Expression of the insulin-like growth factor-II/mannose-6-phosphate receptor in multiple human tissues during fetal life and early infancy

The insulin like growth factor-II/mannose-6-phosphate (IGF-II/M6P) receptor has been detected in many cells and tissues. In the rat, there is a dramatic developmental regulation of IGF-II/M6P receptor expression, the receptor being high in fetal and neonatal tissues and declining thereafter. We have systematically studied the expression of the human IGF-II/M6P receptor protein in tissues from 10 human fetuses and infants (age 23 weeks gestation to 24 months postnatal). We have asked 1) whether there is differential expression among different organs, and 2) whether or not the human IGF-II/M6P receptor is developmentally regulated from 23 weeks gestation to 24 months postnatal. Protein was extracted from human tissues using a buffer containing 2% sodium dodecyl sulfate and 2% Triton X-100. Aliquots of the protein extracts were analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate- polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting using an anti-IGF- II/M6P receptor antiserum (no. 66416) and 125I-protein A or an immunoperoxidase stain. IGF-II/M6P receptor immunoreactivity was detected in all tissues studied with the highest amount of receptor being expressed in heart, thymus, and kidney and the lowest receptor content being measured in brain and muscle. The receptor content in ovary, testis, lung, and spleen was intermediate. The apparent molecular weight of the IGF-II/M6P receptor (220,000 kilos without reduction of disulfide bonds) varied among the different tissues: in brain the receptor was of lower molecular weight than in other organs. Immunoquantitation experiments employing 125I-protein A and protein extracts from human kidney at different ages revealed a small, albeit not significant, difference of the receptor content between fetal and postnatal tissues: as in other species, larger amounts of receptor seemed to be present in fetal than in postnatal organs. In addition, no significant difference of the receptor content between human fetal liver and early postnatal liver was measured employing 125I-protein A- immunoquantitation in three fetal and five postnatal liver tissue samples. The distribution of IGF-binding protein (IGEBP) species, another abundant and major class of IGF binding principles, was also measured in human fetal and early postnatal lung, liver, kidney, muscle, and brain using Western ligand blotting with 125I-IGF-II: as with IGF-II/M6P receptor immunoreactivity there was differential expression of the different classes of IGFBPs in the various organs

At Home with the Strange: Seven Interpretations of Ödön von Horváth\u27s Dramatic Oeuvre

Post-1918 Austrian literature is marked by radical changes caused by the end of the First World War and the dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. For many Austrian authors the life thus broke into two halves, the period before the First World War and the time after. The authors such as Joseph Roth or Ödön von Horváth remain landless in a double sense, temporally but – as the authors who work in a culturally foreign territory of the Weimar Republic – also spatially. It is in this context that the dramatic oeuvre of the „old Austrian“ author Ödön von Horváth acquires a special role. His heterogeneous origin and polyphony derived from it turn him into an exceedingly exceptional observer of the world of crisis in Germany and Austria after 1918. Wolfgang Müller-Funk\u27s work does not pretend to offer a final interpretation of the author\u27s plays in the 1920s and the 1930s but is understood as a proposal for reading. The themes and motifs such as empathy, alienation in the world, ambivalence, inflation and the loss of footing, a new constellation of the sexes, cold objectivity and preference for the median, half-public spaces present high points that mark the atmosphere and the structure of Horváth\u27s works. In a manner of speaking, this oeuvre, based on psychoanalysis among others, can be understood as a critical model opposed to Brecht\u27s programmatic anti-psychological epic theater. Horváth\u27s „folk pieces“ aim at revealing the dark and subconscious aspects of the human

Foreign, Alien, and Extraterritorial. And Yet Similar? Questions for a Contemporary Discourse with Reference to Kafka, Camus, and Chamisso

Der Zusammenhang von Grenze, Alterität und Sprache in Waldenfels’ neuester Studie über Phänomenologie und Psychoanalyse ist Ausgangspunkt des Beitrags. Skizziert wird die narrative Logik dreier Texte, in denen sich verschiedene Momente des Fremden und Alteritären überlappen und in denen ein Grundimpuls von Fremdheit plastisch hervortritt. Alle drei Protagonisten – Albert von Chamissos Peter Schlemihl, Franz Kafkas Karl Roßmann und Albert Camus’ Meursault – sind dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass ihre sozialen Relationen gestört, gekappt oder neutralisiert sind. Die Formen der Fremdheit sind jeweils mit einem verschatteten, manchmal jedoch ausdrücklich benannten politischen Kontext verbunden.The connection between border, alterity, and language in Waldenfels’ latest study on phenomenology and psychoanalysis is the starting point of this paper. The paper outlines the narrative logic of three literary texts in which various moments of the Alien and Alteritarian overlap, and a basic impulse of the Alien emerges vividly. In all three texts, the protagonists – Albert von Chamisso’s Peter Schlemihl, Franz Kafka’s Karl Roßmann, and Albert Camus’ Meursault – are characterized by the disruption, discontinuation, or neutralization of their social roles. Each of the forms of the Alien is linked to a shadowed, but at times also explicitly named, political context

Reparatur von DNA-Doppelstrangbrüchen in den kortikalen Neuronen juveniler Mäuse nach fraktionierter Niedrigdosisbestrahlung

Hintergrund und Zielsetzung: In der Therapie von ZNS-Tumoren bei Kindern kommen zunehmend hochkonformale Bestrahlungstechniken wie die Intensitätsmodulierte Strahlentherapie (IMRT) zum Einsatz. Dadurch werden zwangsläufig größere Volumina gesunden Gewebes, wenn auch mit einer geringeren Dosis als zuvor, bestrahlt. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, die Anzahl potentieller DNA-Schäden in den kortikalen Neuronen nach fraktionierter Niedrigdosisbestrahlung mit Hilfe des in vivo Modell juveniler Mäuse zu erfassen. Methodik: Juvenile Mäuse wurden über ein, zwei, drei oder vier Wochen jeweils täglich von Montag bis Freitag niedrig dosiert (jeweils 100 mGy pro Tag) bestrahlt. Die DNADoppelstrangbrüche wurden anhand der 53BP1-Foci dargestellt. Diese wurden in den Neuronen des zerebralen Kortex 72 Stunden nach der letzten Bestrahlung sowie in den Neuronen der über vier Wochen bestrahlten Mäuse zusätzlich ein, drei und sechs Monate nach der letzten Bestrahlung gezählt. Ergebnisse: Mit zunehmender Dauer und damit zunehmender Dosis der fraktionierten Bestrahlung stieg die Focuszahl/Neuron linear an. Ein signifikanter Rückgang der Focuszahl/Neuron war erstmals 6 Monate nach Bestrahlung zu beobachten. Das Niveau der unbestrahlten Kontrollen wurde nicht erreicht. Schlussfolgerung: Die fraktionierte Niedrigdosisbestrahlung führt mit steigender Dosis zu einer Akkumulation von DNA-Doppelstrangbrüchen in den kortikalen Neuronen juveniler Gehirne. Die lange Persistenz dieser DNA-Schäden, verglichen mit den Daten für adulte Mäuse in der Literatur, deutet zudem auf eine gesteigerte Vulnerabilität des juvenilen Gehirns im Langzeitverlauf nach fraktionierter Bestrahlung hin. Die vorliegende Arbeit liefert damit erste Hinweise, dass bei Kindern selbst niedrige Strahlendosen, wie sie im Randbereich von Zielvolumina auftreten, nicht zu vernachlässigen sind. Ausblick: Gegenstand weiterführender Untersuchungen sollte der Zusammenhang zwischen den persistierenden 53BP1-Foci und ihren möglichen neurofunktionellen Auswirkungen sein.Background and purpose: In the treatment of CNS tumours of children new highly conformal radiation techniques, e.g. intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) are increasingly used. Thus inevitably larger volumes of healthy tissue are irradiated, albeit with lower doses than before. Aim of the present work is to assess the number of potential DNA lesions in cortical neurons after fractionated low dose irradiation with the help of the in vivo model of juvenile mice. Methods: Juvenile mice were irradiated daily with low dose (100 mGy per day) one, two, three or four weeks, respectively, from Monday to Friday. DNA double-strand breaks were visualized by 53BP1 foci. They were counted in neurons of the cerebral cortex 72 hours after the last irradiation as well as in the neurons of mice irradiated over four weeks one, three and six months, respectively, after the last fraction. Results: With increasing time and thus total dose of fractionated irradiation the number of foci per neuron linearly increased. A significant decrease of the number of foci per neuron was monitored 6 months after irradiation for the first time. The level of unirradiated control mice was not reached. Conclusion: Fractionated low dose irradiation with increasing cumulative doses leads to an accumulation of DNA double-strand breaks in cortical neurons of juvenile brains. The long persistence of these DNA lesions compared to data in adult mice in literature suggests an enhanced long-term vulnerability of the juvenile brain. The present work implies, that in children even low radiation doses which occur in the periphery of the target volumes are not to be neglected. Prospects: Further studies should aim to clarify the relation between the persistence of 53BP1-foci and its potential neurofunctional effects

Rede anlässlich der Vorstellung der Zeitschrift GEM

Prigodni govor povodom predstavljanja časopisa GEM dana 14. listopada 2019. godine u Austrijskoj knjižnici „Dr. Alois Mock“ na Sveučilištu u Zadru.Rede anlässlich der Vorstellung der Zeitschrift GEM am 14. Oktober 2019. in der Österreich-Bibliothek „Dr. Alois Mock" an der Universität Zadar

Die Gewißheit des Zweifels. Überlegungen zu einer Paradoxie

The philosophical concept of certainty is embedded in the main stream of traditional occidental epistemology . Certainty has to do with the (christian) metaphysical belief that there is a type of sentences, which are evident and true under all historical and cultural conditions. In his book about certainty John Dewey argues that certainty has produced a feeling of sureness in a world of danger and radical change. On the other hand there is a specific medium and method of European thinking, which has focussed the problem of certainty in a sceptical approach. Following Robert Musils “Mann ohne Eigenschaften” I call this type of thinking , starting with Montaignes “Essais” “Essayism”. Michel de Montaigne rediscovering the Pyrrhonian scepticism has formulated a critical concept vis a vis traditional concepts of certainty. The only reference on certainty in a ocean of uncertainties is the sceptical subject itself. But this subject is a result of a process of writing and a product of language. Wittgenstein´s concept of “Sprachspiele” is helpful insofar one can show that certainty is part of a specific discourse, which can be described as the common sense of a culture, a discourse in which scepticism and contextualism are excluded. Every kind of society needs such a type of common sense. The “Sprachspiel” of modern philosophy however differs from the “Sprachspiel” of common sense principally. So modern philosophy no longer is grounded on certainty and is not able to found new certainties.The philosophical concept of certainty is embedded in the main stream of traditional occidental epistemology . Certainty has to do with the (christian) metaphysical belief that there is a type of sentences, which are evident and true under all historical and cultural conditions. In his book about certainty John Dewey argues that certainty has produced a feeling of sureness in a world of danger and radical change. On the other hand there is a specific medium and method of European thinking, which has focussed the problem of certainty in a sceptical approach. Following Robert Musils “Mann ohne Eigenschaften” I call this type of thinking , starting with Montaignes “Essais” “Essayism”. Michel de Montaigne rediscovering the Pyrrhonian scepticism has formulated a critical concept vis a vis traditional concepts of certainty. The only reference on certainty in a ocean of uncertainties is the sceptical subject itself. But this subject is a result of a process of writing and a product of language. Wittgenstein´s concept of “Sprachspiele” is helpful insofar one can show that certainty is part of a specific discourse, which can be described as the common sense of a culture, a discourse in which scepticism and contextualism are excluded. Every kind of society needs such a type of common sense. The “Sprachspiel” of modern philosophy however differs from the “Sprachspiel” of common sense principally. So modern philosophy no longer is grounded on certainty and is not able to found new certainties