From the Cajal alumni Achucarro and Rio-Hortega to the rediscovery of never-resting microglia

Under the guidance of Ramon y Cajal, a plethora of students flourished and began to apply his silver impregnation methods to study brain cells other than neurons: the neuroglia. In the first decades of the twentieth century, Nicolas Achucarro was one of the first researchers to visualize the brain cells with phagocytic capacity that we know today as microglia. Later, his pupil Pio del Rio-Hortega developed modifications of Achucarro's methods and was able to specifically observe the fine morphological intricacies of microglia. These findings contradicted Cajal's own views on cells that he thought belonged to the same class as oligodendroglia (the so called "third element" of the nervous system), leading to a long-standing discussion. It was only in 1924 that Rio-Hortega's observations prevailed worldwide, thus recognizing microglia as a unique cell type. This late landing in the Neuroscience arena still has repercussions in the twenty first century, as microglia remain one of the least understood cell populations of the healthy brain. For decades, microglia in normal, physiological conditions in the adult brain were considered to be merely "resting," and their contribution as "activated" cells to the neuroinflammatory response in pathological conditions mostly detrimental. It was not until microglia were imaged in real time in the intact brain using two-photon in vivo imaging that the extreme motility of their fine processes was revealed. These findings led to a conceptual revolution in the field: "resting" microglia are constantly surveying the brain parenchyma in normal physiological conditions. Today, following Cajal's school of thought, structural and functional investigations of microglial morphology, dynamics, and relationships with neurons and other glial cells are experiencing a renaissance and we stand at the brink of discovering new roles for these unique immune cells in the healthy brain, an essential step to understand their causal relationship to diseases.

Empowering natives through autobiographical writing: Lee Maracles Bobbi Lee indian rebel and Leslie Marmon Silkos The turquoise ledge: a memoir

Esta dissertação trata de duas obras autobiográficas escritas por autoras nativas que ganharam reconhecimento na década de 70: Bobbi Lee Indian Rebel (1975), da nativo-canadense Lee Maracle, e The Turquoise Ledge: a Memoir (2010), da nativo-americana Leslie Marmon Silko. A importância destas autoras para a Renascença Nativo-Americana/Canadense é inegável, e cada uma delas contribuiu fazendo uso de estratégias diferentes: enquanto Maracle começou sua carreira com Bobbi Lee Indian Rebel, de cunho autobiográfico, Silko esperou mais de trinta anos para publicar The Turquoise Ledge. A problematização de se ver estas obras pelo olhar estritamente ocidental, ou estritamente nativo, é discutida, assim como o aparentemente inevitável tom político dessas narrativas. Ainda que mais de três décadas separem a publicação das obras selecionadas, perguntas como: Estas obras podem ser consideradas literatura?, Elas têm como principal propósito engrandecer feitos pessoais das autoras?, ou Como essas narrativas contribuem para o empoderamento do povo Nativo? podem nunca chegar a serem respondidas, mas, de fato, incitaram a escrita desta dissertação e nortearam nossa análise

Os Menecmos de Plauto e Os Estrangeiros de Sá de Miranda em uma abordagem comparativa

Este trabalho tem como objetivo criar um diálogo entre aspectos da cultura popular presentes no teatro de Plauto na peça Os Menecmos e no teatro de Sá de Miranda na peça Os Estrangeiros, estabelecendo uma abordagem comparativa entre as duas obras. Pensadores separados por séculos, mas ligados por característica do teatro de natureza popular da Antiguidade, recriada no teatro renascentista português do século XVI. Plauto será analisado em sua peça Os Menecmos através do texto e das representações no teatro romano, dos personagens tipo da sociedade e das situações de fundo cômico. Sá de Miranda, o verdadeiro mensageiro do renascimento em Portugal, um grande imitador do teatro romano, será estudado comparativamente através de sua peça "Os estrangeiros". O teatro romano renasceu na imitação promovida pelo teatro renascentista português do qual Sá de Miranda é o grande representante

O risco do século XVI: a corte manoelina e o teatro de Gil Vicente

Trabalho de pesquisa que pretende retirar o teatro de Gil Vicente de um possível período mais obscurantista, tardo-gótico, para colocá-lo em meio às grandes transformações ocorridas na Europa durante o século XVI, mais propriamente o Renascimento artístico e cultural. A partir de uma crítica textual de autores contemporâneos como Nicolau de Cusa e Martinho Lutero, ou da literatura da Grécia clássica como Platão e Ésquilo, aproximamos o teatro vicentino das fontes clássicas da literatura, ao mesmo tempo em que, por uma crítica de determinadas correntes hegemônicas na análise da literatura como as que vêm do existencialismo e da psicanálise, afastamos seu teatro dessa crítica que antes obscurece do que propriamente o coloca à plena luz. Posto na luz correta, vemos um Gil Vicente em meio aos grandes movimentos de transformação da civilização mediterrânica do século XVI.

De Amphitruo a Enfatriões: a recriação camoniana da comédia paliata de Plauto

Luís de Camões buscou na comédia romana da Antiguidade elementos estruturais para a construção de seu teatro renascentista. Dirigiu-se, sobretudo, ao texto Amphitruo (Anfitrião), de Plauto, uma comédia paliata romana, que serve de modelo, até os dias atuais, para muitos escritores. Deste modo, este trabalho tem por escopo analisar o diálogo que se pode entrever entre o Anfitrião camoniano e o plautino, tendo como base a construção das estruturas da comicidade. Pretende-se, ainda, analisar, a partir de passagens dessas duas peças, a visão humorística de cada autor sobre o espaço-temporal e o cotidiano em que cada um se insere

Historical knowledge of sharks: ancient science, earliest American encounters, and American science, fisheries, and utilization

In western civilization, the knowledge of the elasmobranch or selachian fishes (sharks and rays) begins with Aristotle (384–322 B.C.). Two of his extant works, the “Historia Animalium” and the “Generation of Animals,” both written about 330 B.C., demonstrate knowledge of elasmobranch fishes acquired by observation. Roman writers of works on natural history, such as Aelian and Pliny, who followed Aristotle, were compilers of available information. Their contribution was that they prevented the Greek knowledge from being lost, but they added few original observations. The fall of Rome, around 476 A.D., brought a period of economic regression and political chaos. These in turn brought intellectual thought to a standstill for nearly one thousand years, the period known as the Dark Ages. It would not be until the middle of the sixteenth century, well into the Renaissance, that knowledge of elasmobranchs would advance again. The works of Belon, Salviani, Rondelet, and Steno mark the beginnings of ichthyology, including the study of sharks and rays. The knowledge of sharks and rays increased slowly during and after the Renaissance, and the introduction of the Linnaean System of Nomenclature in 1735 marks the beginning of modern ichthyology. However, the first major work on sharks would not appear until the early nineteenth century. Knowledge acquired about sea animals usually follows their economic importance and exploitation, and this was also true with sharks. The first to learn about sharks in North America were the native fishermen who learned how, when, and where to catch them for food or for their oils. The early naturalists in America studied the land animals and plants; they had little interest in sharks. When faunistic works on fishes started to appear, naturalists just enumerated the species of sharks that they could discern. Throughout the U.S. colonial period, sharks were seldom utilized for food, although their liver oil or skins were often utilized. Throughout the nineteenth century, the Spiny Dogfish, Squalus acanthias, was the only shark species utilized in a large scale on both coasts. It was fished for its liver oil, which was used as a lubricant, and for lighting and tanning, and for its skin which was used as an abrasive. During the early part of the twentieth century, the Ocean Leather Company was started to process sea animals (primarily sharks) into leather, oil, fertilizer, fins, etc. The Ocean Leather Company enjoyed a monopoly on the shark leather industry for several decades. In 1937, the liver of the Soupfin Shark, Galeorhinus galeus, was found to be a rich source of vitamin A, and because the outbreak of World War II in 1938 interrupted the shipping of vitamin A from European sources, an intensive shark fishery soon developed along the U.S. West Coast. By 1939 the American shark leather fishery had transformed into the shark liver oil fishery of the early 1940’s, encompassing both coasts. By the late 1940’s, these fisheries were depleted because of overfishing and fishing in the nursery areas. Synthetic vitamin A appeared on the market in 1950, causing the fishery to be discontinued. During World War II, shark attacks on the survivors of sunken ships and downed aviators engendered the search for a shark repellent. This led to research aimed at understanding shark behavior and the sensory biology of sharks. From the late 1950’s to the 1980’s, funding from the Office of Naval Research was responsible for most of what was learned about the sensory biology of sharks.

Superradiance: exploiting quantum phase transition in the real world

Superradiance (SR), or cooperative spontaneous emission, has been predicted by R. Dicke before the invention of the laser. During the last few years one can see a renaissance of both experimental and theoretical studies of the superradiant phase transition in a variety of media, ranging from quantum dots and Bose condensates through to black holes. Until recently, despite of many years of research, SR has been considered as a phenomenon of pure scientific interest without obvious potential applications. However, recent investigations of the femtosecond SR emission generation from semiconductors have opened up some practical opportunities for the exploitation of this quantum optics phenomenon. Here we present a brief review of some features, advantages and potential applications of the SR generation from semiconductor laser structures

World Library Summit and visits to libraries in Singapore: a report

Tedd, L.A. (2002). World Library Summit and visits to libraries in Singapore: a report. Program:electronic library and information systems, 36(4), 253-260.

Getting Constitutional Theory into Proportion: A Matter of Interpretation?

Gibbs, N., Getting Constitutional Theory into Proportion: A Matter of Interpretation?, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 27 (1), 175-191. RAE2008

Reinventing the Matter of Britain: Undermining the State in Jacobean Masques

Archer, Jayne, Berry, Philippa, 'Reinventing the Matter of Britain: Undermining the State in Jacobean Masques', In: British Identities and English Renaissance Literature, David J. Baker and Willy Maley (eds),(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp.119-134, 2002 RAE2008

Reading the rhetoric of nationhood in two Reformation pamphlets by Richard Morison and Nicholas Bodrugan

Mottram, S. (2005). Reading the rhetoric of nationhood in two Reformation pamphlets by Richard Morison and Nicholas Bodrugan. Renaissance Studies. 19(4), pp.523-540. RAE2008

Imagining England in Richard Morison's Pamphlets against the Pilgrimage of Grace (1536)

Mottram, S. (2005). Imagining England in Richard Morison's Pamphlets against the Pilgrimage of Grace (1536). Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies. 36, pp.41-67. RAE2008

The poetic debate of Edmwnd Prys and Wiliam Cynwal

Williams, Gruffydd. 'The poetic debate of Edmwnd Prys and Wiliam Cynwal', In: The Renaissance and the Celtic Countries (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2005), pp.33-54 RAE2008

Kulturowy charakter czasu i przestrzeni. Analiza średniowiecznego i wczesnorenesansowego elitarnego budownictwa mieszkalnego i obronnego w Irlandii

Wydział Historyczny: Instytut Prahistorii

Prawda - istina w horyzoncie anthropos w myśli rosyjskiego renesansu religijno-filozoficznego

Wydział Nauk Społecznych: Instytut Filozofii