O discurso da COVID como fenômeno cultural na Ucrânia em 2020-2022

 Este artigo problematiza a formação do tema da COVID-19 como parte do discurso cultural ucraniano. No âmbito deste estudo, formou-se um repositório de amostras representativas da literatura, analisaram-se textos do folclore moderno dedicados a este tema, bem como seleções de obras poéticas. As características da comunicação durante a pandemia e a sua influência na criatividade literária foram estabelecidas. A investigação realizada permitiu tirar conclusões sobre a presença, na cultura ucraniana, de um esquema de resposta a fenômenos de crise oriundos da pandemia da COVID-19, que envolve a formação de um conjunto de textos de circulação popular sobre o tema, na forma de poesia, performances etc., depois em prosa, e, um novo conjunto, na fase final de assimilação dos fenômenos pelo discurso culturalThe article problematizes the formation of the topic of COVID-19 as part of the Ukrainian cultural discourse. Within the scope of this study, a repository of representative samples of literature was formed, texts of modern folklore devoted to this topic, as well as selections of poetic works were analyzed. The features of communication during the pandemic and its influence on literary creativity have been established. The conducted research made it possible to come to conclusions about the presence in Ukrainian culture of a scheme for dealing with crisis phenomena such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which involves the formation of a layer of folklore works at the first stages of working on the topic, then – working on it in the form of poetry, performances, etc., creating prose texts and new layer of folklore at the final stage of assimilation of the phenomena by the cultural discourse

Coxsackie-adenovirus receptor expression is enhanced in pancreas from patients with type 1 diabetes

Objectives: One of the theories connecting enterovirus (EV) infection of human islets with type 1 diabetes (T1D) is the development of a fertile field in the islets. This implies induction of appropriate proteins for the viral replication such as the coxsackie–adenovirus receptor (CAR). The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent CAR is expressed in human islets of Langerhans, and what conditions that would change the expression. Design: Immunohistochemistry for CAR was performed on paraffin-embedded pancreatic tissue from patients with T1D (n=9 recent onset T1D, n=4 long-standing T1D), islet autoantibody-positive individuals (n=14) and non-diabetic controls (n=24) individuals. The expression of CAR was also examined by reverse transcription PCR on microdissected islets (n=5), exocrine tissue (n=5) and on explanted islets infected with EV or exposed to chemokines produced by EV-infected islet cells. Results: An increased frequency of patients with T1D and autoantibody-positive individuals expressed CAR in the pancreas (p<0.039). CAR staining was detected more frequently in pancreatic islets from patients with T1D and autoantibody-positive subjects (15/27) compared with (6/24) non-diabetic controls (p<0.033). Also in explanted islets cultured in UV-treated culture medium from coxsackievirus B (CBV)-1-infected islets, the expression of the CAR gene was increased compared with controls. Laser microdissection of pancreatic tissue revealed that CAR expression was 10-fold higher in endocrine compared with exocrine cells of the pancreas. CAR was also expressed in explanted islets and the expression level decreased with time in culture. CBV-1 infection of explanted islets clearly decreased the expression of CAR (p<0.05). In contrast, infection with echovirus 6 did not affect the expression of CAR. Conclusions: CAR is expressed in pancreatic islets of patients with T1D and the expression level of CAR is increased in explanted islets exposed to proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines produced by infected islets. T1D is associated with increased levels of certain chemokines/cytokines in the islets and this might be the mechanism behind the increased expression of CAR in TID islets

Enterovirus Implications in Type 1 Diabetes

Human enteroviruses (HEVs), particularly Coxsackie B viruses (CVBs), might trigger the onset of type 1 diabetes (T1D), either by direct infection of the insulin-producing beta-cells or by an indirect inflammatory response. The overall aim of this thesis was to study the tropism of HEVs in isolated human pancreatic cell clusters in vitro including virus effects on islet function, gene-expression and ultrastructure. Furthermore, the expression of the major CVB-receptor, CAR, was investigated in pancreatic tissue from T1D-related subjects and CVB-infected islets. Also, tissues and isolated islets from two adult organ-donors who died close to disease onset were studied.The results showed that beta-cells were destroyed through lytic infections with different strains of CVBs and that islets function did not depend on replication per se but on the degree of islet destruction. Virus particles were observed in beta-cells in association with insulin granules, however no virus replication or particles could be observed in the exocrine cell clusters, as opposed to in mice models. The virus-infected islets had a decreased expression of insulin mRNA and CAR mRNA/protein, possibly reflecting virus-killed beta-cells. Infected beta-cells contained a high number of insulin granules, which might indicate an impaired function.The in vivo studies showed presence of virus proteins in the islets of both donors who died close to onset of T1D and elevated expression of innate immunity genes, potentially indicating viral infection, but direct evidence is lacking. Both donors were immune-reactive for insulin but the isolated islets had an impaired or completely lacking glucose response. Ultrastructural analysis showed both damaged beta-cells and normal-looking beta-cells, indicating that the latter might still have the potential to function but were blocked. CAR-expression was significantly increased in T1D-related subjects which might indicate tissue damage and/or inflammation in these subjects.To conclude, these results showed that CVBs could infect human primary beta-cells, likely by binding to CAR and lead to functional abnormalities, indicating that they could cause T1D in vivo. Exocrine cells were not permissive to CVB, which raises the question if mice-models should be used to study human pancreatitis. Also, unique materials from two T1D organ-donors were described. 

Enterovirus Implications in Type 1 Diabetes

Human enteroviruses (HEVs), particularly Coxsackie B viruses (CVBs), might trigger the onset of type 1 diabetes (T1D), either by direct infection of the insulin-producing beta-cells or by an indirect inflammatory response. The overall aim of this thesis was to study the tropism of HEVs in isolated human pancreatic cell clusters in vitro including virus effects on islet function, gene-expression and ultrastructure. Furthermore, the expression of the major CVB-receptor, CAR, was investigated in pancreatic tissue from T1D-related subjects and CVB-infected islets. Also, tissues and isolated islets from two adult organ-donors who died close to disease onset were studied.The results showed that beta-cells were destroyed through lytic infections with different strains of CVBs and that islets function did not depend on replication per se but on the degree of islet destruction. Virus particles were observed in beta-cells in association with insulin granules, however no virus replication or particles could be observed in the exocrine cell clusters, as opposed to in mice models. The virus-infected islets had a decreased expression of insulin mRNA and CAR mRNA/protein, possibly reflecting virus-killed beta-cells. Infected beta-cells contained a high number of insulin granules, which might indicate an impaired function.The in vivo studies showed presence of virus proteins in the islets of both donors who died close to onset of T1D and elevated expression of innate immunity genes, potentially indicating viral infection, but direct evidence is lacking. Both donors were immune-reactive for insulin but the isolated islets had an impaired or completely lacking glucose response. Ultrastructural analysis showed both damaged beta-cells and normal-looking beta-cells, indicating that the latter might still have the potential to function but were blocked. CAR-expression was significantly increased in T1D-related subjects which might indicate tissue damage and/or inflammation in these subjects.To conclude, these results showed that CVBs could infect human primary beta-cells, likely by binding to CAR and lead to functional abnormalities, indicating that they could cause T1D in vivo. Exocrine cells were not permissive to CVB, which raises the question if mice-models should be used to study human pancreatitis. Also, unique materials from two T1D organ-donors were described. 

Rekombináns mitotípussal rendelkező interspecifikus Saccharomyces hibridek és a szülői törzsek fiziológiás vizsgálata

A Saccharomyces fajok hibridjei egyre nagyobb teret nyernek a biotechnológiában. A S. cerevisiae kiváló modellszervezetnek bizonyult különböző kutatások során, így interspecifikus hibridjeinek vizsgálata is kézenfekvő a kutatók számára. Korábbi kutatások kimutatták, hogy az interspecifikus hibridek genomja mindkét szülő genomjából örököl különböző géneket, így mindkét törzs számunkra kedvező tulajdonságait mutathatja. Kísérleteim során rekombináns mitotípusú törzseket vizsgáltam meg fiziológiás szempontból. Eredményeim egyeznek a korábbi kutatásokéval - a hibridek stressztűrése áltagosan sokkal jobb, mint a szülői törzseké. Ezek a felfedezések nagy hatással bírnak a borászat fejlődésére, ahol előszeretettel alkalmazzák az általam vizsgált élesztőfajokat.BiomérnökiBSc/B

Demons of the XXth century (typology of destructive characters in Ukrainian and Russian literature)

This book is a first attempt to analyze modifications of the concept of devilry in Ukrainian and Russian literature of the twentieth century. The concept has been analyzed in philosophical, sociological and literary context. For this research were chosen texts of Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Valerian Pidmohylnyi, Mykola Kvylovyi, Todos Osmachka, Borys Antonenko-Davydovych, Serhiy Zhadan, Maksym Horkyi, Fedir Solohub, Mykhailo Bulhakov and Andryi Platonov. Precise criteria for determining devilry as a social and cultural phenomenon have been formulated, features of devilry worldview have been addressed and the hierarchy within the structure of devilry has been described. Historical preconditions which influenced the differences in the shaping of the concept of devilry in Russia and Ukraine have been highlighted. Basic distinctions between the development of devilry in both nation’s literature at the first and the second stages of its maturation have also been ascertained. Ways of inclusion and further exclusion of characters within such structures at the first and the second stages of the concept’s exercise have been examined. In the book, devilry is defined as the phenomenon of human self-destructiveness, which expresses itself in the collective mentality through the obsession with social constructionism in the form of utopia combining historical, religious and value-based aspects; through the strive for translating and fetishizing the social ideal and through the activity directed to ruin society and social institutions, to perpetrate violence against people. Several factors that influenced the development of the concept in Ukrainian and Russian literature have been determined. The most influential among those were national myths, bolshevism, traditions of European modernism and national traditions of depiction of devilry in Ukrainian and Russian literature. The most defining work of literature to influence the concept was a novel by Dostoevsky called “Demons”, which was a source of the devilry model. Under this influence, two different concepts of devilry had formed in Ukrainian and Russian literature. It was established that the presented concept has a spiral development. Thus, at the first stage, an individual destructive consciousness is fixed, at the second stage, a group of similar individuals is formed, at the third stage, the state apparatus is formed, which aims to destroy people. The fourth stage is marked by the decline of the governing system and the birth of a new type of destructive person, tangential to the previous one. The presented book will help to understand on the basis of literary material how destructive types of state entities appear and what place a person occupies in them.</jats:p