Search

This article focuses on prosopopoeia as a “figure of the voice” in Samuel Beckett’s play for television What Where(1986/2013) and as it is defined by Bruno Clément. Prosopopoeia is a figure and a voice: both take part in the thought process. They allow the subject to think the thought process through self-hearing. Prosopopoeia is thus reflexive and participates in the phenomena of the mind which are carried out by the voice of the self, whose externalization gives way to an inner dialogue of sorts which is exposed to otherness. I will study this principle which is at the very heart of Beckett’s play along with the status of the voice. By being carried out by a figure of thought – prosopopoeia – the voice questions its origin through similarity and dissimilarity which highlights its equivocal nature. Indeed, if prosopopoeia is a figure that gives a voice to what has no existence, I will show that this voice is necessarily acousmatic.

Testicular tissue cryopreservation is the only option of fertility preservation in prepubertal boys. While it is considered experimental, since procedures to obtain mature spermatozoa from prepubertal testicular tissue are still under development, testicular tissue cryopreservation programs have emerged worldwide. Our aim was to study the feasibility and safety of a program of testicular tissue cryopreservation in prepubertal and adolescent boys facing gonadotoxic treatment in three University hospitals in Switzerland. Testicular tissue cryopreservation was accepted by 90% of families, with a total of 35 patients included. The average patient age was 8.5 years (range 7 months to 18.5 years). Malignancies were the most common diagnosis (31 patients, 88.6%) with 16 (45.7%) solid tumors and 15 (42.9%) hematological malignancies. Four (11.4%) patients had a benign condition. The main indication for testicular tissue cryopreservation was conditioning for hematologic stem cell transplantation (25 patients, 71.4%). Testicular tissue was cryopreserved according to the freezing protocol of Louvain Catholic University (Belgium), which includes either only immature testicular tissue freezing, or mature and immature testicular tissue freezing depending on the age of the patient and the presence or absence of haploid cells. The median number of spermatogonia per tubule cross-section was 2 (range 0–6) and spermatozoa were found in only one patient. Tumoral cells were found in one testicular biopsy of a leukemic patient. There were two minor adverse events and none of them required medical treatment or surgical revision. Five patients died during follow-up. Our data demonstrate the feasibility and safety of a program of testicular tissue cryopreservation coordinated by a multidisciplinary team of fertility preservation. Despite the experimental aspect of the procedure, the acceptation rate was high, which highlights the willingness of families and patients to participate in testicular tissue cryopreservation.

This article deals with Samuel Beckett’s first essay “Dante… Bruno. Vico.. Joyce” which was published in the avant-garde magazine transition in 1929 at a time when modernism was itself becoming tradition. If Beckett’s critical writing praises one of the modernist champions, James Joyce, it also feeds on other arts, such as cinema and its relation to ideographic writing, as well as on more questionable sources such as the science of the occult. By so doing, Beckett goes against the established avant-garde, whether they are they are writers or critics. I argue that Beckett borrows from the writings of Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno to shape his own literary principle, that of “identified contraries,” proposing a formula without imposing a programme. This propels him to the heart of three modernist principles: “historical modernism”, “hieroglyphic modernism” and “alchemical modernism.” This article means to explore them in the light of Beckett’s essay.

The Capital of the Ruins is shrouded in mystery. The grim report, written by Samuel Beckett at the end of the Second World War, tells about the functioning of the Irish Red Cross hospital for which the author worked in Saint-Lô, a French town ‘bombed out of existence’ by the American Allies. The nonfiction piece was ordered by the national Irish radio and was to be broadcast and read by the writer himself in June 1946. Nonetheless, a contradictory account denies that it was aired, bringing about a consensus: though The Capital of the Ruins is considered to be pivotal in the author’s poetics, his work eludes the question of war and politics to focus on the universal condition of being. From the point of view of history and politics, one may wonder whether such reticence is linked to the embarrassing collaboration of the Vichy government and thus to the need to silence memory. Or, whether it is linked to the cultural and social tensions that arose between the Irish, American and French people in the aftermath of war, on the path to the re-construction of Saint-Lô. It is from this very perspective that the present article considers how Beckett’s experience in St-Lô shaped his post-war writing with his turn to theatre and the radio, beginning with Waiting for Godot and All That Fall.

Objective: To report a case of direct in vivo oocytes retrieval for fertility preservation before oophorectomy by open surgery in a young patient with ovarian cancer. Design: case report and literature review. Setting: University hospital. Patients: A 29-year-old nulliparous patient, recently diagnosed with low grade serous ovarian carcinoma.The patient consented to the removal of her remaining ovary but wished to preserve oocytes and declined hysterectomy. Conventional trans-vaginal US-guided oocyte retrieval was contra-indicated because of the risk of malignant cell dissemination to the abdomen and the vaginal puncture sites. Interventions: Controlled ovarian stimulation with gonadotrophins was realized. Comprehensive surgical staging was performed 35 h after ovulation triggering using rHCG. The oocytes retrieval was performed in vivo with ultrasound guidance at time of laparotomy before oophorectomy without any time of ischemia. Results: Seven mature oocytes were obtained and vitrified. Conclusions: This case highlights the feasibility of in vivo oocytes retrieval of mature oocytes during open surgery for gynecologic cancers. By avoiding transvaginal follicular retrieval, the risk of malignant cell contamination to vaginal and parametrial tissues is reduced, limiting cancer upstaging.

Objectives: Oocyte and/or embryo vitrification after controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) represents the most established method of fertility preservation (FP) before cancer treatment. However, traditional COS regimens are associated with supraphysiologic serum estradiol and are therefore not recommended in estrogen-sensitive diseases such as breast cancer (BC). To protect the patients from the potential deleterious effects of elevated estrogen levels during COS for FP, protocols using aromatase inhibitors (letrozole) were developed. The present study aims at investigating whether COS with letrozole supplementation (COSTLES) modifies ovarian response in BC patients. Study design: One hundred and seventy-seven BC patients candidates for FP using oocyte and/or embryo vitrification following COS referred to our center between July 2013 and December 2016 were included in this retrospective case-control study. 94 patients underwent COSTLES while 83 had standard GnRH antagonist protocol. The number of oocytes retrieved, oocyte maturation rates, number of oocytes vitrified and follicle responsiveness to FSH assessed by the Follicular Output Rate (FORT) were assessed. Results: Women in both groups were comparable in terms of age and ovarian reserve tests leading to a similar number of oocyte recovered (13.1 ± 10.0 vs. 12.2 ± 8.0 oocytes, respectively, NS). However, oocyte maturation rates were significantly lower in COSTLES compared to standard protocol (64.9 ± 22.8 vs. 77.4 ± 19.3%, p

In vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes retrieved at germinal vesicle or Metaphase I stage, followed by vitrification of Metaphase II (MII) oocytes, has recently emerged as an option for urgent fertility preservation (FP). Priming is usually achieved with an injection of hCG, 10,000 IU, 36 hours before retrieval. This study aimed to assess a new method of priming, using GnRH agonists, and compare it to hCG, in cancer patients undergoing urgent FP. From 2009 to 2015, 373 cancer patients underwent MII oocyte cryopreservation after IVM cycles primed either with GnRHa (triptorelin 0.2 mg) (n = 138) or hCG (10,000 IU) (n = 235). Patients' characteristics were comparable between the two groups. The number of COC retrieved was significantly higher in the GnRHa group (9.1 ± 6.8 versus 7.7 ± 5.5 oocytes, p = 0.04). However, the maturation rates (59 ±25% versus 64 ±26%, p = 0.07, respectively), and the total number of MII oocytes frozen (5.2 ±4.2 versus 4.9 ±4.0, p = 0.6, respectively) were similar between the GnRha and hCG groups. We did not find any difference between GnRHa and hCG priming for IVM. GnRHa priming is more physiological since it stimulates endogenous FSH and LH activity, and is well suited for FP in hormone-sensitive cancers and urgent cases.