Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Diplomarbeit - Universität, Bremen.

The social and political function of humor in any era is to provide commentary, insight, and catharsis into the concerns facing that time. In this dissertation I investigate the role humor, particularly irony and satire, plays in informing public discourse and civic participation in the contemporary Internet age. This age is often characterized a highly mediated one with the proliferation of increasingly powerful, and increasingly mobile, media an ongoing concern of communication scholars. Understanding how these new forms refashion public discourse to address new contexts is important. In order to understand these differences it is necessary to understand how newer media work in relation to older media. I contend this relationship can be understood through the trope of irony. More importantly irony shares a relationship to the rhetorical process of remediation, whereby newer media are placed in a dialectic relationship with older media. For rhetorical and media scholars these relationships represent an opportunity to understand new possibilities for discursive action. This dissertation provides answers to three questions. What is the relationship between irony and remediation? How can mediated texts of humor illustrate the relationships between irony and remediation? What rhetorical implications might these relationships have for communication scholars interested in civic engagement, political participation, and mass mediated public discourse?I argue that remediation, the underlying rhetorical structure of media, is ironic. This structure is best revealed through analysis of highly mediated humorous texts. To answer these questions I conduct a rhetorical analysis of several case studies using irony and remediation as guiding theoretical mechanisms. Each case study focuses on a text characterized as ironic, though not necessarily humorous. I illustrate how irony contributes to the creation of multiple, and often contradictory, meanings in a text while remediation illustrates how media forms influence the creation of increasingly fragmented texts. When combined in a rhetorical analysis these mechanisms work to reveal underlying ideological concerns prevalent in public discourse in an age of new media. The significance of these concerns, and their relationship to irony, satire, and humor is discussed. / text

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Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide with the most prevalent form, primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), accounting for the vast majority of glaucoma cases. The main risk-factor for POAG is an elevated intraocular pressure (IOP), and is due to an increased resistance to aqueous humor outflow in the conventional outflow pathway at the juxtacanalicular region of the trabecular meshwork (TM) and the inner wall of Schlemm’s canal (SC). Reducing elevated IOP is the most effective method to prevent further loss of vision in glaucoma; therefore, it is important to understand how outflow resistance is regulated in the conventional outflow pathway in order to find effective methods to reduce ocular hypertension. Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is an endogenous lipid that reduces outflow facility in porcine eyes, thereby increasing resistance. S1P plays a major role in affecting cell migration, endothelial permeability, and junctional formation, processes that are intimately linked and regulated by cytoskeletal dynamics. Due to S1P’s known effect of decreasing endothelial permeability in vascular endothelial cells, the overall hypothesis of this dissertation is that the S1P-induced decrease in outflow facility occurs through a mechanism that involves S1P receptor activation in SC cells. The results from the studies within this dissertation demonstrate the expression of the S1P₁₋₃ receptor subtypes in SC and TM cells and a decrease of outflow facility by S1P in perfused human eyes. Additionally, S1P promotes F-actin formation and myosin light chain (MLC) phosphorylation at the SC cell cortex. The S1P-promoted MLC phosphorylation in both SC and TM cells, in addition to the S1P-induced decrease of outflow facility in porcine and human eyes, were blocked by the S1P₂ antagonist JTE-013. Results from these studies demonstrate S1P to actively regulate actomyosin dynamics in the cells of the outflow pathway through the S1P₂ receptor. S1P₂ also mediates the S1P-induced increase in outflow resistance. Therefore, S1P₂ is a novel pharmacological target in the conventional outflow pathway to reduce elevated IOP in glaucoma patients.

Purpose: To determine the association of plasma and aqueous humor selenium with glaucoma; and to determine those factors influencing biological levels of selenium in patients with glaucoma and cataractMethods: 47 primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) cases and 54 controls were recruited from surgery patients at the University Physician's Ophthalmology Clinic in Tucson, Arizona. Aqueous humor and plasma selenium concentration was determined by high performance liquid chromatography ion channel plasma-mass spectrometry (HPLC ICP-MS). Potential confounders were assessed via questionnaire. Outcome measures included the odds of glaucoma in relation to plasma selenium and aqueous humor selenium. Factors driving plasma and aqueous humor selenium in the study population were determined via linear regression.Results: After adjustment for risk factors and multiple outcomes, the odds of glaucoma in the highest tertile of plasma selenium (OR = 13.51; p=.03) and the middle tertile of aqueous humor selenium (OR = 0.05; p=0.02) were significantly associated with glaucoma. Selenium concentration in plasma and aqueous humor was primarily driven by metabolic factors (cancer, DMII, and ARMD).Conclusions: Although a causal pathway cannot be inferred from the analysis, it may be prudent to explore these relations in a larger sample in varying areas of geographic selenium distribution. Such information could be helpful in examining a larger study population and comparing biological data. Evaluating a subject's selenium levels over time and in relation to glaucoma onset could also lend pertinent informationDriving forces behind selenium concentrations in this population are mainly metabolic in nature. Selenium levels fluctuate in most tissue as it is metabolized by the body. Selenium supplementation is a significant predictor but this effect is small and may be transient as supplementation only temporarily increases selenium pools. It is interesting to note that sex is a significant predictor of aqueous humor selenium but not of plasma selenium. In this model, female sex predicts a decrease in the selenium within the aqueous humor. This point should be explored in future studies that are powered to discern possibly subtle differences that sex plays in relation to selenium concentrations in plasma and aqueous humor and its possible role in glaucoma.

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