From Performing Wholeness to Providing Choices: Situated Knowledges in Afrika Solo and Harlem Duet

This paper considers two plays by Djanet Sears, Afrika Solo and Harlem Duet, under the rubric of feminist standpoint positioning. The situated knowledges of standpoint positioning avoid the "god trick," as Donna Haraway puts it, of the objectivist approach, but lead to other anxieties and limitations around subjectivity and agency. Both plays consider the performative and contextual nature of identity, but their spectatorial relationships offer different paths to agency and knowledge and challenge us to entertain certain epistemological shifts. Résumé Cet article porte sur deux pièces écrites par Djanet Sears, Afrika Solo et Harlem Duet, en privilégiant la théorie de positionnement féministe. Le savoir acquis en situation qui caractérise la théorie de positionnement permet d’échapper au « stratagème divin » (god trick) comme l’appelle Donna Haraway, d’une approche objectiviste, mais entraîne d’autres questions quant à la subjectivité et au rôle d’agent. Les deux pièces examinent la nature performative et contextuelle de l’identité, mais la relation établie avec le spectateur dans chacun des cas débouche sur différentes présentations du rôle de l’agent et du savoir et nous propose d’examiner certains changements d’ordre épistémologique

Identities of Ambivalence: Judith Thompson’s Perfect Pie

This paper examines Judith Thompson’s Perfect Pie, using Judith Butler’s discussion of subjectivity in The Psychic Life of Power. According to Butler, stability as a subject necessitates a simultaneous recognition and denial of subjugation to power, but this stability is also constantly threatened by desire which promises to destabilize the subject. Desire is therefore thwarted in order to guarantee the subject’s existence. As Butler points out, the process of subject formation resembles melancholia: the subject is never fully able to disengage from the discursive and psychic means by which it is constituted. Thompson, in both the script and in her directorial choices in the Tarragon 2000 production of Perfect Pie, writes large the subordination of the subject and also demonstrates its links to binary oppositions. Thompson highlights the excessive nature of the subject by foregrounding the binary oppositions which govern the psychic and social worlds and by then confounding them, demonstrating the Derridean notion of the trace of the other within the self. In her destabilizing of these binaries, and in her orchestration of narrative, Thompson emphasizes identity as a site of ambivalence in which binaries are relinquished and difference accommodated. Résumé Moser examine la pièce Perfect Pie de Judith Thompson à l’aide de la notion de subjectivité qu’expose Judith Butler dans The Psychic Life of Power. Selon Butler, la stabilité en tant que sujet exige à la fois une reconnaissance de sa soumission au pouvoir et un refus de ce mouvement. Or, cette stabilité est constamment menacée par un désir qui risque de déstabiliser le sujet, et ce désir doit être contré afin de garantir l’existence du sujet. Comme le constate Butler, le processus de formation du sujet ressemble à la mélancolie : le sujet ne peut jamais se détacher entièrement des moyens discursifs et psychiques à l’aide desquels il a été constitué. Dans les choix qu’elle a fait au moment de l’écriture et de la mise en scène de Perfect Pie au Tarragon en 2000, Thompson illustre la subordination du sujet et montre son rapport aux oppositions binaires. Elle souligne la nature excessive du sujet en plaçant au premier plan les oppositions binaires qui gouvernent les mondes psychiques et sociaux et en les confondant par la suite, illustrant la notion derridienne de la trace de l’Autre en soi. En déstabilisant ces éléments, et en orchestrant ainsi son récit, Thompson montre en quoi l’identité peut être le lieu d’une ambivalence où l’on abandonne les oppositions binaires et où l’on cherche à s’adapter à la différence

Neuronale Korrelate vestibulärer Stimulation

Das vestibuläre System als eines der evolutionär ältesten Systeme ist trotz der Häufigkeit des Symptoms Schwindel im Gegensatz zu den anderen sensorischen Systemen nur schlecht erforscht. Ziel der vorgelegten Studie war es mit Hilfe der EEG und der Bewegungsplattform das vestibuläre System von der Reizdarbietung bis zur kortikalen Verarbeitung vollständig darzustellen. Dabei konnte gezeigt werden, dass die EEG eine durchaus geeignete Methode ist, um das vestibuläre System auf kortikaler Ebene zu untersuchen. Konkret wurde gezeigt, dass passive translationale Beschleunigungen geeignet sind, vestibulär evozierte Potenziale (VestEPs) ähnlich dener in anderen Sinnessystemen auszulösen. Dabei konnten unabhängig von der Bewegungsrichtung drei Potenziale identifiziert werden, deren Amplituden durch die Beschleunigungsintensität moduliert werden. Eine Quellenlokalisation stellte das bereits aus fMRT- und PET-Studien bekannte, kortikale Netzwerk dar bestehend aus der hinteren Insel und dem Cingulum als zentrale Strukturen. Interessanterweise zeigte die bisher wenig beachtete Region CSv (visuelles Areal des Sulcus cingularis) die höchste Sensitivität für unterschiedliche Beschleunigungsintensitäten

Retinal axonal degeneration in Niemann–Pick type C disease

Objective Niemann–Pick disease type C1 (NPC1) is a rare autosomal-recessive lysosomal storage disorder presenting with a broad clinical spectrum ranging from a severe infantile-onset neurovisceral disorder to late-onset neurodegenerative disease. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is established to detect retinal degeneration in vivo. We examined NPC1-patients (NPC1-P), clinically asymptomatic NPC1-mutation carriers (NPC1-MC), and healthy controls (HC) to (1) identify retinal degeneration in NPC1-disease and (2) to investigate possible subclinical retinal degeneration in NPC1-MC. Methods Fourteen NPC1-P, 17 NPC1-MC, and 31 age-matched HC were examined using spectral-domain OCT. Neurological examinations, clinical scales [modified Disability Rating Scale (mDRS); Scale for the Rating and Assessment of Ataxia (SARA); Spinocerebellar Ataxia Functional Index (SCAFI)], and video-oculography (VOG) were correlated with OCT data. Results Macular retinal nerve fiber layer and volumes of combined ganglion cell and inner plexiform layer were significantly lower in NPC1-P compared to HC [mRNFL (µm):0.13 ± 0.01 vs. 0.14 ± 0.02; p = 0.01; GCIPL (mm3):0.60 ± 0.05 vs. 0.62 ± 0.04; p = 0.04]. No significant differences were found in NPC1-MC in comparison to HC. In NPC1-P, the amplitude of upward vertical saccades showed positive associations with peripapillary RNFL (ρ = 0.645; p < 0.05), and thinned GCIP (ρ = 0.609; p < 0.05), but not in NPC1-MC. In NPC1-P correlations between combined outer plexiform layer and outer nuclear layer (OPONL) with mDRS (r = − 0.617; p < 0.05) and GCIP with SARA (r = − 0.622; p < 0.05) were observed. Furthermore, in NPC1-MC, motor scores were negatively associated with pRNFL (ρ = − 0.677; p < 0.01). Conclusions Using OCT, we showed retinal degeneration in NPC1-P and significant correlation between retinal neuroaxonal degeneration with clinical measurements. We observed a non-significant trend of retinal degeneration in NPC1-MC correlating with subclinical motor abnormalities. Based on these preliminary data, OCT may be an important marker of neurodegeneration in NPC1-disease after onset of clinical symptoms

Evaluation of the in vitro skin permeation of antiviral drugs from penciclovir 1% cream and acyclovir 5% cream used to treat herpes simplex virus infection

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Herpes simplex virus infection (HSV) is a common and ubiquitous infection of the skin which causes mucocutaneous lesions called cold sores (herpes labialis) or fever blisters. It is estimated that approximately 80% of the population worldwide are carriers of the Herpes simplex virus, approximately 40% suffer from recurrent recurrent infections. This study evaluates the <it>in vitro </it>skin permeation and penetration of penciclovir and acyclovir from commercialized creams for the treatment of herpes labialis (cold sores), using non viable excised human abdominal skin samples, which were exposed to 5 mg/cm²of acyclovir 5% cream or penciclovir 1% cream.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>After 24 h of cream application, excess cream was washed off and layers of stratum corneum were removed by successive tape stripping. Amounts of active ingredients having penetrated through the skin were measured, as well as the amounts in the washed-off cream, in skin strips and creams remaining in the skin. Molecular modelling was used to evaluate physico-chemical differences between the drugs. Western blot analysis enabled to determine whether the marker of basal cells keratin 5 could be detected in the various tape strips.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Application of penciclovir 1% cream yielded higher concentration of drug in the deeper layers of the epidermis as well as a higher drug flux through the skin. Molecular modelling showed two higher hydrophobic moieties for acyclovir. Presence of the basal cell marker keratin 5 was underscored in the deeper tape strips from the skin, giving evidence that both drugs can reach their target cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Penciclovir 1% cream has the tendency to facilitate the diffusion of the drug through the stratum corneum into the deeper epidermis layers, in which it could reach the target basal cells at effective therapeutical concentration. The small difference in the surface properties between both molecules might also contribute to favour the passage of penciclovir through the epidermis into the deeper basal cells.</p

In silico toxicology protocols

The present publication surveys several applications of in silico (i.e., computational) toxicology approaches across different industries and institutions. It highlights the need to develop standardized protocols when conducting toxicity-related predictions. This contribution articulates the information needed for protocols to support in silico predictions for major toxicological endpoints of concern (e.g., genetic toxicity, carcinogenicity, acute toxicity, reproductive toxicity, developmental toxicity) across several industries and regulatory bodies. Such novel in silico toxicology (IST) protocols, when fully developed and implemented, will ensure in silico toxicological assessments are performed and evaluated in a consistent, reproducible, and well-documented manner across industries and regulatory bodies to support wider uptake and acceptance of the approaches. The development of IST protocols is an initiative developed through a collaboration among an international consortium to reflect the state-of-the-art in in silico toxicology for hazard identification and characterization. A general outline for describing the development of such protocols is included and it is based on in silico predictions and/or available experimental data for a defined series of relevant toxicological effects or mechanisms. The publication presents a novel approach for determining the reliability of in silico predictions alongside experimental data. In addition, we discuss how to determine the level of confidence in the assessment based on the relevance and reliability of the information

Antimicrobial activities of chemokines: not just a side-effect?

The large family of chemoattractant cytokines (chemokines) embraces multiple, in part unrelated functions that go well beyond chemotaxis. Undoubtedly, the control of immune cell migration (chemotaxis) is the single, unifying response mediated by all chemokines, which involves the sequential engagement of chemokine receptors on migrating target cells. However, numerous additional cellular responses are mediated by some (but not all) chemokines, including angiogenesis, tumor cell growth, T-cell co-stimulation, and control of HIV-1 infection. The recently described antimicrobial activity of several chemokines is of particular interest because antimicrobial peptides are thought to provide an essential first-line defense against invading microbes at the extremely large body surfaces of the skin, lungs, and gastrointestinal-urinary tract. Here we summarize the current knowledge about chemokines with antimicrobial activity and discuss their potential contribution to the control of bacterial infections that may take place at the earliest stage of antimicrobial immunity. In the case of homeostatic chemokines with antimicrobial function, such as CXCL14, we propose an immune surveillance function in healthy epithelial tissues characterized by low-level exposure to environmental microbes. Inflammatory chemokines, i.e., chemokines that are produced in tissue cells in response to microbial antigens (such as pathogen-associated molecular patterns) may be more important in orchestrating the cellular arm in antimicrobial immunity

Reconfiguring Home: Geopathology and Heterotopia in Margaret Hollingsworth's The House That Jack Built and It's Only Hot For Two Months In Kapuskasing

Una Chaudhuri utilise le terme «géopathologie» pour décrire la problématique de l'emplacement en théâtre moderne et les représentations possibles qui en découlent: la victimisation que représente le fait de demeurer en place, et l'héroïsme du départ. Cet article démontre comment les pièces The House That Jack Built et It's Only Hot for Two Months in Kapuskasing de Margaret Hollingsworth situent au premier plan la problématique de l'emplacement. La présente lecture de ces deux pièces souligne la manière dont les espaces «hétérotopiques» sont liés aux récits multivalents et offrent des constructions de rechange de la représentation et de l'identité