What is Gorgias’ ‘not being’? A brief journey through the Treatise, the Apology of Palamedes and the Encomium of Helen

Assuming that a nihilist reading of Gorgias’ thought is to be ruled out, the issue of ‘not being’ remains one of the thorniest in his philosophy; indeed, it is fair to conclude that Gorgias is deeply concerned with ‘not being’. But what, after all, is Gorgias’ ‘not being’? This paper aims to answer this crucial question, by taking into consideration Gorgias’ main texts (i.e. the Treatise, the Apology of Palamedes and the Encomium of Helen). Each of them provides a serious – although not always explicit – account of ‘not being’. Overall, the aim is to show that Gorgias’ account of ‘not being’ is not concerned with ‘non-existence’ at all. It is deeply concerned, however, with falsehood and language. The paper will, therefore, be structured as follows: in part 1, the Treatise and specifically the the first section of the Particular Proof will be addressed and its ‘linguistic’ conception of ‘not-being’ fully exploited; in part 2, the Apology of Palamedes will be taken into account, in order to enucleate its ‘not-being-as-falsehood’ argument; the results from part 1 and part 2 will allow us, in part 3, to provide an analysis of the Encomium of Helen which points at its underlying conception of ‘not-being’

Enduring Indigeneity: Community Consultation as a Process for Indigenizing Curriculum at a College in Ontario

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its report which included 94 Calls to Action to address the legacy impacts of the Indian Residential School System in Canada. With education at the forefront of reconciliation, Call to Action #62 calls on post-secondary educators to integrate First Nations, Métis and Inuit content into their curriculum, to Indigenize teaching and learning within an education system built on Eurocolonial worldviews. A post-secondary institution located in southern Ontario (referred to by the pseudonym SCAAT) is making decolonization an institutional priority, especially as it is aligned with their Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives. Therefore, this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) aims to address the deficit of Indigenous worldviews represented across curriculum within the Faculty of Arts (FOA) at SCAAT through a process of Indigenization. Change agents will implement a consultation process with members of the local First Nation on whose traditional territory the college resides, so that curriculum reform for Indigenous education is informed by place-based stories, histories, knowledge and perspective; this underscores the objective of Indigenization. The author of this OIP identifies as Anishinaabe and the change is approached in an Indigenous wholistic framework, where it is pertinent that the writing privileges Indigenous perspectives, epistemologies, and methodologies. Through meaningful Indigenization, the FOA demonstrates a commitment to the authentic resurgence of Indigenous identity across curriculum offerings which will contribute to mutually respectful Indigenous-settler relations in support of reconciliation

Pharmacogenomics: What is Next?

Pharmacogenomics is moving from a candidate gene strategy to large scale approaches. This is in line with the new paradigm of linking a trait to (a) pathway(s) rather than to single genes. In addition, breakthroughs in genomics offer a non-a priori assessment of implicated genes, expanding the possibilities in pharmacogenomics research. In this review, we discuss the pros and cons of new concepts in study design and on high throughput approaches to be implemented in the near future

Catalysts for Sustainable Chemical Technologies

Fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas are, by the nature of their formation. a finite resource. Fossil fuel resources will eventually deplete or become uneconomical to use. If mankind is to maintain or improve its current quality of life over future generations, alternative means of producing usable energy and materials must be found. One feasible approach is bio-refining, which uses biomass to produce usable energy and materials from renewable sources. It has been stated that the main factor against the viability of a bio-refinery is the lack of available technology. The work described within this thesis aimed to enhance the technology in two areas within a potential bio-refinery; the depolymerisation of lignin to produce platform chemicals and the polymerisation of rac-lactide to produce bio-plastics. Chapter 2 contains the synthesis of a range of novel zinc(II) and aluminium(II1) heterogeneous silica tethered initiators for the ROP of rac-lactide were synthesised as well as their homogeneous silsesquioxane analogues. The heterogeneous complexes produced polylactide of reasonable molecular weight in a well controlled fashion. with Si-(L-HO)Al showing a degree of stereocontrol (Pr=0.32). ICP-AES analysis showed a reduction in the metal content of the polymer produced by heterogeneous initiators. A polymer synthesised by the heterogeneous Si-(LtBUO)AI complex contained 431 ppm Al compared to 2500 ppm Al when its homogeneous analogue, Al(tbuO)Me2, was used. A novel tetrametallic zinc(II) complex, Zn4(L HO)4(OMe)2Me2, was synthesised, demonstrating serendipitous oxygen insertion into the Zn-Me bond. Chapter 3 involved the synthesis and characterisation of a range of novel zinc(U) complexes based on a β-ketoiminate ligand system with varying steric properties. These were also active for the synthesis of polylactide from rac-lactide but exhibited no stereocontrol. The complexes were active in the industrial preferred melt conditions. Chapter 4 details analytical processes to assess the depolymerisation of lignin under oxidative conditions and a range of model lignin compounds were synthesised. Various approaches were utilised, based on heterogeneous and homogeneous•catalysts. The catalytical coupling of two -OH groups to form an ether moiety was observed in the presence of a Re(VII) complex and H20 2• A range of cobalt and vanadium complexes were synthesised and two solid state structures, CoSaLtBuOO and V(LTBUOO)O, were determined, these were screened for the depolymerisation of lignin and model compounds.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Aspetti meccanicistici della coordinazione di [(PPh3)3Ru(CO)(H2)] com Timina Acido Acetico

Ruthenium complexes have proved to exhibit antineoplastic activity related to the interaction of metal ion with DNA nucleobases. It is indeed of great interest to provide new insights on theses cutting-edge studies, such as the identification of distinct coordinative modes of DNA binding sites. During the investigation on the reaction between [(PPh3)3Ru(CO)(H)2], 1, and the Thymine Acetic Acid (THA) as model for nucleobases, we identified an unstable monohapto hydride acetate complex 2, which rapidly evolves into elusive intermediates whose nature was evidenced by NMR spectra and DFT calculations. We obtained crystals of [(PPh3)2Ru(CO)(k1-THA)(k2-THA)] 17, and [Ru(CO)(PPh3)2(k2-N,O)-[THA(A)];(k1-O)[THA(B)]2 18, phosphine ligands assuming cis conformation. The thesis deals on the analogue reactions of 1 with acetic acid by varying different parameters and operating conditions. The reaction yields to the hydride dihapto-acetate [(PPh3)2RuH(CO)(k2-Ac)] 8 through the related meridian monohapto, by releasing of phosphine ligand. However, the reaction yields a mixture of compounds, in which the dihapto hydride complex 8 is prevailing in any cases and does not provide any disclosure for the proposed mechanistic aspects. The reaction with two equivalents of acetic acid, affords the complex [(PPh3)2Ru(CO)(k1-Ac)(k2-Ac)] 11, exhibiting mutual trans:cis locations in 2:1 ratio for the phosphine. Such evidence agrees with the results obtained DFT calculations in vacuo, whereas it is in contrast with those obtained with the THA. Therefore we can inferred that the products obtained from the latter reaction is intermolecularly ruled by the hydrogen binding interactions between the functions [-NH•••(O)C-] in the two coordinated thymine ligands

Rehabilitative devices for a top-down approach

In recent years, neurorehabilitation has moved from a "bottom-up" to a "top down" approach. This change has also involved the technological devices developed for motor and cognitive rehabilitation. It implies that during a task or during therapeutic exercises, new "top-down" approaches are being used to stimulate the brain in a more direct way to elicit plasticity-mediated motor re-learning. This is opposed to "Bottom up" approaches, which act at the physical level and attempt to bring about changes at the level of the central neural system. Areas covered: In the present unsystematic review, we present the most promising innovative technological devices that can effectively support rehabilitation based on a top-down approach, according to the most recent neuroscientific and neurocognitive findings. In particular, we explore if and how the use of new technological devices comprising serious exergames, virtual reality, robots, brain computer interfaces, rhythmic music and biofeedback devices might provide a top-down based approach. Expert commentary: Motor and cognitive systems are strongly harnessed in humans and thus cannot be separated in neurorehabilitation. Recently developed technologies in motor-cognitive rehabilitation might have a greater positive effect than conventional therapies

Transfer transcriptomic signatures for infectious diseases

The modulation of the transcriptome is among the earliest responses to infection. However, defining the transcriptomic signatures of disease is challenging because logistic, technical, and cost factors limit the size and representativeness of samples in clinical studies. These limitations lead to a poor performance of signatures when applied to new datasets. Although the study focuses on infection, the central hypothesis of the work is the generalization of sets of signatures across diseases. We use a machine learning approach to identify common elements in datasets and then test empirically whether they are informative about a second dataset from a disease or process distinct from the original dataset. We identify sets of genes, which we name transfer signatures, that are predictive across diverse datasets and/or species (e.g., rhesus to humans). We demonstrate the usefulness of transfer signatures in two use cases: the progression of latent to active tuberculosis and the severity of COVID-19 and influenza A H1N1 infection. This indicates that transfer signatures can be deployed in settings that lack disease-specific biomarkers. The broad significance of our work lies in the concept that a small set of archetypal human immunophenotypes, captured by transfer signatures, can explain a larger set of responses to diverse diseases

Expression of renal aquaporins 1, 2, and 3 in a rat model of cisplatin-induced polyuria

Expression of renal aquaporins 1, 2, and 3 in a rat model of cisplatin-induced polyuria.BackgroundCisplatin (CP)-induced polyuria in rats is attributed to decreased medullary hypertonicity and/or an end-organ resistance to vasopressin. However, the roles of renal aquaporins (AQPs) have not yet been explored.MethodsMale Sprague-Dawley rats (230 to 245 g) received either a single injection of CP (5 mg/kg, N = 4) or saline (N = 4) intraperitoneally five days before sacrifice. Urine, blood, and kidney samples were analyzed.ResultsPlatinum accumulated in the cortex and outer medulla of CP-treated rats (39.05 ± 7.50 and 36.48 ± 12.44 μg/g vs. 2.52 ± 0.43 and 1.87 ± 0.84 μg/g dry tissue in controls, respectively). Histologically, tubular damage and decreased AQP1 immunolabeling were detected in the S3 segment of proximal tubules. CP treatment caused 4.4- and 4.8-fold increases, respectively, in blood urea nitrogen and urine volume, and a 4.4-fold decrease in urine osmolality. Immunoblots showed that AQP2 and AQP3 were significantly reduced to 33 ± 10% (P < 0.001) and 69 ± 11% (P < 0.05), respectively, in the inner medulla of CP-treated rats. Immunocytochemical analysis showed a decrease in AQP2 labeling in the inner medulla of CP-treated rats. Northern hybridization revealed a 33 ± 11% (P < 0.002) decrease in AQP2 mRNA expression in the inner medulla of CP-treated rats. AQP1 protein expression levels were modestly (67 ± 7%, P = 0.057) and significantly (53 ± 13%, P < 0.007) decreased in outer and inner medullae, respectively, of CP-treated rats.ConclusionsCP-induced polyuria in rats is associated with a significant decrease in the expression of collecting duct (AQP2 and AQP3) and proximal nephron and microvascular (AQP1) water channels in the inner medulla

Bioinformatics and HIV Latency

Despite effective treatment, HIV is not completely eliminated from the infected organism because of the existence of viral reservoirs. A major reservoir consists of infected resting CD4+ T cells, mostly of memory type, that persist over time due to the stable proviral insertion and a long cellular lifespan. Resting cells do not produce viral particles and are protected from viral-induced cytotoxicity or immune killing. However, these latently infected cells can be reactivated by stochastic events or by external stimuli. The present review focuses on novel genome-wide technologies applied to the study of integration, transcriptome, and proteome characteristics and their recent contribution to the understanding of HIV latency