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Human disease on stage
Full text linkTheater, being in most cases a representation of real life, can refer to anyone of its aspects, including disease. Human disease is a specific condition associated with several effects in the behavior of both, the patient and his environment, as well as their interrelationship. Several play writers, even from the ancient years, have tried to present these effects. Furthermore, another topic for the theater can be the way Medicine is practiced, usually with a critical approach.
Of course play writers have not in general studied Medicine and so their references to disease may not be always absolutely right, especially if they represent aspects of past time. Furthermore, if we refer to poetic or symbolic drama it may express unrealistic situations only to serve the main idea of the author
Administration of a Small, Interfering RNA Molecule: A New Effective Method for Preventing Attacks of Acute Porphyria
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Hypocholesterolemia: a blessing or a problem?
Full text linkWe are all accustomed to face serum cholesterol as a potential threat for our health and so wish and try to have its levels as low as possible. So, in clinical practice we are rather indifferent or even satisfied when we find very low serum cholesterol levels -what we can call “hypocholesterolemia- in a certain individual. Is this practice right or it should be reevaluated? Since cholesterol is an important component of all cell membranes and its concentrations affect membrane permeability and fluidity it is highly probable that very low levels of it may disturb some cell functions and participate in the pathogenesis of diseases.
Let’s start with a definition of the term, although this is not generally accepted. It can be described as a serum total cholesterol level under the fifth percentile of a general population adjusted for sex and age.1 In a less complicated manner it can be defined as less than 115 mg/dl. In a study of 7,000 healthy blood donors, a percentage of 7,8% were found to meet the criteria for hypocholesterolemia.
Hypocholesterolemia may be congenital or acquired. Congenital conditions are either combined with low LDL- (low density lipoprotein) or low HDL- (high density lipoprotein) cholesterol levels
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Artificial Intelligence: Are we creating a new Frankenstein?
Full text linkMary Shelley (1797-1851) is an English novelist best known for her Gothic novel[1] Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, written in 1818. In this novel, Victor Frankenstein, an excellent young scientist specialized in chemistry but also connoisseur of other sciences, develops a genius technique to impart life in a huge humanoid that he constructed using parts of dead human bodies. However, when he sees his creature come into life he abandons it terrified. As the creature wanders without an aim or help, it faces human enmity and that transforms it to a maniac for vengeance, extremely directed against its creator. It does not hesitate to murder the persons who are most precious to Victor, including his younger brother and even his bride at the night of their wedding. Victor starts a desperate chase of his creature that leads him to the North Pole, where he dies of exhaustion. The Creature, seeing him dead, mourns for him and, having decided to die too, drifts away on an ice raft and is soon "lost in darkness and distance", never to be seen again.1 Although the “Creature†remains nameless in the novel, it is usually referred in every-day practice with the name of its creator. That’s why the name “Frankenstein†is often used metaphorically to describe an evil existence that causes death and destruction (fig. 1)
Vanadium: A Rather Unknown Trace Element of Our Body and a Possible Therapeutic Agent in the Future
Full text linkVariations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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