Mammalian tumor-like organs. 1. The role of tumor-like normal organs and atypical tumor organs in the evolution of development (carcino-evo-devo)

Background Earlier I hypothesized that hereditary tumors might participate in the evolution of multicellular organisms. I formulated the hypothesis of evolution by tumor neofunctionalization, which suggested that the evolutionary role of hereditary tumors might consist in supplying evolving multicellular organisms with extra cell masses for the expression of evolutionarily novel genes and the origin of new cell types, tissues, and organs. A new theory—the carcino-evo-devo theory—has been developed based on this hypothesis. Main text My lab has confirmed several non-trivial predictions of this theory. Another non-trivial prediction is that evolutionarily new organs if they originated from hereditary tumors or tumor-like structures, should recapitulate some tumor features in their development. This paper reviews the tumor-like features of evolutionarily novel organs. It turns out that evolutionarily new organs such as the eutherian placenta, mammary gland, prostate, the infantile human brain, and hoods of goldfishes indeed have many features of tumors. I suggested calling normal organs, which have many tumor features, the tumor-like organs. Conclusion Tumor-like organs might originate from hereditary atypical tumor organs and represent the part of carcino-evo-devo relationships, i.e., coevolution of normal and neoplastic development. During subsequent evolution, tumor-like organs may lose the features of tumors and the high incidence of cancer and become normal organs without (or with almost no) tumor features.

Naming and Renaming Texts: Rubrics in Middle High German Miscellany Manuscripts

This article analyses rubrics in Middle High German miscellany manuscripts of short texts in rhyming couplets (Reimpaargedichte). A corpus consisting of 1433 rubrics from 68 manuscripts was created to be able to perform this study. As rubrics in medieval manuscripts were not authorial, but composed by scribes, they offer insights into the reception of the texts. This paper analyses their features and functions as a proxy to interrogate the standing and status of Reimpaargedichte between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. The main methodology is distant reading, i.e. the application and interpretation of statistical methods on a textual corpus. The features analyzed include the length of the rubrics, their level of variation, the presence of author names, and vocabulary. Although no general patterns regarding length nor level of variation were detected, some important conclusions can be drawn: 1. there were no clear markers of literary genre in rubrics; 2. authorship was mostly absent, except for some specific cases of famous authors; 3. relatively stable keywords were used to identify particular texts, but they were more common in manuscripts with narrative texts (Erzählungen) and less common in later manuscripts dominated by the genre known as Minnereden. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that rubrics used a series of linguistic procedures to show that they participated in a different speech act than the main text – they embodied an interaction between scribes and readers, in which the former framed the reception of the work.

Dwujęzyczne hybrydy składniowe w tekstach naukowych

Bilingual Syntactic Hybrids in Scientific TextsThis article is devoted to the phenomenon of such quotation of foreign language lexemes whereby their form depends on the syntactic requirements of the language in which the main text is written, e.g. “dojść do соглашения”. Connections of this type can sometimes also be found in scientific publications, e.g. in articles in Polish describing the Russian language (lexical or grammatical issues, etc.) or Russian cultural and political realities. The study analyses this phenomenon on the basis of selected examples. In sentences quoting foreign language material in this way, the boundary between two languages (e.g. Ukrainian and Polish, Belarusian and Russian, etc.) and their respective syntactic systems is blurred. Dwujęzyczne hybrydy składniowe w tekstach naukowychW artykule omówione zostało zjawisko takiego przytaczania leksemów obcojęzycznych w tekście, w którym ich forma staje się zależna od wymagań składniowych języka, w jakim napisany jest tekst podstawowy, por. np. „dojść do соглашения”. Połączenia tego typu można czasami spotkać także w publikacjach naukowych, np. w artykułach w języku polskim, opisujących język rosyjski (leksykalnie, gramatycznie itd.) lub np. rosyjskie realia kulturowe i polityczne. W artykule zjawisko to zostało przeanalizowane na podstawie wybranych przykładów. W zdaniach operujących omawianym typem przytaczania materiału obcojęzycznego dochodzi do zacierania granicy pomiędzy dwoma językami (np. ukraińskim i polskim, białoruskim i rosyjskim) oraz ich systemami składniowymi.

PCR-based Sex Determination in Cattle using Gene Specific Markers

A single paragraph of about 200 words maximum. For research articles, abstractsshould give a pertinent overview of the work. We strongly encourage authors touse the following style of structured abstracts, but without headings: (1) Background:Place the question addressed in a broad context and highlight the purpose of the study;(2) Methods: briefly describe the main methods or treatments applied; (3) Results: summarize the article's main findings; (4) Conclusions: indicate the main conclusions or interpretations. The abstract should be an objective representation of the article and it must not contain results that are not presented and substantiated in the main text and should notexaggerate the main conclusions.

A Vilnius Transcript of the Health Garden: A Codicological Study

This article is devoted to the history of cultural relations between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Moscovian Rus’ as well as the artifacts that testify to it. The object of the research is a Vilnius transcript of the Health Garden (a translation of Gart der Gesundheit (1492) into Russian) kept in the Wróblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences (LMAVB RS F22–25). The aim of the article is to present a revised codicological description of the object, identifying the features of the Vilnius transcript and its links with the culture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This aim is achieved by using codicological, comparative and textual methods, compiling a detailed codicological description of the copy, analyzing the architecture and internal structures of the code, and identifying differences or similarities between the Vilnius, Flor, Uvarov, and Shelonin copies of the Health Garden. Based on the gathered data, the circumstances of compiling the code are clarified. The study identified the following features of the Code. The large-scale codex, created in Moscow between the 17th and 18th centuries, is not a homogeneous object. It consists of two different editions: the index is closer to the Uvarov transcript and the main text to the Kharkov / Flor transcript. The second feature is careful preparation of the transcript. The codex was drafted as an exemplary edition of an old manuscript and is richly illustrated. Colored pigments were used for decoration, leaving traces of gilding. The edges of the Codex block were painted and decorated in ornamental prints. This allows us to consider the high social status of the client of the code. The third feature is the completeness of the text of the Vilnius copy. It consists of the most comprehensive block of indexes; the main text has been supplemented with new objects, enriched with new images; the text contains as many as 237 names of medicinal substances and 38 minerals in Russian. The remarks and additions contained in the previous transcripts became an integral part of the texts of the Vilnius transcript. The identified features, overlapping formal features, and organization scheme of the text, as well as the same manner of illustration, gave reason to search for a place where all the mentioned copies – Flor, Uvarov, Shelonin – as well as other old prints or their translations could have been seen by the creators of the Vilnius transcript. It is believed that such a place could have been the The Apothecary Chancery. Some Polonisms are found in the text; the works of authors from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were used in the Rus’ at that time and thus encourage a closer look at the translations and the search for citizens from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth who could have participated in the works. The research clarifies the available knowledge about the transcript kept in Vilnius. The information gathered is expected to help book historians clarify the origin of the codex, its production environment, and its place in the Gart der Gesundheit’s line of translations and transcripts; this paper will make it possible to identify other stored fragments. The article is supplemented with a comparative table of the structure and content of the Vilnius transcript of the Health Garden and a decor picture of the code block.

Tolerating bad health research: the continuing scandal

BackgroundAt the 2015 REWARD/EQUATOR conference on research waste, the late Doug Altman revealed that his only regret about his 1994 BMJ paper ‘The scandal of poor medical research’ was that he used the word ‘poor’ rather than ‘bad’. But how much research is bad? And what would improve things?Main textWe focus on randomised trials and look at scale, participants and cost. We randomly selected up to two quantitative intervention reviews published by all clinical Cochrane Review Groups between May 2020 and April 2021. Data including risk of bias, number of participants, intervention type and country were extracted for all trials included in selected reviews. High risk of bias trials were classed as bad. The cost of high risk of bias trials was estimated using published estimates of trial cost per-participant.We identified 96 reviews authored by 546 reviewers from 49 clinical Cochrane Review Groups that included 1,659 trials done in 84 countries. Of the 1,640 trials providing risk of bias information, 1,013 (62%) were high risk of bias (bad), 494 (30%) unclear and 133 (8%) low risk of bias. Bad trials were spread across all clinical areas and all countries. Well over 220,000 participants (or 56% of all participants) were in bad trials. The low estimate of the cost of bad trials was £726 million; our high estimate was over £8 billion. We have five recommendations: trials should be neither funded (1) or given ethical approval (2) unless they have a statistician and methodologist; trialists should use a risk of bias tool at design (3); more statisticians and methodologists should be trained and supported (4); there should be more funding into applied methodology research and infrastructure (5). ConclusionsMost randomised trials are bad and most trial participants will be in one. The research community has tolerated this for decades. This has to stop: we need to put rigour and methodology where it belongs– at the centre of our science.

FUNCTIONAL POTENTIAL OF FILM REVIEW AS EPITEXT: LINGUOPRAGMATIC, AXIOLOGICAL, LINGUOCULTURAL ASPECTS

Постановка задачи. Статья посвящена изучению рецензий к кинофильмам, которые будучи многоплановым явлением, представляют актуальный объект исследования. Трактуемая как эпитекст, кинорецензия обнаруживает себя конститутивным элементом системы кинотекста, включающей фильм, трейлеры, афиши, комментарии кинокритиков, отзывы зрительской аудитории, рекламные буклеты и пр. Подобный подход обладает определенной релевантностью и новизной. Результаты. Эпитекст понимается как составной элемент паратекста (суммарно с перитекстом), нацеленный на комментирование основного текста - кинофильма. Именно эпитекстовые элементы позволяют считать образуемый кинотекст холистической системой. Лингвокультурный потенциал рецензии выражается в отражении принадлежности к определенной культуре, что обуславливает представление информации в форме культурных кодов, дешифруемых аудиторией как носителями той же культуры, что и автор рецензии. Невозможность распознать тот или иной культурный код или неверная его трактовка ведёт к невозможности достичь прагматической цели рецензии - не только информировать о выходе картины в прокат, но и воздействовать на читателя, формируя мнение относительно кинофильма. При этом реализуется рекламная и агитационная функции рецензии - автор стремится «переманить» аудиторию на свою сторону, призывая посмотреть фильм или не тратить на него своё время. Выводы. Реализация обозначенных функций, равно как и стремление убедить читателя в валидности представляемой информации требует от автора рецензии четкости и скрупулезного подбора способов самоидентификации. Авторская идентичность в тексте рецензии воплощается в форме оценочных суждений. Следовательно, именно последние, опираясь и отражая культурный пласт, к которому принадлежит автор, позволяют выстроить прагматику рецензии, создавая определенный когнитивный фон на основании имеющейся у аудитории когнитивной базы. В то же время функционал рецензии предполагает конструирование и демонстрацию авторского видения проблематики кинокартины, исходя из ценностных смыслов, транслируемых рецензентом как индивидуальным, так и социальным адресантом. Данная функция так же реализуется посредством маркеров оценки. Problem Statement. The article regards specific features of film reviews being a relevant subject of research. Seen as an epitext a review serves as a cinema text constituent. The latter includes the film itself, trailers, posters, advertisements, critical comments. Such an approach proves of principal importance and novelty. Results. Epitext is considered as a paratext constituent together with peritext and aims at commenting the main text meaning the film. It is the epitext that contributes to the cinema text designed functioning as a holistic system. Linguocultural potential of review is reflected in the latter belonging to certain culture, which determines the information presented in the form of cultural codes for the audience as representatives of the same cultural group to decode. The code that proves impossible to decode or triggers misunderstandings adds to inability to reach the pragmatic aim of a review which is not only to inform the reader about the film release but also to impact them, forming their opinion about the film. It is how the advertising and promotional functions are realized - the author tends to «lure» the audience, persuading to watch the film or, on the contrary, not to waste time on it. Conclusion. The functions enlisted to be realized along with an attempt to prove the information presented is relevant call for the reviewer to be clear and scrupulous in selecting self-identification options. The author’s identity takes the form of evaluative structures. The latter reflecting and relying on the author’s cultural background contribute to the pragmatic potential of the review structuring the cultural context taking into account the audience’s cultural background. Moreover, the review designs and demonstrates the author’s view of the film plot in concordance with the value system communicated by the reviewer as an individual as well as social addresser. The latter function is also realized due to evaluation markers.

APMP key comparison report of air kerma for 137Cs (APMP.RI(I)-K5)

Main text The APMP/TCRI Dosimetry Working Group performed the APMP.RI(I)-K5 key comparison of the air kerma for 137Cs in 2014. Five national metrology institutes (NMIs) took part in the comparison. Two commercial ionization chambers were used as transfer instruments and circulated among the participants. The results showed that the maximum difference between the participants and the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, evaluated using the comparison data of the linking laboratories of the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science and the National Metrology Institute of Japan, was less than 0.5% within the expanded uncertainty. This comparison supports the equivalence of the calibration capabilities of the participating laboratories. The results predate the publication of ICRU report 90, therefore, the revision of the data reflecting the effects of the ICRU report 90 on the degrees of equivalences of the participant laboratories is presented in Appendix C. To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database https://www.bipm.org/kcdb/. The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCRI, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA).

Key comparison BIPM.RI(I)-K4 of the absorbed dose to water standards of the NRC, Canada and the BIPM in 60Co gamma radiation

Main text A new key comparison of the standards for absorbed dose to water of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), Canada and the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) was carried out in the 60Co radiation beam of the BIPM in October 2020. The comparison result, based on the calibration coefficients for three transfer standards and evaluated as a ratio of the NRC and the BIPM standards for absorbed dose to water, is 0.9995 with a combined standard uncertainty of 3.4 parts in 103. The result agrees within the uncertainties with the comparison carried out in 2009. The results are analysed and presented in terms of degrees of equivalence, suitable for entry in the BIPM key comparison database. To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database https://www.bipm.org/kcdb/. The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCRI, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA).

A comparison in conventional mass measurements SIM.M.M-S6

Main text The present document reports the results of a bilateral comparison in the calibration of mass standards that was carried out between CESMEC (Chile) and CENAMEP AIP (Panamá). This comparison was carried out in the following nominal values: 200 mg, 1 g, 50 g, 200 g, 1 kg, 2 kg, and 10 kg. To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database https://www.bipm.org/kcdb/. The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCM, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA).