English drama For critical pedagogy : adapting Caryl Churchill’S dramas as a methodological tool for community-engaged theatre workshopping in post-Umbrella Movement Hong Kong

Tertiary-level drama is often condescendingly perceived in Hong Kong as either vocational or leisure-related, and tends to be marginalized in many – though not all – curricula as an activity for extra-curricular inter-university competition. This research aims at re-imagining Drama and Community Theatre as a critical pedagogy in promoting community culture. The aim of the research project is to strengthen the social functions of drama as community experience and as a tool for empowerment in the ‘glocal’ sociopolitical context of today. The study examines the methodology of a semi-scripted, community-engaged, theatre workshopping initiative with scenes adapted from Caryl Churchill’s plays, offering a powerful pedagogic praxis with the goal of raising social and cultural consciousness in the post-Umbrella Movement era of Hong Kong. The first part of the study focuses on the experimental forms of community-oriented plays and theatre workshopping practices in historical contexts, investigating how Churchill’s plays respond to theatre as social criticism in contemporary society. It proposes four community-engaged theatre workshopping models with scene extracts adopted and adapted from Top Girls, Cloud Nine, Serious Money and A Number by Caryl Churchill. These models are designed to engage with the learning needs and interests of tertiary students particularly in the current global sociopolitical context. The initiative is supported by an empirical action research element, which envisages one of the models as a form of critical pedagogy, connecting the typical tertiary Drama Studies curriculum with outreach community experience. The second part of the research project presents a local case study in which scene extracts from Top Girls were adapted and introduced to Hong Kong secondary students as a methodological tool for community-engaged theatre workshopping. This small-scale experimental model of a community drama outreach programme was facilitated by a focus group of students from an undergraduate Drama course. The research results reflect on how students’ existing social awareness of community cultural development and identity can be linked to the glocal construct in the way they perceive and interact with the contemporary community-oriented plays that Churchill has produced. Based on the narratives from the focus group and my participant-observation of the response from the participating community, my qualitative study makes a number of conclusions about the effect of such pedagogic methodology on students’ empowerment in learning autonomy. The model is intended to encourage tertiary students to create their own forms of theatre workshopping to share their internalized subject knowledge and personal insights with other communities outside the institutional setting. And the research expresses the significance of theatre for community as rehearsals of the anticipated tensions between citizens and institutions in the global sociopolitical context

Enhancing the efficiency of a PCR using gold nanoparticles

We found that the PCR could be dramatically enhanced by Au nanoparticles. With the addition of 0.7 nM of 13 nm Au nanoparticles into the PCR reagent, the PCR efficiency was increased. Especially when maintaining the same or higher amplification yields, the reaction time could be shortened, and the heating/cooling rates could be increased. The excellent heat transfer property of the nanoparticles should be the major factor in improving the PCR efficiency. Different PCR systems, DNA polymerases, DNA sizes and complex samples were compared in this study. Our results demonstrated that Au nanoparticles increase the sensitivity of PCR detection 5- to 10-fold in a slower PCR system (i.e. conventional PCR) and at least 10(4)-fold in a quicker PCR system (i.e. real-time PCR). After the PCR time was shortened by half, the 100 copies/µl DNA were detectable in real-time PCR with gold colloid added, however, at least 10(6) copies/µl of DNA were needed to reach a detectable signal level using the PCR reagent without gold colloid. This innovation could improve the PCR efficiency using non-expensive polymerases, and general PCR reagent. It is a new viewpoint in PCR, that nanoparticles can be used to enhance PCR efficiency and shorten reaction times

TRAPPC9 Mediates the Interaction between p150Glued and COPII Vesicles at the Target Membrane

Background: The transport of endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-derived COPII vesicles toward the ER-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) requires cytoplasmic dynein and is dependent on microtubules. p150Glued, a subunit of dynactin, has been implicated in the transport of COPII vesicles via its interaction with COPII coat components Sec23 and Sec24. However, whether and how COPII vesicle tether, TRAPP (Transport protein particle), plays a role in the interaction between COPII vesicles and microtubules is currently unknown. Principle Findings: We address the functional relationship between COPII tether TRAPP and dynactin. Overexpressed TRAPP subunits interfered with microtubule architecture by competing p150Glued away from the MTOC. TRAPP subunit TRAPPC9 bound directly to p150Glued via the same carboxyl terminal domain of p150Glued that binds Sec23 and Sec24. TRAPPC9 also inhibited the interaction between p150Glued and Sec23/Sec24 both in vitro and in vivo, suggesting that TRAPPC9 serves to uncouple p150Glued from the COPII coat, and to relay the vesicle-dynactin interaction at the target membrane. Conclusions: These findings provide a new perspective on the function of TRAPP as an adaptor between the ERGIC membrane and dynactin. By preserving the connection between dynactin and the tethered and/or fused vesicles, TRAPP allows nascent ERGIC to continue the movement along the microtubules as they mature into the cis-Golgi

AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Activation during Cardioplegia-Induced Hypoxia/Reoxygenation Injury Attenuates Cardiomyocytic Apoptosis via Reduction of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress

Cardioplegic-induced H/R injury results in cardiomyocytic apoptosis. AMPK has been shown to reduce ER stress and the unfolded protein response (UPR). Whether AMPK activation can attenuate cardiomyocytic apoptosis after cardioplegia-induced H/R injury is unknown. Cardiomyocytes were exposed to simulated ischemia by incubation in a hypoxic chamber with intermittent cold cardioplegia solution infusion at 20-minute intervals and subsequently reoxygenated in a normoxic environment. Various doses of AMPK activators (AICAR or metformin) were given 2 days before H/R injury. The cardiomyocytes were harvested after reoxygenation for subsequent examination. With both AMPK activators, the antiapoptotic genes of ER stress and UPR, the subsequent production of proapoptotic proteins was attenuated, and the antiapoptotic proteins were elevated. The activity of the apoptotic effectors of ER stress was also reduced with AMPK activation. Moreover, TUNEL staining showed that AMPK activation significantly reduced the percentage of apoptotic cardiomyocytes after cardioplegia-induced H/R injury. Our results revealed that AMPK activation during cardioplegia-induced H/R injury attenuates cardiomyocytic apoptosis, via enhancement of antiapoptotic and reduction of proapoptotic responses, resulting from lessening ER stress and the UPR. AMPK activation may serve as a future pharmacological target to reduce H/R injury in the clinical setting

Frequency Dependent Alterations in Regional Homogeneity of Baseline Brain Activity in Schizophrenia

Low frequency oscillations are essential in cognitive function impairment in schizophrenia. While functional connectivity can reveal the synchronization between distant brain regions, the regional abnormalities in task-independent baseline brain activity are less clear, especially in specific frequency bands. Here, we used a regional homogeneity (ReHo) method combined with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate low frequency spontaneous neural activity in the three different frequency bands (slow-5:0.01–0.027 Hz; slow-4:0.027–0.08 Hz; and typical band: 0.01–0.08 Hz) in 69 patients with schizophrenia and 62 healthy controls. Compared with controls, schizophrenia patients exhibited decreased ReHo in the precentral gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, and posterior insula, whereas increased ReHo in the medial prefrontal cortex and anterior insula. Significant differences in ReHo between the two bands were found in fusiform gyrus and superior frontal gyrus (slow-4> slow-5), and in basal ganglia, parahippocampus, and dorsal middle prefrontal gyrus (slow-5> slow-4). Importantly, we identified significant interaction between frequency bands and groups in the inferior occipital gyrus and caudate body. This study demonstrates that ReHo changes in schizophrenia are widespread and frequency dependent

Concurrent image-guided intensity modulated radiotherapy and chemotherapy following neoadjuvant chemotherapy for locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To evaluate the experience of induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiationwith helical tomotherapy (HT) for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Between August 2006 and December 2009, 28 patients with pathological proven nonmetastatic NPC were enrolled. All patients were staged as IIB-IVB. Patients were first treated with 2 to 3 cycles of induction chemotherapy with EP-HDFL (Epirubicin, Cisplatin, 5-FU, and Leucovorin). After induction chemotherapy, weekly based PFL was administered concurrent with HT. Radiation consisted of 70 Gy to the planning target volumes of the primary tumor plus any positive nodal disease using 2 Gy per fraction.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After completion of induction chemotherapy, the response rates for primary and nodal disease were 96.4% and 80.8%, respectively. With a median follow-up after 33 months (Range, 13-53 months), there have been 2 primary and 1 nodal relapse after completion of radiotherapy. The estimated 3-year progression-free rates for local, regional, locoregional and distant metastasis survival rate were 92.4%, 95.7%, 88.4%, and 78.0%, respectively. The estimated 3-year overall survival was 83.5%. Acute grade 3, 4 toxicities for xerostomia and dermatitis were only 3.6% and 10.7%, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>HT for locoregionally advanced NPC is feasible and effective in regard to locoregional control with high compliance, even after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. None of out-field or marginal failure noted in the current study confirms the potential benefits of treating NPC patients by image-guided radiation modality. A long-term follow-up study is needed to confirm these preliminary findings.</p