One of These Things Is Not Like the Other: Art Education and the Symbolic Interaction Of Bodies and Self-images

This article begins with the premise that self-imagery is constituted as a shape-shifting aggregate of symbolic systems that incorporates the human body itself as one of its representations. At intermittent points of the body\u27s embodiment of visual culture and tacit social experience, alternative representations accrete into varying symbolic systems, the multiple shapes a self-image may take over a lifetime. Given that social identity is derived from the interaction of various symbolic systems, how do some bodies and self-images come to be taken as that of identities incompatible with most others? In this exploration of the self-image and identity, the author reconsiders the purposes of art education in human development, especially when the self-image is given primacy over the objects we typically plan to make in the classroom

Familial aggregation of maxillary lateral incisor agenesis

In spite of recent developments, data regarding the genes responsible for the less severe forms of hypodontia are still scarce and controversial. This study addressed the hypothesis that agenesis of maxillary lateral incisors (MLIA) is a distinct type of hypodontia, by evaluating its familial aggregation and the occurrence of other types of ageneses or microdontia in probands' relatives. Sixty-two probands with MLIA were identified, and information was collected on 142 first-degree relatives. Relative risk (RR) was calculated and compared by re-assessment of data previously published for the Swedish, Utah, and Israeli populations, for the same trait. A RR of 15 was obtained in the Portuguese, 16 in the Swedish, 12 in Utah, and 5 in the Israeli population. Our results support a significant familial aggregation of MLIA, show that MLIA almost never segregates with other forms of agenesis, and suggest that microdontia of maxillary lateral incisors is part of the same phenotype.The individuals who took part in this study are acknowledged. Carolina Lemos was the recipient of a PhD scholarship (FCT - SFRH/BD/17761/2004) and Teresa Pinho of a PhD scholarship from Instituto Superior de Ciencias da Saude Norte/CESPU. The other authors received no funding from any institution, department, or sponsor, other than salaries from the institutions with which they are affiliated

Two or More Hours Away From Most Things: Re:writing Identities from No Fixed Address

How do we construe and re:construe the (archi)textures of (written) life? What is belonging when identities are temporal and where naming remains elusive or unknown? This article plays writing collaborative writing, deconstructing textual hierarchies between the “main” text body and footnoted text as a means of interrogating ways identities are written/performed. It is inspired by correspondences between the authors, generated in relation to three previous works published in Qualitative Inquiry, James Haywood Rolling, Jr.’s “Messing Around with Identity Constructs: Pursuing a Poststructuralist and Poetic Aesthetic,” “Searching Self-image: Identities to be Self-evident,” and Lace Marie Brogden’s “Not Quite Acceptable: Re:Reading my Father in Qualitative Inquiry.” We share correspondences between academics, using spaces created in writing “between friends” while constantly becoming through the re:writing of our identities from no fixed addres

Linear Predictability vs. Bull and Bear Market Models in Strategic Asset Allocation Decisions: Evidence from UK Data

Most papers in the portfolio choice literature have examined linear predictability frameworks based on the idea that simple but flexible Vector Autoregressive (VAR) models can be expanded to produce portfolio allocations that hedge against the bull and bear dynamics typical of financial markets through careful selection of predictor variables that capture business cycles and market sentiment. Yet, a distinct literature exists that shows that nonlinear econometric frameworks, such as Markov switching, are also natural tools to compute optimal portfolios arising from the existence of good and bad market states. This paper examines whether and how simple VARs can produce portfolio rules similar to those obtained under a simple Markov switching, by studying the effects of expanding both the order of the VAR and the number/selection of predictor variables included. In a typical stock-bond strategic asset allocation problem for U.K. data, we compute the out-of-sample certainty equivalent returns for a wide range of VARs and compare these measures of performance with those of nonlinear models. We conclude that most VARs cannot produce portfolio rules, hedging demands, or (net of transaction costs) out-of-sample performances that approximate those obtained from equally simple nonlinear frameworks

A novel method for detecting Lipoarabinomannan in urine with the promise of meeting the WHO target product profile for the diagnosis of tuberculosis

The diagnosis of tuberculosis largely relies on the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) via pathogen-specific DNA or bacterial culture from sputum samples. As the only point-of-care test so far, urinary lipoarabinomannan (LAM) has been endorsed by the World Health Organization for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in people living with HIV.In this study, the electrochemiluminescence LAM research assay (EclLAM) was used to measure LAM in the urine of HIV-sero-negative individuals with pulmonary tuberculosis and to monitor anti-tuberculosis treatment. Urine samples from 18 patients with microbiologically confirmed tuberculosis were analyzed before and after the initiation of anti-tuberculosis therapy and 17 healthy controls via the S4-20/A194-01 antibody pair.The assay identified 13/18 (72.2 %) patients with tuberculosis and was negative in 17/17 (100.0 %) controls (AUC 0.88). The results of the reactive urine LAM tests correlated with the detection of M. tuberculosis growth in culture (r = 0.94, p In conclusion, the LAM-specific antibody assay is promising to fulfill the WHO target product profile for the diagnosis of tuberculosis

Systematic Analysis of Copy Number Variations in the Pathogenic Yeast Candida parapsilosis Identifies a Gene Amplification in RTA3 That is Associated with Drug Resistance

We analyzed the genomes of 170 C. parapsilosis isolates and identified multiple copy number variations (CNVs). We identified two genes, RTA3 (CPAR2_104610) and ARR3 (CPAR2_601050), each of which was the target of multiple independent amplification events. Phylogenetic analysis shows that most of these amplifications originated only once. For ARR3, which encodes a putative arsenate transporter, 8 distinct CNVs were identified, ranging in size from 2.3 kb to 10.5 kb with 3 to 23 copies. For RTA3, 16 distinct CNVs were identified, ranging in size from 0.3 kb to 4.5 kb with 2 to ~50 copies. One unusual amplification resulted in a DUP-TRP/INV-DUP structure similar to some human CNVs. RTA3 encodes a putative phosphatidylcholine (PC) floppase which is known to regulate the inward translocation of PC in Candida albicans. We found that an increased copy number of RTA3 correlated with resistance to miltefosine, an alkylphosphocholine drug that affects PC metabolism. Additionally, we conducted an adaptive laboratory evolution experiment in which two C. parapsilosis isolates were cultured in increasing concentrations of miltefosine. Two genes, CPAR2_303950 and CPAR2_102700, coding for putative PC flippases homologous to S. cerevisiae DNF1 gained homozygous protein-disrupting mutations in the evolved strains. Overall, our results show that C. parapsilosis can gain resistance to miltefosine, a drug that has recently been granted orphan drug designation approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of invasive candidiasis, through both CNVs or loss-of-function alleles in one of the flippase genes