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Teodora: Un’odierna lettura romanzata in Italia
No full textThis paper examines two Italian novels by Mariangela Galatea Vaglio, a historian, novelist, and blogger. The novels, published in 2018 and 2022, are titled Teodora. La figlia del circo and Teodora. I demoni del potere. In my analysis, I will focus on a few key aspects that are, in my opinion, essential to the novels. First, I will briefly analyze the techniques used to represent the cultural situation of the time. Secondly, the focus will be on Vaglio’s characterization of Theodora and Justinian as complementary examples of ‘nonconformist’ femininity and masculinity. In particular, I will consider the Nika revolt of 532 CE, which is presented in I demoni del potere as a crucial moment in the empress’s path. To highlight the unique aspects of Vaglio’s narrative, a comparison will be made between her depiction of Theodora’s famous speech during the revolt and Procopius’ narrative in his History of the Wars, as well as Stella Duffy’s description of the event in her novel The Purple Shroud. Finally, the author herself briefly explains the reasons for reexamining the figure of Theodora today in a short interview
Ovid zwischen Biographie und Roman
No full textIn 2012, Der junge Ovid, the unfinished work of the late Diane Middlebrook (1939–2007), was published in Austria. Various aspects make it a very special book: the translation was published more than two years before the original: The Augustan poet is brought to life in social and cultural history chapters and biographical, fictional passages that depict a possible reality. Middlebrook’s widower, Carl Djerassi (1923–2015), widely known as the ‘Mother of the Pill’ and as the author of novels and plays belonging to the new genres he created, “science-in-fiction” and “science-in-theatre”, asked me to check philological details before going to press. In close cooperation with the publisher Andres Müry, Djerassi’s wishes came true: the publication was followed by a book launch, readings from the book and a major event at the University of Vienna (with keynote and round table): Ovid is shown as a newborn, as a child hanging on the lips of his mother, the first storyteller of his life, as a young man full of literary talent taking his first steps in the city of Rome, and as a famous author at the age of 46, surrounded by frescoes depicting scenes from his opus magnum, the Metamorphoses. The following pages retell the fascinating story of the publication of a modern book about an ancient author under unconventional circumstances and compare the translation with the original
“Where normal people see Romans and Gauls, you see Ustashe and Partisans”
No full textThe article employs critical discourse analysis to explore the portrayal of Rome and contemporary Croatian society in a novel set within the historic confines of Diocletian’s Palace in Split, Croatia. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Baudrillard and Debord, the study investigates themes of historical authenticity, cultural commodification, and societal critique. While the novel presents Rome as a multifaceted symbol embodying themes of fascination, commodification, and political resonance, its depiction often veers towards clichéd stereotypes and shallow commodification. Similarly, the critique of contemporary Croatian society, while ostensibly critical, often lacks depth, resorting to superficial caricatures. Despite its attempt to provoke introspection, the novel risks oversimplifying complex socio-political issues, offering limited substantive critique
Entwicklung einer CRISPR/Cas-Geneditierungstechnik für die Coccolithophore Chrysotila carterae
No full textCoccolithophores are unicellular marine algae that decorate their cell surface with intricately shaped calcite scales known as coccoliths. Through coccolith synthesis and photosynthesis, these algae play a special role in the global carbon cycle, which makes them of great importance in the context of marine ecology and ocean biogeochemistry. The extraordinary morphology of coccoliths is very attractive for bioinspired material science research, and their unique features have a high potential to find an application in the production of nano-devices. A main impediment to understanding the cell biology of coccolithophores is the lack of protocols for genetic manipulation. The first and yet only available genetic transformation technique for a coccolithophore has been established by Endo et al. (2016) for the model coccolithophore species Chrysotila carterae. This provided a starting point for the molecular genetics studies of coccolithophores, allowing the development of new protocols for genetic manipulation. The aim of this study was to develop a CRISPR/Cas gene editing technique for Chrysotila carterae.
In order to achieve this goal, I used an approach based on targeting an endogenous negative counter-selectable marker gene since it allows the selection of the knockout mutants without additional integration and expression of an antibiotic resistance gene. Within the time course of this project, I was considering and evaluating three potential systems. From the performed experiments, the gene encoding adenine phosphoribosyl transferase (APT) was selected as the most promising candidate for establishing a genome editing technique. APT is the key enzyme in the adenine salvage pathway, and the APT gene disruption results in cell insensitivity to the otherwise toxic compound 2 fluoroadenine (2-FA).
To generate the APT gene knockout mutants, I tested plasmid-borne CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing as well as a DNA-free editing approach based on the delivery of CRISPR/Cas in vitro preassembled ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) via PEG-mediated transformation. While developing the plasmid for genome editing, I achieved transient expression of the Cas9 protein in C. carterae cells, demonstrated the functionality of the nuclear localization signal, and identified a promising promoter for the gRNA transcription. Working on the RNP-based approach, I tested two endonucleases, Cas9 and Cpf1. In the existing literature, PEG-mediated transformation of C. carterae has only been shown for plasmid delivery. In this study, I demonstrated that RNP delivery can be achieved by optimizing the delivery parameters and the cell growth conditions. The optimization of the mentioned parameters allowed the establishment of conditions for performing CRISPR/Cpf1-based gene knockout in C. carterae. As a result of the performed experiments, the first CRISPR/Cpf1-induced APT knockout mutants of C. carterae were obtained. The initial experiments on validating the newly developed system were carried out using the target genes associated with photosynthesis and the uracil biosynthesis pathway.
The established system allows the generation of multiple disruptions at different gRNA binding sites simultaneously, therefore providing an opportunity to generate targeted knockout of the genes with non-selectable phenotypes. The results obtained in this work serve as a starting point for further gene editing experiments in C. carterae, opening up new possibilities to perform more molecular genetic studies on coccolithophores.Coccolithophorida, auf Deutsch auch Kalkflagellaten genannt, sind einzellige Meeresalgen, die ihre Zelloberfläche mit komplex geformten Calcitschuppen, den sogenannten Coccolithen, verzieren. Durch die Synthese von Coccolithen und der Fähigkeit Photosynthese zu betreiben spielen diese Algen eine besondere Rolle im globalen Kohlenstoffkreislauf, was sie im Hinblick auf die Meeresökologie und die Biogeochemie der Ozeane bedeutsam macht. Die außergewöhnliche Morphologie der Coccolithen ist für die biologisch-inspirierte materialwissenschaftliche Forschung sehr attraktiv. Ihre einzigartigen Eigenschaften haben ein hohes Potenzial bei der Herstellung von Nanobauteilen Anwendung zu finden. Ein Haupthindernis für das Verständnis der zellbiologischen Vorgänge bei Coccolithophoriden ist das Fehlen von Protokollen für die genetische Manipulation der Organismen. Die erste und bisher einzige verfügbare genetische Transformationsmethode für einen Coccolithophoriden wurde von Endo et al. (2016) für die Modell-Coccolithophoridenart Chrysotila carterae entwickelt. Dies lieferte einen Ausgangspunkt für weitere molekulargenetische Studien an Coccolithophoriden und ermöglichte die Entwicklung neuer Protokolle für die genetische Manipulation. Ziel dieser Dissertation war die Entwicklung einer CRISPR/Cas-Genome-Editing-Methode für Chrysotila carterae.
Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen, habe ich einen Ansatz gewählt, der auf einem endogenen negativen, gegenselektierbaren Markergen basiert, da es die Selektion der Knockout-Mutanten ohne zusätzliche Integration und Expression eines Antibiotikaresistenzgens ermöglicht. Im Laufe dieses Projekts wurden drei potenzielle Systeme in Betracht gezogen und untersucht. Aus den durchgeführten Experimenten wurde das Gen, welches für die Adenin-Phosphoribosyl-Transferase (APT) kodiert, als der vielversprechendste Kandidat für die Etablierung einer Genome-Editing-Technik ausgewählt. APT ist das Schlüsselenzym im Adenin-Salvage-Pathway, und die Unterbrechung des APT-Gens führt zu einer Unempfindlichkeit der Zellen gegenüber der ansonsten toxischen Verbindung 2-Fluoradenin (2-FA).
Um die APT-Gen-Knockout-Mutanten zu erzeugen, testete ich einen Plasmid-gestützten CRISPR/Cas9-Genome-Editing-Ansatz sowie einen DNA-freien Editing-Ansatz, der auf der Bereitstellung von in vitro präassemblierten CRISPR/Cas-Ribonukleoproteinen (RNPs) durch PEG-vermittelte Transformation basiert. Während der Entwicklung des Plasmids für die Genom-Editierung wurde eine transiente Expression des Cas9-Proteins in C. carterae-Zellen erreicht. Zudem konnte die Funktionalität des Kernlokalisierungssignals gezeigt und ein vielversprechender Promoter für die gRNA-Transkription identifiziert werden. Im Hinblick auf den RNP-basierten Ansatz testete ich zwei Endonukleasen: Cas9 und Cpf1. In der verfügbaren Literatur wurde die PEG-vermittelte Transformation von C. carterae bisher nur für die Übertragung von Plasmiden gezeigt. In dieser Arbeit konnte ich zeigen, dass das RNP-Einschleusung durch Optimierung der Parameter und der Wachstumsbedingungen für die Zellen erreicht werden kann. Die Optimierung der genannten Parameter ermöglichte die Schaffung von Bedingungen für die Durchführung eines CRISPR/Cpf1-basiertem Gen-Knockouts in C. carterae. Als Resultat der durchgeführten Experimente wurden die ersten CRISPR/Cpf1-induzierten APT-Knockout-Mutanten von C. carterae erzeugt. Weitere Experimente zur Validierung des neu entwickelten Systems wurden mit Zielgenen im Bereich der Photosynthese und dem Uracil-Biosyntheseweg durchgeführt.
Das so etablierte System ermöglicht die gleichzeitige Erzeugung mehrerer Deletionen an unterschiedlichen gRNA-Bindungsstellen und bietet somit die Möglichkeit, Gene mit nicht selektierbaren Phänotypen gezielt auszuschalten. Die in dieser Arbeit erzielten Ergebnisse dienen als Ausgangspunkt für weitere Gene-Editing-Experimente bei C. carterae und eröffnen neue Möglichkeiten zur Durchführung zusätzlicher molekulargenetischer Studien an Coccolithophoriden
Do summaries of evidence enable informed decision-making about COVID-19 and influenza vaccination equitably across more and less disadvantaged groups?
No full textIntroduction
Evidence summaries on the benefits and harms of treatment options support informed decisions under controlled conditions. However, few studies have investigated how such formats support decision-making across different social groups. There is a risk that only disadvantaged people will be able to make informed health decisions—possibly increasing the health equity gap. It is also unclear whether they support decision-making in the field at all. The aim of our study is to assess whether evidence summaries based on the fact box format can help people from different social groups make informed decisions about COVID-19 and influenza vaccinations, and thus reduce inequity in health communication.
Methods and analysis
In a multi-centre, cluster-randomised, controlled trial, health educators from usual care and outreach work in Germany will be randomised in a 1:1 ratio to provide either usual health communication plus an evidence summary (‘fact box’) or usual health communication. Health educators provide a flyer about COVID-19 or influenza vaccination which contains a link to an online study either with (intervention) or without (control) fact box on the reverse side. Flyer and online study will be available in Arabic, German, Turkish and Russian language. The primary outcome is informed vaccination intention, based on vaccination knowledge, attitudes, intentions and behaviour. Secondary outcomes include risk perception, decisional conflict and shared decision-making. We will use linear mixed models to analyse the influence of both individual (eg, education status) and cluster level factors and account for the expected cluster variability in realising usual health communication or the intervention. The statistical analysis plan includes the selection of appropriate measures of effect size and power calculation, assuming a sample size of 800 patients.
Ethics and dissemination
The trial has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Potsdam, Germany (application numbers: 34/2021 and 57/2022).Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, conferences and to relevant stakeholders.
Trial registration number NCT06076421
Das Paradigma des Siedlerkolonialismus
No full text"Settler Colonialism" is the first volume to be published in German on the historical and social science paradigm of settler colonialism, which has been ignored in Germany so far. This internationally widely discussed perspective opens up a new perspective on Western modernity and its relationship to the rest of the world. Since 1492, we have observed the always eliminatory, often genocidal character of white European settler societies in their relationship with indigenous peoples, whose land they occupy, appropriate and whom they plunder to this day. The collected basic texts of the paradigm as well as current analyses introduce the paradigm and illustrate its decisive importance, especially for German debate
Crossing Borders: The Lived Experience of Displaced Rohingya Women
No full textMy paper examines the effects of migration and displacement on women from the Rohingya Muslim community. Beginning in August 2017, the migration of Rohingyas from Myanmar to Bangladesh resulted in the creation of one of the largest stateless populations in the modern world. My research offers insight into this global humanitarian crisis by examining the experiences of young Rohingya women crossing the border of Myanmar and Bangladesh. By drawing on testimonies about lived experiences, I analyze the effects of migration on women’s traditional gender roles. The research for this paper is based on interviews conducted with young Rohingya Muslim women in the Kutupalong Rohingya Camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar area. Further, my project examines how lived experiences of migration continue to shape the challenges faced by young Rohingya women in the Kutupalong Camp. My project is interested in how these incidents of crossing borders transform the social identities of young Rohingya women