The Potential of N-Rich Plasma-Polymerized Ethylene (PPE:N) Films for Regulating the Phenotype of the Nucleus Pulposus

We recently developed a nitrogen-rich plasma-polymerized biomaterial, designated “PPE:N” (N-doped plasma-polymerized ethylene) that is capable of suppressing cellular hypertrophy while promoting type I collagen and aggrecan expression in mesenchymal stem cells from osteoarthritis patients. We then hypothesized that these surfaces would form an ideal substrate on which the nucleus pulposus (NP) phenotype would be maintained. Recent evidence using microarrays showed that in young rats, the relative mRNA levels of glypican-3 (GPC3) and pleiotrophin binding factor (PTN) were significantly higher in nucleus pulposus (NP) compared to annulus fibrosus (AF) and articular cartilage. Furthermore, vimentin (VIM) mRNA levels were higher in NP versus articular cartilage. In contrast, the levels of expression of cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) and matrix gla protein precursor (MGP) were lower in NP compared to articular cartilage. The objective of this study was to compare the expression profiles of these genes in NP cells from fetal bovine lumbar discs when cultured on either commercial polystyrene (PS) tissue culture dishes or on PPE:N with time. We found that the expression of these genes varies with the concentration of N ([N]). More specifically, the expression of several genes of NP was sensitive to [N], with a decrease of GPC3, VIM, PTN, and MGP in function of decreasing [N]. The expression of aggrecan, collagen type I, and collagen type II was also studied: no significant differences were observed in the cells on different surfaces with different culture time. The results support the concept that PPE:N may be a suitable scaffold for the culture of NP cells. Further studies are however necessary to better understand their effects on cellular phenotypes

Illegitimate Birth and the English Clergy, 1198-1348

This article studies illegitimacy, which was a canonical impediment to ordination, within the English clergy between 1198 and 1348. Scholarship on illegitimacy in the clergy has previously relied on canon law, conciliar decrees, and dispensations preserved in papal registers. Using these sources, historians have concluded that the papacy tightly controlled illegitimate men\u27s access to orders, that the burdens of obtaining dispensations for illegitimacy (the defectus natalium) could pose substantial obstacles to a man\u27s clerical career, and that priests\u27 sons made up a significant percentage of the illegitimate clergy. This article, which draws on the large and previously untapped body of dispensations surviving in English episcopal registers to supplement the papal sources, reaches different conclusions. It argues that the great majority of illegitimate clerics in the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century English clergy were the sons of unmarried lay parents. It further argues that dispensations were more readily accessible than has previously been suggested, and emphasises the importance of local branches of the ecclesiastical hierarchy to an individual\u27s efforts to attain a dispensation to enter holy orders

Illegitimate Birth and the English Clergy, 1198-1348

This article studies illegitimacy, which was a canonical impediment to ordination, within the English clergy between 1198 and 1348. Scholarship on illegitimacy in the clergy has previously relied on canon law, conciliar decrees, and dispensations preserved in papal registers. Using these sources, historians have concluded that the papacy tightly controlled illegitimate men\u27s access to orders, that the burdens of obtaining dispensations for illegitimacy (the defectus natalium) could pose substantial obstacles to a man\u27s clerical career, and that priests\u27 sons made up a significant percentage of the illegitimate clergy. This article, which draws on the large and previously untapped body of dispensations surviving in English episcopal registers to supplement the papal sources, reaches different conclusions. It argues that the great majority of illegitimate clerics in the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century English clergy were the sons of unmarried lay parents. It further argues that dispensations were more readily accessible than has previously been suggested, and emphasises the importance of local branches of the ecclesiastical hierarchy to an individual\u27s efforts to attain a dispensation to enter holy orders

Children of Disorder: Clerical Parentage, Illegitimacy, and Reform in the Middle Ages

This article presents a perspective on the meaning and effect of legitimate and illegitimate birth in the works of medieval scholars, canonists, and theologians. It has been noted that the institutional church\u27s interest in and influence over birth status rested upon its purview over sin, and sin was a matter in which the patrimony of the legitimate and illegitimate was equal. Furthermore, hereditary transmission of status from parent to child through legitimate birth was so firmly entrenched in medieval society

Children of Disorder: Clerical Parentage, Illegitimacy, and Reform in the Middle Ages

This article presents a perspective on the meaning and effect of legitimate and illegitimate birth in the works of medieval scholars, canonists, and theologians. It has been noted that the institutional church\u27s interest in and influence over birth status rested upon its purview over sin, and sin was a matter in which the patrimony of the legitimate and illegitimate was equal. Furthermore, hereditary transmission of status from parent to child through legitimate birth was so firmly entrenched in medieval society

Cartografías del conflicto ambiental en Argentina

En varios países de la región, los conflictos ambientales se acompañan de violentas violaciones a los derechos humanos, que en muy pocas ocasiones son judicializadas. Afortunadamente, puede decirse que en estos casos la situación argentina es comparativamente mejor que la de otros países de la región. Sin embargo, quiero llamar la atención para el hecho de que la diferencia es apenas de grado, ya que todos los elementos negativos, que suponen perspectivas de agresión a los derechos humanos de las denominadas poblaciones tradicionales están presentes y actuantes, aunque sea en régimen de baja intensidad. Y ello constituye una amenaza no apenas a la calidad de nuestra democracia, sino también pone a prueba nuestra capacidad de convivencia y de transformarnos en una sociedad justa, solidaria e incluyente