75 research outputs found
Α 12th-century \u27Platonic\u27 Dialogue: Theodoros Prodromos\u27 Xenedemos or Voices
No full textTheodoros Prodromos was a prominent intellectual of twelfth-century Byzantium. Among his substantial literary output a charming little dialogue bearing the title Xenedemos is to be found. The text tells us the story of the encounter between Xenedemos, a promising young student of philosophy, and Theokles, the leading philosopher of his time. Ιn the course of the discussion Theokles \u27deconstructs\u27 the definitions of the five logical categories offered in Porphyrios\u27 Introduction (Isagoge) and thereby seems to demolish its validity as a textbook for logic. Xenedemos is reasonably reduced to a state of intellectual perplexity (aporia) but is assured by his interlocutor that this is only due to his inexperience in dialectics and that he will eventually succeed in commanding the highest notions of philosophy.Α number of evidence proves that Prodromos consciously had his own piece moulded out of the Platonic matrix. Formal features, narrative techniques, structural correspondences and \u27 stage-directions\u27 indicate that the Byzantine piece employs as subtexts dialogues such as the Phaedo, the Parmenides and the Theaetetus. Significantly, Prodromos avoids any slavish imitation of his model but chooses to refashion the tradition of dialogue-writing established by Plato in terms of twelfth-century literary parlour. This choice is in itself interesting and telling of the expectations of Prodromos\u27 intended audience, especially if the Xenedemos was indeed meant as a eulogy in the memory of the author\u27s beloved teacher and a well-known Platonist, namely Michael Italikos.Theodoros Prodromos was a prominent intellectual of twelfth-century Byzantium. Among his substantial literary output a charming little dialogue bearing the title Xenedemos is to be found. The text tells us the story of the encounter between Xenedemos, a promising young student of philosophy, and Theokles, the leading philosopher of his time. Ιn the course of the discussion Theokles \u27deconstructs\u27 the definitions of the five logical categories offered in Porphyrios\u27 Introduction (Isagoge) and thereby seems to demolish its validity as a textbook for logic. Xenedemos is reasonably reduced to a state of intellectual perplexity (aporia) but is assured by his interlocutor that this is only due to his inexperience in dialectics and that he will eventually succeed in commanding the highest notions of philosophy.Α number of evidence proves that Prodromos consciously had his own piece moulded out of the Platonic matrix. Formal features, narrative techniques, structural correspondences and \u27 stage-directions\u27 indicate that the Byzantine piece employs as subtexts dialogues such as the Phaedo, the Parmenides and the Theaetetus. Significantly, Prodromos avoids any slavish imitation of his model but chooses to refashion the tradition of dialogue-writing established by Plato in terms of twelfth-century literary parlour. This choice is in itself interesting and telling of the expectations of Prodromos\u27 intended audience, especially if the Xenedemos was indeed meant as a eulogy in the memory of the author\u27s beloved teacher and a well-known Platonist, namely Michael Italikos
Eustathios at Prodromos Petra? Some Remarks on the Manuscript Tradition of the Exegesis in Canonem Iambicum Pentecostalem
No full textIn investigating the manuscript tradition of the Exegesis in canonem iambicum pentecostalem, two features emerge with a high degree of likelihood: (a) the relationship of the work with the monastery of Prodromos Petra at Constantinople; (b) the relationship of Eustathios himself with that same monastery during his tenure as professor in the Polis.
The article shows the manuscript tradition of Eustathius’ Exegesis: 5 manuscripts are described in detail, including their provenance along with their possessors: Vaticanus graecus 1409, Alexandrinus Patriarchalis 62 (107), Basileensis A.VII.1 (gr. 34), Vallicellianus F 44 (gr. 94), Vindobonensis Theol. Graec. 208 Nessel (298 Lambecius). Along with a thorough autoptical study, the reader finds here some improvements in Byzantine palaeography and philology. Then the author sheds light on the deperditus ms. Scorialensis Λ.II.11, once owned by Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and disappeared after the fire of Escorial in 1671. The codex is likely to have come from the Constantinopolitan monastery of Prodromos Petra, as well as the Vaticanus and the Alexandrinus. Positive clues of a provenance from Prodromos Petra are detected in the fragmentary tradition of the text and in further evidence: textual criticism has definitely revealed a sub-archetype Beta (β), most likely written before the Latin occupation of Constantinople in 1204. The dating and content of Beta seem to coincide with those of the deperditus ms. Scorialensis mentioned above, where codicological and philological data attest to a highest quality of the text, including its title.
Thus the second section of the article deals with the so-called didaskaleion of Prodromos Petra, its cultivated readers, mouseion and scriptorium, up to Georgius Baiophorus and his interventions in the ms of Basilea in 15th century. The first known official mention of the katholikon mouseion of Prodromos Petra is that of Francesco Filelfo; on his part, Eustathios writes he was asked to compose the Exegesis by an anonymous colleague, and that it was intended for advanced rhetorical and ecclesiastical instruction. Moreover, Eustathios’ reference to the name of Moses as related to the word “mouseion” provides us with a demonstration about lessons in 12th-century Constantinople, along with ironically equating himself with God teaching Moses on the mount Sinai. The very same identification is made by Michael Choniates about Eustathios in the funeral monody dedicated to him: hardly a coincidence.
Eustathios’ presence at the monastery is not documented at Prodromos Petra in the course of the 12th century. However, his acquaintance with that monastic milieu is apparent in a famous passage of the De emendanda vita monachica, where he lampoons the abundance of caviar for the emperor. Hardly a coincidence, again, that this is the absolutely first mention of Prodromos Petra found in literary sources
Il μουσεῖον di Prodromos Petra e una famiglia mononucleare di codici di Eustazio
No full textThis contribution attempts to investigate a family of five manuscripts, which, partially or entirely, transmits what is likely to be the last work of Eustathios of Thessaloniki: the Exegesis in canonem iambicum pentecostalem, i.e. a thorough commentary on one of the canons of Cosma’s and John’s corpus, in keep with the high standard of Eustathian previous teaching style. The author bases her argument onto two levels. Firstly, on philological, codicological and paleographical grounds, the author argues that the entirety of the manuscript tradition depends on a single subarchetype β, which she proposes to identify with the deperditus Scorialensis L.II.11. Secondly, by reconstructing the historia codicum of the surviving members of the family, she demonstrates that most of the exemplars can be traced back to the library, the scriptorium and probably also to that centre of teaching and cultural transmission that was the μουσεῖον of the Constantinopolitan monastery of Prodromos Petra. More specifically, the author hypothesizes that (a) β might be the last tome of an authorisierte Eustathiosedition, the existence of which was conjectured by Peter Wirth; (b) that it was to be found in Prodromos Petra as early as the second half of the 1190s, as already put forward suo Marte by Ernst Gamillscheg; (c) and that, preserved there during the Latin occupation of the Fourth Crusade, such exemplar generated the manuscript tradition of the Exegesis shortly after the Byzantine reconquest of the Polis. Combined with the appraisal of the aliae manus and their glosses, which over the centuries were added to the main text, this analysis suggests that in the same monastery survived, at an extracurricular level, that high profile rhetorical-ecclesiastical teaching based on the exegesis of the hymnographic corpus of Cosmas and John, which the Eustathian work testifies to, and which deteriorated after the transfer of the Patriarchal institutions to Nicaea, but could have been even previously set in the μουσεῖον of Prodromos Petra, whose familiarity to Eustathius himself has been shown by the author in an earlier contribution. It can be inferred that the floruit of the μονή τοῦ Προδρόμου not only as a monastic institution, a library and a scriptorium, but also as a leading university centre, in which the best scholars of Constantinople taught, could be placed before the Paleologan re-establishment, and perhaps as early as the XII century
Multivessel Coronary Angioplasty with Drug Eluting Stents in a Chronically Hemodialyzed Diabetic Patient with Impaired Left Ventricular Systolic Function
No full textWe present a case of staged multivessel percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting-stents (DES) in a diabetic patient with three-vessel coronary heart disease (CHD), dialysis-dependent chronic renal failure and impaired left ventricular (LV) systolic function. The optimal method of coronary revascularization in dialysis patients is controversial. Surgical treatment (CABG) is a high-risk procedure. CABG in the pre- DES era was associated with a better long-term prognosis, but at the cost of higher in-hospital mortality. PCI using DES may be a feasible therapeutic alternative.The revascularization strategy is reviewed
Libri quos mari transmisi Venetias. Busbecq, Prodromos Petra e i giacimenti librari costantinopolitani al tempo di Solimano il Magnifico
No full textThis paper focuses on the Greek manuscripts, now part of the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, acquired in Constantinople by the Hasburgic diplomat Oghier Ghislain de Busbecq during his two missions to the court of Soleiman the Magnificent (1554, 1556-1562). Building on previous scholarship, it mainly focusses on aspects such as Busbecq’s purchases as librarian, and the role played by scholars, scribes and trading merchants (such as the Malaxoi and the Zigomalas, who were active in Constantinople’s patriarchal quartier between the mid fifteenth century and the mid sixteenth century) in the accumulating the diplomat’s supply of manuscripts. The author argues that Busbecq’s cargo could have belonged at least in part to that last stronghold of book assets that was the monastery of Prodromos Petra between the Late Byzantine and First Ottoman period. This paper will show that after the Turkish conquest until the 1570s, Byzantium still offered a large reserve of manuscripts, and that its local antiquarian Greek culture well survived the city’s fall
Serbs in the poetry of Theodore Prodromos and anonymous Manganeios
No full textNumerous rhetorical writings of the Comnenian period constitute a fruitful field of research, both with respect to historical data, i.e. hard historical facts hidden, though still recognizable, behind the peculiar and somewhat abstract mode of expression of the authors of the twelfth century, and with regard to the poetics of the literary works themselves, i.e. the internal elements characteristic not only for the genre chosen, but also for each particular author. A comparative, historical and literary approach to these works renders their sense clearer and their complex allusions more readily understood. This is a matter of some importance, since allusions constitute one of the basic elements of historical rhetoric, which reached its peak at the time of Emperor Manuel Komnenos (1143-1180), especially during the first half of his reign, i.e. till the end of the fifties of the twelfth century. The poetry of Theodore Prodromes and of the somewhat younger Anonymous ('Prodromos') Manganeios is an excellent example of this intertwining of historical and literary elements, i.e. of the presentation of historical data through rhetorical patterns. One has to concentrate on individual works attempting to determine, as far as possible, the date of composition, the circumstances of writing and the purpose of a particular poem, the occasion for which it was written and the character of the expected audience, in order to better understand both the poetry written by these two rhetoricians and the individual features of the authors, as well as their respective positions in the circle around Emperor Manuel Komnenos. The poems dealt with in the present paper stand out for calling the Serbs by their real name. This naming practice was invariably employed by both rhetoricians in cases when new achievements of the basileus were to be announced and proclaimed immediately after the event, on the occasions of first reports, first celebrations of the new victories and accomplishments of the emperor, in short, whenever precision and accuracy of expression were imperative. Comparable to contemporary news and reports, under these circumstances both Theodore Prodromes and Anony mous Manganeios insisted on the real names of the defeated peoples and on the realistic description of the circumstances under which Byzantine, i.e. imperial, victories were gained. Writing soon after the event, these two poets had neither time nor interest in availing themselves of the artificial, ideologically loaded designations of the adversaries of Byzantium. On the contrary, their aim was to clearly point out the identity of the defeated barbarians by using concrete language and precise naming and to thus announce the emperor's victory over them. Within these limits, they could, of course, deploy their literary skills in different ways and put their poetic art on display through impressive and euphonic images, depicting the ideal of the basileus on the one hand and mocking those who dared stand up against him on the other. In contrast to innumerable encomia dedicated to Emperor Manuel Komnenos on different occasions, also including some writings of the two poets under discussion themselves, the current topicality of some of the their poems bears witness to the short time that had passed between the time they were composed and the event they described. It is in these poems that the Serbs are invariably called by their actual name, without the deployment of synonyms, as to explain or qualify the ethnonym (see in the first place W. Horandner Theodoras Prodromes. Historische Gedichte, Wien 1974, XXX. Recueil des historiens des croisades, Historiens grecs II, ed. E. Miller, Paris, 1881 761-763 (Manganeios, no. 26)). In order to get a better grasp of the overall poetics of these two poets, it is of some relevance to investigate the reasons underlying the use of particular ethnonyms. In this case it is the precise reference to the Serbs as the defeated enemies of the emperor, not to the Dalmatians, which is the name given to the Serbs in many of their poems which summarize the events of the past years and which are consequentially not conceived as depicting current events. An analysis of the poems of Theodore Prodromos and Anonymous Manganeios devoted to Manuel's expedition against the Serbs in 1149 enables us to better assess the documentary value of their verses, the connection of Prodromos' poem with the later historians of the Comnenian period, John Cinnamus and especially Nicetas Choniates, as well as the differences between the two authors (for instance, Prodromos' view from Constantinople as opposed to the position of the immediate witness assumed by Manganeios). What both poets unequivocally confirm in their political verses is that the purpose of a poem dictated the style in which it was written and the strength of rhetoric used in it
ΕπιπλεγμÎνη Αγγειοπλαστική Διάσωσης (Rescue PCI) σε 38χÏονο Ασθενή
No full textΠεÏιγÏάφεται η πεÏίπτωση 38χÏονου ασθενοÏÏ‚ με θÏομβολυμÎνο Î¿Î¾Ï Ï€Ïόσθιο ÎμφÏαγμα που επεπλάκη από μετεφÏαγματική στηθάγχη, καÏδιακή ανεπάÏκεια και καÏδιογενÎÏ‚ shock και οδηγήθηκε σε επείγουσα στεφανιογÏαφία που κατÎδειξε νόσο στελÎχους και 3 αγγείων. Ο ασθενής αντιμετωπίστηκε με αγγειοπλασική διασώσεως (rescue) και stenting με λίαν επιπλεγμÎνη ποÏεία, οι φάσεις της οποίας αναλÏονται λεπτομεÏÏŽÏ‚ με τελική ωστόσο ικανοποιητική Îκβαση
Containment discourse and the constitution of the "Other" in the 1946-1952 period: A Foucauldian perspective
No full textThis study analyzes containment as a discourse and examines the mechanisms that were involved in the constitution of "Otherness" in the period 1946-1952.The notion of discourse as a complex network of interests which elicit certain practices to construct representations of "Otherness" in a certain way is derived from the work of French thinker Michel Foucault. According to this formulation, objects are no longer conceived as natural depictions; rather, they are conceived as constructions of the discourse.First, a positivist-based psychological approach to containment is contrasted to a discursive one and then the work of Michel Foucault and the literature on the problem of the "Other" are reviewed in order to establish the groundwork for the Foucauldian-type interpretation of containment discourse.The major research question that is addressed in this study concerns the ways in which the objects of containment discourse--"communism," "the Soviet Union," "Europe," and "Greece"--were constituted during the 1946-1952 period. Two mechanisms were identified and analyzed: the constitution of the Soviet "Other," and the "psychiatrization" of ideological susceptibility to communism.The constitution of the Soviet "Other" was effected through the works of the incipient field of Sovietology which was given impetus thanks to a partnership involving the government, the universities, and the private foundations. The Sovietological making of the enemy "Other" placed undue emphasis on the role that ideology played in the communist world, and focused almost exclusively on internal variables in interpreting Soviet external behavior.Concerning the United States national security governmental discourse, United States officials, invoking the doctor-patient analogy, conceived of and proceeded to treat "Greece" as if it were a mental patient amenable to psychiatric treatment whereas they treated "Europe" according to the precepts of biomedicine. The contrast in the two figurations derived from different modes of diagnosis at work. The heavy reliance upon hearing in the case of "Greece" and upon seeing in the case of "Europe" accounted for the "psychiatrization" of the former and the "medicalization" of the latter in containment discourse.Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-07, Section: A, page: 2235.Ph.D. American University 1989.Englis
Application of OCT and IVUS to investigate the combined effect of plaque structural stress and wall shear stress on plaque progression in human coronary arteries
No full textIntroduction: Atherosclerosis, the major source of cardiovascular diseases, is one of the leading causes of death. During atherosclerosis the arterial wall is affected by a complex process of lipid driven inflammation that leads to thickening of the arterial wall resulting in a so called plaque. Because of plaque growth, the lumen of the artery gradually narrows. As the lumen area is decreasing, reduction and even restriction of blood flow can occur, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke depending on the affected artery. Biomechanical stresses are known to influence the development of the disease. Those stress are the plaque structural stress (PSS) and wall shear stress (WSS) induced by the blood flow at the vessel wall. The aim of this project was to study the contribution of these biomechanical stresses and their combination to plaque progression in human coronary arteries. In order to investigate this effect a new methodology for the calculation of the stresses was introduced that utilizes the image modalities optical coherence tomography (OCT) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). The combination of those two image modalities can provide more accurate information regarding the plaque composition than the approaches that have been applied so far. In particular the cap thickness, which is the region shielding the lipid rich necrotic core from the blood flow, is crucial for structural stress calculations. Methods: The new methodology consisted of three steps. During the first step image data from the image modalities optical coherence tomography (OCT) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) were fused. The resulted images were cross-sections of the human coronary arteries that consisted of the lumen and the outer wall obtained from IVUS and the fibrous cap obtained from OCT. However, they did not contain information about the size of the necrotic core; thus, the second step was to reconstruct the necrotic core. For that purpose an algorithm from the literature was implemented that can reconstruct the necrotic core. The produced geometry resulting from the second step consisted of the same features as those from step one but they also included the contours of the necrotic core. The third step was the calculation of the PSS using those 2D geometries. The WSS data were obtained from another study. For the statistical analysis the data of both stress calculations were ranked as low, medium and high. Two different approaches for the definition of the thresholds of those ranks were used, vessel specific and absolute thresholds. In the vessel specific approach the thresholds of the aforementioned ranks were specific for each vessel, while in the second approach the threshold values were based on the whole sample size. Those two approaches were studied in order to explore if the response of the vessels depends to the absolute values of biomechanical stresses or it is relative to their respective biomechanical stresses. Change in wall thickness was used as metric to quantify the plaque progression. In order to study the contribution of the biomechanical stresses to the plaque progression in the human coronary arteries, statistical analysis was carried out using ANOVA with plaque progression as dependent variable and PSS and WSS as independent variables. Results: Plaque development was significantly related to WSS using both approaches to rank the WSS values into low, mid and high. In general, regions exposed to low WSS showed the most plaque progression. The individual effect of PSS was not statistically significant using both approaches, however there was a trend demonstrating that high PSS could promote plaque development. When PSS and WSS were combined using the vessel specific approach to rank the data, there was plaque progression for the cases of low WSS combined with any level of plaque structural stress. However, only WSS had a statistically significant effect in this case revealing that the resulted effect was entirely estimated by WSS. If absolute thresholds were used for both WSS and PSS, there was no statistical effect. Despite that, there was a trend showing that high PSS combined with high WSS could promote plaque development. Conclusions: During this project a new methodology was utilized in order to study the contribution of WSS, PSS and their combination to the plaque development in human coronary arteries. It was also the first study that utilized the combination of the image modalities OCT and IVUS in that topic. It was demonstrated that WSS could promote plaque development. PSS also enhanced plaque progression but with no statistically significant effect. Regarding the combination, it was demonstrated that the effect was explained completely by wall shear stress for the vessel specific approach. For the absolute thresholds approach, there was no statistically significant effect. However, more data are required to validate these results.Biomedical Engineerin
Anthropology consultancy in the UK and community development in the Third World: A difficult dialogue
No full textThe article investigates the impact of anthropology consultancy activities in the UK university sector and the role of the UK Department for International Development (DfID) as a major provider of consultancy work. DfID and other donors see anthropology consultancy as useful primarily in the delivery of technical assistance to Third World projects with a community or social development dimension. The article points to tensions both between UK-based consultancy and 'grassroots' development in the Third World, and between applied anthropology and the relative autonomy of anthropology as an academic discipline. The author suggests that a necessary precondition for understanding the contribution of anthropology to policy is the need to overcome the unwillingness by practitioners to question politically the power relationships within which the social sciences, anthropology, and commissioned activities themselves are located. The primary purpose of the paper is to open up a debate on the relationship between power, knowledge, empowerment, and consultancy work.This article is hosted by our co-publisher Taylor & Francis.</p
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