Alien gosd in the new epics: Noah remythologised through the ancient astronaut hypothesis in Abel's Montagut's "La gesta d'Utnoa"

Modern scientific world-view has undermined traditional myths, the functional survival of which seems to depend today in the West on a positivist justification. This would place them in the field of real History, through their study and revitalization by pseudoscientific disciplines such as the Atlantis and the ancient astronaut hypotheses. These have inspired new epic poems in (regular) verse that combine classic and/or biblical myths with a (pseudo)scientific modern world-view. For example, the critical rewriting of Noah’s myth by using the ancient astronaut hypothesis as a fictional device to produce a contemporary kind of plausibility allowed Abel Montagut to renew epic poetry, updating it also by adopting science fiction chronotopes in order to structure his fictional construction and to generate a high ethical sense for our time. Thus, his Poemo de Utnoa (1993) / La gesta d’Utnoa (1996), which has become a major classic of the literature in Esperanto thanks to its original version in this language, is a landmark of both science fiction and neo-biblical epics. This poem is written from a secular and purely literary perspective.

Enantiomeric programming in tripodal transition metal scaffolds

A new route to the isolation of the enantiopure tris- chelate complex (Delta/Lambda)- fac-[Ru( L-1)(3)] 21 (where L-1 is 2,2'-bipyridine-5-carboxylic acid) is demonstrated, where the transition metal centre retains the memory of the chirality present in a simple tripodal tether used to control the metal centred geometry.

A phase I study of the p-glycoprotein antagonist Tarquidar in combination with Vinorelbine.

P-glycoprotein (Pgp) antagonists have had unpredictable pharmacokinetic interactions requiring reductions of chemotherapy. We report a phase I study using tariquidar (XR9576), a potent Pgp antagonist, in combination with vinorelbine. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Patients first received tariquidar alone to assess effects on the accumulation of (99m)Tc-sestamibi in tumor and normal organs and rhodamine efflux from CD56+ mononuclear cells. In the first cycle, vinorelbine pharmacokinetics was monitored after the day 1 and 8 doses without or with tariquidar. In subsequent cycles, vinorelbine was administered with tariquidar. Tariquidar pharmacokinetics was studied alone and with vinorelbine. RESULTS: Twenty-six patients were enrolled. Vinorelbine 20 mg/m(2) on day 1 and 8 was identified as the maximum tolerated dose (neutropenia). Nonhematologic grade 3/4 toxicities in 77 cycles included the following: abdominal pain (4 cycles), anorexia (2), constipation (2), fatigue (3), myalgia (2), pain (4) and dehydration, depression, diarrhea, ileus, nausea, and vomiting, (all once). A 150-mg dose of tariquidar: (1) reduced liver (99m)Tc-sestamibi clearance consistent with inhibition of liver Pgp; (2) increased (99m)Tc-sestamibi retention in a majority of tumor masses visible by (99m)Tc-sestamibi; and (3) blocked Pgp-mediated rhodamine efflux from CD56+ cells over the 48 hours examined. Tariquidar had no effects on vinorelbine pharmacokinetics. Vinorelbine had no effect on tariquidar pharmacokinetics. One patient with breast cancer had a minor response, and one with renal carcinoma had a partial remission. CONCLUSIONS: Tariquidar is a potent Pgp antagonist, without significant side effects and much less pharmacokinetic interaction than previous Pgp antagonists. Tariquidar offers the potential to increase drug exposure in drug-resistant cancers.

Alegoría: su pertinencia en la predicación y uso en "La novena maravilla"

En este artículo se focaliza el recurso de la alegoría como método exegético en la composición de los sermones panegíricos de Juan Espinosa Medrano (Perú, siglo XVII). Se traza el recorrido de la alegoría (y las humanidades en general) en relación –siempre tensa– con el cristianismo a lo largo de su historia; y se llega a la Contrarreforma y el uso exacerbado del método en la predicación barroca; particularmente en la oratoria sagrada de Espinosa Medrano, quien abarca elementos diversos y extraídos de distintas fuentes (filosofía natural, mitología clásica, tradición emblemática, relatos bíblicos), a los que hace funcionar como signos de otra verdad mayor, la sagrada. Si bien las preceptivas sagradas impulsaban una predicación más llana y simple, la profusión de alegorías mitológicas, que el autor resemantiza según su interés de guiar la interpretación, pueden explicarse por varias circunstancias, motivos de estudio en este trabajo.

SN 2008S: an electron-capture SN from a super-AGB progenitor?

We present comprehensive photometric and spectroscopic observations of the faint transient SN 2008S discovered in the nearby galaxy NGC 6946. SN 2008S exhibited slow photometric evolution and almost no spectral variability during the first nine months, implying a long photon diffusion time and a high-density circumstellar medium. Its bolometric luminosity (similar or equal to 10(41) erg s(-1) at peak) is low with respect to most core-collapse supernovae but is comparable to the faintest Type II-P events. Our quasi-bolometric light curve extends to 300 d and shows a tail phase decay rate consistent with that of Co-56. We propose that this is evidence for an explosion and formation of Ni-56 (0.0014 +/- 0.0003 M-circle dot). Spectra of SN 2008S show intense emission lines of H alpha, [Ca II] doublet and Ca II near-infrared (NIR) triplet, all without obvious P-Cygni absorption troughs. The large mid-infrared (MIR) flux detected shortly after explosion can be explained by a light echo from pre-existing dust. The late NIR flux excess is plausibly due to a combination of warm newly formed ejecta dust together with shock-heated dust in the circumstellar environment. We reassess the progenitor object detected previously in Spitzer archive images, supplementing this discussion with a model of the MIR spectral energy distribution. This supports the idea of a dusty, optically thick shell around SN 2008S with an inner radius of nearly 90 AU and outer radius of 450 AU, and an inferred heating source of 3000 K. The luminosity of the central star is L similar or equal to 10(4.6) L-circle dot. All the nearby progenitor dust was likely evaporated in the explosion leaving only the much older dust lying further out in the circumstellar environment. The combination of our long-term multiwavelength monitoring data and the evidence from the progenitor analysis leads us to support the scenario of a weak electron-capture supernova explosion in a super-asymptotic giant branch progenitor star (of initial mass 6-8 M-circle dot) embedded within a thick circumstellar gaseous envelope. We suggest that all of main properties of the electron-capture SN phenomenon are observed in SN 2008S and future observations may allow a definitive answer.

"Cómo pintar el aire". Fundamentos científicos de la perspectiva atmosférica

La perspectiva aérea o atmosférica es juzgada por los pintores como parte esencial de la pintura, una vez establecidos los presupuestos geométricos de la representación naturalista mediante la perspectiva lineal. Leonardo da Vinci fue el primer autor en definir la perspectiva aérea o atmosférica, conocidos ya a través de L. B. Alberti los fundamentos geométricos de la perspectiva lineal en el tratado De Pictura (1435). Doscientos años después, tras la influyente publicación del Optics de Newton, contextualizadas bajo el espíritu racionalista del siglo XVIII, el artículo estudia las recomendaciones que desde la ciencia y los científicos (específicamente a través de tres figuras relevantes: Brook Taylor, J. H. Lambert y Gaspard Monge) se dan a los pintores con la pretensión de arbitrar una medición exacta del color, en confrontación con el tradicional empirismo del mundo artístico. Este tema puede considerarse un capítulo de gran interés en la larga historia de la pintura y la representación de los fenómenos atmosféricos, cuyos antecedentes teóricos tienen su inicio en el Débat sur le Coloris de la Académie Française del siglo XVII y sus resultados, conducirán hacia el nacimiento de la moderna Teoría del color, en respuesta a una cuestión tan compleja sobre cómo pintar el aire.

Genome-wide association study identifies variants at CLU and PICALM associated with Alzheimer's disease

We undertook a two-stage genome-wide association study (GWAS) of Alzheimer's disease (AD) involving over 16,000 individuals, the most powerful AD GWAS to date. In stage 1 (3,941 cases and 7,848 controls), we replicated the established association with the apolipoprotein E (APOE) locus (most significant SNP, rs2075650, P = 1.8 x 10(-157)) and observed genome-wide significant association with SNPs at two loci not previously associated with the disease: at the CLU (also known as APOJ) gene (rs11136000, P = 1.4 x 10(-9)) and 5. to the PICALM gene (rs3851179, P = 1.9 x 10(-8)). These associations were replicated in stage 2 (2,023 cases and 2,340 controls), producing compelling evidence for association with Alzheimer's disease in the combined dataset (rs11136000, P = 8.5 x 10(-10), odds ratio = 0.86; rs3851179, P = 1.3 x 10(-9), odds ratio = 0.86).

And He Opened His Mouth and Taught Them Saying

This paper provides an overview of rich biblical imagery related to the mouth, built around the conceptual metaphor MOUTH IS AN OPENING, followed by a critical analysis of four text units from both Testaments employing the basic extensions of this metaphor in the renderings of twelve contemporary English versions of the Bible. It is demonstrated that the meaningful choice of translating techniques and the type of equivalence pursued in translation must be based on a thorough examination and comparison of the conceptual systems of the source and target languages.

The Rise and Fall of a Translational Compound: ‘Only Begotten’ in the English Translations of the New Testament

The present paper is an attempt to account for the emergence of the designation “only begotten” in the English Bible, its widespread use in pre-modern versions, and its gradual and almost complete disappearance from most contemporary translations. A close examination of the origins of this designation, traceable to its Latin cognate unigenitus, first introduced into the biblical tradition by St. Jerome to render selected occurrences of the Greek adjective monogenes, reveals a unique theological inspiration behind it. “Only begotten,” recurring in English translation of the Bible for almost six centuries as an important christological title, has recently been replaced by translational solutions reflecting a more accurate understanding of the underlying Greek word.

Weather Prognostics in Anglo-Saxon England

Prognostics concerning the day of the week on which kalendae ianuariae and Christmas Day fall, commonly known as the Revelatio Esdrae , purport to be a set of prophecies by the Biblical Esdras. They make predictions about the weather and other natural phenomena for the year to come, and they then extend their predictions to the field of human affairs. A remarkable number of copies of the Revelatio appear in English manuscripts from the tenth to the twelfth centuries. Some of these versions have been attributed to Bede and Abbo of Fleury as part of their computus works.

Both R. M. Liuzza and L. S. Chardonnens point out the frequent occurrence of the Revelatio in religious and scientific manuscripts and therefore reject the label of folklore, stressing instead the probable monastic origin of this prognostication. This study will provide the first complete collation and analysis of the surviving exemplars, to give as full an idea as possible of their circumstances of composition, their transmission, and their relationship to one another. It will consider how the Revelatio Esdrae was copied and used in Anglo-Saxon England, the audience to which it was addressed, and whether any conclusion can be drawn from its appearance in particular manuscripts, alongside certain other texts.

The regular occurrence of the Revelatio along with computistical material supports the case for its monastic origin and learned nature. Such a text would have been a helpful handbook to be used by monks and priests, and was among the standard holdings of continental and Anglo-Saxon monasteries and scriptoria, giving further proof of the monks’ intellectual eclecticism and their knowledge of the kinds of continental literature from which this text derives.

Genetic Evidence Implicates the Immune System and Cholesterol Metabolism in the Aetiology of Alzheimer's Disease

Background: Late Onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) is the leading cause of dementia. Recent large genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified the first strongly supported LOAD susceptibility genes since the discovery of the involvement of APOE in the early 1990s. We have now exploited these GWAS datasets to uncover key LOAD pathophysiological processes. Methodology: We applied a recently developed tool for mining GWAS data for biologically meaningful information to a LOAD GWAS dataset. The principal findings were then tested in an independent GWAS dataset.

Common variants at ABCA7, MS4A6A/MS4A4E, EPHA1, CD33 and CD2AP are associated with Alzheimer's disease

We sought to identify new susceptibility loci for Alzheimer's disease through a staged association study (GERAD+) and by testing suggestive loci reported by the Alzheimer's Disease Genetic Consortium (ADGC) in a companion paper. We undertook a combined analysis of four genome-wide association datasets (stage 1) and identified ten newly associated variants with P = 1 × 10(-5). We tested these variants for association in an independent sample (stage 2). Three SNPs at two loci replicated and showed evidence for association in a further sample (stage 3). Meta-analyses of all data provided compelling evidence that ABCA7 (rs3764650, meta P = 4.5 × 10(-17); including ADGC data, meta P = 5.0 × 10(-21)) and the MS4A gene cluster (rs610932, meta P = 1.8 × 10(-14); including ADGC data, meta P = 1.2 × 10(-16)) are new Alzheimer's disease susceptibility loci. We also found independent evidence for association for three loci reported by the ADGC, which, when combined, showed genome-wide significance: CD2AP (GERAD+, P = 8.0 × 10(-4); including ADGC data, meta P = 8.6 × 10(-9)), CD33 (GERAD+, P = 2.2 × 10(-4); including ADGC data, meta P = 1.6 × 10(-9)) and EPHA1 (GERAD+, P = 3.4 × 10(-4); including ADGC data, meta P = 6.0 × 10(-10)).

No Evidence that Extended Tracts of Homozygosity are Associated with Alzheimer’s Disease.

We sought to investigate the contribution of extended runs of homozygosity in a genome-wide association dataset of 1,955 Alzheimer's disease cases and 955 elderly screened controls genotyped for 529,205 autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms. Tracts of homozygosity may mark regions inherited from a common ancestor and could reflect disease loci if observed more frequently in cases than controls. We found no excess of homozygous tracts in Alzheimer's disease cases compared to controls and no individual run of homozygosity showed association to Alzheimer's disease.