Novel in vitro assays for the characterization of EMT in tumourigenesis

Background Two novel assays quantifying Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) were compared to traditional motility and migration assays. TGF-ß1 treatment of AY-27 rat bladder cancer cells acted as a model of EMT in tumourigenesis. Methods AY-27 rat bladder cancer cells incubated with 3ng/ml TGF-ß1 or control media for 24 or 48h were assessed using novel and traditional assays. The Spindle Index, a novel measure of spindle phenotype, was derived from the ratio of maximum length to maximum width of cells. The area covered by cells which migrated from a fixed coverslip towards supplemented agarose was measured in a novel chemoattractant assay. Motility, migration and immunoreactivity for E-cadherin, Vimentin and cytokeratin were assessed. Results TGF-ß1 treated cells had increased “spindle” phenotype together with decreased E-cadherin, decreased Cytokeratin-18 and increased Vimentin immunoreactivity. After 48h, the mean Spindle Index of TGF-ß1 treated cells was significantly higher than Mock (p=0.02 Bonferroni test) and there were significant differences in migration across treatment groups measured using the novel chemoattractant assay (p = 0.02, Chi-Square). TGF-ß1 significantly increased matrigel invasion. Conclusion The Spindle Index and the novel chemoattractant assay are valuable adjunctive assays for objective characterization of EMT changes during tumourigenesis.

Introducing Students to Pre-Nineteenth-Century Poetry in the Language Classroom

We as language instructors are tasked with preparing students to transition from language to literature courses. The shorter length of many poems makes them ideal for presentation in the language classroom, where the acquisition of communicative competence is the priority. Introductory and intermediate textbooks’ poetry offerings, however, are frequently drawn from a canon of poems by only a few nineteenth- and twentieth-century authors (Verlaine, Apollinaire, Prévert) and fail to expose students to broader aspects of French literature. This article offers strategies for presenting pre-nineteenth-century poetry to first- and second-year students of French using dizains from Scève’s Délie as examples.

Sins of the Flesh: Zola, Naturalism and the Madeleine Redemption Narrative in Nineteenth-Century France

Mary Magdalene has endured over the centuries as a powerful icon for the redemption of the so-called sins of the flesh. In arguing that her appeal to writers was experienced no more keenly than in nineteenth-century France, this article reflects on the political, ideological and gender assumptions that are woven into the Madeleine narrative of redemption. It goes on to propose that, with the rise of the naturalist novel, relying on pseudo-scientific theories of pre-determination, the Madeleine myth is radically rewritten in Zola’s Madeleine Férat, an often neglected novel in which the Calvinist doctrine of original sin and predestination not only challenges the very notion of redemption from sexual waywardness, but inflects some of the defining principles of naturalism.