Body and forgetting

Body and Forgetting is a powerful dance performance that brings together the work of choreographer Liz Roche and film maker Alan Gilsenan, with a live score by Denis Roche. Inspired by the writings of Milan Kundera, Liz Roche Company's remarkable dancers find their way through delicately woven circumstances of disappearance, loss, relationship and hope. Their attempts to hold fast to memories and objects of meaning is at the heart of this work. The live performers move in dialogue with filmed versions of their dancing selves. They re-write their histories, make better endings to their stories, say what they regret not having said. These filmed reflections or versions of themselves, by offering a mirror, ultimately bring the performers back to themselves, richer from the experience.

The body in grief : death investigations, objections to autopsy, and the religious and cultural 'other'

Sudden, violent and otherwise unexplained deaths are investigated in most western jurisdictions through a Coronial or medico-legal process. A crucial element of such an investigation is the legislative requirement to remove the body for autopsy and other medical interventions, processes which can disrupt traditional religious and cultural grieving practices. While recent legislative changes in an increasing number of jurisdictions allow families to raise objections based on religious and cultural grounds, such concerns can be over-ruled, often exacerbating the trauma and grief of families. Based on funded research which interviews a range of Coronial staff in one Australian jurisdiction, this paper explores the disjuncture between medico-legal discourses, which position the body as corpse, and the rise of more ‘therapeutic’ discourses which recognise the family’s wishes to reposition the body as beloved and lamented.

Bits and bumps : gender, comedy and the body.

This paper examines some of the ways in which gender impacts upon contemporary physical comedy. According to the late Christopher Hitchens (2007, 2), women are too concerned with the seriousness of their reproductive responsibility to make good comedy; as slapstick film director Mack Sennett (in Dale, 2000, 92) maintained: “No joke about a mother ever got a laugh”. This article proposes a method of understanding what happens to the body in the comic moment, then draws upon Kristeva’s notion of abjection to help understand how gender inflects the creation of physical comedy.

Quantitative genetic parameters for body traits at different ages in a cultured stock of giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) selected for fast growth

The aim of the current study was to estimate heritabilities and correlations for body traits at different ages (Weeks 10 and 18 after stocking) in a giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) population selected for fast growth rate in Vietnam. The dataset consisted of 4650 body records (2432 and 2218 records collected at Weeks 10 and 18, respectively) in the full pedigree comprising a total of 18 387 records. Variance and covariance components were estimated using restricted maximum likelihood fitting a multi-trait animal model. Estimates of heritability for body traits (bodyweight, body length, cephalothorax length, abdominal length, cephalothorax width and abdominal width) were moderate and ranged from 0.06 to 0.11 and from 0.11 to 0.22 at Weeks 10 and 18, respectively. Body-trait heritabilities estimated at Week 10 were not significantly lower than at Week 18. Genetic correlations between body traits within age and genetic correlations for body traits between ages were generally high. Our results suggested that selection for high growth rate in GFP can be undertaken successfully before full market size has been reached.

Isolation and characterization of charge-tagged phenylperoxyl radicals in the gas phase : direct evidence for products and pathways in low temperature benzene oxidation

The phenylperoxyl radical has long been accepted as a critical intermediate in the oxidation of benzene and an archetype for arylperoxyl radicals in combustion and atmospheric chemistry. Despite being central to many contemporary mechanisms underpinning these chemistries, reports of the direct detection or isolation of phenylperoxyl radicals are rare and there is little experimental evidence connecting this intermediate with expected product channels. We have prepared and isolated two charge-tagged phenyl radical models in the gas phase [i.e., 4-(N,N,N-trimethylammonium) phenyl radical cation and 4-carboxylatophenyl radical anion] and observed their reactions with dioxygen by ion-trap mass spectrometry. Measured reaction rates show good agreement with prior reports for the neutral system (k(2)[(Me3N+)C6H4 center dot + O-2] = 2.8 x 10(-11) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1), Phi = 4.9%; k(2)[(-O2C)C6H4 center dot + O-2] = 5.4 x 10(-1)1 cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1), Phi = 9.2%) and the resulting mass spectra provide unequivocal evidence for the formation of phenylperoxyl radicals. Collisional activation of isolated phenylperoxyl radicals reveals unimolecular decomposition by three pathways: (i) loss of dioxygen to reform the initial phenyl radical; (ii) loss of atomic oxygen yielding a phenoxyl radical; and (iii) ejection of the formyl radical to give cyclopentadienone. Stable isotope labeling confirms these assignments. Quantum chemical calculations for both charge-tagged and neutral phenylperoxyl radicals confirm that loss of formyl radical is accessible both thermodynamically and entropically and competitive with direct loss of both hydrogen atom and carbon dioxide.

New criterion for the stability of a human body in floodwaters

The authors must be congratulated for their original and important study. The flooding of urbanised areas constitutes a hazard to the population and infrastructure. Floods through inundated urban environments have been studied only recently and few considered the potential impact of flowing waters on pedestrians...

Location of hydrogen atoms in hydronium jarosite

Various models for the crystal structure of hydronium jarosite were determined from Rietveld refinements against neutron powder diffraction patterns collected at ambient temperature and also single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. The possibility of a lower symmetry space group for hydronium jarosite that has been suggested by the literature was investigated. It was found the space group is best described as R3¯m, the same for other jarosite minerals. The hydronium oxygen atom was found to occupy the 3¯m site (3a Wyckoff site). Inadequately refined hydronium bond angles and bond distances without the use of restraints are due to thermal motion and disorder of the hydronium hydrogen atoms across numerous orientations. However, the acquired data do not permit a precise determination of these orientations; the main feature up/down disorder of hydronium is clear. Thus, the highest symmetry model with the least disorder necessary to explain all data was chosen: The hydronium hydrogen atoms were modeled to occupy an m (18 h Wyckoff site) with 50 % fractional occupancy, leading to disorder across two orientations. A rigid body description of the hydronium ion rotated by 60° with H–O–H bond angles of 112° and O–H distances of 0.96 Å was optimal. This rigid body refinement suggests that hydrogen bonds between hydronium hydrogen atoms and basal sulfate oxygen atoms are not predominant. Instead, hydrogen bonds are formed between hydronium hydrogen atoms and hydroxyl oxygen atoms. The structure of hydronium alunite is expected to be similar given that alunite supergroup minerals are isostructural.

Guest editorial : the body and the law

This issue of the Journal of Law and Medicine seeks to explore the law's relationship with the human body within a broad context of social, cultural and technological considerations. It does this both in terms of the ways in which the law constitutes the body (for example, by labelling it as property or otherwise), and in terms of the legal rules which regulate rights to bodies and body parts.

Globalising the body : globalisation and reproductive rights

Globalisation is a phenomenon of the contemporary world. Everywhere around us there seem to be signs of the power of the forces of globalisation: in our media and popular culture; in our international linkages across continents through international travel and telecommunications; in our globalised trade; and with the global movement of people, a process which itself ranges from the movement of international tourists to the international movement of refugees and other displaced persons. The processes of globalisation seem to simultaneously unify and divide us. There is no doubt that we live in a globalised world and that we are connected to others in previously unimaginable ways by transportation, telecommunications and economics. Yet, while this global context increasingly links us to others, there is also a very real sense in which separation, difference and the local have also gained a new significance; we are locked in a tension between the universal and the particular that has come to typify contemporary society. This article explores the meanings of globalisation and this dynamic – or tension – between the universal and the particular in terms of its implications for the body and, in particular, its significance for women and their reproductive rights.

Synthesis of MgB2 at low temperature and autogenous pressure

High quality, micron-sized interpenetrating grains of MgB2 with high density are produced at low temperatures (~420oC < T < ~500oC) under autogenous pressure by pre-mixing Mg powder and NaBH4 and heating in an Inconel 601 alloy reactor for 5−15 hours. Optimum production of MgB2 with yields greater than 75% occurs for autogenous pressure in the range 1.0 MPa to 2.0 MPa with the reactor at ~500oC. Autogenous pressure is induced by the decomposition of NaBH4 in the presence of Mg and/or other Mg-based compounds. The morphology, transition temperature and magnetic properties of MgB2 are dependent on the heating regime. Significant improvement in physical properties accrues when the reactor temperature is held at 250oC for >20minutes prior to a hold at 500oC.

The role of ethylene and cold temperature in the regulation of the apple POLYGALACTURONASE1 gene and fruit softening

Fruit softening in apple (Malus 3 domestica) is associated with an increase in the ripening hormone ethylene. Here, we show that in cv Royal Gala apples that have the ethylene biosynthetic gene ACC OXIDASE1 suppressed, a cold treatment preconditions the apples to soften independently of added ethylene. When a cold treatment is followed by an ethylene treatment, a more rapid softening occurs than in apples that have not had a cold treatment. Apple fruit softening has been associated with the increase in the expression of cell wall hydrolase genes. One such gene, POLYGALACTURONASE1 (PG1), increases in expression both with ethylene and following a cold treatment. Transcriptional regulation of PG1 through the ethylene pathway is likely to be through an ETHYLENE-INSENSITIVE3-like transcription factor, which increases in expression during apple fruit development and transactivates the PG1 promoter in transient assays in the presence of ethylene. A coldrelated gene that resembles a COLD BINDING FACTOR (CBF) class of gene also transactivates the PG1 promoter. The transactivation by the CBF-like gene is greatly enhanced by the addition of exogenous ethylene. These observations give a possible molecular mechanism for the coldand ethylene-regulated control of fruit softening and suggest that either these two pathways act independently and synergistically with each other or cold enhances the ethylene response such that background levels of ethylene in the ethylene-suppressed apples is sufficient to induce fruit softening in apples.

High temperature reduces apple fruit colour via modulation of the anthocyanin regulatory complex

The biosynthesis of anthocyanin in many plants is affected by environmental conditions. In apple (Malus×domestica Borkh.), concentrations of fruit anthocyanins are lower under hot climatic conditions. We examined the anthocyanin accumulation in the peel of maturing 'Mondial Gala' and 'Royal Gala' apples, grown in both temperate and hot climates, and using artificial heating of on-tree fruit. Heat caused a dramatic reduction of both peel anthocyanin concentration and transcripts of the genes of the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway. Heating fruit rapidly reduced expression of the R2R3 MYB transcription factor (MYB10) responsible for coordinative regulation for red skin colour, as well as expression of other genes in the transcriptional activation complex. A single night of low temperatures is sufficient to elicit a large increase in transcription of MYB10 and consequently the biosynthetic pathway. Candidate genes that can repress anthocyanin biosynthesis did not appear to be responsible for reductions in anthocyanin content. We propose that temperature-induced regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis is primarily caused by altered transcript levels of the activating anthocyanin regulatory complex.

Systematic differences in membrane acyl composition associated with varying body mass in mammals occur in all phospholipid classes : an analysis of kidney and brain

The acyl composition of membrane phospholipids in kidney and brain of mammals of different body mass was examined. It was hypothesized that reduction in unsaturation index (number of double bonds per 100 acyl chains) of membrane phospholipids with increasing body mass in mammals would be made-up of similar changes in acyl composition across all phospholipid classes and that phospholipid class distribution would be regulated and similar in the same tissues of the different-sized mammals. The results of this study supported both hypotheses. Differences in membrane phospholipid acyl composition (i. e. decreased omega-3 fats, increased monounsaturated fats and decreased unsaturation index with increasing body size) were not restricted to any specific phospholipid molecule or to any specific phospholipid class but were observed in all phospholipid classes. With increase in body mass of mammals both monounsaturates and use of less unsaturated polyunsaturates increases at the expense of the long-chain highly unsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturates, producing decreases in membrane unsaturation. The distribution of membrane phospholipid classes was essentially the same in the different-sized mammals with phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) together constituting similar to 91% and similar to 88% of all phospholipids in kidney and brain, respectively. The lack of sphingomyelin in the mouse tissues and higher levels in larger mammals suggests an increased presence of membrane lipid rafts in larger mammals. The results of this study support the proposal that the physical properties of membranes are likely to be involved in changing metabolic rate.

The lag effects and vulnerabilities of temperature effects on cardiovascular disease mortality in a subtropical climate zone in China

This research quantifies the lag effects and vulnerabilities of temperature effects on cardiovascular disease in Changsha—a subtropical climate zone of China. A Poisson regression model within a distributed lag nonlinear models framework was used to examine the lag effects of cold- and heat-related CVD mortality. The lag effect for heat-related CVD mortality was just 0–3 days. In contrast, we observed a statistically significant association with 10–25 lag days for cold-related CVD mortality. Low temperatures with 0–2 lag days increased the mortality risk for those ≥65 years and females. For all ages, the cumulative effects of cold-related CVD mortality was 6.6% (95% CI: 5.2%–8.2%) for 30 lag days while that of heat-related CVD mortality was 4.9% (95% CI: 2.0%–7.9%) for 3 lag days. We found that in Changsha city, the lag effect of hot temperatures is short while the lag effect of cold temperatures is long. Females and older people were more sensitive to extreme hot and cold temperatures than males and younger people.

"What" versus "how" in nonvisual whole-body movement

Dissociable processes for conscious perception (“what” processing) and guidance of action (“how” processing) have been identified in visual, auditory, and somatosensory systems. The present study was designed to find similar dissociation within whole-body movements in which the presence of vestibular information creates a unique perceptual condition. In two experiments, blindfolded participants walked along a linear path and specified the walked distance by verbally estimating it (“what” measure) and by pulling a length of tape that matched the walked distance (“how” measure). Although these two measures yielded largely comparable responses under a normal walking condition, variability in verbal estimates showed a qualitatively different pattern from that in tape-pulling when sensory input into walking was altered by having participants wear a heavy backpack. This suggests that the “what” versus “how” dissociation exists in whole-body movements as well, supporting a claim that it is a general principle with which perceptual systems are organized.