LC-MS analysis and antifungal activity of Turnera subulata Sm.

Fungi of the Candida genus are responsible for invasive candidiasis, which affects people all over the world and has high mortality rates. This is due to their virulence factors, which give them great resistance and pathogenicity. In addition, the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains makes it difficult to treat these infections. In this way, natural products have emerged as an alternative to standard drugs, where plants known for their medicinal properties such as Turnera subulata become attractive to research. The present work aimed to analyze the ethanol extract of Turnera subulata leaves against standard strains of Candida albicans, Candida krusei and Candida tropicalis using broth microdilution techniques. The identification of the compounds in T. subulata leaves by LC-MS revealed the presence of a wide variety of substances such as carboxylic acids and terpenes, with flavonoids and fatty acids being more evident. The antifungal assays showed that the extract was not able to inhibit the growth of the tested strains at concentrations with a clinical relevance. However, at higher concentrations, it was able to inhibit the fungal dimorphism of C. albicans and C. tropicalis. It is possible that the T. subulata extract has potential as an inhibitor of fungal virulence factors without affecting the cell viability. Further research should be carried out in order to assess its inhibitory potential for other fungal virulence factors

Never-lasting Effects: John Williams, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Bruno Jasieński, and Non-redemptive Failure

My dissertation examines literary accounts of failure and failed performance largely in the context of the advent of modernity. I read the works of John Williams, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Bruno Jasieński as case studies to discuss a non-redemptive kind of failure, one where the narrative does not suggest failing as a step to eventual success. Never-lasting Effectsis an attempt to delineate the productive side of failure within a non-future-oriented approach. In parallel with a reading of the above authors, I review the existing narratives about failure, in the main offered by scholars and critics who see it either as a nihilist, apolitical approach or, in a more hopeful way, as a tool of subversion and revolutionary practice under the conditions of late capitalism. My dissertation carves out a theoretical position outside of either of these opposed camps in what appears to be a nascent field of failure studies. Taking my methodology from performance studies and its emphasis on ephemerality, I examine failure synchronically, as it happens in its present. As I argue, there are important political effects produced by failure that cannot continue into the utopian future. My discussions of Williams, Pasolini, and Jasieński offer a new methodology of reading failure that helps us examine and understand those effects better

Nest soaking in natural holes-a serious cause of breeding failure?

Nest loss rates of four secondary hole-nesters - Pied (Ficedula hypoleuca) and Collared (Ficedula albicollis) Flycatchers, Marsh Tit (Parus palustris) and European Nuthatch (Sitta europaea) - due to soaking recorded during a long-term study in a primaeval temperate forest (Bialowiez̀a National Park, Poland) were low. Even during extremely heavy rains (> 74 mm in one day) they did not exceed 11%, far less than the loss due to predation. Soaking of nests occurred significantly less often in the late (flycatchers) than in the early breeding species (Nuthatches and Marsh Tits). In the latter species partial brood losses due to nest soaking were observed as well, the partial nest loss being more frequent in the rainy seasons. Interior walls of 8-40% holes were moist due to sap drain, but this only exceptionally led to the total nest failure. We suggest that the main function of bulky nest foundations in all these species may be protection against moisture