Woody Allen i l'esperit de la tragèdia grega: de Crimes and Misdemeanors a Match Point

Nombrosos són ja els estudis que s'han centrat en l'anomenat "cinema seriós" de Woody Allen i, entre ells, paga la pena de mencionar el que Pau Gilabert Barberà, autor d'aquest article, va escriure (2006) sobre el que, en opinió seva, és el llegat sofístic subjacent en el guió de Crimes and Misdemeanors. En aquesta ocasió, el seu objectiu és analitzar la trajectòria fluctuant del director americà en relació a la tragèdia grega, des de la convicció que, només així, és possible revelar la seva empatia amb l'esperit tràgic dels grecs i comprendre la seva necessitat de presentar aquell gènere literari com un paradigma des del qual entendre les grandeses i misèries del món contemporani.

Woody Allen and the Spirit of the Greek Tragedy: from Crimes and Misdemeanors to Match Point

Many studies have already paid attention to what is called the "serious films" by Woody Allen and, among them, it is also worth mentioning the one written by the very Pau Gilabert Barberà (2006), which is devoted to the Sophistic legacy underlying in his opinion the screenplay of Crimes and Misdemeanors. On this occasion, his aim is to analyse the fluctuating sight of the American director with regard to the Greek tragedy. Indeed, Gilabert is convinced that, only in this way, it is possible to reveal the true Allen¿s sympathy with the tragic spirit of the Greeks, as well as to understand his urge to present that ancient literary genre as a paradigm with the help of which one can evaluate the greatness and misery of our contemporary world.

Woody Allen y el espíritu de la tragedia griega: de Crimes and Misdemeanors a Match Point

Numerosos son ya los estudios que se han centrado en el llamado "cine serio" de Woody Allen y, entre ellos, cabe mencionar el que Pau Gilabert Barberà, autor de este artículo, escribió (2006) sobre lo que, en su opinión, es el legado sofístico subyacente en el guión de Crimes and Misdemeanors. En esta ocasión, su objetivo es analizar la trayectoria fluctuante del director americano en relación con la tragedia griega, desde la convicción de que, sólo así, es posible revelar su empatía con el espíritu trágico de los griegos y comprender su necesidad de presentar aquel género literario como un paradigma desde el cual entender las grandezas y miserias del mundo contemporáneo.

New York versus la tragedia y Edipo. El legado sofocleo -y sofístico- en Crimes and Misdemeanors de W. Allen

Más allá de la referencia explícita a la tragedia griega y Edipo, el objetivo de este artículo es presentar la estrecha relación, en opinión del autor, entre lo que mantienen los protagonistas en Crimes and Misdemeanors y las teorías de los sofistas griegos sobre Dios, la ley, etc. Una confrontación minuciosa de sus textos con el guión de la película revela claramente unas raíces sofísticas que no pueden ser atribuidas, en este caso, a la presencia constante del legado judío en la obra de W. Allen.

New York versus Tragedy and Oedipus. The Legacy of Sophocles and the Sophists in Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors"

Beyond the explicit reference to the Greek tragedy and Oedipus, the aim of this article is to show the clear relationship, in the author's opinion, between what the protagonists of the film maintain and the theories of the Greek Sophists about God, the law, etc. An accurate analysis both of their texts and the screenplay of Crimes and Misdemeanors reveals different sophistic roots, which, in this case, cannot be attributed to the constant presence of the Jewish legacy in W. Allen's work.

New York versus la tragedia y Edipo. El legado sofocleo -y sofístico- en Crimes and Misdemeanors de W. Allen

Más allá de la referencia explícita a la tragedia griega y Edipo, el objetivo de este artículo es presentar la estrecha relación, en opinión del autor, entre lo que mantienen los protagonistas en Crimes and Misdemeanors y las teorías de los sofistas griegos sobre Dios, la ley, etc. Una confrontación minuciosa de sus textos con el guión de la película revela claramente unas raíces sofísticas que no pueden ser atribuidas, en este caso, a la presencia constante del legado judío en la obra de W. Allen.

New York versus la tragèdia i Èdip. El llegat de Sòfocles -i dels sofistes- a Crimes and Misdemeanors de W. Allen

Més enllà de la referència explícita a la tragèdia grega i Èdip, l'objectiu d'aquest article és presentar l'estreta relació, en opinió del autor, entre allò que mantenen els protagonistes a Crimes and Misdemanors i les teories del sofistes grecs sobre Déu, la llei, etc. Una confrontació acurada dels seus textos amb el guió de la pel·lícula revela clarament unes arrels sofístiques que no poden ser atribuïdes, en aquest cas, a la constant presència del llegat jueu en l'obra de W. Allen.

Origin-related, environmental, sex, and age determinants of immunocompetence, susceptibility to ectoparasites, and disease symptoms in the barn owl

Knowledge of the role of origin-related, environmental, sex, and age factors on host defence mechanisms is important to understand variation in parasite intensity. Because alternative components of parasite defence may be differently sensitive to various factors, they may not necessarily covary. Many components should therefore be considered to tackle the evolution of host-parasite interactions. In a population of barn owls (Tyto alba), we investigated the role of origin-related, environmental (i.e. year, season, nest of rearing, and body condition), sex, and age factors on 12 traits linked to immune responses [humoral immune responses towards sheep red blood cells (SRBC), human serum albumin (HSA) and toxoid toxin TT, T-cell mediated immune response towards the mitogen phytohemagglutinin (PHA)], susceptibility to ectoparasites (number and fecundity of Carnus haemapterus, number of Ixodes ricinus), and disease symptoms (size of the bursa of Fabricius and spleen, proportion of proteins that are immunoglobulins, haematocrit and blood concentration in leucocytes). Cross-fostering experiments allowed us to detect a heritable component of variation in only four out of nine immune and parasitic parameters (i.e. SRBC- and HSA-responses, haematocrit, and number of C. haemapterus). However, because nestlings were not always cross-fostered just after hatching, the finding that 44% of the immune and parasitic parameters were heritable is probably an overestimation. These experiments also showed that five out of these nine parameters were sensitive to the nest environment (i.e. SRBC- and PHA-responses, number of C. haemapterus, haematocrit and blood concentration in leucocytes). Female nestlings were more infested by the blood-sucking fly C. haemapterus than their male nestmates, and their blood was less concentrated in leucocytes. The effect of year, season, age (i.e. reflecting the degree of maturation of the immune system), brood size, position in the within-brood age hierarchy, and body mass strongly differed between the 12 parameters. Different components of host defence mechanisms are therefore not equally heritable and sensitive to environmental, sex, and age factors, potentially explaining why most of these components did not covary.

Giving or Receiving Something for Sex: A Cross-Sectional Study of Transactional Sex among Ugandan University Students.

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to determine the prevalence of transactional sex among university students in Uganda and to assess the possible relationship between transactional sex and sexual coercion, physical violence, mental health, and alcohol use. METHODS: In 2010, 1954 undergraduate students at a Ugandan university responded to a self-administered questionnaire that assessed mental health, substance use, physical violence and sexual behaviors including sexual coercion and transactional sex. The prevalence of transactional sex was assessed and logistic regression analysis was performed to measure the associations between various risk factors and reporting transactional sex. RESULTS: Approximately 25% of the study sample reported having taken part in transactional sex, with more women reporting having accepted money, gifts or some compensation for sex, while more men reporting having paid, given a gift or otherwise compensated for sex. Sexual coercion in men and women was significantly associated with having accepted money, gifts or some compensation for sex. Men who were victims of physical violence in the last 12 months had higher probability of having accepted money, gifts or some compensation for sex than other men. Women who were victims of sexual coercion reported greater likelihood of having paid, given a gift or otherwise compensated for sex. Respondents who had been victims of physical violence in last 12 months, engaged in heavy episodic drinking and had poor mental health status were more likely to have paid, given a gift or otherwise compensated for sex. CONCLUSIONS: University students in Uganda are at high risk of transactional sex. Young men and women may be equally vulnerable to the risks and consequences of transactional sex and should be included in program initiatives to prevent transactional sex. The role of sexual coercion, physical violence, mental health, and alcohol use should be considered when designing interventions for countering transactional sex.

Evolution of mRNA expression levels of autosomal and sex-linked genes in amniotes

In addition to differences in protein-coding gene sequences, changes in expression resulting from mutations in regulatory sequences have long been hypothesized to be responsible for phenotypic differences between species. However, unlike comparison of genome sequences, few studies, generally restricted to pairwise comparisons of closely related mammalian species, have assessed between-species differences at the transcriptome level. They reported that gene expression evolves at different rates in various organs and in a pattern that is overall consistent with neutral models of evolution. In the first part of my thesis, I investigated the evolution of gene expression in therian mammals (i.e.7 placental and marsupials), based on microarray data from human, mouse and the gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica). In addition to autosomal genes, a special focus was given to the evolution of X-linked genes. The therian X chromosome was recently shown to be younger than previously thought and to harbor a specific gene content (e.g., genes involved in brain or reproductive functions) that is thought to have been shaped by specific sex-related evolutionary forces. Sex chromosomes derive from ordinary autosomes and their differentiation led to the degeneration of the Y chromosome (in mammals) or W chromosome (in birds). Consequently, X- or Z-linked genes differ in gene dose between males and females such that the heterogametic sex has half the X/Z gene dose compared to the ancestral state. To cope with this dosage imbalance, mammals have been reported to have evolved mechanisms of dosage compensation.¦In the first project, I could first show that transcriptomes evolve at different rates in different organs. Out of the five tissues I investigated, the testis is the most rapidly evolving organ at the gene expression level while the brain has the most conserved transcriptome. Second, my analyses revealed that mammalian gene expression evolution is compatible with a neutral model, where the rates of change in gene expression levels is linked to the efficiency of purifying selection in a given lineage, which, in turn, is determined by the long-term effective population size in that lineage. Thus, the rate of DNA sequence evolution, which could be expected to determine the rate of regulatory sequence change, does not seem to be a major determinant of the rate of gene expression evolution. Thus, most gene expression changes seem to be (slightly) deleterious. Finally, X-linked genes seem to have experienced elevated rates of gene expression change during the early stage of X evolution. To further investigate the evolution of mammalian gene expression, we generated an extensive RNA-Seq gene expression dataset for nine mammalian species and a bird. The analyses of this dataset confirmed the patterns previously observed with microarrays and helped to significantly deepen our view on gene expression evolution.¦In a specific project based on these data, I sought to assess in detail patterns of evolution of dosage compensation in amniotes. My analyses revealed the absence of male to female dosage compensation in monotremes and its presence in marsupials and, in addition, confirmed patterns previously described for placental mammals and birds. I then assessed the global level of expression of X/Z chromosomes and contrasted this with its ancestral gene expression levels estimated from orthologous autosomal genes in species with non-homologous sex chromosomes. This analysis revealed a lack of up-regulation for placental mammals, the level of expression of X-linked genes being proportional to gene dose. Interestingly, the ancestral gene expression level was at least partially restored in marsupials as well as in the heterogametic sex of monotremes and birds. Finally, I investigated alternative mechanisms of dosage compensation and found that gene duplication did not seem to be a widespread mechanism to restore the ancestral gene dose. However, I could show that placental mammals have preferentially down-regulated autosomal genes interacting with X-linked genes which underwent gene expression decrease, and thus identified a novel alternative mechanism of dosage compensation.

NPAS2 as a transcriptional regulator of non-rapid eye movement sleep: genotype and sex interactions.

Because the transcription factor neuronal Per-Arnt-Sim-type signal-sensor protein-domain protein 2 (NPAS2) acts both as a sensor and an effector of intracellular energy balance, and because sleep is thought to correct an energy imbalance incurred during waking, we examined NPAS2's role in sleep homeostasis using npas2 knockout (npas2-/-) mice. We found that, under conditions of increased sleep need, i.e., at the end of the active period or after sleep deprivation (SD), NPAS2 allows for sleep to occur at times when mice are normally awake. Lack of npas2 affected electroencephalogram activity of thalamocortical origin; during non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMS), activity in the spindle range (10-15 Hz) was reduced, and within the delta range (1-4 Hz), activity shifted toward faster frequencies. In addition, the increase in the cortical expression of the NPAS2 target gene period2 (per2) after SD was attenuated in npas2-/- mice. This implies that NPAS2 importantly contributes to the previously documented wake-dependent increase in cortical per2 expression. The data also revealed numerous sex differences in sleep; in females, sleep need accumulated at a slower rate, and REMS loss was not recovered after SD. In contrast, the rebound in NREMS time after SD was compromised only in npas2-/- males. We conclude that NPAS2 plays a role in sleep homeostasis, most likely at the level of the thalamus and cortex, where NPAS2 is abundantly expressed.

Cryptic recombination in the ever-young sex chromosomes of Hylid frogs.

Sex chromosomes are expected to evolve suppressed recombination, which leads to degeneration of the Y and heteromorphism between the X and Y. Some sex chromosomes remain homomorphic, however, and the factors that prevent degeneration of the Y in these cases are not well understood. The homomorphic sex chromosomes of the European tree frogs (Hyla spp.) present an interesting paradox. Recombination in males has never been observed in crossing experiments, but molecular data are suggestive of occasional recombination between the X and Y. The hypothesis that these sex chromosomes recombine has not been tested statistically, however, nor has the X-Y recombination rate been estimated. Here, we use approximate Bayesian computation coupled with coalescent simulations of sex chromosomes to quantify X-Y recombination rate from existent data. We find that microsatellite data from H. arborea, H. intermedia and H. molleri support a recombination rate between X and Y that is significantly different from zero. We estimate that rate to be approximately 10(5) times smaller than that between X chromosomes. Our findings support the notion that very low recombination rate may be sufficient to maintain homomorphism in sex chromosomes.

CJJP Forecasts Increase in Special Sentence Sex Offenders Caseloads, Data Download, Iowa Department of Corrections, December 2011

The Iowa Sex Offender Research Council recently released a report to the Iowa General Assembly focusing on sex offender registration and the special sentence for sex offenders. Regarding the latter, the Council (staffed by the state’s Division of Criminal & Juvenile Justice Planning) projected a steady increase in community-based corrections’ special sentence caseloads from 619 offenders in 2011 to 2,651 offenders in 2021:

Fewer Probationers Revoked for New Crimes, Data Download, Iowa Department of Corrections, October 2008

In the August Data Download, we reported that the number of prison admissions due to probation revocation had declined in FY 2008 in comparison with the previous four years, despite the fact that the number of offenders on probation has actually increased over that time period. In this issue we explore information in the reports of violation that led to probation revocations to prison.

Special Sentence Sex Offender Caseloads Adding Up, Data Downloads, Iowa Department of Corrections, December 2008

Several years ago the General Assembly increased the penalties for certain sex offenses by an additional ten years of community-based supervision, and in some case lifetime supervision. The Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning (CJJP) studied the effect the new law would have on CBC supervision caseloads: