The Wood Within: The Fantastic in Robert Holdstock's Mythago Novels and the Renegotiation of Human–Plant Relations

The dissertation focuses on how plant–human relations are portrayed in contemporary English fantasy fiction, and it starts out from the following two hypotheses. The first assumes that mythic fantasy has the potential of creating more ecocentric texts and worlds by exposing and then subverting the most common, anthropocentric attitudes towards the woodland to reveal that human and nonhuman identities are in fact inseparable. The second hypothesis claims that as an outstanding example of mythic fantasy, Robert Holdstock’s concept of the Mythago Wood is a unique, eco-philosophical construct that casts new light on human–nature relationships by giving agency to the vegetal Other. The dissertation consists of two main parts. Part I combines the theories of fantasy and critical plant studies to create a set of plant-visibility strategies to support the more plant-conscious analysis of fantasy. Part II demonstrates the application of these strategies through the textual analyses of Robert Holdstock’s Mythago Cycle. Each of the six analytic chapters focus on a separate theme that is important to consider in relation to plant visibility: identity, body, coming of age, time, space, myth. The main objective of the dissertation is to demonstrate that the application of the plant-visibility strategies aids the reader in recognizing, understanding and then subverting her own anthropocentric bias when dealing with nonhuman Others in textual analyses

Application of polymerase chain reaction and virus isolation techniques for the detection of viruses in aborted and newborn foals

The occurrence of two important pathogens, equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV1) and equine arteritis virus (EAV) causing abortions, perinatal foal mortality and respiratory disease, was investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and virus isolation to demonstrate the presence of abortigenic viruses in samples from 248 horse fetuses in Hungary. We found 26 EHV1- and 4 EAV-positive aborted or prematurely born foals from 16 and 4 outbreaks, respectively, proving that despite the widely applied vaccination, EHV1 is a far more important cause of abortions in the studs than EAV. We compared the virus content of different organs of the fetuses by PCR and isolation to identify the organ most suitable for virus demonstration. Our investigations indicate that the quantity of both viruses is highest in the lungs; therefore, according to our observations, in positive cases the probability of detection is highest from lung samples of aborted or newborn foals. Both the PCR and the virus isolation results revealed that the liver, though widely used, is not the best organ to sample either for EHV1 or for EAV detection. From the analysis of the epidemiological data, we tried to estimate the importance of the two viruses in the Hungarian horse population

Phylogenetic analysis of a nosocomial transmission of hepatitis B virus at a paediatric haematology ward

A nosocomial Hepatitis B virus (HBV) outbreak at a paediatric onco-haematology unit was investigated using molecular biological methods to determine the origin of the infections. The National Reference Laboratory of Hepatitis Viruses received seven HBsAg positive sera from patients and one from the brother of a patient. A fragment of the preS1/preS2/S genes from all samples was amplified, the PCR products were sequenced and a rooted phylogenetic tree was constructed. All nucleotide sequences from the different patients were very similar and 6 of the 8 sequences were identical, suggesting a common origin of the infections. These sequences were closely related to those amplified from a nosocomial HBV epidemic in another hospital in Hungary. The on-scene investigation revealed several malpractices. The two hospital departments had close connections and some of the patients were treated in both institutions. Present report underlines the importance of developing screening protocols for hepatitis viruses and that of the introduction of regular training programs for health care professionals in the field of hospital hygiene