The outer membrane of Brucella ovis shows increased permeability to hydrophobic probes and is more susceptible to cationic peptides than are the outer membranes of mutant rough Brucella abortus strains

The permeability of the outer membrane (OM) to hydrophobic probes and its susceptibility to bactericidal cationic peptides were investigated for natural rough Brucella ovis and for mutant rough Brucella abortus strains. The OM of B. ovis displayed an abrupt and faster kinetic profile than rough B. abortus during the uptake of the hydrophobic probe N-phenyl-naphthylamine. B. ovis was more sensitive than rough B. abortus to the action of cationic peptides. Bactenecins 5 and 7 induced morphological alterations on the OMs of both rough Brucella strains. B. ovis lipopolysaccharide (LPS) captured considerably more polymyxin B than LPSs from both rough and smooth B. abortus strains. Polymyxin B, poly-L-lysine, and poly-L-ornithine produced a thick coating on the surfaces of both strains, which was more evident in B. ovis than in rough B. abortus. The distinct functional properties of the OMs of these two rough strains correlate with some structural differences of their OMs and with their different biological behaviors in animals and culture cells.

‘From the ‘roads to freedom’ to the ‘roads of humanism’? Sartre and his literary alter ego Mathieu in Les Chemins de la liberté (1938-1949)’

War and Memory international conference- Poetics after ’45,
QUB, Belfast, June 2008

Historical lies and fictional truth, the literary right fighting (for) the truth after WWII

War and Memory Research Seminar
QUB, Belfast, December 2009

Beowulf Hondbona: the Literary Context for Emending Line 1520b

In this article I consider the debate over whether line 1520b ought to be read as the emended “hond sweng” or the scribal “hord swenge.” It is a small point philologically but it raises interesting cultural and literary questions about the attitude of the Beowulf poet to arms and armour, to aggressive and defensive war gear, and to swords in particular. It has widely been assumed that swords are important in Beowulf and yet, the question of what their significance might be has received very little attention. Throughout the poem the hero is plagued by breaking, melting, and failing swords. He borrows, finds, and is given swords but unlike other English and Germanic heroes he is never identified with a single, great sword. I suggest that this is because, ultimately, Beowulf is conceived as a hondbana, a designation which has implications for what kind of a hero he proves to be.

Octave Uzanne’s L’Éventail: a literary mythology of the fan

In the last half of the nineteenth century, the folding fan was phenomenally popular in France. The accessory was a ubiquitous component of women’s dress, yet it also attracted the attention of some prominent collectors and Orientalists as well as acquiring an importance in the art and literature of the period. In many plastic works and literary texts devoted to it, the fan retains a link with femininity, and particularly with feminine sexuality, even as its identity as an art object is emphasized. Octave Uzanne’s L’Éventail (1882), a self-professed literary history of the fan, exemplifies this dualistic treatment as it presents the fan both as a titillating intimate companion of women and as a literary and (although to a lesser extent) art historical subject. This article focuses on Uzanne’s treatment of the fan’s early history in the Far and Middle East. By comparing his text with other contemporary histories of the fan, it demonstrates that the “history” of the accessory may be more accurately described as a mythology.

Palgrave Literary Dictionaries (co-edited with Brian G. Caraher)

Martin Garrett, The Palgrave Literary Dictionary of Shelley (Palgrave, 2013).

Palgrave Literary Dictionaries

Martin Garrett, The Palgrave Literary Dictionary of Byron (Palgrave, 2010)

Size matters: plasticity in metabolic scaling shows body-size may modulate responses to climate change

Variability in metabolic scaling in animals, the relationship between metabolic rate (R) and body mass (M), has been a source of debate and controversy for decades. R is proportional to M-b, the precise value of b much debated, but historically considered equal in all organisms. Recent metabolic theory, however, predicts b to vary among species with ecology and metabolic level, and may also vary within species under different abiotic conditions. Under climate change, most species will experience increased temperatures, and marine organisms will experience the additional stressor of decreased seawater pH ('ocean acidification'). Responses to these environmental changes are modulated by myriad species-specific factors. Body-size is a fundamental biological parameter, but its modulating role is relatively unexplored. Here, we show that changes to metabolic scaling reveal asymmetric responses to stressors across body-size ranges; b is systematically decreased under increasing temperature in three grazing molluscs, indicating smaller individuals were more responsive to warming. Larger individuals were, however, more responsive to reduced seawater pH in low temperatures. These alterations to the allometry of metabolism highlight abiotic control of metabolic scaling, and indicate that responses to climate warming and ocean acidification may be modulated by body-size.

Mycosis fungoides shows concurrent deregulation of multiple genes involved in the TNF signaling pathway:an expression profile study

Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most frequent type of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, whose diagnosis and study is hampered by its morphologic similarity to inflammatory dermatoses (ID) and the low proportion of tumoral cells, which often account for only 5% to 10% of the total tissue cells. cDNA microarray studies using the CNIO OncoChip of 29 MF and 11 ID cases revealed a signature of 27 genes implicated in the tumorigenesis of MF, including tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR)-dependent apoptosis regulators, STAT4, CD40L, and other oncogenes and apoptosis inhibitors. Subsequently a 6-gene prediction model was constructed that is capable of distinguishing MF and ID cases with unprecedented accuracy. This model correctly predicted the class of 97% of cases in a blind test validation using 24 MF patients with low clinical stages. Unsupervised hierarchic clustering has revealed 2 major subclasses of MF, one of which tends to include more aggressive-type MF cases including tumoral MF forms. Furthermore, signatures associated with abnormal immunophenotype (11 genes) and tumor stage disease (5 genes) were identified.

The CXCR2 antagonist, SCH-527123, shows antitumor activity and sensitizes cells to oxaliplatin in preclinical colon cancer models

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Recent studies showed that interleukin-8 (IL-8) and its receptors (CXCR1 and CXCR2) are significantly upregulated in both the tumor and its microenvironment, and act as key regulators of proliferation, angiogenesis, and metastasis. Our previous study showed that IL-8 overexpression in colorectal cancer cells triggers the upregulation of the CXCR2-mediated proliferative pathway. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the CXCR2 antagonist, SCH-527123, inhibits colorectal cancer proliferation and if it can sensitize colorectal cancer cells to oxaliplatin both in vitro and in vivo. SCH-527123 showed concentration-dependent antiproliferative effects in HCT116, Caco2, and their respective IL-8-overexpressing variants colorectal cancer cell lines. Moreover, SCH-527123 was able to suppress CXCR2-mediated signal transduction as shown through decreased phosphorylation of the NF-κB/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/AKT pathway. These findings corresponded with decreased cell migration and invasion, while increased apoptosis in colorectal cancer cell lines. In vivo results verified that SCH-527123 treatment decreased tumor growth and microvessel density when compared with vehicle-treated tumors. Importantly, these preclinical studies showed that the combination of SCH-527123 and oxaliplatin resulted in a greater decrease in cell proliferation, tumor growth, apoptosis, and angiogenesis that was superior to single-agent treatment. Taken together, these findings suggest that targeting CXCR2 may block tumor proliferation, migration, invasion, and angiogenesis. In addition, CXCR2 blockade may further sensitize colorectal cancer to oxaliplatin treatment.