The Reliability of Holocaust Survivor Testimony about Theatre in the Terezín Ghetto : A Longitudinal Case Study

Scholars in various areas of Holocaust studies have long debated whether and how to use survivor testimony as evidence regarding past events. The debate becomes even more fraught when we ask whether testimony can serve as evidence of past subjective attitudes and emotional states. In this case study, I examine four narratives by a single survivor of the Terezín/Theresienstadt Ghetto, František Miška, narratives that may help answer the question: Why did prisoners choose to engage in theatrical performances in the ghetto? I will begin by examining Miška’s 2006 testimony in the context of contemporary public discourses, and then by comparing his testimonies from 2006, 1997, 1963, and 1948. Ultimately, I will conclude that, in a longitudinal study, the most appropriate method for testing reliability may vary depending on the period being examined. A careful reconstruction of contemporary discourse is indispensable in using testimonies from the 1940s and 1960s as evidence. This study, however, reveals that the reliability of later testimonies is more effectively established by comparing narratives by the same survivor across time

Inter-subject correlation of audience facial expressions predicts audience engagement during theatrical performances

During performances, audiences experience various emotional states, and these are reflected in their ongoing facial expressions. We investigated if audience engagement could be determined by measuring the inter-subject correlation (ISC) of non-invasively recorded audience facial expressions. We filmed the faces of multiple audience members at theatrical performances and determined the intensity of their different facial expressions throughout the performances. Neutral, happy, anger, and disgust expression ISCs accounted for up to 24% of the performance dramaturge’s predictions of audience engagement. Expression synchrony was greater between individuals in close proximity, suggesting effects of emotional contagion or cognitive similarities between neighboring individuals, whereas expression synchrony was greatest between individuals who were younger, female, and with greater levels of empathy, showing that individual characteristics impact shared audience experiences. Together, our results show that facial expression synchronization could be used as a real-time non-invasive indicator of engagement in audiences larger than achieved using previous approaches

Conceptions of the Catastrophe. Discourses on the Past before the Rise of Holocaust Memory

Analysis of early-ypost war institutinonal discourses on the recent past

Glycosylation of wall teichoic acid in Staphylococcus aureus by TarM

Wall teichoic acid (WTA) glycopolymers are major constituents of cell envelopes in Staphylococcus aureus and related Gram-positive bacteria with important roles in cell wall maintenance, susceptibility to antimicrobial molecules, biofilm formation, and host interaction. Most S. aureus strains express polyribitol phosphate WTA substituted with d-alanine and N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc). WTA sugar modifications are highly variable and have been implicated in bacteriophage susceptibility and immunogenicity, but the pathway and enzymes of staphylococcal WTA glycosylation have remained unknown. Revisiting the structure of S. aureus RN4220 WTA by NMR analysis revealed the presence of canonical polyribitol phosphate WTA bearing only α-linked GlcNAc substituents. A RN4220 transposon mutant resistant to WTA-dependent phages was identified and shown to produce altered WTA, which exhibited faster electrophoretic migration and lacked completely the WTA α-GlcNAc residues. Disruption of a gene of unknown function, renamed tarM, was responsible for this phenotype. Recombinant TarM was capable of glycosylating WTA in vitro in a UDP-GlcNAc-dependent manner, thereby confirming its WTA GlcNAc-transferase activity. Deletion of the last seven amino acids from the C terminus abolished the activity of TarM. tarM-related genes were found in the genomes of several WTA-producing bacteria, suggesting that TarM-mediated WTA glycosylation is a general pathway in Gram-positive bacteria. Our study represents a basis for dissecting the biosynthesis and function of glycosylated WTA in S. aureus and other bacteria

Yellow polyketide pigment suppresses premature hatching in social amoeba

Günther M, Reimer C, Herbst R, et al. Yellow polyketide pigment suppresses premature hatching in social amoeba. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2022;119(43).Low-molecular-weight natural products from microbes are indispensable in the development of potent drugs. However, their biological roles within an ecological context often remain elusive. Here, we shed light on natural products from eukaryotic microorganisms that have the ability to transition from single cells to multicellular organisms: the social amoebae. These eukaryotes harbor a large number of polyketide biosynthetic genes in their genomes, yet virtually none of the corresponding products can be isolated or characterized. Using complementary molecular biology approaches, including CRISPR-Cas9, we generated polyketide synthase (pks5) inactivation and overproduction strains of the social amoebaDictyostelium discoideum. Differential, untargeted metabolomics of wild-type versus mutant fruiting bodies allowed us to pinpoint candidate metabolites derived from the amoebal PKS5. Extrachromosomal expression of the respective gene led to the identification of a yellow polyunsaturated fatty acid. Analysis of the temporospatial production pattern of this compound in conjunction with detailed bioactivity studies revealed the polyketide to be a spore germination suppressor