Women's Dress as an Expression of Social Development in Bohemia in the Years 1850-1950"

The nature of Czech fashion was shaped both by the social environment - not particularly wealthy, modest, influenced by the Protestant tradition - and by efforts towards women's emancipation. This resulted in a rejection of unnecessarily quirky elements in fashion as early as the 1870s. As far as style was concerned, Czech fashion followed the Viennese, German and French, and from the 1890s also the English models, and also found inspiration in contemporary aesthetic principles. National political ambitions appeared in inspiration drawn from folk costume. Feminist struggles and sports paved the way for the acceptance of reformist and practical dress, in which Czech designers took an active part. These trends reached a peak around 1929, with the design of a complete "civilised" women's apparel, based on trouser suits. The peak periods in the development of Czech fashion were the 1920s and 1930s, when a number of top fashion houses were established and both fashion and society magazines with original fashion designs, photographs and articles were published. These produced a specifically Czech fashion, showing French inspiration but opting rather for an English style, which was artistically advanced, practical, luxurious and democratic. After 1948, fashion too fell under the centralised control of the communist regime.

The Social Desintegration of an Ethnical German Group from Romanian Village Community Comparative with a Romanian Group and Hungarian Group from some Village Their Integration into the German Society

Zarna is witness to the disappearance of the Swabian community in Santana, a process which seems to date back to before the major changes in Central and Eastern Europe. His project showed how a strong German ethnic community, formed more than 250 years ago, has virtually disappeared from the village of Santana (Romania). Zarna presents the causes leading to the loss of their ethnic identity, of their culture, traditions and of the collective reproduction of their ethnicity, although the last Swabians remaining in the village have preserved their individual identity and not let themselves be assimilated. The policy of the former communist regime is not sufficient to explain the decline of the German ethnic group, nor is the present international context with its varying effects on the form and reproduction of their ethnic identity. Zarna has analysed the origins of the Swabian community, its development, historical changes (both desired and imposed) and the disappearance of elements that determined their German culture and their pride in being German. The Germans have demobilised more rapidly than other ethnic groups in Romania, partly because of Germany's pro-emigration policy over the last two decades. Many of the emigrants were however, poorly prepared for emigration and have not been able to recreate the prosperous financial situation which they left. The prevalent feeling among those interviewed was disappointment and this increases with age and education.

Colour Symbolism, Colour Preference in Hungarian Folklore and Folk Architecture"

The Hungarian way of decoration has certain characteristics which are rooted in the deep symbolism of ancient Hungarian mythical thinking. The ancient heritage of the Hungarians' former homeland somewhere in the Urals included eastern elements. During their migrations, the Hungarian tribes met other eastern peoples and their culture of decoration became mixed with elements drawn from these new contacts. These diverse influences mean that the Hungarian way of thinking, building and ornamentation show a certain dualism of Puritanism and rationalism in the creation of space and manufacturing, and rich fantasy in decoration and ornamentation. The Hungarians use coloured ornamentation to emphasise the symbolic importance of details. The colouring system of the built environment shows the same dualism: the main colour of the facades and inner walls is white, while the furniture, textiles, gates and windows, and sometimes the gable and fireplace are richly decorated. In Hungarian symbolism, the house and settlement are a model of the universe, so their different parts also have a transcendent meaning. The traditional meanings of the different colours reflect this transcendence. Each colour has ambivalent meanings: RED - the colour of blood - means violence and love. YELLOW - means sickness, death and ripeness (golden yellow). BLUE - means innocence, eternity (light blue) and old age, death (dark blue). BLACK - can be both ceremonial and mourning. WHILE - can have sacred meaning (bright white), while yellowish white fabric is the most common garb of both men and women in village society. GREEN - the only colour without a dual meaning, symbolises the beginning of life. Until the late 18th and early 19th centuries Hungarian folk art used one or two-coloured decoration (red, black, blue, red-blue or red-black), and from the early 19th century it moved to multi-coloured decoration. Colours are characteristically used in complementary contrast, with bright colours on a plain ground and an avoidance of subtle shadings.

[Case report: an exceptional case of a monozygotic thoracopagus parasiticus in a German Holstein calf]

A black and white German Holstein calf displayed a complex double malformation in shape of a thoracopagus parasiticus. By means of a molecular genetic investigation the genesis of the malformation from one zygote could be demonstrated. Both vertebral columns showed a pronounced lordosis, with the vertebral column of one animal ending in a rudimentary head. Close to this rudiment two derivates of branchial arches were found. The two thoracic cavities merged into one "thorax". In the shared thoracic cavity one heart was found. In its right atrium, a cherry-sized structure was found in which heart- and vascular smooth muscles were demonstrated histologically. The aorta split shortly after its origin to provide both animals with one aorta each. The larger pair of lungs was connected with a trachea leading to the head while the smaller pair of lungs originated from a trachea deriving from the rudimentary head. The diaphragm jejunum and split afterwards. The pedigree of the affected animal showed neither inbreeding nor any other affected animal.

Genetic analysis of syndactyly in German Holstein cattle

Congenital syndactyly with a variable number of affected feet was observed in eight black and white German Holstein calves. Analysis of the pedigree data revealed that all affected individuals could be traced back to a single founder. The pedigree was consistent with monogenic autosomal recessive inheritance and variable expressivity. Bovine syndactyly or "mulefoot" has been previously shown to map on the telomeric end of bovine chromosome 15 and we performed PCR genotyping of microsatellite markers spanning 27 cM of this chromosomal region to test the new cases for genetic linkage with the phenotype. The haplotype segregation confirmed the suggested inheritance pattern of the mulefoot mutation in this family and markers RM004, BM848 and BMS820 showed significant linkage to the phenotype. The results confirmed the chromosomal location of the mulefoot gene in this pedigree. Furthermore the study demonstrated that although marker testing has been available for nearly a decade the use of mulefoot carriers in cattle breeding remains uncontrolled. The presented family provides a resource for positional cloning of the causative mutation.