Genetic steps to organ laterality in zebrafish.

All internal organs are asymmetric along the left-right axis. Here we report a genetic screen to discover mutations which perturb organ laterality. Our particular focus is upon whether, and how, organs are linked to each other as they achieve their laterally asymmetric positions. We generated mutations by ENU mutagenesis and examined F3 progeny using a cocktail of probes that reveal early primordia of heart, gut, liver and pancreas. From the 750 genomes examined, we isolated seven recessive mutations which affect the earliest left-right positioning of one or all of the organs. None of these mutations caused discernable defects elsewhere in the embryo at the stages examined. This is in contrast to those mutations we reported previously (Chen et al., 1997) which, along with left-right abnormalities, cause marked perturbation in gastrulation, body form or midline structures. We find that the mutations can be classified on the basis of whether they perturb relationships among organ laterality. In Class 1 mutations, none of the organs manifest any left-right asymmetry. The heart does not jog to the left and normally leftpredominant BMP4 in the early heart tube remains symmetric. The gut tends to remain midline. There frequently is a remarkable bilateral duplication of liver and pancreas. Embryos with Class 2 mutations have organotypic asymmetry but, in any given embryo, organ positions can be normal, reversed or randomized. Class 3 reveals a hitherto unsuspected gene that selectively affects laterality of heart. We find that visceral organ positions are predicted by the direction of the preceding cardiac jog. We interpret this as suggesting that normally there is linkage between cardiac and visceral organ laterality. Class 1 mutations, we suggest, effectively remove the global laterality signals, with the consequence that organ positions are effectively symmetrical. Embryos with Class 2 mutations do manifest linkage among organs, but it may be reversed, suggesting that the global signals may be present but incorrectly orientated in some of the embryos. That laterality decisions of organs may be independently perturbed, as in the Class 3 mutation, indicates that there are distinctive pathways for reception and organotypic interpretation of the global signals

An updated analysis of NN elastic scattering data to 1.6 GeV

An energy-dependent and set of single-energy partial-wave analyses of $NN$ elastic scattering data have been completed. The fit to 1.6~GeV has been supplemented with a low-energy analysis to 400 MeV. Using the low-energy fit, we study the sensitivity of our analysis to the choice of $\pi NN$ coupling constant. We also comment on the possibility of fitting $np$ data alone. These results are compared with those found in the recent Nijmegen analyses. (Figures may be obtained from the authors upon request.)Comment: 17 pages of text, VPI-CAPS-7/

Musikalischer Materialismus : eine Philosophie der zeitgenössischen Musik

Zeitgenössische Musik ist fragwürdige Musik. Sie zieht sich selbst in Zweifel. Eine Philosophie solcher Musik muss diesen Zweifel aufnehmen und fragen, wie Musik heute als Kunst möglich ist. Sie muss die Bedingungen und Problemhintergründe, die begrifflichen Grundlagen und technischen Potenziale der gegenwärtigen Musikproduktion durchdenken. In Auseinandersetzung mit aktuellen Fragen der Komposition und Kunsttheorie erarbeitet Christoph Haffter eine Konzeption des musikalischen Werks, die es an das ästhetische Urteil und an die historischen Tendenzen des Materials bindet. Sie verknüpft auf diese Weise Einsichten der philosophischen Ästhetik im Ausgang von Immanuel Kant mit den kritischen Einwänden des historischen Materialismus in der Nachfolge von Karl Marx und greift darin das Programm der Musikphilosophie Theodor W. Adornos wieder auf. Für diese Verbindung von Musikästhetik und kritischer Reflexion der Gegenwart steht der Begriff eines Musikalischen Materialismus

Bewertung fotografischer Bestände. Der Walter Heim-Nachlass im Archiv für Zeitgeschichte der ETH Zürich

Bewertung fotografischer Bestände. Der Walter Heim-Nachlass im Archiv für Zeitgeschichte der ETH Züric

Dieter Burdorf, Zerbrechlichkeit. Über Fragmente in der Literatur

Comment expliquer notre fascination pour les fragments littéraires ? Telle est la question que se pose Dieter Burdorf dans un petit ouvrage regroupant huit essais. Le titre du livre indique la direction dans laquelle Burdorf cherche une réponse : le fragment littéraire nous intrigue parce qu’il nous rappelle, de par son inachèvement ou ses mutilations, la fragilité fondamentale de l’existence humaine. L’expérience d’un fragment du passé se distingue ainsi par une tension entre deux pôles : d..

Change over time in functional capacity and self-perceived health status for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain: a registry-based longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Chronic musculoskeletal pain is a major public health problem worldwide. Both self-reported functional capacity and self-perceived health status are reduced in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Previous studies mostly assessed functional capacity through self-reported questionnaires instead of objective measurements. The aim of this study, therefore, is to assess the amount of change over time and its clinical meaningfulness in functional capacity and self-perceived health status of patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain undergoing Bern Ambulatory Interprofessional Rehabilitation (BAI-Reha). METHODS The registry-based longitudinal cohort study with prospectively collected data from a rehabilitation programme took place in a real-life setting. Patients (n = 81) with chronic musculoskeletal pain took part in the BAI-Reha. The main outcomes were the six-minute-walk test (6MWT), the safe maximum floor-to-waist lift (SML) and the European Quality of Life and Health measure visual analogue scale (EQ VAS). Timepoints of measurement were at baseline and post-BAI-Reha (i.e., at 4 months). The quantity of interest was the adjusted time effect (point estimate, 95% confidence interval, and p-value for testing the null hypothesis of no change over time). Statistical significance (α = 0.05) and clinical meaningfulness of the mean value change over time were assessed using predefined thresholds (six-minute-walk test 50 m, SML 7 kg, and EQ VAS 10 points). RESULTS The linear mixed model analysis showed a statistically significant change over time for the six-minute-walk test (mean value change 56.08 m, 95% CI [36.13, 76.03]; p <0.001), SML (mean value change 3.92 kg, 95% CI [2.66, 5.19]; p <0.001), and EQ VAS (mean value change 9.58 points, 95% CI [4.87, 14.28]; p <0.001). Moreover, the improvement in the six-minute-walk test is clinically meaningful (mean value change 56.08 m) and almost clinically meaningful (mean value change 9.58 points) in the EQ VAS. CONCLUSION Patients walk further, lift more weight, and feel healthier after interprofessional rehabilitation when compared to baseline measurement. These findings confirm and add to previous results. IMPLICATIONS We encourage other providers of rehabilitation for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain to measure functional capacity with objective outcome variables and to use self-reported outcome measures in addition to self-perceived health status. The well-established assessments used in this study are suitable for this purpose