Lydia Kaminsky nee Judey with unidentified men and women in the laboratory of her husband Dr. Anatol Kaminsky Portraits Women

Born Riga 1903, died New York 1976. Married Dr. Anatol Kaminsky, a Russian-born doctor who got his medical education in France. They escaped to France and Morocco, and reached the USA in 1942

Molecular genetics and evolution of Puumala hantavirus

Puumala virus (PUUV) is the causative agent of nephropathia epidemica (NE), a mild form of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. Finland has the highest documented incidence of NE with around 1000 cases diagnosed annually. PUUV is also found in other Scandinavian countries, Central Europe and the European part of Russia. PUUV belongs to the genus Hantavirus in the family Bunyaviridae. Hantaviruses are rodent-borne viruses each carried by a specific host that is persistently and asymptomatically infected by the virus. PUUV is carried by the bank voles (Myodes glareolus, previously known as Clethrionomys glareolus). Hantaviruses have co-evolved with their carrier rodents for millions of years and these host animals are the evolutionary scene of hantaviruses. In this study, PUUV sequences were recovered from bank voles captured in Denmark and Russian Karelia to study the evolution of PUUV in Scandinavia. Phylogenetic analysis of these strains showed a geographical clustering of genetic variants following the presumable migration pattern of bank voles during the recolonization of Scandinavia after the last ice age approximately 10 000 years ago. The currently known PUUV genome sequences were subjected to in-depth phylogenetic analyses and the results showed that genetic drift seems to be the major mechanism of PUUV evolution. In general, PUUV seems to evolve quite slowly following a molecular clock. We also found evidence for recombination in the evolution of some genetic lineages of PUUV. Viral microevolution was studied in controlled virus transmission in colonized bank voles and changes in quasispecies dynamics were recorded as the virus was transmitted from one animal to another. We witnessed PUUV evolution in vivo, as one synonymous mutation became repeatedly fixed in the viral genome during the experiment. The detailed knowledge on the PUUV diversity was used to establish new sensitive and specific detection methods for this virus. Direct viral invasion of the hypophysis was demonstrated for the first time in a lethal case of NE. PUUV detection was done by immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization and RT-nested-PCR of the autopsy tissue samples.

World War I Osterschlacht (Easter Battle).

Handwritten caption: 105. Deutsche Artill. am Marsch nach Izbugyab (Osterschlacht) 3. April 1915 (German artillery marching to Izbugyab. (Easter Battle) )

Effects of seed origin latitude on the timing of height growth cessation and field performance of silver birch

The aim of this thesis was to increase our knowledge about the effects of seed origin on the timing of height growth cessation and field performance of silver birch from different latitudes, with special attention paid to the browsing damage by moose in young birch plantations. The effect of seed origin latitude and sowing time on timing of height growth cessation of first-year seedlings was studied in a greenhouse experiment with seven seed origins (lat. 58º - 67ºN). Variation in critical night length (CNL) for 50 % bud set within two latitudinally distant stands (60º and 67ºN) was studied in three phytotron experiments. Browsing by moose on 5-11 -year-old silver birch saplings from latitudinally different seed origins (53º - 67ºN) was studied in a field experiment in southern Finland. Yield and stem quality of 22-year-old silver birch trees of Baltic, Finnish and Russian origin (54º - 63ºN) and the effect of latitudinal seed transfers were studied in two provenance trials at Tuusula, southern and Viitasaari, central Finland. The timing of height growth cessation depended systematically on latitude of seed origin and sowing date. The more northern the seed origin, the earlier the growth cessation and the shorter the growth period. Later sowing dates delayed growth cessation but also shortened the growth period. The mean CNL of the southern ecotype was longer, 6.3 ± 0.2 h (95 % confidence interval), than that of the northern ecotype, 3.1 ± 0.3 h. Within-ecotype variance of the CNL was higher in the northern ecotype (0.484 h2) than in the southern ecotype (0.150 h2). Browsing by moose decreased with increasing latitude of seed origin and sapling height. Origins transferred from more southern latitudes were more heavily browsed than the more northern native ones. Southern Finnish seed origins produced the highest volume per unit area in central Finland (lat. 63º11'N). Estonian and north Latvian stand seed origins, and the southern Finnish plus tree origins, were the most productive ones in southern Finland (lat. 60º21'N). Latitudinal seed transfer distance had a significant effect on survival, stem volume/ha and proportion of trees with a stem defect. The relationship of both survival and stem volume/ha to the latitudinal seed transfer distance was curvilinear. Volume was increased by transferring seed from ca. 2 degrees of latitude from the south. A longer transfer from the south, and transfer from the north, decreased the yield. The proportion of trees with a stem defect increased linearly in relation to the latitudinal seed transfer distance from the south.

Population structure of Pyrenophora teres, the causal agent of net blotch of barley

Spring barley is the most important crop in Finland based on cultivated land area. Net blotch, a disease caused by Pyrenophora teres Drech., is the most damaging disease of barley in Finland. The pressure to improve the economics and efficiency of agriculture has increased the need for more efficient plant protection methods. Development of durable host-plant resistance to net blotch is a promising possibility. However, deployment of disease resistant crops could initiate selection pressure on the pathogen (P. teres) population. The aim of this study was to understand the population biology of P. teres and to estimate the evolutionary potential of P. teres under selective pressure following deployment of resistance genes and application of fungicides. The study included mainly Finnish P. teres isolates. Population samples from Russia and Australia were also included. Using AFLP markers substantial genotypic variation in P. teres populations was identified. Differences among isolates were least within Finnish fields and significantly higher in Krasnodar, Russia. Genetic differentiation was identified among populations from northern Europe and from Australia, and between the two forms P. teres f. teres (PTT, net form of net blotch) and P. teres f. maculata (PTM, spot form of net blotch) in Australia. Differentiation among populations was also identified based on virulence between Finnish and Russian populations, and based on prochloraz (fungicide) tolerance in the Häme region in Finland. Surprisingly only PTT was recovered from Finland and Russia although both forms were earlier equally common in Finland. The reason for the shift in occurrence of forms in Finland remained uncertain. Both forms were found within several fields in Australia. Sexual reproduction of P. teres was supported by recover of both mating types in equal ratio in those areas although the prevalence of sexual mating seems to be less in Finland than in Australia. Population from Krasnodar was an exception since only one mating type was found in there. Based on the substantial high genotypic variation in Krasnodar it was suggested go represent an old P. teres population, whereas the Australian samples were suggested to represent newer populations. In conclusion, P. teres populations are differentiated at several levels. Human assistance in dispersal of P. teres on infected barley seed is obvious and decreases the differentiation among populations. This can increase the plant protection problems caused by this pathogen. P. teres is capable of sexual reproduction in several areas but the prevalence varies. Based on these findings it is apparent that P. teres has the potential to pose more serious problems in barley cultivation if plant protection is neglected. Therefore, good agricultural practices, including crop rotation and the use of healthy seed, are recommended.

Impact of the Human Bacterial Environment on Mycobacteriosis and Allergy

My work describes two sectors of the human bacterial environment: 1. The sources of exposure to infectious non-tuberculous mycobacteria. 2. Bacteria in dust, reflecting the airborne bacterial exposure in environments protecting from or predisposing to allergic disorders. Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) transmit to humans and animals from the environment. Infection by NTM in Finland has increased during the past decade beyond that by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Among the farm animals, porcine mycobacteriosis is the predominant NTM disease in Finland. Symptoms of mycobacteriosis are found in 0.34 % of slaughtered pigs. Soil and drinking water are suspected as sources for humans and bedding materials for pigs. To achieve quantitative data on the sources of human and porcine NTM exposure, methods for quantitation of environmental NTM are needed. We developed a quantitative real-time PCR method, utilizing primers targeted at the 16S rRNA gene of the genus of Mycobacterium. With this method, I found in Finnish sphagnum peat, sandy soils and mud high contents of mycobacterial DNA, 106 to 107 genome equivalents per gram. A similar result was obtained by a method based on the Mycobacterium-specific hybridization of 16S rRNA. Since rRNA is found mainly in live cells, this result shows that the DNA detected by qPCR mainly represented live mycobacteria. Next, I investigated the occurrence of environmental mycobacteria in the bedding materials obtained from 5 pig farms with high prevalence (>4 %) of mycobacteriosis. When I used for quantification the same qPCR methods as for the soils, I found that piggery samples contained non-mycobacterial DNA that was amplified in spite of several mismatches with the primers. I therefore improved the qPCR assay by designing Mycobacterium-specific detection probes. Using the probe qPCR assay, I found 105 to 107 genome equivalents of mycobacterial DNA in unused bedding materials and up to 1000 fold more in the bedding collected after use in the piggery. This result shows that there was a source of mycobacteria in the bedding materials purchased by the piggery and that mycobacteria increased in the bedding materials during use in the piggery. Allergic diseases have reached epidemic proportions in urbanized countries. At the same time, childhood in rural environment or simple living conditions appears to protect against allergic disorders. Exposure to immunoreactive microbial components in rural environments seems to prevent allergies. I searched for differences in the bacterial communities of two indoor dusts, an urban house dust shown to possess immunoreactivity of the TH2-type and a farm barn dust with TH1-activity. The immunoreactivities of the dusts were revealed by my collaborators, in vitro in human dendritic cells and in vivo in mouse. The dusts accumulated >10 years in the respiratory zone (>1.5 m above floor), thus reflecting the long-term content of airborne bacteria at the two sites. I investigated these dusts by cloning and sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes from dust contained DNA. From the TH2-active urban house dust, I isolated 139 16S rRNA gene clones. The most prevalent genera among the clones were Corynebacterium (5 species, 34 clones), Streptococcus (8 species, 33 clones), Staphylococcus (5 species, 9 clones) and Finegoldia (1 species, 9 clones). Almost all of these species are known as colonizers of the human skin and oral cavity. Species of Corynebacterium and Streptococcus have been reported to contain anti-inflammatory lipoarabinomannans and immunmoreactive beta-glucans respectively. Streptococcus mitis, found in the urban house dust is known as an inducer of TH2 polarized immunity, characteristic of allergic disorders. I isolated 152 DNA clones from the TH1-active farm barn dust and found species quite different from those found from the urban house dust. Among others, I found DNA clones representing Bacillus licheniformis, Acinetobacter lwoffii and Lactobacillus each of which was recently reported to possess anti-allergy immunoreactivity. Moreover, the farm barn dust contained dramatically higher bacterial diversity than the urban house dust. Exposure to this dust thus stimulated the human dendritic cells by multiple microbial components. Such stimulation was reported to promote TH1 immunity. The biodiversity in dust may thus be connected to its immunoreactivity. Furthermore, the bacterial biomass in the farm barn dust consisted of live intact bacteria mainly. In the urban house dust only ~1 % of the biomass appeared as intact bacteria, as judged by microscoping. Fragmented microbes may possess bioactivity different from that of intact cells. This was recently shown for moulds. If this is also valid for bacteria, the different immunoreactivities of the two dusts may be explained by the intactness of dustborne bacteria. Based on these results, we offer three factors potentially contributing to the polarized immunoreactivities of the two dusts: (i) the species-composition, (ii) the biodiversity and (iii) the intactness of the dustborne bacterial biomass. The risk of childhood atopic diseases is 4-fold lower in the Russian compared with the Finnish Karelia. This difference across the country border is not explainable by different geo-climatic factors or genetic susceptibilities of the two populations. Instead, the explanation must be lifestyle-related. It has already been reported that the microbiological quality of drinking water differs on the two sides of the borders. In collaboration with allergists, I investigated dusts collected from homes in the Russian Karelia and in the Finnish Karelia. I found that bacterial 16S rRNA genes cloned from the Russian Karelian dusts (10 homes, 234 clones) predominantly represented Gram-positive taxa (the phyla Actinobacteria and Firmicutes, 67%). The Russian Karelian dusts contained nine-fold more of muramic acid (60 to 70 ng mg-1) than the Finnish Karelian dusts (3 to 11 ng mg-1). Among the DNA clones isolated from the Finnish side (n=231), Gram-negative taxa (40%) outnumbered the Gram-positives (34%). Out of the 465 DNA clones isolated from the Karelian dusts, 242 were assigned to cultured validly described bacterial species. In Russian Karelia, animal-associated species e.g. Staphylococcus and Macrococcus were numerous (27 clones, 14 unique species). This finding may connect to the difference in the prevalence of allergy, as childhood contacts with pets and farm animals have been connected with low allergy risk. Plant-associated bacteria and plant-borne 16S rRNA genes (chloroplast) were frequent among the DNA clones isolated from the Finnish Karelia, indicating components originating from plants. In conclusion, my work revealed three major differences between the bacterial communtites in the Russian and in the Finnish Karelian homes: (i) the high prevalence of Gram-positive bacteria on the Russian side and of Gram-negative bacteria on the Finnish side and (ii) the rich presence of animal-associated bacteria on the Russian side whereas (iii) plant-associated bacteria prevailed on the Finnish side. One or several of these factors may connect to the differences in the prevalence of allergy.

[Tagebuch] 1941-

Typescript with handwritten corrections of a memoir, written in the form of a diary

Hanukkaiya from Russia Coin

Silver 5 Lirot coin. Obverse: 5 Lirot coin, emblem of State of Israel. Reverse: A Russian Hanukkah lamp

Hanukkah lamp from Russia Coin

Silver 5 Lirot coin. Obverse: 5 Lirot, emblem of the state of Israel. Reverse: Russian Hanukkah lamp.

David Frischmann (1859-1922) and Chaim Nachman Bialik(1873-1934) in conversation.

( 1862-1945 ) b. Odessa. Pasternak was a prominent Moscow artist, who emigrated to Berlin in 1921, the same year as the Hebrew poet Bialik.

Visionary Portrait.

The expressionist head of a young man emerges from the dark shadows. His face is a long oval, with full lips and strongly flared nostrils, framed by black hair and small black beard.

Plasmatic Transformation

The session examines the role of the metaphysical and physical in art and animation and how this relates to natural spaces. Soviet Russian film director and theorist Sergei Eisenstein saw animation as possessing an ability called “plasmaticity”, the capacity for a being to assume any conceivable form dynamically. He saw each being as “primordial protoplasm, not yet possessing a ‘stable’ form, but capable of assuming any form” (Eisenstein 1989, 21). He was enamoured by the capacity of animation to transform and be liberated, of being able to escape from a fixed and static identity—to embody a "rejection of the once-­‐and-­‐forever allotted form" in which we are held (Eisenstein 1989, 21). Czech Surrealist animator Jan Švankmajer uses a metaphysical approach based on a belief in animism to art and animation. He believes that objects possess a conscious life or spirit, he says ‘Objects conceal within themselves the events they’ve witnessed. I don’t actually animate objects. I coerce their inner life out of them.’ (Švankmajer in Imre 2009, 214) In this animistic world there are no boundaries or rules, no physical or conceptual restrictions; anything is possible, with inanimate objects and places able to become animate and transact in a conscious relationship with humans and each other. This session invites artists, animators and theorists to discuss their conceptions and approaches to using visuals to promote and provoke transformation.

Herman Bernstein 1897-1935

Correspondence, clippings, manuscripts, notes, reports, relating to Bernstein's journalistic, literary and diplomatic careers. Correspondence with well-known literary, political and communal, society personalities, 1908-1935. Includes Cyrus Adler, Viscount Allenby, Joseph Barondess, Bernard Baruch, Henri Bergson, Hayyim Nahman Bialik, Jacob Billikopf, Vladimir Bourtzeff, Louis Brandeis, Robert Cecil, Fyodor Chaliapin, Jacob de Haas, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Felix Frankfurter, Herbert Hoover, Vladimir Jabotinsky, Horace M. Kallen, Peretz Hirschbein, Peter Kropotkin, Herbert Lehman, Louis Lipsky, Judah L. Magnes, Louis Marshall, Henry Morgenthau, Max Nordau, Adolph Simon Ochs, David de Sola Pool, Bernard G. Richards, Theodore Roosevelt, Julius Rosenwald, Jacob Schiff, Harry Schneiderman, Maurice Schwartz, George Bernard Shaw, Sholem Aleichem, Nathan Straus, Henrietta Szold, Chaim Tchernowitz, Leo Tolstoy, Samuel Untermyer, Henry Van Dyke, Lillian Wald, Felix Warburg, Chaim Weizman n, Jefferson Williams, Stephen Wise, Israel Zangwill. Correspondence and other materials relating to Bernstein's post as U.S. ambassador to Albania. Materials pertaining to Bernstein's editorial work at *The Day*, *Jewish Tribune*, *New York Herald*, *Jewish Daily Bulletin*. Materials pertaining to Bernstein's involvement with the American Jewish Committee. Correspondence with organizations including American Jewish Congress, *American Hebrew*, HIAS, *Jewish Chronicle* (London), Jewish Community of New York, *Menorah Journal*, *New York American*, *New York Times*, ORT, U.S. Dept. of State, Yiddish Art Theater, Zionist Organization of America. Articles, clippings, correspondence and court materials relating to the Ford libel suit. Miscellaneous documents and reports relating to the Paris Peace Conference, the Jewish situation in Russia, 1917-1920, Russian revolutionary events of 1917. News dispatches from Russia, 1917-1920s. Translations by Bernstein of Russian wri Andre yev,

Lucien Wolf and David Mowshowitch papers, [ca. 1869-1959]

Correspondence, reports, minutes, manuscripts, and clippings relating to the activities of Wolf, Mowshowitch, and the Joint Foreign Committee, as well as to the political situation of Jews in various countries and to the Paris Peace Conference. Papers of Lucien Wolf include his diary, lectures on English-German relations and English-Russian relations; bibliography of Wolf's works on Jewish themes; clippings of Wolf's articles; congratulations on his seventieth birthday; article on his last interview with Chamberlain; and correspondence with parents, 1869-1882, A. Abrahams, 1914-1925, Chief Rabbi Dr. J.H. Hertz, 1892-1923, Clara Melchior, 1913-1929, Jacob Schiff, 1910, Maxim Vinawer, 1917, Mark Wischnitzer, 1926-1928, Lord Robert Cecil, 1916-1919, Lord Rothschild, 1906, Cyrus Adler, Count J. Bernstorff, Szymon Ashkenazy, Solomon Dingol, Louis Marshall, Claude G. Montefiore, Sir Edward Sassoon, Jacob Schiff, Lord William Selborne, Nakhum Sokolow, Oscar Straus, Chaim Weizmann, the American Jewish Congress, 1916-1923, Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden, 1913, and Jewish Historical Society of England.

Philip Cowen papers undated, 1873-1935

Contains primarily correspondence and published material in English, German and Russian relating to anti-Semitism in Russia and Roumania, the Russian passport question, loans from Jewish bankers to the Russian government and immigration from Eastern Europe, especially Russia, to the United States. Includes also correspondence concerning Jewish welfare institutions and agricultural colonies in the United States and the National Farm School in Doylestown, Pa. Also contains correspondence relating to and drafts of articles for the American Hebrew, particularly the Emma Lazarus memorial number, and correspondence relating to the publication of the Jewish encyclopedia and to survey on anti-Semitism conducted in 1890, as well as information on the Jews in China and material relating to Count Arthur Cherep-Spiridovich.