5,094 research outputs found
Making the weather in contemporary jazz: an appreciation of the musical art of Josef Zawinul
No full textJosef Zawinul (1932-2007) holds a rare place in the world of jazz in view of the fact that as a European he forged a long and distinguished musical career in America. Indeed, from a position of relative obscurity when he arrived in New York in 1959, he went on to become one of contemporary jazz’s most prolific and commercially successful composers. The main focus of this dissertation will be Zawinul’s rise to prominence in American jazz during the 1960s and 1970s. In this vital period of his creative life he is associated with a variety of jazz contexts: performing with Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley’s band as a hard bop pianist in the early 1960s; developing new approaches as a composer and keyboard player for Adderley’s group during the ‘soul jazz’ period (1966 to 1969); recording independently under his own name (1966 to 1970); collaborating with Miles Davis in the late 1960s and early 1970s; and co-founding the influential contemporary jazz ensemble Weather Report (early 1970s onwards). Most significantly, he was a key figure (both as a performer and composer) in the new electro-acoustic jazz that emerged in the mid-1960s and his unwavering commitment to this hybrid idiom has left a substantial and wide-ranging body of work.Given the impact and scale of Zawinul’s contribution to contemporary jazz in the second half of the twentieth century, it surely prompts the question: why has there been a dearth of scholarly discussion concerning his artistic legacy? With the aim of rectifying this omission, it is hoped that this dissertation will therefore go some way towards bringing long overdue critical engagement with his music. To this end, this study will examine a selection of Zawinul’s mature works and attempt to explicate not only the diverse range of influences (musical and cultural) that were essential to his artistic development but also the nature of his aesthetic eclecticism from which he created an individual compositional language
Multidrug resistance in a urothelial cancer cell line after 1-hour mitomycin C exposure
No full textPurpose: a factor pertinent to the design of cancer chemotherapy is multidrug resistance. Research in this area conventionally involves in vitro models using resistant cell lines generated by continuous low dose drug exposure for many months, unlike the exposure experienced by residual superficial bladder cancer cells during chemotherapy adjuvant to resection. Recently we noted a measure of multidrug resistance induced by 3 short exposures to mitomycin C during 10 weeks. We currently report detectable functional resistance after a single 1-hour insult.Materials and methods: RT112 bladder cancer cells (Catalog No. ACC 418, Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen, Braunschweig, Germany) were exposed to a range of mitomycin C concentrations for 1 hour. Cells regrew in 3 of 24 cultures at 15.6, 3.91 and 0.98 mg/ml exposure. These cells were subjected to 3 functional tests of cross resistance to epirubicin, including MTT cytotoxicity assay, quantitative accumulation by flow cytometry and nuclear uptake or exclusion by live cell fluorescence microscopy.Results: MTT assay and flow cytometry revealed clear indications of resistance. Intracellular distribution, in which nuclear exclusion indicates resistance, was distinctively resistant in 1 subline and another 2 were equivocal.Conclusions: results indicate that some multidrug resistance potential exists even in a cloned cell line that is capable of surviving 1 short drug exposure and expanding after that insult. The exposures used are consistent with those probably experienced by many superficial transitional cell carcinoma cells during an intravesical chemotherapy application. The result gives added weight to considering multidrug resistance induction in dose scheduling or drug combinations for topical chemotherap
Multidrug resistance in a urothelial cancer cell line after 3, 1-hour exposures to mitomycin C
No full textPurposeThe development of multidrug resistance is a problem in chemotherapy for many tumors. In vitro models of multidrug resistance require adapted cell strains that are conventionally produced from parental lines by chronic low dose drug exposure. Because adjunctive intravesical chemotherapy for superficial bladder cancer uses short courses of high dose treatment, we investigated whether such exposure of the RT112 cell line (Catalogue No. ACC 418, Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen, Braunschweig, Germany) to mitomycin C, which is a common intravesical agent, would elicit multidrug resistance.
Materials and MethodsThree 1-hour exposures to graded concentrations were done at 3-week intervals. The highest mitomycin C concentrations permitting recovery in cultures and, therefore, available for examination were 3.13 and 1.06 ?g/ml. Cross-resistance to epirubicin in surviving cultures was visualized by confocal microscopy and quantified by MTT residual viable biomass assay. Spheroids were made by the agarose technique and exposed to high dose mitomycin C to assess the probability that the relevant concentrations might be found clinically in some cell layers of a superficial lesion.
ResultsResistance was induced by 3 short drug exposures. The evidence for this was functional (MTT assay) and by intracellular localization. Toxicity to an alternative multidrug resistance class drug was lowered in surviving clones and nuclear exclusion of the drug was noted. Spheroid experiments showed sharp gradients of incorporated drug across the outermost layers of cells, suggesting that a proportion of cells in clinical superficial bladder cancer would be exposed to drug at concentrations that generated the resistant clones in these experiments.
ConclusionsWe report multidrug resistance induction using 2 independent methodologies. The results have implications for the development of experimental models and the likelihood of resistance resulting from clinical regimens. Brief exposure can elicit detectable resistance. It is arguable that selective rather than instructive mechanisms are involved, and the levels of drug required are likely to exist in a superficial transitional cell carcinoma frond exposed at its surface to high drug concentrations
Mitochondrial origin of the matrilocal Mosuo people in China
No full textUniversity of Adelaide Genographic Consortium members: Christina J. Adler, Alan Cooper, Clio S. I. Der Sarkissian, Wolfgang HaakThe Mosuo people are currently the only matrilocal population in China. The origins of the population and their matrilocal tradition remain unknown. To address these questions, we studied the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity of the Mosuo. Lower mtDNA diversity is expected in matrilocal populations because the women remain with their families after marriage, and there is generally less movement of mtDNA genomes in matrilocal populations. However, the haplotype diversity of this population is not lower than the neighboring patrilocal populations, indicating that the Mosuo started practicing matrilocality at least after the Paleolithic Age. A previous haplogroup frequency clustering study indicated that the Mosuo are closest to the Naxi people, but the network analysis of individual sequence haplotypes presented herein shows that most Mosuo lineages cluster with Pumi lineages. Therefore, we concluded that the Mosuo people have the closest genetic relationship with the Pumi, and that they started to practice matrilocality several thousand years ago.Yan Lu, Chuanchao Wang, Zhendong Qin, Bo Wen, Sara E. Farina, Li Jin, & Hui Li, The Genographic Consortiu
Book review. Outcome assessment in cancer: measures, methods and applications, edited by Joseph Lipscomb, Carolyn C. Gotay, and Claire Snyder
No full textClan, language, and migration history has shaped genetic diversity in Haida and Tlingit populations from southeast Alaska
No full textChristina J. Adler, Alan Cooper and Clio S.I. Der Sarkissian are contributors to the Genographic ConsortiumThe linguistically distinctive Haida and Tlingit tribes of Southeast Alaska are known for their rich material culture, complex social organization, and elaborate ritual practices. However, much less is known about these tribes from a population genetic perspective. For this reason, we analyzed mtDNA and Y-chromosome variation in Haida and Tlingit populations to elucidate several key issues pertaining to the history of this region. These included the genetic relationships of Haida and Tlingit to other indigenous groups in Alaska and Canada; the relationship between linguistic and genetic data for populations assigned to the Na-Dene linguistic family, specifically, the inclusion of Haida with Athapaskan, Eyak, and Tlingit in the language family; the possible influence of matrilineal clan structure on patterns of genetic variation in Haida and Tlingit populations; and the impact of European entry into the region on the genetic diversity of these indigenous communities. Our analysis indicates that, while sharing a "northern" genetic profile, the Haida and the Tlingit are genetically distinctive from each other. In addition, Tlingit groups themselves differ across their geographic range, in part due to interactions of Tlingit tribes with Athapaskan and Eyak groups to the north. The data also reveal a strong influence of maternal clan identity on mtDNA variation in these groups, as well as the significant influence of non-native males on Y-chromosome diversity. These results yield new details about the histories of the Haida and Tlingit tribes in this region.Theodore G. Schurr, Matthew C. Dulik, Amanda C. Owings, Sergey I. Zhadanov, Jill B. Gaieski, Miguel G. Vilar, Judy Ramos, Mary Beth Moss, Francis Natkong, The Genographic Consortiu
On the Mechanisms of Hydrogen Spillover in MoO3
No full textHydrogen spillover on the MoO3 (010) surface in the presence of a platinum catalyst was modeled using periodic density functional theory (DFT). The migration of H from a saturated Pt6 cluster to the MoO3(010)surface was found to undergo a transition from repulsive electrostatic to attractive proton-oxygen interactions. The hydrogen is able to move nearly freely on the surface and diffuse into the bulk lattice at ambient temperatures, leading to the formation of hydrogen molybdenum bronze. We show that the high proton mobility
is largely attributed to the massive H-bonding network in the MoO3 lattice.Hydrogen spillover on the MoO3 (010) surface in the presence of a platinum catalyst was modeled using periodic density functional theory (DFT). The migration of H from a saturated Pt6 cluster to the MoO3(010)surface was found to undergo a transition from repulsive electrostatic to attractive proton-oxygen interactions. The hydrogen is able to move nearly freely on the surface and diffuse into the bulk lattice at ambient temperatures, leading to the formation of hydrogen molybdenum bronze. We show that the high proton mobility
is largely attributed to the massive H-bonding network in the MoO3 lattice
The SF-36: a simple, effective measure of mobility disability for epidemiological studies
No full textBackgroundMobility disability is a major problem in older people. Numerous scales exist for the measurement of disability but often these do not permit comparisons between study groups. The physical functioning (PF) domain of the established and widely used Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire asks about limitations on ten mobility activities.ObjectivesTo describe prevalence of mobility disability in an elderly population, investigate the validity of the SF-36 PF score as a measure of mobility disability, and to establish age and sex specific norms for the PF score.MethodsWe explored relationships between the SF-36 PF score and objectively measured physical performance variables among 349 men and 280 women, 59-72 years of age, who participated in the Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS). Normative data were derived from the Health Survey for England (HSE) 1996.Results32% of men and 46% of women had at least some limitation in PF scale items. Poor SF-36 PF scores (lowest fifth of the gender-specific distribution) were related to: lower grip strength; longer timed-up-and-go, 3m walk, and chair rises test times in men and women; and lower quadriceps peak torque in women but not men. HSE normative data showed that median PF scores declined with increasing age in men and women.ConclusionOur results are consistent with the SF-36 PF score being a valid measure of mobility disability in epidemiological studies. This approach might be a first step towards enabling simple comparisons of prevalence of mobility disability between different studies of older people. The SF-36 PF score could usefully complement existing detailed schemes for classification of disability and it now requires validation against them
Oral history interview with Arnold Cooper, 2008 Apr. 15
No full textArnold Cooper is a graduate of the Purdue School of Chemical Engineering [BS 1955] and MS Industrial Management 1957. He also received a DBA in 1962 from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He talks about teaching and research in the areas of entrepreneurship and strategic management. A prolific author and member of the Academy of Management he has served on the Indiana Employment Commission. Among his many honors and awards are an Honorary Doctorate from Purdue, inaugural member Fellows of Strategic Member Society, Sagamore of the Wabash. He was a founding member of the Purdue University Teaching Academy Executive Council and a Louis A. Weil Professor Emeritus. Quote: Entrepreneurs tend to be enormously optimistic and dont see themselves as taking high amounts of risk
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