662 research outputs found
Stanley Kowalski’s T-shirt, Metatheater, Intermediality, and Grotesque: Monographs on Tennessee Williams
No full textPublished in 2021, both monographs on Tennessee Williams — Stanley Gontarski’s Tennessee Williams, T-shirt Modernism and the Refashionings of Theater and Laura Michiels’ The Metatheater of Tennessee Williams: Tracing the Artistic Process Through Seven Plays perform the dual task of offering new perspectives on the playwright’s wellstudied plays and elaborating on the lesser-known material with its non-obvious cultural functions. Researchers show the complexity of Williams’ late oeuvre, demonstrating how his plays of the 1960s and early 1980s continue theatrical experiments of the second half of the 20th century. Developing the themes of his earlier period (theatricality of life and experience, the vulnerability of beauty and artistry, the fragility of memory, and the conflicts between the strong and the weak), Williams has enriched both poetic and naturalistic theater styles through absurdist aesthetics, his use of stylistic excess and an emphasis on metatheatre — spectacles about spectacles. Gontarski's book discusses Williams' influence on subsequent popular culture and its representation of the images of masculinity. Gontarski shows how Williams' success across the Atlantic depended on censorship (“The Lord Chamberlain’s Blue Pencil” being an intriguing part of Chapter 2) or greater stage freedom (Sweden). Late plays (In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel, Two-Character Play, Clothes for a Summer Hotel) allow the author to take a closer look at Williams’ absurdist poetics and the intriguing process of “becoming Beckett,” which the American playwright reenacts. Laura Michiels explores different types of metatheater in Williams’s work: “mythical” (Orpheus Descending), “esoteric” (Two-Character Play), “marauding” (Clothes for the Summer Hotel), “multiplying" and “negotiating” (Sweet Bird of Youth, Something Cloudy, Something Clear). Michiels shows how Williams' dramas open up to issues important for contemporary interdisciplinary studies: the audience’s emotional and affective responsiveness, the work of memory, and intermedial dialogism. Michiels’ book offers a wide range of tools for unpacking metatheatricality of the 20th-century drama
Alkylphosphocholines and quaternary ammonium compounds against acanthamoeba keratitis
No full textAcanthamoeba keratitis (AK) is a sight threatening infection caused by the free-living amoeba Acanthamoeba. This infection is largely associated with contact lens wear and the recent increase in AK incidences highlights the ineffectiveness of existing curative and preventative treatments. Current curative and protective treatments being active in part, only against the infective trophozoites and often inducing their conversion to the protective cysts is a major issue, particularly when the latter are the main cause of disease resurgences and relapses. These point to the need for the discovery of new drugs for curative and preventive treatments. Two structurally similar chemical classes, alkylphosphocholines (APCs) and quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) that address these issues will be discussed in this review
Birmingham News sleeve BN0061276
No full textCity / Police promotions / The promotional ceremony for lieutenants and sergeants will be held on Monday, September 19, 1994, at 11:00 a.m., at Boutwell Auditorium (Exhibition Hall), located at 20th Street and 8th Avenue North. / The following persons will be promoted to lieutenant: / Ellison Beggs / Robert Boswell / Prentice Dixon / James Hope / Daniel Phillips / Rosalind Short / Eugene Thomas / Roy Williams / Andy Woods / The following persons will be promoted to sergeants: / Mike Ashworth / Clark P. Austin / Janice Blackwell / Earnest Burt / Grady Collier / Johnny Colley / Steven Corvin / Richard Davis / Nathaniel Dunn / Fred Ellison / Roderick Gadson / John Graham / John Greene III / Darius Hatcher / Herman Hinton / Henry Irby III / Suzanne Orange / Alfonso Reid / Fred Shaw / Cedric Stevens / Diane Thomas / William Walker / Michael Wallace / [Press release included
A study of the effects of the ten days to self-esteem program on the anger and jealousy of an abusive male, 1996
No full textThis study examined the self-esteem of a male who had been abused as a child and the subsequent impact of low self-esteem on violence in intimate relationships. The study was based on the premise that domestic violence in intimate relationships is linked to the low self-esteem of abusers. Three independent variables were considered, and a single intervening variable was identified. A single system, A-B design was used to analyze data gathered from a standardized self-esteem index and logs of anger and jealousy. The intervention involved cognitive restructuring, anger management, and role playing. The results indicated that as the client�s self-esteem improved, the incidence of violence in the relationship as well as feelings of anger and jealousy decreased. The conclusions drawn from the findings suggest there is a need for programs that provide specific focus on the self-esteem of abusers, in an attempt to decrease violence. The results also indicate that low self-esteem impacts on the incidence of domestic violence
Structure and antiparasitic activity relationship of alkylphosphocholine analogues against Leishmania donovani
No full textMiltefosine (Milt) is the only oral treatment for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) but its use is associated with adverse effects e.g. teratogenicity, vomiting, diarrhoea. Understanding how its chemical structure induces cytotoxicity, whilst not compromising its anti-parasitic efficacy, could identify more effective compounds. Therefore, we systemically modified the compound’s head, tail and linker tested the in vitro activity of three alkylphosphocholines (APC) series against Leishmania donovani strains with different sensitivities to antimony. The analogue, APC12, with an alkyl carbon chain of 12 atoms, was also tested for anti-leishmanial in vivo activity in a murine VL model. All APCs produced had anti-leishmanial activity in the micromolar range (IC50 and IC90, 0.46 µM - >82.21 µM and 4.14 µM - 739.89 µM; 0.01 - >8.02 µM and 0.09 µM - 72.18 µM respectively against promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes). The analogue, APC12 was the most active, was 4–10 fold more effective than the parent Milt molecule (APC16), irrespective of the strain’s sensitivity to antimony. Intravenous administration of 40 mg/kg APC12 to L. donovani infected BALB/c mice reduced liver and spleen parasite burdens by 60 ± 11% and 60 ± 19% respectively while oral administration reduced parasite load in the bone marrow by 54 ± 34%. These studies confirm that it is possible to alter the Milt structure and produce more active anti-leishmanial compounds
Subjective Experience of Episodic Memory and Metacognition: A Neurodevelopmental Approach
No full textEpisodic retrieval is characterized by the subjective experience of remembering. This experience enables the co-ordination of memory retrieval processes and can be acted on metacognitively. In successful retrieval, the feeling of remembering may be accompanied by recall of important contextual information. On the other hand, when people fail (or struggle) to retrieve information, other feelings, thoughts and information may come to mind. In this review, we examine the subjective and metacognitive basis of episodic memory function from a neurodevelopmental perspective, looking at recollection paradigms (such as source memory, and the report of recollective experience) and metacognitive paradigms such as the feeling of knowing). We start by considering healthy development, and provide a brief review of the development of episodic memory, with a particular focus on the ability of children to report first-person experiences of remembering. We then consider neurodevelopmental disorders such as amnesia acquired in infancy, autism, Williams syndrome, Down syndrome or 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. This review shows that different episodic processes develop at different rates, and that across a broad set of different neurodevelopmental disorders there are various types of episodic memory impairment, each with possibly a different character. This literature is in agreement with the idea that episodic memory is a multifaceted process
Distinct roles in autophagy and importance in infectivity of the two ATG4 cysteine peptidases of leishmania major
No full textMacroautophagy in Leishmania, which is important for the cellular remodeling required during differentiation, relies upon the hydrolytic activity of two ATG4 cysteine peptidases (ATG4.1 and ATG4.2). We have investigated the individual contributions of each ATG4 to Leishmania major by generating individual gene deletion mutants (Δatg4.1 and Δatg4.2); double mutants could not be generated, indicating that ATG4 activity is required for parasite viability. Both mutants were viable as promastigotes and infected macrophages in vitro and mice, but Δatg4.2 survived poorly irrespective of infection with promastigotes or amastigotes, whereas this was the case only when promastigotes of Δatg4.1 were used. Promastigotes of Δatg4.2 but not Δatg4.1 were more susceptible than wild type promastigotes to starvation and oxidative stresses, which correlated with increased reactive oxygen species levels and oxidatively damaged proteins in the cells as well as impaired mitochondrial function. The antioxidant N-acetylcysteine reversed this phenotype, reducing both basal and induced autophagy and restoring mitochondrial function, indicating a relationship between reactive oxygen species levels and autophagy. Deletion of ATG4.2 had a more dramatic effect upon autophagy than did deletion of ATG4.1. This phenotype is consistent with a reduced efficiency in the autophagic process in Δatg4.2, possibly due to ATG4.2 having a key role in removal of ATG8 from mature autophagosomes and thus facilitating delivery to the lysosomal network. These findings show that there is a level of functional redundancy between the two ATG4s, and that ATG4.2 appears to be the more important. Moreover, the low infectivity of Δatg4.2 demonstrates that autophagy is important for the virulence of the parasite
A dialogic reimagining of a servant's suffering: understanding second Isaiah's servant of Yahweh as a polyphonic hero
No full textA definitive identification of the Servant figure of Second Isaiah is notoriously difficult, as attested by centuries of conjecture and debate. The interpretive obstacles are profuse: the Servant is addressed as Israel-Jacob, but then spoken of in terms that are not consistent with the nation's experience; in some texts he seems to represent a community, while in others he speaks as an individual; he seems to suffer extreme hardship and persecution, but then is said to experience new life; some of his experiences appear to be historical, while others are best described as idealistic. Further hampering objective interpretations are the pervasive traditional approaches among Christian and Jewish readers, which associate the Servant, equally emphatically, with Jesus or Israel.
But a primary reason the Servant is so difficult to pin down is rarely considered, and that is that there exists no objective image of the Servant anywhere in Second Isaiah. As a literary character he is constituted entirely by dialogue; that is, by discourse addressed to him, spoken by him, and spoken about him by others in the form of a confession. His actions are never described, and his person is never defined. Scholars have referred to this as his 'fluid' nature, but have lacked the methodological tools for a fuller study of this literary curiosity.
The ideas of literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin speak to this type of characterisation. His 'polyphonic hero' is a fictional character who is constituted by what is spoken to him or her, by what they overhear said concerning them, and by how they make that discourse, and the discourse of the wider world, an aspect of their own self-knowledge. They become known only by the discourse that converges on them, much as the Servant of Second Isaiah is constituted. This thesis develops a reading strategy based on Bakhtin's theory of the polyphonic hero, as well as his broader theories of dialogism. It reimagines the inner discourse of the Servant in order to comprehend him according to the dialogue by which he knows himself, and not according to conventional reading strategies that seek for a fixed, opaque image. In the process it discovers that there are not multiple Servants, which is often posited as a solution to the problem of his fluid nature, but one Servant, Israel-Jacob, whose self-knowledge as the faithful Servant of Yahweh calls empirical Israel to faith in a time of national distress. It concludes that the Servant is present in the collection of Second Isaiah as a 'voice-idea', the embodiment of a theologically critical position that calls many of Israel's theological and ideological presuppositions into question, in order to liberate her for a renewed history as a faithful 'witness' to Yahweh her redeemer
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