The Influence of Anton Chekhov on Samuel Beckett: Inaction and Investment of Hope Into Godot-like Figures in Three Sisters and Waiting for Godot

Anton Chekhov has been very much influential on modern drama, especially on the Theatre of the Absurd; however, not much work has been done on his influence on the absurdist playwrights. Considering Harold Bloom's definition of ‘influence'—writing “much like” someone in the past—the seminal influence of Chekhov on Beckett is studied in this article. Chekhov in his plays, especially his major plays, very much like Beckett's waiting for Godot, portrays people who are passively waiting and investing their entire hope into Godot-like figures without taking any action. Thus, the sense of ennui, desperation and consequently disappointment of these characters originates from their unreasonable inaction, stagnancy and their passivity while waiting, rather than ‘waiting for Godot figures'. This article tries to show the influence of Chekhov on Samuel Beckett, investigating the similarities in form, atmosphere and theme between Waiting for Godot, the paradigm of the Theatre of the Absurd, and Three Sisters, one of Chekhov's major play

Marriage and Social Identity in The Return of the Native

The Return of the Native presents a world in which “doing means marrying". Thomas Hardy shows how the dominant discourse of the Victorian society defines an individual’s whole life through the conformity to the social code of marriage. This paper clarifies how Hardy’s satirical tone implicitly reflects the voice of the minority, which is not able or eager to follow this conformity code of the majority. Through a detailed analysis of the significance of marriage in defining one’s social identity, family relations, economic ambitions, and individual ideals, the paper focuses on a hermaphrodite character who cannot adapt to the majority’s code because of his physical condition. Such an individual, as the paper presents, is marginalized by the majority and suffers from problems that might lead to psychological disorders. It is Hardy’s implicit satirical tone, which encourages the readers to change their mental set about the role of marriage in defining one’s identity

Physics of brain dynamics: Fokker-Planck analysis reveals changes in EEG delta-theta interactions in anaesthesia

We use drift and diffusion coefficients to reveal interactions between different oscillatory processes underlying a complex signal and apply the method to EEG delta and theta frequencies in the brain. By analysis of data recorded from rats during anaesthesia, we consider the stability and basins of attraction of fixed points in the phase portrait of the deterministic part of the retrieved stochastic process. We show that different classes of dynamics are associated with deep and light anaesthesia, and we demonstrate that the predominant directionality of the interaction is such that theta drives delt

Altered pituitary hormone secretion in male rats exposed to Bisphenol A

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a xenobiotic estrogenic compound. This compound has been suspected to have estrogenic effects on reproductive system of males and females. In this present study we investigated possible low-dose effects of BPAon Luteinizing Hormone in rats. Male Wistar rats (12-13 weeks old) were administrated a daily intra peritoneal 10 μg/kgbw/day, 50 μg/kgbw/day, 100 μg/kgbw/ day dose of BPA for 6, 6, and 12 days, and one day after last injection, serum level of Luteinizing Hormone was examined by ELISA method. All data were expressed as means ± SE. Two-way ANOVA was performed. Analysis of data showed that in all dose groups, plasma level of Luteinizing Hormone significantly decreased compared to control group. The present study showed that BPA at low doses affects Luteinizing Hormone, one of main hormones in spermatogenesis in the adult Wistar rats, and subsequently alters the steroidgenesis in testicular Leydig cells

Frequency of Antimicrobial-Resistant Genes in Salmonella enteritidis Isolated from Traditional and Industrial Iranian White Cheeses

Iranian white cheese is one of the most important kinds of cheese produced in large scale with high consumption in the country. This dairy product transmits bacterial pathogens like Salmonella spp. Antibiotic resistant Salmonella are widespread in the world. This study was performed to evaluate the frequency of antimicrobial-resistant Salmonella enteritidis and related genes isolated from traditional and industrial Iranian white cheeses. A total of 200 traditional and industrial Iranian white cheeses were collected within Chaharmahal Va Bakhtiari province (southwest Iran). After culturing on specific media using standard bacterial tests the Salmonella sp. was isolated. For specific detection of S. enteritidis from other Salmonella strains sefA gene was studied. Finally, the antibiotic susceptibility patterns were investigated. Results showed that 17 % of cheese samples were contaminated by Salmonella and 5.5 % of specimens by S. enteritidis. The frequencies of resistance genes including tetA, tetB, tetC, cat3, and floR in isolated S. enteritidis were 36.4, 54.5, 81.8, 54.5, and 36.4 %, respectively. All isolated S. enteritidis were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, cefotaxime, and ceftazidime (100 %). In addition, most of them were resistance to chloramphenicol (64 %) and susceptible to gentamicin (98 %). The Salmonella contamination was more frequent in traditional Iranian white cheeses (11.5 %) as compared to industrial (5.5 %) samples (p < 0.05). As compared to industrial samples, high level of resistant genes in Salmonella enteritidis isolated from traditional Iranian white cheeses were observed (p < 0.05). Therefore, traditional Iranian white cheeses are important source of Salmonella contamination in the country hence examination of dairy products for the presence of this pathogen is importan

Outcome Measures in Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy Clinical Trials

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a debilitating muscular dystrophy with a variable age of onset, severity, and progression. While there is still no cure for this disease, progress towards FSHD therapies has accelerated since the underlying mechanism of epigenetic derepression of the double homeobox 4 (DUX4) gene leading to skeletal muscle toxicity was identified. This has facilitated the rapid development of novel therapies to target DUX4 expression and downstream dysregulation that cause muscle degeneration. These discoveries and pre-clinical translational studies have opened new avenues for therapies that await evaluation in clinical trials. As the field anticipates more FSHD trials, the need has grown for more reliable and quantifiable outcome measures of muscle function, both for early phase and phase II and III trials. Advanced tools that facilitate longitudinal clinical assessment will greatly improve the potential of trials to identify therapeutics that successfully ameliorate disease progression or permit muscle functional recovery. Here, we discuss current and emerging FSHD outcome measures and the challenges that investigators may experience in applying such measures to FSHD clinical trial design and implementation

Generation of pcdna 3.1+-gh as a recombinant expression vector of ostrich growth hormone cdna in saccharomyces cerevisiae

Growth hormone is essential hormone for vertebrates like the ostrich (Struthio camelus) for growth stimulation, carbohydrate metabolism, protein assimilation etc. Growth hormone is secreted by the pituitary gland and expressed in many cells and tissues. The purpose of this study was generation of pcDNA 3.1+-GH recombinant expression vector in order to sub-clone ostrich growth hormone cDNA into Escherichia coli. In brief, total RNA was extracted from the pituitary gland tissue and cDNA sample was synthesised. The cDNA was amplified by PCR and revealed a 672 bp fragment on 2% agarose gel electrophoresis. Then, the ostrich growth hormone cDNA was extracted from the gel and was cloned into pCR8/GW/TOPO vector by T/A cloning technique to produce pCR8/GW/TOPO-GH. After obtaining the sequence of cDNA of the ostrich in Iran, it was submitted in GenBank (Accession number: JN559394). Finally, the GH cDNA was sub-cloned using pcDNA 3.1+ into Saccharomyces cerevisiae and pcDNA 3.1+-GH recombinant expression vector was generated. The results of present study were showed that ostrich growth hormone cDNA was successfully sub-cloned into Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Therefore, the pcDNA 3.1+-GH recombinant expression vector generated in this study could be useful to express the ostrich growth hormone in yeast cells as a simple and affordable way to produce this hormone at a large scale

Uncertainty in the Fluctuations of the Price of Stocks

We report on a study of the Tehran Price Index (TEPIX) from 2001 to 2006 as an emerging market that has been affected by several political crises during the recent years, and analyze the non-Gaussian probability density function (PDF) of the log returns of the stocks' prices. We show that while the average of the index did not fall very much over the time period of the study, its day-to-day fluctuations strongly increased due to the crises. Using an approach based on multiplicative processes with a detrending procedure, we study the scale-dependence of the non-Gaussian PDFs, and show that the temporal dependence of their tails indicates a gradual and systematic increase in the probability of the appearance of large increments in the returns on approaching distinct critical time scales over which the TEPIX has exhibited maximum uncertainty.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Accepted to appear in IJMP