30 research outputs found
Nachmann’s Stork: On Hanoch Levin’s Playwriting
No full textW artykule zestawiono twórczość izraelskiego dramatopisarza Hanocha Levina z myślą żydowskiego teologa Joshuy Abrahama Heschela, wyrażoną w dwóch jego książkach: Człowiek szukający Boga i Bóg szukający człowieka, które wyznaczają bieguny egzystencjalnych zmagań Levina. Bohaterowie sztuk analizowanych w tym eseju, Kruma (1975), Męki Hioba (1981) i Śniącego chłopca (1993), dryfują w metafizycznej próżni. Próbują znaleźć jakiś punkt podparcia, ale ponieważ znajdują się w próżni, ich próby są absurdalne. Nie jest to jednak absurd, o jaki chodziło Albertowi Camusowi. Nie daje on bohaterom Levina żadnej godności, nie wyzwala ich, a wręcz przeciwnie – upokarza i sprawia, że czują się niezręcznie. Odniesienie do pism Heschela nie jest tu przypadkowe. Ojciec Levina pochodził z chasydzkiej rodziny i wychowywał syna zgodnie z ortodoksyjnymi żydowskimi wierzeniami. Levin dobrze zatem znał obraz żydowskiej religijności odzwierciedlony w filozofii Heschela i musiał się do niego ustosunkować. Fakt, że Levin odrzucił religijność, nie umniejsza znaczenia wiary, Boga i Jego przymierza z człowiekiem dla jego dramatycznej twórczości. Wręcz przeciwnie, czyni Boga jednym z najważniejszych problemów, z którymi Levin i bohaterowie jego sztuk muszą się zmierzyć. Dla Estragona i Vladimira z arcydzieła Samuela Becketta przedłużające się oczekiwanie na nieobecnego Godota również nie było błahostką. Hanoch Levin jest często postrzegany jako kontynuator teatru absurdu. Autor artykułu dowodzi, że niemożliwe byłoby pełne zrozumienie znaczenia tej kontynuacji bez odniesienia się do jej religijnego kontekstu.This article discusses the work of the Israeli playwright setting it side by side with the thought of the Jewish theologian Joshua Abraham Heschel as expressed in two of his books: Man Is Not Alone, and God in Search of Man. The two books define the poles of Levin’s existential struggles. The protagonists of the plays examined in this essay, i.e. of Krum (1975), Job’s Passion (1981), and Dreaming Child (1993), drift in a metaphysical vacuum. They try to get some fulcrum, but since they are in a vacuum, their attempts are absurd. This is not the kind of absurd that Albert Camus meant. Endorsing it does not lend Levin’s characters any dignity; it does not liberate them; on the contrary, it humiliates them and makes them feel awkward. The reference to Heschel’s writings here is not accidental. Levin’s father came from a Hasidic family and raised his son as the orthodox Jewish beliefs dictated. Thus, the image of Jewish religiosity reflected in Heschel’s philosophy was something very familiar to Levin, something that he had to take a position on. The fact that it was a position of rejection does not diminish the importance of religious faith, God and His covenant with man for the dramatic work of the author. On the contrary, it makes it one of the paramount problems that Levin and characters of his plays have to come to terms with. For Estragon and Vladimir from Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece the prolonged waiting for an absent Godot was no trifle either. Hanoch Levin is often seen as a continuator of the theatre of the Absurd. It would be impossible to fully grasp the meaning of this continuation without referring to its religious context
Role of protein translocation pathways across the endoplasmic reticulum in Trypanosoma brucei
No full textThe translocation of secretory and membrane proteins across the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane is mediated by co-translational (via the signal recognition particle (SRP)) and post-translational mechanisms. In this study, we investigated the relative contributions of these two pathways in trypanosomes. A homologue of SEC71, which functions in the post-translocation chaperone pathway in yeast, was identified and silenced by RNA interference. This factor is essential for parasite viability. In SEC71-silenced cells, signal peptide (SP)-containing proteins traversed the ER, but several were mislocalized, whereas polytopic membrane protein biogenesis was unaffected. Surprisingly trypanosomes can interchangeably utilize two of the pathways to translocate SP-containing proteins except for glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins, whose level was reduced in SEC71-silenced cells but not in cells depleted for SRP68, an SRP-binding protein. Entry of SP-containing proteins to the ER was significantly blocked only in cells co-silenced for the two translocation pathways (SEC71 and SRP68). SEC63, a factor essential for both translocation pathways in yeast, was identified and silenced by RNA interference. SEC63 silencing affected entry to the ER of both SP-containing proteins and polytopic membrane proteins, suggesting that, as in yeast, this factor is essential for both translocation pathways in vivo. This study suggests that, unlike bacteria or other eukaryotes, trypanosomes are generally promiscuous in their choice of mechanism for translocating SP-containing proteins to the ER, although the SRP-independent pathway is favored for glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins, which are the most abundant surface proteins in these parasites
Art Play: Stories of Engaging Families, Inspiring Learning, and Exploring Emotions
No full textCollage is the ultimate playful technique . . . . When you put it all together, you create something new. It is really about trial and error . . . about trying things and making mistakes. It’s about forgiving yourself when you make mistakes, and playfulness lets you do that. —Hanoch Piven, “Living in a Playful Collage” Hanoch Piven, an internationally known collage-caricature artist, visited Omaha, Nebraska, to conduct arts-based workshops for families, teachers, and children. The workshops were organized by the Omaha Family Literacy Partnership (OFLP). The partnership promotes literacy learning among children and their families through community activities such as author and illustrator visits, family book celebrations, storytelling events, book distributions, and puppet shows. The OFLP invited Piven, an author and illustrator of children’s books, because of his connection to literacy. Playful explorations with objects is his method of creating art, and this method was the focus of the workshops
The Concept of Time in Rehabilitation and Psychosocial Adaptation to Chronic Illness and Disability: Parts I and II
No full textHuman fascination with the concept of time can be traced to antiquity. Time has been viewed as fundamental to all human experience, and efforts to understand its nature, structure, and relationship to the human experience have generated a burgeoning body of literature, over the past two millennia, among philosophers, astronomers, physicists, and more recently psychologists. Yet, the field of rehabilitation counseling has been rather silent on the role of time and especially its place in understanding psychosocial adaptation to chronic illnesses and disabilities. In the first part of this article, the author seeks to (a) provide a brief review of the current understanding of the nature and structure of time and (b) explore the role that time plays in the context of personality theories and the therapeutic approaches spawned by them. Implications to the study of chronic illnesses and disabilities are discussed throughout the narrative.The first part of this article focused on providing the reader with a general overview of the concept of time with special emphasis on understanding time?s role in the structure of personality theories and their associated therapeutic approaches, as well as linking the discussion to the understanding of time in the context of psychosocial adaptation to chronic illnesses and disabilities (CIDs). In the second part of this article, the author seeks to (a) briefly comment on the association among death, disability, and time; (b) discuss findings from the clinical and empirical literatures regarding time perception/orientation within the context of psychiatric disabilities; (c) review findings on the relationships between time perception/orientation and psychosocial adaptation to CIDs; and (d) highlight those treatment modalities that have been suggested for individuals whose disabilities have resulted in time distortions
Disability and Monstrosity: Further Comments
No full textThe author discusses possible explanations for stereotypical and negative reactions toward physically disabled persons in literature and society. Cited are examples of physical deformity, animalism, and monstrosity. The reminder of mortality and fallibility produced by disability is considered
Psychosocial Adaptation to Chronic Illness and Disability: an Updated and Expanded Conceptual Framework
No full textThe article revisits and updates an earlier model (Livneh, 2001) that examined the building blocks that constitute the dynamics of psychosocial adaptation to chronic illness and disability (CID). In the revised tripartite model, the author reconstructs and refines the earlier model based on recent theoretical formulations, clinical reviews and research findings. In the revised model, the author discusses three overarching components, namely, antecedents (causes of medical conditions, background variables), processes (the dynamically unfolding course of post-CID events), and outcomes (anticipated exit indicators that serve, as snapshot end products, to assess the individual’s experienced and reported quality of life following onset of CID). The article concludes with a brief review of the model’s practical and research implications
Persistent ER stress induces the spliced leader RNA silencing pathway (SLS), leading to programmed cell death in Trypanosoma brucei.
No full textTrypanosomes are parasites that cycle between the insect host (procyclic form) and mammalian host (bloodstream form). These parasites lack conventional transcription regulation, including factors that induce the unfolded protein response (UPR). However, they possess a stress response mechanism, the spliced leader RNA silencing (SLS) pathway. SLS elicits shut-off of spliced leader RNA (SL RNA) transcription by perturbing the binding of the transcription factor tSNAP42 to its cognate promoter, thus eliminating trans-splicing of all mRNAs. Induction of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in procyclic trypanosomes elicits changes in the transcriptome similar to those induced by conventional UPR found in other eukaryotes. The mechanism of up-regulation under ER stress is dependent on differential stabilization of mRNAs. The transcriptome changes are accompanied by ER dilation and elevation in the ER chaperone, BiP. Prolonged ER stress induces SLS pathway. RNAi silencing of SEC63, a factor that participates in protein translocation across the ER membrane, or SEC61, the translocation channel, also induces SLS. Silencing of these genes or prolonged ER stress led to programmed cell death (PCD), evident by exposure of phosphatidyl serine, DNA laddering, increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, increase in cytoplasmic Ca(2+), and decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential, as well as typical morphological changes observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). ER stress response is also induced in the bloodstream form and if the stress persists it leads to SLS. We propose that prolonged ER stress induces SLS, which serves as a unique death pathway, replacing the conventional caspase-mediated PCD observed in higher eukaryotes
Proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 mediates gonadotropin-releasing hormone signaling to a specific extracellularly regulated kinase-sensitive transcriptional locus in the luteinizing hormone beta-subunit gene
No full textG protein-coupled receptor regulation of gene transcription primarily occurs through the phosphorylation of transcription factors by MAPKs. This requires transduction of an activating signal via scaffold proteins that can ultimately determine the outcome by binding signaling kinases and adapter proteins with effects on the target transcription factor and locus of activation. By investigating these mechanisms, we have elucidated how pituitary gonadotrope cells decode an input GnRH signal into coherent transcriptional output from the LH beta-subunit gene promoter. We show that GnRH activates c-Src and multiple members of the MAPK family, c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase 1/2, p38MAPK, and ERK1/2. Using dominant-negative point mutations and chemical inhibitors, we identified that calcium-dependent proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 specifically acts as a scaffold for a focal adhesion/cytoskeleton-dependent complex comprised of c-Src, Grb2, and mSos that translocates an ERK-activating signal to the nucleus. The locus of action of ERK was specifically mapped to early growth response-1 (Egr-1) DNA binding sites within the LH beta-subunit gene proximal promoter, which was also activated by p38MAPK, but not c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase 1/2. Egr-1 was confirmed as the transcription factor target of ERK and p38MAPK by blockade of protein expression, transcriptional activity, and DNA binding. We have identified a novel GnRH-activated proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2-dependent ERK-mediated signal transduction pathway that specifically regulates Egr-1 activation of the LH beta-subunit proximal gene promoter, and thus provide insight into the molecular mechanisms required for differential regulation of gonadotropin gene expression
Seminal plasma and prostaglandin E2 up-regulate fibroblast growth factor 2 expression in endometrial adenocarcinoma cells via E-series prostanoid-2 receptor-mediated transactivation of the epidermal growth factor receptor and extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway
No full textProstaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) has been shown to modulate angiogenesis and tumour progression via the E-series prostanoid-2 (EP2) receptor. Endometrial adenocarcinomas may be exposed to endogenous PGE(2) and exogenous PGE(2), present at high concentration in seminal plasma
