Metahistorical Scepticism in Aleksei Goldenveizer’s Chronicle of Everyday Life in Kyiv, 1917–1921

The article was submitted on 19.07.2018.This article analyzes the memoir of a Russian-speaking Jewish lawyer, Aleksei Goldenveiser (1890–1979), as a source on the history of Kyiv during the revolutionary period (1917–1921). His work stands out among other reminiscences about the Revolution in Ukraine because of the author’s unprecedented attention to details of everyday life, along with his self-identification as simply an apolitical resident of Kyiv. Especially striking is the author’s satirical, even acerbic, tone in the description of all the political regimes that came to power in Kyiv during the Revolution: Ukrainian, White, and Bolshevik. This article proposes to conceptualize Goldenveizer’s position as metahistorical skepticism or as a strategy of conscious resistance to grand narratives, which is grounded in identification with the local and a focus on everydayness. It argues the Goldenveizer developed this narrative strategy following the failure, in the summer of 1917, of the political project of a civic, multinational, and urban identity. Although Goldenveizer served on the Executive Committee of United Civic Organizations in Kyiv and, briefly, on the Small Rada of the Ukrainian Central Rada, he felt like an outsider in politics of the day and described it as an astute bystander rather than participant. Because of this position, he was the first to note the reversal of imperial hierarchies and the creation of a new category: “national minorities.” At the same time, Goldenveizer consistently attempted in his memoir to check his own political and cultural biases, as one can see in his ambiguous treatment of the Ukrainian language and the Ukrainian national movement.Статья посвящена анализу воспоминаний русскоязычного еврейского адвоката Алексея Гольденвейзера (1890–1979) как источника по истории Киева революционного периода (1917–1921). Его труд выделяется среди других воспоминаний о революции на Украине благодаря беспрецедентному вниманию к деталям повседневной жизни, а также самоидентификации автора просто как аполитичного жителя Киева. Сатирический, даже желчный тон автора особенно заметен в описаниях всех политических режимов, которые приходили к власти в Киеве во время революции: украинского, белого и большевистского. Автор предлагает концептуализировать позицию Гольденвейзера как «метаисторический скептицизм», или стратегию сознательного сопротивления большим нарративам, которая базируется на идентификации с локальным и фокусе на повседневности. Показано, что Гольденвейзер выработал эту нарративную стратегию после поражения летом 1917 г. политического проекта гражданской многонациональной городской идентичности. Хотя Гольденвейзер был членом Исполнительного комитета Объединенных общественных организаций Киева, а также Малой рады Украинской центральной рады, в политике того времени он чувствовал себя аутсайдером и описывал ее как наблюдательный посторонний, а не участник. Благодаря такой позиции он первым обратил внимание на полную перестановку имперских иерархий и создание новой категории «национальных меньшинств». В то же время Гольденвейзер постоянно старался не допустить, чтобы его культурные и политические предпочтения сделали текст односторонним, что привело к неоднозначной оценке украинского языка и украинского национального движения

Cell competition in intratumoral and tumor microenvironment interactions

Tumors are complex cellular and acellular environments within which cancer clones are under continuous selection pressures. Cancer cells are in a permanent mode of interaction and competition with each other as well as with the immediate microenvironment. In the course of these competitive interactions, cells share information regarding their general state of fitness, with less-fit cells being typically eliminated via apoptosis at the hands of those cells with greater cellular fitness. Competitive interactions involving exchange of cell fitness information have implications for tumor growth, metastasis, and therapy outcomes. Recent research has highlighted sophisticated pathways such as Flower, Hippo, Myc, and p53 signaling, which are employed by cancer cells and the surrounding microenvironment cells to achieve their evolutionary goals by means of cell competition mechanisms. In this review, we discuss these recent findings and explain their importance and role in evolution, growth, and treatment of cancer. We further consider potential physiological conditions, such as hypoxia and chemotherapy, that can function as selective pressures under which cell competition mechanisms may evolve differently or synergistically to confer oncogenic advantages to cancer

Antigen presentation plays positive roles in the regenerative response to cardiac injury in zebrafish

In contrast to adult mammals, adult zebrafish can fully regenerate injured cardiac tissue, and this regeneration process requires an adequate and tightly controlled immune response. However, which components of the immune response are required during regeneration is unclear. Here, we report positive roles for the antigen presentation-adaptive immunity axis during zebrafish cardiac regeneration. We find that following the initial innate immune response, activated endocardial cells (EdCs), as well as immune cells, start expressing antigen presentation genes. We also observe that T helper cells, a.k.a. Cd4(+) T cells, lie in close physical proximity to these antigen-presenting EdCs. We targeted Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) class II antigen presentation by generating cd74a; cd74b mutants, which display a defective immune response. In these mutants, Cd4(+) T cells and activated EdCs fail to efficiently populate the injured tissue and EdC proliferation is significantly decreased. cd74a; cd74b mutants exhibit additional defects in cardiac regeneration including reduced cardiomyocyte dedifferentiation and proliferation. Notably, Cd74 also becomes activated in neonatal mouse EdCs following cardiac injury. Altogether, these findings point to positive roles for antigen presentation during cardiac regeneration, potentially involving interactions between activated EdCs, classical antigen-presenting cells, and Cd4(+) T cells

Pleiotropic effects of laminar flow and statins depend on the Krüppel-like factor-induced lncRNA MANTIS

AIMS: To assess the functional relevance and therapeutic potential of the pro-angiogenic long non-coding RNA MANTIS in vascular disease development. METHODS AND RESULTS: RNA sequencing, CRISPR activation, overexpression, and RNAi demonstrated that MANTIS, especially its Alu-element, limits endothelial ICAM-1 expression in different types of endothelial cells. Loss of MANTIS increased endothelial monocyte adhesion in an ICAM-1-dependent manner. MANTIS reduced the binding of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodelling factor BRG1 at the ICAM-1 promoter. The expression of MANTIS was induced by laminar flow and HMG-CoA-reductase inhibitors (statins) through mechanisms involving epigenetic rearrangements and the transcription factors KLF2 and KLF4. Mutation of the KLF binding motifs in the MANTIS promoter blocked the flow-induced MANTIS expression. Importantly, the expression of MANTIS in human carotid artery endarterectomy material was lower compared with healthy vessels and this effect was prevented by statin therapy. Interestingly, the protective effects of statins were mediated in part through MANTIS, which was required to facilitate the atorvastatin-induced changes in endothelial gene expression. Moreover, the beneficial endothelial effects of statins in culture models (spheroid outgrowth, proliferation, telomerase activity, and vascular organ culture) were lost upon knockdown of MANTIS. CONCLUSION: MANTIS is tightly regulated by the transcription factors KLF2 and KLF4 and limits the ICAM-1 mediated monocyte adhesion to endothelial cells and thus potentially atherosclerosis development in humans. The beneficial effects of statin treatment and laminar flow are dependent on MANTIS