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This article endeavors to present a skill-based pedagogical method that facilitates the process of architectural film/animation making, a creative practice that has already become part of the curricula of several architecture schools. Through a series of pedagogical experiments conducted in an undergraduate design studio, architecture students, together with the author, attempted to design a practical filmmaking framework that focuses on communicating architectural qualities through the moving image. In the studio, students were provided with proper analysis and design tools to inform an effective architectural filmmaking matrix. This paper discusses how this pedagogical approach affected the journey of students during the studio, and, as a result, the skills of students to effectively employ film, animation, or any kind of time-based media, such as VR, to articulate qualitative and atmospheric aspects of architectural spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1960 Italian film Rocco and His Brothers (Rocco e i suoi Fratelli) is one of the greatest exemplars of Italian post-war cinema. The film depicts the disintegration and deterritorialization of an immigrant family from Lucania, a southern Italian village in Basilicata, and their relocation to Milan. The director of the film, Luchino Visconti, continuously alludes to the protagonist's fascination with their hometown (paese). This nostalgic and wholesome image of paese contrasts the ubiquitous alienation and exploitation in the industrial North. The film is replete with signs and metaphors which explicitly and implicitly reinforce the evident tension between the immigrant family and an industrialized metropolis. Based on an interview with Mario Licari, Visconti's assistant who accompanied him on location visits, this article offers an opportunity to revisit significant locations of the film such as Quartiere Fabio Filzi, the Alfa Romeo Factory, Milan Duomo, Ponte Della Ghisolfa, Parco Sempione, Stazione Centrale and Circolo Arci Bellezza. Underpinned by the theories of Giorgio Agamben, Antonio Gramsci and Andre Bazin this essay creates a theoretical framework that works in parallel with a detailed analysis of the scenes, original archival material, dialogues, places, and history of architecture of the locations. The article demonstrates how urban and architectural spaces not only accommodated the narrative of the film but shaped, twisted and structured the story of the masterpiece. The paper shows how Visconti succeeded in visualizing a 'hidden' Milan that was never appeared on the silver screen before Rocco and His Brothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Expression traits can vary quantitatively between individuals and have a complex inheritance. Identification of the genetics underlying transcript variation can help in the understanding of phenotypic variation due to genetic factors regulating transcript abundance and shed light into divergence patterns. So far, only a limited number of studies have addressed this subject in Arabidopsis, with contrasting results due to dissimilar statistical power. Here, we present the transcriptome architecture in leaf tissue of two RIL sets obtained from a connected-cross design involving 3 commonly used accessions. We also present the transcriptome architecture observed in developing seeds of a third independent cross. Results The utilisation of the novel R/eqtl package (which goal is to automatize and extend functions from the R/qtl package) allowed us to map 4,290 and 6,534 eQTLs in the Cvi-0 × Col-0 and Bur-0 × Col-0 recombinant populations respectively. In agreement with previous studies, we observed a larger phenotypic variance explained by eQTLs in linkage with the controlled gene (potentially cis-acting), compared to distant loci (acting necessarily indirectly or in trans). Distant eQTLs hotspots were essentially not conserved between crosses, but instead, cross-specific. Accounting for confounding factors using a probabilistic approach (VBQTL) increased the mapping resolution and the number of significant associations. Moreover, using local eQTLs obtained from this approach, we detected evidence for a directional allelic effect in genes with related function, where significantly more eQTLs than expected by chance were up-regulated from one of the accessions. Primary experimental data, analysis parameters, eQTL results and visualisation of LOD score curves presented here are stored and accessible through the QTLstore service database http://qtlstore.versailles.inra.fr/. Conclusions Our results demonstrate the extensive diversity and moderately conserved eQTL landscape between crosses and validate the utilisation of expression traits to explore for candidates behind phenotypic variation among accessions. Furthermore, this stresses the need for a wider spectrum of diversity to fully understand expression trait variation within a species.

Nephrotoxicity is a significant side effect of doxorubicin (DXN) treatment. We investigated the protective effect of gemfibrozil (GEM) co-administration with DXN on DXN induced nephrotoxicity. We divided 28 male Wistar rats into four groups of seven. Group 1 received normal saline for 2 weeks. Group 2 received 15 mg/kg DXN for 2 weeks. Group 3 received DXN + GEM for 2 weeks. Group 4 received GEM for 2 weeks. On day 15 of the experiment, blood samples were collected, animals were sacrificed and kidneys were excised for biochemical and histological evaluation. We measured serum creatinine, blood urine nitrogen, renal malondialdehyde, nitric oxide, glutathione, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase, tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β. GEM administration mitigated DXN induced nephrotoxicity. GEM co-administered with DXN attenuated the inflammatory and oxidative responses associated with DXN induced nephrotoxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The etiology of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is not well known, however it is a final response of frequent injuries to endothelial and epithelial cells that cause influx of the inflammatory cells. Bleomycin (BLM), a chemotherapeutic agent that causes lung fibrosis in human patients has been applied extensively in rodent models to inducing IPF. Moreover, oxidative stress and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been involved in the pathogenesis. We aimed to investigate the effect of main olive antioxidant and anti-inflammatory polyphenol constituent, oleuropein (OLE), on BLM-induced fibrosis model. Female Wistar rats were divided into six groups (n = 8). In this study, whereas negative group only received vehicle and treatment groups received OLE (20, 40, and 80 mg kg−1) orally. Also, positive control group received intratracheally (IT), single dose BLM (7.5 U kg−1), prednisolone (10 mg/kg) as standard cure a week before and 3 weeks after IT-BLM. At 21th day of experiment, IL-13, TNF, TGF-β, and PDGF in the bronchoalveolar fluid (BALF), lung content hydroxyproline (HP), and malondialdehyde (MDA) were quantified. Histopathological changes in lungs were investigated too. IL-13, TNF, TGF-β1, PDGF in BALF, lung HP (collagen index), and MDA content in BLM-injected group was significantly higher than the control group (p <.05). In contrast, rats treated with OLE showed obviously lesser contents. Also, the histopathological observation confirms these findings. The results indicate that treatment by OLE may inhibit production of anti-inflammatory cytokines and ROS, and thus could be a useful medicine for managing fingagin disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease in which the myelin sheaths of the neural cells in the brain and the spinal cord are damaged. This injury affects the ability of parts of the nervous system that are responsible for communication and cause many physical and mental signs and symptoms. The grape seed which is scientifically called Vitis vinifera is the native plant in southern Europe and western Asia and its extract has strong antioxidants, anti-inflammatory and neuron and nervous system protection properties. Therefore, it is considered to control the free radicals and inflammation that contribute to the development and progression of MS. Methods The effect of grape seed extract on the fatigue control in patients was investigated as a double-blinded design. About 66 patients, all treated with interferon, were randomly divided into two groups. The first group received placebo for the first month and the second group had grape seed capsules for 1 month. Fatigue was calculated based on multiple sclerosis quality of life-54 before and after the study. The results were analyzed by t-test to compare the mean in both groups and also the pair t-test was applied to compare the fatigue test score before and after the treatment in the groups. Results The results showed that the use of grape seed capsules significantly altered the physical and mental activity of patients with MS. Conclusion The existing MS drugs reduce the number of relapses, severity of disease and prevent disease progression. They have less effect on symptoms and improving performance and the quality of life along with side effects. Due to the absence of significant side effects of grape seed and its proper effect, it can be used to improve fatigue and physical and mental activity in patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artworks conceptualize an open-ended idea. Factors which help the artist are enormous and various in different fields of art. Objects and materiality instances of such factors, which, in this longitudinal study, are categorized to two parts: main objects and banal objects. By "banal," we mean those objects whose presence does not catch the reader's eye in the first glance; they seem quite ordinary, as if their existence really does not matter. This article attempts to prove the importance of banal objects' role in the narrative course of works of fiction. The physical size and mass of banal objects do not matter; what actually matters is how they are connected to the main idea of an artwork. This study encourages writers as artists not only to produce or consider main objects, but also to explicate and revise the banal objects on which their artwork is built. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The dung-inhabiting ascomycete fungus Podospora anserina is a model used to study various aspects of eukaryotic and fungal biology, such as ageing, prions and sexual development., Results: We present a 10X draft sequence of P. anserina genome, linked to the sequences of a large expressed sequence tag collection. Similar to higher eukaryotes, the P. anserina transcription/splicing machinery generates numerous non-conventional transcripts. Comparison of the P. anserina genome and orthologous gene set with the one of its close relatives, Neurospora crassa, shows that synteny is poorly conserved, the main result of evolution being gene shuffling in the same chromosome. The P. anserina genome contains fewer repeated sequences and has evolved new genes by duplication since its separation from N. crassa, despite the presence of the repeat induced point mutation mechanism that mutates duplicated sequences. We also provide evidence that frequent gene loss took place in the lineages leading to P. anserina and N. crassa. P. anserina contains a large and highly specialized set of genes involved in utilization of natural carbon sources commonly found in its natural biotope. It includes genes potentially involved in lignin degradation and efficient cellulose breakdown., Conclusion: The features of the P. anserina genome indicate a highly dynamic evolution since the divergence of P. anserina and N. crassa, leading to the ability of the former to use specific complex carbon sources that match its needs in its natural biotope.