Toward a Network Model of MHC Class II-Restricted Antigen Processing.

The standard model of Major Histocompatibility Complex class II (MHCII)-restricted antigen processing depicts a straightforward, linear pathway: internalized antigens are converted into peptides that load in a chaperone dependent manner onto nascent MHCII in the late endosome, the complexes subsequently trafficking to the cell surface for recognition by CD4(+) T cells (TCD4+). Several variations on this theme, both moderate and radical, have come to light but these alternatives have remained peripheral, the conventional pathway generally presumed to be the primary driver of TCD4+ responses. Here we continue to press for the conceptual repositioning of these alternatives toward the center while proposing that MHCII processing be thought of less in terms of discrete pathways and more in terms of a network whose major and minor conduits are variable depending upon many factors, including the epitope, the nature of the antigen, the source of the antigen, and the identity of the antigen-presenting cell

The Trauma of Ovid’s Mythic Women: Rape, Captivity, Silence

Ovid’s poetry contains an inordinate number of mythic rape episodes and allusions to rape. Rape—especially divine rape—is a common topos in Graeco-Roman mythology, but not every ancient writer approaches it in the same way. Ovid, contrary to his predecessors and contemporaries, focuses especially on the female victims of rape and on the variety of their traumatic experiences. In this dissertation, I discuss select rape victims from Ovid’s mythical works—the Heroides, the Metamorphoses, and the Fasti—and analyze his narratives through the lens of trauma theory. In his more detailed accounts of sexual violence, he describes not only the peritraumatic symptoms of female victims, but also post-traumatic symptoms. When faced with the threat of rape, Ovidian women may fight their attackers, freeze (voluntarily or involuntarily), attempt to flee, or dissociate. After rape, their responses are just as varied: Briseis becomes trauma-bonded to her captor (Heroides 3), Io recovers and returns to her family (Met. 1), Philomela takes revenge on her rapist (Met. 6), Lucretia commits suicide (Fasti 2), and the Sabine women settle into their forced marriages (Fasti 3).For each of the chosen rape episodes, I perform a literary analysis of Ovid’s text and compare his language to that of modern western accounts of peritraumatic experiences and PTSD symptoms associated with sexual violence. Ovid’s attention to the multiplicity of rape trauma symptoms indicates a general interest in the lived experience of oppressed people, but more specifically in the experience of women. The similarities between his rape tales and modern psychological rape trauma studies further show that he had some fundamental understanding of how rape can impact a victim’s body and mind.Doctor of Philosoph

Caracterização dos quintais agroflorestais urbanos na cidade de Alta Floresta-MT

O presente estudo teve por objetivo caracterizar os quintais agroflorestais urbanos, no município de Alta Floresta-MT, Brasil. Foram entrevistados 30 mantenedores utilizando entrevistas semiestruturadas. Os quintais possuem área média de 1,28 ha. O tempo médio de ocupação dos quintais é de 15 anos. Nenhum informante soube responder o que é um quintal agroflorestal. As espécies vegetais nos quintais possuem diversas origens. A periodicidade da manutenção dos quintais é diária. As tratos culturas são poda, desbrota, adubação, controle de formigas e cupins. Utilizam-se adubos químicos e agrotóxicos para o controle de espécies espontâneas, de insetos e doenças. Há criação de animais, além da presença de animais silvestres. Observou-se heterogeneidade na caracterização dos quintais agroflorestais urbanos.This study aimed to characterize urban agroforestry gardens and the profile of the maintainers of these, in the municipality of Alta Floresta-MT, Brazil. Thirty maintainers were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The gardens have an average area of 1.28 ha. The average time of occupancy of the yards is 15 years. No informant could answer what is an agroforestry yard. Plant species in backyards have diverse origins. The frequency of maintenance of gardens is daily. Culture treatments are pruning, thinning, fertilization, ant control and termites. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used for the control of spontaneous species of insects and diseases. There are farm animals and the presence of wild animals. There was heterogeneity in the characterization of urban agroforestry yards.Eje A5: Sistemas de conocimientoFacultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestale

Caracterização dos quintais agroflorestais urbanos na cidade de Alta Floresta-MT

O presente estudo teve por objetivo caracterizar os quintais agroflorestais urbanos, no município de Alta Floresta-MT, Brasil. Foram entrevistados 30 mantenedores utilizando entrevistas semiestruturadas. Os quintais possuem área média de 1,28 ha. O tempo médio de ocupação dos quintais é de 15 anos. Nenhum informante soube responder o que é um quintal agroflorestal. As espécies vegetais nos quintais possuem diversas origens. A periodicidade da manutenção dos quintais é diária. As tratos culturas são poda, desbrota, adubação, controle de formigas e cupins. Utilizam-se adubos químicos e agrotóxicos para o controle de espécies espontâneas, de insetos e doenças. Há criação de animais, além da presença de animais silvestres. Observou-se heterogeneidade na caracterização dos quintais agroflorestais urbanos.This study aimed to characterize urban agroforestry gardens and the profile of the maintainers of these, in the municipality of Alta Floresta-MT, Brazil. Thirty maintainers were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The gardens have an average area of 1.28 ha. The average time of occupancy of the yards is 15 years. No informant could answer what is an agroforestry yard. Plant species in backyards have diverse origins. The frequency of maintenance of gardens is daily. Culture treatments are pruning, thinning, fertilization, ant control and termites. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used for the control of spontaneous species of insects and diseases. There are farm animals and the presence of wild animals. There was heterogeneity in the characterization of urban agroforestry yards.Eje A5: Sistemas de conocimientoFacultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestale

Extracellular VirB5 Enhances T-DNA Transfer from Agrobacterium to the Host Plant

VirB5 is a type 4 secretion system protein of Agrobacterium located on the surface of the bacterial cell. This localization pattern suggests a function for VirB5 which is beyond its known role in biogenesis and/or stabilization of the T-pilus and which may involve early interactions between Agrobacterium and the host cell. Here, we identify VirB5 as the first Agrobacterium virulence protein that can enhance infectivity extracellularly. Specifically, we show that elevating the amounts of the extracellular VirB5—by exogenous addition of the purified protein, its overexpression in the bacterium, or transgenic expression in and secretion out of the host cell—enhances the efficiency the Agrobacterium-mediated T-DNA transfer, as measured by transient expression of genes contained on the transferred T-DNA molecule. Importantly, the exogenous VirB5 enhanced transient T-DNA expression in sugar beet, a major crop recalcitrant to genetic manipulation. Increasing the pool of the extracellular VirB5 did not complement an Agrobacterium virB5 mutant, suggesting a dual function for VirB5: in the bacterium and at the bacterium-host cell interface. Consistent with this idea, VirB5 expressed in the host cell, but not secreted, had no effect on the transformation efficiency. That the increase in T-DNA expression promoted by the exogenous VirB5 was not due to its effects on bacterial growth, virulence gene induction, bacterial attachment to plant tissue, or host cell defense response suggests that VirB5 participates in the early steps of the T-DNA transfer to the plant cell

Borders traversed, boundaries erected: Creating discursive identities and language communities in the Village of Tewa

Today the Village of Tewa, First Mesa of the Hopi Reservation in Northern Arizona experiences unprecedented linguistic diversity and change due to language shift to English. Despite a wide range of speaker fluency, the now emblematic Tewa language that their ancestors transported from the Rio Grande Valley almost 325 years ago, is widely valorized within the community. However Language factions have emerged andtheir debates and contestations focus on legitimate language learning and the proper maintenance of their emblematic language. Boundary creation and crossing are featuresof discourses that rationalize possible forms of language revitalization and construct communities across temporal barriers. The theoretical implications of these discourseson both local and theoretical notions of language/speech community are explored. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Endogenous antigen processing drives the primary CD4+ T cell response to influenza.

By convention, CD4+ T lymphocytes recognize foreign and self peptides derived from internalized antigens in combination with major histocompatibility complex class II molecules. Alternative pathways of epitope production have been identified, but their contributions to host defense have not been established. We show here in a mouse infection model that the CD4+ T cell response to influenza, critical for durable protection from the virus, is driven principally by unconventional processing of antigen synthesized within the infected antigen-presenting cell, not by classical processing of endocytosed virions or material from infected cells. Investigation of the cellular components involved, including the H2-M molecular chaperone, the proteasome and γ-interferon-inducible lysosomal thiol reductase revealed considerable heterogeneity in the generation of individual epitopes, an arrangement that ensures peptide diversity and broad CD4+ T cell engagement. These results could fundamentally revise strategies for rational vaccine design and may lead to key insights into the induction of autoimmune and anti-tumor responses

Rethinking non-traditional resistance at work : the case of the Indian Diaspora in Mauritius

Resistance at work can take many forms and this is reflected in the multiple ways it has been theorised in research. In this paper, I use postcolonial theory to analyse employee resistance in Mauritius. To do this, I deploy Homi Bhabha’s concepts of mimicry, ambivalence and hybridity to explore non-traditional forms of resistance among the Indian Diaspora working in the hotel industry. Using ethnographic research, I firstly look at its ‘home’-making practices as it is within the home that visions of community emerge (Bhabha, 1994) which could later influence behaviours at work. I argue that the Diaspora maintains connections with its ancestral roots via routine religious practices and language use while concomitantly resisting assimilation in the local context. The analysis is then extended to their workplace where further forms of non-traditional resistance are found to be enacted which are strongly influenced by the same values emerging at home