Witkin III

I am fortunate to have as my respondents two scholars who have made, and continue to make, important contributions to what Professor Alexander terms the “strong program” for a sociology of the aesthetic. They have responded in very different ways. Professor Atkinson has used the occasion to present a personal commentary on the sociological neglect of the aesthetic dimension and has explored the implications of recent thinking and ethnographic research that responds to that neglect by bearing upon issues that are linked to those I raise. Because Professor Atkinson’s paper does not directly address the arguments in my paper, I have been invited by the editors to reply specifically to the critical comments made by Professor Alexander in his response to my work. The space allocated to me for my reply will only permit me to focus on his central argument to the exclusion of other points he make

The aesthetic imperative of a rational-technical machinery: a study in organizational control through the design of artifacts

The development of modern business and administrative organizations that are formally rational and technical in their structures and operations has given rise to the false conclusion that the aesthetic dimension does not figure at all in their making. The present paper argues that the opposite is the case, that the organization as a ‘rational-technical machinery’ gives rise to an aesthetic imperative characterized by those familiar elements of modernist design: the sharpness and simplicity of line, the suppression of color, the smoothness and hardness of tactile values, and the preference for planar forms. By such aesthetic means, modern organizations successfully cultivate, in their members, a presence through which the organization is made and re-made; this presence is characterized by the separation of head from body, of work life from private life, of rationality from sensuous values, of production from consumption, and of organizational function from personal expression

Genomic profiling reveals the potential role of TCL1A and MDR1 Deficiency in chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity

Background: Anthracyclines, such as doxorubicin (Adriamycin), are highly effective chemotherapeutic agents, but are well known to cause myocardial dysfunction and life-threatening congestive heart failure (CHF) in some patients. Methods: To generate new hypotheses about its etiology, genome-wide transcript analysis was performed on whole blood RNA from women that received doxorubicin-based chemotherapy and either did, or did not develop CHF, as defined by ejection fractions (EF)≤40%. Women with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy unrelated to chemotherapy were compared to breast cancer patients prior to chemo with normal EF to identify heart failure-related transcripts in women not receiving chemotherapy. Byproducts of oxidative stress in plasma were measured in a subset of patients. Results: The results indicate that patients treated with doxorubicin showed sustained elevations in oxidative byproducts in plasma. At the RNA level, women who exhibited low EFs after chemotherapy had 260 transcripts that differed \u3e2-fold (pIn vitro studies confirmed that inhibition of MDR1 by verapamil in rat H9C2 cardiomyocytes increased their susceptibility to doxorubicin-induced toxicity. Conclusions: It is proposed that chemo-induced cardiomyopathy may be due to a reduction in TCL1A levels, thereby causing increased apoptotic sensitivity, and leading to reduced cardiac MDR1 levels, causing higher cardiac levels of doxorubicin and intracellular free radicals. If so, screening for TCL1A and MDR1 SNPs or expression level in blood, might identify women at greatest risk of chemo-induced heart failure

Genetic influences on spatial ability: Transmission in an extended kindred

Transmission of six spatial tests, Card Rotations, Cube Comparisons, Group Embedded Figures, Hidden Patterns, Mental Rotations, and portable Rod and Frame, is examined among 73 members in four generations of an extended kindred. Nonadditive genetic variance is substantial for one of the six tests, Card Rotations. Whether this nonadditive genetic variance is due to a major autosomal gene is equivocal based on results from segregation and linkage analysis. There is no evidence for genetic variance for Mental Rotations or Hidden Patterns, in contrast to previous findings suggesting major gene involvement (Ashton et al. , 1979). If spatial ability is due, in part, to an autosomal major gene, the gene has variable expression (reflected in different tests) or genetic heterogeneity is pronounced.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44106/1/10519_2005_Article_BF01065907.pd