Jenseits der schönen Geistigkeit [Rezension] : wo nimmt Kultur Gestalt an?

Rezension zu: Was ist Kultur? : Eine Einführung / Terry Eagleton. - München : Verlag C.H. Beck, 2001. - 189 S. ISBN 3-406-48099-3 17,50 Euro

Literarisch lesen lernen : zum Erwerb einer Kulturtechnik

Innerhalb der Reihe "GrenzBereiche des Lesens" gehaltener Vortrag. "GrenzBereiche des Lesens" ist eine kulturwissenschaftliche Vortragsreihe, die 2003 und 2004 an der Universität Frankfurt stattfand. Irene Pieper beschäftigt sich aus literaturdidaktischer und lesesoziologischer Perspektive mit der kulturellen Praxis des Lesens. Ihr Beitrag entwickelt systematisch, worin die "Kunst" des literarischen Lesens im Einzelnen besteht und wie diese Kompetenz methodisch in der Auseinandersetzung mit dem Gegenstand Literatur zu erwerben bzw. zu vermitteln ist. Ein kompetenter Leser zu werden heißt, ein breites Spektrum von Fähigkeiten zu erwerben, das vom Realisieren der poetischen Funktion der Literatur über die Empathiefähigkeit bis hin zur Lust am Text reicht. Der Beitrag lotet aus, in welcher Weise vor allem die Schule, die außerhalb der Familie Begegnungen mit und Kommunikationen über Literatur herbeiführt und anregt, an der Bildung solcher Leser und Leserinnen mitwirken kann

Unterrichtstextauswahl und schülerseitige Leseinteressen in der Sekundarstufe I: Ergebnisse aus der binationalen Studie TAMOLI

Anhand der Angaben von Schweizer und deutschen Lehrpersonen (N=116) und Schüler/-innen (N=2173) der Sekundarstufe I wurde untersucht, welche Texte Lehrpersonen im Unterricht einsetzen und wie sich die Auswahl zu freizeitlichen bzw. schulbezogenen Leseinteressen der Schüler/innen verhält: Es zeigt sich, dass diese je nach Leseumgebung bei den Leseinteressen unterscheiden. Für die Freizeit rücken sie Unterhaltungsgenres ins Zentrum. Fürs schulische Lesen behalten sie diese Vorliebe teilweise bei, geben aber Themen den Vorrang, die freizeitlich wenig Zuspruch erhalten (bspw. politisch-gesellschaftskritische Texte). Letztere sind in der lehrerseitigen Textauswahl stark vertreten, Freizeitgenres dagegen wenig. Für die Unterrichtstextauswahl besteht also ein größerer Schnittbereich mit schulischen Leseinteressen der Schüler/-innen als mit freizeitlichen. Das Aufgreifen von Freizeitleseinteressen im Literaturunterricht bedarf demnach kritischer Diskussion. Es sollte berücksichtigt werden, dass Schüler/-innen diese Interessen offenbar nicht durchweg im Literaturunterricht vertreten sehen möchten. Für das schulische Lesen erhalten auch Texte hohen Zuspruch, die zur kritischen Reflexion anregen. (DIPF/Orig.)Using classroom media protocols in Swiss and German secondary schools, we analysed which text genres teachers (N=116) preferred in their teaching of German-L1 literature classes. We compared the findings with information on student (N=2173) reading interests obtained through questionnaires. The results show that teachers preferred texts about political or social topics; their selection featured only a small share of entertainment genres. Student reading interests differed between contexts: For their private reading, students preferred entertainment genres, with only a minor interest in socio-political topics. For reading at school, students retained their preference for entertainment genres, but also reported a strong interest in sociopolitical topics. Hence, teachers’ text selection had a greater overlap with students’ school reading preferences. In the discussion, we argue that teaching approaches promoting the inclusion of student interests for text selection need to consider that teenage students may not simply wish to extend their private reading to the classroom. Instead, they may expect that school provides them with texts that engage them in critical thinking and group discussion

Enhanced Cardiorenal Protective Effects of Combining SGLT2 Inhibition, Endothelin Receptor Antagonism and RAS Blockade in Type 2 Diabetic Mice

Chronic kidney disease; Diabetic nephropathy; Endothelin receptor antagonistsEnfermedad renal crónica; Nefropatía diabética; Antagonistas de los receptores de endotelinaMalaltia renal crònica; Nefropatia diabètica; Antagonistes dels receptors d'endotelinaTreatments with sodium–glucose 2 cotransporter inhibitors (SGLT2i) or endothelin receptor antagonists (ERA) have shown cardiorenal protective effects. The present study aimed to evaluate the cardiorenal beneficial effects of the combination of SGLT2i and ERA on top of renin–angiotensin system (RAS) blockade. Type 2 diabetic mice (db/db) were treated with different combinations of an SGLT2i (empagliflozin), an ERA (atrasentan), and an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ramipril) for 8 weeks. Vehicle-treated diabetic mice and non-diabetic mice were included as controls. Weight, blood glucose, blood pressure, and kidney and heart function were monitored during the study. Kidneys and heart were collected for histological examination and to study the intrarenal RAS. Treatment with empagliflozin alone or combined significantly decreased blood glucose compared to vehicle-treated db/db. The dual and triple therapies achieved significantly greater reductions in diastolic blood pressure than ramipril alone. Compared to vehicle-treated db/db, empagliflozin combined with ramipril or in triple therapy significantly prevented GFR increase, but only the triple combination exerted greater protection against podocyte loss. In the heart, empagliflozin alone or combined reduced cardiac isovolumetric relaxation time (IVRT) and left atrium (LA) diameter as compared to vehicle-treated db/db. However, only the triple therapy was able to reduce cardiomyocyte area. Importantly, the add-on triple therapy further enhanced the intrarenal ACE2/Ang(1-7)/Mas protective arm of the RAS. These data suggest that triple therapy with empagliflozin, atrasentan and ramipril show synergistic cardiorenal protective effects in a type 2 diabetic mouse model.The following study was funded with Spanish government grants (FONDO DE INVESTIGACIÓN SANITARIA-FEDER, ISCIII (PI17/00257 and RICORS RD21/0005/0016)) and with financial support from Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH. The funders had no role in study design, analyses, interpretation of the data, drafting of the manuscript, or decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The funders were allowed to comment on the manuscript prior to publication; however, the final wording was at the full discretion of the investigators

Feminist Economics, Setting out the Parameters

___Introduction___ Feminist economics has developed its position over the past decade, towards a firmer embeddedness in economic science and a source of inspiration for activists, policy makers, and social science researchers in a wide variety of fields of research. This development has come about in a relatively short period of time, as is reflected, for example, in the follow-up book of the feminist economic primer Beyond Economic Man (Ferber/Nelson 1993), published ten years later: Feminist Economics Today (Ferber/Nelson, 2003) The strengthened position of feminist economics also shows in the 10-year anniversary of the prize-winning journal Feminist Economics, the flourishing of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE), as well as the more regular demand for feminist economic policy advise by institutions like the UN, OECD and governments in developed and developing countries, and in well-established training courses in feminist economics, such as at the Institute of Social Studies and University of Utah . It is impossible to give a fair overview of the state of the art of feminist economics in the number of pages available, even when limited to issues pertaining to development and macroeconomics . As a consequence, this is a very sketchy and subjective overview of what I perceive to be recent developments in feminist economics that have relevance for feminist development analysis and policy. The next section recognizes three trends in feminist economics, in particular the engagement of feminist economists with heterodox schools of economics. The following sections will briefly review developments in methodology and methods in feminist economics. These will be followed by three sections on topics that have recently become key themes or areas of research in feminist economics, in particular in the area of development economics: unpaid labour and the care economy; the two-way relationship between gender and trade; and gender, efficiency and growth. Each of these topics will be introduced, with references to the main literature, and some links to policy recommendations. The paper will end with a conclusion

Coupled C, H, N, S and Fe biogeochemical cycles operating in the continental deep subsurface of the Iberian Pyrite Belt

Microbial activity is a major contributor to the biogeochemical cycles that make up the life support system of planet Earth. A 613 m deep geomicrobiological perforation and a systematic multi-analytical characterization revealed an unexpected diversity associated with the rock matrix microbiome that operates in the subsurface of the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB). Members of 1 class and 16 genera were deemed the most representative microorganisms of the IPB deep subsurface and selected for a deeper analysis. The use of fluorescence in situ hybridization allowed not only the identification of microorganisms but also the detection of novel activities in the subsurface such as anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX) and anaerobic methane oxidation, the co-occurrence of microorganisms able to maintain complementary metabolic activities and the existence of biofilms. The use of enrichment cultures sensed the presence of five different complementary metabolic activities along the length of the borehole and isolated 29 bacterial species. Genomic analysis of nine isolates identified the genes involved in the complete operation of the light-independent coupled C, H, N, S and Fe biogeochemical cycles. This study revealed the importance of nitrate reduction microorganisms in the oxidation of iron in the anoxic conditions existing in the subsurface of the IPBFP7 Ideas: European Research Council, Grant/Award Number: ERC Advanced Grant #250-35

Bridging the gap between molecular and elemental mass spectrometry: Higher energy collisional dissociation (HCD) revealing elemental information

Molecular mass spectrometry has been applied to simultaneously obtain molecular and elemental information from metal-containing species. Energy tuning of the higher-energy collision dissociation (HCD) fragmentation cell allows the controlled production of typical peptide fragments or elemental reporter ions informing about the metallic content of the analyzed species. Different instrumental configurations and fragmentation techniques have been tested, and the efficiency extracting the elemental information has been compared. HCD fragmentation operating at very high energy led to the best results. Platinum, lanthanides, and iodine reporter ions from peptides interacting with cisplatin, peptides labeled with lanthanides-MeCAT-IA, and iodinated peptides, respectively, were obtained. The possibility to produce abundant molecular and elemental ions in the same analysis simplifies the correlation between both signals and open pathways in metallomics studies enabling the specific tracking of metal-containing species. The proposed approach has been successfully applied to in solution standards and complex samples. Moreover, interesting preliminary MALDI-imaging experiments have been performed showing similar metal distribution compared to laser ablation (LA)-ICPMS