Converse effect of pressure on the quadrupolar and magnetic transition in Ce3Pd20Si6

The heavy fermion compound Ce3Pd20Si6 displays unconventional quantum criticality as the lower of two consecutive phase transitions is fully suppressed by magnetic field. Here we report on the effects of pressure as an additional tuning parameter. Specific heat and electrical resistivity measurements reveal a converse effect of pressure on the two transitions, leading to the merging of both transitions at 6.2 kbars. The field-induced quantum criticality is robust under pressure tuning. We rationalize our findings within an extended version of the global phase diagram for antiferromagnetic heavy fermion quantum criticality

The work of the audience: visual matrix methodology in museums

Visual matrix methodology has been designed for researching cultural imaginaries. It is an image-led, group-based method that creates a “third space” research setting to observe audience groups re-enacting lived experience of an event or process that takes place in the third space of a cultural setting. In this article the method is described through its use in relation to an art-science exhibition, Human + Future of the species, where three audience groups with investments in technology worked with exhibition material to achieve a complex, ambivalent state of mind regarding technological futures. The visual matrix has been designed to capture the affective and aesthetic quality of audience engagement in third space by showing what audiences do with what is presented to them. We argue that such methodologies are useful for museums as they grapple with their role as sites where citizens not only engage in dialogue with one another but actively re-work their imaginaries of the future

Liposome Mediated-CYP1A1 Gene Silencing Nanomedicine Prepared Using Lipid Film-Coated Proliposomes as a Potential Treatment Strategy of Lung Cancer

The occurrence of lung cancer is linked with tobacco smoking, mainly through the generation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Elevated activity of cytochrome P4501A1 (CYP1A1) plays an important role in the metabolic processing of PAHs and its carcinogenicity. The present work aimed to investigate the role of CYP1A1 gene in PAH-mediated growth and tumor development in vitro and using an in vivo animal model. RNAi strategy was utilized to inhibit the overexpression of CYP1A1 gene using cationic liposomes generated using a lipid film-coated proliposome microparticles. Treatment of PAH-induced human alveolar adenocarcinoma cell line with cationic liposomes carrying CYP1A1 siRNA resulted in down regulation of CYP1A1 mRNA, protein as well as its enzymatic activity, triggering apoptosis and inhibiting multicellular tumor spheroids formation in vitro. Furthermore, silencing of CYP1A1 gene in BALB/c nude xenografts inhibited tumor growth via down regulation of CYP1A1 expression. Altogether, our findings showed that liposome-based gene delivery technology is a viable and stable approach for targeting cancer causing genes such as CY1PA1. This technology facilitated by the use of sugar particles coated with lipid films has demonstrated ability to generate anticancer effects that might be used in the future for therapeutic intervention and treatment of lung cancer. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The Visual Matrix method in a study of death and dying: Methodological reflections

The Visual Matrix method is designed to elicit imagistic and associative contributions established collectively amongst participants in a group setting. In this article, a hard to-reach area of experience - death and dying - illustrates the production of shared cultural images beyond individual experience. Our dual purpose was to assess the suitability of the method for this challenging topic, and to understand the ways in which death figured in the imagination of the participants. Three theorists, Wilfred Bion, Alfred Lorenzer and Gilles Deleuze, enable us to theorise psychosocial processes of symbolisation beyond cognition

Special issue on Alfred Lorenzer: Introduction

Alfred Lorenzer, a major figure in post-World War II German intellectual debate, is little known in the Anglophone world. As well as supplying biographical details, this short introduction to the special issue on Lorenzer’s work sketches the nature of his debt to Frankfurt School critical theory, highlights his attempt to place psychoanalysis on a materialist footing, and provides an overview of the issue’s contents