Wine, despair and women's clothing: gender anxieties in screen representations of Marcus Antonius

The love affair between Cleopatra and Mark Antony has been the subject of considerable mythological reworking in the 2000 years since their suicides, and the reputations of both have fallen foul to manipulation by Augustan propaganda. As such, Antony is generally represented in popular culture as a deeply flawed character, subject to emotional and physical excesses that are understood in gendered terms as relating to his exhibition of defective or inadequate masculinity. Covering a period of over seventy years, this thesis analyses textual engagements with the Antony-myth on both the large and small screen in an attempt to sketch the progression, in western, English-speaking popular culture, of the representation of masculinities, both idealized and defective, and to situate the screen Antony as a critical meme in the transmission of hegemonic masculinity. Whilst the cultural function of Cleopatra has been widely interrogated by feminist scholars of a variety of disciplines, in an attempt to recuperate her iconography from Augustan invective, this thesis is the first attempt to effect a similar study of Antony's mythologization and function within popular culture. The thesis 'is divided into six chapters, with a separate Appendix. Chapter 1 discusses the roots of the Antony-icon in Roman political invective, whilst Chapter 2 examines two elements of that invective that have been left out of his screen iconography. The third chapter considers Shakespeare's Antony as a cultural template for Antony-on-screen, and the fourth looks at the iconography of his screen narratives. Chapter 5 begins to unpack Antony's modern construction by analyzing his masculine performance alongside the other key male figures in his narratives, and 'the final chapter considers the adaptations made to the legend in the service of making Antony's deficient performance of masculinity intelligible to twentieth and twenty-first century audiences. The thesis concludes by situating these developments along a continuum of changing cultural conceptions of masculinityEThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Towards method validation for selenium speciation analysis in human serum

Se is one of the most investigated trace essential elements in the last years, mostly due to its cancer prevention properties. Nevertheless, the accurate determination of its biologically active species present in human serum, such as selenoproteins (SeProt), is currently a challenging task. This is because of the lack of appropriate quantification standards, certified reference materials (CRMs) and/or reference measurement methods. Additionally, most of the methods developed so far for the determination of SeProt in human serum were applied to the analysis of control (volunteers) serums, which are not available to other laboratories, therefore making the method inter-comparison virtually impossible. We present here for the first time indicative levels of SeProt in a commercially available human serum, namely the BCR-637 CRM (with certified level of total Se). The selenium levels associated with glutathione peroxidase (GPx), selenoprotein P (SelP) and selenoalbumin (SeAlb) in this serum were calculated by means of the results obtained by using 13 different analytical methods on the basis of (double column) affinity HPLC coupled to ICP-MS. The indicative levels of SeProt in the BCR-637 serum can be used as preliminary reference values for validation of methods dealing with the determination of SeProt in human serum

Validation and uncertainties evaluation of an isotope dilution-SPE-LC–MS/MS for the quantification of drug residues in surface waters

International audienceThe present work describes the development and validation of a reference method conducted at the French National Institute of Metrology (LNE) for the quantitative determination of psychoactive compounds in the dissolved fraction of surface waters. More specifically an isotope dilution-SPE-LC-MS/MS based method has been implemented for the characterization of a broad range of analytes belonging to different classes of psychotropic drugs such as benzodiazepines, antidepressants, stimulants, opiates and opioids, anticonvulsants, anti-dementia drugs, analgesics as well as the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac in the low ng L(-1) range of concentration. Full validation of the method was performed following procedures described by the French standard NF T90-210. Limits of quantification between 0.14 and 3.54 ng L(-1) were obtained. Method recoveries from 71 to 123% were observed with standard deviation below 10% in intermediate precision conditions. Accuracy was determined for every compound: measurement errors were between -4 and +1% and standard deviations in intermediate precision conditions were included within a 1-9% interval. Finally, measurement uncertainties were evaluated following the Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement (GUM). Expanded uncertainties (k=2) ranged from 2% for carbamazepine, EDDP (2-ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpyrrolidine) and venlafaxine to 17% for diazepam. The validated method was implemented to Seine river surface waters demonstrating its fitness for purpose. All compounds were detected and 22 out of 25 analytes were quantified. More specifically, measured concentration ranged from 0.39 ng L(-1) for MDMA (3,4-methylene-dioxy-N-methylamphetamine) to 182 ng L(-1) for gabapentine

Development of a multi-residue method for scrutinizing psychotropic compounds in natural waters

International audienceThe present work describes a multi-residue SPE-UPLC–MS/MS method aiming at the characterization of 68 compounds in natural waters, including parent compounds as well as their major metabolites and glucuronide conjugates. Development was conducted toward the quantitative determination of a broad range of analytes belonging to different class of psychotropic drugs such as benzodiazepines, antidepressants, stimulants, opiates and opioids, anticonvulsants, anti-dementia drugs, analgesic and anti-inflammatory drugs (as anthropic indicators) in the low ng L−1 range of concentration. Satisfactory extraction recoveries >70% were obtained for the majority of analytes (49 out of 68) allowing low limits of quantification. LOQ ranged between 0.1 and 17.8 ng L−1 and were lower than 5 ng L−1 for 94% of investigated analytes. Furthermore, addition of 25 isotopic labeled standards allowed to ensure reliability of the optimized method. Quantification errors were typically below 15% with relative standard variations <10% in intermediate precision conditions. Finally, the developed method was implemented in natural waters; sampling campaigns were conducted in the Seine River as a demonstration of the applicability and adequation of the method for its purpose. As a result, 48 out of 68 analytes were identified or quantified; some of them like memantine, rivastigmine, zolpidem 4-phenyl-carboxylic acid, zolpidem 6-carboxylic acid for one of the first time in surface waters. Among investigated psychotropic compounds and metabolites, tramadol, codeine, oxazepam, venlafaxine, O-desmethylvenlafaxine, gabapentin, carbamazepine and 10,11-dihydro-10,11-dihydroxycarbamazepine were found to be the most abundant

Towards method validation for selenium speciation analysis in human serum

Se is one of the most investigated trace essential elements in the last years, mostly due to its cancer prevention properties. Nevertheless, the accurate determination of its biologically active species present in human serum, such as selenoproteins (SeProt), is currently a challenging task. This is because of the lack of appropriate quantification standards, certified reference materials (CRMs) and/or reference measurement methods. Additionally, most of the methods developed so far for the determination of SeProt in human serum were applied to the analysis of control (volunteers) serums, which are not available to other laboratories, therefore making the method inter-comparison virtually impossible. We present here for the first time indicative levels of SeProt in a commercially available human serum, namely the BCR-637 CRM (with certified level of total Se). The selenium levels associated with glutathione peroxidase (GPx), selenoprotein P (SelP) and selenoalbumin (SeAlb) in this serum were calculated by means of the results obtained by using 13 different analytical methods on the basis of (double column) affinity HPLC coupled to ICP-MS. The indicative levels of SeProt in the BCR-637 serum can be used as preliminary reference values for validation of methods dealing with the determination of SeProt in human serum

LIPOPROTEINS AND LIPID METABOLISM: APOB CONTAINING LIPOPROTEINS. COMPARABILITY STUDY OF CANDIDATE REFERENCE METHODS FOR LDL-P MEASUREMENTS

Afdeling Klinische Chemie en Laboratoriumgeneeskunde (AKCL

AQUAREF : laboratoire national de référence sur l'eau et les milieux aquatiques

International audiencePar ses objectifs d'atteinte et de conservation du bon état écologique et chimique des eaux, la Directive Européenne sur l'Eau (DCE) nécessite de fait la mise en place d'outils pour l'évaluation et la surveillance des milieux aquatiques et du résultat des actions entreprises pour atteindre les objectifs. Plusieurs problématiques nouvelles sont à considérer dans des délais contraints, comme le dosage de polluants à des niveaux de concentration très faibles, l'adaptation et le développement des méthodes de bioindication. De plus, la mise sur le marché de nouveaux produits et de nouvelles molécules rend nécessaire la mise au point continue de nouvelles techniques de détection des molécules ou de leurs résidus de dégradation dans les milieux aquatiques récepteurs. Les connaissances sur l'impact écologique de ces polluants dans les milieux aquatiques sont insuffisantes, et la vision nouvelle de l'évaluation écologique entraîne la refonte du principe de certains indices utilisés jusqu'ici, ainsi que le développement des approches corrélant pressions et impacts. D'autre part, les notions de qualité ou d'incertitude, déjà bien intégrées dans les domaines de l'analyse physique et chimique, n'étaient qu'embryonnaires en hydrobiologie. Ces approches doivent maintenant être généralisées. AQUAREF, le laboratoire national de référence de l'eau et des milieux aquatiques, a été créé à l'initiative du ministère chargé de l'écologie et lancé officiellement le 31 mai 2007. Il a pour mission générale l'appui aux pouvoirs publics sur les aspects techniques et scientifiques liés à la mise en ½uvre de la DCE en France, ainsi que d'être interlocuteur des instances techniques européennes ou des autres états membres. Aquaref est un consortium regroupant cinq établissements publics de recherche directement impliqués dans les démarches liées à la DCE : BRGM, LNE, INERIS, IFREMER et CEMAGREF. Les objectifs se déclinent autour des 2 axes « chimie » et « biologie », avec les principaux thèmes suivants : méthodes pour les substances visées par la DCE dans les eaux, sédiments, biotes et boues ; méthodologie de la bioindication (phytoplancton, invertébrés benthiques, diatomées et phytobenthos, macrophytes, poissons) ; amélioration de la comparabilité des données issues de la surveillance des eaux ; élaboration de prescriptions techniques relatives aux opérations de surveillance ; mise en place des réseaux de surveillance, exploitation et valorisation des données ; relations avec les instances européennes et groupes de travail techniques nationaux et internationaux qui requièrent des experts ; valorisation et transfert des résultats des projets européens au niveau national ; besoins émergents (veille scientifique), thèmes prioritaires et développements scientifiques et techniques ; réseau de laboratoires européens. Aquaref constitue à la fois un « guichet unique » pour optimiser les réponses fournies aux pouvoirs publics et une plateforme commune de réflexion et d'action permettant une synergie entre les cinq établissements membres, autour de thèmes fédérateurs liés à la problématique de la DCE