Reescrita de si pelo outro: identidade portuguesa e paródia em Deus-dará, de Alexandra Lucas Coelho / Rewriting oneself through the other: Portuguese identity and parody in Deus-dará, by Alexandra Lucas Coelho

Resumo: O artigo aponta o modo como o romance Deus-dará de Alexandra Lucas Coelho, escritora portuguesa contemporânea, pode ser compreendido como um exercício de renegociação da identidade portuguesa em relação a questões referentes à colonização no Brasil. Mais do que isso, problematiza-se como, por meio da estratégia da paródia no texto ficcional, a autora consegue expressar uma necessidade e possibilidade de se redefinir pelo outro em um movimento contrário ao do discurso colonial – o que também ocorre em suas entrevistas e em suas narrativas de viagens, tais como em Vai, Brasil e Cinco Voltas na Bahia e um beijo para Caetano Veloso. Palavras-chave: identidade portuguesa; paródia; pós-modernismo; escrita portuguesa contemporânea; Alexandra Lucas Coelho. Abstract: The article observes how the novel Deus-dará, by Alexandra Lucas Coelho, a Portuguese contemporary writer consists in an exercise of renegotiation for the Portuguese identity in relation to issues that refer to the colonization process in Brazil. Moreover, this text seeks to show how parody as a fictional literary strategy helps the author in expressing a necessity and a possibility of redefining oneself through the other, in a direction that goes in the opposite way of the colonial speech. This necessity and this possibility also appear in the author’s interviews and travel books, such as Vai, Brasil and Cinco Voltas na Bahia e um beijo para Caetano Veloso, which will also be mentioned in this article.Keywords: Portuguese identity; parody; post-modernism; Portuguese contemporary writing; Alexandra Lucas Coelho.

The ‘Conquest’ and Construction of an Urban Place : The Insula dei Gesuiti in Venice in the Early Modern Period

This article examines the production of place and its socio-economic impact in early modern Venice, reconstructing the urban dynamics in one of the lesser-known peripheries of the city, the insula dei Gesuiti. Building on the idea of place making as a collective enterprise, it concentrates on three stages of urban growth and its pertaining agents: the colonization process undertaken by private citizens and ecclesiastical institutions; their efforts toward a residential urban development; and the state-imposed action to determine the insula’s final outline. These practices were instrumental in securing significant real estate holdings, but they also initiated a profound change in the area’s intended use. Urban transformations engendered a new social identity that would serve as a model for the redesigned Venetian margins.

Impact of Intrapartum Antibiotic Prophylaxis on Offspring Microbiota

Infants are born into a world filled with microbes and must adapt without undue immune response while exploiting the microbiota's ability to produce otherwise unavailable nutrients. The process by which humans and microbes establish this relationship has only recently begun to be studied with the aid of genomic methods. Nearly half of all pregnant women receive antibiotics during gestation to prevent maternal and neonatal infection. Though this has been largely successful in reducing early-onset sepsis, we have yet to understand the long-term consequences of antibiotic administration during gestation to developing infants. Studies involving antibiotic use in infants suggest that dysbiosis during this period is associated with increased obesity, allergy, autoimmunity, and chronic diseases in adulthood, however, research around the limited doses of intravenous antibiotics used for intrapartum prophylaxis is limited. In this mini review, we focused on the state of the science regarding the effects of intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis on the newborn microbial colonization process. Although, the literature indicates that there is wide variety in the specific bacteria that colonize infants from birth, limited parenteral antibiotic administration prior to delivery consistently affects the microbiota of infants by decreasing bacteria in the phylum Bacteroidetes and increasing bacteria in the phylum Proteobacteria, thus altering the normal pattern of colonization that infants experience. Delivery by cesarean section and formula feeding magnify and prolong this effect. Our mini review shows that the impact of intravenous antibiotic administration during gestation has on early colonization, growth, or immune programming in the developing offspring has not been well studied in human or animal models.

Ideologies of Insurgency: A Comparison between Post-Colonial and Turkish Socialist Movements

The independence movements that emerged during the decolonization process generally defined themselves as socialism. These movements, which built world-making approaches around emphasis on independence, anti-Westernism, and anti-imperialism, basically faced three problems: rapid development, the construction of the state apparatus, and the creation of a nation. These three problems facilitated the contact of these movements with nationalism. Another result of the process is that the military bureaucracy usually leads the “revolution” processes. These countries, which entered a rapid development process, albeit briefly, were followed carefully by the socialist left in Turkey. In the period between 1960–65, Turkish socialism attaches importance to post-colonial movements with all its colors. In the period between 1965 and 1971, the perspective on experiences in these countries began to differ. Three important reasons for this situation are as follows: The differentiation of Turkey’s social, political, and economic structure from countries in the de-colonization process, the translation of Marxist classics and the disappointment created by post-colonial movements. All three reasons are based on the fact that Turkey’s historical experience differs from countries that have just gained independence. In this context, the article compares Turkish socialism and post-colonial movements between 1960–1971 on an ideational basis. This is important to understanding the foundations of subversive activities in Turkey.

Early Transcriptome Response of Trichoderma virens to Colonization of Maize Roots

Trichoderma virens is a well-known mycoparasitic fungal symbiont that is valued for its biocontrol capabilities. T. virens initiates a symbiotic relationship with a plant host through the colonization of its roots. To achieve colonization, the fungus must communicate with the host and evade its innate defenses. In this study, we explored the genes involved with the host communication and colonization process through transcriptomic profiling of the wild-type fungus and selected deletion mutants as they colonized maize roots. Transcriptome profiles of the T. virens colonization of maize roots over time revealed that 24 h post inoculation appeared to be a key time for plant-microbe communication, with many key gene categories, including signal transduction mechanisms and carbohydrate transport and metabolism, peaking in expression at this early colonization time point. The transcriptomic profiles of Sm1 and Sir1 deletion mutants in the presence of plants demonstrated that Sir1, rather than Sm1, appears to be the key regulator of the fungal response to maize, with 64% more unique differentially expressed genes compared to Sm1. Additionally, we developed a novel algorithm utilizing gene clustering and coexpression network analyses to select potential colonization-related gene targets for characterization. About 40% of the genes identified by the algorithm would have been missed using previous methods for selecting gene targets.

The Influence of Cesarean Section on the Composition and Development of Gut Microbiota During the First 3 Months of Life

The intestinal microbiota has emerged as a critical regulator of growth and development in the early postnatal period of life. Cesarean section (CS) delivery is one of the strongest disrupting factors of the normal colonization process and has been reported as a risk factor for disorders in later life. In this study, we dynamically and longitudinally evaluated the impact of CS on the initial colonization pattern and development of gut microbiota by 16 healthy Chinese infants with fecal samples collected at 9 time points (day 5, day 8, day 11, week 2, week 4, week 6, week 7, month 2, and month 3) during the first 3 months of life. The V3–V4 regions of 16S rRNA gene were analyzed by Illumina sequencing. In comparison with vaginally delivered (VD) infants, infants born by CS showed decreased relative abundance of Bacteroides and Parabacteroides and enrichment of Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1, Enterococcus, Klebsiella, Clostridioides, and Veillonella. Most interestingly, Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio was found to be significantly higher in the CS group than in the VD group from day 5 until month 3. Besides, the results of microbial functions showed that the VD group harbored significantly higher levels of functional genes in vitamin B6 metabolism at day 5, day 8, week 2, week 4, week 6, week 7, month 2, and month 3 and taurine and hypotaurine metabolism at day 5, while the phosphotransferase system and starch and sucrose metabolism involved functional genes were plentiful in the CS group at day 11, week 2, week 4, week 6, week 7, and month 2 and at week 2, week 7, and month 2, respectively. Our results establish a new evidence that CS affected the composition and development of gut microbiota in the first 3 months and provide a novel insight into strategies for CS-related disorders in later life.

NADPH Oxidase Regulates the Growth and Pathogenicity of Penicillium expansum

The occurrence of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during the colonization of necrotrophic pathogens attacking fruit is critical during the attack, but its importance in Penicillium expansum remains unclear. This study aimed to determine the regulatory effects of NADPH oxidase (Nox) genes on the growth and pathogenicity of P. expansum in apple fruits. Deletion mutants of ΔPeNoxA, ΔPeNoxR, and ΔPeRacA genes were constructed to determine the contribution to the colonization process. The ΔPeRacA strain had a significant effect on the reduction of growth and pathogenicity, the ΔPeNoxA strain negatively regulated the growth and development of P. expansum and did not show any significant effect on the pathogenicity, and the ΔPeNoxR strain showed no effect on the growth or pathogenicity of P. expansum in the apple fruits. However, analysis of the content of O2– and H2O2 in the mycelium of all the Nox mutants showed a significant reduction, confirming the functionality of Nox mutations. Growth under stress conditions in the presence of Congo red, sodium lauryl sulfate, and H2O2 showed a negative effect on the radial growth of ΔPeNoxA, but a positive effect on radial growth reduction by ΔPeNoxR and ΔPeRacA mutants was shown. Interestingly, the host antioxidant activity levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) andcatalase (CAT) in the fruits after inoculation with ΔPeNoxA, ΔPeNoxR, and ΔPeRacA mutants declined, suggesting reduced ROS accumulation in the colonized region. These results suggest that PeNoxA, PeNoxR, and PeRacA differentially regulate the growth and pathogenicity of P. expansum by producing ROS, and that PeRacA showed the strongest regulatory effect.

Bacterial colonization dynamics and antibiotic resistance gene dissemination in the hospital environment after first patient occupancy: a longitudinal metagenetic study

Background Humans spend the bulk of their time in indoor environments. This space is shared with an indoor ecosystem of microorganisms, which are in continuous exchange with the human inhabitants. In the particular case of hospitals, the environmental microorganisms may influence patient recovery and outcome. An understanding of the bacterial community structure in the hospital environment is pivotal for the prevention of hospital-acquired infections and the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes. In this study, we performed a longitudinal metagenetic approach in a newly opened ward at the Charité Hospital (Berlin) to characterize the dynamics of the bacterial colonization process in the hospital environment after first patient occupancy. Results The sequencing data showed a site-specific taxonomic succession, which led to stable community structures after only a few weeks. This data was further supported by network analysis and beta-diversity metrics. Furthermore, the fast colonization process was characterized by a significant increase of the bacterial biomass and its alpha-diversity. The compositional dynamics could be linked to the exchange with the patient microbiota. Over a time course of 30 weeks, we did not detect a rise of pathogenic bacteria in the hospital environment, but a significant increase of antibiotic resistance determinants on the hospital floor. Conclusions The results presented in this study provide new insights into different aspects of the environmental microbiome in the clinical setting, and will help to adopt infection control strategies in hospitals and health care-related buildings.

Cartas para minha mãe, de Teresa Cárdenas: racismo e resistência na voz de uma literata negra

The aim of this work is to analyze racism from the perspective of the main character —a child, black and orphaned— from the novel Cartas para minha mãe, by contemporary Cuban writer Teresa Cárdenas. The narrative develops around a character who did not have what we call childhood today, and who thus enters adolescence. However, our focus will be on the black condition of the narrator, who at all times suffers from the most diverse types of prejudices, in addition to having to deal with a difficult phase: the transition from childhood to puberty. In this way, this work intends to discuss the issues involving childhood surrounded by prejudices of the main character of Cárdenas' novel, while we will observe the reactions and perceptions of the child in face of racism. For the analysis of the novel, the narrator's childhood, the historical contextualization of the colonization process in Latin America and the psychosocial process of the feeling of inferiority of blacks and of superiority of white, we will use the texts of the following scholars: Cabo Aseguinolaza (2001); Ariès (1981); Fanon (2008); Gates (2014) and Souza (2015), among other theoretical texts. In the end, we realized that in the novel by Teresa Cárdenas the weight of racism leads the narrator to seek help in the letters she writes to her dead mother. The racism present in the text builds as a sample of what several people go through every day of their lives.