123 research outputs found
Art, Biography, Sexuality: Patrick Procktor and Keith Vaughan
No full textThis critical review forms a reflection on the research published within the following publications:
Patrick Procktor: Art and Life (Unicorn Press, 2010)
Keith Vaughan: The Mature Oils 1946-1977, (Sansom & Co., 2012)
The research is on two artists, Patrick Procktor (1936-2003), and Keith Vaughan (1912-1977). The monograph on Procktor – previously one of the least documented of the generation of artists who came to prominence in London in the Sixties – positions him in a history of art from which he had been notably absent. The research on Vaughan asserts a new reading of his work, one that is both deeper and more nuanced in its analysis of the ways in which personal experience and sexuality are encoded autobiographically within his work. Crucially, in both artists biography and work are symbiotically linked; the research therefore examines the links between life and art.
Revisionary in intent, the work examines trajectories of experience of gay British (or rather, English) artists in the twentieth century, artists who sought to express themselves and forge careers within the constraints of a heteronormative society, albeit one in which attitudes to sexuality were undergoing change. As gay men, both were constrained by the social mores of their times, and each used painting as a means to affirm personal and sexual identities. A key research interest is in the ways in which sexuality and persona are reflected in critical responses to the artist’s work: in Vaughan, Procktor and other gay male artists of the period. The writing on both Procktor and Vaughan examines the relationship between their personal and professional/artistic lives, framed within a broader socio-political and art historical context. It asserts the place of biography as a means to understand and form new readings of the work. The work adds substantially to the literature and wider discourse on post-war British painting and social history
Werner Syndrome as an example of inflamm-aging: Possible therapeutic opportunities for a progeroid syndrome?
No full textWerner syndrome (WS) is a premature aging disorder that is widely used as a model for some aspects of the normal human aging process. Individuals with WS have several of the characteristics of normal aging, such as cataracts, hair graying, and skin aging, but manifest these at an early age. In addition, WS is associated with high levels of inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis and type II diabetes. Recent data have indicated that fibroblasts derived from individuals with WS have activated a major molecular pathway involved in inflammation. This observation ties in with the presence of high plasma levels of inflammatory cytokines in individuals with WS. In this paper, the authors discuss the possibility that WS is an example of "inflamm-aging," in that many of the phenotypic manifestations may result from an increased inflammatory state. Moreover, drugs that specifically block this inflammation pathway may be possible candidates for therapeutic intervention in WS
Werner syndrome, telomeres, and stress signaling: implications for future therapies?
No full textWerner syndrome (WS) is a premature ageing disorder used as a model of normal human ageing. WS individuals have several characteristics of normal ageing, such as cataracts, hair greying, and skin ageing, but manifest these at an early age. Additionally, WS individuals have high levels of infl ammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis and type II diabetes. The in vivo ageing in WS is associated with premature ageing of fi broblasts in culture, and it is thought that WS is a disease of accelerated cell ageing. Normal fi broblasts senesce as a result of telomere erosion and WRNp is known to play a role in telomere maintenance. However, telomeres in WS cells do not appear to show accelerated rates of erosion. Thus the cause of the accelerated senescence is not understood. Several features of WS cells suggest that they are growing under conditions of stress, and low oxygen conditions and antioxidant treatment revert some of the accelerated senescence phenotype. In addition, WS cells have signifi cant levels of genomic instability. Oxidative stress and genomic instability result in the activation of stress kinases such as p38, and the p38-specifi c inhibitor SB203580 essentially prevents the accelerated senescence seen in WS fi broblasts. The recent development of p38 inhibitors with different binding properties, specifi cities, and oral bioavailability, and of new potent and selective inhibitors of other stress kinases such as JNK and MK2, will make it possible to dissect the roles of various kinase pathways in the accelerated senescence of WS cells. If this accelerated senescence is refl ective of WS ageing in vivo, these kinase inhibitors may well form the basis of anti-ageing therapeutics for individuals with W
Assessing the role of stress signalling via p38 MAP kinase in the premature senescence of Ataxia Telangiectasia and Werner syndrome fibroblasts
No full textThe premature ageing Ataxia Telangiectasia
(AT) and Werner syndromes (WS) are
associated with accelerated cellular ageing. Young
WS fibroblasts have an aged appearance and activated
p38 MAP kinase, and treatment with the p38
inhibitor SB230580 extends their lifespan to within
the normal range. SB203580 also extends the replicative
lifespan of normal adult dermal fibroblasts,
however, the effect is much reduced when compared
to WS cells, suggesting that WS fibroblasts undergo a
form of stress-induced premature senescence (SIPS).
A small lifespan extension is seen in AT cells, which
is not significant compared to normal fibroblasts, and
the majority of young AT cells do not have an aged
appearance and lack p38 activation, suggesting that
the premature ageing does not result from SIPS. The
lack of p38 activation is supported by the clinical
manifestation, since AT is not associated with
inflammatory disease, whereas WS individuals are
predisposed to atherosclerosis, type II diabetes and
osteoporosis, conditions known to be associated with
p38 activation
Telomeres and Telomerase Biology in Vertebrates: Progress Towards a Non-Human Model for Replicative Senescence and Ageing
No full textStudies on telomere and telomerase biology are fundamental to the understanding of human ageing and age-related diseases such as cancer. However, human studies of whole body ageing are hampered by the lack of suitable fully reflective animal model systems, the wild-type mouse model being unsuitable due to differences in telomere biology. Here we summarise recent data on the biology of telomeres, telomerase, and the tumour suppressor protein p53 in various animals, and examine their possible roles in replicative senescence, ageing, and tumourigenesis. The advantages and disadvantages of various animals as model systems for whole body ageing in humans are discussed
Landscape-painter as landscape-gardener : the case of Alfred Parsons R.A.
No full textIn 2 vols.Available from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN016830 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo
The Slap’s resonances: Multiculturalism and adolescence in Tsiolkas’ Australia
No full textThis article discusses Australian author Christos Tsiolkas’ novel ‘The Slap’ (2008) and its television adaptation (2011). The latter is situated in relation to Television Studies debates relating to ‘quality’, with elements of the adaptation that enable its categorisation as ‘quality TV’ highlighted. Tsiolkas, whose novels all prominently feature Greek-Australian characters, has described ‘The Slap’ as a response to John Howard’s period as Prime Minister. The article thus examines in detail particular policies produced in Australia during those years, and the competing discourses relating to ‘multiculturalism’ which were in circulation. Drawing on the writings of Ien Ang and John Stratton, as well as David L. Eng, it is argued that both versions of ‘The Slap’ expose faultlines in Australian society relating to race and ethnicity which multiculturalism policies may attempt to paper over and bury. The article also compares and contrasts the two versions of ‘The Slap’, situates the novel in relation to Tsiolkas’ other writings, and positions the adaptation within the landscape of Australian film and television. The essay concludes with a consideration of the significance of music in Tsiolkas’ novels, and how, in particular, this shapes his representations of younger characters
The Extent and Significance of Telomere Loss with Age
No full textBy imposing a limit on the proliferative life span of some human cell types, telomere loss and the subsequent onset of replicative senescence have been proposed to contribute to age-related disease. Although there is a large body of in vitro data to reveal the mechanisms by which telomere erosion triggers senescence, technical limitations have hampered our ability to understand the full extent of telomere erosion in vivo. Thus far, we have evidence of age-related telomere loss; however, the lack of resolution of existing technologies does not allow us to determine if telomere erosion is extensive enough to trigger replicative senescence in vivo. This coupled with the considerable interindividual heterogeneity, and the overlap in telomere lengths between young and elder individuals, render any correlation weak and the significance unclear. However, recent technical developments, including adaptations of quantitative telomere fluorescence, in situ hybridization (Q-FISH), and the PCR-based single telomere length analysis (STELA), have increased the resolution of telomere length analysis. These technologies promise to provide the evidence required to address the full extent and significance of telomere loss in the human aging process. Here, we review published data on the dynamics of telomere erosion with age in the human body
Text-based over-representation analysis of microarray gene lists with annotation bias
No full textA major challenge in microarray data analysis is the functional interpretation of gene lists. A common approach to address this is over-representation analysis (ORA), which uses the hypergeometric test (or its variants) to evaluate whether a particular functionally defined group of genes is represented more than expected by chance within a gene list. Existing applications of ORA have been largely limited to pre-defined terminologies such as GO and KEGG. We report our explorations of whether ORA can be applied to a wider mining of free-text. We found that a hitherto underappreciated feature of experimentally derived gene lists is that the constituents have substantially more annotation associated with them, as they have been researched upon for a longer period of time. This bias, a result of patterns of research activity within the biomedical community, is a major problem for classical hypergeometric test-based ORA approaches, which cannot account for such bias. We have therefore developed three approaches to overcome this bias, and demonstrate their usability in a wide range of published datasets covering different species. A comparison with existing tools that use GO terms suggests that mining PubMed abstracts can reveal additional biological insight that may not be possible by mining pre-defined ontologies alone
Special Edition Title: Affordable Housing: An Economic Perspective
No full textTo coincide with the launch of its conference series as part of the "Housing – Critical Futures" programme, in April 2015, Architecture_MPS invited leading organisations, activists, architects and charities to author opinion pieces on the housing crisis in the UK. Their statements collected together in this special edition. Speakers at the conference included Stephen Hodder, President, RIBA and David Waterhouse, Head of Strategic Planning, CABE. The authors collected together in this issue include: Ken Loach, Film Director; Stewart Baseley, Executive Chairman. The Home Builders Federation; Siân Errington from Unite the Union; Rico Wojtulewicz. Policy Advisor, The House Builders Association; Brian Schubert and Rachel Hartley, The Association of Residential Letting Agents; Colin Rice, Cullinan Studio; Dr Glyn Robbins, Defend Council Housing; Suzanne Muna, Paul Kershaw, Arti Dillon, Housing Workers; Elaine Bailey, Chief Executive, The Hyde Group Housing Association; Eileen Short, Coorganiser The March for Homes; Dr. Rob MacDonald, Academic, Author, Editor, DIY City
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