Performance as Transformation: The Laughing Songs of “Death in Venice” in Literature, Film, and Opera

This paper takes as its starting point a scene from the fifth chapter of Thomas Mann’s novella Death in Venice (1912). While Venice is threatened by an outbreak of cholera, a group of Neapolitan street musicians plays in front of Aschenbach, Tadzio, and the other hotel guests. The leader of the band—a buffonesque guitarist-singer with red hair and a wrinkled, emaciated face—is an ominous figure whose facetious, sexually charged performance eventually turns into blatant mockery of the audience, whom he infects with his contagious laughter. Using the concept of “performance as transformation” (Erika Fischer-Lichte) as a lens through which to investigate the filmic and operatic adaptations of the scene in Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice (1970) and Benjamin Britten’s eponymous opera (1973), I focus on the various renditions of the laughing song to trace the particular transformative power it unfolds across media. Both adaptations use music to ironically comment on Aschenbach’s infatuation. Yet, their approach to the scene at large is distinct from one another: While the opera turns the performance into an interiorized space of moral interrogation, the film evokes the sound of the past through the insertion of pre-existent popular songs from the time, including Berardo Cantalamessa’s Neapolitan laughing song “’A risa.” As I argue, the latter served as a model for the uproarious comical number described by Mann which thus constitutes a “phono-graphic” adaptation itself. Finally, I discuss the recurrences of demonic laughter throughout the film as part of Visconti’s intertextual strategy to create motivic relationships between Death in Venice and Doctor Faustus (1947).

Hair phenotype diversity across Indriidae lemurs

Hair (i.e., pelage/fur) is a salient feature of primate (including human) diversity and evolution-serving functions tied to thermoregulation, protection, camouflage, and signaling-but wild primate pelage biology and evolution remain relatively understudied. Specifically, assessing multiple hypotheses across distinct phylogenetic scales is essential but is rarely conducted. We examine whole body hair color and density variation across the Indriidae lemurs (Avahi, Indri, Propithecus)-a lineage that, like humans, exhibits vertical posture (i.e., their whole bodies are vertical to the sun). Our analyses consider multiple phylogenetic scales (family-level, genus-level) and hypotheses (e.g., Gloger's rule, the body cooling hypotheses). Our results show that across the Indriidae family, darker hair is typical in wetter regions (per Gloger's rule). However, within Propithecus, dark black hair is common in colder forest regions, which may implicate thermoregulation and is the first empirical evidence of Bogert's rule in mammals. Results also show pelage redness increases in populations exhibiting enhanced color vision and may thus aid conspecific communication in forested environments. Lastly, across Indriidae, we find follicle density on the crown and limbs increases in dry and open environments-rare empirical evidence supporting an early hypothesis on hominin hair evolution. We find an effect of body size on hue (red hair) and hair density but not on brightness (black hair). This study highlights how different selective pressures across distinct phylogenetic scales have likely acted on primate hair evolution. Lastly, since hair does not fossilize, the results of follicle and hair density variation across this clade offer us some potential insight into contextualizing human hair evolution.

Redheaded women are more sexually active than other women, but it is probably due to their suitors

Women with red hair colour, i.e., 1–9% of female Europeans, tend to be the subject of various stereotypes about their sexually liberated behaviour. The aim of the present case-control study was to explore whether a connection between red hair colour and sexual behaviour really exists using data from 110 women (34% redheaded) and 93 men (22% redheaded). Redheadedness in women, but not in men, correlated with various traits related to sexual life, namely with higher sexual desire as measured by Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory, with higher sexual activity and more sexual partners of the preferred gender over the past year, earlier initiation of sexual life, and higher sexual submissiveness. Structural equation modelling, however, showed that sexual desire of redheaded women meditated neither their higher sexual activity nor most of the variability of having more sexual partners. These results indicate that the apparently more liberated sexual behaviour in redheaded women could be the consequence of frequent attempts of potential mates to have sex with redheaded women. Other hypotheses, based on different physiology, faster life history strategy, or altered self-perception of red-haired women induced by stereotypes about them, were also tested and discussed.

Hubungan Tingkat Pengetahuan Ibu Tentang Gizi Dengan Kejadian Kurang Energi Protein Pada Anak Usia 2-5 Tahun Di Desa Situdaun Kabupaten Bogor

ABSTRACT: CORRELATION BETWEEN BETWEEN MATERNAL KNOWLEDGE ABOUT NUTRITION WITH PROTEIN-ENERGY LACK IN CHILDREN AGED 2-5 YEARS IN SITUDAUN VILLAGE, BOGOR REGENCY Background of the study: PEM (Less Protein Energy) is one of the most important nutritional disorders in Indonesia and other developing countries. PE patients have various pathological conditions caused by a lack of energy and protein in varying proportions. PEM disease was given an international name, namely Calory Protein Malnutrition (CPM), then converted into Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM). This disease began to be widely investigated in Africa, and in that continent, PEM is known by the local name kwashiorkor which means red hair disease.Objective: To be able to know the description of mother's knowledge about nutrition for toddlers on things that support nutrition improvement and its relationship with the state of Protein Energy Deficiency in children 24 - 60 months at Posyandu Melati II Kp. Pasir Ipis Situdaun Village, Tenjolaya District, Bogor Regency and the factors that influence it.Research Methods: This research is primary data using an observational approach with a cross-sectional study design (cross-sectional). This analysis is used to determine whether or not there is a relationship between the two variables using the Chi-Square (X2) test because the dependent and independent variables are categories with a 95% confidence level.Research Results: It can be seen from 79 respondents that the mother's level of knowledge is mostly 40 people (50.6%), and a small portion as many as 39 people (49.4%) in Posyandu Melati II, Situdaun Tenjolaya Village, Bogor Regency. And p-value 0.00 (<0.05). This indicates that there is a significant relationship between the mother's level of knowledge about nutrition and the incidence of protein-energy deficiency in children aged 2-5 years.Conclusion: There is a significant correlation between the level of knowledge of mothers about nutrition with the incidence of protein-energy deficiency in children aged 2-5 years in the village of situdaun, Bogor district, with a p-value = 0.000. Keywords: Mother's knowledge about nutrition, Protein Energy Lack, Children INTISARI: HUBUNGAN TINGKAT PENGETAHUAN IBU TENTANG GIZI DENGAN KEJADIAN KURANG ENERGI PROTEIN PADA ANAK USIA 2-5 TAHUN DI DESA SITUDAUN KABUPATEN BOGOR Latar Belakang: KEP (Kurang Energi Protein) merupakan salah satu penyakit gangguan gizi yang penting di Indonesia maupun di negara yang sedang berkembang lainnya. Penderita KEP memiliki berbagai macam keadaan patologis yang disebabkan oleh kekurangan energi maupun protein dalam proporsi yang bermacam-macam. Penyakit KEP diberi nama secara internasional yaitu Calory Protein Malnutrition (CPM), kemudian diubah menjadi Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM). Penyakit ini mulai banyak diselidiki di Afrika, dan di benua tersebut KEP dikenal dengan nama lokal kwashiorkhor yang berarti penyakit rambut merah.Tujuan: Untuk dapat Mengetahui gambaran pengetahuan ibu tentang gizi balita terhadap hal hal yang mendukung perbaikan gizi dan hubungannya dengan keadaan Kurang Energi Protein pada anak 24 - 60 bulan di Posyandu Melati II Kp. Pasir Ipis Desa Situdaun Kecamatan Tenjolaya, Kabupaten Bogor serta faktor yang mempengaruhinya.Metode Penelitian: Penelitian ini merupakan data primer dengan menggunakan pendekatan observasional dengan desain studi cross sectional (potong lintang). analisis ini digunakan untuk mengetahui ada atau tidaknya hubungan antara dua variebel tersebut dengan menggunakan uji Chi-Square (X2) karena variabel dependen dan independennya adalah kategori dengan tingkat kepercayaan 95%.Hasil Penelitian: Didapatkan dapat diketahui dari 79 responden bahwa tingkat penegtahuan ibu sebagian besar 40 orang (50.6%), dan sebagian kecil sebanyak 39 orang (49.4%) di Posyandu Melati II Desa Situdaun Tenjolaya Kabupaten Bogor. Dan p value 0.00 (<0.05). Menandakan adanya hubungan yang significant antara hubungan tingkat pengetahuan ibu tentang gizi dengan kejadian kurang energi protein pada anak usia 2-5 tahun.Kesimpulan: Terdapat korelasi yang bermakna antara hubungan tingkat pengetahuan ibu tentang gizi dengan kejadian kurang energi protein pada anak usia 2-5 tahun di desa situdaun kabupaten bogor, dengan p-value= 0.000. Kata Kunci: Pengetahuan Ibu tentang gizi, Kurang Energi Protein , Anak

Genetic Relationship Between Endometriosis and Melanoma

Epidemiological studies have observed that risk of endometriosis is associated with history of cutaneous melanoma and vice versa. Evidence for shared biological mechanisms between the two traits is limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic correlation and causal relationship between endometriosis and melanoma. Summary statistics from genome-wide association meta-analyses (GWAS) for endometriosis and melanoma were used to estimate the genetic correlation between the traits and Mendelian randomization was used to test for a causal association. When using summary statistics from separate female and male melanoma cohorts we identified a significant positive genetic correlation between melanoma in females and endometriosis (rg = 0.144, se = 0.065, p = 0.025). However, we find no evidence of a correlation between endometriosis and melanoma in males or a combined melanoma dataset. Endometriosis was not genetically correlated with skin color, red hair, childhood sunburn occasions, ease of skin tanning, or nevus count suggesting that the correlation between endometriosis and melanoma in females is unlikely to be influenced by pigmentary traits. Mendelian Randomization analyses also provided evidence for a relationship between the genetic risk of melanoma in females and endometriosis. Colocalization analysis identified 27 genomic loci jointly associated with the two diseases regions that contain different causal variants influencing each trait independently. This study provides evidence of a small genetic correlation and relationship between the genetic risk of melanoma in females and endometriosis. Genetic risk does not equate to disease occurrence and differences in the pathogenesis and age of onset of both diseases means it is unlikely that occurrence of melanoma causes endometriosis. This study instead provides evidence that having an increased genetic risk for melanoma in females is related to increased risk of endometriosis. Larger GWAS studies with increased power will be required to further investigate these associations.

Two Cases With an Early Presented Proopiomelanocortin Deficiency—A Long-Term Follow-Up and Systematic Literature Review

Proopiomelanocortin (POMC) deficiency is an extremely rare inherited autosomal recessive disorder characterized by severe obesity, adrenal insufficiency, skin hypopigmentation, and red hair. It is caused by pathogenic variants in the POMC gene that codes the proopiomelanocortin polypeptide which is cleaved to several peptides; the most notable ones are adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), alpha- and beta-melanocyte-stimulating hormones (α-MSH and β-MSH); the latter two are crucial in melanogenesis and the energy balance by regulating feeding behavior and energy homeostasis through melanocortin receptor 4 (MC4R). The lack of its regulation leads to polyphagia and early onset severe obesity. A novel MC4R agonist, setmelanotide, has shown promising results regarding weight loss in patients with POMC deficiency. A systematic review on previously published clinical and genetic characteristics of patients with POMC deficiency and additional data obtained from two unrelated patients in our care was performed. A 25-year-old male patient, partly previously reported, was remarkable for childhood developed type 1 diabetes (T1D), transient growth hormone deficiency, and delayed puberty. The second case is a girl with an unusual presentation with central hypothyroidism and normal pigmentation of skin and hair. Of all evaluated cases, only 50% of patients had characteristic red hair, fair skin, and eye phenotype. Central hypothyroidism was reported in 36% of patients; furthermore, scarce adolescent data indicate possible growth axis dysbalance and central hypogonadism. T1D was unexpectedly prevalent in POMC deficiency, reported in 14% of patients, which could be an underestimation. POMC deficiency reveals to be a syndrome with several endocrinological abnormalities, some of which may become apparent with time. Apart from timely diagnosis, careful clinical follow-up of patients through childhood and adolescence for possible additional disease manifestations is warranted.

The protective role of MC1R in chromosome stability and centromeric integrity in melanocytes

Variants in the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene, encoding a trimeric G-protein-coupled receptor and activated by α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH), are frequently associated with red or blonde hair, fair skin, freckling, and skin sensitivity to ultraviolet (UV) light. Several red hair color variants of MC1R are also associated with increased melanoma risk. MC1R variants affect melanoma risk independent of phenotype. Here, we demonstrated that MC1R is a critical factor in chromosome stability and centromere integrity in melanocytes. α-MSH/MC1R stimulation prevents melanocytes from UV radiation-induced damage of chromosome stability and centromere integrity. Mechanistic studies indicated that α-MSH/MC1R-controlled chromosome stability and centromeric integrity are mediated by microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (Mitf), a transcript factor needed for the α-MSH/MC1R signaling and a regulator in melanocyte development, viability, and pigment production. Mitf directly interacts with centromere proteins A in melanocytes. Given the connection among MC1R variants, red hair/fair skin phenotype, and melanoma development, these studies will help answer a question with clinical relevance “why red-haired individuals are so prone to developing melanoma”, and will lead to the identification of novel preventive and therapeutic strategies for melanomas, especially those with redheads.