From Damage to Discovery Via Virtual Unwrapping: Reading the Scroll from En-Gedi

Computer imaging techniques are commonly used to preserve and share readable manuscripts, but capturing writing locked away in ancient, deteriorated documents poses an entirely different challenge. This software pipeline—referred to as “virtual unwrapping”—allows textual artifacts to be read completely and noninvasively. The systematic digital analysis of the extremely fragile En-Gedi scroll (the oldest Pentateuchal scroll in Hebrew outside of the Dead Sea Scrolls) reveals the writing hidden on its untouchable, disintegrating sheets. Our approach for recovering substantial ink-based text from a damaged object results in readable columns at such high quality that serious critical textual analysis can occur. Hence, this work creates a new pathway for subsequent textual discoveries buried within the confines of damaged materials

Role of striatal NMDA receptor subunits in a model of paroxysmal dystonia

Dystonia is a movement disorder in which abnormal plasticity in the basal ganglia has been hypothesized to play a critical role. In a model of paroxysmal dystonia, the dtsz mutant hamster, previous studies indicated striatal dysfunctions, including an increased long-term potentiation (LTP). Beneficial effects were exerted by antagonists at NMDA receptors containing both NR1/NR2A and NR1/NR2B, which blocked LTP. NR2B subtype selective antagonists aggravated dystonia after systemic treatment in dtsz hamsters, suggesting that beneficial effects involved the NR2A receptor subtype. In the present study, NVP-AAM077, an antagonist with preferential activity on NR2A-containing NMDA receptors, exerted significant antidystonic effects in mutant hamsters after systemic administration (20 and 30 mg/kg i.p.) and delayed the onset of a dystonic episode after intrastriatal injections (0.12 and 0.24 μg). As shown by present electrophysiological examinations in corticostriatal slices of dtsz hamsters and non-dystonic control hamsters, NVP-AAM077 (50 nM) completely blocked LTP in dtsz slices, but did not exert significant effects on LTP in non-dystonic controls. In contrast, the NR2B antagonist Ro 25-6981 (1-10 μmol) reduced LTP to a lower extent in dtsz mutant hamsters than in control animals. By using quantitative RT-PCR, the NR2A/NR2B ratio was found to be increased in the striatum, but not in the cortex of mutant hamsters in comparison to non-dystonic controls. These data indicate that NR2A-mediated activation is involved in the pathophysiology of paroxysmal dystonia. Since significant antidystonic effects were observed after systemic administration of NVP-AAM077 already at well tolerated doses, antagonists with preferential activity on NR2A-containing NMDA receptors could be interesting candidates for the treatment of dystonia

RNF20 and histone H2B ubiquitylation exert opposing effects in Basal-Like versus luminal breast cancer

Breast cancer subtypes display distinct biological traits that influence their clinical behavior and response to therapy. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of chromatin structure regulators in tumorigenesis. The RNF20-RNF40 E3 ubiquitin ligase complex monoubiquitylates histone H2B to generate H2Bub1, while the deubiquitinase (DUB) USP44 can remove this modification. We found that RNF20 and RNF40 expression and global H2Bub1 are relatively low, and USP44 expression is relatively high, in basal-like breast tumors compared with luminal tumors. Consistent with a tumor-suppressive role, silencing of RNF20 in basal-like breast cancer cells increased their proliferation and migration, and their tumorigenicity and metastatic capacity, partly through upregulation of inflammatory cytokines. In contrast, in luminal breast cancer cells, RNF20 silencing reduced proliferation, migration and tumorigenic and metastatic capacity, and compromised estrogen receptor transcriptional activity, indicating a tumor-promoting role. Notably, the effects of USP44 silencing on proliferation and migration in both cancer subtypes were opposite to those of RNF20 silencing. Hence, RNF20 and H2Bub1 have contrasting roles in distinct breast cancer subtypes, through differential regulation of key transcriptional programs underpinning the distinctive traits of each subtype

Os sefarditas em Israel: o sionismo do ponto de vista das vítimas judaicas

Este artigo pretende incorporar uma questão pouco mencionada no discurso crítico sobre Israel e o sionismo: a presença dos judeus árabes e orientais, os sefarditas, oriundos em grande parte de países árabes e muçulmanos. Uma análise mais completa deve incluir as conseqüências negativas do sionismo não apenas para o povo palestino, mas também para os judeus sefarditas. A rejeição sionista do Oriente palestino e árabe-muçulmano tem por ilação a rejeição dos mizrahim (os "orientais"), os quais, assim como os palestinos, também tiveram o direito de auto-representação extirpado.<br>This article aims to contemplate an issue seldom mentioned in alternative critical discourse concerning Israel and Zionism: the presence of Arab or Oriental Jews, the Sephardi Jews, coming largely from Arab and Moslem countries. A broader analysis must include negative consequences of Zionism not only to Palestinian people, but also to the Sephardi Jews. The Zionist denial of the Arab-Moslem and Palestinian East has as its corollary the denial of the mizrahim (the "Eastern Ones"), who, like the Palestinians, have also been stripped of the right of self-representation

Repression and rebellion: Britain's response to the Arab revolt in Palestine of 1936-39

In April 1936 growing unrest among the Arab community of Palestine led to the outbreak of a sustained revolt that would pose the most serious threat to British rule thus far experienced by the mandate government. Initially manifesting itself as an urban-led campaign of civil disobedience directed against the Zionist presence in Palestine, the second phase of the rebellion developed into a far more violent and peasant-led resistance movement that increasingly targeted British forces. Britain’s response to this unrest has been the focus of much historical research, but few studies have examined the realities of the counterinsurgency at ground level or the relevance of this to the internal fracturing and collapse of the rebel movement in 1939. This article investigates the interplay between the colonial forces and the rural Arab population, highlighting Britain’s resort to more heavy-handed military violence during the second phase of the Revolt, and situating these tactics in the wider issue of British abuses perpetrated during states of emergenc