal portion of MEK2 is dependent on the phosphorylation of MEK2. Finally, we found that E-cadherin also localizes to the midbody and that its expression is required for the isoform-specific recruitment of hDlg, but not activated MEK2, to that structure. Conclusion: Our results suggest that like at other cell-cell junction sites, hDlg is part of a macromolecular complex of structural and signaling proteins at the midbody.Molecular and Cellular Biolog

A Rat Model of Human Lipid Emulsion Digestion

A better understanding of how dietary lipids are processed by the human body is necessary to allow for the control of satiation and energy intake by tailored lipid systems. To examine whether rats are a valid model of human dietary lipid processing and therefore useful for further mechanistic studies in this context, we tested in rats three lipid emulsions of different stability, which alter satiety responses in humans. Different sets of 15 adult male Sprague Dawley rats, equipped with gastric catheters alone or combined with hepatic portal vein (HPV) and vena cava (VC) catheters were maintained on a medium-fat diet and adapted to an 8 h deprivation/16 h feeding schedule. Experiments were performed in a randomized cross-over study design. After gastric infusion of the lipid emulsions, we assessed gastric emptying by the paracetamol absorption test and recorded in separate experiments food intake and plasma levels of gastrointestinal hormones and metabolites in the HPV. For an acid stable emulsion, slower gastric emptying and an enhanced release of satiating gastrointestinal (GI) hormones were observed and were associated with lower short-term energy intake in rats and less hunger in humans, respectively. The magnitude of hormonal responses was related to the acid stability and redispersibility of the emulsions and thus seems to depend on the availability of lipids for digestion. Plasma metabolite levels were unaffected by the emulsion induced changes in lipolysis. The results support that structured lipid systems are digested similarly in rats and humans. Thus unstable emulsions undergo the same intragastric destabilization in both species, i.e., increased droplet size and creaming. This work establishes the rat as a viable animal model for in vivo studies on the control of satiation and energy intake by tailored lipid systems

Carbohydrate Conformation and Lipid Condensation in Monolayers Containing Glycosphingolipid Gb3: Influence of Acyl Chain Structure

AbstractGlobotriaosylceramide (Gb3), a glycosphingolipid found in the plasma membrane of animal cells, is the endocytic receptor of the bacterial Shiga toxin. Using x-ray reflectivity (XR) and grazing incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXD), lipid monolayers containing Gb3 were investigated at the air-water interface. XR probed Gb3 carbohydrate conformation normal to the interface, whereas GIXD precisely characterized Gb3’s influence on acyl chain in-plane packing and area per molecule (APM). Two phospholipids, 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DSPC) and 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DPPE), were used to study Gb3 packing in different lipid environments. Furthermore, the impact on monolayer structure of a naturally extracted Gb3 mixture was compared to synthetic Gb3 species with uniquely defined acyl chain structures. XR results showed that lipid environment and Gb3 acyl chain structure impact carbohydrate conformation with greater solvent accessibility observed for smaller phospholipid headgroups and long Gb3 acyl chains. In general, GIXD showed that Gb3 condensed phospholipid packing resulting in smaller APM than predicted by ideal mixing. Gb3’s capacity to condense APM was larger for DSPC monolayers and exhibited different dependencies on acyl chain structure depending on the lipid environment. The interplay between Gb3-induced changes in lipid packing and the lipid environment’s impact on carbohydrate conformation has broad implications for glycosphingolipid macromolecule recognition and ligand binding

Solving Stochastic B\"uchi Games on Infinite Arenas with a Finite Attractor

We consider games played on an infinite probabilistic arena where the first player aims at satisfying generalized B\"uchi objectives almost surely, i.e., with probability one. We provide a fixpoint characterization of the winning sets and associated winning strategies in the case where the arena satisfies the finite-attractor property. From this we directly deduce the decidability of these games on probabilistic lossy channel systems.Comment: In Proceedings QAPL 2013, arXiv:1306.241

Variability in coral-reconstructed sea surface salinity between the northern and southern Lombok Strait linked to East Asian winter monsoon mean state reversals.

The Indonesian throughflow (ITF) impacts heat and buoyancy transport from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean, influencing air-sea heat exchange and Indo-Pacific climate. Nearly 80% of the total 15 sverdrups (1 Sv = 106m3/s) of ITF water moves through the Makassar Strait in the western Indonesian seas, with ~20% of total ITF transport subsequently entering the Indian Ocean through the Lombok Strait. During the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM), buoyant South China Sea (SCS) waters obstruct southward surface ITF transport in the Makassar Strait, likely impacting surface variability throughout the Lombok Strait. Here we present two subannually resolved, multicentury records of coral-reconstructed sea surface salinity (SSS) from the northern (110 years) and southern Lombok Strait (193 years). Differences in boreal winter (January–March) SSS variability between the two sites suggest the influence of multiple source waters. Instrumental and reconstructed temperature-salinity (T-S) relationships indicate that SCS surface waters dominate the northern Lombok Strait, while Indian Ocean surface waters instead dominate the southern Lombok Strait before 1960. These dissimilarities are likely due to changes in monsoon-driven surface water advection. At the northern site, the EAWM consistently influences SSS variability. The EAWM influence at the southern site, however, reverses in direction (inverse to direct) coincidentally with a transition from a positive (strong) to negative (weak) EAWM state in 1960. Our records collectively reveal that changes in the strength and state of the EAWM impact Lombok Strait surface water circulation, likely interacting with southward ITF transport and thus Indo-Pacific climate

Worms and the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease: are molecules the answer?

The lack of exposure to helminth infections, as a result of improved living standards and medical conditions, may have contributed to the increased incidence of IBD in the developed world. Epidemiological, experimental, and clinical data sustain the idea that helminths could provide protection against IBD. Studies investigating the underlying mechanisms by which helminths might induce such protection have revealed the importance of regulatory pathways, for example, regulatory T-cells. Further investigation on how helminths influence both innate and adaptive immune reactions will shed more light on the complex pathways used by helminths to regulate the hosts immune system. Although therapy with living helminths appears to be effective in several immunological diseases, the disadvantages of a treatment based on living parasites are explicit. Therefore, the identification and characterization of helminth-derived immunomodulatory molecules that contribute to the protective effect could lead to new therapeutic approaches in IBD and other immune diseases

Characteristics of acute ischemic stroke and unusual aura in patients with migraine with aura.

BACKGROUND Sometimes migraine aura changes from attack to attack, raising the question of whether the change is heralding an ischemic stroke or an unusual aura. Differentiating unusual migraine aura from the onset of an acute ischemic stroke in patients with migraine with aura (MwA) can be challenging. OBJECTIVE The aim of this cohort study was to assess clinical characteristics that help distinguish between MwA and minor stroke in patients with a previous history of MwA who presented with suspicion of stroke. METHODS We interviewed patients with MwA and ischemic stroke (MwA + IS) and patients with MwA and unusual aura, but without ischemic stroke (MwA - IS) from a tertiary hospital using a structured questionnaire. We assessed how symptoms of ischemic stroke or unusual aura differed from usual, that is, the typical aura in each patient. Stroke or exclusion of stroke was verified by multimodal magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS Seventeen patients with MwA + IS and twelve patients with MwA - IS were included. New focal neurological symptoms (13/17 [76%] vs. 3/12 [25%]), change of the first symptom (10/17 [59%] vs. 1/12 [8%]), and absence of headache (6/15 [40%] vs. 2/10 [20%]) were more often reported during ischemic stroke. The physical examination was normal in 8/17 (47%) MwA + IS and in 6/12 (50%) MwA - IS patients. In 5/17 (29%) patients with MwA + IS, there were unequivocal physical signs suggestive of stroke such as persistent visual loss, ataxia, or paresis. CONCLUSION There are clues from the history that might help identify stroke in patients with MwA with changed aura symptoms. These might be particularly useful in patients presenting without physical findings suggestive of stroke