ABSTRACT This research report explores A. S Byatt’s ambivalent relationship to postmodernism through a critical engagement with two of her recent novels, Possession and The Biographer’s Tale. Both use the techniques, while simultaneously constituting a critique, of postmodernism. The novels challenge postmodernism, indicating Byatt’s misgivings about the continuing suitability of this mode of literary representation. Possession is examined in detail, while The Biographer’s Tale is used to provide a backdrop to the discussion of Byatt’s viewpoints. Possession is a pastiche of styles, incorporating some of Byatt’s favourite literary forms. Postmodernism allows this experimentation but disregards qualities the author values highly, such as a celebration of traditional literature and the emotional affectiveness of history. Possession considers the positive and negative aspects of the literary movement. This thesis examines Byatt’s negotiation with postmodernism and the contribution of her critical attitude towards the success of Possession.

This thesis throws into relief the nomadic meshings of sexualities with post/apartheid cultural politics. It explores how, why and with what effects sexualities and post/apartheid nationhood have been imbricated in signal events and phenomena. Terms used to construct the thesis’ title each allude to significant events and processes through which assemblages of nationhood, sexualities, gender and race are worked on/with in particular ways. I propose that these events form a prism through which we are able to see refracted how a race-­‐gender-­‐sexuality complex becomes a pivotal mechanism through which post/apartheid subjectivities, embodiments, nationhood and sovereignty are being constructed and contested. I conclude that the events under discussion index how sexuality is both a site of political contestation; and, a central and crucial component of post/apartheid nationhood. That it is a ‘machinic assemblage’, which conditions and constitutes a particular field of the political including a popular consciousness of the post/apartheid body politic and sovereignty. Presenting qualitative analysis that reflects on the rhetorical structures evident within the nationscapes under discussion, I analyse and make reference to a substantial sample of media representations of, and discourses about, each of the scenes evaluated across the thesis. To this end, I focalise what Lauren Berlant has termed, the ‘National Symbolic’; an imaginary, chimerical and affect-­‐laden screen projection through which citizens venture to ‘grasp the nation in its totality’. This interdisciplinary project both draws on and expands the South African, Feminist and Queer Studies Fields and is influenced by what Judith Butler calls the ‘New Gender Politics’. I achieve this by bringing diverse critical perspectives into a discursive exchange with emerging bodies of scholarship concerned with questions of gender, sexualities, dis/ability and race in the South African context. I introduce novel, or previously untapped, theoretical repertoires to pursue unexplored interpretive horizons that generate new discourses about post/apartheid sexuality and politics. In doing so, I analyse a range of topics including: the state’s management of contemporary virginity practices and its abstinence messaging; popular anti-­‐polygamy discourse; and, critical intersex and dis/ability politics, which the available scholarship has not addressed. Although President Jacob Zuma is not the subject of this inquiry, each chapter examines events and developments that are both explicitly, and more implicitly, associated with his presidency. These events have unfolded during a later period of the post/apartheid dispensation; sometimes called the post post/apartheid period. I have written about a time that marked a conservative twist in the transition, which is not imagined as a teleological process. This is a perplexing time of uneven shifts where old things seem to be hardening even as they are simultaneously thinning or leaking away while new things are emerging in unpredictable rhythms and forms.

Literature investigating trauma exposure, Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and cortisol secretion has produced conflicting results with regard to whether cortisol is increased or decreased. With trauma there is also a pro- inflammatory response which is intimately linked with the hypothalamic pituitary axis (HPA). The police population can offer useful information in this regard as they represent a sample that will undergo exposure to traumatic events as part of their normal duties. In South Africa few studies have examined biological correlates of the traumatic stress response in the police population. This study sought to determine whether correlations exist between cortisol and the inflammatory response in terms of the cytokines Interleukin 6 (IL6) and Tumour Necrosis Factor (TNF) in response to trauma exposure in a cohort of newly enrolled metro police officers, previously naïve to the duty related trauma exposure. Personality styles were assessed, as coping skills and personality have been suggested as factors determining responses to trauma. The study participants were followed up for one year with repeated measures analysis of urine, blood, and saliva cortisol as well as blood cytokine determination every 3 months. Measures for PTSD [the Clinician Administered Scale for Posttraumatic stress disorder (CAPS) and the revised version of the Impact of Event Scale (IES-R)] as well as for depression [the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D)] were undertaken. 145 new recruits volunteered for the study, of which 120 completed all 5 visits. There were slightly more females than males in the sample and almost 50% of the sample admitted to alcohol abuse. Trauma exposure on entry into the police force was remarkably high with 99% having been exposed to at least one traumatic event in their lives. The majority (61.1 %) had been exposed to more than one traumatic event. There was evidence for the influence of prior trauma on responses to current traumatic events. MVA’s were very common, both duty and non duty related. Certain traumas were associated with greater changes in scores for PTSD and depression in relation to baseline. Over the 5 visits, only a third submitted valid 24 hour urine samples. Of these, the profile of the entire group indicated that 24 hour urine cortisol tended to initially decrease, and then increase with time. Saliva and blood cortisol, which were more reliably measured, tended to decrease with time. Scores for depression and post traumatic stress disorder were generally low in response to duty related traumatic events, and tended to decrease over time. However, the prevalence of lifetime PTSD as measured by the CAPS was high. There was a strong linear correlation between TNF and IL6. Results indicate a proinflammatory response, particularly with regard to IL6. There were no significant correlations between blood cortisol and HAM-D and between blood cortisol and CAPS (lifetime). There was an inverse relationship between CAPS (current scores) and blood cortisol. Cortisol and IES-R scores were significant at visit 3 (inverse relationship). For saliva, there were no significant associations with any of the variables for PTSD and depression. For personality styles, aggressive and antisocial clinical patterns were associated with lower current CAPS scores, while schizoid clinical pattern and the severe syndrome scale of thought disorder showed an association with lower lifetime CAPS score. For the IES-R, only narcissistic clinical pattern was associated with lower scores. A further analysis of those with low (less than 25% of the median) and high (greater than 25% of the median) cortisol responses was undertaken. The results indicate a similar trend to some studies showing lowered cortisol levels with chronic trauma exposure, but this did not correlate with sufficiently high scores for PTSD as measured by the CAPS. Similarly, proinflammatory cytokine increases are evident with trauma exposure, but not with scores for PTSD and depression. There were more variables significantly associated with the low cortisol responders than the high cortisol responders; with a suggestion of cumulative trauma exposure correlating with low cortisol response and a corresponding pro inflammatory response in terms of IL6. The results are discussed with a view to assisting the metro police force with recruitment and counseling strategies and important future research is recommended.

This study was undertaken in part as a response to proposed changes in the curriculum and teaching of Physical Education in Irish post-primary schools. I have been involved in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) for almost thirty years, almost entirely in Ireland, and I have a strong commitment to the promotion of child-centred Physical Education which I believe may be threatened by the proposed changes. My concerns are evident within this study which focuses on three Physical Education teachers in contemporary Ireland over a period of approximately three years during which three Draft New Syllabuses for Physical Education were written by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. These teachers share concerns and values regarding the teaching of Physical Education which broadly concur with my espoused ideology. Each is aware of their preferred pedagogical practices and is articulate in their defence of them. Within this study, the professional practices of these teachers are examined in the context of societal changes and the proposed curriculum changes in Physical Education evidenced in the new syllabuses. Inspiration is drawn from Basil Bernstein's work which Sadovnik (1995, p. 7) claims 'promised to connect the societal, institutional, interactional and intrapsychic levels of sociological analysis'. This study accepts Bernstein's analysis which provides a systematic structural theory allowing micro and macro aspects of the education system to be inter-related.

Objectives: - The present research attempts to elicit children's perceptions and experiences of enduring a road traffic accident (RTA). It also examined their parents experiences of parenting such children and their own experiences and perceptions of the accident. Participants: - The study focussed on 14 children, aged from 9 years 9 months - 14 years and 4 months of age who had endured a RTA from between 9-33 months previously and their parents. Design: - The study employed a non-experimental design with a combination of quantitative and qualitative paradigms. Method: - The participants were identified via the hospital database of all children who had endured a RTA from between 6-24 months previously. Both the children and their parents were interviewed on specifically designed semi-structured interview schedules. Each interview was then tape-recorded and transcribed in its entirety. These transcripts then provided the universe of material for subsequent qualitative analysis. Results:- The results of this study demonstrated that approximately half of the children who had experienced a RTA were suffering from a post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In addition, the PTSD case children differed from the non-case children on factors such as awareness of the inpending RTA, feelings of self-blame regarding the accident, and more negative thoughts regarding their experience immediately after the impact and at the time of the assessment. In addition, the parents of the case children displayed similar responses to that of their children. Conclusion: - A theoretical Model was presented to account for the main findings in response to the research questions, also drawing on existing research. It is emphasised that this model is speculative due to the small sample size insofar as it draws upon the present findings, and as such can only relate to this study sample and further research would be required to fully test and validate it. In addition, recommendations were made for service delivery and clinical practice.

by Chan Won Shing, Raymond. / "May 2000." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 177-191). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

Au cours de ce travail, nous nous sommes intéressés à l'impact de l'exposition à la ciclosporine A (CsA) sur la signalisation angiogénique dans le carcinome à cellules rénales (renal cell carcinoma – RCC) qui représente la deuxième cause de cancer chez les patients transplantés rénaux. Nous avons examiné in vitro l'impact de l'exposition à la CsA sur la réponse UPR (Unfolded Protein Response) et la régulation des protéines sécrétées en portant un intérêt particulier à la régulation du VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth factor). Nous confirmons l'effet de la CsA sur la protéostase et montrons que l'activation de l'UPR par la CsA, conduisant à une augmentation de la production de VEGF en hypoxie, pourrait participer à l'agressivité des tumeurs. Nous proposons de rechercher certains biomarqueurs de l'UPR chez les patients ayant développé un RCC post-transplantation afin d'examiner de façon plus approfondie l'altération de la protéostase et la régulation de l'UPR dans ce contexte. Dans le domaine de la médecine personnalisée, d'autres approches comme la pharmacogénétique sont désormais utilisées dans la pratique médicale. Dans ce contexte, nous avons évalué l'intérêt du génotypage du VEGF dans une cohorte de patients transplantés rénaux. Nous montrons que le polymorphisme VEGF 936 C>T est associé de façon significative au risque de développer un RCC post-transplantation. Même s'il est évident que des études supplémentaires doivent être menées, nos résultats indiquent que le génotypage de VEGF 936 C>T pourrait être envisagé pour améliorer la gestion des traitements immunosuppresseurs chez les patients identifiés comme étant à risque de développer un RCC post-transplantation / In this work, we investigated the impact of cyclosporine A (CsA) exposure on angiogenic signalling in renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the second mostly observed cancer in renal transplanted patients. We examined in vitro the effect of CsA exposure on the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) and the regulation of secreted proteins with a focus on VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor) regulation. We confirm the effect of CsA on proteostasis and we show that the activation of UPR by CsA, leading to an increased VEGF hypoxic expression, could contribute to the aggressiveness of tumours. We propose to investigate a list of candidate UPR biomarkers in patients who have developed a post-transplant RCC in order to confirm the alteration of proteostasis and the UPR activation in this context. In the field of personalized medicine, other approaches such as pharmacogenetics are now used in medical practice. In this context, we evaluated the VEGF genotyping in a cohort of renal transplanted patients. We show that VEGF 936 C>T is significantly associated with the risk of developing a post-transplant RCC. Although it is evident that additional studies need to be conducted, our results indicate that VEGF 936 C>T genotypes might be useful to classify patients according to their post-transplant RCC risk in order to improve immunosuppressive drugs management

Thesis (M. P. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

The literature has demonstrated that depression is a significant predictor of morbidity and mortality for individuals who have experienced an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Despite this robust relationship, few studies have systematically examined the demographic, psychosocial, neuroimmunological and hormonal predictors of depression amung post-AMI individuals in a longitudinal design...

La sumoylation représente, après l’ubiquitination, l’exemple le plus étudié de modification post-traductionnelle impliquant la liaison d’une protéine à une autre. Cependant, alors que l’ubiquitination est impliquée principalement dans la dégradation des protéines par le protéasome, la sumoylation semble réguler les propriétés biochimiques de ses substrats (localisation cellulaire, interaction protéique, activité, …). Pour venir lier une protéine appelée Sumo (Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier) sur un substrat, la sumoylation emprunte une voie enzymatique analogue à celle de l’ubiquitination mais utilise des enzymes différentes. A ce jour, bien que plusieurs centaines de substrats de la sumoylation aient été identifiés, seules 5 structures de protéines sumoylées ont été résolues. Elles ne sont vraisemblablement pas représentatives de l’ensemble des substrats de la sumoylation et mon travail de thèse vise à élargir les connaissances structurales sur la sumoylation pour permettre de dégager des concepts généraux. Les études sur la sumoylation se heurtent généralement à la difficulté d’obtenir les substrats sumoylés. Ce projet a donc nécessité, au niveau technique, la mise au point d’un système de sumoylation in vivo en bactérie permettant de modifier des quantités importantes de protéines et de les purifier efficacement. Des analyses bioinformatiques nous ont permis d’identifier des substrats de la sumoylation propices à une étude structurale de leur forme sumoylée. Au terme de ces analyses, nous avons retenu 3 protéines : DJ-1, PPARγ et IκBα. Bien que la complexité du sujet nous ait ensuite amené à écarter DJ-1 et PPARγ, nous sommes parvenus à purifier la forme sumoylée d’IκBα. Ce résultat nous a permis d’entreprendre une campagne de cristallogenèse d’IκBα complexé au facteur de transcription NF-κB. L’obtention d’IκBα sumoylé permettra également d’aborder des études fonctionnelles pour améliorer la compréhension du rôle de la sumoylation de ce substrat. Nos analyses bioinformatiques ont également révélé que dans plus de 60% des cas, les sites de sumoylation des substrats se trouvent dans des zones prédites intrinsèquement désordonnées. L’importance du désordre dans le processus de sumoylation était jusqu’alors largement sous-estimée. A titre d’exemple, nous avons étudié par diffusion des rayons X aux petits angles la structure du domaine transactivateur du facteur de transcription ERM sous forme non modifiée et sous forme sumoylée. Cette étude indique que la sumoylation d’ERM n’induit pas le repliement de ce domaine transactivateur. De même, il apparait peu probable, au vu de la flexibilité de cette région, que la sumoylation empêche des interactions avec certains partenaires cellulaires. Dans ce contexte, la sumoylation semble servir de plateforme de recrutement de partenaires, reconnaissant de manière spécifique le Sumo. Ce mécanisme pourrait se généraliser à l’ensemble des sites de sumoylation prédits dans des zones intrinsèquement désordonnées. Le système de sumoylation que nous avons développé permet de produire des protéines sumoylées pures en grande quantité et pourra également servir à identifier des protéines reconnaissant spécifiquement les substrats modifiés. Tous ces éléments devraient permettre de progresser dans la compréhension de cette modification post-traductionnelle impliquée dans de nombreux processus cellulaires fondamentaux.