323 research outputs found
The sacred choral music of Francis Poulenc: a contextual and analytical study
No full textPoulenc is perhaps best known for his instrumental works, for his adherence to the aesthetics of Neo-classicism, and his place among the Parisian intellectual circles in tJie 1920s and 1930s in which his friend, Jean Cocteau, played a central role. This essentially secular side of Poulenc's creativity was, after the composer's return to Roman Catholicism in 1936, challenged by a need to express a newly-found religious conviction in sacred music. Consequently Poulenc, who had been accustomed to the secular aesthetics of Neo-classicism of Parisian artistic life and the French capital's concert halls, found it necessary to 'rediscover' and assimilate the language of French church music and its history (notably through the filter of the Cecilian Movement, Niedermeyer and the pkinchant of Solesmes) in order to create for himself an appropriate 'sacred style’ that could also incorporate those essential elements of his characteristically playful and sensual, 'secular' language. This study aims to explore this confrontation of styles and how Poulenc successfully forged a cohesive and congruent language for his sacred works. The opening chapters have several distinct perspectives: chapter one outlines the tortuous history of the Church's relationship with the State in France dating back to the pivotal effects of the 1789 Revolution, in an attempt to provide a necessary context for the importance that Poulenc and his predecessors and contemporaries (most significantly Debussy) attached to the past; chapter two, by contrast, discusses some of the principal issues at the heart of Parisian artistic society in the early decades of the twentieth century and focuses on the lively artistic community which existed in Paris with the influx of large numbers of foreign musicians (particularly Americans and Russians) and artists, the emergence of 'Les Six' (of which Poulenc was a member) and the artistic leadership and inspiration given by figures such as Jean Cocteau, Serge Diaghilev and Igor Stravinsky. Cocteau and Stravinsky, indeed, had a huge impact on the young Poulenc. The second part of the thesis is an analytical study of Poulenc's sacred works (putting aside the Gloria, Stabat Mater and Sept Repais de Tetibres which are unmistakably concert works) and connects these analyses with the issues presented in the earlier chapters, beginning with the emotionally powerful Litanies a la vierge noire for women’s voices, composed soon after his Catholic faith returned in 1936, and ending with the decidedly hard-edged, Stravinskian Neo-classicism, yet relative placidity, of the Laudes de Saint Antoine de Padoue for men's voices, completed in Cannes in 1959. Central to the analytical discussion are the well known eclectic Mass in G (1937), the dramatic Quatre motets pour un temps de penitence (1939) and the stylistically distilled Quatre petite prieres de Saint Francois d'Assise which display the greatest variety of style and form and which combine to present significant examples of Poulenc's skilful unification of sacred and secular, ancient and modem sound worlds
Myocardial Gradients in Caveolar Number Modulate Cardiomyocyte Contractile Response to Specific beta 2AR Stimulation
No full textMyocardial Gradients in Caveolar Number Modulate Cardiomyocyte Contractile Response to Specific beta 2AR Stimulation
No full textIMAGING REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN BETA-2 ADRENERGIC RECEPTOR FUNCTION AT THE CELLULAR LEVEL
No full textThe Distribution and Characteristics of Endogenous Cardiac Stem Cells in All Four Chambers of the Adult Human Heart
No full textThe human myocardium harbours resident multi-potent cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs). We investigated the distribution, properties, differentiation potential and effect of LV function on CPCs in all chambers of the human heart.
Biopsies from all chambers of the heart from the same patient with good (EF>45; n=5) and impaired LV function (EF<45; n=5) was analysed for c-kitpos and MDR-1pos CPCs. CPCs were isolated using MACS from ten patients (Good and Impaired LV, n=5/group) and was characterised.
CPCs were identified in all chambers of the heart in both groups. The RA from good LV group had significantly (p<0.05) less c-kitpos (6± 0CPCs/mm2) and MDR-1pos CPCs (5± 1 CPCs/mm2). In the impaired LV group, the LV (38± 2 CPCs /mm2) had significantly more c-kitpos CPCs. Overall, the impaired LV group had significantly (p<0.05) more c-kitpos (32± 1CPCs /mm2) and MDR-1pos (47± 1 CPCs /mm2). Irrespective of LV function both c-kitpos and MDR-1pos CPCs were significantly higher (p<0.05) in ventricle than atria.
CPCs from the LV (80±2%) are significantly (p<0.05) more proliferative than RV (64±4%) and RA (64±6%) in good and impaired LV group, respectively. Regardless of LV function the atria and ventricle showed no difference in proliferation. Cardiosphereogenesis was significantly (p<0.05) higher in the good LV group. Irrespective of the LV function, cardiosphereogenesis, α-sarcomeric actin and calponin expression were significantly increased (p<0.05) in the LV chamber. In impaired LV group, the LV showed significant (p<0.05) expression for Nkx2.5. Overall, the cardiomyogenic and calponin expression were significantly (p<0.05) increased in impaired LV patients. The vWF expression was significantly (p<0.05) increased in LA and the atria of the good LV group.
In conclusion, there is a variation in the distribution, stem cell properties and differentiation potential of CPCs across all 4 chambers of the human heart. These variations are also affected by the LV function.Open Acces
β2-adrenergic receptor redistribution in heart failure changes cAMP compartmentation
No full textThe β1- and β2-adrenergic receptors (βARs) on the surface of cardiomyocytes mediate distinct effects on cardiac function and the development of heart failure by regulating production of the second messenger cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). The spatial localization in cardiomyocytes of these βARs, which are coupled to heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide - binding proteins (G proteins), and the functional implications of their localization have been unclear. We combined nanoscale live-cell scanning ion conductance and fluorescence resonance energy transfer microscopy techniques and found that, in cardiomyocytes from healthy adult rats and mice, spatially confined β2AR-induced cAMP signals are localized exclusively to the deep transverse tubules, whereas functional β1ARs are distributed across the entire cell surface. In cardiomyocytes derived from a rat model of chronic heart failure, β2ARs were redistributed from the transverse tubules to the cell crest, which led to diffuse receptor-mediated cAMP signaling. Thus, the redistribution of β2ARs in heart failure changes compartmentation of cAMP and might contribute to the failing myocardial phenotype
The effect of antiretroviral therapy provision on all-cause, AIDS and non-AIDS mortality at the population level--a comparative analysis of data from four settings in Southern and East Africa.
No full textOBJECTIVE: To provide a broad and up-to-date picture of the effect of antiretroviral therapy (ART) provision on population-level mortality in Southern and East Africa. METHODS: Data on all-cause, AIDS and non-AIDS mortality among 15-59 year olds were analysed from demographic surveillance sites (DSS) in Karonga (Malawi), Kisesa (Tanzania), Masaka (Uganda) and the Africa Centre (South Africa), using Poisson regression. Trends over time from up to 5 years prior to ART roll-out, to 4-6 years afterwards, are presented, overall and by age and sex. For Masaka and Kisesa, trends are analysed separately for HIV-negative and HIV-positive individuals. For Karonga and the Africa Centre, trends in AIDS and non-AIDS mortality are analysed using verbal autopsy data. RESULTS: For all-cause mortality, overall rate ratios (RRs) comparing the period 2-6 years following ART roll-out with the pre-ART period were 0.58 (5.9 vs. 10.2 deaths per 1000 person-years) in Karonga, 0.79 (7.2 vs. 9.1 deaths per 1000 person-years) in Kisesa, 0.61 (6.7 compared with 11.0 deaths per 1000 person-years) in Masaka and 0.79 (14.8 compared with 18.6 deaths per 1000 person-years) in the Africa Centre DSS. The mortality decline was seen only in HIV-positive individuals/AIDS mortality, with no decline in HIV-negative individuals/non-AIDS mortality. Less difference was seen in Kisesa where ART uptake was lower. CONCLUSIONS: Falls in all-cause mortality are consistent with ART uptake. The largest falls occurred where ART provision has been decentralised or available locally, suggesting that this is important
Caveolin3 Depletion Modifies beta 2AR-cAMP Responses at Both Cellular and Sub-Cellular Levels in Cardiomyocytes
No full textEvidence for protein phosphatase inhibitor-1 playing an amplifier role in β-adrenergic signaling in cardiac myocytes
No full textThe protein phosphatase inhibitor-1 (PPI-1) inhibits phosphatase type-1 (PP1) only when phosphorylated by protein kinase A and could play a pivotal role in the phosphorylation/dephosphorylation balance. Rat cardiac PPI-1 was cloned by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, expressed in Eschericia coli, evaluated in phosphatase assays, and used to generate an antiserum. An adenovirus was constructed encoding PPI-1 and green fluorescent protein (GFP) under separate cytomegalovirus promotors (AdPPI-1/GFP). A GFP-only virus (AdGFP) served as control. Engineered heart tissue (EHT) from neonatal rat cardiomyocytes and adult rat cardiac myocytes (ARCMs) were used as model systems. PPI-1 expression was determined in human ventricular samples by Northern blots. Compared with AdGFP, AdPPI-1/GFP-infected neonatal rat cardiomyocytes displayed a 73% reduction in PP1 activity. EHTs infected with AdPPI-1/GFP exhibited a fivefold increase in isoprenaline sensitivity. AdPPI-1/GFP-infected ARCMs displayed enhanced cell shortening as well as enhanced phospholamban phosphorylation when stimulated with 1 nM isoprenaline. PPI-1 mRNA levels were reduced by 57±12% in failing hearts with dilated and ischemic cardiomyopathy (n=8 each) compared with nonfailing hearts (n=8). In summary, increased PPI-1 expression enhances myocyte sensitivity to isoprenaline, indicating that PPI-1 acts as an amplifier in β-adrenergic signaling. Decreased PPI-1 in failing human hearts could participate in desensitization of the cAMP pathway
Caveolin3 Depletion Modifies beta 2AR-cAMP Responses at Both Cellular and Sub-Cellular Levels in Cardiomyocytes
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