From Romero to Romeo—Shakespeare’s Star-Crossed Lovers Meeting Zombedy in Jonathan Levine’s Warm Bodies

Since their first screen appearances in the 1930s, zombies have enjoyed immense cinematic popularity. Defined by Romero’s 1968 Night of the Living Dead as mindless, violent, decaying and infectious, they successfully function as ultimate fiends in horror films. Yet, even those morbid undead started evolving into more appealing, individualized and even sympathetic characters, especially when the comic potential of zombies is explored. To allow a zombie to become a romantic protagonist, however, one that can love and be loved by a human, another evolutionary step had to be taken, one fostered by a literary association. This paper analyzes Jonathan Levine’s Warm Bodies, a 2013 film adaptation of Isaac Marion’s zombie novel inspired by William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It examines how Shakespeare’s Romeo helps transform the already evolved cinematic zombie into a romantic protagonist, and how Shakespearean love tragedy, with its rich visual cinematic legacy, can successfully locate a zombie narrative in the romantic comedy convention. Presenting the case of Shakespeare intersecting the zombie horror tradition, this paper illustrates the synergic exchanges of literary icons and the cinematic monstrous.

Applications of Smart Clothing – a Brief Overview

Smart clothing is the next evolutionary step in wearable devices. It integrates electronics and textiles to create functional, stylish and comfortable solutions for people's daily needs. The concept includes not only clothing, which is a covering mechanism for the body but also has the function of tracking body indicators in certain situations. The review introduces the classification and concept of smart clothing, the application areas such as sports, workwear, healthcare, military and fashion. It will also outline the current state of smart clothing and the latest developments in the field, and discuss future developments and challenges.

Sex and disease: the necessity of an overarching theory to explain the effect of sex on non-reproductive functions

The number of studies underlying major sex differences in liver metabolic activities is growing, but we still lack a theory to explain the origin of the functional differences we are identifying. In the animal kingdom energy metabolism is tightly associated with reproduction; conceivably, the major evolutionary step that occurred about 200 millions of years ago with placentation determined a significant change in female physiology as females had to create new energy strategies to allow the growth of the embryo in the mother womb and the lactation of the new-born. In vertebrates the liver is the metabolic organ most tuned to gonadal functions because the liver synthesizes and transports of all the components necessary for the maturation of the egg upon estrogenic stimulation. Thus in mammals evolution must have worked on the already strict gonad-liver relationship fostering the novel reproductive needs. As a consequence, the functions of mammalian liver had to diverge from males to acquire the flexibility necessary to tailor metabolism on the reproductive status and to ensure the parsimonious exploitation and storage of energy supplies for the continuation of gestation in case of food scarcity. Indeed, several studies show that male and female livers adopt very different strategies when confronted with nutritional stress of varied origin. Considering the role of liver and energy metabolism in most pathologies, a better focus on liver functions in the two sexes might be of considerable help in personalizing medicine and pharmacology on male and female needs.

Third Molar Agenesis in Post-Medieval Chichester

Third molar agenesis is a dental anomaly that occurs in approximately 25% of people worldwide and results in the complete absence of one or more of the third molars in the dentition. A rise in the prevalence of congenitally absent third molars has been noted in modern populations, and it has been proposed as the final evolutionary step in the dental reduction of the human dentition. Whilst much research has been conducted in modern cohorts, relatively little has been published on third molar agenesis in archaeological assemblages. A post-medieval assemblage from Chichester was visually and radiographically analysed to determine the prevalence of this anomaly. Third molars were measured to determine if there was an association between agenesis and size reduction. Prevalence of agenesis was found to be relatively high at 42.7% and 2 of 8 measurements were found to produce significant differences. Consequently, it can be said that high rates of third molar agenesis are not solely a modern phenomenon, as many prevalence rates in recent populations are lower. However, if we are to assess the significance of size differences in third molars of those with agenesis and those without, and to detect patterns within and between these groups, assemblages with larger sample sizes are needed. In order to better understand the trajectory and evolution of this anomaly, more archaeological assemblages must be examined.

Filling the gap: a new ant-butterfly symbiosis in the forest canopy

Myrmecophilous butterflies can establish complex symbiotic relationships with ants. An elusive symbiotic caterpillar wandering among the brood of the aggressive ponerine ant, Neoponera villosa, was found inside the core of a nest built in the myrmecophytic bromeliad Aechmea bracteata. This is the first caterpillar found in symbiosis with a species of the subfamily Ponerinae. Tissue sample was barcoded, and an integrative approach was used to identify it as Pseudonymphidia agave, a poorly known Pachythonina member in the riodinid myrmecophilous tribe Nymphidiini. The caterpillar has a general tank-like body morphology, without projections or tubercles, and is covered dorsally by specialized flat setae that form an armor of small plates. Ant-organs potentially related to the caterpillar-ant signaling, such as perforated cupola organs and tentacle nectary organs, are present. These functional traits, together with the stable social integration, suggest that P. agave is a specialized social parasite of N. villosa. However, several knowledge gaps remain, notably the oviposition site, dependence on bromeliad association, steps to colony integration, and the larval diet through ontogeny. Carnivory has been reported in all known members of the Pachythonina subtribe (caterpillars prey on honeydew-producing hemipterans), and a shift to myrmecophagy inside the ant nests is a possible evolutionary step.

Genetic code degeneracy is established by the decoding center of the ribosome

The degeneracy of the genetic code confers a wide array of properties to coding sequences. Yet, its origin is still unclear. A structural analysis has shown that the stability of the Watson-Crick base pair at the second position of the anticodon-codon interaction is a critical parameter controlling the extent of non-specific pairings accepted at the third position by the ribosome, a flexibility at the root of degeneracy. Based on recent cryo-EM analyses, the present work shows that residue A1493 of the decoding center provides a significant contribution to the stability of this base pair, revealing that the ribosome is directly involved in the establishment of degeneracy. Building on existing evolutionary models, we show the evidence that the early appearance of A1493 and A1492 established the basis of degeneracy when an elementary kinetic scheme of translation was prevailing. Logical considerations on the expansion of this kinetic scheme indicate that the acquisition of the peptidyl transferase center was the next major evolutionary step, while the induced-fit mechanism, that enables a sharp selection of the tRNAs, necessarily arose later when G530 was acquired by the decoding center.

MO395EPIDEMIOLOGY AND OUTCOME OF PATIENTS WITH ACUTE KIDNEY INJURY REQUIRING DIALYSIS: ABOUT 230 CASES

Background and Aims Acute renal injury (ARI) is a frequent pathology. Rarer are the studies dedicated specifically to the subgroup requiring dialysis. The objective of our study is to identify: The epidemiological profiles of patients with ARI requiring dialysis. The course of the dialysis sessions to determine the dialysis’ prescription and the different accidents. Method This is a descriptive cross-sectional study including patients admitted to the different departments of Sousse University Hospitals in Tunisia who presented an ARI requiring emergency dialysis. Our study was conducted from February 2015 until August 2018. The data collected were analysed by the SPSS software. Results During three and a half years, 230 patients presented ARI requiring dialysis. The average age was 60 ± 16 years old. The sex ratio was 1.61. A history of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, dyslipidaemia, hyperuricemia, uropathy and neoplasia was noted in respectively 34.9%, 27.1%, 21.6%, 22.7%, 25.5%, 22.7% and 14.3% cases. The causes of ARI were dominated by organic, obstructive and functional causes in 66.2%, 21.7% and 7.4% of cases, respectively. For organic causes, we noted acute tubular necrosis in 70.4% of cases, a glomerular cause in 14.5% of cases, an interstitial cause in 7.9% of cases and a vascular cause in 7.2% of cases. Dialysis indications were dominated by severe acidosis, pulmonary oedema, uremic syndrome and hyperkalaemia in 27.4%, 24.3%, 16.5% and 14.3% of cases, respectively. Among our patients, 26.7% presented a hemodynamic instability with catecholamine use in 16.8% of cases and the use of isovolumic connection at the beginning of the session in 21.2% of cases. The median ultrafiltration was 444 ml / hour IQR [166, 67-750] with extremes of 0 to 1333 ml/hour. The median blood flow was 250 ml/min IQR [250-280] with extremes of 180 to 300 ml/min. The median duration of dialysis’ session was 180 minutes IQR [180,240] with extremes of 15 to 360 minutes. We noted dialysis incidents in 12% of dialysis’ sessions. These events were dominated by hypotension, hypoglycaemia, extracorporeal circuit coagulation, death and chest pain in 13.8%, 4.8%, 2.6%, 2.1% and 0.7% of cases, respectively. The cessation of dialysis sessions was noted in 22 sessions (11.1%). Concerning the evolution of patients: 33.1% of patients recovered normal renal function, 23.9% of patients maintained renal failure, 22.2% of patients died and 20.8% of patients were lost from seen or the duration of their follow-up was less than three months not making it possible to conclude as to the chronicity of the renal insufficiency. Conclusion ARI is a common and serious pathology. Dialysis is an important evolutionary step. It is associated with a high risk of progression to chronic renal failure and mortality. Optimal management of ARI is required.

Chimpanzees use numerous flexible vocal sequences with more than two vocal units: A step towards language?

A major question in evolutionary science is how did language evolve? Syntax, as the core of language, combines meaning-bearing units (words) into hierarchical structures, thereby creating new meanings. Some other mammals and birds combine meaning-bearing vocalisations, but no documented examples exist of non-human animals combining more than two meaning-bearing vocalisations. Was the two-unit threshold only surpassed in the hominid lineage? Here, we examine the positional patterning of vocal sequences of chimpanzees. We analysed 4826 vocal utterances of 46 wild adult female and male chimpanzees. We found a flexible system with 390 multi-unit vocal sequences, some showing positional or transitional regularities. Two-unit pairs embedded in three-unit sequences predictably occurred either in head or tail positions, and co-occurred with specific other elements. The capacity to organise vocal output beyond the two-unit level may thus exist in species other than humans and could be viewed as an important evolutionary step towards language.