No description available.

This study explores the philosophical, linguistic and textual interplay of absence and presence in Margaret Atwood's novel Cat's Eye. The premise of the thesis is that the novel posits language as a problematic communicative medium; as such, language conveys that meanings of words are flexible, mutable and transient. It is through frameworks which both establish states of absence and presence as well as destroy binary oppositions between the two that Cat's Eye conveys its positions about language. Thus, textual and extra-textual discourses about the natures of language and linguistic meaning are situated within recurrent thematic and formal attention to relationships between absence and presence. By exploring the roles of absence and presence in various phenomenological and linguistic contexts, this study concludes that absence/presence is a paradigm in Cat's Eye for the way in which words are (alternately as well as simultaneously) spoken and silent, understood and misunderstood, opposed and united.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

No description available.

A Uncaria tomentosa (U. tomentosa), popularmente conhecida como \"Unha-de-gato\", é uma planta medicinal nativa das Américas, mundialmente empregada devido às suas atividades anti-inflamatórias e imunomodulatórias. O consumo desta planta ocorre não apenas na forma in natura, mas principalmente como fitoterápico, sendo muitas vezes utilizada de forma indiscriminada pela população. Apesar de vários estudos revelarem as propriedades terapêuticas da U. tomentosa, poucos são os trabalhos que empregam protocolos estabelecidos por agências regulamentadoras internacionais, para a avaliação dos possíveis efeitos tóxicos e imunotóxicos deste fitoterápico. Assim, o propósito do presente estudo foi verificar se a administração de um extrato seco de U. tomentosa, comercialmente disponível no mercado, poderia ocasionar efeitos tóxicos e imunotóxicos em ratos após 90 dias de tratamento. Para isso, 40 ratos Wistars machos foram tratados oralmente com as doses de 15, 75 ou 150 mg/kg de extrato seco de U. tomentosa comercialmente disponível no mercado, contendo teores de alcaloides de acordo com aqueles valores preconizados em literatura. No final do período experimental, os animais foram submetidos à eutanásia para realização de avaliações bioquímicas, hematológicas, histopatológicas, análise de órgãos linfoides e não-linfoides, avaliação das respostas imunes inata, inflamatória e humoral, bem como teste para determinação de reação de hipersensibilidade do tipo IV. Os resultados revelaram aumento nos níveis de ALT dos animais tratados com a dose de 75 mg/kg, e redução nos índices glicêmicos de ratos tratados com 75 e 150 mg/kg de U. tomentosa. Entretanto, somente os ratos tratados com a maior dose exibiram discreta vacuolização centro-lobular hepática; assim, somente os dados de ALT não são sugestivos de efeitos hepáticos adversos da U. tomentosa após um longo período de tratamento. A redução nos índices sanguíneos de glicose dos ratos, após tratamento com a U. tomentosa, podem representar importante risco para seres humanos diabéticos, susceptíveis ao desenvolvimento de hipoglicemia e que fazem uso da U. tomentosa para outros propósitos. Em conclusão, estes estudos demonstraram que, apesar de a U. tomentosa não promover efeitos tóxicos e imunotóxicos, o uso prolongado da mesma, a altas doses, pode promover redução dos índices glicêmicos. / Uncaria tomentosa (U. tomentosa), commonly known as \"Cat\'s claw\", is a native medicinal plant from America, it is employed worldwide for its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. The consumption of this plant occurs not only in natura, but mainly as a phytotherapic, used indiscriminately by the population. Although many researchers revealed the therapeutic properties of U. tomentosa, few studies employing established protocols by international regulatory agencies for the evaluation of the possible toxic and immunotoxic effects of this herbal medicine. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to verify if the dry extract of U. tomentosa could promote toxic and/or immunotoxic effects in rats following 90 days of treatment. For this, forty male rats were orally treated with 15, 75 or 150mg/kg of dry extract of U. tomentosa, commercially available, containing levels of alkaloids according to those values recommended in the literature. At the end of experimental period, the rats were killed for the evaluation of the biochemistry, haematology, histopathology, status of the lymphoid and non-lymphoid organs, evaluation of innate, inflammatory and humoral immune responses, as well as a test to determine the delayed type hypersensitivity. The results revealed an increase in the levels of ALT in the animals treated with 75mg/kg and a reduction in the glycaemic levels of rats treated with 75 and 150mg/kg of U. tomentosa. However, only rats treated with the higher dose showed a slight centrilobular hepatic vacuolation; thus, ALT data alone are not suggestive of a hepatic adverse effect of U. tomentosa following long-term treatment. The reduction in blood glucose levels of the rats, could represent an important risk for diabetic humans, who are susceptible to the development of hypoglycaemia and who might use U. tomentosa for purposes other than anti-diabetes. In conclusion, these studies demonstrated that, while U. tomentosa has no immunotoxic effect, long-term U. tomentosa treatment at high doses can promote reduction in glycemic levels.

A Uncaria tomentosa (U. tomentosa), popularmente conhecida como \"Unha-de-gato\", é uma planta medicinal nativa das Américas, mundialmente empregada devido às suas atividades anti-inflamatórias e imunomodulatórias. O consumo desta planta ocorre não apenas na forma in natura, mas principalmente como fitoterápico, sendo muitas vezes utilizada de forma indiscriminada pela população. Apesar de vários estudos revelarem as propriedades terapêuticas da U. tomentosa, poucos são os trabalhos que empregam protocolos estabelecidos por agências regulamentadoras internacionais, para a avaliação dos possíveis efeitos tóxicos e imunotóxicos deste fitoterápico. Assim, o propósito do presente estudo foi verificar se a administração de um extrato seco de U. tomentosa, comercialmente disponível no mercado, poderia ocasionar efeitos tóxicos e imunotóxicos em ratos após 90 dias de tratamento. Para isso, 40 ratos Wistars machos foram tratados oralmente com as doses de 15, 75 ou 150 mg/kg de extrato seco de U. tomentosa comercialmente disponível no mercado, contendo teores de alcaloides de acordo com aqueles valores preconizados em literatura. No final do período experimental, os animais foram submetidos à eutanásia para realização de avaliações bioquímicas, hematológicas, histopatológicas, análise de órgãos linfoides e não-linfoides, avaliação das respostas imunes inata, inflamatória e humoral, bem como teste para determinação de reação de hipersensibilidade do tipo IV. Os resultados revelaram aumento nos níveis de ALT dos animais tratados com a dose de 75 mg/kg, e redução nos índices glicêmicos de ratos tratados com 75 e 150 mg/kg de U. tomentosa. Entretanto, somente os ratos tratados com a maior dose exibiram discreta vacuolização centro-lobular hepática; assim, somente os dados de ALT não são sugestivos de efeitos hepáticos adversos da U. tomentosa após um longo período de tratamento. A redução nos índices sanguíneos de glicose dos ratos, após tratamento com a U. tomentosa, podem representar importante risco para seres humanos diabéticos, susceptíveis ao desenvolvimento de hipoglicemia e que fazem uso da U. tomentosa para outros propósitos. Em conclusão, estes estudos demonstraram que, apesar de a U. tomentosa não promover efeitos tóxicos e imunotóxicos, o uso prolongado da mesma, a altas doses, pode promover redução dos índices glicêmicos. / Uncaria tomentosa (U. tomentosa), commonly known as \"Cat\'s claw\", is a native medicinal plant from America, it is employed worldwide for its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. The consumption of this plant occurs not only in natura, but mainly as a phytotherapic, used indiscriminately by the population. Although many researchers revealed the therapeutic properties of U. tomentosa, few studies employing established protocols by international regulatory agencies for the evaluation of the possible toxic and immunotoxic effects of this herbal medicine. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to verify if the dry extract of U. tomentosa could promote toxic and/or immunotoxic effects in rats following 90 days of treatment. For this, forty male rats were orally treated with 15, 75 or 150mg/kg of dry extract of U. tomentosa, commercially available, containing levels of alkaloids according to those values recommended in the literature. At the end of experimental period, the rats were killed for the evaluation of the biochemistry, haematology, histopathology, status of the lymphoid and non-lymphoid organs, evaluation of innate, inflammatory and humoral immune responses, as well as a test to determine the delayed type hypersensitivity. The results revealed an increase in the levels of ALT in the animals treated with 75mg/kg and a reduction in the glycaemic levels of rats treated with 75 and 150mg/kg of U. tomentosa. However, only rats treated with the higher dose showed a slight centrilobular hepatic vacuolation; thus, ALT data alone are not suggestive of a hepatic adverse effect of U. tomentosa following long-term treatment. The reduction in blood glucose levels of the rats, could represent an important risk for diabetic humans, who are susceptible to the development of hypoglycaemia and who might use U. tomentosa for purposes other than anti-diabetes. In conclusion, these studies demonstrated that, while U. tomentosa has no immunotoxic effect, long-term U. tomentosa treatment at high doses can promote reduction in glycemic levels.

This thesis traces the self-creation and autonomy of the woman artist figure in Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook, and Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye. The first chapter conveys the progression of autonomy and self-creation in Western-European philosophy through contemporary thinkers such as Charles Taylor, Robert Pippin, Alexander Nehamas, and Richard Rorty. This narrative culminates in a rift between public and private, resulting from the push--especially by Nietzsche--toward a radical, unmediated independence. Taylor and Rorty envision different ways to resolve the public/private rift, yet neither philosopher distinguishes how this rift has affected women by enclosing them in the private, barring them from the public, and delimiting their autonomy. The second chapter focusses on each woman artist's resistance to socially scripted roles, accompanied by theories about resistance: Woolf with Rachel Blau DuPlessis on narrative resistance, Lessing with Julia Kristeva on dissidence, and Atwood with Stephen Hawking and Kristeva on space-time. The third chapter contrasts the narratives of chapters 1 and 2 and reveals how the woman artist avoids the problematic public/private rift by incorporating the ethics developed within the private into her art; she balances her creative goals with responsibility to others. Drawing on the work of women moral theorists, this thesis suggests that women's self-creation and autonomy result in an undervalued but nevertheless workable solution to the public/private rift.

No description available.

This study explores the depictions of technology and scientists in the literature of five writers during the 1960s. Scientists and technology associated with nuclear, computer, and space science are examined, focusing on their respective treatments by the following writers: John Barth, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke. Despite the close connections between the abovementioned sciences, space science is largely spared from negative critiques during the sixties. Through an analysis of Barth's Giles Goat-boy, Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, Asimov's short stories "Key Item," "The Last Question," "The Machine That Won the War," "My Son, the Physicist," and Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey, it is argued that altruistic goals of space science during the 1960s protect it from the satirical treatments that surround the other sciences.