New Philology and the Biogenetics of Texts

The discussion on the New Philology triggered by French and North American scholars in the last decade of the 20th century emphasized the material character of textual transmission inside and outside the written evidences of medieval manuscripts by downgrading the active role of the historical author. However, the reception of the ideas propagated by the New Philology adherents was rather divided. Some researchers considered it to be the result of an academic “crisis” (R.T. Pickens) or questioned its innovative status (K. Stackmann: “Neue Philologie?”); others appreciated the “new attitudes to the page” it had brought to mind (J. Bumke after R.H. and M.A, Rouse) or even saw a new era of the “powers of philology” evoked (H.-U. Gumbrecht). Besides the debates on the New Philology another concept of textual materiality strengthened in the last decade, maintaining that textual alterations somewhat relate to biogenetic mutations. In a matter of fact, phenomena such as genetic and textual variation, gene recombination and ‘contamination’ (the mixing of different exemplars in one manuscript text) share common features. The paper discusses to what extent the biogenetic concepts can be used for evaluating manifestations of textual production (as the approach of ‘critique génétique’ does) and of textual transmission (as the phylogenetic analysis of manuscript variation does). In this context yet the genealogical concept of stemmatology – the treelike representation of textual development abhorred by the New Philology adepts – might prove to be useful for describing the history of texts. The textual material to be analyzed will be drawn from the Parzival Project, which is currently preparing a new electronic edition of Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival novel written shortly after 1200 and transmitted in numerous manuscripts up to the age of printing. Researches of the project have actually resulted in suggesting that the advanced knowledge of the manuscript transmission yields a more precise idea on the author’s own writing process.

New results and new ice-borne finds from high-alpine passes in the Bernese Alps (Switzerland)

Archaeological finds from Schnidejoch (2756 m a.s.l.) and Lötschenpass (2690 m a.s.l.) cover the periods from the Early Neolithic to the Middle Ages (4800 BC - 1000 AD). The numerous finds from Schnidejoch discovered since 2003 can now be seen in relationship with Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements in the Rhone valley and together with the early use of alpine meadows and early transhumance. Finds of Early Bronze Age bows from Lötschenpass go back to the 1930ies. New finds of wooden objects and objects made from birch bark melted out from the ice in the summer of 2011. The lecture presents these new finds and an actualized view of Schnidejoch finds.

MicroRNA profile of poorly differentiated thyroid carcinomas: new diagnostic and prognostic insights.

The diagnosis of conventional and oncocytic poorly differentiated (oPD) thyroid carcinomas is difficult. The aim of this study is to characterise their largely unknown miRNA expression profile and to compare it with well-differentiated thyroid tumours, as well as to identify miRNAs which could potentially serve as diagnostic and prognostic markers. A total of 14 poorly differentiated (PD), 13 oPD, 72 well-differentiated thyroid carcinomas and eight normal thyroid specimens were studied for the expression of 768 miRNAs using PCR-Microarrays. MiRNA expression was different between PD and oPD thyroid carcinomas, demonstrating individual clusters on the clustering analysis. Both tumour types showed upregulation of miR-125a-5p, -15a-3p, -182, -183-3p, -222, -222-5p, and downregulation of miR-130b, -139-5p, -150, -193a-5p, -219-5p, -23b, -451, -455-3p and of miR-886-3p as compared with normal thyroid tissue. In addition, the oPD thyroid carcinomas demonstrated upregulation of miR-221 and miR-885-5p. The difference in expression was also observed between miRNA expression in PD and well-differentiated tumours. The CHAID algorithm allowed the separation of PD from well-differentiated thyroid carcinomas with 73-79% accuracy using miR-23b and miR-150 as a separator. Kaplan-Meier and multivariate analysis showed a significant association with tumour relapses (for miR-23b) and with tumour-specific death (for miR-150) in PD and oPD thyroid carcinomas. MiRNA expression is different in conventional and oPD thyroid carcinomas in comparison with well-differentiated thyroid cancers and can be used for discrimination between these tumour types. The newly identified deregulated miRNAs (miR-150, miR-23b) bear the potential to be used in a clinical setting, delivering prognostic and diagnostic informations.

The New Cockney: New Ethnicities and Adolescent Speech in the Traditional East End of London

The New Cockney provides a sociolinguistic account of speech variation among adolescents in the 'traditional' East End of London. The study takes account of the social and economic upheaval in the area since the 1950s, primarily concentrating on factors such as the immigration of the Bangladeshi community and its effect on the Cockney dialect. By paying attention to the particular, this book contributes to a better understanding of the more general concerns of linguistic variation. With a focus on the interaction and social practices of a group of adolescents attending a youth centre, the study highlights some of the possible mechanisms for language change.

Steroidogenesis of the testis - new genes and pathways

Defects of androgen biosynthesis cause 46,XY disorder of sexual development (DSD). All steroids are produced from cholesterol and the early steps of steroidogenesis are common to mineralocorticoid, glucocorticoid and sex steroid production. Genetic mutations in enzymes and proteins supporting the early biosynthesis pathways cause adrenal insufficiency (AI), DSD and gonadal insufficiency. The classic androgen biosynthesis defects with AI are lipoid CAH, CYP11A1 and HSD3B2 deficiencies. Deficiency of CYP17A1 rarely causes AI, and HSD17B3 or SRD5A2 deficiencies only cause 46,XY DSD and gonadal insufficiency. All androgen biosynthesis depends on 17,20 lyase activity of CYP17A1 which is supported by P450 oxidoreductase (POR) and cytochrome b5 (CYB5). Therefore 46,XY DSD with apparent 17,20 lyase deficiency may be due to mutations in CYP17A1, POR or CYB5. Illustrated by patients harboring mutations in SRD5A2, normal development of the male external genitalia depends largely on dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which is converted from circulating testicular testosterone (T) through SRD5A2 in the genital skin. In the classic androgen biosynthetic pathway, T is produced from DHEA and androstenedione/-diol in the testis. However, recently found mutations in AKR1C2/4 genes in undervirilized 46,XY individuals have established a role for a novel, alternative, backdoor pathway for fetal testicular DHT synthesis. In this pathway, which has been first elucidated for the tammar wallaby pouch young, 17-hydroxyprogesterone is converted directly to DHT by 5α-3α reductive steps without going through the androgens of the classic pathway. Enzymes AKR1C2/4 catalyse the critical 3αHSD reductive reaction which feeds 17OH-DHP into the backdoor pathway. In conclusion, androgen production in the fetal testis seems to utilize two pathways but their exact interplay remains to be elucidated.

In Search of Political Influence: Strategic Choices and Media Coverage of Political Parties, Interest Groups and Social Movements in Western European Countries

Outside lobbying is a key strategy for social movements, interest groups and political parties for mobilising public opinion through the media in order to pressure policymakers and influence the policymaking process. Relying on semi-structured interviews and newspaper content analysis in six Western European countries, this article examines the use of four outside lobbying strategies – media-related activities, informing (about) the public, mobilisation and protest – and the amount of media coverage they attract. While some strategies are systematically less pursued than others, we find variation in their relative share across institutional contexts and actor types. Given that most of these differences are not accurately mirrored in the media, we conclude that media coverage is only loosely connected to outside lobbying behaviour, and that the media respond differently to a given strategy when used by different actors. Thus, the ability of different outside lobbying strategies to generate media coverage critically depends on who makes use of them.