Joik als Performance

Der Joik, eine traditionelle Gesangs- und Kunstform der Samen ist mehr als nur eine Form des Singens. Joik ist eine Performance, die sich aus mehreren Elementen zusammensetzt. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist diese Elemente aufzuzeigen. Da die Kultur der Samen einer starken Suppression von Seiten des Staates ausgesetzt war, und die Folgen dieser Unterdrückung noch heute zu spüren sind, besteht der größte Teil der Joik- Sammlung in Schweden aus Aufnahmen, die erst Ende des 19.Jh./Anfang bzw. Mitte des 20.Jh. aufgenommen wurden. Die vorliegende Arbeit versucht anhand dieses Materials Joik- Performances, so wie sie zu dieser Zeit und eventuell früher stattgefunden haben, zu analysieren. Durch die mangelhafte Dokumentation der performativen Elemente während einer Joik- Darstellung, stützt sich die Analyse auf die wenigen Niederschriften, die in Bezug auf die Performances an sich gemacht wurden bzw. auf die Joik- Texte selbst. Die Kapiteleinteilung basiert auf den Bausteinen bzw. der Analyse, die Richard Bauman in seiner Arbeit „Verbal Art as Performance“ für die Definition einer verbalen Kunst als Performance anführt. Dabei werden zuerst die unterschiedlichen Kontexte besprochen, in denen Joik verwendet werden kann. Joik ist eine Kunstform, die in jegliche alltägliche Situation mit einfließen kann. Sie fungiert als Kommunikationsmittel, als Form der Erinnerung und hat außerdem eine Bedeutung für die Identitätsstärkung der Samen. Dabei fungierte diese Identitätsstärkung früher vor allem durch Verwandtschaftsbande und durch das Zugehörigkeitsgefühl zu bestimmten Plätzen oder Erlebnissen. Heute dient die Identitätsstärkung durch Joik vor allem allgemein dazu, den Samen wieder einen gefestigten und neuen Platz in ihrer eigenen Kultur zu geben bzw. diesen auch nach außen zu zeigen. Joik ist ein oraler Traditionsträger und bestärkt diesen weiters in seiner Definition als Performance. Auch die Schauplätze von Joik- Performances bzw. die Inhalte sind wichtig um diesen verstehen zu können. Anhand der unterschiedlichen Stilmittel, der Form und Zusammensetzung der Joik bzw. der angeführten und erläuternden Beispiele wird ersichtlich, dass sich nicht nur die Darstellung an sich von Performance zu Performance verändert, sondern auch das Publikum und der Kontext. Dies macht jeglichen Joik einzigartig. Diese Einzigartigkeit und die zentrale Bedeutung des Joik als Vermittler von Stimmungen und Gefühlen beschreiben die Dramaturgie einer Joik- Performance. Der letzte Teil der Arbeit behandelt die Joik- Performance an sich. Beginnend mit der Definition des Performance- Begriffs bis hin zur Darstellung. Dabei werden sowohl die Verkörperung der unterschiedlichen Rollen, als auch der Körper während einer Performance analysiert. Erstaunlich ist das üppige Ergebnis, welches Joik über den gesanglichen Aspekt hinaus in die Kategorie einer Cultural Performance eingliedert. Joik gibt dabei Einblick in den samischen Alltag, in Traditionen und Probleme, nicht nur durch seine Texte oder Melodien, sondern durch die ganze performative Präsentation.Joik is a traditional art and chant form of the Sami, the indigenous people of Lappland. But it isn`t just a way of singing, it`s a performance, which is made up of multiple elements. The goal of this thesis is to show the different parts that define Joik as a cultural performance. Because of the suppression of the sami culture by the Swedish government, only Joik- recordings from the end of the 19th century and the beginning/middle of the 20th century in Sweden exist. This material is the basis for the analyses of. By reason of the inadequate documentation of the performative elements during a Joik- demonstration, the analysis of this work is based on the few transcriptions that have been made during Joik- performances and on Joik- texts themselves. The arrangement of the chapters is rest upon the analyses and the included components that Richard Bauman uses in his work “Verbal Art as Performance” to place the “Verbal Art” as a performance. In doing so primarily the different contexts are discussed in which Joik can occur. Joik is an art form which can be integrated in any kind of daily life. To understand Joik as a performance it is important to explore its function in rituals first, even if there hardly exists literature about the religious practises of Sami before the Christianisation, but it shows the central relevance of Joik in sami culture. Joik can be a way of communication, a form of reminder and a way of strengthening the sami identity. Formerly the strengthening of identity worked primarily through family bounds and the sense of belonging to special places or experiences. Today Joik as strengthening of identity generally gives the Sami a steady and new place in their own culture. Furthermore the subjects of Joik, the places where Joik can be performed and the role of Joik in oral tradition are discussed. The next part of the thesis discusses the dramaturgy of Joik. First of all Joik is an expression of feelings, which can occur in any kind of situation. And the fact that every Joik is unique becomes obvious through the different stylish devises, the form and the composition of the different Joik respectively the adduced examples of Joik performances The last part of the thesis discusses the Joik performance itself. Starting with the definition of the term performance unto the study of the demonstration. In doing so both the embodiment of the different roles and the body during performances will be researched. Nevertheless it is astonishing to see the opulent result the research has lead to and it makes it clear that Joik has to be placed in the category of cultural performance. Joik gives an insight in everyday life, the traditions and problems of sami people, not only through the melodies and the texts of Joik, but also through all elements that form a Joik performances

Differential Stress-Induced Neuronal Activation Patterns in Mouse Lines Selectively Bred for High, Normal or Low Anxiety

There is evidence for a disturbed perception and processing of emotional information in pathological anxiety. Using a rat model of trait anxiety generated by selective breeding, we previously revealed differences in challenge-induced neuronal activation in fear/anxiety-related brain areas between high (HAB) and low (LAB) anxiety rats. To confirm whether findings generalize to other species, we used the corresponding HAB/LAB mouse model and investigated c-Fos responses to elevated open arm exposure. Moreover, for the first time we included normal anxiety mice (NAB) for comparison. The results confirm that HAB mice show hyperanxious behavior compared to their LAB counterparts, with NAB mice displaying an intermediate anxiety phenotype. Open arm challenge revealed altered c-Fos response in prefrontal-cortical, limbic and hypothalamic areas in HAB mice as compared to LAB mice, and this was similar to the differences observed previously in the HAB/LAB rat lines. In mice, however, additional differential c-Fos response was observed in subregions of the amygdala, hypothalamus, nucleus accumbens, midbrain and pons. Most of these differences were also seen between HAB and NAB mice, indicating that it is predominately the HAB line showing altered neuronal processing. Hypothalamic hypoactivation detected in LAB versus NAB mice may be associated with their low-anxiety/high-novelty-seeking phenotype. The detection of similarly disturbed activation patterns in a key set of anxiety-related brain areas in two independent models reflecting psychopathological states of trait anxiety confirms the notion that the altered brain activation in HAB animals is indeed characteristic of enhanced (pathological) anxiety, providing information for potential targets of therapeutic intervention

Assessment of platelet function in patients with stroke using multiple electrode platelet aggregometry: a prospective observational study

Background There is a link between high on-treatment platelet reactivity (HPR) and adverse vascular events in stroke. This study aimed to compare multiple electrode platelet aggregometry (MEA), in healthy subjects and ischaemic stroke patients, and between patients naive to antiplatelet drugs (AP) and those on regular low dose AP. We also aimed to determine prevalence of HPR at baseline and at 3–5 days after loading doses of aspirin. Methods Patients with first ever ischaemic stroke were age and sex-matched to a healthy control group. Three venous blood samples were collected: on admission before any treatment given (baseline); at 24 h and 3–5 days after standard treatment. MEA was determined using a Mutliplate® analyser and agonists tested were arachidonic acid (ASPI), adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and collagen (COL). Results Seventy patients (mean age 73 years [SD 13]; 42 men, 28 women) were age and sex-matched to 72 healthy subjects. Thirty-three patients were on antiplatelet drugs (AP) prior to stroke onset and 37 were AP-naive. MEA results for all agonists were significantly increased in AP-naive patients compared to healthy subjects: ADP 98 ± 31 vs 81 ± 24, p < 0.005; ASPI 117 ± 31 vs 98 ± 27, p < 0.005; COL 100 ± 25 vs 82 ± 20, p < 0.005. For patients on long term AP, 33% (10/30) of patients were considered aspirin-resistant. At 3–5 days following loading doses of aspirin, only 11.1% were aspirin resistant based on an ASPI cut-off value of 40 AU*min. Conclusions Many patients receiving low dose aspirin met the criteria of aspirin resistance but this was much lower at 3–5 days following loading doses of aspirin. Future studies are needed to establish the causes of HPR and potential benefits of individualizing AP treatment based on platelet function testing

The microcirculation: linking trauma and coagulopathy

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/96284/1/trf12034.pd

A mouse model of high trait anxiety shows reduced heart rate variability that can be reversed by anxiolytic drug treatment

Increasing evidence suggests that specific physiological measures may serve as biomarkers for successful treatment to alleviate symptoms of pathological anxiety. Studies of autonomic function investigating parameters such as heart rate (HR), HR variability and blood pressure (BP) indicated that HR variability is consistently reduced in anxious patients, whereas HR and BP data show inconsistent results. Therefore, HR and HR variability were measured under various emotionally challenging conditions in a mouse model of high innate anxiety (high anxiety behaviour; HAB) vs. control normal anxiety-like behaviour (NAB) mice. Baseline HR, HR variability and activity did not differ between mouse lines. However, after cued Pavlovian fear conditioning, both elevated tachycardia and increased fear responses were observed in HAB mice compared to NAB mice upon re-exposure to the conditioning stimulus serving as the emotional stressor. When retention of conditioned fear was tested in the home cage, HAB mice again displayed higher fear responses than NAB mice, while the HR responses were similar. Conversely, in both experimental settings HAB mice consistently exhibited reduced HR variability. Repeated administration of the anxiolytic NK1 receptor antagonist L-822429 lowered the conditioned fear response and shifted HR dynamics in HAB mice to a more regular pattern, similar to that in NAB mice. Additional receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis demonstrated the high specificity and sensitivity of HR variability to distinguish between normal and high anxiety trait. These findings indicate that assessment of autonomic response in addition to freezing might be a useful indicator of the efficacy of novel anxiolytic treatments

Age Affects the Expression of Maternal Care and Subsequent Behavioural Development of Offspring in a Precocial Bird

Variations of breeding success with age have been studied largely in iteroparous species and particularly in birds: survival of offspring increases with parental age until senescence. Nevertheless, these results are from observations of free-living individuals and therefore, it remains impossible to determine whether these variations result from parental investment or efficiency or both, and whether these variations occur during the prenatal or the postnatal stage or during both. Our study aimed first, to determine whether age had an impact on the expression of maternal breeding care by comparing inexperienced female birds of two different ages, and second, to define how these potential differences impact chicks’ growth and behavioural development. We made 22 2-month-old and 22 8-month-old female Japanese quail foster 1-day-old chicks. We observed their maternal behaviour until the chicks were 11 days old and then tested these chicks after separation from their mothers. Several behavioural tests estimated their fearfulness and their sociality. We observed first that a longer induction was required for young females to express maternal behaviour. Subsequently as many young females as elder females expressed maternal behaviour, but young females warmed chicks less, expressed less covering postures and rejected their chicks more. Chicks brooded by elder females presented higher growth rates and more fearfulness and sociality. Our results reveal that maternal investment increased with age independently of maternal experience, suggesting modification of hormone levels implied in maternal behaviour. Isolated effects of maternal experience should now be assessed in females of the same age. In addition, our results show, for first time in birds, that variations in maternal care directly induce important differences in the behavioural development of chicks. Finally, our results confirm that Japanese quail remains a great laboratory model of avian maternal behaviour and that the way we sample maternal behaviour is highly productive