Zu ähnlich – Neue Klitorisbilder aus Kunst und Wissenschaft

Too Similar: New Images of the Clitoris in Art and Science What influence do visual and especially digital media have on what is conceived of as a body, especially a female body, from a medical point of view? With examples of new 3D visualizations in film, television, and the fine arts based on a short paper in the US Journal of Urology in 1998 by Helen O’Connell, a “new” discourse on the clitoris is analyzed. Two narratives are found to interweave in this process: one, the belief in 3D visualization derived with the “truth machine” computer; and the other, a claim to the first “objective” anatomical description of the female body by a woman researcher. Instead of referencing feminist and historical anatomical findings, a notion of ahistorical “objectivity” is maintained that interlocks perfectly with the popular myths of the visually unveiled “truth” of the body by digital media. A blow to psychoanalysis, especially Sigmund Freud, is added to these evidence myths with an acclaimed “end of penis envy” through the revelation of the true size of the clitoris. Ironically it was Freud who based his writings on the “real little penis of the woman” – anatomically well informed by the excellent nineteenth-century German anatomical literature on the clitoris

The Role of lncRNAs TAPIR-1 and -2 as Diagnostic Markers and Potential Therapeutic Targets in Prostate Cancer

In search of new biomarkers suitable for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, genome-wide transcriptome sequencing was carried out with tissue specimens from 40 prostate cancer (PCa) and 8 benign prostate hyperplasia patients. We identified two intergenic long non-coding transcripts, located in close genomic proximity, which are highly expressed in PCa. Microarray studies on a larger cohort comprising 155 patients showed a profound diagnostic potential of these transcripts (AUC~0.94), which we designated as tumor associated prostate cancer increased lncRNA (TAPIR-1 and -2). To test their therapeutic potential, knockdown experiments with siRNA were carried out. The knockdown caused an increase in the p53/TP53 tumor suppressor protein level followed by downregulation of a large number of cell cycle- and DNA-damage repair key regulators. Furthermore, in radiation therapy resistant tumor cells, the knockdown leads to a renewed sensitization of these cells to radiation treatment. Accordingly, in a preclinical PCa xenograft model in mice, the systemic application of nanoparticles loaded with siRNA targeting TAPIR-1 significantly reduced tumor growth. These findings point to a crucial role of TAPIR-1 and -2 in PCa

Mystery of fatal 'staggering disease' unravelled: novel rustrela virus causes severe meningoencephalomyelitis in domestic cats

‘Staggering disease’ is a neurological disease entity considered a threat to European domestic cats (Felis catus) for almost five decades. However, its aetiology has remained obscure. Rustrela virus (RusV), a relative of rubella virus, has recently been shown to be associated with encephalitis in a broad range of mammalian hosts. Here, we report the detection of RusV RNA and antigen by metagenomic sequencing, RT-qPCR, in-situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry in brain tissues of 27 out of 29 cats with non-suppurative meningoencephalomyelitis and clinical signs compatible with’staggering disease’ from Sweden, Austria, and Germany, but not in non-affected control cats. Screening of possible reservoir hosts in Sweden revealed RusV infection in wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus). Our work indicates that RusV is the long-sought cause of feline ‘staggering disease’. Given its reported broad host spectrum and considerable geographic range, RusV may be the aetiological agent of neuropathologies in further mammals, possibly even including humans

“Žive” anatomije 1900/2000: kinematografija serijskih izsekov in na “voxlu” utemeljene volumske vizualizacije

Around the turn of the last century -1900 - the new medium film was conceptualised as “Living Photographs,” today - around 2000 - a different kind of media-application is called “living:” that of the computer. The popular and scientific representations of the “Visible Human Project™” form an especially interesting example, because in it a forgotten prehistory of the “information age” can be found in the motifs and techniques of early medical cinematography, which animated serial sections of human tissues. Karl Reicher’s and Victor Widakowich’s film experiments, since 1907, have led to specific concepts of time and space, which prefigure not only the discourse-figure of “living” media artefacts, but the anatomical visualisation of human bodies in Virtual Reality as well. This history of scientific imaging is reflected also in the filmic avant-garde of the 1920s, especially in Oskar Fischinger outstanding “Wax-Experiments.”Na prelomu minulega stoletja, okoli leta 1900, so tedaj novi medij, film, konceptualizirali kot “žive fotografije,” danes, okoli leta 2000, pa za “žive” veljajo medijske aplikacije druge vrste: računalniške. Popularne in znanstvene reprezentacije “Vidnega človeškega projekta™” so še posebno zanimiv zgled, kajti v motivih in tehnikah zgodnje medicinske kinematografije, ki je animirala serijske izseke človeških tkiv, je mogoče odkriti pozabljeno prazgodovino “informacijske dobe.” Filmski eksperimenti Karla Reicherja in Victorja Widakowicha iz obdobja po letu 1907 so razvili posebne koncepte časa in prostora, ki niso predvideli le diskurza-figure “živih” medijskih artefaktov, temveč tudi anatomsko vizualizacijo človeških teles v navidezni resničnosti. Ta zgodovina znanstvenega upodabljanja se zrcali tudi v filmski avantgardi dvajsetih let 20. stoletja, zlasti v izstopajočih “Voščenih eksperimentih” Oskarja Fischingerja

Unspeakable references — On infective states of words and images in the "SHUT DOWN 2020" project

The authors discuss a collective art project, initiated by them during the time of the first COVID-19 shutdown in Europe in late spring 2020. With 58 participants contributing short texts in combination with an image, the collection reflects the specific responses to the new situation. This article investigates the state of the project after its publication by a German online cultural magazine (CulturMag). A fusion of the authors’ expertise, ranging from psychoanalytic theory to literary and performative experimentation, undertakes a tentative deciphering of what lies unrecognised and virulent amidst and in between verbal and visual elements. Reflections on the uncanny, "das Unheimliche" (Sigmund Freud) – as well as "l’extimité" (Jacques Lacan) – connect paradoxical psychic (non-, mis-, over- etc.) representation of the COVID-19 danger with all too well un/known experiences of ongoing states of emergency – touching on their ecological, economical, ideological aspects, tiptoeing perhaps on the windblown tracks of childhood fears? In this way the authors asked the participants, most of them artists and writers, to submit to us something of their lives in the NOW – “no analysis, no commentaries. We've got enough of those. We want to know what is going on inside your rabbit holes" (Helbling/Reiche, 2020) – in order to find 'unspeakable references’ with precision and in abundance

Referències indescriptibles: sobre estats infecciosos de paraules i imatges en el projecte «SHUT DOWN 2020»

Les autores analitzen un projecte d’art col·lectiu que van iniciar durant el primer confinament per la covid-19 a Europa, a les acaballes de la primavera de 2020. Cinquanta-vuit participants van aportar textos breus que es van combinar amb una imatge i, en aquesta col·lecció, es reflecteixen les respostes concretes a la nova situació. En aquest article, s’investiga l’estat del projecte després de la seva publicació a CulturMag, una revista cultural alemanya en línia. La fusió de l’experiència de les autores, que va des de la teoria psicoanalítica fins a la literatura i l’experimentació performativa, inicia una interpretació incerta d’allò que roman no valorat i virulent entre elements verbals i visuals. Les reflexions sobre «allò sinistre» (das Unheimliche), de Sigmund Freud, i també sobre l’«extimitat», de Jacques Lacan, connecten la representació psíquica paradoxal (no, malament-, sobre-, etc.) de la perillositat de la covid-19 amb experiències molt conegudes i desconegudes dels actuals estats d’emergència, en què es toquen aspectes ecològics, econòmics i ideològics, potser passant de puntetes pels viaranys de les pors infantils que el vent s’endugué? D’aquesta manera, les autores van demanar als participants, la majoria dels quals són artistes i escriptors, que ens mostressin quelcom de les seves vides en l’ARA –sense anàlisis ni comentaris. «Ja n’hi ha prou. Volem saber què està passant dins dels caus» (Helbling/Reiche, 2020)– per trobar «referències indescriptibles» amb precisió i en abundància.The authors discuss a collective art project, initiated by them during the time of the first COVID-19 shutdown in Europe in late spring 2020. With 58 participants contributing short texts in combination with an image, the collection reflects the specific responses to the new situation. This article investigates the state of the project after its publication by a German online cultural magazine (CulturMag). A fusion of the authors’ expertise, ranging from psychoanalytic theory to literary and performative experimentation, undertakes a tentative deciphering of what lies unrecognised and virulent amidst and in between verbal and visual elements. Reflections on the uncanny, "das Unheimliche" (Sigmund Freud) – as well as "l’extimité" (Jacques Lacan) – connect paradoxical psychic (non-, mis-, over- etc.) representation of the COVID-19 danger with all too well un/known experiences of ongoing states of emergency – touching on their ecological, economical, ideological aspects, tiptoeing perhaps on the windblown tracks of childhood fears? In this way the authors asked the participants, most of them artists and writers, to submit to us something of their lives in the NOW – “no analysis, no commentaries. We've got enough of those. We want to know what is going on inside your rabbit holes" (Helbling/Reiche, 2020) – in order to find 'unspeakable references’ with precision and in abundance.Las autoras analizan un proyecto de arte colectivo que iniciaron durante el primer confinamiento por la COVID-19 en Europa, a finales de la primavera de 2020. 58 participantes aportaron textos breves que se combinaron con una imagen, y en esta colección se reflejan las respuestas concretas a la nueva situación. En este artículo se investiga el estado del proyecto después de su publicación en CulturMag, una revista cultural alemana en línea. La fusión de la experiencia de las autoras, que va desde la teoría psicoanalítica hasta la literatura y la experimentación performativa, inicia una interpretación incierta de lo que permanece no valorado y virulento entre elementos verbales y visuales. Las reflexiones sobre «lo siniestro» (das Unheimliche), de Sigmund Freud, así como sobre la «extimidad», de Jacques Lacan, conectan la representación psíquica paradójica (no, mal-, sobre-, etc.) de la peligrosidad de la COVID-19 con experiencias muy conocidas y desconocidas de los actuales estados de emergencia, y se tocan aspectos ecológicos, económicos e ideológicos, ¿pasando de puntillas quizás por los senderos de los miedos infantiles que el viento borró? De este modo, las autoras pidieron a los participantes, la mayoría son artistas y escritores, que nos mostraran algo de sus vidas en el AHORA –sin análisis ni comentarios. «Ya tenemos bastantes. Queremos saber qué está pasando dentro de las madrigueras» (Helbling/Reiche, 2020)– para encontrar «referencias indescriptibles» con precisión y en abundancia