Book Review: God, Hierarchy, and Power: Orthodox Theologies of Authority from Byzantium.

Ashley M. Purpura, God, Hierarchy, and Power: Orthodox Theologies of Authority from Byzantium. New York: Fordham University Press, 2018. 226 pages. $65.00 (hardcover). ISBN: 978-0-8232-7837-4. This book is a reworking of the author’s 2014 doctoral dissertation on the history of Christianity at Fordham University. It deals with intriguing questions about hierarchy as a theological ideal in Orthodoxy and the ways that ideal was understood and interpreted by leading figures during the Byzantine era, as they dealt with problems and failures in the way hierarchy actually functioned. The author draws attention to problems she perceives in the way hierarchy has been embraced and practiced within Orthodoxy and urges, among other items, that the common Orthodox practice of excluding women from priestly or episcopal office cannot be readily defended from the writings of the historic Orthodox spokespersons whom she studies in this work

Continuous measures of blood flow during all-out dynamic exercise

The intent of our study is to determine the mechanisms associated with muscle performance loss resulting from short-duration, high intensity muscular contraction. Previous studies conducted by Dr. Bundle and colleagues established a performance duration relationship for muscle fatigue at high and low duty cycles (Duty cycle = time of muscle contraction / total time of contraction cycle). The purpose of the current study is to show that despite higher rates of blood flow occurring at lower duty cycles, oxygen extraction by the active muscle is the same between high and low duty cycles. Thus, allowing us to assume performance loss is not associated with decreased oxygen availability, but rather decreased clearance of metabolic byproducts. To perform this study we used Doppler Ultrasonography to acquire real-time measurements of blood velocity while subjects performed single-leg knee extension exercise. The knee extensions were performed at randomized intensities and at high, medium and low duty cycles of 0.7, 0.5, and 0.3 respectively. Each subject participated in a minimum of 12 testing sessions. Femoral artery diameter was recorded via screen capture allowing for acquisition of arterial dimension changes throughout the trial duration countenancing for precise calculation of flow volume. Along with blood flow volumes, indirect calorimetry was used to assess oxygen consumption by the contracting muscle. Blood flow volumes will be compared to the performance duration relationship for each duty cycle. We expect that despite greater periods of rest at the low duty cycle, rates of oxygen uptake by the working tissue will be similar. Thus, greater flows, providing more oxygen delivery, do not enhance muscular performance. Rather, sustained higher force outputs are possible because of the clearance of contractile byproducts which delays the onset of muscle fatigue

Book Review: Looking East in Winter: Contemporary Thought and the Eastern Christian Tradition

A review of Rowan Williams, Looking East in Winter: Contemporary Thought and the Eastern Christian Tradition. London: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2021. $30.00 (hardcover). ISBN: 978-1-4729- 8924-6

Reflections after Thirty Years

All this awareness shaped my hopes for what might transpire in the wake of the remarkable changes enacted in the wake of 1989. Those hopes reverberated with what was expressed in a different field for the future of Eastern Europe in the aftermath of Communism’s collapse. I recall reading scholars much more gifted in things economic than I, hoping that the liberated nations of Eastern Europe might develop a “third way,” between capitalism and Communism. Much as that was talked about, however, the story of the past three decades reveals that no such economic third way has been discovered. I had hoped–as did many others–that the nations of Eastern Europe, with their rich heritage of deep religious commitments which had shaped their cultures in the times of their national zeniths, and had sustained their hopes in the nadirs of imperial and then Communist repression, might develop a “third way” in this area, too

Direct Effects of Heat Stress During Meiotic Maturation on Bovine Oocyte and Cumulus RNA

Heat-induced reductions in developmental competence after direct exposure of oocytes to 41ºC have been coincident with reduced protein synthesis. Since heat stress perturbs RNA integrity and polyadenylation in somatic cells, it was hypothesized that heat stress during meiotic maturation may alter RNA within oocytes and/or their surrounding cumulus to account for some of the reductions in development. Initial efforts utilized microcapillary electrophoresis to examine oocyte and cumulus RNA without heat stress as a first step toward transcriptome profile analysis. Size distribution of RNA, rRNA ratio, and other related endpoints differed for oocyte RNA compared to cumulus, and were conserved across other mammalian species. Size distribution of polyadenylated RNA after amplification was similar for oocytes and cumulus. Effects of heat stress on total and polyadenylated RNA, RNA size distribution, and individual transcripts important for meiotic maturation and response to heat stress were examined in oocytes and cumulus during maturation, and resultant embryos after fertilization. There was no impact of heat stress during the first 12 h of maturation to alter size distribution of RNA, rRNA ratio, and other endpoints in oocytes or cumulus. Heat stress perturbed the abundance of polyadenylated RNA in oocytes in one study. Abundance of eight examined transcripts was not altered after exposure to elevated temperature, suggesting that the impact of heat stress on oocyte RNA, if any, was subtle. Consequences of elevated temperature exposure during maturation on transcriptomes of oocytes and their surrounding cumulus vestment were investigated using microarray technology. Thousands of transcripts changed in oocytes and surrounding cumulus over meiotic maturation, some in a stage-specific and amplification-dependent manner. Culture at elevated temperature for the first 12 h of meiotic maturation impacted a small proportion of transcripts in matured oocytes and cumulus at 24 h. Alterations suggested perturbations in oocyte mitochondrial function, and intracellular signaling and extracellular matrix production in cumulus. Heat-induced alterations in oocyte mitochondria and cumulus expansion are supported by existing literature. The findings discussed here are informative of heat-induced molecular alterations in oocytes and cumulus and may prove useful for development of strategies to mitigate negative impacts of heat stress on fertility