The Italian National Project of Astrobiology-Life in Space-Origin, Presence, Persistence of Life in Space, from Molecules to Extremophiles

The \u2018\u2018Life in Space\u2019\u2019 project was funded in the wake of the Italian Space Agency\u2019s proposal for the development of a network of institutions and laboratories conceived to implement Italian participation in space astrobiology experiments

A repentant sinner : representing the self in Nikephoros Ouranos’ catanyctic alphabet

For Byzantines, catanyctic poetry offered a rich source of models for self-representation. In this paper I analyse the poetic strategies and literary motifs through which Nikephoros Ouranos (tenth-eleventh century) shaped the self in his catanyctic alphabet. In particular, I will focus on the intertextual strategies employed by Ouranos in order to model the catanyctic self, such as the identification with scriptural sinners, and the presence of biblical metaphors

Expressing compunction : the literary motifs of Byzantine katanyktic poetry and their religious and scriptural background

Deze doctoraalscriptie onderzoekt de literaire uitdrukking van de emoties van berouw (κατάνυξις) en inkeer in de zogenaamde katanyktische gedichten uit de midden- en laat- Byzantijnse periode. Dit zijn persoonlijke gedichten van boetvaardige aard die in Byzantium werden voorgedragen en gezongen tijdens liturgische rituelen en praktijken van persoonlijke devotie. Mijn studie bestaat uit twee volumes. In het eerste deel presenteer ik de belangrijkste kenmerken van de katanyktische poëzie door middel van een cultuurhistorische studie en een literaire analyse van de belangrijkste literaire motieven van deze teksten. In deze analyse richt ik mij op de invloed van de Bijbel op de gedichten, waarbij ik ook rekening houd met de belangrijke bemiddelende rol van de christelijke exegese en de Byzantijnse hymnografie. De methodologie die ik toepas is die van de transtextualiteit, waarvan Gerard Genette de eerste theoreticus was. Volgens deze benadering beschouw ik katanyktische gedichten als de “hypertext”, en de Bijbel als de belangrijkste “hypotext” die eraan ten grondslag ligt. In dit verband zal ik me vooral richten op de intertekstuele relatie - die tot stand komt door citaten en toespelingen - tussen de Schrift en katanyktische teksten. Daarbij identificeer ik niet alleen bijbelse of exegetische bronnen in de gedichten, maar toon ik ook de functie aan van dergelijke ontleningen in de nieuwe context van de katanyktische poëzie, en onderzoek ik de effecten van intertekstualiteit op de teksten en hun lezers. Van de literaire motieven die ik heb behandeld, springen de analyse van de karakters van boetvaardige bijbelse zondaars als model van representatie voor het katanyktische zelf, en mijn behandeling van de topos van het beroep op de ziel en van tranen en weeklagen eruit. Het tweede deel bevat de digitalisering van de veertig Griekse teksten die het corpus vormen. Voor elk van deze teksten heb ik een Engelse vertaling gegeven - in de meeste gevallen de eerste vertaling in een moderne taal. In de voetnoot van mijn vertalingen markeer ik op verschillende manieren de soorten bijbelse ontleningen in de gedichten. Bij de citaten voeg ik de bijbelse bron toe en geef ik de hele passage in het Grieks. Ook voor aangepaste citaten vermeld ik de volledige bijbelse passage, voorafgegaan door een tilde (~). Voor toespelingen gebruik ik de afkorting "cf.". Dit onderzoek valoriseert een literair genre dat door wetenschappers lang terzijde is gelaten. Ondanks de fundamentele rol die de emotie van het berouw speelt in de Byzantijnse literaire en spirituele sfeer, zijn er nog maar weinig studies over dit onderwerp, en zijn die vaak beperkt tot specifieke auteurs of historische perioden. Daarom is de diachronische benadering van mijn werk, samen met de intertekstuele analyse die ik uitvoer en die de vele verbanden tussen de Bijbel en de katanyktische poëzie blootlegt, vernieuwend.This doctoral thesis aims to explore the literary expression of the emotions of compunction (κατάνυξις) and repentance in the so-called katanyktic poems from the middle and late Byzantine period. These are personal poems of a penitential nature that were performed and chanted in Byzantium during liturgical rites and practices of personal devotion. My study consists of two volumes. In the first volume, I present the main characteristics of katanyktic poetry, by conducting a cultural-historical study and an analysis of the major literary motifs of these texts. In this analysis, I focus on the influence of the Bible on the poems, also taking into account the fundamental mediating role of Christian exegesis and Byzantine hymnography. The methodology I apply is that of transtextuality, whose first theorist was Gerard Genette. Following this approach, I consider katanyktic poems as the hypertext, and the Bible as the main hypotext that underlies them. In this regard, I especially focus on the intertextual relationship – created by quotations and allusions – between the Scriptures and katanyktic texts. My aim is not merely identify biblical or exegetical sources in the poems, but also show the function of such borrowings in the new context of katanyktic poetry, investigating the effects of intertextuality on the texts and their readers. Among the literary motifs I have dealt with, the analysis of the characters of penitent biblical sinners as a model of representation for the katanyktic self, and my treatment of the topos of the appeal to one's soul and of tears and lamentation stand out. The second volume contains the digitisation of the thirty-nine Greek texts that form the corpus. For each of these texts I have offered an English translation. In the footnote of my translations, I mark in different ways the types of biblical borrowings present in the poems. For the quotations, I insert the scriptural source and provide the entire passage in Greek. Also for adapted quotations I include the entire biblical passage, preceded by a tilde (~). Finally, in the case of allusions, I use the abbreviation “cf.” This research valorises a kind of literature long forgotten by scholars. Depite the fundamental role played by the emotion of compunction in the Byzantine literary and spiritual sphere, studies on this topic are still few, and often focused on specific authors or historical periods. Therefore, the diachronic approach of my work, together with the intertextual analysis I conduct, which reveals the multiple links between the Bible, the Byzantine religious practices of repentance and katanyktic poetry, is innovative in this sense

In the rhythm of everyday life : edition of a series of Katanyktic Troparia from MS Sin. Gr. E 26

This article offers the editio princeps of a series of katanyktic troparia (tau rho omicron pi alpha rho iota alpha kappa alpha tau alpha nu upsilon kappa tau iota kappa alpha), preserved in the roll Sin. gr. E 26 (Diktyon 60773). This scroll is one of the oldest collections of Hagiopolitan hymns for the weekday Divine Office. The study of a docu-ment like this one allows us to trace the evolution of the hymnological cycle that marked the daily prayer in the Eastern Church. The present analysis also adds new katanyktic compo-sitions to the panorama of Byzantine hymnography. Firstly, I will introduce the roll and the work in question. The edition itself will be accompanied by a translation and a concise the-matic commentary. In particular, the development of katanyktic motifs will be analysed on the basis of biblical models; in fact, this scroll is also an important testimony for the study of katanyktic poetry and the influence of the Scriptures on it

FGF2 and EGF Are Required for Self-Renewal and Organoid Formation of Canine Normal and Tumor Breast Stem Cells

Recent studies suggest that human tumors are generated from cancer cells with stem cell (SC) properties. Spontaneously occurring cancers in dogs contain a diversity of cells that like for human tumors suggest that certain canine tumors are also generated from cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSCs, like normal SCs, have the capacity for self-renewal as mammospheres in suspension cultures. To understand how cells with SC properties contribute to canine mammary gland tumor development and progression, comparative analysis between normal SCs and CSCs, obtained from the same individual, is essential. We have utilized the property of sphere formation to develop culture conditions for propagating stem/progenitor cells from canine normal and tumor tissue. We show that cells from dissociated mammospheres retain sphere reformation capacity for several serial passages and have the capacity to generate organoid structures ex situ. Utilizing various culture conditions for passaging SCs and CSCs, fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) were found to positively or negatively regulate mammosphere regeneration, organoid formation, and multi-lineage differentiation potential. The response of FGF2 and EGF on SCs and CSCs was different, with increased FGF2 and EGF self-renewal promoted in SCs and repressed in CSCs. Our protocol for propagating SCs from normal and tumor canine breast tissue will provide new opportunities in comparative mammary gland stem cell analysis between species and anticancer treatment and therapies for dogs. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 570–584, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams

This dataset is an sqldump from the database (PostgreSQL version 12.5) that is used to power the open access platform https://www.dbbe.ugent.be/. Contents The database consists of 3 schemas: data - contains the actual data logic - contains other information required to run the database (user roles, revision information, feedback information, ...) migration - contains information on the mapping between the previous data platform and the current one The database dump contains the schema and table creation instruction for all 3 schemas, but only contains the data for the data schema. It can be used to create and populate a database that can be used to run the code hosted on https://github.com/GhentCDH/dbbe. Acknowledgements Acknowledgements can be reconstructed by mapping the acknowledgement to the document table using the document_acknowledgement join table. For translations, the source of a translation can be reconstructed by mapping the translation table with one of the bibliography tables (article, book, bookchapter, online_source, blog_post, phd, bib_varia) using the reference join table

The Italian National Project of Astrobiology - Life in Space - Origin, Presence, Persistence of Life in Space, from Molecules to Extremophiles

The ‘‘Life in Space’’ project was funded in the wake of the Italian Space Agency’s proposal for the development of a network of institutions and laboratories conceived to implement Italian participation in space astrobiology experiments. Of primary concern for this project is the study of the origin of life in the Universe, a focus that will promote investigation into prebiotic chemistry in various possible scenarios, whether in polar or nonpolar solvents (e.g., Titan’s environment). Such results will link with study of the effects of simulated space conditions on possible chemical biosignatures