Skepticism and humanism in Forster's treatment of personal relations

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, 1981

Life force and death force in Lawrence's sons and lovers

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A word about Charlotte Brontë and her critics

Trata-se de apresentar alguns comentários sobre a influência exercida por críticos e resenhistas de escritores vivos sobre o processo de elaboração desses autores. A partir de algumas considerações sobre o papel e a função do crítico literário, são narrados alguns aspectos da relação entre a escritora vitoriana Charlotte Brontê com seus críticos e editores

Understanding the role of protein glycation in the amyloid aggregation process

Protein function and flexibility is directly related to the native distribution of its structural elements and any alteration in protein architecture leads to several abnormalities and accumulation of misfolded proteins. This phenomenon is associated with a range of increasingly common human disorders, including Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases, type II diabetes, and a number of systemic amyloidosis characterized by the accumulation of amyloid aggregates both in the extracellular space of tissues and as intracellular deposits. Post-translational modifications are known to have an active role in the in vivo amyloid aggregation as able to affect protein structure and dynamics. Among them, a key role seems to be played by non-enzymatic glycation, the most unwanted irreversible modification of the protein structure, which strongly affects long-living proteins throughout the body. This study provided an overview of the molecular effects induced by glycation on the amyloid aggregation process of several protein models associated with misfolding diseases. In particular, we analyzed the role of glycation on protein folding, kinetics of amyloid formation, and amyloid cytotoxicity in order to shed light on the role of this post-translational modification in the in vivo amyloid aggregation process

Disjoint pattern matching and implication in strings

We deal with the problem of whether a set of string patterns implies the presence of a fixed pattern. While checking whether a set of patterns occurs in a string is solvable in polynomial time, this implication problem is well-known to be intractable. Here we consider a version of the problem when patterns in the set are required to be disjoint. We show that for such a version of the problem the situation is reversed: checking whether a set of patterns occurs in a string is NP-complete, but the implication problem is solvable in polynomial time. 1 Introduction and the main result The problem we consider in this note was motivated by answering queries in incompletely specified XML documents. Suppose that L is a set of letters, or labels, assumed to be countably infinite, and that is a special symbol (wildcard) not in L. By L we denote L∪ {}. A pattern is a finite string over L. If a string s over L matches a pattern π, we write s | = π. More precisely, if s = a0...an−1 an

Hydroxytyrosol Prevents Doxorubicin-Induced Oxidative Stress and Apoptosis in Cardiomyocytes

Doxorubicin (Dox) is a highly effective chemotherapeutic agent employed in the handling of hematological and solid tumors. The effective use of Dox in cancer therapy has been seriously limited due to its well-known cardiotoxic side effects, mainly mediated by oxidative damage. Therefore, the identification of an effective and safe antagonist against Dox-induced cardiotoxicity remains a challenge. In this respect, as plant polyphenols have attracted considerable interest due to their antioxidant properties and good safety profile, hydroxytyrosol (HT), the major phenolic compound in olive oil, could be a potential candidate due to its remarkable antioxidant and anticancer powers. In this study, the effect of HT was tested on Dox-induced cardiotoxicity by using a combination of biochemical and cellular biology techniques. Interestingly, HT was able to counteract Dox-induced cytotoxicity in cardiomyocytes by acting on the SOD2 level and the oxidative response, as well as on apoptotic mechanisms mediated by Bcl-2/Bax. At the same time, HT did not to interfere with the antitumorigenic properties of Dox in osteosarcoma cells. This study identifies new, beneficial properties for HT and suggests that it might be a promising molecule for the development of additional therapeutic approaches aimed at preventing anthracycline-related cardiotoxicity and improving long-term outcomes in antineoplastic treatments

There and back again : Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in the modern fiction

This paper aims to disclose some relevant aspects of one of the most celebrated Fantasy authors – J. R. R. Tolkien. The twentieth century witnesses a huge claim for Fantasy in the arts and media vehicles. This can be seen as a way to escape from a fragmented world made worse by two World Wars that brought desolation and lack of faith in spiritual values to the modern and contemporary society. Rather than addressing Tolkien’s fiction as an escapist device, we argue that it can be read as a strong metaphor of his own time instead, alluding to the horrors of the wars that have been experienced by the author.O presente ensaio objetiva apontar alguns aspectos relevantes de um dos mais celebrados autores do gênero Fantasia – J. R. R. Tolkien. O século XX testemunhou uma grande retomada da Fantasia nas artes e nos meios midiáticos, o que poderia ser encarado como uma fuga de um mundo ferido após duas Guerras Mundiais que trouxeram desolação e ausência de fé e de valores espirituais para as sociedades moderna e contemporânea. Ao invés de perceber a obra de Tolkien como um paliativo escapista, propomos que ela possa ser lida como uma poderosa metáfora de seu tempo, aludindo aos horrores de uma guerra que foi experenciada pelo próprio autor

A filosofia do mal : considerações sobre por que gostamos dos vilões shakespearianos

Este artigo analisa o mal enquanto uma presença constante expressa através de certos personagens na dramaturgia Shakespeariana. Baseando esta pesquisa em conceitos freudianos, procuramos verificar por que leitores e espectadores contemporâneos se identificam e até mesmo simpatizam com vilões como Iago, Ricardo III e Lady Macbeth. Oscilando entre filosofia, linguística e teoria psicanalítica, buscamos compreender o fenômeno do mal na época de Shakespeare e atualmente, e como ele se relaciona com os meandros mais íntimos de nossas mentes e com a maneira como vemos e compreendemos o mundo.This article analyzes evil as a constant presence expressed through certain characters in Shakespeare's dramaturgy. Basing the research on Freudian concepts, we seek to answer why contemporary readers and audiences identify with and even have sympathy for villains like Iago, Richard III and Lady Macbeth. Oscillating between philosophy, linguistics and psychoanalytical theory, we seek to understand the phenomenon of evil in Shakespeare's time and nowadays, and how it relates with the innermost meanders of our minds and the way we see and understand the world

The interfaces between autobiography and painting in cat’s eye, by Margaret Atwood / As interfaces entre autobiografia e pintura a olho de gato, de Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood's Cat’s Eye (1988) features the fictional autobiography of Elaine Risley, influential Canadian artist. The painter, upon returning to her hometown, Toronto, for a retrospective exhibition of her work, critically rethinks her life and, in particular, her relationship with her three childhood best friends: Carol, Grace and Cordelia. Throughout the narrative, we follow Risley's artistic and personal development, who, through her first-person account and her paintings — placed for the reader through epigrammatic descriptions — exposes her trajectory as a woman, artist and mother in the 60s. Hite (1995) comments on the relationship between the facts narrated by Risley and her artistic production, explaining the common point between them: neither art nor personal experience can be separated from the dynamics of power, which constitute reality. Thus, in Cat's Eye, both the autobiographical account and Risley's paintings are relevant not only for the presentation of the events experienced by the protagonist, but also for their assimilation and problematization. Bearing in mind the connection between the two means — narrative and painting — this work aims to analyze the links between them in the novel. To this end, the connections between the chapters and Risley's paintings — who name them — will be explored, as well as the presentation and composition of works during the narrative and, when necessary, their relation with other paintings and referenced artists. As theoretical support, I employ authors who work on Cat's Eye’s relationship with art/painting, as well as the relationship between autobiography and art: Banerjee (1990), De Jong (1998), Hite (1995), Howarth (1974) and Vickroy (2005). The expected contributions are the discussion about the interfaces between narrative and painting, as well as their meanings inside and outside Cat’s Eye.